nine hours before midday
There was no fear of visits from Indian hunters or Canadians at this time of year , but an incident occurred proving that these districts were not altogether depopulated even in the winter , and which was quite an episode in the long dreary dark months . Some human beings still lingered on the coast hunting morses and camping under the snow . They belonged to the race of Esquimaux , `` or eaters of raw flesh , '' which is scattered over the continent of North America , from Baffin 's Bay to Behring Strait , seldom , however , advancing farther south than the Great Slave Lake . On the morning of the 14th December , or rather nine hours before midday , Sergeant Long , on his return from an excursion along the coast , ended his report to the Lieutenant by saying , that if his eyes had not deceived him , a tribe of nomads were encamped about four miles from the fort , near a little cape jutting out from the coast . `` What do you suppose these nomads are ? '' inquired Hobson . `` Either men or morses , '' replied the Sergeant .