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to thirty natives had remained seated on the beach just opposite us and evidently finding great comfort in watching us for the raw wind must have swept with all its force over their exposed position all day. As we rowed in the wind gunned to swoop down with extra force and sent the spray flying over the boat though we roam close in shore. As we neared the beach a perfect rattle came trooping down from the village, young and old - and they appeared a hard looking crew of filthy wretches who caught hold of us on every side and vocifarated "ā sìń" "ā sìńo" "a present à present" I had a roll of leaf tobacco under my arm to buy implements and they were continually trying to pilfer from it - some hung on our arms or crowded against us and demanded presents until we were halfway to the village  when the first excitement over they tramped along in a motley crowd of wretches like Falstaff's recruits and it was a ludicrous sight seeing Capt. H struggling along over the loose gravel with a native on either side asking for his gloves while others ran before or straggled along behind. As we made our way toward the village our attention was called to the numerous dwarfed but extremely handsome flowers which appeared to spring up and blossom wherever the least bit of soil afforded foothold. Gay tints of red-purple yellow and white profusely scattered over the ground among the round blue + gray pebbles of quartz & slate made the scene far less farther + harsh than it would otherwise have been. A striking peculiarity of these arctic flowers is that growing on the most sterile soil in bleak windy places the leaves of the plant commonly hug the surface tenaciously