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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery
+of a North-West Passage, by William Edward Parry, Edited by Henry Morley
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage
+
+
+Author: William Edward Parry
+
+Editor: Henry Morley
+
+Release Date: September 2, 2008  [eBook #26509]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF THE THIRD VOYAGE FOR
+THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE***
+
+
+This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.
+
+                       CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY.
+
+
+
+
+
+JOURNAL
+OF THE
+THIRD VOYAGE
+FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A
+NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.
+
+
+                                    BY
+                     CAPT. W. E. PARRY, R.N., F.R.S.,
+                     AND COMMANDER OF THE EXPEDITION.
+
+                       CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
+                _LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_.
+                                  1889.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+William Edward Parry, the son of a physician, was born at Bath in
+December, 1790.  At the age of thirteen he was entered as a first-class
+volunteer on board the flag-ship of the Channel fleet, and after seven
+years’ service and careful study of his profession he obtained a
+commission in 1810 as lieutenant in the navy.  He was then at once, aged
+twenty, sent to the Arctic seas, where he was during two or three years
+in command of a ship for protection of the British whale fisheries and
+for revision of the admiralty charts.  In 1813 he was recalled from that
+service and sent on blockade service to the North American station, where
+he remained about four years, and occupied his leisure in writing a book
+on “Nautical Astronomy by Night,” which he published upon his return to
+England in 1817.
+
+At that time the search for a North-West Passage to Eastern Asia had been
+suspended for more than half a century.  No expedition had been sent out
+since 1746.  But after Lieutenant Parry’s return from the North American
+station, an expedition was prepared under Sir John Ross in the
+_Isabella_, which sailed in April, 1818, accompanied by the _Alexander_,
+to the command of which Parry was appointed, Sir John Ross being chief of
+the expedition.  They went by Davis’s Straits to Lancaster Sound, where
+Sir John Ross gave up hope of success and turned back; though Lieutenant
+Parry would have gone on.  Next year Parry was entrusted with an
+expedition of his own, which set out in May, 1819, and reached Lancaster
+Sound in July, discovered Prince Regent’s Inlet, and Barrow Straits,
+named after Sir John Barrow, Secretary to the Admiralty, who was active
+promoter of these expeditions.  Parry wintered among the ice and returned
+next year, having pushed Arctic discovery by thirty degrees of longitude
+farther than any who had gone before.  That was Parry’s first voyage,
+from which he returned to be received with triumph by his countrymen.  He
+was advanced to the rank of Commander in November, 1820, and made a
+Fellow of the Royal Society.  He had shown in what direction to proceed
+with further search, and at the age of thirty had established for himself
+a place of lasting honour in the history of English navigation.
+
+Commander Parry was sent on a second expedition in 1821, from which he
+returned in 1823.  He was to explore the Fox Channel, for the purpose of
+ascertaining whether it was connected with the Arctic Sea of his first
+voyage.  This voyage had no important results; and in 1824 Parry started
+again on the third voyage, of which this volume contains his Journal.  In
+1827 he sailed again in the _Hecla_, but found himself sledging over ice
+that floated southward as fast as he travelled forward on it northward.
+He returned then to the work ashore, as a hydrographer, for which his
+thorough knowledge of navigation marked him out.  Desire for a more
+active life caused him to spend four or five years in Australia (from
+1829 to 1834) as Commissioner to the Agricultural Company of Australia.
+He was knighted, and became in 1852 a Rear-Admiral.  Sir Edward Parry was
+Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital at the time of his death, in
+July, 1855.
+
+                                                                     H. M.
+
+
+
+
+THIRD VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Notwithstanding the want of success of the late Expedition to the Polar
+Seas, it was resolved to make another attempt to effect a passage by sea,
+between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  The chief attentions in the
+equipment of the present expedition consisted in the placing of
+Sylvester’s warming stove in the very bottom of the ship’s hold, in
+substituting a small quantity of salt beef for a part of the pork, and in
+furnishing a much larger supply of newly corned beef.  Preserved carrots
+and parsnips, salmon, cream, pickles of onions, beetroot, cabbage, and,
+to make the most of our stowage, split pease instead of whole ones, were
+supplied.  A small quantity of beef pemmican, made by pounding the meat
+with a certain portion of fat, as described by Captain Franklin, was also
+furnished.
+
+To the officers, seamen, and marines my best acknowledgments are once
+more due, for the zealous support I have at all times received from them
+in the course of this service; and I am happy to repeat my conviction
+that, had it depended on their conduct and exertion, our most sanguine
+expectations would, long ere this, have been crowned with complete
+success.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Passage to the Whale-fish Islands, and Removal of Stores from the
+Transport—Enter the Ice in Baffin’s Bay—Difficulties of Penetrating to
+the Westward—Quit the Ice in Baffin’s Bay—Remarks on the Obstructions
+encountered by the Ships, and on the Severity of the Season.
+
+The equipment of the _Hecla_ and _Fury_, and the loading of the _William
+Harris_ transport, being completed, we began to move down the river from
+Deptford on the 8th of May, 1824, and on the 10th, by the assistance of
+the steamboat, the three ships had reached Northfleet, where they
+received their powder and their ordnance stores.  Two days were here
+employed in fixing, under the superintendence of Mr. Barlow and
+Lieutenant Foster, the plate, invented by the former gentleman, for
+correcting the deviation of the compass produced by the attraction of the
+ship’s iron; and the continuance of strong easterly winds prevented our
+getting to the Nore till the 16th.  During our stay at Northfleet the
+ships were visited by Viscount Melville, and the other Lords
+Commissioners of the Admiralty, who were pleased to approve of our
+general equipment and arrangements.
+
+During our passage across the Atlantic in June, and afterwards on our way
+up Davis’s Strait, we threw overboard daily a strong copper cylinder,
+containing the usual papers, giving an account of our situation.  We also
+took every opportunity afforded by light winds, to try the temperature of
+the sea at different depths, as compared with that at the surface.
+
+I now determined, as the quickest and most secure mode of clearing the
+transport, to anchor at the Whale-fish Islands, rather than incur the
+risk of hampering and damaging her among the ice.  Fresh gales and thick
+weather, however, prevented our doing so till the 26th, when we anchored
+at eight A.M., in seventeen fathoms, mooring the ships by hawsers to the
+rocks, and then immediately commenced our work.  In the meantime the
+observatory and instruments were landed on a small island, called by the
+Danes Boat Island, where Lieutenant Foster and myself carried on the
+magnetic and other observations during the stay of the Expedition at this
+anchorage, of which a survey was also made.
+
+Early on the morning of the 3rd of July, the whole of our stores being
+removed, and Lieutenant Pritchard having received his orders, together
+with our despatches and letters for England, the _William Harris_ weighed
+with a light wind from the northward, and was towed out to sea by our
+boats.  The day proving calm, we employed it in swinging the _Hecla_, in
+order to obtain the amount of the deviation of the magnetic needle, and
+to fix afresh the iron plate for correcting it.  On the following
+morning, the wind being southerly, the pilots came on board, and the
+_Hecla_ weighed to run through the north passage; in doing which she
+grounded on a rock lying directly in the channel, and having only
+thirteen feet upon it at low water, which our sounding boats had missed,
+and of which the pilot was ignorant.  The tide being that of ebb we were
+unable to heave the ship off immediately, and at low water she had sewed
+three feet forward.  It was not till half-past one P.M., that she
+floated, when it became necessary to drop her down between the rock and
+the shore with hawsers; after which we made sail, and being soon after
+joined by the _Fury_, which came out by the other channel, we stood round
+the islands to the northwards.  This rock was not the only one found by
+our boats which may prove dangerous to ships going in and out of this
+harbour, and with which our pilots were unacquainted.  Another was
+discovered by Mr. Head, about one-third of the distance across from Kron
+Prins Island to the opposite shore of the S.E. entrance, and has not more
+than eighteen feet water on it at low tide; it lies very much in the way
+of ships coming in at that channel, which is the most commonly used.  The
+latitude of the island, on which the observations were made, called by
+the Danes Boat Island, is 74° 28′ 15″; its longitude by our chronometers,
+53° 12′ 56″; the dip of the magnetic needle, 82° 53′ 66″; and the
+variation, 70° 23′ 57″ westerly.  The time of high water, at new moon, on
+the 26th of June, was a quarter-past eight, the highest tides being the
+third and fourth after the conjunction, and the perpendicular rise seven
+feet and a half.
+
+The ships standing in towards Lievely on the afternoon of the 5th,
+Lieutenant Graah very kindly came off to the _Fury_, which happened to be
+the nearest in shore, for the purpose of taking leave of us.  On his
+quitting the ship a salute of ten guns was fired at Lievely, which we
+returned with an equal number; and I sent to Lieutenant Graah, by a canoe
+that came on board the _Hecla_, an account of the situation of the rocks
+we had discovered.  Light northerly winds, together with the dull sailing
+of our now deeply laden ships, prevented our making much progress for
+several days, and kept us in the neighbourhood of numerous icebergs,
+which it is dangerous to approach when there is any swell.  We counted
+from the deck, at one time, no less than one hundred and three of these
+immense bodies, some of them from one to two hundred feet in height above
+the sea; and it was necessary, in one or two instances, to tow the ships
+clear of them with the boats.  We had occasion, about this time, to
+remark the more than usual frequency of fogs with a northerly wind, a
+circumstance from which the whalers are accustomed to augur a
+considerable extent of open water in that direction.
+
+The ice soon beginning to close around us, our progress became so slow
+that, on the 17th, we saw a ship at the margin of the “pack,” and two
+more on the following day.  We supposed these to be whalers, which, after
+trying to cross the ice to the northward, had returned to make the
+attempt in the present latitude; a supposition which our subsequent
+difficulties served to strengthen.  From this time, indeed, the
+obstructions from the quantity, magnitude, and closeness of the ice, were
+such as to keep our people almost constantly employed in heaving,
+warping, or sawing through it; and yet with so little success that, at
+the close of the month of July, we had only penetrated seventy miles to
+the westward, or to the longitude of about 62° 10′.  Here, while closely
+beset, on the 1st of August, we encountered a hard gale from the
+south-east, which pressing the ice together in every direction, by mass
+overlaying mass for hours together, the _Hecla_ received several very
+awkward “nips,” and was once fairly laid on her broadside by a strain
+which must inevitably have crushed a vessel of ordinary strength.  In
+such cases, the ice is forced under a ship’s bottom on one side, and on
+the other up her side, both powers thus acting in such a manner as to
+bring her on her “beam-ends.”  This is, in fact, the most favourable
+manner in which a ship can receive the pressure, and would perhaps only
+occur with ice comparatively not very heavy, though sufficiently so, it
+is said, to have run completely over a ship in some extreme and fatal
+cases.  With ice of still more formidable dimensions a vessel would
+probably, by an equal degree of pressure, be absolutely crushed, in
+consequence of the increased difficulty of sinking it on one side, and
+causing it to rise on the other.
+
+_Sept. 9th_.—I shall doubtless be readily excused for not having entered
+in this journal a detailed narrative of the obstacles we met with, and of
+the unwearied exertions of the officers and men to overcome them, during
+the tedious eight weeks employed in crossing this barrier.  I have
+avoided this detail because, while it might appear an endeavour to
+magnify ordinary difficulties, which it is our business to overcome
+rather than to discuss, I am convinced that no description of mine, nor
+even the minute formality of the log-book, could convey an adequate idea
+of the truth.  The strain we constantly had occasion to heave on the
+hawsers, as springs to force the ships through the ice, was such as
+perhaps no ships ever before attempted; and by means of Phillips’s
+invaluable capstan, we often separated floes of such magnitude as must
+otherwise have baffled every effort.  In doing this, it was next to
+impossible to avoid exposing the men to very great risk from the frequent
+breaking of the hawsers.  On one occasion, three of the _Hecla’s_ seamen
+were knocked down as instantaneously as by a gunshot by the sudden
+flying-out of an anchor; and a marine of the _Fury_ suffered in a similar
+manner when working at the capstan; but, providentially, they all escaped
+with severe contusions.  A more serious accident occurred in the breaking
+of the spindle of the _Fury’s_ windlass, depriving her of the use of the
+windlass-end during the rest of the season.
+
+The constant besetment of the ships, and our daily observations for
+latitude and longitude, afforded a favourable opportunity for
+ascertaining precisely the set of any currents by which the whole body of
+ice might be actuated.  By attending very carefully to all the
+circumstances, it was evident that a daily set to the southward obtained,
+when the wind was northerly, differing in amount from two or three to
+eight or ten miles per day, according to the strength of the breeze; but
+a northerly current was equally apparent, and fully to the same amount,
+whenever the wind blew from the southward.  A circumstance more
+remarkable than these, however, forced itself strongly upon my notice at
+this time, which was, that a _westerly_ set was very frequently apparent,
+even against a fresh breeze blowing from that quarter.  I mention the
+circumstance in this place, because I may hereafter have to offer a
+remark or two on this fact in connection with some others of a similar
+nature noticed elsewhere.
+
+With respect to the dimensions of the ice through which we had now
+scrambled our way, principally by warping and towing a distance of
+between three and four hundred miles, I remarked that it for the most
+part increased, as well in the thickness as the extent of the floes, as
+we advanced westward about the parallel of 71°.  During our subsequent
+progress to the north, we also met with some of enormous dimensions,
+several of the floes, to which we applied our hawsers and the power of
+the improved capstan, being at their margin more than twenty feet above
+the level of the sea, and over some of these we could not see from the
+mast-head.  Upon the whole, however, the magnitude of the ice became
+somewhat less towards the north-west; and within thirty miles of that
+margin the masses were comparatively small, and their thickness much
+diminished.  Bergs were in sight during the whole passage; but they were
+more numerous towards the middle of the “pack,” and rather the most so to
+the southward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Enter Sir James Lancaster’s Sound—Land at Cape Warrender—Meet with young
+ice—Ships beset and carried near the shore—Driven back to Navy-board
+Inlet—Run to the westward, and enter Prince Regent’s Inlet—Arrival at
+Port Bowen.
+
+All our past obstacles were in a moment forgotten when we once more saw
+an open sea before us; but it must be confessed that it was not so easy
+to forget that the middle of September was already near at hand, without
+having brought us even to the entrance of Sir James Lancaster’s Sound.
+That not a moment might be lost, however, in pushing to the westward, a
+press of canvas was crowded, and being happily favoured with an easterly
+breeze, on the morning of the 10th of September we caught a glimpse of
+the high bold land on the north side of the magnificent inlet up which
+our course was once more to be directed.  From the time of our leaving
+the main body of ice we met with none of any kind, and the entrance to
+the Sound was, as usual, entirely free from it, except here and there a
+berg, floating about in that solitary grandeur of which these enormous
+masses, when occurring in the midst of an extensive sea, are calculated
+to convey so sublime an idea.
+
+On the morning of the 11th, the ships being taken a-back with a fresh
+westerly breeze when near Cape Warrender, I landed in a small bay close
+to the westward of it, accompanied by several of the officers, in order
+to examine the country, and to make the necessary observations.
+
+On the morning of the 12th we were once more favoured with a breeze from
+the eastward, but so light and unsteady that our progress was vexatiously
+slow; and on the 13th, when within seven leagues of Cape York, we had the
+mortification to perceive the sea ahead of us covered with young ice, the
+thermometer having for two days past ranged only from 18° to 20°.  On
+reaching it we had, as usual, recourse to “sallying,” breaking it with
+boats ahead, and various other expedients, all alike ineffectual without
+a fresh and free breeze furnishing a constant impetus; so that, after
+seven or eight hours of unsuccessful labour in this way, we were obliged
+to remain as we were, fairly and immovably beset.
+
+It now appeared high time to determine as to the propriety of still
+continuing our efforts to push to the westward or of returning to
+England, according to my instructions on that head under particular
+circumstances.  As the crossing of the ice in Baffin’s Bay had of itself
+unexpectedly occupied nearly the whole of one season, it could not, of
+course, be considered that the attempt to penetrate to the westward in
+the manner directed by their lordships had as yet been made, nor could
+it, indeed, be made during the present year.  I could not, therefore,
+have a moment’s hesitation as to the propriety of pushing on as far as
+the present season would permit, and then giving a fair trial during the
+whole of the next summer to the route I was directed by my instructions
+to pursue.  In order, however, to confirm my own opinion on this subject,
+I requested to be furnished with that of Captain Hoppner; and finding
+that his views entirely agreed with my own, I resolved still to pursue
+our object by all the means in our power.
+
+The next breeze sprang up from the westward, drawing also from the
+southward at times, out of Prince Regent’s Inlet, and for three days we
+were struggling with the young ice to little or no purpose, now and then
+gaining half a mile of ground to windward in a little “hole” of open
+water, then losing as much by the necessity of bearing up or wearing (for
+the ice was too strong to allow us to tack), sallying from morning to
+night with all hands, and with the watch at night, two boats constantly
+under the bows; and, after all, rather losing ground than otherwise,
+while the young ice was every hour increasing in thickness.
+
+On the 17th, when we had driven back rather to the eastward of Admiralty
+Inlet, an easterly breeze again enabled us to make some progress.  The
+sea was now for the most part covered with young ice, which had become so
+thick as to look white throughout its whole extent.  The holes of water
+could now, therefore, be more distinctly seen, and by taking advantage of
+these we succeeded in making a few miles of westing, the “leads” taking
+us more in-shore, towards Admiralty Inlet, than before.  Towards sunset
+we became more and more hampered, and were eventually beset during the
+night.  A breeze sprang up from the westward, which increasing to a fresh
+gale, we found ourselves at daylight far to the eastward, and also within
+two miles of the land, near a long low point, which on the former voyages
+had not been seen.  The sea was covered with ice between us and the
+shore, all of this year’s formation, but now of considerable thickness
+and formidable appearance.  The wind continuing strong, the whole body
+was constantly pressed in upon the land, bearing the ships along with it,
+and doubling one sheet over another, sometimes to a hundred thicknesses.
+We quickly shoaled the water from seventy to forty fathoms, the latter
+depth occurring about a mile from the beach; and after this we drifted
+but little, the ice being blocked up between the point and a high
+perpendicular berg lying aground off it.
+
+The sails being furled, and the top-gallant yards got down, we now
+considered ourselves fortunate in our situation; for had we been only a
+quarter of a mile farther out we should have been within the influence of
+a current that was there sweeping the whole body of ice to the eastward,
+at the rate of a mile and a half an hour.  Indeed, at times this current
+was disposed to approach us still nearer, carrying away pieces of ice
+close to our quarter; but by means of long hawsers, secured to the
+heaviest and most compact of the small floes in-shore of us, we contrived
+to hold on.  Under such circumstances, it evidently became expedient to
+endeavour, by sawing, to get the ships as close in-shore as possible, so
+as to secure them either to grounded ice or by anchoring within the
+shelter of a bay at no great distance inside of us; for it now seemed not
+unlikely that winter was about to put a premature stop to all further
+operations at sea for this season.  At all events it was necessary to
+consult the immediate safety of the ships, and to keep them from being
+drifted back to the eastward.  I therefore gave orders for endeavouring
+to get the ships in towards the bay by cutting through what level floes
+still remained.  At the same time an officer was despatched to examine
+the shore, which was found safe, with regular soundings in every part.
+So strong had been the pressure while the ice was forcing in upon us,
+that on the 20th, after liberating the _Hecla_ on one side, she was as
+firmly cemented to it on the other as after a winter’s formation, and we
+could only clear her by heavy and repeated “sallying.”  After cutting in
+two or three hundred yards, while the people were at dinner on the 21st,
+our canal closed, by the external pressure coming upon the parts which we
+had weakened, and in a few minutes the whole was once more in motion, or,
+as the seamen not inaptly expressed it, “alive,” mass doubling under
+mass, and raising those which were uppermost to a considerable height.
+The ice thus pressed together was now about ten feet in thickness in some
+places, and on an average not less than four or five, so that while thus
+forced in upon a ship, although soft in itself, it caused her to tremble
+exceedingly; a sensation, indeed, commonly experienced in forcing through
+young ice of considerable thickness.  We were now once more obliged to be
+quiet spectators of what was going on around us, having with extreme
+difficulty succeeded in saving most of our tools that were lying on the
+ice when the squeezing suddenly began.  Towards evening we made fast to a
+stationary floe, at the distance of one mile from the beach, in eighteen
+fathoms, where we remained tolerably quiet for the night, the ice outside
+of us, and as far as we could see, setting constantly at a great rate to
+the eastward.  Some of our gentlemen, who had landed in the course of the
+day, and who had to scramble their way on board over the ice in motion,
+described the bay as deeper than it appeared from the offing.  Dr. Neill
+“found, on such parts of the beach as were not covered with ice or snow,
+fragments of bituminous shale, flinty slate, and iron-stone, interspersed
+amongst a blue-coloured limestone gravel.  As far as he was able to
+travel inland, the surface was composed of secondary limestone, partially
+covered with a thin layer of calc-sinter.  From the scantiness of the
+vegetation here, the limestone seemed likely to contain a large
+proportion of magnesia.  Dr. Neill was about to examine for coal, which
+the formation led him to expect, when the ice was observed to be in
+motion, obliging him hastily to return on board.”  Lieutenant Ross
+“found, about two-thirds up a small peaked insulated hill of limestone,
+between three and four hundred feet above the level of the sea, several
+pieces of coal, which he found to burn with a clear bright flame,
+crackling much, and throwing off slaty splinters.”
+
+Hares’ burrows were numerous on this hill; Lieutenant Ross saw two of
+these animals, one of which he killed.  A fox was also observed in its
+summer dress; and these, with a pair of ravens, some wingless ducks, and
+several snow-buntings, were all the animals noticed at this place.
+
+A sudden motion of the ice on the morning of the 22nd, occasioned by a
+change of wind to the S.E., threatened to carry us directly off the land.
+It was now more than ever desirable to hold on, as this breeze was likely
+to clear the shore, and at the same time to give us a run to the
+westward.  Hawsers were therefore run out to the land-ice, composed of
+some heavy masses, almost on the beach.  With the _Hecla_ this succeeded,
+but the _Fury_, being much farther from the shore, soon began to move out
+with the whole body of ice, which, carrying her close to the large berg
+off the point, swept her round the latter, where, after great exertion,
+Captain Hoppner succeeded in getting clear, and then made sail to beat
+back to us.  In the meantime the strain put upon the _Hecla’s_ hawsers
+being too great for them, they snapped one after another, and a
+bower-anchor was let go as a last resource.  It was one of Hawkins’s,
+with the double fluke, and immediately brought up, not merely the ship,
+but a large floe of young ice, which had just broken our stream-cable.
+All hands were sent upon the floe to cut it up ahead, and the whole
+operation was a novel and, at times, a fearful one; for the ice, being
+weakened by the cutting, would suddenly gather fresh way astern, carrying
+men and tools with it, while the chain-cable continued to plough through
+it in a manner which gave one the idea of something alive, and
+continually renewing its attacks.  The anchor held surprisingly, and
+after this tremendous strain had been put upon it for above an hour, we
+had fairly cut the floe in two, and the ship was riding in clear water
+about half a mile from the shore.
+
+I was now in hopes we should have made some progress, for a large channel
+of clear water was left open in-shore; a breeze blew off the land, and
+the temperature of the atmosphere had again risen considerably.  We had
+not sailed five miles, however, when a westerly wind took us aback, and a
+most dangerous swell set directly upon the shore, obliging me immediately
+to stand off the land; and the _Fury_ being still to the eastward of the
+point, I ran round it, in order to rejoin her before sunset.  The current
+was here setting very fast to the eastward, not less, I think, in some
+places, than two miles an hour, so that, even in a clear sea, we had
+little chance of stemming it, much less beset as we were in young ice
+during an unusually dark night of nine or ten hours’ duration, with a
+heavy fall of snow.  The consequence was, that when we made the land on
+the morning of the 23rd, we had been drifted the incredible distance of
+eight or nine leagues during the night, finding ourselves off the
+Wollaston Islands at the entrance of Navy Board Inlet.  We stood in under
+the islands to look for anchorage during the night, but the water being
+everywhere too deep close to the shore, we made fast at sunset to some
+very heavy ice upon a point, which we took to be the main land, but which
+Captain Hoppner afterwards found to be upon one of the islands, which are
+at least four in number.
+
+After midnight on the 27th the wind began to moderate, and by degrees
+also drew more to the southward than before.  At daylight, therefore, we
+found ourselves seven or eight miles from the land; but no ice was in
+sight, except the “sludge,” of honey-like consistence, with which almost
+the whole sea was covered.  A strong blink, extending along the eastern
+horizon, pointed out the position of the main body of ice, which was
+farther distant from the eastern shore of the inlet than I ever saw it.
+Being assisted by a fine working breeze, which at the same time prevented
+the formation of any more ice to obstruct us, we made considerable
+progress along the land, and at noon were nearly abreast of Jackson
+Inlet, which we now saw to be considerably larger than our distant view
+of it on the former voyage had led us to suppose.  We found also that
+what at a distance appeared an island in the entrance was in reality a
+dark-looking rocky hill, on the south side.  A few more tacks brought us
+to the entrance of Port Bowen, which for two or three days past I had
+determined to make our wintering-place, if, as there was but little
+reason to expect, we should be so fortunate as to push the ships thus
+far.  My reasons for coming to this determination, in which Captain
+Hoppner’s opinion also served to confirm me, will be sufficiently
+gathered from the operations of the preceding fortnight, which convinced
+me that the precarious chance of making a few miles’ more progress could
+no longer be suffered to weigh against the evident risk now attending
+further attempts at navigation: a risk not confined to the mere exposure
+of the ships to imminent danger, or the hazard of being shut out of a
+winter harbour, but to one which, I may be permitted to say, we all
+dreaded as much as these—the too obvious probability of our once more
+being driven back to the eastward, should we again become hampered in the
+young ice.  Joining to this the additional consideration that no known
+place of security existed to the southward on this coast, I had not the
+smallest hesitation in availing myself of the present opportunity to get
+the ships into harbour.  Beating up, therefore, to Port Bowen, we found
+it filled with “old” and “hummocky” ice, attached to the shores on both
+sides, as low down as about three-quarters of a mile below Stoney Island.
+Here we made fast in sixty-two fathoms of water, running our hawsers far
+in upon the ice, in case of its breaking off at the margin.
+
+On entering Port Bowen, I was forcibly struck with the circumstance of
+the cliffs on the south side of the harbour being, in many places,
+covered with a layer of blue transparent-looking ice, occasioned
+undoubtedly by the snow partially thawing there, and then being arrested
+by the frost, and presenting a feature very indicative of the late cold
+summer.  The same thing was observed on all the land to which we made a
+near approach on the south side of Barrow’s Strait this season,
+especially about Cape York and Eardley Bay; but as we had never been
+close to these parts of the shore in 1819, it did not occur to me as
+anything new or worthy of notice.  At Port Bowen, however, which in that
+year was closely examined, I am quite certain that no such thing was to
+be seen, even in the month of August, the cliffs being then quite clear
+of snow, except here and there a patch of drift.
+
+Late as we had this year been (about the middle of October) in reaching
+Sir James Lancaster’s Sound, there would still have been time for a ship
+engaged in a whale-fishery to have reaped a tolerable harvest, as we met
+with a number of whales in every part of it, and even as far as the
+entrance of Port Bowen.  The number registered altogether in our journals
+is between twenty and thirty, but I have no doubt that many more than
+these were seen, and that a ship expressly on the look-out for them would
+have found full occupation for her boats.  Several which came near us
+were of large and “payable” dimensions.  I confess, however, that had I
+been within the Sound, in a whaler, towards the close of so unfavourable
+a season as this, with the young ice forming so rapidly on the whole
+extent of the sea, I should not have been disposed to persevere in the
+fishery under circumstances so precarious, and to a ship unprepared for a
+winter involving such evident risk.  It is probable, however, that on the
+outside the formation of young ice would have been much retarded by the
+swell; and I am inclined to believe that a season so unfavourable as this
+will be found of rare occurrence.
+
+We observed a great many narwhals in different parts of Barrow’s Strait,
+and a few walruses, and should perhaps have seen many more of both, but
+for the continual presence of the young ice.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Winter Arrangements—Improvements in Warming and Ventilating the
+Ships—Masquerades adopted as an Amusement to the Men—Establishment of
+Schools—Astronomical Observations—Meteorological Phenomena.
+
+_October_.—Our present winter arrangements so closely resembled, in
+general, those before adopted, that a fresh description of them here
+would prove little more than a repetition of that already contained in
+the narratives of our former voyages.  On each succeeding occasion,
+however, some improvements were made which, for the benefit of those
+hereafter engaged in similar enterprises, it may be proper to record.
+For all those whose lot it may be to succeed us, sooner or later, in
+these inhospitable regions, may be assured that it is only by rigid and
+unremitted attention to these and numberless other “little things” that
+they can hope to enjoy the good state of health which, under the Divine
+blessing, it has always been our happiness, in so extraordinary a degree,
+to experience.
+
+In the description I shall offer of the appearances of nature, and of the
+various occurrences, during this winter, I know not how I can do better
+than pursue a method similar to that heretofore practised, by confining
+myself rather to the pointing out of any difference observed in them now
+and formerly, than by entering on a fresh description of the actual
+phenomena.  To those who read, as well as to those who describe, the
+account of a winter passed in these regions can no longer be expected to
+afford the interest of novelty it once possessed; more especially in a
+station already delineated with tolerable geographical precision on our
+maps, and thus, as it were, brought near to our firesides at home.
+Independently, indeed, of this circumstance, it is hard to conceive any
+one thing more like another than two winters passed in the higher
+latitudes of the Polar regions, except when variety happens to be
+afforded by intercourse with some other branch of “the whole family of
+man.”  Winter after winter, nature here assumes an aspect so much alike,
+that cursory observation can scarcely detect a single feature of variety.
+The winter of more temperate climates, and even in some of no slight
+severity, is occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once gives
+variety and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect.  But here, when
+once the earth is covered, all is dreary, monotonous whiteness—not merely
+for days or weeks, but for more than half a year together.  Whichever way
+the eye is turned, it meets a picture calculated to impress upon the mind
+an idea of inanimate stillness, of that motionless torpor with which our
+feelings have nothing congenial; of anything, in short, but life.  In the
+very silence there is a deadness with which a human spectator appears out
+of keeping.  The presence of man seems an intrusion on the dreary
+solitude of this wintry desert, which even its native animals have for
+awhile forsaken.
+
+As this general description of the aspect of nature would suit alike each
+winter we have passed in the ice, so also, with very little variation,
+might our limited catalogue of occurrences and adventures serve equally
+for any one of those seasons.  Creatures of circumstance, we act and feel
+as we did before on every like occasion, and as others will probably do
+after us in the same situation.  Whatever difference time or events may
+have wrought in individual feelings, and however different the
+occupations which those feelings may have suggested, they are not such
+as, without impertinence, can be intruded upon others; with these “the
+stranger intermeddleth not.”  I am persuaded, therefore, that I shall be
+excused in sparing the dulness of another winter’s diary, and confining
+myself exclusively to those facts which appear to possess any scientific
+interest, to the few incidents which did diversify our confinement, and
+to such remarks as may contribute to the health and comfort of any future
+sojourners in these dreary regions.
+
+It may well be supposed that, in this climate, the principal desideratum
+which art is called upon to furnish for the promotion of health, is
+warmth, as well in the external air as in the inhabited apartments.
+Exposure to a cold atmosphere, when the body is well clothed, produces no
+bad effect whatever beyond a frost-bitten cheek, nose, or finger.  As for
+any injury to healthy lungs from the breathing of cold air, or from
+sudden changes from this into a warm atmosphere, or _vice versâ_, it may
+with much confidence be asserted that, with due attention to external
+clothing, there is nothing in this respect to be apprehended.  This
+inference, at least, would appear legitimate, from the fact that our
+crews, consisting of one hundred and twenty persons, have for four
+winters been constantly undergoing, for months together, a change of from
+eighty to a hundred degrees of temperature, in the space of time required
+for opening two doors (perhaps less than half a minute), without
+incurring any pulmonary complaints at all.  Nor is a covering for the
+mouth at all necessary under these circumstances, though to most persons
+very conducive to comfort; for some individuals, from extreme dislike to
+the condensation and freezing of the breath about the “comforter”
+generally used for this purpose, have never worn any such defence for the
+mouth; and this without the slightest injurious effect or uncomfortable
+feeling beyond that of a cold face, which becomes comparatively trifling
+by habit.
+
+In speaking of the external clothing sufficient for health in this
+climate, it must be confessed that, in severe exposure, quite a load of
+woollen clothes, even of the best quality, is insufficient to retain a
+comfortable degree of warmth; a strong breeze carrying it off so rapidly
+that the sensation is that of the cold piercing through the body.  A
+jacket made very long, like those called by seamen “pea-jackets,” and
+lined with fur throughout, would be more effectual than twice the weight
+of woollen clothes, and is indeed almost weather-proof.  For the
+prevention of lumbago, to which our seamen are especially liable, from
+their well-known habit of leaving their loins imperfectly clothed, every
+man should be strictly obliged to wear, under his outer clothes, a canvas
+belt a foot broad, lined with flannel, and having straps to go over the
+shoulder.
+
+It is certain, however, that no precautions in clothing are sufficient to
+maintain health during a Polar winter, without a due degree of warmth in
+the apartments we inhabit.  Most persons are apt to associate with the
+idea of warmth, something like the comfort derived from a good fire on a
+winter’s evening at home; but in these regions the case is inconceivably
+different: here it is not simple comfort, but health, and therefore
+ultimately life, that depends upon it.  The want of a constant supply of
+warmth is here immediately followed by a condensation of all the
+moisture, whether from the breath, victuals, or other sources, into
+abundant drops of water, very rapidly forming on all the coldest parts of
+the deck.  A still lower temperature modifies, and perhaps improves the
+annoyance by converting it into ice, which again an occasional increase
+of warmth dissolves into water.  Nor is this the amount of the evil,
+though it is the only visible part of it; for not only is a moist
+atmosphere thus incessantly kept up, but it is rendered stagnant also by
+the want of that ventilation which warmth alone can furnish.  With an
+apartment in this state, the men’s clothes and bedding are continually in
+a moist and unwholesome condition, generating a deleterious air, which
+there is no circulation to carry off; and whenever these circumstances
+combine for any length of time together, so surely may the scurvy, to say
+nothing of other diseases, be confidently expected to exhibit itself.
+
+With a strong conviction of these facts, arising from the extreme anxiety
+with which I have been accustomed to watch every minute circumstance
+connected with the health of our people, it may be conceived how highly I
+must appreciate any means that can be devised to counteract effects so
+pernicious.  Such means have been completely furnished by Mr. Sylvester’s
+warming apparatus—a contrivance of which I scarcely know how to express
+my admiration in adequate terms.  The alteration adopted on this voyage,
+of placing this stove in the very bottom of the hold, produced not only
+the effect naturally to be expected from it, of increasing the rapidity
+of the current of warm air, and thus carrying it to all the officers’
+cabins with less loss of heat in its passage; but was also accompanied by
+an advantage scarcely less important, which had _not_ been anticipated.
+This was the perfect and uniform warmth maintained during the winter in
+both cable-tiers, which, when cleared of all the stores, gave us another
+habitable deck, on which more than one-third of the men’s hammocks were
+berthed, thus affording to the ships’ companies, during seven or eight
+months of the year, the indescribable comfort of nearly twice the space
+for their beds, and twice the volume of air to breathe in.  It need
+scarcely be added, how conducive to wholesome ventilation, and to the
+prevention of moisture below, such an arrangement proved; suffice it to
+say, that we have never before been so free from moisture, and that I
+cannot but chiefly attribute to this apparatus the unprecedented good
+state of health we enjoyed during this winter.
+
+Every attention was, as usual, paid to the occupation and diversion of
+the men’s minds, as well as to the regularity of their bodily exercise.
+Our former amusements being almost worn threadbare, it required some
+ingenuity to devise any plan that should possess the charm of novelty to
+recommend it.  This purpose was completely answered, however, by a
+proposal of Captain Hoppner, to attempt a masquerade, in which officers
+and men should alike take part, but which, without imposing any restraint
+whatever, would leave every one to their own choice, whether to join in
+this diversion or not.  It is impossible that any idea could have proved
+more happy or more exactly suited to our situation.  Admirably dressed
+characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and many of
+these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine humour which
+would not have disgraced a more refined assembly; while the latter might
+not have disdained, and would not have been disgraced by copying the good
+order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades
+presented.  It does especial credit to the dispositions and good sense of
+our men that, though all the officers entered fully into the spirit of
+these amusements, which took place once a month alternately on board each
+ship, no instance occurred of anything that could interfere with the
+regular discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men towards their
+superiors.  Ours were masquerades without licentiousness—carnivals
+without excess.
+
+But an occupation not less assiduously pursued, and of infinitely more
+eventual benefit, was furnished by the re-establishment of our schools,
+under the voluntary superintendence of my friend Mr. Hooper in the
+_Hecla_, and of Mr. Mogg in the _Fury_.  By the judicious zeal of Mr.
+Hooper, the _Hecla’s_ school was made subservient, not merely to the
+improvement of the men in reading and writing (in which, however, their
+progress was surprisingly great), but also to the cultivation of that
+religious feeling which so essentially improves the character of a
+seaman, by furnishing the highest motives for increased attention to
+every other duty.  Nor was the benefit confined to the eighteen or twenty
+individuals whose want of scholarship brought them to the school-table,
+but extended itself to the rest of the ship’s company, making the whole
+lower-deck such a scene of quiet, rational occupation as I never before
+witnessed on board a ship.  And I do not speak lightly, when I express my
+thorough persuasion that to the moral effects thus produced upon the
+minds of the men were owing, in a very high degree, the constant yet
+sober cheerfulness, the uninterrupted good order, and even, in some
+measure, the extraordinary state of health which prevailed among us
+during this winter.
+
+Immediately after the ships were finally secured, we erected the
+observatory on shore, and commenced our arrangements for the various
+observations to which our attention was to be directed during the winter.
+The interest of these, especially of such as related to magnetism,
+increased so much as we proceeded, that the neighbourhood of the
+observatory assumed ere long almost the appearance of a scattered
+village, the number of detached houses, having various needles set up in
+them, soon amounting to seven or eight.
+
+The extreme facility with which sounds are heard at a considerable
+distance in severely cold weather has often been a subject of remark; but
+a circumstance occurred at Port Bowen which deserves to be noticed, as
+affording a sort of measure of this facility, or at least conveying to
+others some definite idea of the fact.  Lieutenant Foster, having
+occasion to send a man from the observatory to the opposite shore of the
+harbour, a measured distance of 6696 feet, or about one statute mile and
+two-tenths, in order to fix a meridian mark, had placed a second person
+half-way between to repeat his directions; but he found, on trial, that
+this precaution was unnecessary, as he could without difficulty keep up a
+conversation with the man at the distant station.  The thermometer was at
+this time -18°, the barometer 30.14 inches, and the weather nearly calm,
+and quite clear and serene.
+
+The meteorological phenomena observed during this winter, like most of
+its other occurrences, differed so little in character from those noticed
+on the former voyages, as to render a separate description of each wholly
+unnecessary.
+
+This winter certainly afforded but few brilliant displays of the Aurora.
+The following notice includes all that appear to me to require a separate
+description.
