Ilatsiak - 60 - Goodsir's Book

David began to realise that the rumours about strange white people in this area during the past year were perhaps more true than he had believed they were when he’d first heard them. Meeting Cozier and Ashram and now finding the boat with the bodies inside did suggest that sailors had spent the fall and winter in the inlet to the Fish River. People had said because the men looked so ill they had not dared to approach their camps or have much to do with them. When the few who had lived through the winter finally left, everyone had breathed with relief. However, David was becoming more and more aware that if he wasn’t already the sole survivor of the expedition, it was certain that he would probably soon be all alone, the only member of the two crews still alive. It seemed very possible that everyone else was already dead or would be very soon. He sat down and just stared downwards as if already dead himself, watching as the ground slowly lost any shape or colour. Then slowly, as though he was in a dream he could see himself himself walking away towards one of the slight ridges he had been complaining about. He watched himself lay down on a sealskin he’d been using as a seat in the kayak. As he sat watching, he saw his spirit-creature standing by the boat. He was shaking his head and then he spoke. “Leave this place. It is not a good place. It is where people fought and killed and then ate each other. Leave soon!”

* * *
David paddled in brilliant sunshine, westward. He was getting closer and closer to the narrow strait leading over to King William Island. The sea was almost dead calm and he knew it was the perfect moment to cross over. Just as he edged the boat over to make the turn out to sea, he caught a glimpse of another boat coming towards him. He put on a burst of speed to close the gap and soon was talking with them. It was so good to see people again. Best of all, they had seen Agayuq and Qayaq only a few days before, at the Big Lake. All smiles, David left and within a few hours was building two matching rock towers to rest the kayak on, high up out of reach of any animals hungry enough to eat the precious skin covering. That job finished, he began walking inland, following the trail to the Big Lake.
As he reached the top of the ridge just above the same cove where he had landed the kayak, David’s attention was directed, suddenly to something reddish lying on the ground off to hs left. Turning slightly he headed that way until he could see it was a faded red coloured squarish shape. Then as he reached, it saw it was a book! It had been years since he’s seen a book. He bent down and picked it up. The print on the cover was too washed out to make out the title, but most of the pages could still be read. At first he hoped he might be a diary so he could find out what had happened to the ships, but turning the pages he realised it was a medical text, sort of like a first aid guide. Disappointed he dropped it to the ground and looked around for others, but seeing none, he changed his mind and picked up the book again, noting for the first time a name written on the inside cover: Harry Goodsir. David’s heart gave a skip. His friend had been here perhaps and dropped his book! Flipping rapidly through the pages, David found many of them had notes about various medical advice Goodsir had added. There were also comments about the plants and animals he had noticed since leaving England. Nothing had been added about the fate of the crews and, of course, nothing to explain why the book had been left on the ridge. It must have been dropped accidently by whoever had been carrying it as they passed along the ridge. Without really thinking about it, David put the book into the rolled up sealskin he was carrying over his back and once again headed towards the lake.