One of the first accounts of life in the far north, pre-dating Jack London by nearly half a century, is a terrifying, illuminating tale, based on real events as the first trading post in the Land of the Esquimaux is established on Ungava Bay. The first Europeans that far north encounter both Native Americans and Esquimaux with often grisly and inexplicable results, but therein lies its utter truth, unvarnished and fascinating, even when painful.