+
+Late on the night of the 21st of December the phenomenon appeared
+partially, and with a variable light, in different parts of the southern
+sky for several hours.  At seven on the following morning it became more
+brilliant and stationary, describing a well-defined arch, extending from
+the E.S.E. horizon to that at W.N.W., and passing through the zenith.  A
+very faint arch was also visible on each side of this, appearing to
+diverge from the same points in the horizon, and separating to twenty
+degrees distance in the zenith.  It remained thus for twenty minutes,
+when the coruscations from each arch met, and after a short but brilliant
+display of light, gradually died away.  Early on the morning of the 15th
+of January, 1825, the Aurora broke out to the southward, and continued
+variable for three hours, between a N.W. and S.E. bearing.  From three to
+four o’clock the whole horizon, from south to west, was brilliantly
+illuminated, the light being continuous almost throughout the whole
+extent, and reaching several degrees in height.  Very bright vertical
+rays were constantly shooting upwards from the general mass.  At
+half-past five it again became so brilliant as to attract particular
+notice, describing two arches passing in an east and west direction, very
+near the zenith, with bright coruscations issuing from it; but the whole
+gradually disappeared with the returning dawn.  At dusk the same evening,
+the Aurora again appeared in the southern quarter, and continued visible
+nearly the whole night, but without any remarkable feature.
+
+About midnight on the 27th of January, this phenomenon broke out in a
+single compact mass of brilliant yellow light, situated about a S.E.
+bearing, and appearing only a short distance above the land.  This mass
+of light, notwithstanding its general continuity, sometimes appeared to
+be evidently composed of numerous pencils of rays, compressed, as it
+were, laterally into one, its limits both to the right and left being
+well defined and nearly vertical.  The light, though very bright at all
+times, varied almost constantly in intensity, and this had the appearance
+(not an uncommon one in the Aurora) of being produced by one volume of
+light overlaying another, just as we see the darkness and density of
+smoke increased by cloud rolling over cloud.  While Lieutenants Sherer
+and Ross, and myself, were admiring the extreme beauty of this phenomenon
+from the observatory, we all simultaneously uttered an exclamation of
+surprise at seeing a bright ray of the Aurora shoot suddenly downward
+from the general mass of light, and between us and the land, which was
+there distant only three thousand yards.  Had I witnessed this phenomenon
+by myself, I should have been disposed to receive with caution the
+evidence even of my own senses, as to this last fact; but the appearance
+conveying precisely the same idea to three individuals at once, all
+intently engaged in looking towards the spot, I have no doubt that the
+ray of light actually passed within that distance of us.
+
+About one o’clock on the morning of the 23rd of February, the Aurora
+again appeared over the hills in a south direction, presenting a
+brilliant mass of light, very similar to that just described.  The
+rolling motion of the light laterally was here also very striking, as
+well as the increase of its intensity thus occasioned.  The light
+occupied horizontally about a point of the compass, and extended in
+height scarcely a degree above the land, which seemed, however, to
+conceal from us a part of the phenomenon.  It was always evident enough
+that the most attenuated light of the Aurora sensibly dimmed the stars,
+like a thin veil drawn over them.  We frequently listened for any sound
+proceeding from this phenomenon, but never heard any.  Our
+variation-needles, which were extremely light, suspended in the most
+delicate manner, and from the weak directive energy susceptible of being
+acted upon by a very slight disturbing force, were never in a single
+instance sensibly affected by the Aurora, which could scarcely fail to
+have been observed at some time or other, had any such disturbance taken
+place, the needles being visited every hour for several months, and
+oftener, when anything occurred to make it desirable.
+
+The meteors called Falling-stars were much more frequent during this
+winter than we ever before saw them, and particularly during the month of
+December.  On the 8th, at a quarter past seven in the evening, a
+particularly large and brilliant meteor of this kind fell in the S.S.W.,
+the weather being very fine and clear overhead, but hazy near the
+horizon.  On the following day, between four and five P.M., another very
+brilliant one was observed in the north, falling from an altitude of
+about thirty-five degrees till lost behind the land; the weather was at
+this time clear and serene, and no remarkable change took place.  On the
+12th, no less than five meteors of this kind were observed in a quarter
+of an hour, and as these were attended with some remarkable
+circumstances, I shall here give the account furnished me by Mr. Ross,
+who with Mr. Bell observed these phenomena.  “From seven to nine P.M. the
+wind suddenly increased from a moderate breeze to a strong gale from the
+southward.  At ten it began to moderate a little; the haze, which had for
+several hours obscured every star, gradually sinking towards the horizon,
+and by eleven o’clock the whole atmosphere was extremely clear above the
+altitude of five or six degrees.  The thermometer also fell from -5° to
+-9° as the haze cleared away.  At a quarter past eleven my attention was
+directed by Mr. Bell to some meteors which he observed, and in less than
+a quarter of an hour five were seen.  The two first, noticed only by Mr.
+Bell, fell in quick succession, probably not more than two minutes apart.
+The third appeared about eight minutes after these, and exceeded in
+brilliancy any of the surrounding stars.  It took a direction from near β
+Tauri, and passing slowly towards the Pleiades, left behind it sparks
+like the tail of a rocket, these being visible for a few seconds after
+the meteor appeared to break, which it did close to the Pleiades.  The
+fourth meteor made its appearance very near the same place as the last,
+and about five minutes after it.  Taking the course of those seen by Mr.
+Bell, it passed to the eastward, and disappeared half way between β Tauri
+and Gemini.  The fifth of these meteors was seen to the eastward, passing
+through a space of about five degrees from north to south parallel to the
+horizon, and moving along the upper part of the cloud of haze which still
+extended to the altitude of five or six degrees.  It was more dim than
+the rest, and of a red colour like Aldebaran.  The third of these meteors
+was the only one that left a tail behind it, as above described.  There
+was a faint appearance of the Aurora to the westward near the horizon.
+
+On the 14th of December several very bright meteors were observed to fall
+between the hours of five and six in the evening, at which time the wind
+freshened from the N.W. by N. in a very remarkable manner.  On this
+occasion, as well as on the 12th of December, there appeared to be an
+evident coincidence between the occurrence of the meteors and the changes
+of the weather at the time.
+
+Particular attention was paid to the changes in the barometer during this
+winter, to which much encouragement was given by the excellence of the
+instruments with which we were now furnished.  The times of register at
+sea had been three and nine, A.M. and P.M.; those hours having been
+recommended as the most proper for detecting any horary oscillations of
+the mercurial column.  When we were fixed for the winter, and our
+attention could be more exclusively devoted to scientific objects, the
+register was extended to four and ten, and subsequently to five and
+eleven o’clock.  The most rigid attention to the observation and
+correction of the column, during several months, discovered an
+oscillation amounting only to ten thousandth-parts of an inch.  The times
+of the maximum and minimum altitude appear, however, decidedly to lean to
+four and ten o’clock, and to follow a law directly the reverse, as to
+time, of that found to obtain in temperate climates, the column being
+highest at four, and lowest at ten o’clock, both A.M. and P.M.
+
+The barometer did not appear to indicate beforehand the changes of the
+weather with any degree of certainty.  Indeed the remark that we had
+always before made, that alterations in the mercurial column more
+frequently accompany than precede the visible changes of weather in these
+regions, was equally true of our present experience; but on one or two
+occasions hard gales of considerable duration occurred without the
+barometer falling at all below the mean altitude of the column in these
+regions, or even rose steadily during the continuance of the gale.
+During one week of almost constant blowing weather, and two days of very
+violent gales from the eastward, in the month of April, the barometer
+remained considerably above thirty inches the whole time.  It is
+necessary for me here to remark that the unusual proportion of easterly
+winds registered in our journals during this winter must, in my opinion,
+be attributed to the local situation of our winter-quarters, which alone
+appears to me sufficient to account for the anomaly.  The lands on each
+side of Port Bowen, running nearly east and west, and rising to a height
+of six to nine hundred feet above the sea, with deep and broad ravines
+intersecting the country in almost every direction, may be supposed to
+have had considerable influence on the direction of the wind.  In
+confirmation of this supposition, indeed, it was usually noticed that the
+easterly winds were with us attended with clear weather, while the
+contrary obtained with almost every breeze from the west and north-west,
+thus reversing in this respect also the usual order of things.  It was
+moreover observed that the clouds were frequently coming from the
+north-west, when the wind in Port Bowen was easterly.  I must, however,
+except the gales we experienced from the eastward, which were probably
+strong enough to overcome any local deflection to which a light breeze
+would be subject; and indeed these were always accompanied with overcast
+weather and a high thermometer.  After the middle of October the gales of
+wind were very few till towards the middle of April, when we experienced
+more blowing weather than during the whole winter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Meteorological Phenomena continued—Re-equipment of the Ships—Several
+Journeys undertaken—Open Water in the Offing—Commence sawing a Canal to
+liberate the Ships—Disruption of the Ice—Departure from Port Bowen.
+
+The height of the land about Port Bowen deprived us longer than usual of
+the sun’s presence above our horizon.  Some of our gentlemen, indeed, who
+ascended a high hill for the purpose, caught a glimpse of him on the 2nd
+of February; on the 15th it became visible at the observatory, but at the
+ships not till the 22nd, after an absence of one hundred and twenty-one
+days.  It is very long after the sun’s reappearance in these regions,
+however, that the effect of his rays, as to warmth, becomes perceptible;
+week passes after week with scarcely any rise in the thermometer except
+for an hour or two during the day; and it is at this period more than any
+other, perhaps, that the lengthened duration of a polar winter’s cold is
+most wearisome, and creates the most impatience.  Towards the third week
+in March, thin flakes of snow lying upon black painted wood or metal, and
+exposed to the sun’s direct rays in a sheltered situation, readily
+melted.  In the second week of April any very light covering of sand or
+ashes upon the snow close to the ships might be observed to make its way
+downward into holes; but a coat of sand laid upon the unsheltered ice, to
+the distance of about two-thirds of a mile, for dissolving a canal to
+hasten our liberation, produced no such sensible effect till the
+beginning of May.  Even then the dissolution was very trifling till about
+the first week in June, when pools of water began to make their
+appearance, and not long after this a small boat would have floated down
+it.  On shore the effect is in general still more tardy, though some
+deception is there occasioned by the dissolution of the snow next the
+ground, while its upper surface is to all appearance undergoing little or
+no change.  Thus a greater alteration is sometimes produced in the aspect
+of the land by a single warm day in an advanced part of the season than
+in many weeks preceding, in consequence of the last crust of snow being
+dissolved, leaving the ground at length entirely bare.  We could now
+perceive the snow beginning to leave the stones from day to day as early
+as the last week in April.  Towards the end of May a great deal of snow
+was dissolved daily, but owing to the porous nature of the ground, which
+absorbed it as fast as it was formed, it was not easy to procure water
+for drinking on shore, even as late as the 10th of June.  In the ravines,
+however, it could be heard trickling under stones before that time, and
+about the 18th, many considerable streams were formed, and constantly
+running both night and day.  After this, the thawing proceeded at an
+inconceivably rapid rate, the whole surface of the floes being covered
+with large pools of water rapidly increasing in size and depth.
+
+We observed nothing extraordinary with respect to the sun’s light about
+the shortest day; but as early as the 20th of November Arcturus could
+very plainly be distinguished by the naked eye, when near the south
+meridian at noon.  About the first week in April the reflection of light
+from the snow became so strong as to create inflammation in the eyes, and
+notwithstanding the usual precaution of wearing black crape veils during
+exposure, several cases of snow-blindness occurred shortly afterwards.
+
+There are perhaps few things more difficult to obtain than a comparative
+measure of the quantity of snow that falls at different places, owing to
+the facility with which the wind blows it off a smooth surface, such as a
+floe of level ice, and the collection occasioned by drift in consequence
+of the smallest obstruction.  Thus, its mean depth at Port Bowen,
+measured in twenty different places on the smooth ice of the harbour, was
+three inches on the 5th of April, and on the 1st of May it had only
+increased to four and a half inches, while an immense bank, fourteen feet
+deep, had formed on one side of the _Hecla_, occasioned by the heavy
+drifts.  The crystals were, as usual, extremely minute during the
+continuance of the cold weather, and more or less of these were always
+falling, even on the clearest days.
+
+The animals seen at Port Bowen may now be briefly noticed.  The principal
+of those seen during the winter were bears, of which we killed twelve,
+from October to June, being more than during all the other voyages taken
+together; and several others were seen.  One of these animals was near
+proving fatal to a seaman of the _Fury_, who, having straggled from his
+companions, when at the top of a high hill saw a large bear coming
+towards him.  Being unarmed, he prudently made off, taking off his boots
+to enable him to run the faster, but not so prudently precipitated
+himself over an almost perpendicular cliff, down which he was said to
+have rolled or fallen several hundred feet; here he was met by some of
+the people in so lacerated a condition as to be in a very dangerous state
+for some time after.
+
+A she-bear, killed in the open water on our first arrival at Port Bowen,
+afforded a striking instance of maternal affection in her anxiety to save
+her two cubs.  She might herself easily have escaped the boat, but would
+not forsake her young, which she was actually “towing” off by allowing
+them to rest on her back, when the boat came near them.  A second similar
+instance occurred in the spring, when two cubs having got down into a
+large crack in the ice their mother placed herself before them, so as to
+secure them from the attacks of our people, which she might easily have
+avoided herself.
+
+This unusual supply of bear’s flesh was particularly serviceable as food
+for the Esquimaux dogs we had brought out, and which were always at work
+in a sledge; especially as, during the winter, our number was increased
+by the birth of six others of these useful animals.
+
+One or two foxes (_Canis Lagopus_) were killed, and four caught in traps
+during the winter, weighing from four pounds and three-quarters to three
+pounds and three-quarters.  The colour of one of these animals, which
+lived for some time on board the _Fury_ and became tolerably tame, was
+nearly pure white till the month of May, when he shed his winter-coat and
+became of a dirty chocolate colour, with two or three light brown spots.
+Only three hares (_Lepus Variabilis_) were killed from October to June,
+weighing from six to eight pounds and three-quarters.  Their fur was
+extremely thick, soft, and of the most beautiful whiteness imaginable.
+We saw no deer near Port Bowen at any season, neither were we visited by
+their enemies the wolves.  A single ermine and a few mice (_Mus
+Hudsonius_) complete, I believe, our scanty list of quadrupeds at this
+desolate and unproductive place.
+
+Of birds, we had a flock or two of ducks occasionally flying about the
+small lanes of open water in the offing, as late as the 3rd of October;
+but none from that time to the beginning of June, and then only a single
+pair was occasionally seen.  A very few grouse were met with also after
+our arrival at Port Bowen; a single specimen was obtained on the 23rd of
+December, and another on the 18th of February.  They again made their
+appearance towards the end of March, and in less than a month about two
+hundred were killed; after which we scarcely saw another, for what reason
+we could not conjecture, except that they might possibly be on their way
+to the northward, and that the utter barrenness of the land about Port
+Bowen afforded no inducement for their remaining in our neighbourhood.
+
+Lieutenant Ross, who paid great attention to ornithology, remarked that
+the grouse met with here are of three kinds, namely, the ptarmigan
+(_Tetrao Lagopus_), the rock-grouse, (_Tetrao Rupestris_), and the
+willow-partridge (_Tetrao Albus_).  Of these only the two former were
+seen in the spring, and by far the greater number killed were of the
+first-mentioned species.  They usually had in their maws the leaves of
+the _Dryas Integrifolia_, buds of the _Saxifraga Oppositifolia_, _Salix
+Arctica_, and _Draba Alpina_, the quantities being according to the order
+in which the plants have here been named.  A few leaves also of the
+_Polygonum Viviparum_ were found in one or two specimens.  The
+snow-bunting, with its sprightly note, was, as usual, one of our earliest
+visitants in the spring; but these were few in number and remained only a
+short time.  A very few sand-pipers were also seen, and now and then one
+or two glaucous, ivory, and kittiwake gulls.  A pair of ravens appeared
+occasionally during the whole winter here, as at most of our former
+winter stations.
+
+With a view to extend our geographical knowledge as much as our means
+permitted, three land journeys were undertaken as soon as the weather was
+sufficiently warm for procuring any water.  The first party, consisting
+of six men, under Captain Hoppner, were instructed to travel to the
+eastward, to endeavour to reach the sea in that direction and to discover
+the communication which probably exists there with Admiralty Inlet, so as
+to determine the extent of that portion of insular land on which Port
+Bowen is situated.  They returned on the 14th, after a very fatiguing
+journey, and having with difficulty travelled a degree and three-quarters
+to the eastward of the ships, in latitude 73° 19′, from which position no
+appearance of the sea could be perceived.  Captain Hoppner described the
+ravines as extremely difficult to pass, many of them being four or five
+hundred feet deep and very precipitous.  These being numerous and running
+chiefly in a north and south direction, appearing to empty themselves
+into Jackson’s Inlet, preclude the possibility of performing a quick
+journey to the eastward.  During the whole fortnight’s excursion scarcely
+a patch of vegetation could be seen.  Indeed, the hills were so covered
+in most parts with soft and deep snow that a spot could seldom be found
+on which to pitch their tent.  A few snow-buntings and some ivory gulls
+were all the animals they met with to enliven this most barren and
+desolate country; and nothing was observed in the geological character
+differing from that about Port Bowen.
+
+In the bed of one of the ravines Captain Hoppner noticed some immense
+masses of rock, thirty or forty tons in weight, which had recently fallen
+from above, and he also passed over several avalanches of snow piled to a
+vast height across it.
+
+The two other parties, consisting of four men each, under the respective
+commands of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross, were directed to travel, the
+former to the southward, and the latter to the northward, along the coast
+of Prince Regent’s Inlet, for the purpose of surveying it accurately, and
+of obtaining observations for the longitude and variation at the stations
+formerly visited by us on the 7th and 15th of August, 1819.  I was also
+very anxious to ascertain the state of the ice to the northward to enable
+me to form some judgment as to the probable time of our liberation.
+
+These parties found the travelling along shore so good as to enable them
+not only to reach those spots, but to extend their journeys far beyond
+them.  Lieutenant Ross returning on the 15th, brought the welcome
+intelligence of the sea being perfectly open and free from ice at the
+distance of twenty-two miles to the northward of Port Bowen, by which I
+concluded—what, indeed, had long before been a matter of probable
+conjecture,—that Barrow’s Strait was not permanently frozen during the
+winter.  From the tops of the hills about Cape York, beyond which
+promontory Lieutenant Ross travelled, no appearance of ice could be
+distinguished.  Innumerable ducks, chiefly of the king, eider, and
+long-tailed species, were flying about near the margin of the ice,
+besides dovekies, looms, and glaucous, kittiwake, and ivory gulls.
+Lieutenant Sherer returned to the ships on the evening of the 15th,
+having performed a rapid journey as far as 72¼°, and making an accurate
+survey of the whole coast to that distance.  In the course of this
+journey a great many remains of Esquimaux habitations were seen, and
+these were much more numerous on the southern part of the coast.  In a
+grave which Lieutenant Sherer opened, in order to form some idea whether
+the Esquimaux had lately been here, he found the body apparently quite
+fresh; but as this might in a northern climate remain the case for a
+number of years, and as our board erected in 1819 was still standing
+untouched and in good order, it is certain these people had not been here
+since our former visit.  Less numerous traces of the Esquimaux, and of
+older date, occur near Port Bowen and in Lieutenant Ross’s route along
+shore to the northward, and a few of the remains of habitations were
+those used as winter residences.  I have since regretted that Lieutenant
+Sherer was not furnished with more provisions and a larger party to have
+enabled him to travel round Cape Kater, which is probably not far distant
+from some of the northern Esquimaux stations mentioned in my Journal of
+the preceding voyage.
+
+Towards the end of June, the dovekies (_Colymbus Grylle_) were extremely
+numerous in the cracks of the ice at the entrance of Port Bowen, and as
+these were the only fresh supply of any consequence that we were able to
+procure at this unproductive place, we were glad to permit the men to go
+out occasionally with guns, after the ships were ready for sea, to obtain
+for their messes this wholesome change of diet; while such excursions
+also contributed essentially to their general health and cheerfulness.
+Many hundreds of these birds were thus obtained in the course of a few
+days.  On the evening of the 6th of July, however, I was greatly shocked
+at being informed by Captain Hoppner that John Cotterell, a seaman of the
+_Fury_, had been found drowned in one of the cracks of the ice, by two
+other men belonging to the same party who had been with him but a few
+minutes before.  We could never ascertain precisely in what manner this
+accident happened, but it was supposed that he must have overreached
+himself in stooping for a bird that he had killed.  His remains were
+committed to the earth on Sunday the 10th, with every solemnity which the
+occasion demanded, and our situation would allow; and a tomb of stones
+with a suitable inscription was afterwards erected over the grave.
+
+In order to obtain oil for another winter’s consumption before the ships
+could be released from the ice, and our travelling parties having seen a
+number of black whales in the open water to the northward, two boats from
+each ship were, with considerable labour, transported four miles along
+shore in that direction, to be in readiness for killing a whale and
+boiling the oil on the beach, whenever the open water should approach
+sufficiently near.  They took their station near a remarkable peninsular
+piece of land on the south side of the entrance to Jackson’s Inlet, which
+had on the former voyage been taken for an island.  Notwithstanding these
+preparations, however, it was vexatious to find that on the 9th of July
+the water was still three miles distant from the boats, and at least
+seven from Port Bowen.  On the 12th, the ice in our neighbourhood began
+to detach itself, and the boats under the command of Lieutenants Sherer
+and Ross being launched on the following day, succeeded almost
+immediately in killing a small whale of “five feet bone,” exactly
+answering our purpose.  Almost at the same time, and as it turned out
+very opportunely, the ice at the mouth of our harbour detached itself at
+an old crack, and drifted off, leaving only about one mile and a quarter
+between us and the sea.  Half of this distance being occupied by the
+gravelled canal, which was dissolved quite through the ice in many parts
+and had become very thin in all, every officer and man in both ships were
+set to work without delay to commence a fresh canal from the open water,
+to communicate with the other.  This work proved heavier than we
+expected, the ice being generally from five to eight feet, and in many
+places from ten to eleven, in thickness.  It was continued, however, with
+the greatest cheerfulness and alacrity from seven in the morning till
+seven in the evening daily, the dinner being prepared on the ice and
+eaten under the lee of a studding sail erected as a tent.
+
+On the afternoon of the 19th a very welcome stop was put to our
+operations by the separation of the floe entirely across the harbour, and
+about one-third from the ships to where we were at work.  All hands being
+instantly recalled by signal, were on their return set to work to get the
+ships into the gravelled canal, and to saw away what still remained in it
+to prevent our warping to sea.  This work, with only half an hour’s
+intermission for the men’s supper, was continued till half-past six the
+following morning, when we succeeded in getting clear.  The weather being
+calm, two hours were occupied in towing the ships to sea, and thus the
+officers and men were employed at very laborious work for twenty-six
+hours, during which time there were, on one occasion, fifteen of them
+overboard at once; and, indeed, several individuals met with the same
+accident three times.  It was impossible, however, to regret the
+necessity of these comparatively trifling exertions, especially as it was
+now evident that to have sawed our way out, without any canal, would have
+required at least a fortnight of heavy and fatiguing labour.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Sail over towards the Western Coast of Prince Regent’s Inlet—Stopped by
+the Ice—Reach the Shore about Cape Seppings—Favourable Progress along the
+Land—Fresh and repeated Obstructions from Ice—Both Ships driven on
+Shore—Fury seriously damaged—Unsuccessful Search for a Harbour for
+heaving her down to repair.
+
+_July_ 20.—On standing out to sea, we sailed with a light southerly wind
+towards the western shore of Prince Regent’s Inlet, which it was my first
+wish to gain, on account of the evident advantage to be derived from
+coasting the southern part of that portion of land called in the chart
+“North Somerset,” as far as it might lead to the westward; which, from
+our former knowledge, we had reason to suppose it would do as far at
+least as the longitude of 95°, in the parallel of about 72°.  After
+sailing about eight miles, we were stopped by a body of close ice lying
+between us and a space of open water beyond.  By way of occupying the
+time in further examination of the state of the ice, we then bore up with
+a light northerly wind, and ran to the south-eastward to see if there was
+any clear water between the ice and the land in that direction; but found
+that there was no opening between them to the southward of the
+flat-topped hill laid down in the chart, and now called Mount Sherer.
+Indeed, I believe that at this time the ice had not yet detached itself
+from the land to the southward of that station.  On standing back, we
+were shortly after enveloped in one of the thick fogs which had, for
+several weeks past, been observed almost daily hanging over some part of
+the sea in the offing, though we had scarcely experienced any in Port
+Bowen until the water became open at the mouth of the harbour.
+
+On the clearing up of the fog on the 21st, we could perceive no opening
+of the ice leading towards the western land; nor any appearance of the
+smallest channel to the southward along the eastern shore.  I was
+determined, therefore, to try at once a little farther to the northward,
+the present state of the ice appearing completely to accord with that
+observed in 1819, its breadth increasing as we advanced from Prince
+Leopold’s Islands to the southward.  As, therefore, I felt confident of
+being able to push along the shore if we should once gain it, I was
+anxious to effect the latter object in any part rather than incur the
+risk of hampering the ships by a vain, or, at least, a doubtful attempt
+to force them through a body of close ice several miles wide, for the
+sake of a few leagues of southing, which would soon be regained by
+coasting.
+
+Light winds detained us very much, but being at length favoured by a
+breeze, we carried all sail to the north-west, the ice very gradually
+leading us towards the Leopold Isles.  Having arrived off the
+northernmost on the morning of the 22nd, it was vexatious, however
+curious, to observe the exact coincidence of the present position of the
+ice with that which it occupied a little later in the year 1819.  The
+whole body of it seemed to cling to the western shore, as if held there
+by some strong attraction, forbidding, for the present, any access to it.
+We now stood off and on, in the hope that a southerly breeze, which had
+just sprung up, might serve to open us a channel.  In the evening the
+wind gradually freshened, and before midnight had increased to a strong
+gale, which blew with considerable violence for ten hours, obliging us to
+haul off from the ice and to keep in smooth water under the eastern land
+until it abated; after which not a moment was lost in again standing over
+to the westward.  After running all night, with light and variable winds,
+through loose and scattered ice, we suddenly found ourselves, on the
+clearing up of a thick fog, through which we had been sailing on the
+morning of the 24th, within one-third of a mile of Cape Seppings, the
+land just appearing above the fog in time to save us from danger, the
+soundings being thirty-eight fathoms, on a rocky bottom.  The _Fury_
+being apprised by guns of our situation, both ships were hauled off the
+land, and the fog soon after dispersing, we had the satisfaction to
+perceive that the late gale had blown the ice off the land, leaving us a
+fine navigable channel from one to two miles wide, as far as we could see
+from the mast-head along the shore.  We were able to avail ourselves of
+this but slowly, however, in consequence of a light southerly breeze
+still blowing against us.
+
+We had now an opportunity of discovering that a long neck of very low
+land runs out from the southernmost of the Leopold Islands, and another
+from the shore to the southward of Cape Clarence.  These two had every
+appearance of joining, so as to make a peninsula, instead of an island,
+of that portion of land which, on account of our distance preventing our
+seeing the low beach, had in 1819 been considered under the latter
+character.  It is, however, still somewhat doubtful, and the Leopold
+Isles, therefore, still retain their original designation on the chart.
+The land here, when closely viewed, assumes a very striking and
+magnificent character, the strata of limestone, which are numerous and
+quite horizontally disposed, being much more regular than on the eastern
+shore of Prince Regent’s Inlet, and retaining nearly their whole
+perpendicular height of six or seven hundred feet, close to the sea.  The
+south-eastern promontory of the southernmost island is particularly
+picturesque and beautiful, the heaps of loose _débris_ lying here and
+there up and down the sides of the cliff giving it the appearance of some
+huge and impregnable fortress, with immense buttresses of masonry
+supporting the walls.  Near Cape Seppings, and some distance beyond it to
+the southward, we noticed a narrow stratum of some very white substance,
+the nature of which we could not at this time conjecture.  I may here
+remark that the whole of Barrow’s Strait, as far as we could see to the
+N.N.E. of the islands, was entirely free from ice; and from whatever
+circumstance it may proceed, I do not think that this part of the Polar
+Sea is at any season very much encumbered with it.
+
+It was the general feeling, at this period, among us, that the voyage had
+but now commenced.  The labours of a bad summer, and the tedium of a long
+winter, were forgotten in a moment when we found ourselves upon ground
+not hitherto explored, and with every apparent prospect before us of
+making as rapid a progress as the nature of this navigation will permit
+towards the final accomplishment of our object.
+
+Early on the morning of the 25th, we passed the opening in the land
+delineated in the former chart of this coast, in latitude 73° 34′, which
+we now found to be a bay about three miles deep, but apparently open to
+the sea.  I named it after my friend, Hastings Elwin, Esq., of Bristol,
+as a token of grateful esteem for that gentleman.  The wind falling very
+light, so that the ships made no progress, I took the opportunity of
+landing in the fore-noon, accompanied by a party of the officers, and was
+soon after joined by Captain Hoppner.  We found the formation to consist
+wholly of lime, and now discovered the nature of the narrow white stratum
+observed the day before from the offing, and which proved to be gypsum,
+mostly of the earthy kind, and some of it of a very pure white.  A part
+of the rock near our landing-place contained a quantity of it in the
+state of selenite in beautiful transparent laminæ of a large size.  The
+abundance of gypsum hereabouts explained also the extreme whiteness of
+the water near the whole of this part of the coast, which had always been
+observed in approaching it, and which had at first excited unnecessary
+apprehensions as to the soundings along the shore.  This colour is more
+particularly seen near the mouths of the streams, many of which are quite
+of a dirty milk colour, and tinge the sea to the distance of more than a
+mile, without any alteration in the depth, except a gradual diminution in
+going in.  The vegetation in this place was, as usual, extremely scanty,
+though much more luxuriant than on any of the land near our winter
+quarters, and no animals were seen.  The latitude of our landing-place
+was 73° 27′ 23″, the longitude by chronometers 90° 50′ 34.6″, and the
+variation of the magnetic needle 125° 34′ 42″ westerly.  From half-past
+nine A.M. till a quarter past noon the tide fell two feet three inches;
+and as it was nearly stationary at the latter time, it was probably near
+low water.
+
+A breeze enabling us again to make some progress, and an open channel
+still favouring us of nearly the same breadth as before, we passed during
+the night a second bay, about the same size as the other, and also
+appearing open to the sea; it lies in latitude (by account from the
+preceding and following noon) 73° 19′ 30″, and its width is one mile and
+a half.  It was called Batty Bay, after my friend Captain Robert Batty,
+of the Grenadier Guards.  We now perceived that the ice closed completely
+in with the land a short distance beyond us, and having made all the way
+we could, were obliged to stand off and on during the day in a channel
+not three-quarters of a mile wide.  This channel being still more
+contracted towards the evening, we were obliged to make fast to some
+grounded land ice upon the beach in four fathoms water, there to await
+some change in our favour.  We here observed traces of our old friends
+the Esquimaux, there being several of their circles of stones, though not
+of recent date, close to the sea.  We also found a more abundant
+vegetation than before, and several plants familiar to us on the former
+voyages, but not yet procured on this, were now added to our collections.
+The geological character of the land was nearly the same as before, but
+we found here some gypsum of the fibrous kind, occurring in a single
+stratum about an inch and a half wide.  About a mile to the north of us
+was a curious cascade or spout of water, issuing from a chasm in the
+rock, and falling more than two hundred feet perpendicular.  Our
+gentlemen, who visited the spot, described it as rendered the more
+picturesque by innumerable kittiwakes having their nests among the rocks,
+and constantly flying about the stream.  The latitude was 73° 06′ 17″,
+the longitude by chronometers 91° 19′ 52.3″, the dip of the magnetic
+needle 88° 02.1′, and the variation 128° 23′ 17″ westerly.
+
+The ice opening in the afternoon of the 27th, we cast off and run four or
+five miles with a northerly breeze.  This wind, however, always had the
+effect of making the ice close the shore, while a southerly breeze as
+uniformly opened it, so that on this coast, as on several others that I
+have known, a contrary wind—however great the paradox may seem—proved, on
+the whole, the most favourable for making progress.  This circumstance is
+simply to be attributed to the greater abundance of open water in the
+parts we have left behind (in the present instance the open sea of
+Barrow’s Strait) than those towards which we are going.  We were once
+more obliged to make fast, therefore, to some grounded ice close to the
+beach, rather than run any risk of hampering the ships, and rendering
+them unable to take advantage of a change in our favour.
+
+A light southerly breeze on the morning of the 28th gradually cleared the
+shore, and a fresh wind from the N.W. then immediately succeeded.  We
+instantly took advantage of this circumstance, and casting off at six
+A.M. ran eight or nine miles without obstruction, when we were stopped by
+the ice, which, in a closely packed and impenetrable body, stretched
+close into the shore as far as the eye could reach from the crow’s nest.
+Being anxious to gain every foot of distance that we could, and
+perceiving some grounded ice which appeared favourable for making fast
+to, just at a point where the clear water terminated, the ships were run
+to the utmost extent of it, and a boat prepared from each to examine the
+depth of water at the intended anchoring place.  Just as I was about to
+leave the _Hecla_ for that purpose, the ice was observed to be in rapid
+motion towards the shore.  The _Fury_ was immediately hauled in by some
+grounded masses, and placed to the best advantage; but the _Hecla_ being
+more advanced was immediately beset in spite of every exertion, and after
+breaking two of the largest ice-anchors in endeavouring to heave in to
+the shore, was obliged to drift with the ice, several masses of which had
+fortunately interposed themselves between us and the land.  The ice
+slackening around us a little in the evening, we were enabled, with
+considerable labour, to get to some grounded masses, where we lay much
+exposed, as the _Fury_ also did.  In this situation, our latitude being
+72° 51′ 51″, we saw a comparatively low point of land three or four
+leagues to the southward, which proved to be near that which terminated
+our view of this coast in 1819.
+
+On the 29th, the ice being slack for a short distance, we shifted the
+_Hecla_ half a mile to the northward, into a less insecure berth.  I then
+walked to a broad valley facing the sea near us, where a considerable
+stream discharged itself, and where, in passing in the ships, a large
+fish had been observed to jump out of the water.  In hopes of finding
+salmon here, we tried for some time with several hand-nets, but nothing
+was caught or seen.  In this place were a number of the Esquimaux stone
+circles, apparently of very old date, being quite overgrown with grass,
+moss, and other plants.  In the neighbourhood of these habitations the
+vegetation was much more luxuriant than anything of the kind we had seen
+before during this voyage.  The state of this year’s plants was now very
+striking, compared with those of the last, and afforded strong evidence,
+if any had been wanting, of the difference between the two seasons.  I
+was particularly struck with the appearance of some moss collected by Mr.
+Hooper, who pointed out to me upon the same specimen the last year’s
+miserable seeds just peeping above the leaves, while those of the present
+summer had already shot three-quarters of an inch beyond them.  Another
+circumstance which we noticed about this time, and still more so as the
+season advanced, was the rapid progress which the warmth had already made
+in dissolving the last year’s snow, this being always easily known by its
+dingy colour, and its admixture with the soil.  Of the past winter’s snow
+not a particle could be seen at the close of July on any part of this
+coast.  These facts, together with the beautiful weather we had enjoyed
+for many weeks past, all tended to show that we were now favoured with an
+unusually fine summer.  We found in this place, in the dry bed of an old
+stream, innumerable fossils in the limestone, principally shells and
+madrepore.  On a hill abreast of the _Hecla_, and at an elevation of not
+less than three or four hundred feet above the sea, one particular spot
+was discovered in which the same kind of shells first found in Barrow’s
+Strait in 1819 occurred in very great abundance and perfection, wholly
+detached from the lime in which for the most part they were found
+embedded in other places on this coast.  Indeed, it was quite
+astonishing, in looking at the numberless fossil animal remains occurring
+in many of the stones, to consider the countless myriads of shell fish
+and marine insects which must once have existed on this shore.  The
+cliffs next the sea, which here rise to a perpendicular height of between
+four and five hundred feet, were continually breaking down at this
+season, and adding, by falls of large masses of stone, to the slope of
+_débris_ lying at their foot.  The ships lay so close to the shore as to
+be almost within the range of some of these tumbling masses, there being
+at high water scarcely beach enough for a person to walk along the shore.
+The time of high water, near the opposition of the moon this night, was
+between half-past eleven and midnight, being nearly the same as at Port
+Bowen at full and change.
+
+The ice opening for a mile and a half along shore on the 30th, we shifted
+the _Hecla’s_ berth about that distance to the southward, chiefly to be
+enabled to see more distinctly round a point which before obstructed our
+view, though our situation, as regarded the security of the ship, was
+much altered for the worse.  The _Fury_ remained where she was, there
+being no second berth even so good as the bad one where she was now
+lying.  In the afternoon it blew a hard gale, with constant rain, from
+the northward, the clouds indicating an easterly wind in other parts.
+This wind, which was always the troublesome one to us, soon brought the
+ice closer and closer, till it pressed with very considerable violence on
+both ships, though the most upon the _Fury_, which lay in a very exposed
+situation.  The _Hecla_ received no damage but the breaking of two or
+three hawsers, and a part of her bulwark torn away by the strain upon
+them.  In the course of the night we had reason to suppose, by the
+_Fury’s_ heeling, that she was either on shore, or still heavily pressed
+by the ice from without.  Early on the morning of the 31st, as soon as a
+communication could be effected, Captain Hoppner sent to inform me that
+the _Fury_ had been forced on the ground, where she still lay; but that
+she would probably be hove off without much difficulty at high water,
+provided the external ice did not prevent it.  I also learned from
+Captain Hoppner that a part of one of the propelling wheels had been
+destroyed, the chock through which its axis passed being forced in
+considerably, and the palm broken off one of the bower anchors.  Most of
+this damage, however, was either of no very material importance, or could
+easily be repaired.  A large party of hands from the _Hecla_ being sent
+round to the _Fury_ towards high water, she came off the ground with very
+little strain, so that, upon the whole, considering the situation in
+which the ships were lying, we thought ourselves fortunate in having
+incurred no very serious injury.  The _Fury_ was shifted a few yards into
+the best place that could be found, and the wind again blowing strong
+from the northward, the ice remained close about us.  A shift of wind to
+the southward in the afternoon at length began gradually to slacken it,
+but it was not till six A.M. on the 1st of August that there appeared a
+prospect of making any progress.  There was, at this time, a great deal
+of water to the southward, but between us and the channel there lay one
+narrow and not very close stream of ice touching the shore.  A shift of
+wind to the northward determined me at once to take advantage of it, as
+nothing but a free wind seemed requisite to enable us to reach this
+promising channel.  The signal to that effect was immediately made, but
+while the sails were setting, the ice, which had at first been about
+three-quarters of a mile distant from us, was observed to be closing the
+shore.  The ships were cast with all expedition, in hopes of gaining the
+broader channel before the ice had time to shut us up.  So rapid,
+however, was the latter in this its sudden movement, that we had but just
+got the ships’ heads the right way, when the ice came bodily in upon us,
+being doubtless set in motion by a very sudden freshening of the wind
+almost to a gale in the course of a few minutes.  The ships were now
+almost instantly beset, and in such a manner as to be literally helpless
+and unmanageable.  In such cases, it must be confessed that the exertions
+made by heaving at hawsers or otherwise are of little more service than
+in the occupation they furnish to the men’s minds under circumstances of
+difficulty; for when the ice is fairly acting against the ship, ten times
+the strength and ingenuity could in reality avail nothing.
