Kalli, the Esquimaux Christian A Memoir

Excerpt

KALLIHIRUA THE ESQUIMAUX.

Kallihirua, notwithstanding the disadvantages of person (for he was plain, and short of stature, and looked what he was,—an Esquimaux), excited a feeling of interest and regard in those who were acquainted with his history, and who knew his docile mind, and the sweetness of his disposition.

Compliance with the precept in the Old Testament, "Love ye the stranger , " becomes a delight as well as a duty in such an instance as that about to be recorded, especially when we consider the affecting injunction conveyed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares ."

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Her Majesty's Ship "Assistance"

Erasmus Augustine York, whose native name was Kallihirua, was brought to England on board Her Majesty's ship "Assistance," Captain Erasmus Ommanney, in 1851. Captain Ommanney was second in command of the expedition under the orders of Captain Horatio Austin, C.B., which was dispatched in May, 1850, in search of the missing vessels of Sir John Franklin, the "Erebus" and "Terror". Franklin had quitted England on his perilous and fatal enterprise in May, 1845.

Much interest was attached to the young Esquimaux, who was considered to be about sixteen years of age in August, 1850. He was one of a tribe inhabiting the country in the vicinity of Wolstenholme Sound, at the head of Baffin's Bay, in 76° 3' north latitude, the nearest residents to the North Pole of any human beings known to exist on the globe. He was the only person ever brought to this country from so high a northern latitude. His tribe was met with by the late Sir John Ross, during his voyage in 1818, and was by him called the Arctic Highlanders.

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Cape York

It appears that, when the expedition under Captain Austin's command was passing Cape York, in August, 1850, after its release from the ice in Melville Bay, natives were seen from the "Assistance". Captain Ommanney went with the "Intrepid" (one of the vessels comprising the expedition) to communicate with them, when it was ascertained that H.M.S., "North Star," had passed the winter in the neighbourhood. The fate of this vessel was then a matter of anxiety, as by her instructions she had been cautioned to avoid passing the winter in those regions. The tribe thus discovered consisted of only three families, residing in their summer huts at Cape York. As no steamer had ever before found its way to these seas, it was interesting to watch the impression upon the singular beings now visited, when they descended into the engine-room. The large furnaces and machinery astonished them. The latter, on being put in motion, made them take to their heels with fright, and they ran out of the engine-room on deck as fast as they could.

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Kallihirua on board the "Assistance"

It was after this first interview that the report was raised of the massacre of two ships' crews in 1846....