+
+The sails were, however, kept set, and as the body of ice was setting to
+the southward withal, we went with it some little distance in that
+direction.  The _Hecla_ after thus driving, and now and then forcing her
+way through the ice, in all about three-quarters of a mile, quite close
+to the shore, at length struck the ground forcibly several times in the
+space of a hundred yards, and being then brought up by it remained
+immovable, the depth of water under her keel abaft being sixteen feet, or
+about a foot less than she drew.  The _Fury_ continuing to drive was now
+irresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet, the
+damage invariably occasioned by ships coming in contact under such
+circumstances.  She had, however, scarcely passed us a hundred yards when
+it was evident, by the ice pressing her in, as well as along the shore,
+that she must soon be stopped like the _Hecla_; and having gone about two
+hundred yards farther she was observed to receive a severe pressure from
+a large floe-piece forcing her directly against a grounded mass of ice
+upon the beach.  After setting to the southward for an hour or two longer
+the ice became stationary, no open water being anywhere visible from the
+mast-head, and the pressure on the ships remaining undiminished during
+the day.  Just as I had ascertained the utter impossibility of moving the
+_Hecla_ a single foot, and that she must lie quite aground fore and aft
+as soon as the tide fell, I received a note from Captain Hoppner
+informing me that the _Fury_ had been so severely “nipped” and strained
+as to leak a good deal, apparently about four inches an hour; that she
+was still heavily pressed both upon the ground and against the large mass
+of ice within her; that the rudder was at present very awkwardly
+situated; and that one boat had been much damaged.  As the tide fell the
+_Fury’s_ stern, which was aground, was lifted several feet, and the
+_Hecla_ at low water having sewed five feet forward and two abaft, we
+presented altogether no very pleasing or comfortable spectacle.  However,
+about high water, the ice very opportunely slacking, the _Hecla_ was hove
+off with great ease, and warped to a floe in the offing to which we made
+fast at midnight.  The _Fury_ was not long after us in coming off the
+ground, when I was in hopes of finding that any twist or strain, by which
+her leaks might have been occasioned, would, in some measure, have closed
+when she was relieved from pressure and once more fairly afloat.  My
+disappointment and mortification, therefore, may in some measure be
+imagined, at being informed by telegraph, about two A.M. on the 2nd, that
+the water was gaining on two pumps, and that a part of the doubling had
+floated up.  The _Hecla_ having in the mean time been carried two or
+three miles to the southward, by the ice which was once more driving in
+that direction, I directed Captain Hoppner by signal to endeavour to
+reach the best security in-shore which the present slackness of the ice
+might permit, until it was possible for the _Hecla_ to rejoin him.
+Presently after perceiving from the mast-head something like a small
+harbour nearly abreast of us, every effort was made to get once more
+towards the shore.  In this the ice happily favoured us, and after making
+sail and one or two tacks we got in with the land, when I left the ship
+in a boat to sound the place and search for shelter.  I soon had the
+mortification to find that the harbour which had appeared to present
+itself so opportunely, had not more than six or seven feet water in any
+part of it, the whole of its defences being composed of the stones and
+soil washed down by a stream which here emptied itself into the sea.
+From this place, indeed, where the land gradually became much lower in
+advancing to the southward, the whole nature of the soundings entirely
+altered, the water gradually shoaling in approaching the beach, so that
+the ships could scarcely come nearer, in most parts, than a quarter of a
+mile.  At this distance the whole shore was more or less lined with
+grounded masses of ice; but after examining the soundings within more
+than twenty of them, in the space of about a mile, I could only find two
+that would allow the ships to float at low water, and that by some care
+in placing and keeping them there.  Having fixed a flag on each berg, the
+usual signal for the ships taking their stations, I rowed on board the
+_Fury_, and found four pumps constantly going to keep the ship free, and
+Captain Hoppner, his officers and men, almost exhausted with the
+incessant labour of the last eight-and-forty hours.  The instant the
+ships were made fast, Captain Hoppner and myself set out in a boat to
+survey the shore still farther south, there being a narrow lane of water
+about a mile in that direction; for it had now become too evident,
+however unwilling we might have been at first to admit the conclusion,
+that the _Fury_ could proceed no farther without repairs, and that the
+nature of those repairs would in all probability involve the
+disagreeable, I may say the ruinous, necessity of heaving the ship down.
+After rowing about three-quarters of a mile we considered ourselves
+fortunate in arriving at a bolder part of the beach, where three grounded
+masses of ice, having from three to four fathoms water at low tide within
+them, were so disposed as to afford, with the assistance of art,
+something like shelter.  Wild and insecure as, under other circumstances,
+such a place would have been thought for the purpose of heaving a ship
+down, we had no alternative, and therefore as little occasion as we had
+time for deliberation.  Returning to the ships, we were setting the sails
+in order to run to the appointed place, when the ice closed in and
+prevented our moving, and in a short time there was once more no open
+water to be seen.  We were, therefore, under the necessity of remaining
+in our present berths, where the smallest external pressure must
+inevitably force us ashore, neither ship having more than two feet of
+water to spare.  One watch of the _Hecla’s_ crew were sent round to
+assist at the _Fury’s_ pumps, which required one-third of her ship’s
+company to be constantly employed at them.
+
+The ice coming in with considerable violence on the night of the 2nd,
+once more forced the _Fury_ on shore, so that at low water she sewed two
+feet and a half.  Nothing but the number and strength of the _Hecla’s_
+hawsers prevented her sharing the same fate, for the pressure was just as
+much as seven of these of six inches and two stream-cables would bear.
+The _Fury_ floated in the morning, and was enabled to haul off a little,
+but there was no opening of the ice to allow us to move to our intended
+station.  The more leisure we obtained to consider the state of the
+_Fury_, the more apparent became the absolute, however unfortunate,
+necessity of heaving her down.  Four pumps were required to be at work
+without intermission to keep her free, and this in perfectly smooth
+water, showing that she was, in fact, so materially injured as to be very
+far from seaworthy.  One-third of her working men were constantly
+employed, as before remarked, in this laborious operation, and some of
+their hands had become so sore from the constant friction of the ropes,
+that they could hardly handle them any longer without the use of mittens,
+assisted by the unlaying of the ropes to make them soft.  When, in
+addition to these circumstances, the wet state of the decks and the
+little room left, as well as the reduced strength for working the ship or
+heaving at hawsers among the ice, be considered, I believe that every
+seaman will admit the impracticability of pursuing this critical
+navigation till the _Fury_ had been examined and repaired.  As,
+therefore, not a moment could be lost we took advantage of a small lane
+of water deep enough for boats, which kept open within the grounded
+masses along the shore, to convey to the _Hecla_ some of the _Fury’s_ dry
+provisions, and to land a quantity of heavy ironwork and other stores not
+perishable; for the moment this measure was determined on I was anxious,
+almost at any risk, to commence the lightening of the ship as far as our
+present insecurity and our distance from the shore would permit.
+
+The wind blowing fresh from the northward, which always increased our
+difficulties on this coast, the ice pressed so violently upon the ships
+as almost to force them adrift during the night, employing our people,
+now sufficiently harassed by their work during the day, for two or three
+hours in still further increasing our security by additional hawsers.  We
+continued landing stores from the _Fury_ on the 4th, and at night a bower
+cable was passed round one of the grounded masses alongside of her; for
+if either ship had once got adrift, it is difficult to say what might
+have been the consequence.
+
+At two A.M. on the 5th, the ice began to slacken near the ships, and as
+soon as a boat could be rowed along shore to the southward, I set out,
+accompanied by a second from the _Fury_, for the purpose of examining the
+state of our intended harbour since the recent pressure, and to endeavour
+to prepare for the reception of the ships by clearing out the loose ice.
+On my arrival there, the distance being about a mile, I found that one of
+the three bergs had shifted its place so materially by the late movements
+of the ice, as not only to alter the disposition of these masses, on
+which our whole dependence rested, very much for the worse, but also to
+destroy all confidence in their stability upon the ground.  Landing upon
+one of the bergs to show the appointed signal for the ships to come, I
+perceived, about half a mile beyond us to the southward, a low point
+forming a little bay, with a great deal of heavy grounded ice lying off
+it.  I immediately rowed to this, in hopes of finding something like a
+harbour for our purpose, but on my arrival there, had once more the
+mortification to find that there were not above six feet of water at low
+tide in any part of it, and within the grounded ice not more than twelve.
+Having assured myself that no security or shelter was here to be found, I
+immediately returned to the former place, which the _Hecla_ was just
+reaching.  The _Fury_ was detained some time by a quantity of loose ice
+which had wedged itself in, in such a manner as to leave her no room to
+move outwards; but she arrived about seven o’clock, when both ships were
+made fast in the best berths we could find, but they were still excluded
+from their intended place by the quantity of ice which had fixed itself
+there.  Within twenty minutes after our arrival, the whole body of ice
+again came in, entirely closing up the shore, so that our moving proved
+most opportune.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Formation of a Basin for heaving the Fury down—Landing of the Fury’s
+Stores, and other preparations—The Ships secured within the
+Basin—Impediments from the pressure of the Ice—Fury hove down—Securities
+of the Basin destroyed by a Gale of Wind—Preparations to tow the Fury
+out—Hecla re-equipped, and obliged to put to Sea—Fury again driven on
+Shore—Rejoin the Fury; and find it necessary finally to abandon her.
+
+As there was now no longer room for floating the ice out of our proposed
+basin, all hands were immediately employed in preparing the intended
+securities against the incursions of the ice.  These consisted of anchors
+carried to the beach, having bower-cables attached to them, passing quite
+round the grounded masses, and thus enclosing a small space of just
+sufficient size to admit both ships.  The cables we proposed floating by
+means of the two hand-masts and some empty casks lashed to them as buoys,
+with the intention of thus making them receive the pressure of the ice a
+foot or two below the surface of the water.  By uncommon exertions on the
+part of the officers and men, this laborious work was completed before
+night as far as was practicable until the loose ice should set out; and
+all the tents were set up on the beach for the reception of the _Fury’s_
+stores.
+
+The ice remaining quite close on the 6th, every individual in both ships,
+with the exception of those at the pumps, was employed in landing
+provisions from the _Fury_, together with the spars, boats, and
+everything from off her upper deck.  The ice coming in, in the afternoon,
+with a degree of pressure which usually attended a northerly wind on this
+coast, twisted the _Fury’s_ rudder so forcibly against a mass of ice
+lying under her stern that it was for some hours in great danger of being
+damaged, and was indeed only saved by the efforts of Captain Hoppner and
+his officers, who, without breaking off the men from their other
+occupations, themselves worked at the ice-saw.  On the following day, the
+ice remaining as before, the work was continued without intermission, and
+a great quantity of things landed.  The two carpenters (Messrs. Pulfer
+and Fiddis) took the _Fury’s_ boats in hand themselves, their men being
+required as part of our physical strength in clearing the ship.  The
+armourer was also set to work on the beach in forging bolts for the
+martingales of the outriggers.  In short, every living creature among us
+was somehow or other employed, not even excepting our dogs, which were
+set to drag up the stores on the beach; so that our little dockyard soon
+exhibited the most animated scene imaginable.  The quickest method of
+landing casks and other things not too weighty, was that adopted by
+Captain Hoppner, and consisted of a hawser secured to the ship’s main
+mast-head, and set up as tight as possible to the anchor on the beach;
+the casks being hooked to a block traversing on this as a jack-stay, were
+made to run down it with great velocity.  By this means more than two
+were got on shore for every one landed by the boats, the latter, however,
+being constantly employed in addition.  The _Fury_ was thus so much
+lightened in the course of the day that two pumps were now nearly
+sufficient to keep her free, and this number continued requisite until
+she was hove down.  Her spirit-room was now entirely clear, and, on
+examination, the water was found to be rushing in through two or three
+holes that happened to be in the ceiling, and which were immediately
+plugged up.  Indeed; it was now very evident that nothing but the
+tightness of the Fury’s diagonal ceiling had so long kept her afloat, and
+that any ship not thus fortified within could not possibly have been kept
+free by the pumps.
+
+At night, just as the people were going to rest, the ice began to move to
+the southward, and soon after came in towards the shore, again
+endangering the _Fury’s_ rudder, and pressing her over on her side to so
+alarming a degree, as to warn us that it would not be safe to lighten her
+much more in her present insecure situation.  One of our bergs also
+shifted its position by this pressure, so as to weaken our confidence in
+the pier-heads of our intended basin; and a long “tongue” of one of them
+forcing itself under the _Hecla’s_ forefoot, while the drift-ice was also
+pressing her forcibly from astern, she once more sewed three or four feet
+forward at low water, and continued to do so, notwithstanding repeated
+endeavours to haul her off, for four successive tides the ice remaining
+so close and so much doubled under the ship, as to render it impossible
+to move her a single inch.  Notwithstanding the state of the ice,
+however, we did not remain idle on the 8th, all hands being employed in
+unrigging the _Fury_, and landing all her spars, sails, booms, boats, and
+other top-weight.
+
+The ice still continuing very close on the 9th, all hands were employed
+in attempting, by saws and axes, to clear the _Hecla_, which still
+grounded on the tongue of ice every tide.  After four hours’ labour, they
+succeeded in making four or five feet of room astern, when the ship
+suddenly slid down off the tongue with considerable force, and became
+once more afloat.  We then got on shore the _Hecla’s_ cables and hawsers
+for the accommodation of the _Fury’s_ men in our tiers during the heaving
+down, struck our top-masts which would be required as shores and
+outriggers, and, in short, continued to occupy every individual in some
+preparation or other.  These being entirely completed at an early hour in
+the afternoon, we ventured to go on with the landing of the coals and
+provisions from the _Fury_, preferring to run the risk which would thus
+be incurred, to the loss of even a few hours in the accomplishment of our
+present object.  As it very opportunely happened, however, the external
+ice slackened to the distance of about a hundred yards outside of us on
+the morning of the 10th, enabling us, by a most tedious and laborious
+operation, to clear the ice out of our basin piece by piece.  The
+difficulty of this apparently simple process consisted in the heavy
+pressure having repeatedly doubled one mass under another—a position in
+which it requires great power to move them—and also by the corners
+locking in with the sides of the bergs.  Our next business was to tighten
+the cables sufficiently by means of purchases, and to finish the floating
+of them in the manner and for the purpose before described.  After this
+had been completed, the ships had only a few feet in length, and nothing
+in breadth to spare; but we had now great hopes of going on with our work
+with increased confidence and security.  The _Fury_, which was placed
+inside, had something less than eighteen feet at low water; the _Hecla_
+lay in four fathoms, the bottom being strewed with large and small
+fragments of limestone.
+
+While thus employed in securing the ships, the smoothness of the water
+enabled us to see in some degree the nature of the _Fury’s_ damage; and
+it may be conceived how much pain it occasioned us plainly to discover
+that both the stern-post and forefoot were broken and turned up on one
+side with the pressure.  We also could perceive as far as we were able to
+see along the main-keel, that it was much torn, and we had therefore
+reason to conclude that the damage would altogether prove very serious.
+We also discovered that several feet of the _Hecla’s_ false keel were
+torn away abreast of the fore-chains, in consequence of her grounding
+forward so frequently.
+
+The ships being now as well secured as our means permitted from the
+immediate danger of ice, the clearing of the _Fury_ went on during the
+11th with increased confidence, though greater alacrity was impossible,
+for nothing could exceed the spirit and zealous activity of every
+individual, and as things had turned out, the ice had not obliged us to
+wait a moment, except at the actual times of its pressure.  Being
+favoured with fine weather, we continued our work very quickly, so that
+on the 12th every cask was landed and also the powder; and the spare
+sails and clothing put on board the _Hecla_.  On the 13th we found that a
+mass of heavy ice, which had been aground within the _Fury_, had now
+floated off alongside of her at high water, still further contracting our
+already narrow basin, and leaving the ship no room for turning round.  At
+the next high water, therefore, we got a purchase on it and hove it out
+of the way, so that at night it drifted off altogether.  The coals and
+preserved meats were the principal things now remaining on board the
+_Fury_, and these we continued landing by every method we could devise as
+the most expeditious.  The tide rose so considerably at night, new moon
+occurring within an hour of high water, that we were much afraid of our
+bergs floating: they remained firm, however, even though the ice came in
+with so much force as to break one of our hand-masts, a fir spar of
+twelve inches diameter.  As the high tides and the lightening of the
+_Fury_ now gave us sufficient depth of water for unshipping the rudders,
+we did so, and laid them upon the small berg astern of us, for fear of
+their being damaged by any pressure of the ice.
+
+Early on the morning of the 14th, the ice slackening a little in our
+neighbourhood, we took advantage of it, though the people were much
+fagged, to tighten the cables, which had stretched and yielded
+considerably by the late pressure.  It was well that we did so; for in
+the course of this day we were several times interrupted in our work by
+the ice coming with a tremendous strain on the north cables, the wind
+blowing strong from the N.N.W., and the whole “pack” outside of us
+setting rapidly to the southward.  Indeed, notwithstanding the recent
+tightening and readjustment of the cables, the bight was pressed in so
+much as to force the _Fury_ against the berg astern of her twice in the
+course of the day.  Mr. Waller, who was in the hold the second time that
+this occurred, reported that the coals about the keelson were moved by
+it, imparting the sensation of a part of the ship’s bottom falling down;
+and one of the men at work there was so strongly impressed with that
+belief that he thought it high time to make a spring for the hatchway.
+From this circumstance it seemed more than probable that the main keel
+had received some serious damage near the middle of the ship.
+
+From this trial of the efficacy of our means of security, it was plain
+that the _Fury_ could not possibly be hove down under circumstances of
+such frequent and imminent risk; I therefore directed a fourth anchor,
+with two additional cables, to be carried out, with the hope of breaking
+some of the force of the ice by its offering a more oblique resistance
+than the other, and thus by degrees turning the direction of the pressure
+from the ships.  We had scarcely completed this new defence, when the
+largest floe we had seen since leaving Port Bowen came sweeping along the
+shore, having a motion to the southward of not less than a mile and a
+half an hour; and a projecting point of it just grazing our outer berg,
+threatened to overturn it, and would certainly have dislodged it from its
+situation but for the cable recently attached to it.  A second similar
+occurrence took place with a smaller mass of ice about midnight, and near
+the top of an unusually high spring tide, which seemed ready to float
+away every security from us.  For three hours about the time of this high
+water, our situation was a most critical one, for had the bergs, or
+indeed any one of them, been carried away or broken, both ships must
+inevitably have been driven on shore by the very next mass of ice that
+should come in.  Happily, however, they did not suffer any further
+material disturbance, and the main body keeping at a short distance from
+the land until the tide had fallen, the bergs seemed to be once more
+firmly resting on the ground.  The only mischief, therefore, occasioned
+by this disturbance was the slackening of our cables by the alteration in
+the positions of the several grounded masses, and the consequent
+necessity of employing more time, which nothing but absolute necessity
+could induce us to bestow in adjusting and tightening the whole of them
+afresh.
+
+The wind veering to the W.N.W. on the morning of the 15th, and still
+continuing to blow strong, the ice was forced three or four miles off the
+land in the course of a few hours, leaving us a quiet day for continuing
+our work, but exciting no very pleasing sensations when we considered
+what progress we might have been making had we been at liberty to pursue
+our object.  The land was, indeed, so clear of ice to the southward that
+Dr. Neill, who walked a considerable distance in that direction, could
+see nothing but an open channel in-shore to the utmost extent of his
+view.  We took advantage of this open water to send the launch for the
+_Fury’s_ ironwork left at the former station; for though the few men thus
+employed could very ill be spared, we were obliged to arrange everything
+with reference to the ultimate saving of time; and it would have occupied
+both ships’ companies more than a whole day to carry the things round by
+land.
+
+The _Fury_ being completely cleared at an early hour on the 16th, we were
+all busily employed in “winding” the ship, and in preparing the
+outriggers, shores, purchases, and additional rigging.  Though we
+purposely selected the time of high water for turning the ship round, we
+had scarcely a foot of space to spare for doing it, and indeed, as it
+was, her forefoot touched the ground, and loosened the broken part of the
+wood so much as to enable us to pull it up with ropes, when we found the
+fragments to consist of the whole of the “gripe” and most of the
+“cutwater.”  The strong breeze continuing, and the sea rising as the open
+water increased in extent, our bergs were sadly washed and wasted; every
+hour producing a sensible and serious diminution in their bulk.  As,
+however, the main body of ice still kept off, we were in hopes, now that
+our preparations were so near completed, we should have been enabled in a
+few hours to see the extent of the damage, and repair it sufficiently to
+allow us to proceed.  In the evening we received the _Fury’s_ crew on
+board the _Hecla_, every arrangement and regulation having been
+previously made for their personal comfort, and for the preservation of
+cleanliness, ventilation, and dry warmth throughout the ship.  The
+officers of the _Fury_, by their own choice, pitched a tent on shore for
+messing and sleeping in, as our accommodation for two sets of officers
+was necessarily confined.  On the 17th, when every preparation was
+completed, the cables were found again so slack, by the wasting of the
+bergs in consequence of the continued sea, and possibly also in part by
+the masses having moved somewhat in-shore, that we were obliged to occupy
+several hours in putting them to rights, as we should soon require all
+our strength at the purchases.  One berg had also, at the last low water,
+fallen over on its side in consequence of its substance being undermined
+by the sea, and the cable surrounding it was thus forced so low under
+water as no longer to afford protection from the ice should it again come
+in.  In tightening the cables, we found it to have the effect of bringing
+the bergs in towards the shore, still further contracting our narrow
+basin; but anything was better than suffering them to go adrift.  This
+work being finished at ten P.M. the people were allowed three hours’ rest
+only, it being necessary to heave the ship down at or near high water, as
+there was not sufficient depth to allow her to take her distance at any
+other time of tide.  Every preparation being made, at three A.M. on the
+18th, we began to heave her down on the larboard side, but when the
+purchases were nearly a-block, we found that the strops under the
+_Hecla’a_ bottom, as well as some of the _Fury’s_ shorefasts, had
+stretched or yielded so much, that they could not bring the keel out of
+water within three or four feet.  We immediately eased her up again, and
+readjusted everything as requisite, hauling her farther in-shore than
+before by keeping a considerable heel upon her, so as to make less depth
+of water necessary; and we were then in the act of once more heaving her
+down, when a snowstorm came on and blew with such violence off the land,
+as to raise a considerable sea.  The ships had now so much motion as to
+strain the gear very much, and even to make the lower masts of the _Fury_
+bend in spite of the shores: we were, therefore, most unwillingly
+compelled to desist until the sea should go down, keeping everything
+ready to recommence the instant we could possibly do so with safety.  The
+officers and men were now literally so harassed and fatigued as to be
+scarcely capable of further exertion without some rest; and on this and
+one or two other occasions, I noticed more than a single instance of
+stupor amounting to a certain degree of failure in intellect, rendering
+the individual so affected quite unable at first to comprehend the
+meaning of an order, though still as willing as ever to obey it.  It was
+therefore perhaps a fortunate necessity which produced the intermission
+of labour which the strength of every individual seemed to require.
+
+The gale rather increasing than otherwise during the whole day and night
+of the 18th, had on the following morning, when the wind and sea still
+continued unabated, so destroyed the bergs on which our sole dependence
+was placed, that they no longer remained aground at low water; the cables
+had again become slack about them, and the basin we had taken so much
+pains in forming had now lost all its defences, at least during a portion
+of every tide.  It will be plain, too, if I have succeeded in giving a
+distinct description of our situation, that, independently of the
+security of the ships, there was now nothing left to seaward by which the
+_Hecla_ could be held out in that direction while heaving the _Fury_
+down, so that our preparations in this way were no longer available.
+After a night of most anxious consideration and consultation with Captain
+Hoppner, who was now my messmate in the _Hecla_, it appeared but too
+plain, that, should the ice again come in, neither ship could any longer
+be secured from driving on shore.  It was therefore determined instantly
+to prepare the _Hecla_ for sea, making her thoroughly effective in every
+respect; so that we might at least push her out into comparative safety
+among the ice, when it closed again, taking every person on board her,
+securing the _Fury_ in the best manner we could, and returning to her the
+instant we were able to do so, to endeavour to get her out, and to carry
+her to some place of security for heaving down.  If, after the _Hecla_
+was ready, time should still be allowed us, it was proposed immediately
+to put into the _Fury_ all that was requisite, or at least as much as she
+could safely carry, and towing her out into the ice, to try the effect of
+“foddering” the leaks by sails under those parts of her keel which we
+knew to be damaged, until some more effectual means could be resorted to.
+
+Having communicated to the assembled officers and ships’ companies my
+views and intentions, and moreover given them to understand that I hoped
+to see the _Hecla’s_ top-gallant-yards across before we slept, we
+commenced our work; and such was the hearty goodwill and indefatigable
+energy with which it was carried on, that by midnight the whole was
+accomplished, and a bower-anchor and cable carried out in the offing, for
+the double purpose of hauling out the _Hecla_ when requisite, and as some
+security to the _Fury_, if we were obliged to leave her.  The people were
+once more quite exhausted by these exertions, especially those belonging
+to the _Fury_, who had never thoroughly recovered their first fatigues.
+The ice being barely in sight, we were enabled to enjoy seven hours of
+undisturbed rest; but the wind becoming light, and afterwards shifting to
+the N.N.E., we had reason to expect the ice would soon close the shore,
+and were, therefore, most anxious to continue our work.
+
+On the 20th, therefore, the reloading of the _Fury_ commenced with
+recruited strength and spirits, such articles being in the first place
+selected for putting on board as were essentially requisite for her
+re-equipment; for it was my full determination, could we succeed in
+completing this, not to wait even for rigging a topmast, or getting a
+lower yard up, in the event of the ice coming in, but to tow her out
+among the ice, and there put everything sufficiently to rights for
+carrying her to some place of security.  At the same time, the end of the
+sea-cable was taken on board the _Fury_, by way of offering some
+resistance to the ice, which was now more plainly seen, though still
+about five miles distant, A few hands were also spared, consisting
+chiefly of two or three convalescents, and some of the officers, to thrum
+a sail for putting under the _Fury’s_ keel; for we were very anxious to
+relieve the men at the pumps, which constantly required the labour of
+eight to twelve hands to keep her free.  In the course of the day,
+several heavy masses of ice came drifting by with a breeze from the N.E.,
+which is here about two points upon the land, and made a considerable
+swell.  One mass came in contact with our bergs, which, though only held
+by the cables, brought it up in time to prevent mischief.  By a long and
+hard day’s labour, the people not going to rest till two o’clock on the
+morning of the 21st, we got about fifty tons’ weight of coals and
+provisions on board the _Fury_, which, in case of necessity, we
+considered sufficient to give her stability.  While we were thus
+employed, the ice, though evidently inclined to come in, did not approach
+us much; and it may be conceived with what anxiety we longed to be
+allowed one more day’s labour, on which the ultimate saving of the ship
+might almost be considered as depending.  Having hauled the ships out a
+little from the shore and prepared the _Hecla_ for casting by a spring at
+a moment’s notice, all the people except those at the pumps were sent to
+rest, which, however, they had not enjoyed for two hours, when at four
+A.M. on the 21st, another heavy mass coming violently in contact with the
+bergs and cables, threatened to sweep away every remaining security.  Our
+situation, with this additional strain, the mass which had disturbed us
+fixing itself upon the weather-cable, and an increasing wind and swell
+setting considerably on the shore, became more and more precarious; and
+indeed, under circumstances as critical as can well be imagined, nothing
+but the urgency and importance of the object we had in view—that of
+saving the _Fury_ if she was to be saved—could have prevented my making
+sail, and keeping the _Hecla_ under way till matters mended.  More
+hawsers were run out, however, and enabled us still to hold on; and after
+six hours of disturbed rest, all hands were again set to work to get the
+_Fury’s_ anchors, cables, rudder, and spars on board, these things being
+absolutely necessary for her equipment, should we be able to get her out.
+At two P.M. the crews were called on board to dinner, which they had not
+finished when several not very large masses of ice drove along the shore
+near us at a quick rate, and two or three successively coming in violent
+contact either with the _Hecla_ or the bergs to which she was attached,
+convinced me that very little additional pressure would tear everything
+away, and drive both ships on shore.  I saw that the moment had arrived
+when the _Hecla_ could no longer be kept in her present situation with
+the smallest chance of safety, and therefore immediately got under sail,
+dispatching Captain Hoppner with every individual, except a few for
+working the ship, to continue getting the things on board the _Fury_,
+while the _Hecla_ stood off and on.  It was a quarter-past three P.M.
+when we cast off, the wind then blowing fresh from the north-east, or
+about two points upon the land, which caused some surf on the beach.
+Captain Hoppner had scarcely been an hour on board the _Fury_, and was
+busily engaged in getting the anchors and cables on board, when we
+observed some large pieces of not very heavy ice closing in with the land
+near her; and at twenty minutes past four P.M., being an hour and five
+minutes after the _Hecla_ had cast off, I was informed by signal that the
+_Fury_ was on shore.  Making a tack in-shore, but not being able, even
+under a press of canvas, to get very near her, owing to a strong
+southerly current which prevailed within a mile or two of the land, I
+perceived that she had been apparently driven up the beach by two or
+three of the grounded masses forcing her onwards before them, and these,
+as well as the ship, seemed now so firmly aground as entirely to block
+her in on the seaward side.  As the navigating of the _Hecla_ with only
+ten men on board required constant attention and care, I could not at
+this time with propriety leave the ship to go on board the _Fury_.  This,
+however, I the less regretted as Captain Hoppner was thoroughly
+acquainted with all my views and intentions, and I felt confident that,
+under his direction, nothing would be left undone to endeavour to save
+the ship.  I, therefore, directed him by telegraph, “if he thought
+nothing could be done at present, to return on board with all hands until
+the wind changed;” for this alone, as far as I could see the state of the
+_Fury_, seemed to offer the smallest chance of clearing the shore, so as
+to enable us to proceed with our work, or to attempt hauling the ship off
+the ground.  About seven P.M. Captain Hoppner returned to the _Hecla_,
+accompanied by all hands, except an officer with a party at the pumps,
+reporting to me that the _Fury_ had been forced aground by the ice
+pressing on the masses lying near her, and bringing home, if not
+breaking, the seaward anchor, so that the ship was soon found to have
+sewed from two to three feet fore and aft.
+
+With the ship thus situated, and masses of heavy ice constantly coming
+in, it was Captain Hoppner’s decided opinion, as well as that of
+Lieutenants Austin and Ross, that to have laid out another anchor to
+seaward would have only been to expose it to the same damage as there was
+reason to suppose had been incurred with the other, without the most
+distant hope of doing any service; especially as the ship had been driven
+on shore, by a most unfortunate coincidence, just as the tide was
+beginning to fall.  Indeed, in the present state of the _Fury_, nothing
+short of chopping and sawing up a part of the ice under her stern could
+by any possibility have effected her release, even if she had been
+already afloat.  Under such circumstances, hopeless as for the time every
+seaman will admit them to have been, Captain Hoppner judiciously
+determined to return for the present, as directed by my telegraphic
+communication; but being anxious to keep the ship free from water as long
+as possible, he left an officer and a small party of men to continue
+working at the pumps so long as a communication could be kept up between
+the _Hecla_ and the shore.  Every moment, however, decreased the
+practicability of doing this; and finding, soon after Captain Hoppner’s
+return, that the current swept the _Hecla_ a long way to the southward
+while hoisting up the boats, and that more ice was drifting in towards
+the shore, I was under the painful necessity of recalling the party at
+the pumps, rather than incur the risk, now an inevitable one, of parting
+company with them altogether.  Accordingly Mr. Bird, with the last of the
+people, came on board at eight o’clock in the evening, having left
+eighteen inches of water in the well, and four pumps being requisite to
+keep her free.  In three hours after Mr. Bird’s return, more than half a
+mile of closely-packed ice intervened between the _Fury_ and the open
+water in which we were beating, and before the morning this barrier had
+increased to four or five miles in breadth.
+
+We carried a press of canvas all night, with a fresh breeze from the
+north, to enable us to keep abreast of the _Fury_, which, on account of
+the strong southerly current, we could only do by beating at some
+distance from the land.  The breadth of the ice in-shore continued
+increasing during the day, but we could see no end to the water in which
+we were beating, either to the southward or eastward.  Advantage was
+taken of the little leisure now allowed us, to let the people mend and
+wash their clothes, which they had scarcely had a moment to do for the
+last three weeks.  We also completed the thrumming of a second sail for
+putting under the _Fury’s_ keel whenever we should be enabled to haul her
+off the shore.  It fell quite calm in the evening, when the breadth of
+the ice in-shore had increased to six or seven miles.  We did not during
+the day perceive any current setting to the southward, but in the course
+of the night we were drifted four or five leagues to the south-westward,
+in which situation we had a distinct view of a large extent of land,
+which had before been seen for the first time by some of our gentlemen
+who walked from where the _Fury_ lay.  This land trends very much to the
+westward, a little beyond the Fury Point, the name by which I have
+distinguished that headland near which we had attempted to heave the
+_Fury_ down, and which is very near the southern part of this coast, seen
+in the year 1819.  It then sweeps round into a large bay, formed by a
+long, low beach several miles in extent, afterwards joining higher land,
+and running in a south-easterly direction to a point which terminated our
+view of it in that quarter, and which bore from us S. 58° W. distant six
+or seven leagues.  This headland I named Cape Garry, after my worthy
+friend Nicholas Garry, Esq., one of the most active members of the
+Hudson’s Bay Company, and a gentleman most warmly interested in
+everything connected with northern discovery.  The whole of the bay
+(which I named after my much esteemed friend, Francis Cresswell, Esq.),
+as well as the land to the southward, was free from ice for several
+miles, and to the southward and eastward scarcely any was to be seen,
+while a dark water-sky indicated a perfectly navigable sea in that
+direction; but between us and the Fury there was a compact body of ice
+eight or nine miles in breadth.  Had we now been at liberty to take
+advantage of the favourable prospect before us, I have little doubt we
+should without much difficulty have made considerable progress.
+
+A southerly breeze enabling us to regain our northing, we ran along the
+margin of the ice, but were led so much to the eastward by it, that we
+could approach the ship no nearer than before during the whole day.  She
+appeared to us at this distance to have a much greater heel than when the
+people left her, which made us still more anxious to get near her.  A
+south-west wind gave us hopes of the ice setting off from the land, but
+it produced no good effect during the whole of the 24th.  We, therefore,
+beat again to the southward to see if we could manage to get in with the
+land anywhere about the shores of the bay; but this was now
+impracticable, the ice being once more closely packed there.  We could
+only wait, therefore, in patience, for some alteration in our favour.
+The latitude at noon was 72° 34′ 57″, making our distance from the _Fury_
+twelve miles, which by the morning of the 25th had increased to at least
+five leagues, the ice continuing to “pack” between us and the shore.  The
+wind, however, now gradually drew round to the westward, giving us hopes
+of a change, and we continued to ply about the margin of the ice, in
+constant readiness for taking advantage of any opening that might occur.
+It favoured us so much by streaming off in the course of the day, that by
+seven P.M. we had nearly reached a channel of clear water, which kept
+open for seven or eight miles from the land.  Being impatient to obtain a
+sight of the _Fury_, and the wind becoming light, Captain Hoppner and
+myself left the _Hecla_ in two boats, and reached the ship at half-past
+nine, or about three-quarters of an hour before high water, being the
+most favourable time of tide for arriving to examine her condition.
+
+We found her heeling so much outward, that her main channels were within
+a foot of the water; and the large floe-piece, which was still alongside
+of her, seemed alone to support her below water, and to prevent her
+falling over still more considerably.  The ship had been forced much
+further up the beach than before, and she had now in her bilge above nine
+feet of water, which reached higher than the lower-deck beams.  On
+looking down the stern-post, which, seen against the light-coloured
+ground, and in shoal water, was now very distinctly visible, we found
+that she had pushed the stones at the bottom up before her, and that the
+broken keel, stern-post, and deadwood had, by the recent pressure, been
+more damaged and turned up than before.  She appeared principally to hang
+upon the ground abreast of the gangway, where, at high water, the depth
+was eleven feet alongside her keel; forward and aft from thirteen to
+sixteen feet; so that at low tide, allowing the usual fall of five or six
+feet, she would be lying in a depth of from five to ten feet only.  The
+first hour’s inspection of the _Fury’s_ condition too plainly assured me
+that exposed as she was, and forcibly pressed up upon an open and stony
+beach, her holds full of water, and the damage of her hull to all
+appearance and in all probability more considerable than before, without
+any adequate means of hauling her off to seaward, or securing her from
+the further incursions of the ice, every endeavour of ours to get her
+off, or if got off, to float her to any known place of safety, would be
+at once utterly hopeless in itself, and productive of extreme risk to our
+remaining ship.
+
+Being anxious, however, in a case of so much importance, to avail myself
+of the judgment and experience of others, I directed Captain Hoppner, in
+conjunction with Lieutenants Austin and Sherer, and Mr. Pulfer,
+carpenter, being the officers who accompanied me to the _Fury_, to hold a
+survey upon her, and to report their opinions to me.  And to prevent the
+possibility of the officers receiving any bias from my own opinion, the
+order was given to them the moment we arrived on board the _Fury_.
+
+Captain Hoppner and the other officers, after spending several hours in
+attentively examining every part of the ship, both within and without,
+and maturely weighing all the circumstances of her situation, gave it as
+their opinion that it would be quite impracticable to make her seaworthy,
+even if she could be hauled off, which would first require the water to
+be got out of the ship, and the holds to be once more entirely cleared.
+Mr. Pulfer, the carpenter of the _Fury_, considered that it would occupy
+five days to clear the ship of water; that if she were got off, all the
+pumps would not be sufficient to keep her free, in consequence of the
+additional damage she seemed to have sustained; and that, if even hove
+down, twenty days’ work, with the means we possessed, would be required
+for making her seaworthy.  Captain Hoppner and the other officers were,
+therefore, of opinion that an absolute necessity existed for abandoning
+the _Fury_.  My own opinion being thus confirmed as to the utter
+hopelessness of saving her, and feeling more strongly than ever the
+responsibility which attached to me of preserving the _Hecla_ unhurt, it
+was with extreme pain and regret that I made the signal for the _Fury’s_
+officers and men to be sent for their clothes, most of which had been put
+on shore with the stores.
+
+The _Hecla’s_ bower-anchor, which had been placed on the beach, was sent
+on board as soon as the people came on shore; but her remaining cable was
+too much entangled with the grounded ice to be disengaged without great
+loss of time.  Having allowed the officers and men an hour for packing up
+their clothes, and what else belonging to them the water in the ship had
+not covered, the _Fury’s_ boats were hauled up on the beach, and at two
+A.M. I left her, and was followed by Captain Hoppner, Lieutenant Austin,
+and the last of the people in half an hour after.
+
+The whole of the _Fury’s_ stores were of necessity left either on board
+her or on shore, every spare corner that we could find in the _Hecla_
+being now absolutely required for the accommodation of our double
+complement of officers and men, whose cleanliness and health could only
+be maintained by keeping the decks as clear and well ventilated as our
+limited space would permit.  The spot where the _Fury_ was left is in
+latitude 72° 42′ 30″, the longitude by chronometers is 91° 50′ 05″, the
+dip of the magnetic needle 88° 19′ 22″, and the variation 129° 25′
+westerly.
+
+When the accident first happened to the _Fury_, I confidently expected to
+have been able to repair her damages in good time to take advantage of a
+large remaining part of the navigable season in the prosecution of the
+voyage; and while the clearing of the ship was going on with so much
+alacrity, and the repairs seemed to be within the reach of our means and
+resources, I still flattered myself with the same hope.  But as soon as
+the gales began to destroy, with a rapidity of which we had before no
+conception, our sole defence from the incursions of the ice, as well as
+the only trustworthy means we before possessed of holding the _Hecla_ out
+for heaving the _Fury_ down, I confess that the prospect of the necessity
+then likely to arise for removing her to some other station, was
+sufficient to shake every reasonable expectation I had hitherto cherished
+of the ultimate accomplishment of our object.  Those expectations were
+now at an end.  With a twelvemonth’s provisions for both ships’
+companies, extending our resources only to the autumn of the following
+year, it would have been folly to hope for final success, considering the
+small progress we had already made, the uncertain nature of this
+navigation, and the advanced period of the present season.  I was,
+therefore, reduced to the only remaining conclusion that it was my duty,
+under all the circumstances of the case, to return to England, in
+compliance with the plain tenor of my instructions.  As soon as the boats
+were hoisted up, therefore, and the anchor stowed, the ship’s head was
+put to the north-eastward, with a light air off the land, in order to
+gain an offing before the ice should again set in-shore.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Some Remarks upon the loss of the Fury—And on the Natural History, &c.,
+of the Coast of North Somerset—Arrive at Neill’s Harbour—Death of John
+Page—Leave Neill’s Harbour—Recross the Ice in Baffin’s Bay—Heavy
+Gales—Aurora Borealis—Temperature of the Sea—Arrival in England.
+
+The accident which had now befallen the _Fury_, and which, when its fatal
+result was finally ascertained, at once put an end to every prospect of
+success in the main object of this voyage, is not an event which will
+excite surprise in the minds of those who are either personally
+acquainted with the true nature of this precarious navigation, or have
+had patience to follow me through the tedious and monotonous detail of
+our operations during seven successive summers.  To any persons thus
+qualified to judge it will be plain that an occurrence of this nature was
+at all times rather to be expected than otherwise, and that the only real
+cause for wonder has been our long exemption from such a catastrophe.  I
+can confidently affirm, and I trust that on such an occasion I may be
+permitted to make the remark, that the mere safety of the ships has never
+been more than a secondary object in the conduct of the expeditions under
+my command.  To push forward while there was any open water to enable us
+to do so has uniformly been our first endeavour; it has not been until
+the channel has actually terminated that we have ever been accustomed to
+look for a place of shelter, to which the ships were then conducted with
+all possible despatch; and I may safely venture to predict that no ship
+acting otherwise will ever accomplish the Northwest Passage.  On numerous
+occasions, which will easily recur to the memory of those I have had the
+honour to command, the ships might easily have been placed among the ice
+and left to drift with it in comparative, if not absolute, security, when
+the holding them on has been preferred, though attended with hourly and
+imminent peril.  This was precisely the case on the present occasion; the
+ships might certainly have been pushed into the ice a day or two, or even
+a week beforehand, and thus preserved from all risk of being forced on
+shore; but where they would have been drifted, and when they would have
+been again disengaged from the ice, or at liberty to take advantage of
+the occasional openings in-shore (by which alone the navigation of these
+seas is to be performed with any degree of certainty), I believe it
+impossible for any one to form the most distant idea.  Such, then, being
+the necessity for constant and unavoidable risk, it cannot reasonably
+excite surprise that on a single occasion out of so many in which the
+same accident seemed, as it were, impending, it should actually have
+taken place.
+
+The ice we met with after leaving Port Bowen, previously to the _Fury’s_
+disaster, and for some days after, I consider to have been much the
+lightest as well as the most broken we have ever had to contend with.
+During the time we were shut up at our last station near the _Fury_, one
+or two floes of very large dimensions drifted past us; and these were of
+that heavy “hummocky” kind which we saw off Cape Kater in the beginning
+of August, 1819.  On the whole, however, Mr. Allison and myself had
+constant occasion to remark the total absence of floes, and the unusual
+lightness of the other ice.  We thought, indeed, that this latter
+circumstance might account for its being almost incessantly in motion on
+this coast; for heavy ice, when once it is pressed home upon the shore,
+and has ceased to move, generally remains quiet, until a change of wind
+or tide makes it slacken.  But with lighter ice, the frequent breaking
+and doubling of the parts which sustain the strain, whenever any increase
+of pressure takes place, will set the whole body once more in motion till
+the space is again filled up.  This was so often the case while our ships
+lay in the most exposed situations on this unsheltered coast, that we
+were never relieved for a moment from the apprehension of some new and
+increased pressure.
+
+The summer of 1825 was, beyond all doubt, the warmest and most favourable
+we had experienced since that of 1818.  Not more than two or three days
+occurred, during the months of July and August, in which that heavy fall
+of snow took place which so commonly converts the aspect of Nature in
+these regions, in a single hour, from the cheerfulness of summer into the
+dreariness of winter.  Indeed, we experienced very little either of snow,
+rain, or fog; vegetation, wherever the soil allowed any to spring up, was
+extremely luxuriant and forward; a great deal of the old snow which had
+laid on the ground during the last season was rapidly dissolving even
+early in August; and every appearance of Nature exhibited a striking
+contrast with the last summer, while it seemed evidently to furnish an
+extraordinary compensation for its rigour and inclemency.
+
+We have scarcely ever visited a coast on which so little of animal life
+occurs.  For days together, only one or two seals, a single sea-horse,
+and now and then a flock of ducks, were seen.  I have already mentioned,
+however, as an exception to this scarcity of animals, the numberless
+kittiwakes which were flying about the remarkable spout of water; and we
+were one day visited, at the place where the _Fury_ was left, by hundreds
+of white whales sporting about in the shoal water close to the beach.  No
+black whales were ever seen on this coast.  Two reindeer were observed by
+the gentlemen who extended their walks inland; but this was the only
+summer in which we did not procure a single pound of venison.  Indeed,
+the whole of our supplies obtained in this way during the voyage,
+including fish, flesh, and fowl, did not exceed twenty pounds per man.
+
+During the time that we were made fast upon this coast, in which
+situation alone observations on current can be satisfactorily made, it is
+certain that the ice was setting to the southward, and sometimes at a
+rapid rate, full seven days out of every ten on an average.  Had I now
+witnessed this for the first time in these seas, I should probably have
+concluded that there was a constant southerly set at this season; but the
+experience we had before obtained of that superficial current which every
+breeze of wind creates in a sea encumbered with ice, coupled with the
+fact that while this set was noticed we had an almost continual
+prevalence of northerly winds, inclines me to believe that it was to be
+attributed—chiefly at least—to this circumstance, especially as, on one
+or two occasions, with rather a light breeze from the southward, the ice
+did set slowly in the opposite direction.  It is not by a few unconnected
+observations that a question of this kind is to be settled, as the facts
+noticed during our detention near the west end of Melville Island in 1820
+will abundantly testify; every light air of wind producing, in half an
+hour’s time, an extraordinary change of current setting at an incredible
+rate along the land.
+
+The existence of these variable and irregular currents adds, of course,
+very much to the difficulty of determining the true direction of the
+flood-tide, the latter being generally much the weaker of the two, and
+therefore either wholly counteracted by the current, or simply tending to
+accelerate it.  On this account, though I attended very carefully to the
+subject of the tides, I cannot pretend to say for certain from what
+direction the flood-tide comes on this coast; the impression on my mind,
+however, has been, upon the whole, in favour of its flowing from the
+southward.  The time of high water on the full and change days of the
+moon is from half-past eleven to twelve o’clock, being nearly the same as
+at Port Bowen; but the tides are so irregular at times, that in the space
+of three days the retardation will occasionally not amount to an hour.  I
+observed, however, that, as the days of full and change, or of the moon’s
+quarter approached, the irregularity was corrected, and the time
+rectified, by some tide of extraordinary duration.  The mean rise and
+fall was about six feet.
+
+The weather continuing nearly calm during the 26th, and the ice keeping
+at the distance of several miles from the land, gave us an opportunity of
+clearing our decks, and stowing the things belonging to the _Fury’s_ crew
+more comfortably for their accommodation and convenience.  I now felt
+more sensibly than ever the necessity I have elsewhere pointed out, of
+both ships employed on this kind of service being of the same size,
+equipped in the same manner, and alike efficient in every respect.  The
+way in which we had been able to apply every article for assisting to
+heave the _Fury_ down, without the smallest doubt or selection as to size
+or strength, proved an excellent practical example of the value of being
+thus able, at a moment’s warning, to double the means and resources of
+either ship in case of necessity.  In fact, by this arrangement, nothing
+but a harbour to secure the ships was wanted, to have completed the whole
+operation in as effectual a manner as in a dockyard; for not a shore, or
+outrigger, or any other precaution was omitted, that is usually attended
+to on such occasions, and all as good and effective as could anywhere
+have been desired.  The advantages were now scarcely less conspicuous in
+the accommodation of the officers and men, who in a short time became
+little less comfortable than in their own ship; whereas, in a smaller
+vessel, comfort, to say nothing of health, would have been quite out of
+the question.  Having thus experienced the incalculable benefit of the
+establishment composing this expedition, I am anxious to repeat my
+conviction of the advantages that will always be found to attend it in
+the equipment of any two ships intended for discovery.
+
+A little snow, which had fallen in the course of the last two or three
+days, now remained upon the land, lightly powdering the higher parts,
+especially those having a northern aspect, and creating a much more
+wintry sensation than the large broad patches or drifts, which, on all
+tolerably high land in these regions, remain undissolved during the whole
+of each successive summer.  With the exception of a few such patches here
+and there, the whole of this coast was now free from snow before the
+middle of August.
+
+A breeze from the northward freshening up strong on the 27th, we
+stretched over to the eastern shore of Prince Regent’s Inlet, and this
+with scarcely any obstruction from ice.  We could, indeed, scarcely
+believe this the same sea which, but a few weeks before, had been loaded
+with one impenetrable body of closely packed ice from shore to shore, and
+as far as the eye could discern to the southward.  We found this land
+rather more covered with the newly fallen snow than that to the westward;
+but there was no ice, except the grounded masses, anywhere along the
+shore.  Having a great deal of heavy work to do in the re-stowage of the
+holds which could not well be accomplished at sea, and also a quantity of
+water to fill for our increased complement, I determined to take
+advantage of our fetching the entrance of Neill’s Harbour to put in here,
+in order to prepare the ship completely for crossing the Atlantic.  I was
+desirous also of ascertaining the depth of water in this place, which was
+wanting to complete Lieutenant Sherer’s survey of it.  At one P.M.,
+therefore, after communicating to the officers and ships’ companies my
+intention to return to England, I left the ship, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Sherer in a second boat, to obtain the necessary soundings for
+conducting the ship to the anchorage, and to lay down a buoy in the
+proper berth.  Finding the harbour an extremely convenient one for our
+purpose, we worked the ship in, and at four P.M. anchored in thirteen
+fathoms, but afterwards shifted out to eighteen on a bottom of soft mud.
+Almost at the moment of our dropping the anchor, John Page, seaman of the
+_Fury_, departed this life; he had for several months been affected with
+a scrofulous disorder, and had been gradually sinking for some time.
+
+The funeral of the deceased took place after Divine service had been
+performed on the 28th; the body being followed to the grave by a
+procession of all the officers, seamen, and marines of both ships, and
+every solemnity observed which the occasion demanded.  The grave is
+situated near the beach close to the anchorage, and a board was placed at
+the head as a substitute for a tombstone, having on it a copper-plate
+with the usual inscription.
+
+This duty being performed, we immediately commenced landing the casks and
+filling water; but notwithstanding the large streams which, a short time
+before, had been running into the harbour, we could hardly obtain enough
+for our purpose by sinking a cask with holes in it.  I have no doubt that
+this rapid dissolution of all the snow on land so high as this, was the
+result of an unusually warm summer.  This work, together with the entire
+re-stowage of all the holds, occupied the whole of the 29th and 30th;
+during which time Lieutenant Sherer was employed in completing the survey
+of the harbour, more especially the soundings, which the presence of ice
+had before prevented.  These arrangements had just been completed when
+the north-easterly wind died away, and was succeeded on the morning of
+the 31st by a light air from the north-west.  As soon as we had sent to
+ascertain that the sea was clear of ice on the outside, and that the
+breeze which blew in the harbour was the true one, we weighed and stood
+out, and before noon had cleared the shoals at the entrance.
+
+Neill’s Harbour, the only one on this eastern coast of Prince Regent’s
+Inlet, except Port Bowen, to which it is far superior, corresponds with
+one of the apparent openings seen at a distance in 1819, and marked on
+the chart of that voyage as a “valley or bay.”  We found it not merely a
+convenient place of shelter but a most excellent harbour, with sufficient
+space for a great number of ships, and holding-ground of the best
+quality, consisting of a tenacious mud of a greenish colour, in which the
+flukes of an anchor are entirely embedded.  A great deal of the anchoring
+ground is entirely land-locked, and some shoal points which narrow the
+entrance would serve to break off any heavy sea from the eastward.  The
+depth of water in most parts is greater than could be wished, but several
+good berths are pointed out in the accompanying survey made by Lieutenant
+Sherer.  The beach on the west side is a fine bold one, with four fathoms
+within twenty yards of low water mark, and consists of small pebbles of
+limestone.  The formation of the rocks about the harbour is so similar to
+that of Port Bowen that no description of them is necessary.  The harbour
+may best be known by its latitude; by the very remarkable flat-topped
+hill eight miles south of it, which I have named after Lieutenant Sherer
+who observed its latitude; by the high cliffs on the south side of the
+entrance, and the comparative low land on the north.  The high land is
+the more peculiar, as consisting of that very regular horizontal
+stratification appearing to be supported by buttresses, which
+characterises a large portion of the western shore of Prince Regent’s
+Inlet, but is not seen on any part of this coast so well marked as here.
+It is a remarkable circumstance, and such as, I believe, very rarely
+occurs, that from the point of this land forming the entrance of the
+harbour to the southward, and where the cliffs rise at once to a
+perpendicular height of not less than five or six hundred feet, a shoal
+stretches off to the distance of one-third of a mile, having from three
+to eight fathoms upon it.  I have reason to think indeed that there is
+not more than from ten to fourteen fathoms anywhere across between this
+and the low point on the other side, thus forming a sort of bar, though
+the depth of water is much more than sufficient for any ship to pass
+over.  The latitude of Neill’s Harbour is 73° 09′ 08″; the longitude by
+chronometers 89° 01′ 20″.8; the dip of the magnetic needle 88° 08′.25,
+and the variation 118° 48′ westerly.
+
+I have been thus particular in describing Neill’s Harbour, because I am
+of opinion that at no very distant period the whalers may find it of
+service.  The western coast of Baffin’s Bay, now an abundant fishery,
+will probably, like most others, fail in a few years; for the whales will
+always in the course of time leave a place where they continue year after
+year to be molested.  In that case, Prince Regent’s Inlet will
+undoubtedly become a rendezvous for our ships, as well on account of the
+numerous fish there, as the facility with which any ship, having once
+crossed the ice in Baffin’s Bay, is sure to reach it during the months of
+July and August.  We saw nine or ten black whales the evening of our
+arrival in Neill’s Harbour; these, like most observed hereabouts, and I
+believe on the western coast of Baffin’s Bay generally, were somewhat
+below the middle size.
+
+Finding the wind at north-west in Prince Regent’s Inlet, we were barely
+able to lie along the eastern coast.  As the breeze freshened in the
+course of the day, a great deal of loose ice in extensive streams and
+patches came drifting down from the Leopold Islands, occasioning us some
+trouble in picking our way to the northward.  By carrying a press of
+sail, however, we were enabled, towards night, to get into clearer water,
+and by four A.M. on the 1st of September, having beat to windward of a
+compact body of ice which had fixed itself on the lee shore about Cape
+York, we soon came into a perfectly open sea in Barrow’s Strait, and were
+enabled to bear away to the eastward.  We now considered ourselves
+fortunate in having got out of harbour when we did, as the ice would
+probably have filled up every inlet on that shore in a few hours after we
+left it.
+
+The wind heading us from the eastward on the 2nd, with fog and wet
+weather, obliged us to stretch across the Sound, in doing which we had
+occasion to remark the more than usual number of icebergs that occurred
+in this place, which was abreast of Navy Board Inlet.  Many of these were
+large and of the long flat kind, which appear to me to be peculiar to the
+western coast of Baffin’s Bay.  I have no doubt that this more than usual
+quantity of icebergs in Sir James Lancaster’s Sound was to be attributed
+to the extraordinary prevalence and strength of the easterly winds during
+this summer, which would drive them from the eastern parts of Baffin’s
+Bay.  They now occurred in the proportion of at least four for one that
+we had ever before observed here.
+
+Being again favoured with a fair wind, we now stretched to the eastward,
+still in an open sea; and our curiosity was particularly excited to see
+the present situation of the ice in the middle of Baffin’s Bay, and to
+compare it with that in 1824.  This comparison we were enabled to make
+the more fairly, because the season at which we might expect to come to
+it coincided, within three or four days, with that in which we left it
+the preceding year.  The temperature of the sea-water now increased to
+38°, soon after leaving the Sound, where it had generally been from 33°
+to 35°, whereas at the same season last year it rose no higher than 32°
+anywhere in the neighbourhood, and remained even so high as that only for
+a very short time.  This circumstance seemed to indicate the total
+absence of ice from those parts of the sea which had last autumn been
+wholly covered by it.  Accordingly, on the 5th, being thirty miles beyond
+the spot in which we had before contended with numerous difficulties from
+ice, not a piece was to be seen, except one or two solitary bergs; and it
+was not till the following day, in latitude 72° 45′, and longitude 64°
+44′, or about one hundred and twenty-seven miles to the eastward of where
+we made our escape on the 9th of September, 1824, that we fell in with a
+body of ice so loose and open as scarcely to oblige us to alter our
+course for it.  At three P.M. on the 7th, being in latitude 72° 30′, and
+longitude 60° 05′, and having, in the course of eighty miles that we had
+run through it, only made a single tack, we came to the margin of the
+ice, and got into an open sea on its eastern side.  In the whole course
+of this distance the ice was so much spread, that it would not, if at all
+closely “packed,” have occupied one-third of the same space.  There were
+at this time thirty-nine bergs in sight, and some of them certainly not
+less than two hundred feet in height.
+
+The narrowness and openness of the ice at this season, between the
+parallels of 73° and 74°, when compared with its extent and closeness
+about the same time the preceding year, was a decided confirmation, if
+any were wanting, that the summer of 1824 was extremely unfavourable for
+penetrating to the westward about the usual latitudes.  How it had proved
+elsewhere we could not of course conjecture, till, on the 8th, being in
+latitude 71° 55′, longitude 60° 30′, and close to the margin of the ice,
+we fell in with the _Alfred_, _Ellison_, and _Elizabeth_, whalers of
+Hull, all running to the northward, even at this season, to look for
+whales.  From them we learned that the _Ellison_ was one of the two ships
+we saw, when beset in the “pack” on the 18th July, 1824; and that they
+were then, as we had conjectured, on their return from the northward, in
+consequence of having failed in effecting a passage to the westward.  The
+master of the _Ellison_ informed us that, after continuing their course
+along the margin of the ice to the southward, they at length passed
+through it to the western land without any difficulty, in the latitude of
+68° to 69°.  Many other ships had also crossed about the same parallels,
+even in three or four days; but none, it seemed, had succeeded in doing
+so, as usual, to the northward.  Thus it plainly appeared (and I need not
+hesitate to confess that to me the information was satisfactory) that our
+bad success in pushing across the ice in Baffin’s Bay in 1824, had been
+caused by circumstances neither to be foreseen nor controlled; namely, by
+a particular position of the ice, which, according to the best
+information I have been able to collect, has never before occurred during
+the only six years that it has been customary for the whalers to cross
+this ice at all, and which, therefore, in all probability, will seldom
+occur again.
+
+If we seek for a cause for the ice thus hanging with more than ordinary
+tenacity to the northward, the comparative coldness of the season
+indicated by our meteorological observations may perhaps be considered
+sufficient to furnish it.  For as the annual clearing of the northern
+parts of Baffin’s Bay depends entirely on the time of the disruption of
+the ice, and the rate at which it is afterwards drifted to the southward
+by the excess of northerly winds, any circumstance tending to retain it
+in the bays and inlets to a later period than usual, and subsequently to
+hold it together in large floes, which drive more slowly than smaller
+masses, would undoubtedly produce the effect in question.  There is, at
+all events, one useful practical inference to be drawn from what has been
+stated, which is that, though perhaps in a considerable majority of years
+a northern latitude may prove the most favourable for crossing in, yet
+seasons will sometimes intervene in which it will be a matter of great
+uncertainty whereabouts to make the attempt with the best hope of
+success.
+
+As the whaling ships were not homeward bound, having as yet had
+indifferent success in the fishery, I did not consider it necessary to
+send despatches by them.  After an hour’s communication with them, and
+obtaining such information of a public nature as could not fail to be
+highly interesting to us, we made sail to the southward: while we
+observed them lying-to for some time after, probably to consult
+respecting the unwelcome information with which we had furnished them as
+to the whales, not one of which, by some extraordinary chance, we had
+seen since leaving Neill’s Harbour.  As this circumstance was entirely
+new to us, it seems not unlikely that the whales are already beginning to
+shift their ground, in consequence of the increased attacks which have
+been made upon them of late years in that neighbourhood.
+
+On the 10th we had an easterly wind, which, gradually freshening to a
+gale, drew up the Strait from the southward, and blew strong for
+twenty-four hours from that quarter.  In the course of the night, and
+while lying-to under the storm-sails, an iceberg was discovered, by its
+white appearance, under our lee.  The main-topsail being thrown aback we
+were enabled to drop clear of this immense body, which would have been a
+dangerous neighbour in a heavy seaway.  The wind moderated on the 11th,
+but on the following day another gale came on, which for nine or ten
+hours blew in most tremendous gusts from the same quarter, and raised a
+heavy sea.  We happily came near no ice during the night, or it would
+scarcely have been possible to keep the ship clear of it.  It abated
+after daylight on the 13th, but continued to blow an ordinary gale for
+twelve hours longer.  It was remarkable that the weather was extremely
+clear overhead during the whole of this last gale, which is very unusual
+here with a southerly wind.  Being favoured with a northerly breeze on
+the 15th we began to make some way to the southward.  From nine A.M. to
+one P.M. a change of temperature in the sea water took place from 37° to
+33°.  This circumstance seemed to indicate our approach to some ice
+projecting to the eastward beyond the straight and regular margin of the
+“pack,” which was at this time not in sight.  The indication proved
+correct and useful; for after passing several loose pieces of ice during
+the night, on the morning of the 15th, just at daybreak, we came to a
+considerable body of it, through which we continued to run to the
+southward.  We were now in latitude 68° 56′, and in longitude 58° 27′, in
+which situation a great many bergs were in sight, and apparently aground.
+We ran through this ice, which was very heavy, but loose and much broken
+up, the whole day; when having sailed fifty-three miles S.S.E., and
+appearances being the same as ever, we hauled to the E.S.E., to endeavour
+to get clear before dark, which we were just enabled to effect after a
+run of thirty miles in that direction, and then bore up to the southward.
+After this we saw but one iceberg and one heavy loose piece previous to
+our clearing Davis’s Strait.
+
+On the 17th at noon we had passed to the southward of the Arctic Circle,
+and from this latitude to that of about 58° we had favourable winds and
+weather; but we remarked on this, as on several other occasions during
+this season, that a northerly breeze, contrary to ordinary observation,
+brought more moisture with it than any other.  In the course of this run
+we also observed more drift-wood than we had ever done before, which I
+thought might possibly be owing to the very great prevalence of easterly
+winds this season driving it further from the coast of Greenland than
+usual.  We saw very large flocks of kittiwakes, some of the whales called
+finners, and, as we supposed, a few also of the black kind, together with
+multitudes of porpoises.
+
+On the morning of the 24th, notwithstanding the continuance of a
+favourable breeze, we met, in the latitude of 58½°, so heavy a swell from
+the north-eastward as to make the ship labour violently for
+four-and-twenty hours.  The northerly wind then dying away was succeeded
+by a light air from the eastward with constant rain.  A calm then
+followed for several hours, causing the ship to roll heavily in the
+hollow of the sea.  On the morning of the 25th we had again an easterly
+wind, which in a few hours reduced us to the close-reefed topsails and
+reefed courses.  At eight P.M. it freshened to a gale, which brought us
+under the main-topsail and storm-staysails, and at seven the following
+morning it increased to a gale of such violence from N.E.b.N. as does not
+very often occur at sea in these latitudes.  The gusts were at times so
+tremendous as to set the sea quite in a foam, and threatened to tear the
+sails out of the bolt-ropes.  It abated a little for four hours in the
+evening, but from nine P.M. till two the following morning blew with as
+great violence as before, with a high sea, and very heavy rain;
+constituting altogether as inclement weather as can well be conceived for
+about eighteen hours.  The wind gradually drew to the westward, with dry
+weather, after the gale began to abate, and at six A.M. we were enabled
+to bear up and run to the eastward with a strong gale at north-west.
+
+The indications of the barometer previous to and during this gale deserve
+to be noticed, because it is only about Cape Farewell that, in coming
+from the northward down Davis’s Strait, this instrument begins to speak a
+language which has ever been intelligible to us as a weather-glass.  As
+it is also certain that a “stormy spirit” resides in the neighbourhood of
+this headland, no less than in that of more famed ones to the south, it
+may become a matter of no small practical utility for ships passing it,
+especially in the autumn, to attend to the oscillations of the mercurial
+column.  It is with this impression alone that I have detailed the
+otherwise uninteresting circumstances of the inclement weather we now
+experienced here; and which was accompanied by the following indications
+of the barometer.  On the 24th, notwithstanding the change of wind from
+north to east, the mercury rose from 29.51 on that morning, to 29.72 at
+three A.M. the following day, but fell to 29.39 by nine P.M., with the
+strong but not violent breeze then blowing.  After this it continued to
+descend very gradually, and had reached 28.84, which was its minimum, at
+three P.M. on the 26th, after which it continued to blow tremendously
+hard for eleven or twelve hours, the mercury uniformly though slowly
+ascending to 28.95 during that interval, and afterwards to 29.73 as the
+weather became moderate and fine in the course of the three following
+days.
+
+After this gale the atmosphere seemed to be quite cleared, and we enjoyed
+a week of such remarkably fine weather as seldom occurs at this season of
+the year.  We had then a succession of strong southerly winds, but were
+enabled to continue our progress to the eastward, so as to make Mould
+Head, towards the north-west end of the Orkney Islands, at daylight on
+the 10th of October; and the wind becoming more westerly we rounded North
+Ronaldsha Island at noon, and then shaped a course for Buchaness.
+
+In running down Davis’s Strait, as well as in crossing the Atlantic, we
+saw on this passage as well as in all our former autumnal ones, a good
+deal of the Aurora Borealis.  It first began to display itself on the
+15th of September, about the latitude of 69½°, appearing in the (true)
+south-east quarter as a bright luminous patch five or six degrees above
+the horizon, almost stationary for two or three hours together, but
+frequently altering its intensity, and occasionally sending up vivid
+streamers towards the zenith.  It appeared in the same manner on several
+subsequent nights in the south-west, west, and east quarters of the
+heavens; and on the 20th a bright arch of it passed across the zenith
+from S.E. to N.W., appearing to be very close to the ship, and affording
+so strong a light as to throw the shadow of objects on the deck.  The
+next brilliant display, however, of this beautiful phenomenon which we
+now witnessed, and which far surpassed anything of the kind observed at
+Port Bowen, occurred on the night of the 24th of September, in latitude
+58½°, longitude 44½°.  It first appeared in a (true) east direction, in
+detached masses like luminous clouds of yellow or sulphur-coloured light,
+about three degrees above the horizon.  When this appearance had
+continued for about an hour, it began at nine P.M. to spread upwards, and
+gradually extended itself into a narrow band of light passing through the
+zenith and again downwards to the western horizon.  Soon after this the
+streams of light seemed no longer to emanate from the eastward, but from
+a fixed point about one degree above the horizon on a true west bearing.
+From this point, as from the narrow point of a funnel, streams of light,
+resembling brightly illuminated vapour or smoke, appeared to be
+incessantly issuing, increasing in breadth as they proceeded, and darting
+with inconceivable velocity, such as the eye could scarcely keep pace
+with, upwards towards the zenith, and in the same easterly direction
+which the former arch had taken.  The sky immediately under the spot from
+which the light issued appeared, by a deception very common in this
+phenomenon, to be covered with a dark cloud, whose outline the
+imagination might at times convert into that of the summit of a mountain,
+from which the light proceeded like the flames of a volcano.  The streams
+of light as they were projected upwards did not consist of continuous
+vertical columns or streamers, but almost entirely of separate, though
+constantly renewed masses, which seemed to roll themselves laterally
+onward with a sort of undulating motion, constituting what I have
+understood to be meant by that modification of the Aurora called the
+“merry dancers,” which is seen in beautiful perfection at the Shetland
+Islands.  The general colour of the light was yellow, but an orange and a
+greenish tinge were at times very distinctly perceptible, the intensity
+of the light and colours being always the greatest when occupying the
+smallest space.  Thus the lateral margins of the band or arch seemed at
+times to roll themselves inwards so as to approach each other, and in
+this case the light just at the edges became much more vivid than the
+rest.  The intensity of light during the brightest part of the
+phenomenon, which continued three-quarters of an hour, could scarcely be
+inferior to that of the moon when full.
+
+We once more remarked in crossing the Atlantic that the Aurora often gave
+a great deal of light at night, even when the sky was entirely overcast,
+and it was on that account impossible to say from what part of the
+heavens the light proceeded, though it was often fully equal to that
+afforded by the moon in her quarters.  This was rendered particularly
+striking on the night of the 5th of October, in consequence of the
+frequent and almost instantaneous changes which took place in this way,
+the weather being rather dark and gloomy, but the sky at times so
+brightly illuminated, almost in an instant, as to give quite as much
+light as the full moon similarly clouded, and enabling one distinctly to
+recognise persons from one end of the ship to the other.  We did not on
+any one occasion perceive the compasses to be affected by the Aurora
+Borealis.
+
+As we approached the Orkneys, I demanded from the officers, in compliance
+with my instructions from my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, all
+the logs, journals, drawings, and charts, which had been made during the
+voyage.  After rounding the north end of the Orkneys on the 10th of
+October, we were on the 12th met by a strong southerly wind when off
+Peterhead.  I, therefore, immediately landed (for the second time) at
+that place; and, setting off without delay for London, arrived at the
+Admiralty on the 16th.
+
+Notwithstanding the ill success which had attended our late efforts, it
+may in some degree be imagined what gratification I experienced at this
+time in seeing the whole of the _Hecla’s_ crew, and also those of the
+_Fury_ (with the two exceptions already mentioned), return to their
+native country in as good health as when they left it eighteen months
+before.  The _Hecla_ arrived at Sheerness on the 20th of October, where
+she was detained for a few days for the purpose of Captain Hoppner, his
+officers, and ship’s company, being put upon their trial (according to
+the customary and indispensable rule in such cases) for the loss of the
+_Fury_; when, it is scarcely necessary to add, they received an
+honourable acquittal.  The _Hecla_ then proceeded to Woolwich, and was
+paid off on the 21st of November.
+
+
+
+ACCOUNT OF THE ESQUIMAUX OF MELVILLE PENINSULA AND THE ADJOINING ISLANDS,
+
+
+More particularly of Winter Island and Igloolik.
+
+The number of individuals composing the tribe of Esquimaux assembled at
+Winter Island and Igloolik was two hundred and nineteen, of whom
+sixty-nine were men, seventy-seven women, and seventy-three children.
+Two or three of the men, from their appearance and infirmities, as well
+as from the age of their children, must have been near seventy; the rest
+were from twenty to about fifty.  The majority of the women were
+comparatively young, or from twenty to five-and-thirty, and three or four
+only seemed to have reached sixty.  Of the children, about one-third were
+under four years old, and the rest from that age upwards to sixteen or
+seventeen.  Out of one hundred and fifty-five individuals who passed the
+winter at Igloolik, we knew of eighteen deaths and of only nine births.
+
+The stature of these people is much below that of Europeans in general.
+One man, who was unusually tall, measured five feet ten inches, and the
+shortest was only four feet eleven inches and a half.  Of twenty
+individuals of each sex measured at Igloolik, the range was:—
+
+Men.—From 5 ft. 10 in. to 4 ft. 11 in.  The average height, 5 ft. 5⅓ in.
+
+Women.—From 5 ft. 3½ in. to 4 ft. 8¾ in.  The average height, 5 ft. ½in.
+
+The women, however, generally appear shorter than they really are, both
+from the unwieldy nature of their clothes and from a habit, which they
+early acquire, of stooping considerably forward in order to balance the
+weight of the child they carry in their hood.
+
+In their figure they are rather well-formed than otherwise.  Their knees
+are indeed rather large in proportion, but their legs are straight, and
+the hands and feet, in both sexes, remarkably small.  The younger
+individuals were all plump, but none of them corpulent; the women
+inclined the most to this last extreme, and their flesh was, even in the
+youngest individuals, quite loose and without firmness.
+
+Their faces are generally round and full, eyes small and black, nose also
+small and sunk far in between the cheek bones, but not much flattened.
+It is remarkable that one man, _Tē-ă_, his brother, his wife, and two
+daughters had good Roman noses, and one of the latter was an extremely
+pretty young woman.  Their teeth are short, thick, and close, generally
+regular, and in the young persons almost always white.  The elderly women
+were still well furnished in this way, though their teeth were usually a
+good deal worn down, probably by the habit of chewing the seal-skins for
+making boots.
+
+In the young of both sexes the complexion is clear and transparent, and
+the skin smooth.  The colour of the latter, when divested of oil and
+dirt, is scarcely a shade darker than that of a deep brunette, so that
+the blood is plainly perceptible when it mounts into the cheeks.  In the
+old folks, whose faces were much wrinkled, the skin appears of a much
+more dingy hue, the dirt being less easily, and therefore less
+frequently, dislodged from them.  Besides the smallness of their eyes,
+there are two peculiarities in this feature common to almost all of them.
+The first consists in the eye not being horizontal as with us, but coming
+much lower at the end next the nose than at the other.  Of the second an
+account by Mr. Edwards will be given in another place.
+
+By whatever peculiarities, however, they may in general be distinguished,
+they are by no means ill-looking people; and there were among them three
+or four grown-up persons of each sex who, when divested of their
+skin-dresses, their tattooing, and, above all, of their dirt, might have
+been considered pleasing-looking, if not handsome, people in any town in
+Europe.  This remark applies more generally to the children also; several
+of whom had complexions nearly as fair as that of Europeans, and whose
+little bright black eyes gave a fine expression to their countenances.
+
+The hair both of males and females is black, glossy, and straight.  The
+men usually wear it rather long, and allow it to hang about their heads
+in a loose and slovenly manner.  A few of the younger men, and especially
+those who had been about the shores of the _Welcome_, had it cut straight
+upon the forehead, and two or three had a circular patch upon the crown
+of the head, where the hair was quite short and thin, somewhat after the
+manner of Capuchin friars.  The women pride themselves extremely on the
+length and thickness of their hair; and it was not without reluctance on
+their part, and the same on that of their husbands, that they were
+induced to dispose of any of it.  When inclined to be neat they separate
+their locks into two equal parts, one of which hangs on each side of
+their heads and in front of their shoulders.  To stiffen and bind these
+they use a narrow strap of deerskin attached at one end to a round piece
+of bone, fourteen inches long, tapered to a point, and covered over with
+leather.  This looks like a little whip, the handle of which is placed up
+and down the hair, and the strap wound round it in a number of spiral
+turns, making the tail thus equipped very much resemble one of those
+formerly worn by our seamen.  The strap of this article of dress, which
+is altogether called a _tŏglēēgă_, is so made from the deerskin as to
+show, when bound round the hair, alternate turns of white and dark fur,
+which give it a very neat and ornamental appearance.  On ordinary
+occasions it is considered slovenly not to have the hair thus dressed,
+and the neatest of the women never visited the ships without it.  Those
+who are less nice dispose their hair into a loose plait on each side, or
+have one _tŏglēēgă_ and one plait; and others again, wholly disregarding
+the business of the toilet, merely tucked their hair in under the breast
+of their jackets.  Some of the women’s hair was tolerably fine, but would
+not in this respect bear a comparison with that of an Englishwoman.  In
+both sexes it is full of vermin, which they are in the constant habit of
+picking out and eating; a man and his wife will sit for an hour together
+performing for each other that friendly office.  The women have a comb,
+which, however, seems more intended for ornament than use, as we seldom
+or never observed them comb their hair.  When a woman’s husband is ill
+she wears her hair loose, and cuts it off as a sign of mourning if he
+dies—a custom agreeing with that of the Greenlanders.  It is probable
+also, from what has been before said, that some opprobrium is attached to
+the loss of a woman’s hair when no such occasion demands this sacrifice.
+The men wear the hair on the upper lip and chin, from an inch to an inch
+and a half in length, and some were distinguished by a little tuft
+between the chin and lower lip.
+
+The dresses both of male and female are composed almost entirely of
+deer-skin, in which respect they differ from those of most Esquimaux
+before met with.  In the form of the dress they vary very little from
+those so repeatedly described.  The jacket, which is close, but not
+tight, all round, comes as low as the hips, and has sleeves reaching to
+the wrist.  In that of the women, the tail or flap behind is very broad,
+and so long as almost to touch the ground; while a shorter and narrower
+one before reaches half-way down the thigh.  The men have also a tail in
+the hind part of their jacket, but of smaller dimensions; but before it
+is generally straight or ornamented by a single scollop.  The hood of the
+jacket, which forms the only covering for their head, is much the largest
+in that of the women, for the purpose of holding a child.  The back of
+the jacket also bulges out in the middle to give the child a footing, and
+a strap or girdle below this, and secured round the waist by two large
+wooden buttons in front, prevents the infant from falling through, when,
+the hood being in use, it is necessary thus to deposit it.  The sleeves
+of the women’s jackets are made more square and loose about the shoulders
+than those of the men, for the convenience, as we understood, of more
+readily depositing a child in the hood; and they have a habit of slipping
+their arms out of them, and keeping them in contact with their bodies for
+the sake of warmth, just as we do with our fingers in our gloves in very
+cold weather.
+
+In winter every individual, when in the open air, wears two jackets, of
+which the outer one (_Cāppĕ-tēggă_) has the hair outside, and the inner
+one (_Attēēgă_) next the body.  Immediately on entering the hut the men
+take off their outer jacket, beat the snow from it, and lay it by.  The
+upper garment of the females, besides being cut according to a regular
+and uniform pattern, and sewed with exceeding neatness, which is the case
+with all the dresses of these people, has also the flaps ornamented in a
+very becoming manner by a neat border of deer-skin, so arranged as to
+display alternate breadths of white and dark fur.  This is, moreover,
+usually beautified by a handsome fringe, consisting of innumerable long
+narrow threads of leather hanging down from it.  This ornament is not
+uncommon also in the outer jackets of the men.  When seal-hunting they
+fasten up the tails of their jackets with a button behind.
+
+Their breeches, of which in winter they also wear two pairs, and
+similarly disposed as to the fur, reach below the knee, and fasten with a
+string drawn tight round the waist.  Though these have little or no
+waist-band, and do not come very high, the depth of the jackets, which
+considerably overlap them, serves very effectually to complete the
+covering of the body.
+
+Their legs and feet are so well clothed, that no degree of cold can well
+affect them.  When a man goes on a sealing excursion he first puts on a
+pair of deer-skin boots (_Allĕktēēgă_) with the hair inside and reaching
+to the knee, where they tie.  Over these come a pair of shoes of the same
+material; next a pair of dressed seal-skin boots perfectly water-tight;
+and over all a corresponding pair of shoes, tying round the instep.
+These last are made just like the moccasin of a North American Indian,
+being neatly crimped at the toes, and having several serpentine pieces of
+hide sewn across the sole to prevent wearing.  The water-tight boots and
+shoes are made of the skin of the small seal (_neitiek_), except the
+soles, which consist of the skin of the large seal (_oguke_); this last
+is also used for their fishing-lines.  When the men are not prepared to
+encounter wet they wear an outer boot of deer-skin with the hair outside.
+
+The inner boot of the women, unlike that of the men, is loose round the
+leg, coming as high as the knee-joint behind, and in front carried up, by
+a long pointed flap, nearly to the waist, and there fastened to the
+breeches.  The upper boot, with the hair as usual outside, corresponds
+with the other in shape, except that it is much more full, especially on
+the outer side, where it bulges out so preposterously as to give the
+women the most awkward, bow-legged appearance imaginable.  This
+superfluity of boot has probably originated in the custom, still common
+among the native women of Labrador, of carrying their children in them.
+We were told that these women sometimes put their children there to
+sleep; but the custom must be rare among them, as we never saw it
+practised.  These boots, however, form their principal pockets, and
+pretty capacious ones they are.  Here, also, as in the jackets,
+considerable taste is displayed in the selection of different parts of
+the deer-skin, alternate strips of dark and white being placed up and
+down the sides and front by way of ornament.  The women also wear a
+moccasin (_Itteegĕgă_) over all in the winter time.
+
+One or two persons used to wear a sort of ruff round the neck, composed
+of the longest white hair of the deerskin, hanging down over the bosom in
+a manner very becoming to young people.  It seemed to afford so little
+additional warmth to persons already well clothed, that I am inclined
+rather to attribute their wearing it to some superstitious notion.  The
+children between two and eight or nine years of age had a pair of
+breeches and boots united in one, with braces over their shoulders to
+keep them up.  These, with a jacket like the others and a pair of
+deer-skin mittens, with which each individual is furnished, constitute
+the whole of their dress.  Children’s clothes are often made of the skins
+of very young fawns and of the marmot, as being softer than those of the
+deer.
+
+The Esquimaux, when thus equipped, may at all times bid defiance to the
+rigour of this inhospitable climate; and nothing can exceed the
+comfortable appearance which they exhibit even in the most inclement
+weather.  When seen at a little distance the white rim of their hoods,
+whitened still more by the breath collecting and freezing upon it, and
+contrasted with the dark faces which they encircle, render them very
+grotesque objects; but while the skin of their dresses continues in good
+condition they always look clean and wholesome.
+
+To judge by the eagerness with which the women received our beads,
+especially small white ones, as well as any other article of that kind,
+we might suppose them very fond of personal ornament.  Yet of all that
+they obtained from us in this way at Winter Island, scarcely anything
+ever made its appearance again during our stay there, except a ring or
+two on the finger, and some bracelets of beads round the wrist: the
+latter of these was probably considered as a charm of some kind or other.
+We found among them, at the time of our first intercourse, a number of
+small black and white glass beads, disposed alternately on a string of
+sinew, and worn in this manner.  They would also sometimes hang a small
+bunch of these, or a button or two, in front of their jackets and hair;
+and many of them, in the course of the second winter, covered the whole
+front of their jackets with the beads they received from us.
+
+The most common ornament of this kind, exclusively their own, consists in
+strings of teeth, sometimes many hundred in number, which are either
+attached to the lower part of the jacket, like the fringe before
+described, or fastened as a belt round the waist.  Most of these teeth
+are of the fox and wolf, but some also belong to the musk-ox
+(_ōōmĭngmŭk_), of which animal, though it is never seen at Winter Island,
+we procured from the Esquimaux several of the grinders and a quantity of
+the hair and skin.  The bones of the _kāblĕĕ-ārioo_, supposed to be the
+wolverine, constitute another of their ornaments; and it is more than
+probable that all these possess some imaginary qualities, as specific
+charms for various purposes.  The most extraordinary amulet, if it be
+one, of this kind was a row of foxes’ noses attached to the fore-part of
+a woman’s jacket like a tier of black buttons.  I purchased from Iligliuk
+a semicircular ornament of brass, serrated at the upper edge and brightly
+polished, which she wore over her hair in front and which was very
+becoming.  The handsomest thing of this kind, however, was understood to
+be worn on the head by men, though we did not learn on what occasions.
+It consisted of a band two inches in breadth, composed of several strips
+of skin sewn together, alternately black and yellow; near the upper edge
+some hair was artfully interwoven, forming with the skin a very pretty
+chequer-work: along the lower edge were suspended more than a hundred
+small teeth, principally of the deer, neatly fastened by small double
+tags of sinew, and forming a very appropriate fringe.
+
+Among their personal ornaments must also be reckoned that mode of marking
+the body called tattooing, which, of the customs not essential to the
+comfort or happiness of mankind, is perhaps the most extensively
+practised throughout the world.  Among those people it seems to be an
+ornament of indispensable importance to the women, not one of them being
+without it.  The operation is performed about the age of ten, or
+sometimes earlier, and has nothing to do with marriage, except that,
+being considered in the light of a personal charm, it may serve to
+recommend them as wives.  The parts of the body thus marked are their
+faces, arms, hands, thighs, and in some few women the breasts, but never
+the feet as in Greenland.  The operation, which by way of curiosity most
+of our gentlemen had practised on their arms, is very expeditiously
+managed by passing a needle and thread (the latter covered with
+lamp-black and oil) under the epidermis, according to a pattern
+previously marked out upon the skin.  Several stitches being thus taken
+at once, the thumb is pressed upon the part while the thread is drawn
+through, by which means the colouring matter is retained, and a permanent
+dye of a blue tinge imparted to the skin.  A woman expert at this
+business will perform it very quickly and with great regularity, but
+seldom without drawing blood in many places, and occasioning some
+inflammation.  Where so large a portion of the surface of the body is to
+be covered, it must become a painful as well as tedious process,
+especially as, for want of needles, they often use a strip of whalebone
+as a substitute.  For those parts where a needle cannot conveniently be
+passed under the skin they use the method by puncture, which is common in
+other countries, and by which our seamen frequently mark their hands and
+arms.  Several of the men were marked on the back part of their hands;
+and with them we understood it to be considered as a souvenir of some
+distant or deceased person who had performed it.
+
+In their winter habitations, I have before mentioned that the only
+materials employed are snow and ice, the latter being made use of for the
+windows alone.  The work is commenced by cutting from a drift of hard and
+compact snow a number of oblong slabs, six or seven inches thick and
+about two feet in length, and laying them edgeways on a level spot, also
+covered with snow, in a circular form, and of a diameter from eight to
+fifteen feet, proportioned to the number of occupants the hut is to
+contain.  Upon this as a foundation is laid a second tier of the same
+kind, but with the pieces inclining a little inwards, and made to fit
+closely to the lower slabs and to each other, by running a knife adroitly
+along the under part and sides.  The top of this tier is now prepared for
+the reception of a third by squaring it off smoothly with a knife, all
+which is dexterously performed by one man standing within the circle and
+receiving the blocks of snow from those employed in cutting them without.
+When the wall has attained a height of four or five feet, it leans so
+much inward as to appear as if about to tumble every moment; but the
+workmen still fearlessly lay their blocks of snow upon it, until it is
+too high any longer to furnish the materials to the builder in this
+manner.  Of this he gives notice by cutting a hole close to the ground in
+that part where the door is intended to be, which is near the south side,
+and through this the snow is now passed.  Thus they continue till they
+have brought the sides nearly to meet in a perfect and well-constructed
+dome, sometimes nine or ten feet high in the centre; and this they take
+considerable care in finishing, by fitting the last block or keystone
+very nicely in the centre, dropping it into its place from the outside,
+though it is still done by the man within.  The people outside are in the
+meantime occupied in throwing up snow with the _pŏoāllĕrāy_, or
+snow-shovel, and in stuffing in little wedges of snow where holes have
+been accidentally left.
+
+The builder next proceeds to let himself out by enlarging the proposed
+doorway into the form of a Gothic arch three feet high, and two feet and
+a half wide at the bottom, communicating with which they construct two
+passages, each from ten to twelve feet long and from four to five feet in
+height, the lowest being that next the hut.  The roofs of these passages
+are sometimes arched, but more generally made flat by slabs laid on
+horizontally.  In first digging the snow for building the hut, they take
+it principally from the part where the passages are to be made, which
+purposely brings the floor of the latter considerably lower than that of
+the hut, but in no part do they dig till the bare ground appears.
+
+The work just described completes the walls of a hut, if a single
+apartment only be required; but if, on account of relationship, or from
+any other cause, several families are to reside under one roof, the
+passages are made common to all, and the first apartment (in that case
+made smaller) forms a kind of ante-chamber, from which you go through an
+arched doorway, five feet high, into the inhabited apartments.  When
+there are three of these, which is generally the case, the whole
+building, with its adjacent passages, forms a tolerably regular cross.
+
+For the admission of light into the huts a round hole is cut on one side
+of the roof of each apartment, and a circular plate of ice, three or four
+inches thick and two feet in diameter, let into it.  The light is soft
+and pleasant, like that transmitted through ground glass, and is quite
+sufficient for every purpose.  When after some time these edifices become
+surrounded by drift, it is only by the windows, as I have before
+remarked, that they could be recognised as human habitations.  It may,
+perhaps, then be imagined how singular is their external appearance at
+night, when they discover themselves only by a circular disc of light
+transmitted through the windows from the lamps within.
+
+The next thing to be done is to raise a bank of snow, two and a half feet
+high, all round the interior of each apartment, except on the side next
+the door.  This bank, which is neatly squared off, forms their beds and
+fireplace, the former occupying the sides, and the latter the end
+opposite the door.  The passage left open up to the fireplace is between
+three and four feet wide.  The beds are arranged by first covering the
+snow with a quantity of small stones, over which are laid their paddles,
+tent-poles, and some blades of whalebone; above these they place a number
+of little pieces of network, made of thin slips of whalebone, and,
+lastly, a quantity of twigs of birch and of the _andromeda tetragona_.
+Their deer-skins, which are very numerous, can now be spread without risk
+of their touching the snow; and such a bed is capable of affording not
+merely comfort but luxurious repose, in spite of the rigour of the
+climate.  The skins thus used as blankets are made of a large size, and
+bordered, like some of the jackets, with a fringe of long narrow slips of
+leather, in which state a blanket is called _kēipik_.
+
+The fire belonging to each family consists of a single lamp, or shallow
+vessel of _lapis ollaris_, its form being the lesser segment of a circle.
+The wick, composed of dry moss rubbed between the hands till it is quite
+inflammable, is disposed along the edge of the lamp on the straight side,
+and a greater or smaller quantity lighted, according to the heat required
+or the fuel that can be afforded.  When the whole length of this, which
+is sometimes above eighteen inches, is kindled, it affords a most
+brilliant and beautiful light, without any perceptible smoke or any
+offensive smell.  The lamp is made to supply itself with oil, by
+suspending a long thin slice of whale, seal, or sea-horse blubber near
+the flame, the warmth of which causes the oil to drip into the vessel
+until the whole is extracted.  Immediately over the lamp is fixed a rude
+and rickety framework of wood, from which their pots are suspended, and
+serving also to sustain a large hoop of bone, having a net stretched
+tight within it.  This contrivance, called _Innĕtăt_, is intended for the
+reception of any wet things, and is usually loaded with boots, shoes, and
+mittens.
+
+The fireplace, just described as situated at the upper end of the
+apartment, has always two lamps facing different ways, one for each
+family occupying the corresponding bed-place.  There is frequently also a
+smaller and less-pretending establishment on the same model—lamp, pot,
+net, and all—in one of the corners next the door; for one apartment
+sometimes contains three families, which are always closely related, and
+no married woman, or even a widow without children, is without her
+separate fireplace.
+
+With all the lamps lighted and the hut full of people and dogs, a
+thermometer placed on the net over the fire indicated a temperature of
+38°; when removed two or three feet from this situation it fell to 31°,
+and placed close to the wall stood at 23°, the temperature of the open
+air at the time being 25° below zero.  A greater degree of warmth than
+this produces extreme inconvenience by the dropping from the roofs.  This
+they endeavour to obviate by applying a little piece of snow to the place
+from which a drop proceeds, and this adhering is for a short time an
+effectual remedy; but for several weeks in the spring, when the weather
+is too warm for these edifices, and still too cold for tents, they suffer
+much on this account.
+
+The most important perhaps of the domestic utensils, next to the lamp
+already described, are the _ōōtkŏŏsĕĕks_ or stone pots for cooking.
+These are hollowed out of solid _lapis ollaris_, of an oblong form, wider
+at the top than at the bottom, all made in similar proportion, though of
+various sizes, corresponding with the dimensions of the lamp which burns
+under it.  The pot is suspended by a line of sinew at each end to the
+framework over the fire, and thus becomes so black on every side that the
+original colour of the stone is in no part discernible.  Many of them
+were cracked quite across in several places, and mended by sewing with
+sinew or rivets of copper, iron, or lead, so as, with the assistance of a
+lashing and a due proportion of dirt, to render them quite water-tight.
+I may here remark that as these people distinguish the Wager River by the
+name of _Oōtkŏŏsĕĕksălik_, we were at first led to conjecture that they
+procured their pots, or the material for making them, in that
+neighbourhood; this, however, they assured us was not the case, the whole
+of them coming from Akkoolee, where the stone is found in very high
+situations.  One of the women at Winter Island, who came from that
+country, said that her parents were much employed in making these pots,
+chiefly it seems as articles of barter.  The asbestos, which they use in
+the shape of a roundish pointed stick called _tatko_ for trimming the
+lamps, is met with about Repulse Bay, and generally, as they said, on low
+land.
+
+Besides the ootkooseeks, they have circular and oval vessels of whalebone
+of various sizes, which, as well as their ivory knives made out of a
+walrus’s tusk, are precisely similar to those described on the western
+coast of Baffin’s Bay in 1820.  They have also a number of smaller
+vessels of skin sewed neatly together, and a large basket of the same
+material, resembling a common sieve in shape, but with the bottom close
+and tight, is to be seen in every apartment.  Under every lamp stands a
+sort of “save-all,” consisting of a small skin basket for catching the
+oil that falls over.  Almost every family was in possession of a wooden
+tray very much resembling those used to carry butcher’s meat in England,
+and of nearly the same dimensions, which we understood them to have
+procured by way of Noowook.  They had a number of the bowls or cups
+already once or twice alluded to as being made out of the thick root of
+the horn of the musk-ox.  Of the smaller part of the same horn they also
+form a convenient drinking-cup, sometimes turning it up artificially
+about one-third from the point, so as to be almost parallel to the other
+part, and cutting it full of small notches as a convenience in grasping
+it.  These, or any other vessels for drinking, they call _Immōōchiuk_.
+
+Besides the ivory knives, the men were well supplied with a much more
+serviceable kind, made of iron, and called _panna_.  The form of this
+knife is very peculiar, being seven inches long, two and a quarter broad,
+quite straight and flat, pointed at the end, and ground equally sharp at
+both edges; this is firmly secured into a handle of bone or wood, about a
+foot long, by two or three iron rivets, and has all the appearance of a
+most destructive spear-head, but is nevertheless put to no other purpose
+than that of a very useful knife, which the men are scarcely ever
+without, especially on their sealing excursions.  For these, and several
+knives of European form, they are probably indebted to an indirect
+communication with our factories in Hudson’s Bay.  The same may be
+observed of the best of their women’s knives (_ooloo_), on one of which,
+of a larger size than usual, were the names of “Wild and Sorby.”  When of
+their own manufacture, the only iron part was a little narrow slip let
+into the bone and secured by rivets.  It is curious to observe in this,
+and in numerous other instances, how exactly, amidst all the diversity of
+time and place, these people have preserved unaltered their manners and
+habits as mentioned by Crantz.  That which an absurd dread of innovation
+does in China, the want of intercourse with other nations has effected
+among the Esquimaux.
+
+Of the horn of the musk-ox they make also very good spoons much like ours
+in shape; and I must not omit to mention their marrow spoons
+(_pattēkniuk_, from _pāttĕk_, marrow), made out of long, narrow, hollowed
+pieces of bone, of which every housewife has a bunch of half a dozen or
+more tied together, and generally attached to her needle-case.
+
+For the purpose of obtaining fire the Esquimaux use two lumps of common
+iron pyrites, from which sparks are struck into a little leathern case
+containing moss well dried and rubbed between the hands.  If this tinder
+does not readily catch, a small quantity of the white floss of the seed
+of the ground willow is laid above the moss.  As soon as a spark has
+caught, it is gently blown till the fire has spread an inch around, when,
+the pointed end of a piece of oiled wick being applied, it soon bursts
+into a flame, the whole process having occupied perhaps two or three
+minutes.
+
+Among the articles in their possession, which must have been obtained by
+communication along shore with Hudson’s Bay, were two large copper
+kettles, several open knives with crooked wooden handles, and many
+fragments of copper, iron, and old files.  On a small European axe was
+observed the name of “Foster.”
+
+In enumerating the articles of their food, we might perhaps give a list
+of every animal inhabiting these regions, as they certainly will at times
+eat any one of them.  Their principal dependence, however, is on the
+reindeer (_tōōktoŏ_), musk-ox (_ōōmĭngmŭk_)(in the parts where this
+animal is found), whale (_āggăwĕk_), walrus (_ēi-ŭ-ĕk_), the large and
+small seal (_ōgŭke_ and _nēitiek_), and two sorts of salmon, the
+_ēwĕe-tārŏke_ (_salmo alpinus_?) and _ichlūŏwŏke_.  The latter is taken
+by hooks in freshwater lakes, and the former by spearing in the shoal
+water of certain inlets of the sea.  Of all these animals they can only
+procure in the winter the walrus and small seal upon this part of the
+coast; and these at times, as we have seen, in scarcely sufficient
+quantity for their subsistence.
+
+They certainly in general prefer eating their meat cooked, and while they
+have fuel they usually boil it; but this is a luxury and not a necessary
+to them.  Oily as the nature of their principal food is, yet they
+commonly take an equal proportion of lean to their fat, and unless very
+hungry do not eat it otherwise.  Oil they seldom or never use in any way
+as a part of their general diet; and even our butter, of which they were
+fond, they would not eat without a due quantity of bread.  They do not
+like salt meat as well as fresh, and never use salt themselves; but
+ship’s pork, or even a red herring, did not come amiss to them.  Of
+pea-soup they would eat as much as the sailors could afford to give them;
+and that word was the only one, with the exception of our names, which
+many of them ever learned in English.  Among their own luxuries must be
+mentioned a rich soup called _kāyŏ_, made of blood, gravy, and water, and
+eaten quite hot.  In obtaining the names of several plants, we learned
+that they sometimes eat the leaves of sorrel (_kōngŏlek_), and those of
+the ground willow; as also the red berries (_paōōna-rootik_) of the
+_vaccinium uliginosum_, and the root of the _potentilla pulchella_; but
+these cannot be said to form a part of their regular diet; scurvy grass
+they never eat.
+
+Their only drink is water; and of this, when they can procure it, they
+swallow an inconceivable quantity; so that one of the principal
+occupations of the women during the winter is the thawing of snow in the
+ootkooseks for this purpose.  They cut it into thin slices, and are
+careful to have it clean, on which account they will bring it from a
+distance of fifty yards from the huts.  They have an extreme dislike to
+drinking water much above the temperature of 32°.  In eating their meals
+the mistress of the family, having previously cooked the meat, takes a
+large lump out of the pot with her fingers, and hands it to her husband,
+who placing a part of it between his teeth cuts it off with a large knife
+in that position, and then passes the knife and meat together to his next
+neighbour.  In cutting off a mouthful of meat the knife passes so close
+to their lips, that nothing but constant habit could ensure them from the
+danger of the most terrible gashes; and it would make an English mother
+shudder to see the manner in which children, five or six years old, are
+at all times freely trusted with a knife to be used in this way.
+
+The length of one of the best of seven canoes belonging to these
+Esquimaux was twenty-five feet, including a narrow-pointed projection,
+three feet long at each end, which turns a little upward from the
+horizontal.  The extreme breadth, which is just before the circular hole,
+was twenty-one inches, and the depth ten inches and a half.  The plane of
+the upper surface of the canoe, except in the two extreme projections,
+bends downwards a little from the centre towards the head and stern,
+giving it the appearance of what is in ships called “broken-backed.”  The
+gunwales are of fir, in some instances of one piece, three or four inches
+broad in the centre and tapering gradually away towards the ends.  The
+timbers, as well as the fore-and-aft connecting pieces, are of the same
+material, the former being an inch square, and sometimes so close
+together as to require between forty and fifty of them in one canoe:
+which when thus “in frame” is one of the prettiest things of the kind
+that can be imagined.  The skin with which the canoe is covered is
+exclusively that of the _neitiek_, prepared by scraping off the hair and
+fat with an _ooloo_, and stretching it tight on a frame over the fire;
+after which and a good deal of chewing, it is sewn on by the women with
+admirable neatness and strength.  Their paddles have a blade at each end,
+the whole length being nine feet and a half; the blades are covered with
+a narrow plate of bone round the ends to secure them from splitting: they
+are always made of fir, and generally of several pieces scarfed and
+woolded together.
+
+In summer they rest their canoes upon two small stones raised four feet
+from the ground; and in winter, on a similar structure of snow; in one
+case to allow them to dry freely, and in the other to prevent the
+snow-drift from covering, and the dogs from eating them.  The difficulty
+of procuring a canoe may be concluded from the circumstance of there
+being at Winter Island twenty men able to manage one, and only seven
+canoes among them.  Of these indeed only three or four were in good
+repair, the rest being wholly or in part stripped of the skin, of which a
+good deal was occasionally cut off during the winter, to make boots,
+shoes, and mittens for our people.  We found no _oomiak_, or women’s
+boat, among them, and understood that they were not in the habit of using
+them, which may in part be accounted for by their passing so much of the
+summer in the interior; they knew very well, however, what they were, and
+made some clumsy models of them for our people.
+
+In the weapons used for killing their game there is considerable variety,
+according to the animal of which they are in pursuit.  The most simple of
+these is the _ōōnăk_, which they use only for killing the small seal.  It
+consists of a light staff of wood, four feet in length, having at one end
+the point of a narwhal’s horn, from ten to eighteen inches long, firmly
+secured by rivets and wooldings; at the other end is a smaller and less
+effective point of the same kind.  To prevent losing the ivory part in
+case of the wood breaking, a stout thong runs along the whole length of
+the wood, each end passing through a hole in the ivory, and the bight
+secured in several places to the staff.  In this weapon, as far as it has
+yet been described, there is little art or ingenuity displayed; but a
+considerable degree of both in an appendage called _siātkŏ_, consisting
+of a piece of bone three inches long, and having a point of iron at one
+end, and at the other end a small hole or socket to receive the point of
+the oonak.  Through the middle of this instrument is secured the _āllek_,
+or line of thong, of which every man has, when sealing, a couple of
+coils, each from four to six fathoms long, hanging at his back.  These
+are made of the skin of the _oguke_ as in Greenland, and are admirably
+adapted to the purpose, both on account of their strength, and the
+property which they possess of preserving their pliability even in the
+most intense frost.
+
+When a seal is seen, the siatko is taken from a little leathern case, in
+which, when out of use, it is carefully enclosed, and attached by its
+socket to the point of the spear; in this situation it is retained by
+bringing the allek tight down and fastening it round the middle of the
+staff by what seamen call a “slippery hitch,” which may instantly be
+disengaged by pulling on the other end of the line.  As soon as the spear
+has been thrown, and the animal struck, the siatko is thus purposely
+separated; and being slung by the middle, now performs very effectually
+the important office of a barb, by turning at right angles to the
+direction in which it has entered the orifice.  This device is in its
+principle superior even to our barb; for the instant any strain is put
+upon the line it acts like a toggle, opposing its length to a wound only
+as wide as its own breadth.
+
+The _āklĕak_, or _aklēēgă_, used for the large seal, has a blown bladder
+attached to the staff, for the purpose of impeding the animal in the
+water.  The weapon with two long parallel prongs of bone or iron,
+obtained from the natives of the Savage Islands, these people also called
+_akleak_, and said it was for killing seals.
+
+The third and largest weapon is that called _katteelik_, with which the
+walrus and whale are attacked.  The staff of this is not longer but much
+stouter than that of the others, especially towards the middle, where
+there is a small shoulder of ivory securely lashed to it for the thumb to
+rest against, and thus to give additional force in throwing or thrusting
+the spear.  The ivory point of this weapon is made to fit into a socket
+at the end of the staff, where it is secured by double thongs, in such a
+manner as steadily to retain its position when a strain is put upon it in
+the direction of its length, but immediately disengaging itself with a
+sort of spring, when any lateral strain endangers its breaking.  The
+siatko is always used with this spear; and to the end of the allek, when
+the animal pursued is in open water, they attach a whole seal-skin
+(_hŏw-wūt-tă_), inflated like a bladder, for the purpose of tiring it out
+in its progress through the water.
+
+They have a spear called _īppoo_ for killing deer in the water.  They
+described it as having a light staff and a small head of iron, but they
+had none of these so fitted in the winter.  The _nūgŭee_, or dart for
+birds, has, besides its two ivory prongs at the end of the staff, three
+divergent ones in the middle of it, with several small double barbs upon
+them turning inwards; they differ from the _nuguit_ of Greenland, and
+that of the Savage Islands, in having these prongs always of unequal
+lengths.  To give additional velocity to the bird-dart, they use a
+throwing-stick (_noke-shak_) which is probably the same as the
+“hand-board” figured by Crantz.  It consists of a flat board about
+eighteen inches in length, having a groove to receive the staff, two
+others and a hole for the fingers and thumb, and a small spike fitted for
+a hole in the end of the staff.  This instrument is used for the
+bird-dart only.  The spear for salmon or other fish, called kākĕe-wĕi,
+consists of a wooden staff with a spike of bone or ivory, three inches
+long, secured at one end.  On each side of the spike is a curved prong,
+much like that of a pitchfork, but made of flexible horn, which gives
+them a spring, and having a barb on the inner part of the point turning
+downwards.  Their fish-hooks (_kakliōkia_) consist only of a nail crooked
+and pointed at one end, the other being let into a piece of ivory to
+which the line is attached.  A piece of deer’s horn or curved bone, only
+a foot long, is used as a rod, and completes this very rude part of their
+fishing-gear.
+
+Of their mode of killing seals in the winter I have already spoken in the
+course of the foregoing narrative, as far as we were enabled to make
+ourselves acquainted with it.  In their summer exploits on the water, the
+killing of the whale is the most arduous undertaking which they have to
+perform; and one cannot sufficiently admire the courage and activity
+which, with gear apparently so inadequate, it must require to accomplish
+this business.  Okotook, who was at the killing of two whales in the
+course of a single summer, and who described the whole of it quite _con
+amore_, mentioned the names of thirteen men who, each in his canoe, had
+assisted on one of these occasions.  When a fish is seen lying on the
+water, they cautiously paddle up astern of him, till a single canoe,
+preceding the rest, comes close to him on one quarter, so as to enable
+the man to drive the _katteelik_ into the animal with all the force of
+both arms.  This having the _siatko_, a long _allek_, and the inflated
+seal-skin attached to it, the whale immediately dives, taking the whole
+apparatus with him except the _katteelik_ which, being disengaged in the
+manner before described, floats to the surface and is picked up by its
+owner.  The animal re-appearing after some time, all the canoes again
+paddle towards him, some warning being given by the seal-skin buoy
+floating on the surface.  Each man being furnished like the first, they
+repeat the blows as often as they find opportunity, till perhaps every
+line has been thus employed.  After pursuing him in this manner,
+sometimes for half a day, he is at length so wearied by the resistance of
+the buoys, and exhausted by loss of blood, as to be obliged to rise more
+and more often to the surface, when, by frequent wounds with their
+spears, they succeed in killing him, and tow their prize in triumph to
+the shore.  It is probable that with the whale, as with the smaller
+sea-animals, some privilege or perquisite is given to the first striker;
+and, like our own fishermen, they take a pride in having it known that
+their spear has been the first to inflict a wound.  They meet with the
+most whales on the coast of _Einwīllik_.
+
+In attacking the walrus in the water they use the same gear, but with
+much more caution than with the whale, always throwing the _katteelik_
+from some distance, lest the animal should attack the canoe and demolish
+it with his tusks.  The walrus is in fact the only animal with which they
+use any caution of this kind.  They like the flesh better than that of
+the seal; but venison is preferred by them to either of these, and indeed
+to any other kind of meat.
+
+At Winter Island they carefully preserved the heads of all the animals
+killed during the winter, except two or three of the walrus, which we
+obtained with great difficulty.  There is probably some superstition
+attached to this, but they told us that they were to be thrown into the
+sea in the summer, which a Greenlander studiously avoids doing; and,
+indeed, at Igloolik, they had no objection to part with them before the
+summer arrived.  As the blood of the animals which they kill is all used
+as food of the most luxurious kind, they are careful to avoid losing any
+portion of it; for this purpose they carry with them on their excursions
+a little instrument of ivory called _tŏopōōtă_, in form and size exactly
+resembling a “twenty-penny” nail, with which they stop up the orifice
+made by the spear, by thrusting it through the skin by the sides of the
+wound, and securing it with a twist.  I must here also mention a simple
+little instrument called _keipkūttuk_, being a slender rod of bone nicely
+rounded, and having a point at one end and a knob or else a laniard at
+the other.  The use of this is to thrust through the ice where they have
+reason to believe a seal is at work underneath.  This little instrument
+is sometimes made as delicate as a fine wire, that the seal may not see
+it; and a part still remaining above the surface informs the fishermen by
+its motion whether the animal is employed in making his hole: if not, it
+remains undisturbed, and the attempt is given up in that place.
+
+One of the best of their bows was made of a single piece of fir, four
+feet eight inches in length, flat on the inner side and rounded on the
+outer, being five inches in girth about the middle, where, however, it is
+strengthened on the concave side, when strung, by a piece of bone ten
+inches long, firmly secured by tree-nails of the same material.  At each
+end of the bow is a knob of bone, or sometimes of wood covered with
+leather, with a deep notch for the reception of the string.  The only
+wood which they can procure not possessing sufficient elasticity combined
+with strength, they ingeniously remedy the defect by securing to the back
+of the bow, and to the knobs at each end, a quantity of small lines, each
+composed of a plait or “sinnet” of three sinews.  The number of lines
+thus reaching from end to end is generally about thirty; but besides
+these, several others are fastened with hitches round the bow, in pairs,
+commencing eight inches from one end, and again united at the same
+distance from the other, making the whole number of strings, in the
+middle of the bow sometimes amount to sixty.  These being put on with the
+bow somewhat bent the contrary way, produce a spring so strong as to
+require considerable force as well as knack in stringing it and giving
+the requisite velocity to the arrow.  The bow is completed by a woolding
+round the middle and a wedge or two, here and there, driven in to tighten
+it.  A bow in one piece is, however, very rare; they generally consist of
+from two to five pieces of bone of unequal lengths, secured together by
+rivets and tree-nails.
+
+The arrows vary in length from twenty to thirty inches, according to the
+materials that can be commanded.  About two-thirds of the whole length is
+of fir rounded, and the rest of bone let by a socket into the wood, and
+having a head of thin iron, or more commonly of slate, secured into a
+slit by two tree-nails.  Towards the opposite end of the arrow are two
+feathers, generally of the spotted oval, not very neatly lashed on.  The
+bow-string consists of from twelve to eighteen small lines of three-sinew
+sinnet, having a loose twist, and with a separate becket of the same size
+for going over the knobs at the end of the bow.
+
+We tried their skill in archery by getting them to shoot at a mark for a
+prize, though with bows in extremely bad order, on account of the frost,
+and their hands very cold.  The mark was two of their spears stuck
+upright in the snow, their breadth being three inches and a half.  At
+twenty yards they struck this every time; at thirty, sent the arrows
+always within an inch or two of it; and at forty or fifty yards, I should
+think, would generally hit a fawn if the animal stood still.  These
+weapons are perhaps sufficient to inflict a mortal wound at something
+more than that distance, for which, however, a strong arm would be
+required.  The animals which they kill with the bow and arrow for their
+subsistence are principally the musk-ox and deer, and less frequently the
+bear, wolf, fox, hare, and some of the smaller animals.
+
+It is a curious fact that the musk-ox is very rarely found to extend his
+migrations to the eastward of a line passing through Repulse Bay, or
+about the meridian of 86° west, while in a northern direction we know
+that he travels as far as the seventy-sixth degree of latitude.  In
+Greenland this animal is known only by vague and exaggerated report; on
+the western coast of Baffin’s Bay it has certainly been seen, though very
+rarely, by the present inhabitants; and the eldest person belonging to
+the Winter Island tribe had never seen one to the eastward of Eiwillik,
+where, as well as at Akkōōleĕ, they are said to be numerous on the banks
+of fresh-water lakes and streams.  The few men who had been present at
+the killing of one of these creatures seemed to pride themselves very
+much upon it.  Toolooak, who was about seventeen years of age, had never
+seen either the musk-ox or the _kābleĕ-ārioo_, a proof that the latter
+also is not common in this corner of America.
+
+The reindeer are killed by the Esquimaux in great abundance in the summer
+season, partly by driving them from islands or narrow necks of land into
+the sea, and then spearing them from their canoes; and partly by shooting
+them from behind heaps of stones raised for the purpose of watching them
+and imitating their peculiar bellow or grunt.  Among the various
+artifices which they employ for this purpose, one of the most ingenious
+consists in two men walking directly from the deer they wish to kill,
+when the animal almost always follows them.  As soon as they arrive at a
+large stone, one of the men hides behind it with his bow, while the
+other, continuing to walk on, soon leads the deer within range of his
+companion’s arrows.  They are also very careful to keep to leeward of the
+deer, and will scarcely go out after them at all when the weather is
+calm.  For several weeks in the course of the summer some of these people
+almost entirely give up their fishery on the coast, retiring to the banks
+of lakes several miles in the interior, which they represent as large and
+deep and abounding with salmon, while the pasture near them affords good
+feeding to numerous herds of deer.
+
+The distance to which these people extend their inland migrations, and
+the extent of coast of which they possess a personal knowledge, are
+really very considerable.  Of these we could at the time of our first
+intercourse form no correct judgment, from our uncertainty as to the
+length of what they call a _seenik_ (sleep), or one day’s journey, by
+which alone they could describe to us, with the help of their imperfect
+arithmetic, the distance from one place to another.  But our subsequent
+knowledge of the coast has cleared up much of this difficulty, affording
+the means of applying to their hydrographical sketches a tolerably
+accurate scale for those parts which we have not hitherto visited.  A
+great number of these people, who were born at Amitioke and Igloolik, had
+been to _Noowook_, or nearly as far south as Chesterfield Inlet, which is
+about the _ne plus ultra_ of their united knowledge in a southerly
+direction.  Not one of them had been by water round to Akkoolee, but
+several by land; in which mode of travelling they only consider that
+country from three to five days’ journey from Repulse Bay.  Okotook and a
+few others of the Winter Island tribe had extended their peregrinations a
+considerable distance to the northward, over the large insular piece of
+land to which we have applied the name of Cockburn Island; which they
+described as high land and the resort of numerous reindeer.  Here Okotook
+informed us he had seen icebergs, which these people call by a name
+(_pīccălōōyăk_) having in its pronunciation some affinity to that used in
+Greenland.  By the information afterwards obtained when nearer the spot,
+we had reason to suppose this land must reach beyond the seventy-second
+degree of latitude in a northerly direction; so that these people possess
+a personal knowledge of the continent of America and its adjacent
+islands, from that parallel to Chesterfield Inlet in 63¾°, being a
+distance of more than five hundred miles reckoned in a direct line,
+besides the numerous turnings and windings of the coast along which they
+are accustomed to travel.  Ewerat and some others had been a considerable
+distance up the Wager River; but no record had been preserved among them
+of Captain Middleton’s visit to that inlet about the middle of the last
+century.
+
+Of the continental shore to the westward of Akkoolee, the Esquimaux
+invariably disclaimed the slightest personal knowledge; for no land can
+be seen in that direction from the hills.  They entertain, however, a
+confused idea that neither Esquimaux nor Indians could there subsist, for
+want of food.  Of the Indians they know enough by tradition to hold them
+in considerable dread, on account of their cruel and ferocious manners.
+When, on one occasion, we related the circumstances of the inhuman
+massacre described by Hearne, they crowded round us in the hut, listening
+with mute and almost breathless attention; and the mothers drew their
+children closer to them, as if to guard them from the dreadful
+catastrophe.  It is worthy of notice that they call the Indians by a name
+(_Eērt-kĕi-lĕe_), which appears evidently the same as that applied by the
+Greenlanders to the man-eaters supposed to inhabit the eastern coast of
+their country, and to whom terror has assigned a face like that of a dog.
+
+The Esquimaux take some animals in traps, and by a very ingenious
+contrivance of this kind they caught two wolves at Winter Island.  It
+consists of a small house built of ice, at one end of which a door, made
+of the same plentiful material, is fitted to slide up and down in a
+groove; to the upper part of this a line is attached, and, passing over
+the roof, is let down into the trap at the inner end, and there held by
+slipping an eye in the end of it over a peg of ice left for the purpose.
+Over the peg, however, is previously placed a loose grummet, to which the
+bait is fastened, and a false roof placed over all to hide the line.  The
+moment the animal drags at the bait the grummet slips off the peg,
+bringing with it the line that held up the door, and this falling down
+closes the trap and secures him.
+
+A trap for birds is formed by building a house of snow just large enough
+to contain one person, who closes himself up in it.  On the top is left a
+small aperture, through which the man thrusts one of his hands to secure
+the bird the moment he alights to take away a bait of meat laid beside
+it.  It is principally gulls that are taken thus; and the boys sometimes
+amuse themselves in this manner.  A trap in which they catch foxes has
+been mentioned in another place.
+
+The sledges belonging to these Esquimaux were in general large and
+heavily constructed, being more adapted to the carriage of considerable
+burdens than to very quick travelling.  They varied in size, being from
+six and a half to nine feet in length, and from eighteen inches to two
+feet in breadth.  Some of those at Igloolik were of larger dimensions,
+one being eleven feet in length, and weighing two hundred and sixty-eight
+pounds, and two or three others above two hundred pounds.  The runners
+are sometimes made of the right and left jaw-bones of a whale; but more
+commonly of several pieces of wood or bone scarfed and lashed together,
+the interstices being filled, to make all smooth and firm, with moss
+stuffed in tight, and then cemented by throwing water to freeze upon it.
+The lower part of the runner is shod with a plate of harder bone, coated
+with fresh-water ice to make it run smoothly and to avoid wear and tear,
+both which purposes are thus completely answered.  This coating is
+performed with a mixture of snow and fresh water about half an inch
+thick, rubbed over it till it is quite smooth and hard upon the surface,
+and this is usually done a few minutes before setting out on a journey.
+When the ice is only in part worn off, it is renewed by taking some water
+into the mouth, and spirting it over the former coating.  We noticed a
+sledge which was extremely curious, on account of one of the runners and
+a part of the other being constructed without the assistance of wood,
+iron, or bone of any kind.  For this purpose a number of seal-skins being
+rolled up and disposed into the requisite shape, an outer coat of the
+same kind was sewed tightly round them; this formed the upper half of the
+runner, the lower part of which consisted entirely of moss moulded while
+wet into the proper form, and being left to freeze, adhering firmly
+together and to the skins.  The usual shoeing of smooth ice beneath
+completed the runner, which for more than six months out of twelve, in
+this climate, was nearly as hard as any wood; and for winter use no way
+inferior to those constructed of more durable materials.  The crosspieces
+which form the bottom of the sledge are made of bone, wood, or anything
+they can muster.  Over these is generally laid a seal-skin as a flooring,
+and in the summertime a pair of deer’s horns are attached to the sledge
+as a back, which in the winter are removed to enable them when stopping
+to turn the sledge up, so as to prevent the dogs running away with it.
+The whole is secured by lashings of thong, giving it a degree of strength
+combined with flexibility which perhaps no other mode of fastening could
+effect.
+
+The dogs of the Esquimaux, of which these people possessed above a
+hundred, have been so often described that there may seem little left to
+add respecting their external appearance, habits, and use.  Our visits to
+Igloolik having, however, made us acquainted with some not hitherto
+described, I shall here offer a further account of these invaluable
+animals.  In the form of their bodies, their short pricked ears, thick
+furry coat, and bushy tail, they so nearly resemble the wolf of these
+regions that, when of a light or brindled colour, they may easily at a
+little distance be mistaken for that animal.  To an eye accustomed to
+both, however, a difference is perceptible in the wolf’s always keeping
+his head down and his tail between his legs in running, whereas the dogs
+almost always carry their tails handsomely curled over the back.  A
+difference less distinguishable, when the animals are apart, is the
+superior size and more muscular make of the wild animal, especially about
+the breast and legs.  The wolf is also, in general, full two inches
+taller than any Esquimaux dog we have seen; but those met with in 1818,
+in the latitude of 76°, appear to come nearest to it in that respect.
+The tallest dog at Igloolik stood two feet one inch from the ground,
+measured at the withers; the average height was about two inches less
+than this.
+
+The colour of the dogs varies from a white, through brindled, to
+black-and-white, or almost entirely black.  Some are also of a reddish or
+ferruginous colour, and others have a brownish-red tinge on their legs,
+the rest of their bodies being of a darker colour, and these last were
+observed to be generally the best dogs.  Their hair in the winter is from
+three to four inches long; but besides this, Nature furnishes them during
+this rigorous season with a thick under-coating of close soft wool, which
+they begin to cast in the spring.  While thus provided, they are able to
+withstand the most inclement weather without suffering from the cold; and
+at whatever temperature the atmosphere may be, they require nothing but a
+shelter from the wind to make them comfortable, and even this they do not
+always obtain.  They are also wonderfully enabled to endure the cold even
+on those parts of the body which are not thus protected, for we have seen
+a young puppy sleeping, with its bare paw laid on an ice-anchor, with the
+thermometer at -30°, which with one of our dogs would have produced
+immediate and intense pain, if not subsequent mortification.  They never
+bark, but have a long melancholy howl like that of the wolf, and this
+they will sometimes perform in concert for a minute or two together.
+They are besides always snarling and fighting among one another, by which
+several of them are generally lame.  When much caressed and well fed,
+they become quite familiar and domestic; but this mode of treatment does
+not improve their qualities as animals of draught.  Being desirous of
+ascertaining whether these dogs are wolves in a state of domestication, a
+question which we understood to have been the subject of some
+speculation, Mr. Skeoch, at my request, made a skeleton of each, when the
+number of all the vertebra was found to be the same in both, and to
+correspond with the well-known anatomy of the wolf.
+
+When drawing a sledge, the dogs have a simple harness (_annoo_) of deer
+or seal skin, going round the neck by one bight, and another for each of
+the fore-legs, with a single thong leading over the back and attached to
+the sledge as a trace.  Though they appear at first sight to be huddled
+together without regard to regularity, there is, in fact, considerable
+attention paid to their arrangement, particularly in the selection of a
+dog of peculiar spirit and sagacity, who is allowed, by a longer trace,
+to precede the rest as leader, and to whom, in turning to the right or
+left, the driver usually addresses himself.  This choice is made without
+regard to age or sex, and the rest of the dogs take precedency according
+to their training or sagacity, the least effective being put nearest the
+sledge.  The leader is usually from eighteen to twenty feet from the fore
+part of the sledge, and the hindmost dog about half that distance, so
+that when ten or twelve are running together, several are nearly abreast
+of each other.  The driver sits quite low on the fore part of the sledge,
+with his feet overhanging the snow on one side, and having in his hand a
+whip, of which the handle, made either of wood, bone, or whalebone, is
+eighteen inches, and the lash more than as many feet in length.  The part
+of the thong next the handle is plaited a little way down to stiffen it
+and give it a spring, on which much of its use depends; and that which
+composes the lash is chewed by the women to make it flexible in frosty
+weather.  The men acquire from their youth considerable expertness in the
+use of this whip, the lash of which is left to trail along the ground by
+the side of the sledge, and with which they can inflict a very severe
+blow on any dog at pleasure.  Though the dogs are kept in training
+entirely by fear of the whip, and indeed without it would soon have their
+own way, its immediate effect is always detrimental to the draught of the
+sledge; for not only does the individual that is struck draw back and
+slacken his trace, but generally turns upon his next neighbour, and this,
+passing on to the next, occasions a general divergency, accompanied by
+the usual yelping and showing of teeth.  The dogs then come together
+again by degrees, and the draught of the sledge is accelerated; but, even
+at the best of times, by this rude mode of draught, the traces of
+one-third of the dogs form an angle of thirty or forty degrees on each
+side of the direction in which the sledge is advancing.  Another great
+inconvenience attending the Esquimaux method of putting the dogs to,
+besides that of not employing their strength to the best advantage, is
+the constant entanglement of the traces by the dogs repeatedly doubling
+under from side to side to avoid the whip, so that, after running a few
+miles, the traces always require to be taken off and cleared.
+
+In directing the sledge the whip acts no very essential part, the driver
+for this purpose using certain words, as the carters do with us, to make
+the dogs turn more to the right or left.  To these a good leader attends
+with admirable precision, especially if his own name be repeated at the
+same time, looking behind over his shoulder with great earnestness, as if
+listening to the directions of the driver.  On a beaten track, or even
+where a single foot or sledge mark is occasionally discernible, there is
+not the slightest trouble in guiding the dogs; for even in the darkest
+night and in the heaviest snowdrift there is little or no danger of their
+losing the road, the leader keeping his nose near the ground, and
+directing the rest with wonderful sagacity.  Where, however, there is no
+beaten track, the best driver among them makes a terribly circuitous
+course, as all the Esquimaux roads plainly show; these generally
+occupying an extent of six miles, when with a horse and sledge the
+journey would scarcely have amounted to five.  On rough ground, as among
+hummocks of ice, the sledge would be frequently overturned, or altogether
+stopped, if the driver did not repeatedly get off, and, by lifting or
+drawing it to one side, steer it clear of those accidents.  At all times,
+indeed, except on a smooth and well-made road, he is pretty constantly
+employed thus with his feet, which, together with his never-ceasing
+vociferations and frequent use of the whip, renders the driving of one of
+these vehicles by no means a pleasant or easy task.  When the driver
+wishes to stop the sledge, he calls out “Wo, woa,” exactly as our carters
+do; but the attention paid to this command depends altogether on his
+ability to enforce it.  If the weight is small and the journey homeward,
+the dogs are not to be thus delayed; the driver is therefore obliged to
+dig his heels into the snow to obstruct their progress; and having thus
+succeeded in stopping them, he stands up with one leg before the foremost
+cross-piece of the sledge, till, by means of laying the whip gently over
+each dog’s head, he has made them all lie down.  He then takes care not
+to quit his position; so that should the dogs set off he is thrown upon
+the sledge, instead of being left behind by them.
+
+With heavy loads the dogs draw best with one of their own people,
+especially a woman, walking a little way ahead; and in this case they are
+sometimes enticed to mend their pace by holding a mitten to the mouth,
+and then making the motion of cutting it with a knife, and throwing it on
+the snow, when the dogs, mistaking it for meat, hasten forward to pick it
+up.  The women also entice them from the huts in a similar manner.  The
+rate at which they travel depends, of course, on the weight they have to
+draw, and the road on which their journey is performed.  When the latter
+is level and very hard and smooth, constituting what in other parts of
+North America is called “good sleighing,” six or seven dogs will draw
+from eight to ten hundredweight, at the rate of seven or eight miles an
+hour, for several hours together, and will easily under those
+circumstances perform a journey of fifty or sixty miles a day; on
+untrodden snow, five-and-twenty or thirty miles would be a good day’s
+journey.  The same number of well-fed dogs, with a weight of only five or
+six hundred pounds (that of the sledge included), are almost
+unmanageable, and will on a smooth road run any way they please at the
+rate of ten miles an hour.  The work performed by a greater number of
+dogs is, however, by no means in proportion to this, owing to the
+imperfect mode already described of employing the strength of these
+sturdy creatures, and to the more frequent snarling and fighting
+occasioned by an increase of numbers.
+
+In the summer, when the absence of snow precludes the use of sledges, the
+dogs are still made useful on journeys and hunting excursions, by being
+employed to carry burdens in a kind of saddle-bags laid across their
+shoulders.  A stout dog thus accoutred will accompany his master, laden
+with a weight of about twenty to twenty-five pounds.  When leading the
+dogs, the Esquimaux take a half hitch with the trace round their necks to
+prevent their pulling, and the same plan is followed when a sledge is
+left without a keeper.  They are also in the habit of tethering them,
+when from home, by tying up one of the fore-legs; but a still more
+effectual method is similar to that which we saw employed by the
+Greenlanders of Prince Regent’s Bay, and consists in digging with their
+spears two holes in the ice in an oblique direction and meeting each
+other, so as to leave an eye-bolt, to which the dogs are fastened.
+
+The scent of the Esquimaux dogs is excellent; and this property is turned
+to account by their masters in finding the seal holes, which these
+invaluable animals will discover entirely by the smell at a very great
+distance.  The track of a single deer upon the snow will in like manner
+set them off at a full gallop, when travelling, at least a quarter of a
+mile before they arrive at it, when they are with difficulty made to turn
+in any other direction; and the Esquimaux are accustomed to set them
+after those animals to hunt them down when already wounded with an arrow.
+In killing bears the dogs act a very essential part, and two or three of
+them when led on by a man will eagerly attack one of those ferocious
+creatures.  An Esquimaux seldom uses any other weapon than his spear and
+_panna_ in this encounter, for which the readiness of the dogs may be
+implied from the circumstance of the word “nennook” (bear), being often
+used to encourage them when running in a sledge.  Indeed, the only animal
+which they are not eager to chase is the wolf, of which the greater part
+of them seem to have an instinctive dread, giving notice at night of
+their approach to the huts by a loud and continued howl.  There is not
+one dog in twenty among them that will voluntarily, or indeed without a
+great deal of beating, take the water if they think it is out of their
+depth, and the few that would do so were spoken of as extraordinary
+exceptions.
+
+The Esquimaux in general treat their dogs much as an unfeeling master
+does his slaves; that is, they take just as much care of them as their
+own interest is supposed to require.  The bitches with young are in the
+winter allowed to occupy a part of their own beds, where they are
+carefully attended and fed by the women, who will even supply the young
+ones with meat and water from their mouths as they do their own children,
+and not unfrequently also carry them in their hoods to take care of them.
+It is probably on this account that the dogs are always so much attached
+to the women, who can at any time catch them or entice them from the huts
+when the men fail.  Two females that were with young on board the _Fury_
+in the month of February brought forth six and seven at a litter, and the
+former number were all females.  Their feeding, which, both in summer and
+winter, principally consists of _kāŏw_, or the skin and part of the
+blubber of the walrus, is during the latter season very precarious, their
+masters having then but little to spare.  They therefore become extremely
+thin at that time of the year, and would scarcely be recognised as the
+same animals as when regularly fed in the summer.  No wonder therefore
+that they will eat almost anything however tough or filthy, and that
+neither whipping nor shouting will prevent their turning out of the road,
+even when going at full speed, to pick up whatever they espy.  When at
+the huts they are constantly creeping in to pilfer what they can, and
+half the time of the people sitting there is occupied in vociferating
+their names and driving them by most unmerciful blows out of the
+apartments.  The dogs have no water to drink during the winter, but lick
+up some clean snow occasionally as a substitute; nor indeed if water be
+offered them do they care about it unless it happens to be oily.  They
+take great pleasure in rolling in clean snow, especially after or during
+a journey, or when they have been confined in a house during the night.
+Notwithstanding the rough treatment which they receive from their masters
+their attachment to them is very great, and this they display after a
+short absence by jumping up and licking their faces all over with extreme
+delight.  The Esquimaux, however, never caress them, and indeed scarcely
+ever take any notice of them but when they offend, and they are not then
+sparing in their blows.  The dogs have all names, to which they attend
+with readiness, whether drawing in a sledge or otherwise.  Their names
+are frequently the same as those of the people, and in some instances are
+given after the relations of their masters, which seems to be considered
+an act of kindness among them.  Upon the whole, notwithstanding the
+services performed by these valuable creatures, I am of opinion that art
+cannot well have done less towards making them useful, and that the same
+means in almost any other hands would be employed to greater advantage.
+
+*****
+
+In the disposition of these people, there was of course among so many
+individuals considerable variety as to the minute points; but in the
+general features of their character, which with them are not subject to
+the changes produced by foreign intercourse, one description will nearly
+apply to all.  The virtue which, as respected ourselves, we could most
+have wished them to possess is honesty, and the impression derived from
+the early part of our intercourse was certainly in this respect a
+favourable one.  A great many instances occurred, some of which have been
+related, where they appeared even scrupulous in returning articles that
+did not belong to them; and this too when detection of a theft, or at
+least of the offender, would have been next to impossible.  As they grew
+more familiar with us, and the temptations became stronger, they
+gradually relaxed in their honesty, and petty thefts were from time to
+time committed by several individuals both male and female among them.
+
+The bustle which any search for stolen goods occasioned at the huts was a
+sufficient proof of their understanding the estimation in which the crime
+was held by us.  Until the affair was cleared up they would affect great
+readiness to show every article which they had got from the ships,
+repeating the name of the donor with great warmth, as if offended at our
+suspicions, yet with a half-smile on their countenances at our supposed
+credulity in believing them.  There was, indeed, at all times some degree
+of trick and cunning in this show of openness and candour; and they would
+at times bring back some very trifling article that had been given them,
+tendering it as a sort of expiation for the theft of another much more
+valuable.  When a search was making they would invent all sorts of lies
+to screen themselves, not caring on whom besides the imputation fell; and
+more than once they directed our people to the apartments of others who
+were innocent of the offence in question.  If they really knew the
+offender, they were generally ready enough to inform against him, and
+this with an air of affected secrecy and mysterious importance; and, as
+if the dishonesty of another constituted a virtue in themselves, they
+would repeat this information frequently, perhaps for a month afterwards,
+setting up their neighbour’s offence as a foil to their own pretended
+honesty.
+
+In appreciating the character of these people for honesty, however, we
+must not fail to make due allowance for the degree of temptation to which
+they were daily exposed amidst the boundless stores of wealth which our
+ships appeared to them to furnish.  To draw a parallel case, we must
+suppose a European of the lower class suffered to roam about amidst
+hoards of gold and silver; for nothing less valuable can be justly
+compared with the wood and iron that everywhere presented themselves to
+their view on board the ships.  The European and the Esquimaux who, in
+cases so similar, both resist the temptation of stealing, must be
+considered pretty nearly on a par in the scale of honesty; and judging in
+this manner, the balance might possibly be found in favour of the latter
+when compared with any similar number of Europeans taken at random from
+the lower class.
+
+In what has been hitherto said, regard has been had only to their
+dealings with us.  In their transactions among themselves there is no
+doubt that, except in one or two privileged cases, such as that of
+destitute widows, the strictest honesty prevails, and that as regards the
+good of their own community they are generally honest people.  We have in
+numberless instances sent presents by one to another, and invariably
+found that they had been faithfully delivered.  The manner in which their
+various implements are frequently left outside their huts is a proof,
+indeed, that robbery is scarcely known among them.  It is true that there
+is not an article in the possession of one of them of which any of the
+rest will not readily name the owner, and the detection of a theft would
+therefore be certain and immediate.  Certainty of detection, however,
+among a lawless and ferocious people, instead of preventing robbery,
+would more probably add violence and murder to the first crime, and the
+strongest would ultimately gain the upper hand.  We cannot, therefore,
+but admire the undisturbed security in which these people hold their
+property without having recourse to any restraint beyond that which is
+incurred by the tacitly received law of mutual forbearance.
+
+In the barter of their various commodities their dealings with us were
+fair and upright, though latterly they were by no means backward or
+inexpert in driving a bargain.  The absurd and childish exchanges which
+they at first made with our people induced them subsequently to complain
+that the Kabloonas had stolen their things, though the profit had been
+eventually a hundredfold in their favour.  Many such complaints were made
+when the only fault in the purchaser had been excessive liberality, and
+frequently also as a retort by way of warding off the imputation of some
+dishonesty of their own.  A trick not uncommon with the women was to
+endeavour to excite the commiseration and to tax the bounty of one person
+by relating some cruel theft of this kind that had, as they said, been
+practised upon them by another.  One day, after I had bought a knife of
+Togolat, she told Captain Lyon, in a most piteous tone, that _Parree_ had
+stolen her last _ooloo_, that she did not know what to do without one,
+and, at length coming to the point, begged him to give her one.
+Presently after this, her husband coming in and asking for something to
+eat, she handed him some meat accompanied by a very fine ooloo.  Her son,
+being thus reminded of eating, made the same request, upon which a second
+knife was produced, and immediately after, a third of the same kind for
+herself.  Captain Lyon, having amused himself in watching these
+proceedings, which so well confirmed the truth of the proverb that
+certain people ought to have good memories, now took the knives, one by
+one, out of their hands, and holding them up to Togolat, asked her if
+Parree had not stolen her last ooloo.  A hearty laugh all round was the
+only notice taken by them of this direct detection of the deceit.
+
+The confidence which they really placed in us was daily and hourly
+evinced by their leaving their fishing gear stuck in the snow all round
+the ships; and not a single instance occurred, to my knowledge, of any
+theft committed on their property.  The licking of the articles received
+from us was not so common with them as with Esquimaux in general, and
+this practice was latterly almost entirely left off by them.
+
+Among the unfavourable traits in their character must be reckoned an
+extreme disposition to envy, which displayed itself on various occasions
+during our intercourse with them.  If we had made any presents in one
+hut, the inmates of the next would not fail to tell us of it,
+accompanying their remarks with some satirical observation, too
+unequivocally expressed to be mistaken, and generally by some stroke of
+irony directed against the favoured person.  If any individual with whom
+we had been intimate happened to be implicated in a theft, the
+circumstance became a subject of satisfaction too manifest to be
+repressed, and we were told of it with expressions of the most triumphant
+exultation on every occasion.  It was indeed curious, though ridiculous,
+to observe that, even among these simple people, and in this obscure
+corner of the globe, that little gossip and scandal so commonly practised
+in small societies among us were very frequently displayed.  This was
+especially the case with the women, of whom it was not uncommon to see a
+group sitting in a hut for hours together, each relating her quota of
+information, now and then mimicking the persons of whom they spoke, and
+interlarding their stories with jokes evidently at the expense of their
+absent neighbours, though to their own infinite amusement.
+
+In extenuation, however, of these faults, it must be allowed that we were
+ourselves the exciting cause which called them into action, and without
+which they would be comparatively of rare occurrence among them.  Like
+every other child of Adam, they undoubtedly possess their share of the
+seeds of these human frailties; but even in this respect they need not
+shrink from a comparison with ourselves, for who among us can venture to
+assure himself that if exposed to similar temptations he would not be
+found wanting?
+
+To another failing to which they are addicted the same excuse will not so
+forcibly apply, as in this respect our acquaintance with them naturally
+furnishes an opportunity for the practice of a virtue, rather than for
+the development of its opposite vice.  I have already, in the course of
+the foregoing narrative, hinted at the want of gratitude evinced by these
+people in their transactions with us.  Among themselves, almost the only
+case in which this sentiment can have any field for exertion is in the
+conduct of children towards their parents, and in this respect, as I
+shall presently have occasion to notice, their gratitude is by no means
+conspicuous.  Anything like a free gift is very little, if at all, known
+among them.  If A gives B a part of his seal to-day, the latter soon
+returns an equal quantity when he is the successful fisherman.  Uncertain
+as their mode of living is, and dependent as they are upon each other’s
+exertions, this custom is the evident and unquestionable interest of all.
+The regulation does credit to their wisdom, but has nothing to do with
+their generosity.  This being the case, it might be supposed that our
+numerous presents, for which no return was asked, would have excited in
+them something like thankfulness, combined with admiration; but this was
+so little the case that the _coyenna_ (thanks) which did now and then
+escape them, expressed much less than even the most common-place “thank
+ye” of civilised society.  Some exceptions, for they were only
+exceptions, and rare ones, to this rule have been mentioned as they
+occurred; but, in general, however considerable the benefit conferred, it
+was forgotten in a day; and this forgetfulness was not unfrequently
+aggravated by their giving out that their benefactor had been so shabby
+as to make them no present at all.  Even those individuals who, either
+from good behaviour or superior intelligence, had been most noticed by
+us, and particularly such as had slept on board the ships, and whether in
+health or sickness had received the most friendly treatment from
+everybody, were in general just as indifferent as the rest; and I do not
+believe that any one amongst them would have gone half a mile out of his
+road, or have sacrificed the most trivial self-gratification, to have
+served us.  Though the riches lay on our side, they possessed abundant
+means of making some nominal return, which, for the sake of the principle
+that prompted it, would of course have been gratifying to us.  Okotook
+and Iligliuk, whom I had most loaded with presents, and who had never
+offered me a single free gift in return, put into my hand, at the time of
+their first removal from Winter Island, a dirty crooked model of a spear,
+so shabbily constructed that it had probably been already refused as an
+article of barter by many of the ship’s company.  On my accepting this,
+from an unwillingness to affront them, they were uneasy and dissatisfied
+till I had given them something in return, though their hands were full
+of the presents which I had just made them.  Selfishness is, in fact,
+almost without exception their universal characteristic, and the
+main-spring of all their actions, and that, too, of a kind the most
+direct and unamiable that can well be imagined.
+
+In the few opportunities we had of putting their hospitality to the test,
+we had every reason to be pleased with them.  Both as to food and
+accommodation, the best they had were always at our service; and their
+attention, both in kind and degree, was everything that hospitality and
+even good breeding could dictate.  The kindly offices of drying and
+mending our clothes, cooking our provision, and thawing snow for our
+drink were performed by the women with an obliging cheerfulness which we
+shall not easily forget, and which commanded its due share of our
+admiration and esteem.  While thus their guest, I have passed an evening
+not only with comfort, but with extreme gratification; for with the women
+working and singing, their husbands quietly mending their lines, the
+children playing before the door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a
+cheerful lamp, one might well forget for the time that an Esquimaux hut
+was the scene of this domestic comfort and tranquillity; and I can safely
+affirm with Cartwright, that, while thus lodged beneath their roof, I
+know no people whom I would more confidently trust, as respects either my
+person or my property, than the Esquimaux.  It is painful, and may
+perhaps be considered invidious after this, to inquire how far their
+hospitality would in all probability be extended if interest were wholly
+separated from its practice, and a stranger were destitute and unlikely
+soon to repay them.  But truth obliges me to confess that, from the
+extreme selfishness of their general conduct, as well as from their
+behaviour in some instances to the destitute of their own tribe, I should
+be sorry to lie under the necessity of thus drawing very largely on their
+bounty.
+
+The estimation in which women are held among these people is, I think,
+somewhat greater than is usual in savage life.  In their general
+employments they are by no means the drudges that the wives of the
+Greenlanders are said to be; being occupied only in those cares which may
+properly be called domestic, and as such are considered the peculiar
+business of the women among the lower classes in civilised society.  The
+wife of one of these people, for instance, makes and attends the fire,
+cooks the victuals, looks after the children, and is sempstress to her
+whole family; while her husband is labouring abroad for their
+subsistence.  In this respect it is not even necessary to except their
+task of cutting up the small seals, which is, in truth, one of the
+greatest luxuries and privileges they enjoy; and even if it were esteemed
+a labour, it could scarcely be considered equivalent to that of the women
+in many of our own fishing-towns, where the men’s business is at an end
+the moment the boat touches the beach.  The most laborious of their tasks
+occurs perhaps in making their various journeys, when all their goods and
+chattels are to be removed at once, and when each individual must
+undoubtedly perform a full share of the general labour.  The women are,
+however, good walkers, and not easily fatigued; for we have several times
+known a young woman of two-and-twenty, with a child in her hood, walk
+twelve miles to the ships and back again the same day for the sake of a
+little bread-dust and a tin canister.  When stationary in the winter,
+they have really almost a sinecure of it, sitting quietly in their huts,
+and having little or no employment for the greater part of the day.  In
+short, there are few, if any, people in this state of society among whom
+the women are so well off.  They always sit upon the beds with their legs
+doubled under them, and are uneasy in the posture usual with us.  The men
+sometimes sit as we do, but more generally with their legs crossed before
+them.
+
+The women do not appear to be in general very prolific.  Illumea, indeed,
+had borne seven children, but no second instance of an equal number in
+one family afterwards came to our knowledge; three or four is about the
+usual number.  They are, according to their own account, in the habit of
+suckling their children to the age of three years; but we have seen a
+child of five occasionally at the breast, though they are dismissed from
+the mother’s hood at about the former age.  The time of weaning them must
+of course, in some instances, depend on the mother’s again becoming
+pregnant, and if this succeeds quickly it must, as Crantz relates of the
+Greenlanders, go hard with one of the infants.  Nature, however, seems to
+be kind to them in this respect, for we did not witness one instance, nor
+hear of any, in which a woman was put to this inconvenience and distress.
+It is not uncommon to see one woman suckling the child of another, while
+the latter happens to be employed in her other domestic occupations.
+They are in the habit also of feeding their younger children from their
+own mouths, softening the food by mastication, and then turning their
+heads round, so that the infant in the hood may put its lips to theirs.
+The chill is taken from water for them in the same manner, and some
+fathers are very fond of taking their children on their knees and thus
+feeding them.  The women are more desirous of having sons than daughters,
+as on the former must principally depend their support in old age.
+
+Twelve of the men had each two wives, and some of the younger ones had
+also two betrothed; two instances occurred of the father and son being
+married to sisters.  The custom of betrothing children in their infancy
+is commonly practised here, in which respect these people differ from the
+natives of Greenland, where it is comparatively rare.  A daughter of
+Arnaneelia, between two and three years old, had long been thus
+contracted to Okotook’s son, a hero of six or seven, and the latter used
+to run about the hut, calling his intended by the familiar appellation of
+_Nŏŏllē-ă_ (wife), to the great amusement of the parents.  When a man has
+two wives, there is generally a difference of five or six years in their
+ages.  The senior takes her station next the principal fire, which comes
+entirely under her management; and she is certainly considered in some
+respects superior to the other, though they usually live together in the
+utmost harmony.  The men sometimes repudiate their wives without
+ceremony, in case of real or supposed bad behaviour, as in Greenland, but
+this does not often occur.  There was a considerable disparity of age
+between many of the men and their wives, the husband being sometimes the
+oldest by twenty years or more, and this also when he had never married
+any former wife.  We knew no instance in which the number of a man’s
+wives exceeded two, and indeed we had every reason to believe that the
+practice is never admitted among them.  We met with a singular instance
+of two men having exchanged wives, in consequence merely of one of the
+latter being pregnant at the time when her husband was about to undertake
+a long journey.
+
+The authority of the husband seems to be sufficiently absolute, depending
+nevertheless in great measure on the dispositions of the respective
+parties.  Iligliuk was one of those women who seemed formed to manage
+their husbands; and we one day saw her take Okotook to task in a very
+masterly style for having bartered away a good jacket for an old useless
+pistol without powder or shot.  He attempted at first to bluster in his
+turn, and with most women would probably have gained his point.  But with
+Iligliuk this would not do; she saw at once the absurdity of his bargain,
+and insisted on his immediately cancelling it, which was accordingly
+done, and no more said about it.  In general, indeed, the husband
+maintains his authority, and in several instances of supposed bad
+behaviour in a wife, we saw obedience enforced in a pretty summary
+manner.  It is very rare, however, to see them proceed to this extremity;
+and the utmost extent of a husband’s want of tenderness towards his wife
+consists in general in making her walk or lead the dogs, while he takes
+his own seat in the sledge and rides in comfort.  Widows, as might be
+expected, are not so well off as those whose husbands are living, and
+this difference is especially apparent in their clothes, which are
+usually very dirty, thin, and ragged; when indeed they happen to have no
+near relatives, their fate, as we have already seen, is still worse than
+this.
+
+I fear we cannot give a very favourable account of the chastity of the
+women, nor of the delicacy of their husbands in this respect.  As for the
+latter, it was not uncommon for them to offer their wives as freely for
+sale as a knife or a jacket.  Some of the young men informed us that,
+when two of them were absent together on a sealing excursion, they often
+exchanged wives for the time, as a matter of friendly convenience; and
+indeed, without mentioning any other instances of this nature, it may
+safely be affirmed that in no country is prostitution carried to greater
+lengths than among these people.  The behaviour of most of the women when
+their husbands were absent from the huts plainly evinced their
+indifference towards them, and their utter disregard of connubial
+fidelity.  The departure of the men was usually the signal for throwing
+aside restraint, which was invariably resumed on their return.  For this
+event they take care to be prepared by the report of the children, one of
+whom is usually posted on the outside for the purpose of giving due
+notice.
+
+The affection of parents for their children was frequently displayed by
+these people, not only in the mere passive indulgence, and abstinence
+from corporal punishment, for which Esquimaux have before been remarked,
+but by a thousand playful endearments also, such as parents and nurses
+practise in our own country.  Nothing indeed can well exceed the kindness
+with which they treat their children; and this trait in their character
+deserves to be the more insisted on, because it is in reality the only
+very amiable one which they possess.  It must be confessed, indeed, that
+the gentleness and docility of the children are such as to occasion their
+parents little trouble, and to render severity towards them quite
+unnecessary.  Even from their earliest infancy, they possess that quiet
+disposition, gentleness of demeanour, and uncommon evenness of temper,
+for which in more mature age they are for the most part distinguished.
+Disobedience is scarcely ever known, a word or even a look from a parent
+is enough; and I never saw a single instance of that frowardness and
+disposition to mischief which with our youth so often requires the whole
+attention of a parent to watch over and to correct.  They never cry from
+trifling accidents, and sometimes not even from very severe hurts, at
+which an English child would sob for an hour.  It is indeed astonishing
+to see the indifference with which, even as tender infants, they bear the
+numerous blows they accidentally receive when carried at their mothers’
+backs.
+
+They are just as fond of play as any other young people, and of the same
+kind; only that while an English child draws a cart of wood, an Esquimaux
+of the same age has a sledge of whalebone; and for the superb baby-house
+of the former, the latter builds a miniature hut of snow, and begs a
+lighted wick from her mother’s lamp to illuminate the little dwelling.
+Their parents make for them, as dolls, little figures of men and women,
+habited in the true Esquimaux costume, as well as a variety of other
+toys, many of them having some reference to their future occupations in
+life, such as canoes, spears, and bows and arrows.  The drum or
+tambourine, mentioned by Crantz, is common among them, and used not only
+by the children, but by the grown-up people at some of their games.  They
+sometimes serrate the edges of two strips of whalebone and whirl them
+round their heads, just as boys do in England to make the same peculiar
+humming sound.  They will dispose one piece of wood on another, as an
+axis, in such a manner that the wind turns it round like the arms of a
+windmill; and so of many other toys of the same simple kind.  These are
+the distinct property of the children, who will sometimes sell them while
+their parents look on, without interfering or expecting to be consulted.
+
+When not more than eight years old the boys are taken by their fathers on
+their sealing excursions, where they begin to learn their future
+business; and even at that early age they are occasionally intrusted to
+bring home a sledge and dogs from a distance of several miles over the
+ice.  At the age of eleven we see a boy with his watertight boots and
+moccasins, a spear in his hand, and a small coil of line at his back,
+accompanying the men to the fishery, under every circumstance; and from
+this time his services daily increase in value to the whole tribe.  On
+our first intercourse with them we supposed that they would not
+unwillingly have parted with their children in consideration of some
+valuable present, but in this we afterwards found that we were much
+mistaken.  Happening one day to call myself Toolooak’s _attata_ (father),
+and pretend that he was to remain with me on board the ship, I received
+from the old man, his father, no other answer than what seemed to be very
+strongly and even satirically implied, by his taking one of our gentlemen
+by the arm and calling him his son; thus intimating that the adoption
+which he proposed was as feasible and as natural as my own.
+
+The custom of adoption is carried to very great lengths among these
+people, and served to explain to us several apparent inconsistencies with
+respect to their relationships.  The adoption of a child in civilised
+countries has usually for its motive either a tenderness for the object
+itself, or some affection or pity for its deceased, helpless, or unknown
+parents.  Among the Esquimaux, however, with whom the two first of these
+causes would prove but little excitement, and the last can have no place,
+the custom owes its origin entirely to the obvious advantage of thus
+providing for a man’s own subsistence in advanced life; and it is
+consequently confined almost without exception to the adoption of sons,
+who can alone contribute materially to the support of an aged and infirm
+parent.  When a man adopts the son of another as his own, he is said to
+“_tego_,” or take him; and at whatever age this is done (though it
+generally happens in infancy), the child then lives with his new parents,
+calls them father and mother, is sometimes even ignorant of any such
+transfer having been made, especially if his real parents should be dead;
+and whether he knows it or not, is not always willing to acknowledge any
+but those with whom he lives.  Without imputing much to the natural
+affection of these people for their offspring, which, like their other
+passions, is certainly not remarkable for its strength, there would seem,
+on the score of disinterestedness, a degree of consideration in a man’s
+thus giving his son to another, which is scarcely compatible with the
+general selfishness of the Esquimaux character; but there is reason to
+suppose that the expediency of this measure is sometimes suggested by a
+deficiency of the mother’s milk, and not unfrequently perhaps by the
+premature death of the real parent.  The agreement seems to be always
+made between the fathers, and to differ in no respect from the transfer
+of other property, except that none can equal in value the property thus
+disposed of.  The good sense, good fortune, or extensive claims of some
+individuals were particularly apparent in this way, from the number of
+sons they had adopted.  Toolemak, deriving perhaps some advantage from
+his qualifications as Angetkook, had taken care to negotiate for the
+adoption of some of the finest male children of the tribe; a provision
+which now appeared the more necessary from his having lost four children
+of his own, besides Noogloo, who was one of his _tego’d_ sons.  In one of
+the two instances that came to our knowledge of the adoption of a female
+child, both its own parents were still living, nor could we ascertain the
+motive for this deviation from the more general custom.
+
+In their behaviour to old people, whose age or infirmities render them
+useless and therefore burdensome to the community, the Esquimaux betray a
+degree of insensibility, bordering on inhumanity, and ill-repaying the
+kindness of an indulgent parent.  The old man Hikkeiera, who was very ill
+during the winter, used to lie day after day little regarded by his wife,
+son, daughter, and other relatives, except that his wretched state
+constituted, as they well knew, a forcible claim upon our charity; and,
+with this view, it was sure to excite a whine of sympathy and
+commiseration whenever we visited or spoke of him.  When, however, a
+journey of ten miles was to be performed over the ice, they left him to
+find his way with a stick in the best manner he could, while the young
+and robust ones were many of them drawn on sledges.  There is, indeed, no
+doubt that, had their necessities or mode of life required a longer
+journey than he could thus have accomplished, they would have pushed on
+like the Indians and left a fellow-creature to perish.  It was certainly
+considered incumbent on his son to support him, and he was fortunate in
+that son’s being a very good man; but a few more such journeys to a man
+of seventy would not impose this incumbrance upon him much longer.
+Illumea, the mother of several grown-up children, lived also in the same
+apartment with her youngest son, and in the same hut with her other
+relations.  She did not, however, interfere, as in Greenland, with the
+management of her son’s domestic concerns, though his wife was half an
+idiot.  She was always badly clothed, and even in the midst of plenty not
+particularly well fed, receiving everything more as an act of charity
+than otherwise; and she will probably be less and less attended to in
+proportion as she stands more in need of assistance.
+
+The different families appear always to live on good terms with each
+other, though each preserves its own habitation and property as distinct
+and independent as any housekeeper in England.  The persons living under
+one roof, who are generally closely related, maintain a degree of harmony
+among themselves which is scarcely ever disturbed.  The more turbulent
+passions, which when unrestrained by religious principle or unchecked by
+the dread of human punishment, usually create so much havoc in the world,
+seem to be very seldom excited in the breasts of these people, which
+renders personal violence or immoderate anger extremely rare among them;
+and one may sit in a hut for a whole day, and never witness an angry word
+or look, except in driving out the dogs.  If they take an offence, it is
+more common for them to show it by the more quiet method of sulkiness;
+and this they now and then tried as a matter of experiment with us.
+Okotook, who was often in this humour, once displayed it to some of our
+gentlemen in his own hut, by turning his back and frequently repeating
+the expression “Good-bye,” as a broad hint to them to go away.  Toolooak
+was also a little given to this mood, but never retained it long, and
+there was no malice mixed with his displeasure.  One evening that he
+slept on board the _Fury_ he either offended Mr. Skeoch, or thought that
+he had done so, by this kind of humour; at all events, they parted for
+the night without any formal reconciliation.  The next morning Mr. Skeoch
+was awakened at an unusually early hour by Toolooak’s entering his cabin
+and taking hold of his hand to shake it by way of making up the supposed
+quarrel.  On a disposition thus naturally charitable, what might not
+Christian education and Christian principles effect!  Where a joke is
+evidently intended, I never knew people more ready to join in it than
+these are.  If ridiculed for any particularity of manner, figure, or
+countenance, they are sure not to be long behindhand in returning it, and
+that very often with interest.  If we were the aggressors in this way,
+some ironical observation respecting the _Kabloonas_ was frequently the
+consequence; and no small portion of wit as well as irony was at times
+mixed with their raillery.
+
+In point of intellect, as well as disposition, great variety was of
+course perceptible among the different individuals of this tribe; but few
+of them were wanting in that respect.  Some, indeed, possessed a degree
+of natural quickness and intelligence which perhaps could hardly be
+surpassed in the natives of any country.  Iligliuk, though one of the
+least amiable, was particularly thus gifted.  When she really wished to
+develop our meaning, she would desire her husband and all the rest to
+hold their tongues, and would generally make it out while they were
+puzzling their heads to no purpose.  In returning her answers, the very
+expression of her countenance, though one of the plainest among them, was
+almost of itself sufficient to convey her meaning; and there was in these
+cases a peculiar decisive energy in her manner of speaking, which was
+extremely interesting.  This woman would indeed have easily learned
+anything to which she chose to direct her attention; and had her lot been
+cast in a civilised country instead of this dreary region, which serves
+alike to “freeze the genial current of the soul” and body, she would
+probably have been a very clever person.  For want of a sufficient
+object, however, neither she nor any of her companions ever learned a
+dozen words of English, except our names, with which it was their
+interest to be familiar, and which, long before we left them, any child
+could repeat, though in their own style of pronunciation.
+
+Besides the natural authority of parents and husbands, these people
+appear to admit no kind of superiority among one another, except a
+certain degree of superstitious reverence for their _angetkooks_, and
+their tacitly following the counsel or steps of the most active
+seal-catcher on their hunting excursions.  The word _nallegak_, used in
+Greenland to express “master,” and “lord” in the Esquimaux translations
+of the Scriptures, they were not acquainted with.  One of the young men
+at Winter Island appeared to be considered somewhat in the light of a
+servant to Okotook, living with the latter, and quietly allowing him to
+take possession of all the most valuable presents which he received from
+us.  Being a sociable people, they unite in considerable numbers to form
+a settlement for the winter; but on the return of spring they again
+separate into several parties, each appearing to choose his own route,
+without regard to that of the rest, but all making their arrangements
+without the slightest disagreement or difference of opinion that we could
+ever discover.  In all their movements they seem to be actuated by one
+simultaneous feeling that is truly admirable.
+
+Superior as our arts, contrivances, and materials must unquestionably
+have appeared to them, and eager as they were to profit by this
+superiority, yet, contradictory as it may seem, they certainly looked
+upon us in many respects with profound contempt, maintaining that idea of
+self-sufficiency which has induced them, in common with the rest of their
+nation, to call themselves, by way of distinction, _Innŭee_, or mankind.
+One day, for instance, in securing some of the gear of a sledge, Okotook
+broke a part of it composed of a piece of our white line, and I shall
+never forget the contemptuous sneer with which he muttered in soliloquy
+the word “Kabloona!” in token of the inferiority of our materials to his
+own.  It is happy, perhaps, when people possessing so few of the good
+things of this life can be thus contented with the little allotted them.
+
+The men, though low in stature, are not wanting in muscular strength in
+proportion to their size, or in activity and hardiness.  They are good
+and even quick walkers, and occasionally bear much bodily fatigue, wet,
+and cold, without appearing to suffer by it, much less to complain of it.
+Whatever labour they have gone through, and with whatever success in
+procuring game, no individual ever seems to arrogate to himself the
+credit of having done more than his neighbour for the general good.  Nor
+do I conceive there is reason to doubt their personal courage, though
+they are too good-natured often to excite others to put that quality to
+the test.  It is true, they will recoil with horror at the tale of an
+Indian massacre, and probably cannot conceive what should induce one set
+of men deliberately and without provocation to murder another.  War is
+not their trade; ferocity forms no part of the disposition of the
+Esquimaux.  Whatever manly qualities they possess are exercised in a
+different way, and put to a far more worthy purpose.  They are fishermen,
+and not warriors; but I cannot call that man a coward who, at the age of
+one-and-twenty, will attack a Polar bear single-handed, or fearlessly
+commit himself to floating masses of ice which the next puff of wind may
+drift for ever from the shore.
+
+If, in short, they are deficient in some of the higher virtues, as they
+are called, of savage life, they are certainly free also from some of its
+blackest vices; and their want of brilliant qualities is fully
+compensated by those which, while they dazzle less, do more service to
+society and more honour to human nature.  If, for instance, they have not
+the magnanimity which would enable them to endure without a murmur the
+most excruciating torture, neither have they the ferocious cruelty that
+incites a man to inflict that torture on a helpless fellow-creature.  If
+their gratitude for favours be not lively nor lasting, neither is their
+resentment of injuries implacable, nor their hatred deadly.  I do not say
+there are not exceptions to this rule, though we have never witnessed
+any; but it is assuredly not their general character.
+
+When viewed more nearly in their domestic relations, the comparison will,
+I believe, be still more in their favour.  It is here as a social being,
+as a husband and the father of a family, promoting within his own little
+sphere the benefit of that community in which Providence has cast his
+lot, that the moral character of a savage is truly to be sought; and who
+can turn without horror from the Esquimaux, peaceably seated after a day
+of honest labour with his wife and children in their snow-built hut, to
+the self-willed and vindictive Indian, wantonly plunging his dagger into
+the bosom of the helpless woman whom nature bids him cherish and protect!
+
+Of the few arts possessed by this simple people some account has already
+been given in the description of their various implements.  As mechanics,
+they have little to boast when compared with other savages lying under
+equal disadvantages as to scantiness of tools and materials.  As
+carpenters, they can scarf two pieces of wood together, secure them with
+pins of whalebone or ivory, fashion the timbers of a canoe, shoe a
+paddle, and rivet a scrap of iron into a spear or arrow head.  Their
+principal tool is the knife (_panna_), and, considering the excellence of
+a great number which they possessed previous to our intercourse with
+them, the work they do is remarkably coarse and clumsy.  Their very
+manner of holding and handling a knife is the most awkward that can be
+imagined.  For the purpose of boring holes they have a drill and bow so
+exactly like our own that they need no further description, except that
+the end of the drill-handle, which our artists place against their
+breast, is rested by these people against a piece of wood or bone held in
+their mouths, and having a cavity fitted to receive it.  With the use of
+the saw they were well acquainted, but had nothing of this kind in their
+possession better than a notched piece of iron.  One or two small
+European axes were lashed to handles in a contrary direction to ours;
+that is, to be used like an adze, a form which, according to the
+observation of a traveller well qualified to judge, savages in general
+prefer.  It was said that these people steamed or boiled wood in order to
+bend it for fashioning the timbers of their canoes.  As fishermen or
+seamen, they can put on a woolding or seizing with sufficient strength
+and security, and are acquainted with some of the most simple and
+serviceable knots in use among us.  In all the arts, however, practised
+by the men, it is observable that the ingenuity lies in the principle,
+not in the execution.  The experience of ages has led them to adopt the
+most efficacious methods, but their practice as handicrafts has gone no
+further than absolute necessity requires; they bestow little labour upon
+neatness or ornament.
+
+In some of the few arts practised by the women there is much more
+dexterity displayed, particularly in that important branch of a
+housewife’s business, sewing, which even with their own clumsy needles of
+bone they perform with extraordinary neatness.  They had, however,
+several steel needles of a three-cornered shape, which they kept in a
+very convenient case, consisting of a strip of leather passed through a
+hollow bone and having its ends remaining out, so that the needles which
+are stuck into it may be drawn in and out at pleasure.  These cases were
+sometimes ornamented by cutting; and several thimbles of leather, one of
+which in sewing is worn on the first finger, are usually attached to it,
+together with a bunch of narrow spoons and other small articles liable to
+be lost.  The thread they use is the sinew of the reindeer (_tooktoo
+ĕwāllŏŏ_), or, when they cannot procure this, the swallow-pipe of the
+_neitiek_.  This may be split into threads of different sizes, according
+to the nature of their work, and is certainly a most admirable material.
+This, together with any other articles of a similar kind, they keep in
+little bags, which are sometimes made of the skin of birds’ feet,
+disposed with the claws downwards in a very neat and tasteful manner.  In
+sewing, the point of the needle is entered and drawn through in a
+direction towards the body, and not from it or towards one side, as with
+our sempstresses.  They sew the deer-skins with a “round seam,” and the
+water-tight boots and shoes are “stitched.”  The latter is performed in a
+very adroit and efficacious manner, by putting the needle only half
+through the substance of one part of the seal-skin, so as to leave no
+hole for admitting the water.  In cutting out the clothes, the women do
+it after one regular and uniform pattern, which probably descends
+unaltered from generation to generation.  The skin of the deer’s head is
+always made to form the apex of the hood, while that of the neck and
+shoulders comes down the back of the jacket; and so of every other part
+of the animal, which is appropriated to its particular portion of the
+dress.  To soften the seal-skins of which the boots, shoes, and mittens
+are made, the women chew them for an hour or two together, and the young
+girls are often seen employed in thus preparing the materials for their
+mothers.  The covering of the canoes is a part of the women’s business,
+in which good workmanship is especially necessary to render the whole
+smooth and water-tight.  The skins, which are those of the _neitiek_
+only, are prepared by scraping off the hair and the fleshy parts with an
+_ooloo_, and stretching them out tight on a frame, in which state they
+are left over the lamps or in the sun for several days to dry; and after
+this they are well chewed by the women to make them fit for working.  The
+dressing of leather and of skins in the hair is an art which the women
+have brought to no inconsiderable degree of perfection.  They perform
+this by first cleansing the skin from as much of the fat and fleshy
+matter as the _ooloo_ will take off, and then rubbing it hard for several
+hours with a blunt scraper, called _siākŏŏt_, so as nearly to dry it.  It
+is then put into a vessel containing urine, and left to steep a couple of
+days, after which a drying completes the process.  Skins dressed in the
+hair are, however, not always thus steeped; the women, instead of this,
+chewing them for hours together, till they are quite soft and clean.
+Some of the leather thus dressed looked nearly as well as ours, and the
+hair was as firmly fixed to the pelt; but there was in this respect a
+very great difference, according to the art or attention of the
+housewife.  Dyeing is an art wholly unknown to them.  The women are very
+expert at platting, which is usually done with three threads of sinew; if
+greater strength is required, several of these are twisted slackly
+together, as in the bowstrings.  The quickness with which some of the
+women plat is really surprising; and it is well that they do so, for the
+quantity required for the bows alone would otherwise occupy half the year
+in completing it.
+
+It may be supposed that among so cheerful a people as the Esquimaux there
+are many games or sports practised; indeed, it was rarely that we visited
+their habitations without seeing some engaged in them.  One of these our
+gentlemen saw at Winter Island, on an occasion when most of the men were
+absent from the huts on a sealing excursion, and in this Iligliuk was the
+chief performer.  Being requested to amuse them in this way, she suddenly
+unbound her hair, platted it, tied both ends together to keep it out of
+her way, and then, stepping out into the middle of the hut, began to make
+the most hideous faces that can be conceived, by drawing both lips into
+her mouth, poking forward her chin, squinting frightfully, occasionally
+shutting one eye, and moving her head from side to side as if her neck
+had been dislocated.  This exhibition, which they call _āyŏkĭt-tāk-poke_,
+and which is evidently considered an accomplishment that few of them
+possess in perfection, distorts every feature in the most horrible manner
+imaginable, and would, I think, put our most skilful horse-collar
+grinners quite out of countenance.
+
+The next performance consists in looking stedfastly and gravely forward
+and repeating the words _tăbāk-tabak_, _kĕibō-keibo_,
+_kĕ-bāng-ĕ-nū-tŏ-ĕĕk_, _kebangenutoeek_, _ămātămā_, _amatama_, in the
+order in which they are here placed, but each at least four times, and
+always by a peculiar modulation of the voice, speaking them in pairs, as
+they are coupled above.  The sound is made to proceed from the throat in
+a way much resembling ventriloquism, to which art it is indeed an
+approach.  After the last _amatama_ Iligliuk always pointed with her
+finger towards her body, and pronounced the word _angetkook_, steadily
+retaining her gravity for five or six seconds, and then bursting into a
+loud laugh, in which she was joined by all the rest.  The women sometimes
+produce a much more guttural and unnatural sound, repeating principally
+the word _īkkĕrĕe-ikkeree_, coupling them as before, and staring in such
+a manner as to make their eyes appear ready to burst out of their sockets
+with the exertion.  Two or more of them will sometimes stand up face to
+face, and with great quickness and regularity respond to each other,
+keeping such exact time that the sound appears to come from one throat
+instead of several.  Very few of the females are possessed of this
+accomplishment, which is called _pitkoo-she-rāk-poke_, and it is not
+uncommon to see several of the younger females practising it.  A third
+part of the game, distinguished by the word _keitīk-poke_, consists only
+in falling on each knee alternately, a piece of agility which they
+perform with tolerable quickness, considering the bulky and awkward
+nature of their dress.
+
+The last kind of individual exhibition was still performed by Iligliuk,
+to whom in this, as in almost every thing else, the other women tacitly
+acknowledged their inferiority, by quietly giving place to her on every
+occasion.  She now once more came forward, and letting her arms hang down
+loosely and bending her body very much forward, shook herself with
+extreme violence, as if her whole frame had been strongly convulsed,
+uttering at the same time, in a wild tone of voice, some of the unnatural
+sounds before mentioned.
+
+This being at an end, a new exhibition was commenced, in which ten or
+twelve women took a part, and which our gentlemen compared to blind man’s
+buff.  A circle being formed, and a boy despatched to look out at the
+door of the hut, Iligliuk, still the principal actress, placed herself in
+the centre, and after making a variety of guttural noises for about half
+a minute, shut her eyes, and ran about till she had taken hold of one of
+the others, whose business it then became to take her station in the
+centre, so that almost every woman in her turn occupied this post, and in
+her own peculiar way, either by distortion of countenance or other
+gestures, performed her part in the game.  This continued three-quarters
+of an hour, and, from the precaution of placing a look-out, who was
+withdrawn when it was over, as well as from some very expressive signs
+which need not here be mentioned, there is reason to believe that it is
+usually followed by certain indecencies, with which their husbands are
+not to be acquainted.  Kaoongut was present indeed on this occasion, but
+his age seemed to render him a privileged person; besides which his own
+wife did not join in the game.
+
+The most common amusement, however, and to which their husbands made no
+objection, they performed at Winter Island expressly for our
+gratification.  The females, being collected to the number of ten or
+twelve, stood in as large a circle as the hut would admit, with Okotook
+in the centre.  He began by a sort of half-howling, half-singing noise,
+which appeared as if designed to call the attention of the women, the
+latter soon commencing the _Amna Aya_ song hereafter described.  This
+they continued without variety, remaining quite still while Okotook
+walked round within the circle; his body was rather bent forward, his
+eyes sometimes closed, his arms constantly moving up and down, and now
+and then hoarsely vociferating a word or two, as if to increase the
+animation of the singers, who, whenever he did this, quitted the chorus
+and rose into the words of the song.  At the end of ten minutes they all
+left off at once, and, after one minute’s interval commenced a second act
+precisely similar and of equal duration, Okotook continuing to invoke
+their Muse as before.  A third act which followed this varied only in his
+frequently towards the close throwing his feet up before and clapping his
+hands together, by which exertion he was thrown into a violent
+perspiration.  He then retired, desiring a young man (who, as we were
+informed, was the only individual of several then present thus qualified)
+to take his place in the centre as master of the ceremonies, when the
+same antics as before were again gone through.  After this description it
+will scarcely be necessary to remark that nothing can be poorer in its
+way than this tedious singing recreation, which, as well as everything in
+which dancing is concerned, they express by the word _mŏmēk-poke_.  They
+seem, however, to take great delight in it; and even a number of the men,
+as well as all the children, crept into the hut by degrees to peep at the
+performance.
+
+The Esquimaux women and children often amuse themselves with a game not
+unlike our “skip-rope.”  This is performed by two women holding the ends
+of a line and whirling it regularly round and round, while a third jumps
+over it in the middle according to the following order:—She commences by
+jumping twice on both feet, then alternately with the right and left, and
+next four times with the feet slipped one behind the other, the rope
+passing once round at each jump.  After this she performs a circle on the
+ground, jumping about half-a-dozen times in the course of it, which
+bringing her to her original position, the same thing is repeated as
+often as it can be done without entangling the line.  One or two of the
+women performed this with considerable agility and adroitness,
+considering the clumsiness of their boots and jackets, and seemed to
+pride themselves in some degree on the qualification.  A second kind of
+this game consists in two women holding a long rope by its ends and
+whirling it round in such a manner, over the heads of two others standing
+close together near the middle of the bight, that each of these shall
+jump over it alternately.  The art therefore, which is indeed
+considerable, depends more on those whirling the rope than on the
+jumpers, who are, however, obliged to keep exact time, in order to be
+ready for the rope passing under their feet.
+
+The whole of these people, but especially the women, are fond of music,
+both vocal and instrumental.  Some of them might be said to be
+passionately so, removing their hair from off their ears and bending
+their heads forward, as if to catch the sounds more distinctly, whenever
+we amused them in this manner.  Their own music is entirely vocal, unless
+indeed the drum or tambourine before mentioned be considered an
+exception.
+
+The voices of the women are soft and feminine, and when singing with the
+men are pitched an octave higher than theirs.  They have most of them so
+far good ears that, in whatever key a song is commenced by one of them,
+the rest will always join in perfect unison.  After singing for ten
+minutes, the key had usually fallen a full semitone.  Only two of them,
+of whom Iligliuk was one, could catch the tune as pitched by an
+instrument; which made it difficult with most of them to complete the
+writing of the notes, for if they once left off they were sure to
+re-commence in some other key, though a flute or violin were playing at
+the time.
+
+During the season passed at Winter Island, which appears to have been a
+healthy one to the Esquimaux, we had little opportunity of becoming
+acquainted with the diseases to which they are subject.  Our subsequent
+intercourse with a greater number of these people at Igloolik having
+unfortunately afforded more frequent and fatal instances of sickness
+among them, I here insert Mr. Edwards’s remarks on this subject:—
+
+“Exempted as these people are from a host of diseases usually ascribed to
+the vitiated habits of more civilised life, as well as from those equally
+numerous and more destructive ones engendered by the pestilential
+effluvia that float in the atmosphere of more favoured climes, the
+diversity of their maladies is, as might _à priori_ be inferred, very
+limited.  But, unfortunately, that improvidence which is so remarkable in
+their kindred tribes is also with them proof against the repeated lessons
+of bitter experience they are doomed to endure.  Alternate excesses and
+privations mark their progress through life, and consequent misery in one
+or another shape is an active agent in effecting as much mischief amongst
+them as the diseases above alluded to produce in other countries.  The
+mortality arising from a few diseases and wretchedness combined, seems
+sufficient to check anything like a progressive increase of their
+numbers.  The great proportion of deaths to births that occurred during
+the period of our intercourse with them has already been noticed.
+
+“It is doubtful in what proportion the mortality is directly occasioned
+by disease.  Few perhaps die, in the strict sense of the term, a natural
+death.  A married person of either sex rarely dies without leaving
+destitute a parent, a widow, or a helpless female infant.  To be deprived
+of near relations is to be deprived of everything; such unfortunates are
+usually abandoned to their fate, and too generally perish.  A widow and
+two or three children left under these circumstances were known to have
+died of inanition, from the neglect and apathy of their neighbours, who
+jeered at the commanders of our ships on the failure of their humane
+endeavours to save what the Esquimaux considered as worthless.
+
+“Our first communication with these people at Winter Island gave us a
+more favourable impression of their general health than subsequent
+experience confirmed.  There, however, they were not free from sickness.
+A catarrhal affection in the month of February became generally
+prevalent, from which they readily recovered after the exciting
+causes—intemperance and exposure to wet—had ceased to operate.  A
+solitary instance of pleurisy also occurred, which probably might have
+ended fatally but for timely assistance.  Our intercourse with them in
+the summer was more interrupted; but at our occasional meetings they were
+observed to be enjoying excellent health.  It is probable that their
+certain supplies of food, and the nomad kind of life they lead in its
+pursuit during that season, are favourable to health.  Nutrition goes on
+actively, and an astonishing increase of strength and fulness is
+acquired.  Active diseases might now be looked for, but that the powers
+of nature are providentially exerted with effect.
+
+“The unlimited use of stimulating animal food, on which they are from
+infancy fed, induces at an early age a highly plethoric state of the
+vascular system.  The weaker over-distended vessels of the nose quickly
+yield to the increased impetus of the blood, and an active hemorrhage
+relieves the subject.  As the same causes continue to be applied in
+excess at frequent intervals, and are followed by similar effects, a kind
+of vicarious hemorrhage at length becomes established by habit;
+superseding the intervention of art, and having no small share in
+maintaining a balance in the circulating system.  The phenomenon is too
+constant to have escaped the observation of those who have visited the
+different Esquimaux people; a party of them has indeed rarely been seen
+that did not exhibit two or three instances of the fact.
+
+“About the month of September the approach of winter induced the
+Esquimaux at Igloolik to abandon their tents and to retire into their
+more established village.  The majority were here crowded into huts of a
+permanent construction, the materials composing the sides being stones
+and the bones of whales, and the roofs being formed of skins, turf, and
+snow; the rest of the people were lodged in snow-huts.  For a while they
+continued very healthy; in fact, as long as the temperature of the
+interior did not exceed the freezing-point, the vapours of the atmosphere
+congealed upon the walls, and the air remained dry and tolerably pure;
+besides, their hard-frozen winter stock of walrus did not at this time
+tempt them to indulge their appetites immoderately.  In January the
+temperature suffered an unseasonable rise, some successful captures of
+walrus also took place, and these circumstances, combined perhaps with
+some superstitious customs, of which we were ignorant, seemed the signal
+for giving way to sensuality.  The lamps were accumulated and the kettles
+more frequently replenished, and gluttony in its most disgusting form
+became for a while the order of the day.  The Esquimaux were now seen
+wallowing in filth, while some surfeited lay stretched upon their skins
+enormously distended, and with their friends employed in rolling them
+about to assist the operations of oppressed nature.  The roofs of their
+huts were no longer congealed, but dripping with wet and threatening
+speedy dissolution.  The air was in the bone-huts damp, hot, and, beyond
+sufferance, offensive with putrid exhalations from the decomposing relics
+of offals, or other animal matter, permitted to remain from year to year
+undisturbed in these horrible sinks.
+
+“What the consequences might have been had this state of affairs long
+continued, it is not difficult to imagine; but, fortunately for them, an
+early and gradual dispersion took place, so that by the end of January
+few individuals were left in the village.  The rest, in divided bodies,
+established themselves in snow-huts upon the sea-ice at some distance
+from the land.  Before this change had been completed, disorders of an
+inflammatory character had appeared.  A few went away sick, some were
+unable to remove, and others taken ill upon the ice, and we heard of the
+death of several about this period.
+
+“The cold snow-huts into which they had moved, though infinitely
+preferable to those abandoned, were ill-suited to the reception of people
+already sick or predisposed, from the above-named causes, to sickness;
+many of them were also deficient in clothing to meet the rigorous weather
+that followed.  Nevertheless, after this violent excitement had passed
+away, a comparatively good condition of health was enjoyed for the
+remainder of the winter and spring months.
+
+“Their distance from the ships at once precluded any effectual assistance
+being rendered them at their huts, and their removal on board with
+safety; the complaints of those who died at the huts, therefore, did not
+come under observation.  It appears, however, to have been acute
+inflammation of some of the abdominal viscera, very rapid in its career.
+In the generality the disease assumed a more insidious and sub-acute
+form, under which the patient lingered for a while, and was then either
+carried off by a diarrhœa or slowly recovered by the powers of nature.
+Three or four individuals who, with some risk and trouble, were brought
+to the ships, we were providentially instrumental in recovering; but two
+others, almost helpless patients, were so far exhausted before their
+arrival that the endeavours used were unsuccessful, and death was
+probably hastened by their removal.
+
+“Abdominal and thoracic inflammations, in fact, seem to be the only
+active diseases they have to encounter.  Where a spontaneous recovery
+does not take place, these prove fatal in a short time.  The only
+instance among them of chronic sequels to those complaints occurred in an
+old man almost in dotage, whose feeble remains of life were wasting away
+by an ulceration of the lungs.
+
+“No traces of the exanthematous disorders met our observation.  A
+solitary case of epilepsy was seen in a deaf and dumb boy, who eventually
+died.  Chronic rheumatism occurs, but it is rare and not severe.  I have
+some doubt in saying that scurvy exists among them.  A disease, however,
+having a close affinity to it was witnessed, but as in the only case that
+came fairly under our notice it was complicated with the symptoms of a
+previous debilitating disease, the diagnosis was difficult.  During the
+patient’s recovery from one of the abdominal attacks above mentioned, the
+gums were observed to be spongy, separated from the teeth and reverted,
+bleeding, and in various parts presenting the livid appearance of
+scorbutic gums.  At the same period arose pains of an anomalous
+description, and of considerable severity about the shoulders and thorax.
+These gradually yielded as he recovered strength, but were succeeded by
+other pains and tenderness of the bones and muscles of the thighs and
+legs.  The citric acid was given to him freely from the beginning, until
+it interfered with his appetite and bowels, when it was omitted.  Topical
+applications were at the same time used, and afterwards continued.  Signs
+of amendment appeared before it became necessary to withhold the
+vegetable acid, and it was not recurred to while he remained on board.
+Urged by impatience of control, he left us to join his countrymen before
+he had well regained his strength; but we saw him on board several times
+afterwards in a progressive state of improvement, and, though yet weak,
+free from scorbutic symptoms.  Another instance offered in a woman, whom
+I saw but once.  Her gums were spongy and reverted, but not discoloured;
+her countenance sallow, lips pale, and she suffered under general
+debility, without local pain or rigidity of the limbs.  She remained in
+this state for a long time, and eventually, as the weather improved,
+recovered without assistance.
+
+“That affection of the eyes known by the name of snow-blindness, is
+extremely frequent among these people.  With them it scarcely ever goes
+beyond painful irritation, whilst among strangers inflammation is
+sometimes the consequence.  I have not seen them use any other remedy
+besides the exclusion of light; but as a preventive a wooden eye-screen
+is worn, very simple in its construction, consisting of a curved piece of
+wood six or seven inches long and ten or twelve lines broad.  It is tied
+over the eyes like a pair of spectacles, being adapted to the forehead
+and nose, and hollowed out to favour the motion of the eyelids.  A few
+rays of light only are admitted through a narrow slit an inch long, cut
+opposite to each eye.  This contrivance is more simple and quite as
+efficient as the more heavy one possessed by some who have been fortunate
+enough to acquire wood for the purpose.  This is merely the former
+instrument complicated by the addition of a horizontal plate projecting
+three or four inches from its upper rim, like the peak of a jockey’s cap.
+In Hudson’s Strait the latter is common, and the former in Greenland,
+where also we are told they wear with advantage the simple horizontal
+peak alone.
+
+“There are upon the whole no people more destitute of curative means than
+these.  With the exception of the hemorrhage already mentioned, which
+they duly appreciate, and have been observed to excite artificially to
+cure head-ache, they are ignorant of any rational method of procuring
+relief.  It has not been ascertained that they use a single herb
+medicinally.  As prophylactics they wear amulets, which are usually the
+teeth, bones, or hair of some animal, the more rare apparently the more
+valuable.  In absolute sickness they depend entirely upon their Angekoks,
+who, they persuade themselves, have influence over some submarine deities
+who govern their destiny.  The mummeries of these impostors, consisting
+in pretended consultations with their oracles, are looked upon with
+confidence, and their mandates, however absurd, superstitiously submitted
+to.  These are constituted of unmeaning ceremonies and prohibitions
+generally affecting the diet, both in kind and mode, but never in
+quantity.  Seal’s flesh is forbidden, for instance, in one disease, that
+of the walrus in the other; the heart is denied to some and the liver to
+others.  A poor woman, on discovering that the meat she had in her mouth
+was a piece of fried heart instead of the liver, appeared horrorstruck;
+and a man was in equal tribulation at having eaten, by mistake, a piece
+of meat cooked in his wife’s kettle.
+
+“This charlatanerie, although we may ridicule the imposition, is not,
+however, with them, as it is with us, a positive evil.  In the total
+absence of the medical art, it proves generally innoxious; while in many
+instances it must be a source of real benefit and comfort, by buoying up
+the sick spirit with confident hopes of recovery, and eventually enabling
+the vital powers to rise superior to the malady, when, without such
+support, the sufferer might have sunk under its weight.  It was attempted
+to ascertain whether climate effected any difference in animal heat
+between them and ourselves by frequently marking the temperature of the
+mouth; but the experiments were necessarily made, as occasion offered,
+under such various states of vascular excitement, as to afford nothing
+conclusive.  As it was, their temperature varied from 97° to 102°,
+coinciding pretty nearly with our own under similar circumstances.  The
+pulse offered nothing singular.
+
+“I may here remark that there is in many individuals a peculiarity about
+the eye, amounting in some instances to deformity, which I have not
+noticed elsewhere.  It consists in the inner corner of the eye being
+entirely covered by a duplication of the adjacent loose skin of the
+eyelids and nose.  This fold is lightly stretched over the edges of the
+eyelids, and forms, as it were, a third palpebra of a crescentic shape.
+The aperture is in consequence rendered somewhat pyriform, the inner
+curvature being very obtuse, and in some individuals distorted by an
+angle formed where the fold crosses the border of the lower palpebra.
+This singularity depends upon the variable form of the orbit during
+immature age, and is very remarkable in childhood, less so towards adult
+age, and then, it would seem, frequently disappearing altogether; for the
+proportion in which it exists among grown-up persons bears but a small
+comparison with that observed among the young.
+
+“Personal deformity from mal-conformation is uncommon, the only instance
+I remember being that of a young woman, whose utterance was
+unintelligibly nasal, in consequence of an imperfect development of the
+palatine bones leaving a gap in the roof of the mouth.”
+
+The imperfect arithmetic of these people, which resolves every number
+above ten into one comprehensive word, prevented our obtaining any very
+certain information respecting the population of this part of North
+America and its adjacent islands.  The principal stations of these people
+not visited by us are _Akkoolee_, _Toonoonee-roochiuh_, _Peelig_, and
+_Toonoonek_, of whose situation I have already spoken.  The first of
+these, which is the only one situated on the continent, lies in an
+indentation of considerable depth on the shores of the Polar Sea, running
+in towards Repulse Bay on the opposite coast, and forming with it the
+large peninsula situated like a bastion at the north-east angle of
+America, which I have named Melville Peninsula, in honour of Viscount
+Melville, the First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty.  From what we
+know of the habits and disposition of the Esquimaux, which incline them
+always to associate in considerable numbers, we cannot well assign a
+smaller population than fifty souls to each of the four principal
+stations above-mentioned; and including these, and the inhabitants of
+several minor ones that were occasionally named to us, there may perhaps
+be three or four hundred people belonging to this tribe with whom we have
+never had communication.  In all their charts of this neighbourhood they
+also delineate a tract of land to the eastward, and somewhat to the
+northward, of Igloolik, where they say the _Seadlērmeoo_, or strangers,
+live, with whom, as with the Esquimaux of Southampton Island, and all
+others coming under the same denomination, they have seldom or never any
+intercourse, either of a friendly or a hostile nature.  It is more than
+probable that the natives of the inlet called the river Clyde, on the
+western coast of Baffin’s Bay, are a part of the people thus designated;
+and, indeed, the whole of the numerous bays and inlets on that extensive
+and productive line of coast may be the residence of great numbers of
+Esquimaux, of whom these people possess no accurate information.
+
+Whatever may be the abundance sometimes enjoyed by these people, and
+whatever the maladies occasioned by their too frequent abuse of it, it is
+certain that they occasionally suffer very severely from the opposite
+extreme.  A remarkably intelligent woman informed Captain Lyon that two
+years ago some Esquimaux arrived at Igloolik from a place near Akkoolee,
+bringing information that during a very grievous famine one party of men
+had fallen upon another and killed them; and that they afterwards
+subsisted on their flesh while in a frozen state, but never cooked nor
+even thawed it.  This horrible account was soon after confirmed by
+Toolemak on board the _Fury_; and though he was evidently uneasy at our
+having heard the story, and conversed upon it with reluctance, yet by
+means of our questions he was brought to name, upon his fingers, five
+individuals who had been killed on this occasion.  Of the fact therefore
+there can be no doubt; but it is certain, also, that we ourselves
+scarcely regarded it with greater horror than those who related it; and
+the occurrence may be considered similar to those dreadful instances on
+record, even among civilised nations, of men devouring one another, in
+wrecks or boats, when rendered desperate by the sufferings of actual
+starvation.
+
+The ceremony of crying, which has before been mentioned as practised
+after a person’s death, is not, however, altogether confined to those
+melancholy occasions, but is occasionally adopted in cases of illness,
+and that of no very dangerous kind.  The father of a sick person enters
+the apartment, and after looking at him for a few seconds without
+speaking, announces by a kind of low sob his preparation for the coming
+ceremony.  At this signal every other individual present composes his
+features for crying, and the leader of the chorus then setting up a loud
+and piteous howl, which lasts about a minute, is joined by all the rest,
+who shed abundant tears during the process.  So decidedly is this a
+matter of form, unaccompanied by any feeling of sorrow, that those who
+are not relatives shed just as many tears as those that are; to which may
+be added that in the instances which we witnessed there was no real
+occasion for crying at all.  It must therefore be considered in the light
+of a ceremony of condolence, which it would be either indecorous or
+unlucky to omit.
+
+I have already given several instances of the little care these people
+take in the interment of their dead, especially in the winter season; it
+is certain, however, that this arises from some superstitious notion, and
+particularly from the belief that any heavy weight upon the corpse would
+have an injurious effect upon the deceased in a future state of
+existence; for even in the summer, when it would be an easy matter to
+secure a body from the depredations of wild animals, the mode of burial
+is not essentially different.  The corpse of a child observed by
+Lieutenant Palmer, he describes “as being laid in a regular but shallow
+grave, with its head to the north-east.  It was decently dressed in a
+good deer-skin jacket, and a seal-skin, prepared without the hair, was
+carefully placed as a cover to the whole figure, and tucked in on all
+sides.  The body was covered with flat pieces of limestone, which,
+however, were so light that a fox might easily have removed them.  Near
+the grave were four little separate piles of stones, not more than a foot
+in height, in one of which we noticed a piece of red cloth and a black
+silk handkerchief, in a second a pair of child’s boots and mittens, and
+in each of the others a whalebone pot.  The face of the child looked
+unusually clean and fresh, and a few days only could have elapsed since
+its decease.”
+
+These Esquimaux do not appear to have any idea of the existence of One
+Supreme Being, nor indeed can they be said to entertain any notions on
+this subject, which may be dignified with the name of Religion.  Their
+superstitions, which are numerous, have all some reference to the
+preternatural agency of a number of _toōrngŏw_, or spirits, with whom, on
+certain occasions, the Angetkooks pretend to hold mysterious intercourse,
+and who in various and distinct ways are supposed to preside over the
+destinies of the Esquimaux.  On particular occasions of sickness or want
+of food the Angetkooks contrive, by means of a darkened hut, a peculiar
+modulation of the voice, and the uttering of a variety of unintelligible
+sounds, to persuade their countrymen that they are descending to the
+lower regions for this purpose, where they force the spirits to
+communicate the desired information.  The superstitious reverence in
+which these wizards are held, and a considerable degree of ingenuity in
+their mode of performing their mummery, prevent the detection of the
+imposture, and secure implicit confidence in these absurd oracles.  My
+friend Captain Lyon having particularly directed his attention to this
+part of their history during the whole of our intercourse with these
+people, and intending to publish his Journal, which contains much
+interesting information of this nature, I shall not here enter more at
+large on the subject.  Some account of their ideas respecting death, and
+of their belief in a future state of existence, have already been
+introduced in the course of the foregoing pages, in the order of those
+occurrences which furnished us with opportunities of observing them.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF THE THIRD VOYAGE FOR THE
+DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE***
+
+
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+     "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" />
+<title>Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage</title>
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+<body>
+<h2>
+<a href="#startoftext">Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage, by William Edward Parry</a>
+</h2>
+<pre>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery
+of a North-West Passage, by William Edward Parry, Edited by Henry Morley
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage
+
+
+Author: William Edward Parry
+
+Editor: Henry Morley
+
+Release Date: September 2, 2008  [eBook #26509]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF THE THIRD VOYAGE FOR
+THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE***
+</pre>
+<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p>
+<p>This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">cassell&rsquo;s
+national library</span>.</p>
+<h1>JOURNAL<br />
+OF THE<br />
+THIRD VOYAGE<br />
+FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A<br />
+NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.</h1>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br />
+CAPT. W. E. PARRY, R.N., F.R.S.,<br />
+<span class="smcap">and commander of the expedition</span>.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL &amp; COMPANY, <span
+class="smcap">Limited</span>:<br />
+<i>LONDON</i>, <i>PARIS</i>, <i>NEW YORK &amp; MELBOURNE</i>.<br
+/>
+1889.</p>
+<h2><!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+5</span>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+<p>William Edward Parry, the son of a physician, was born at Bath
+in December, 1790.&nbsp; At the age of thirteen he was entered as
+a first-class volunteer on board the flag-ship of the Channel
+fleet, and after seven years&rsquo; service and careful study of
+his profession he obtained a commission in 1810 as lieutenant in
+the navy.&nbsp; He was then at once, aged twenty, sent to the
+Arctic seas, where he was during two or three years in command of
+a ship for protection of the British whale fisheries and for
+revision of the admiralty charts.&nbsp; In 1813 he was recalled
+from that service and sent on blockade service to the North
+American station, where he remained about four years, and
+occupied his leisure in writing a book on &ldquo;Nautical
+Astronomy by Night,&rdquo; which he published upon his return to
+England in 1817.</p>
+<p>At that time the search for a North-West Passage to Eastern
+Asia had been suspended for more than half a century.&nbsp; No
+expedition had been sent <!-- page 6--><a name="page6"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 6</span>out since 1746.&nbsp; But after
+Lieutenant Parry&rsquo;s return from the North American station,
+an expedition was prepared under Sir John Ross in the
+<i>Isabella</i>, which sailed in April, 1818, accompanied by the
+<i>Alexander</i>, to the command of which Parry was appointed,
+Sir John Ross being chief of the expedition.&nbsp; They went by
+Davis&rsquo;s Straits to Lancaster Sound, where Sir John Ross
+gave up hope of success and turned back; though Lieutenant Parry
+would have gone on.&nbsp; Next year Parry was entrusted with an
+expedition of his own, which set out in May, 1819, and reached
+Lancaster Sound in July, discovered Prince Regent&rsquo;s Inlet,
+and Barrow Straits, named after Sir John Barrow, Secretary to the
+Admiralty, who was active promoter of these expeditions.&nbsp;
+Parry wintered among the ice and returned next year, having
+pushed Arctic discovery by thirty degrees of longitude farther
+than any who had gone before.&nbsp; That was Parry&rsquo;s first
+voyage, from which he returned to be received with triumph by his
+countrymen.&nbsp; He was advanced to the rank of Commander in
+November, 1820, and made a Fellow of the Royal Society.&nbsp; He
+had shown in what direction to proceed with further search, and
+at the age of thirty <!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 7</span>had established for himself a place of
+lasting honour in the history of English navigation.</p>
+<p>Commander Parry was sent on a second expedition in 1821, from
+which he returned in 1823.&nbsp; He was to explore the Fox
+Channel, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it was connected
+with the Arctic Sea of his first voyage.&nbsp; This voyage had no
+important results; and in 1824 Parry started again on the third
+voyage, of which this volume contains his Journal.&nbsp; In 1827
+he sailed again in the <i>Hecla</i>, but found himself sledging
+over ice that floated southward as fast as he travelled forward
+on it northward.&nbsp; He returned then to the work ashore, as a
+hydrographer, for which his thorough knowledge of navigation
+marked him out.&nbsp; Desire for a more active life caused him to
+spend four or five years in Australia (from 1829 to 1834) as
+Commissioner to the Agricultural Company of Australia.&nbsp; He
+was knighted, and became in 1852 a Rear-Admiral.&nbsp; Sir Edward
+Parry was Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital at the time
+of his death, in July, 1855.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p>
+<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+9</span>THIRD VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST
+PASSAGE.</h2>
+<h3>INTRODUCTION.</h3>
+<p>Notwithstanding the want of success of the late Expedition to
+the Polar Seas, it was resolved to make another attempt to effect
+a passage by sea, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.&nbsp;
+The chief attentions in the equipment of the present expedition
+consisted in the placing of Sylvester&rsquo;s warming stove in
+the very bottom of the ship&rsquo;s hold, in substituting a small
+quantity of salt beef for a part of the pork, and in furnishing a
+much larger supply of newly corned beef.&nbsp; Preserved carrots
+and parsnips, salmon, cream, pickles of onions, beetroot,
+cabbage, and, to make the most of our stowage, split pease
+instead of whole ones, were supplied.&nbsp; A small quantity of
+beef pemmican, made by pounding the meat with a certain portion
+of fat, as described by Captain Franklin, was also furnished.</p>
+<p>To the officers, seamen, and marines my best acknowledgments
+are once more due, for the zealous support I have at all times
+received from them in the course of this service; and I am happy
+to repeat my conviction that, had it depended on their conduct
+and exertion, our most sanguine expectations would, long ere
+this, have been crowned with complete success.</p>
+<h3><!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+10</span>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Passage to the Whale-fish Islands, and Removal
+of Stores from the Transport&mdash;Enter the Ice in
+Baffin&rsquo;s Bay&mdash;Difficulties of Penetrating to the
+Westward&mdash;Quit the Ice in Baffin&rsquo;s Bay&mdash;Remarks
+on the Obstructions encountered by the Ships, and on the Severity
+of the Season.</p>
+<p>The equipment of the <i>Hecla</i> and <i>Fury</i>, and the
+loading of the <i>William Harris</i> transport, being completed,
+we began to move down the river from Deptford on the 8th of May,
+1824, and on the 10th, by the assistance of the steamboat, the
+three ships had reached Northfleet, where they received their
+powder and their ordnance stores.&nbsp; Two days were here
+employed in fixing, under the superintendence of Mr. Barlow and
+Lieutenant Foster, the plate, invented by the former gentleman,
+for correcting the deviation of the compass produced by the
+attraction of the ship&rsquo;s iron; and the continuance of
+strong easterly winds prevented our getting to the Nore till the
+16th.&nbsp; During our stay at Northfleet the ships were visited
+by Viscount Melville, and the other Lords Commissioners of the
+Admiralty, who were pleased to approve of our general equipment
+and arrangements.</p>
+<p>During our passage across the Atlantic in June, and afterwards
+on our way up Davis&rsquo;s Strait, we threw overboard daily a
+strong copper cylinder, containing the usual papers, giving an
+account of our situation.&nbsp; We also took every opportunity
+afforded by light winds, to try the temperature of the sea at
+different depths, as compared with that at the surface.</p>
+<p>I now determined, as the quickest and most secure mode of
+clearing the transport, to anchor at the Whale-fish Islands,
+rather than incur the risk of hampering and <!-- page 11--><a
+name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>damaging her
+among the ice.&nbsp; Fresh gales and thick weather, however,
+prevented our doing so till the 26th, when we anchored at eight
+A.M., in seventeen fathoms, mooring the ships by hawsers to the
+rocks, and then immediately commenced our work.&nbsp; In the
+meantime the observatory and instruments were landed on a small
+island, called by the Danes Boat Island, where Lieutenant Foster
+and myself carried on the magnetic and other observations during
+the stay of the Expedition at this anchorage, of which a survey
+was also made.</p>
+<p>Early on the morning of the 3rd of July, the whole of our
+stores being removed, and Lieutenant Pritchard having received
+his orders, together with our despatches and letters for England,
+the <i>William Harris</i> weighed with a light wind from the
+northward, and was towed out to sea by our boats.&nbsp; The day
+proving calm, we employed it in swinging the <i>Hecla</i>, in
+order to obtain the amount of the deviation of the magnetic
+needle, and to fix afresh the iron plate for correcting it.&nbsp;
+On the following morning, the wind being southerly, the pilots
+came on board, and the <i>Hecla</i> weighed to run through the
+north passage; in doing which she grounded on a rock lying
+directly in the channel, and having only thirteen feet upon it at
+low water, which our sounding boats had missed, and of which the
+pilot was ignorant.&nbsp; The tide being that of ebb we were
+unable to heave the ship off immediately, and at low water she
+had sewed three feet forward.&nbsp; It was not till half-past one
+P.M., that she floated, when it became necessary to drop her down
+between the rock and the shore with hawsers; after which we made
+sail, and being soon after joined by the <i>Fury</i>, which came
+out by the other channel, we stood round the islands to the
+northwards.&nbsp; This rock was not <!-- page 12--><a
+name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>the only one
+found by our boats which may prove dangerous to ships going in
+and out of this harbour, and with which our pilots were
+unacquainted.&nbsp; Another was discovered by Mr. Head, about
+one-third of the distance across from Kron Prins Island to the
+opposite shore of the S.E. entrance, and has not more than
+eighteen feet water on it at low tide; it lies very much in the
+way of ships coming in at that channel, which is the most
+commonly used.&nbsp; The latitude of the island, on which the
+observations were made, called by the Danes Boat Island, is
+74&deg; 28&prime; 15&Prime;; its longitude by our chronometers,
+53&deg; 12&prime; 56&Prime;; the dip of the magnetic needle,
+82&deg; 53&prime; 66&Prime;; and the variation, 70&deg; 23&prime;
+57&Prime; westerly.&nbsp; The time of high water, at new moon, on
+the 26th of June, was a quarter-past eight, the highest tides
+being the third and fourth after the conjunction, and the
+perpendicular rise seven feet and a half.</p>
+<p>The ships standing in towards Lievely on the afternoon of the
+5th, Lieutenant Graah very kindly came off to the <i>Fury</i>,
+which happened to be the nearest in shore, for the purpose of
+taking leave of us.&nbsp; On his quitting the ship a salute of
+ten guns was fired at Lievely, which we returned with an equal
+number; and I sent to Lieutenant Graah, by a canoe that came on
+board the <i>Hecla</i>, an account of the situation of the rocks
+we had discovered.&nbsp; Light northerly winds, together with the
+dull sailing of our now deeply laden ships, prevented our making
+much progress for several days, and kept us in the neighbourhood
+of numerous icebergs, which it is dangerous to approach when
+there is any swell.&nbsp; We counted from the deck, at one time,
+no less than one hundred and three of these immense bodies, some
+of them from one to two hundred feet in height above the sea; and
+it was necessary, <!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 13</span>in one or two instances, to tow the
+ships clear of them with the boats.&nbsp; We had occasion, about
+this time, to remark the more than usual frequency of fogs with a
+northerly wind, a circumstance from which the whalers are
+accustomed to augur a considerable extent of open water in that
+direction.</p>
+<p>The ice soon beginning to close around us, our progress became
+so slow that, on the 17th, we saw a ship at the margin of the
+&ldquo;pack,&rdquo; and two more on the following day.&nbsp; We
+supposed these to be whalers, which, after trying to cross the
+ice to the northward, had returned to make the attempt in the
+present latitude; a supposition which our subsequent difficulties
+served to strengthen.&nbsp; From this time, indeed, the
+obstructions from the quantity, magnitude, and closeness of the
+ice, were such as to keep our people almost constantly employed
+in heaving, warping, or sawing through it; and yet with so little
+success that, at the close of the month of July, we had only
+penetrated seventy miles to the westward, or to the longitude of
+about 62&deg; 10&prime;.&nbsp; Here, while closely beset, on the
+1st of August, we encountered a hard gale from the south-east,
+which pressing the ice together in every direction, by mass
+overlaying mass for hours together, the <i>Hecla</i> received
+several very awkward &ldquo;nips,&rdquo; and was once fairly laid
+on her broadside by a strain which must inevitably have crushed a
+vessel of ordinary strength.&nbsp; In such cases, the ice is
+forced under a ship&rsquo;s bottom on one side, and on the other
+up her side, both powers thus acting in such a manner as to bring
+her on her &ldquo;beam-ends.&rdquo;&nbsp; This is, in fact, the
+most favourable manner in which a ship can receive the pressure,
+and would perhaps only occur with ice comparatively not very
+heavy, though sufficiently so, it is said, to have run completely
+over a <!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 14</span>ship in some extreme and fatal
+cases.&nbsp; With ice of still more formidable dimensions a
+vessel would probably, by an equal degree of pressure, be
+absolutely crushed, in consequence of the increased difficulty of
+sinking it on one side, and causing it to rise on the other.</p>
+<p><i>Sept. 9th</i>.&mdash;I shall doubtless be readily excused
+for not having entered in this journal a detailed narrative of
+the obstacles we met with, and of the unwearied exertions of the
+officers and men to overcome them, during the tedious eight weeks
+employed in crossing this barrier.&nbsp; I have avoided this
+detail because, while it might appear an endeavour to magnify
+ordinary difficulties, which it is our business to overcome
+rather than to discuss, I am convinced that no description of
+mine, nor even the minute formality of the log-book, could convey
+an adequate idea of the truth.&nbsp; The strain we constantly had
+occasion to heave on the hawsers, as springs to force the ships
+through the ice, was such as perhaps no ships ever before
+attempted; and by means of Phillips&rsquo;s invaluable capstan,
+we often separated floes of such magnitude as must otherwise have
+baffled every effort.&nbsp; In doing this, it was next to
+impossible to avoid exposing the men to very great risk from the
+frequent breaking of the hawsers.&nbsp; On one occasion, three of
+the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> seamen were knocked down as
+instantaneously as by a gunshot by the sudden flying-out of an
+anchor; and a marine of the <i>Fury</i> suffered in a similar
+manner when working at the capstan; but, providentially, they all
+escaped with severe contusions.&nbsp; A more serious accident
+occurred in the breaking of the spindle of the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> windlass, depriving her of the use of the
+windlass-end during the rest of the season.</p>
+<p>The constant besetment of the ships, and our daily <!-- page
+15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+15</span>observations for latitude and longitude, afforded a
+favourable opportunity for ascertaining precisely the set of any
+currents by which the whole body of ice might be actuated.&nbsp;
+By attending very carefully to all the circumstances, it was
+evident that a daily set to the southward obtained, when the wind
+was northerly, differing in amount from two or three to eight or
+ten miles per day, according to the strength of the breeze; but a
+northerly current was equally apparent, and fully to the same
+amount, whenever the wind blew from the southward.&nbsp; A
+circumstance more remarkable than these, however, forced itself
+strongly upon my notice at this time, which was, that a
+<i>westerly</i> set was very frequently apparent, even against a
+fresh breeze blowing from that quarter.&nbsp; I mention the
+circumstance in this place, because I may hereafter have to offer
+a remark or two on this fact in connection with some others of a
+similar nature noticed elsewhere.</p>
+<p>With respect to the dimensions of the ice through which we had
+now scrambled our way, principally by warping and towing a
+distance of between three and four hundred miles, I remarked that
+it for the most part increased, as well in the thickness as the
+extent of the floes, as we advanced westward about the parallel
+of 71&deg;.&nbsp; During our subsequent progress to the north, we
+also met with some of enormous dimensions, several of the floes,
+to which we applied our hawsers and the power of the improved
+capstan, being at their margin more than twenty feet above the
+level of the sea, and over some of these we could not see from
+the mast-head.&nbsp; Upon the whole, however, the magnitude of
+the ice became somewhat less towards the north-west; and within
+thirty miles of that margin the masses were comparatively <!--
+page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+16</span>small, and their thickness much diminished.&nbsp; Bergs
+were in sight during the whole passage; but they were more
+numerous towards the middle of the &ldquo;pack,&rdquo; and rather
+the most so to the southward.</p>
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Enter Sir James Lancaster&rsquo;s
+Sound&mdash;Land at Cape Warrender&mdash;Meet with young
+ice&mdash;Ships beset and carried near the shore&mdash;Driven
+back to Navy-board Inlet&mdash;Run to the westward, and enter
+Prince Regent&rsquo;s Inlet&mdash;Arrival at Port Bowen.</p>
+<p>All our past obstacles were in a moment forgotten when we once
+more saw an open sea before us; but it must be confessed that it
+was not so easy to forget that the middle of September was
+already near at hand, without having brought us even to the
+entrance of Sir James Lancaster&rsquo;s Sound.&nbsp; That not a
+moment might be lost, however, in pushing to the westward, a
+press of canvas was crowded, and being happily favoured with an
+easterly breeze, on the morning of the 10th of September we
+caught a glimpse of the high bold land on the north side of the
+magnificent inlet up which our course was once more to be
+directed.&nbsp; From the time of our leaving the main body of ice
+we met with none of any kind, and the entrance to the Sound was,
+as usual, entirely free from it, except here and there a berg,
+floating about in that solitary grandeur of which these enormous
+masses, when occurring in the midst of an extensive sea, are
+calculated to convey so sublime an idea.</p>
+<p>On the morning of the 11th, the ships being taken a-back with
+a fresh westerly breeze when near Cape Warrender, I landed in a
+small bay close to the westward <!-- page 17--><a
+name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>of it,
+accompanied by several of the officers, in order to examine the
+country, and to make the necessary observations.</p>
+<p>On the morning of the 12th we were once more favoured with a
+breeze from the eastward, but so light and unsteady that our
+progress was vexatiously slow; and on the 13th, when within seven
+leagues of Cape York, we had the mortification to perceive the
+sea ahead of us covered with young ice, the thermometer having
+for two days past ranged only from 18&deg; to 20&deg;.&nbsp; On
+reaching it we had, as usual, recourse to &ldquo;sallying,&rdquo;
+breaking it with boats ahead, and various other expedients, all
+alike ineffectual without a fresh and free breeze furnishing a
+constant impetus; so that, after seven or eight hours of
+unsuccessful labour in this way, we were obliged to remain as we
+were, fairly and immovably beset.</p>
+<p>It now appeared high time to determine as to the propriety of
+still continuing our efforts to push to the westward or of
+returning to England, according to my instructions on that head
+under particular circumstances.&nbsp; As the crossing of the ice
+in Baffin&rsquo;s Bay had of itself unexpectedly occupied nearly
+the whole of one season, it could not, of course, be considered
+that the attempt to penetrate to the westward in the manner
+directed by their lordships had as yet been made, nor could it,
+indeed, be made during the present year.&nbsp; I could not,
+therefore, have a moment&rsquo;s hesitation as to the propriety
+of pushing on as far as the present season would permit, and then
+giving a fair trial during the whole of the next summer to the
+route I was directed by my instructions to pursue.&nbsp; In
+order, however, to confirm my own opinion on this subject, I
+requested to be furnished with that of Captain Hoppner; and
+finding that his views entirely agreed with <!-- page 18--><a
+name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>my own, I
+resolved still to pursue our object by all the means in our
+power.</p>
+<p>The next breeze sprang up from the westward, drawing also from
+the southward at times, out of Prince Regent&rsquo;s Inlet, and
+for three days we were struggling with the young ice to little or
+no purpose, now and then gaining half a mile of ground to
+windward in a little &ldquo;hole&rdquo; of open water, then
+losing as much by the necessity of bearing up or wearing (for the
+ice was too strong to allow us to tack), sallying from morning to
+night with all hands, and with the watch at night, two boats
+constantly under the bows; and, after all, rather losing ground
+than otherwise, while the young ice was every hour increasing in
+thickness.</p>
+<p>On the 17th, when we had driven back rather to the eastward of
+Admiralty Inlet, an easterly breeze again enabled us to make some
+progress.&nbsp; The sea was now for the most part covered with
+young ice, which had become so thick as to look white throughout
+its whole extent.&nbsp; The holes of water could now, therefore,
+be more distinctly seen, and by taking advantage of these we
+succeeded in making a few miles of westing, the
+&ldquo;leads&rdquo; taking us more in-shore, towards Admiralty
+Inlet, than before.&nbsp; Towards sunset we became more and more
+hampered, and were eventually beset during the night.&nbsp; A
+breeze sprang up from the westward, which increasing to a fresh
+gale, we found ourselves at daylight far to the eastward, and
+also within two miles of the land, near a long low point, which
+on the former voyages had not been seen.&nbsp; The sea was
+covered with ice between us and the shore, all of this
+year&rsquo;s formation, but now of considerable thickness and
+formidable appearance.&nbsp; The wind continuing strong, the
+whole body was constantly pressed in upon the land, <!-- page
+19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+19</span>bearing the ships along with it, and doubling one sheet
+over another, sometimes to a hundred thicknesses.&nbsp; We
+quickly shoaled the water from seventy to forty fathoms, the
+latter depth occurring about a mile from the beach; and after
+this we drifted but little, the ice being blocked up between the
+point and a high perpendicular berg lying aground off it.</p>
+<p>The sails being furled, and the top-gallant yards got down, we
+now considered ourselves fortunate in our situation; for had we
+been only a quarter of a mile farther out we should have been
+within the influence of a current that was there sweeping the
+whole body of ice to the eastward, at the rate of a mile and a
+half an hour.&nbsp; Indeed, at times this current was disposed to
+approach us still nearer, carrying away pieces of ice close to
+our quarter; but by means of long hawsers, secured to the
+heaviest and most compact of the small floes in-shore of us, we
+contrived to hold on.&nbsp; Under such circumstances, it
+evidently became expedient to endeavour, by sawing, to get the
+ships as close in-shore as possible, so as to secure them either
+to grounded ice or by anchoring within the shelter of a bay at no
+great distance inside of us; for it now seemed not unlikely that
+winter was about to put a premature stop to all further
+operations at sea for this season.&nbsp; At all events it was
+necessary to consult the immediate safety of the ships, and to
+keep them from being drifted back to the eastward.&nbsp; I
+therefore gave orders for endeavouring to get the ships in
+towards the bay by cutting through what level floes still
+remained.&nbsp; At the same time an officer was despatched to
+examine the shore, which was found safe, with regular soundings
+in every part.&nbsp; So strong had been the pressure while the
+ice was forcing in upon us, that on the 20th, <!-- page 20--><a
+name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>after
+liberating the <i>Hecla</i> on one side, she was as firmly
+cemented to it on the other as after a winter&rsquo;s formation,
+and we could only clear her by heavy and repeated
+&ldquo;sallying.&rdquo;&nbsp; After cutting in two or three
+hundred yards, while the people were at dinner on the 21st, our
+canal closed, by the external pressure coming upon the parts
+which we had weakened, and in a few minutes the whole was once
+more in motion, or, as the seamen not inaptly expressed it,
+&ldquo;alive,&rdquo; mass doubling under mass, and raising those
+which were uppermost to a considerable height.&nbsp; The ice thus
+pressed together was now about ten feet in thickness in some
+places, and on an average not less than four or five, so that
+while thus forced in upon a ship, although soft in itself, it
+caused her to tremble exceedingly; a sensation, indeed, commonly
+experienced in forcing through young ice of considerable
+thickness.&nbsp; We were now once more obliged to be quiet
+spectators of what was going on around us, having with extreme
+difficulty succeeded in saving most of our tools that were lying
+on the ice when the squeezing suddenly began.&nbsp; Towards
+evening we made fast to a stationary floe, at the distance of one
+mile from the beach, in eighteen fathoms, where we remained
+tolerably quiet for the night, the ice outside of us, and as far
+as we could see, setting constantly at a great rate to the
+eastward.&nbsp; Some of our gentlemen, who had landed in the
+course of the day, and who had to scramble their way on board
+over the ice in motion, described the bay as deeper than it
+appeared from the offing.&nbsp; Dr. Neill &ldquo;found, on such
+parts of the beach as were not covered with ice or snow,
+fragments of bituminous shale, flinty slate, and iron-stone,
+interspersed amongst a blue-coloured limestone gravel.&nbsp; As
+far as he was able to travel inland, the surface was <!-- page
+21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+21</span>composed of secondary limestone, partially covered with
+a thin layer of calc-sinter.&nbsp; From the scantiness of the
+vegetation here, the limestone seemed likely to contain a large
+proportion of magnesia.&nbsp; Dr. Neill was about to examine for
+coal, which the formation led him to expect, when the ice was
+observed to be in motion, obliging him hastily to return on
+board.&rdquo;&nbsp; Lieutenant Ross &ldquo;found, about
+two-thirds up a small peaked insulated hill of limestone, between
+three and four hundred feet above the level of the sea, several
+pieces of coal, which he found to burn with a clear bright flame,
+crackling much, and throwing off slaty splinters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Hares&rsquo; burrows were numerous on this hill; Lieutenant
+Ross saw two of these animals, one of which he killed.&nbsp; A
+fox was also observed in its summer dress; and these, with a pair
+of ravens, some wingless ducks, and several snow-buntings, were
+all the animals noticed at this place.</p>
+<p>A sudden motion of the ice on the morning of the 22nd,
+occasioned by a change of wind to the S.E., threatened to carry
+us directly off the land.&nbsp; It was now more than ever
+desirable to hold on, as this breeze was likely to clear the
+shore, and at the same time to give us a run to the
+westward.&nbsp; Hawsers were therefore run out to the land-ice,
+composed of some heavy masses, almost on the beach.&nbsp; With
+the <i>Hecla</i> this succeeded, but the <i>Fury</i>, being much
+farther from the shore, soon began to move out with the whole
+body of ice, which, carrying her close to the large berg off the
+point, swept her round the latter, where, after great exertion,
+Captain Hoppner succeeded in getting clear, and then made sail to
+beat back to us.&nbsp; In the meantime the strain put upon the
+<i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> hawsers being too great for them, they
+snapped one after another, <!-- page 22--><a
+name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>and a
+bower-anchor was let go as a last resource.&nbsp; It was one of
+Hawkins&rsquo;s, with the double fluke, and immediately brought
+up, not merely the ship, but a large floe of young ice, which had
+just broken our stream-cable.&nbsp; All hands were sent upon the
+floe to cut it up ahead, and the whole operation was a novel and,
+at times, a fearful one; for the ice, being weakened by the
+cutting, would suddenly gather fresh way astern, carrying men and
+tools with it, while the chain-cable continued to plough through
+it in a manner which gave one the idea of something alive, and
+continually renewing its attacks.&nbsp; The anchor held
+surprisingly, and after this tremendous strain had been put upon
+it for above an hour, we had fairly cut the floe in two, and the
+ship was riding in clear water about half a mile from the
+shore.</p>
+<p>I was now in hopes we should have made some progress, for a
+large channel of clear water was left open in-shore; a breeze
+blew off the land, and the temperature of the atmosphere had
+again risen considerably.&nbsp; We had not sailed five miles,
+however, when a westerly wind took us aback, and a most dangerous
+swell set directly upon the shore, obliging me immediately to
+stand off the land; and the <i>Fury</i> being still to the
+eastward of the point, I ran round it, in order to rejoin her
+before sunset.&nbsp; The current was here setting very fast to
+the eastward, not less, I think, in some places, than two miles
+an hour, so that, even in a clear sea, we had little chance of
+stemming it, much less beset as we were in young ice during an
+unusually dark night of nine or ten hours&rsquo; duration, with a
+heavy fall of snow.&nbsp; The consequence was, that when we made
+the land on the morning of the 23rd, we had been drifted the
+incredible distance of eight or nine leagues during the night,
+finding ourselves off the Wollaston <!-- page 23--><a
+name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>Islands at
+the entrance of Navy Board Inlet.&nbsp; We stood in under the
+islands to look for anchorage during the night, but the water
+being everywhere too deep close to the shore, we made fast at
+sunset to some very heavy ice upon a point, which we took to be
+the main land, but which Captain Hoppner afterwards found to be
+upon one of the islands, which are at least four in number.</p>
+<p>After midnight on the 27th the wind began to moderate, and by
+degrees also drew more to the southward than before.&nbsp; At
+daylight, therefore, we found ourselves seven or eight miles from
+the land; but no ice was in sight, except the
+&ldquo;sludge,&rdquo; of honey-like consistence, with which
+almost the whole sea was covered.&nbsp; A strong blink, extending
+along the eastern horizon, pointed out the position of the main
+body of ice, which was farther distant from the eastern shore of
+the inlet than I ever saw it.&nbsp; Being assisted by a fine
+working breeze, which at the same time prevented the formation of
+any more ice to obstruct us, we made considerable progress along
+the land, and at noon were nearly abreast of Jackson Inlet, which
+we now saw to be considerably larger than our distant view of it
+on the former voyage had led us to suppose.&nbsp; We found also
+that what at a distance appeared an island in the entrance was in
+reality a dark-looking rocky hill, on the south side.&nbsp; A few
+more tacks brought us to the entrance of Port Bowen, which for
+two or three days past I had determined to make our
+wintering-place, if, as there was but little reason to expect, we
+should be so fortunate as to push the ships thus far.&nbsp; My
+reasons for coming to this determination, in which Captain
+Hoppner&rsquo;s opinion also served to confirm me, will be
+sufficiently gathered from the operations of the preceding
+fortnight, which convinced me that the precarious chance <!--
+page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+24</span>of making a few miles&rsquo; more progress could no
+longer be suffered to weigh against the evident risk now
+attending further attempts at navigation: a risk not confined to
+the mere exposure of the ships to imminent danger, or the hazard
+of being shut out of a winter harbour, but to one which, I may be
+permitted to say, we all dreaded as much as these&mdash;the too
+obvious probability of our once more being driven back to the
+eastward, should we again become hampered in the young ice.&nbsp;
+Joining to this the additional consideration that no known place
+of security existed to the southward on this coast, I had not the
+smallest hesitation in availing myself of the present opportunity
+to get the ships into harbour.&nbsp; Beating up, therefore, to
+Port Bowen, we found it filled with &ldquo;old&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;hummocky&rdquo; ice, attached to the shores on both sides,
+as low down as about three-quarters of a mile below Stoney
+Island.&nbsp; Here we made fast in sixty-two fathoms of water,
+running our hawsers far in upon the ice, in case of its breaking
+off at the margin.</p>
+<p>On entering Port Bowen, I was forcibly struck with the
+circumstance of the cliffs on the south side of the harbour
+being, in many places, covered with a layer of blue
+transparent-looking ice, occasioned undoubtedly by the snow
+partially thawing there, and then being arrested by the frost,
+and presenting a feature very indicative of the late cold
+summer.&nbsp; The same thing was observed on all the land to
+which we made a near approach on the south side of Barrow&rsquo;s
+Strait this season, especially about Cape York and Eardley Bay;
+but as we had never been close to these parts of the shore in
+1819, it did not occur to me as anything new or worthy of
+notice.&nbsp; At Port Bowen, however, which in that year was
+closely examined, I am quite certain that no such thing was to be
+<!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+25</span>seen, even in the month of August, the cliffs being then
+quite clear of snow, except here and there a patch of drift.</p>
+<p>Late as we had this year been (about the middle of October) in
+reaching Sir James Lancaster&rsquo;s Sound, there would still
+have been time for a ship engaged in a whale-fishery to have
+reaped a tolerable harvest, as we met with a number of whales in
+every part of it, and even as far as the entrance of Port
+Bowen.&nbsp; The number registered altogether in our journals is
+between twenty and thirty, but I have no doubt that many more
+than these were seen, and that a ship expressly on the look-out
+for them would have found full occupation for her boats.&nbsp;
+Several which came near us were of large and
+&ldquo;payable&rdquo; dimensions.&nbsp; I confess, however, that
+had I been within the Sound, in a whaler, towards the close of so
+unfavourable a season as this, with the young ice forming so
+rapidly on the whole extent of the sea, I should not have been
+disposed to persevere in the fishery under circumstances so
+precarious, and to a ship unprepared for a winter involving such
+evident risk.&nbsp; It is probable, however, that on the outside
+the formation of young ice would have been much retarded by the
+swell; and I am inclined to believe that a season so unfavourable
+as this will be found of rare occurrence.</p>
+<p>We observed a great many narwhals in different parts of
+Barrow&rsquo;s Strait, and a few walruses, and should perhaps
+have seen many more of both, but for the continual presence of
+the young ice.</p>
+<h3><!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+26</span>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Winter Arrangements&mdash;Improvements in
+Warming and Ventilating the Ships&mdash;Masquerades adopted as an
+Amusement to the Men&mdash;Establishment of
+Schools&mdash;Astronomical Observations&mdash;Meteorological
+Phenomena.</p>
+<p><i>October</i>.&mdash;Our present winter arrangements so
+closely resembled, in general, those before adopted, that a fresh
+description of them here would prove little more than a
+repetition of that already contained in the narratives of our
+former voyages.&nbsp; On each succeeding occasion, however, some
+improvements were made which, for the benefit of those hereafter
+engaged in similar enterprises, it may be proper to record.&nbsp;
+For all those whose lot it may be to succeed us, sooner or later,
+in these inhospitable regions, may be assured that it is only by
+rigid and unremitted attention to these and numberless other
+&ldquo;little things&rdquo; that they can hope to enjoy the good
+state of health which, under the Divine blessing, it has always
+been our happiness, in so extraordinary a degree, to
+experience.</p>
+<p>In the description I shall offer of the appearances of nature,
+and of the various occurrences, during this winter, I know not
+how I can do better than pursue a method similar to that
+heretofore practised, by confining myself rather to the pointing
+out of any difference observed in them now and formerly, than by
+entering on a fresh description of the actual phenomena.&nbsp; To
+those who read, as well as to those who describe, the account of
+a winter passed in these regions can no longer be expected to
+afford the interest of novelty it once possessed; more especially
+in a station already delineated with tolerable geographical
+precision on our maps, and thus, as it were, <!-- page 27--><a
+name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>brought near
+to our firesides at home.&nbsp; Independently, indeed, of this
+circumstance, it is hard to conceive any one thing more like
+another than two winters passed in the higher latitudes of the
+Polar regions, except when variety happens to be afforded by
+intercourse with some other branch of &ldquo;the whole family of
+man.&rdquo;&nbsp; Winter after winter, nature here assumes an
+aspect so much alike, that cursory observation can scarcely
+detect a single feature of variety.&nbsp; The winter of more
+temperate climates, and even in some of no slight severity, is
+occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once gives variety
+and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect.&nbsp; But here,
+when once the earth is covered, all is dreary, monotonous
+whiteness&mdash;not merely for days or weeks, but for more than
+half a year together.&nbsp; Whichever way the eye is turned, it
+meets a picture calculated to impress upon the mind an idea of
+inanimate stillness, of that motionless torpor with which our
+feelings have nothing congenial; of anything, in short, but
+life.&nbsp; In the very silence there is a deadness with which a
+human spectator appears out of keeping.&nbsp; The presence of man
+seems an intrusion on the dreary solitude of this wintry desert,
+which even its native animals have for awhile forsaken.</p>
+<p>As this general description of the aspect of nature would suit
+alike each winter we have passed in the ice, so also, with very
+little variation, might our limited catalogue of occurrences and
+adventures serve equally for any one of those seasons.&nbsp;
+Creatures of circumstance, we act and feel as we did before on
+every like occasion, and as others will probably do after us in
+the same situation.&nbsp; Whatever difference time or events may
+have wrought in individual feelings, and however different the
+occupations which those feelings may have suggested, <!-- page
+28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>they
+are not such as, without impertinence, can be intruded upon
+others; with these &ldquo;the stranger intermeddleth
+not.&rdquo;&nbsp; I am persuaded, therefore, that I shall be
+excused in sparing the dulness of another winter&rsquo;s diary,
+and confining myself exclusively to those facts which appear to
+possess any scientific interest, to the few incidents which did
+diversify our confinement, and to such remarks as may contribute
+to the health and comfort of any future sojourners in these
+dreary regions.</p>
+<p>It may well be supposed that, in this climate, the principal
+desideratum which art is called upon to furnish for the promotion
+of health, is warmth, as well in the external air as in the
+inhabited apartments.&nbsp; Exposure to a cold atmosphere, when
+the body is well clothed, produces no bad effect whatever beyond
+a frost-bitten cheek, nose, or finger.&nbsp; As for any injury to
+healthy lungs from the breathing of cold air, or from sudden
+changes from this into a warm atmosphere, or <i>vice
+vers&acirc;</i>, it may with much confidence be asserted that,
+with due attention to external clothing, there is nothing in this
+respect to be apprehended.&nbsp; This inference, at least, would
+appear legitimate, from the fact that our crews, consisting of
+one hundred and twenty persons, have for four winters been
+constantly undergoing, for months together, a change of from
+eighty to a hundred degrees of temperature, in the space of time
+required for opening two doors (perhaps less than half a minute),
+without incurring any pulmonary complaints at all.&nbsp; Nor is a
+covering for the mouth at all necessary under these
+circumstances, though to most persons very conducive to comfort;
+for some individuals, from extreme dislike to the condensation
+and freezing of the breath about the &ldquo;comforter&rdquo;
+generally used for this purpose, have never <!-- page 29--><a
+name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>worn any such
+defence for the mouth; and this without the slightest injurious
+effect or uncomfortable feeling beyond that of a cold face, which
+becomes comparatively trifling by habit.</p>
+<p>In speaking of the external clothing sufficient for health in
+this climate, it must be confessed that, in severe exposure,
+quite a load of woollen clothes, even of the best quality, is
+insufficient to retain a comfortable degree of warmth; a strong
+breeze carrying it off so rapidly that the sensation is that of
+the cold piercing through the body.&nbsp; A jacket made very
+long, like those called by seamen &ldquo;pea-jackets,&rdquo; and
+lined with fur throughout, would be more effectual than twice the
+weight of woollen clothes, and is indeed almost
+weather-proof.&nbsp; For the prevention of lumbago, to which our
+seamen are especially liable, from their well-known habit of
+leaving their loins imperfectly clothed, every man should be
+strictly obliged to wear, under his outer clothes, a canvas belt
+a foot broad, lined with flannel, and having straps to go over
+the shoulder.</p>
+<p>It is certain, however, that no precautions in clothing are
+sufficient to maintain health during a Polar winter, without a
+due degree of warmth in the apartments we inhabit.&nbsp; Most
+persons are apt to associate with the idea of warmth, something
+like the comfort derived from a good fire on a winter&rsquo;s
+evening at home; but in these regions the case is inconceivably
+different: here it is not simple comfort, but health, and
+therefore ultimately life, that depends upon it.&nbsp; The want
+of a constant supply of warmth is here immediately followed by a
+condensation of all the moisture, whether from the breath,
+victuals, or other sources, into abundant drops of water, very
+rapidly forming on all the coldest parts of the deck.&nbsp; A
+still <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 30</span>lower temperature modifies, and
+perhaps improves the annoyance by converting it into ice, which
+again an occasional increase of warmth dissolves into
+water.&nbsp; Nor is this the amount of the evil, though it is the
+only visible part of it; for not only is a moist atmosphere thus
+incessantly kept up, but it is rendered stagnant also by the want
+of that ventilation which warmth alone can furnish.&nbsp; With an
+apartment in this state, the men&rsquo;s clothes and bedding are
+continually in a moist and unwholesome condition, generating a
+deleterious air, which there is no circulation to carry off; and
+whenever these circumstances combine for any length of time
+together, so surely may the scurvy, to say nothing of other
+diseases, be confidently expected to exhibit itself.</p>
+<p>With a strong conviction of these facts, arising from the
+extreme anxiety with which I have been accustomed to watch every
+minute circumstance connected with the health of our people, it
+may be conceived how highly I must appreciate any means that can
+be devised to counteract effects so pernicious.&nbsp; Such means
+have been completely furnished by Mr. Sylvester&rsquo;s warming
+apparatus&mdash;a contrivance of which I scarcely know how to
+express my admiration in adequate terms.&nbsp; The alteration
+adopted on this voyage, of placing this stove in the very bottom
+of the hold, produced not only the effect naturally to be
+expected from it, of increasing the rapidity of the current of
+warm air, and thus carrying it to all the officers&rsquo; cabins
+with less loss of heat in its passage; but was also accompanied
+by an advantage scarcely less important, which had <i>not</i>
+been anticipated.&nbsp; This was the perfect and uniform warmth
+maintained during the winter in both cable-tiers, which, when
+cleared of all the stores, gave us another habitable deck, on
+which more <!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 31</span>than one-third of the men&rsquo;s
+hammocks were berthed, thus affording to the ships&rsquo;
+companies, during seven or eight months of the year, the
+indescribable comfort of nearly twice the space for their beds,
+and twice the volume of air to breathe in.&nbsp; It need scarcely
+be added, how conducive to wholesome ventilation, and to the
+prevention of moisture below, such an arrangement proved; suffice
+it to say, that we have never before been so free from moisture,
+and that I cannot but chiefly attribute to this apparatus the
+unprecedented good state of health we enjoyed during this
+winter.</p>
+<p>Every attention was, as usual, paid to the occupation and
+diversion of the men&rsquo;s minds, as well as to the regularity
+of their bodily exercise.&nbsp; Our former amusements being
+almost worn threadbare, it required some ingenuity to devise any
+plan that should possess the charm of novelty to recommend
+it.&nbsp; This purpose was completely answered, however, by a
+proposal of Captain Hoppner, to attempt a masquerade, in which
+officers and men should alike take part, but which, without
+imposing any restraint whatever, would leave every one to their
+own choice, whether to join in this diversion or not.&nbsp; It is
+impossible that any idea could have proved more happy or more
+exactly suited to our situation.&nbsp; Admirably dressed
+characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and
+many of these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine
+humour which would not have disgraced a more refined assembly;
+while the latter might not have disdained, and would not have
+been disgraced by copying the good order, decorum, and
+inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades
+presented.&nbsp; It does especial credit to the dispositions and
+good sense of our men that, though all the officers entered <!--
+page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+32</span>fully into the spirit of these amusements, which took
+place once a month alternately on board each ship, no instance
+occurred of anything that could interfere with the regular
+discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men towards their
+superiors.&nbsp; Ours were masquerades without
+licentiousness&mdash;carnivals without excess.</p>
+<p>But an occupation not less assiduously pursued, and of
+infinitely more eventual benefit, was furnished by the
+re-establishment of our schools, under the voluntary
+superintendence of my friend Mr. Hooper in the <i>Hecla</i>, and
+of Mr. Mogg in the <i>Fury</i>.&nbsp; By the judicious zeal of
+Mr. Hooper, the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> school was made subservient,
+not merely to the improvement of the men in reading and writing
+(in which, however, their progress was surprisingly great), but
+also to the cultivation of that religious feeling which so
+essentially improves the character of a seaman, by furnishing the
+highest motives for increased attention to every other
+duty.&nbsp; Nor was the benefit confined to the eighteen or
+twenty individuals whose want of scholarship brought them to the
+school-table, but extended itself to the rest of the ship&rsquo;s
+company, making the whole lower-deck such a scene of quiet,
+rational occupation as I never before witnessed on board a
+ship.&nbsp; And I do not speak lightly, when I express my
+thorough persuasion that to the moral effects thus produced upon
+the minds of the men were owing, in a very high degree, the
+constant yet sober cheerfulness, the uninterrupted good order,
+and even, in some measure, the extraordinary state of health
+which prevailed among us during this winter.</p>
+<p>Immediately after the ships were finally secured, we erected
+the observatory on shore, and commenced our arrangements for the
+various observations to which our <!-- page 33--><a
+name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>attention was
+to be directed during the winter.&nbsp; The interest of these,
+especially of such as related to magnetism, increased so much as
+we proceeded, that the neighbourhood of the observatory assumed
+ere long almost the appearance of a scattered village, the number
+of detached houses, having various needles set up in them, soon
+amounting to seven or eight.</p>
+<p>The extreme facility with which sounds are heard at a
+considerable distance in severely cold weather has often been a
+subject of remark; but a circumstance occurred at Port Bowen
+which deserves to be noticed, as affording a sort of measure of
+this facility, or at least conveying to others some definite idea
+of the fact.&nbsp; Lieutenant Foster, having occasion to send a
+man from the observatory to the opposite shore of the harbour, a
+measured distance of 6696 feet, or about one statute mile and
+two-tenths, in order to fix a meridian mark, had placed a second
+person half-way between to repeat his directions; but he found,
+on trial, that this precaution was unnecessary, as he could
+without difficulty keep up a conversation with the man at the
+distant station.&nbsp; The thermometer was at this time -18&deg;,
+the barometer 30.14 inches, and the weather nearly calm, and
+quite clear and serene.</p>
+<p>The meteorological phenomena observed during this winter, like
+most of its other occurrences, differed so little in character
+from those noticed on the former voyages, as to render a separate
+description of each wholly unnecessary.</p>
+<p>This winter certainly afforded but few brilliant displays of
+the Aurora.&nbsp; The following notice includes all that appear
+to me to require a separate description.</p>
+<p>Late on the night of the 21st of December the phenomenon
+appeared partially, and with a variable light, <!-- page 34--><a
+name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>in different
+parts of the southern sky for several hours.&nbsp; At seven on
+the following morning it became more brilliant and stationary,
+describing a well-defined arch, extending from the E.S.E. horizon
+to that at W.N.W., and passing through the zenith.&nbsp; A very
+faint arch was also visible on each side of this, appearing to
+diverge from the same points in the horizon, and separating to
+twenty degrees distance in the zenith.&nbsp; It remained thus for
+twenty minutes, when the coruscations from each arch met, and
+after a short but brilliant display of light, gradually died
+away.&nbsp; Early on the morning of the 15th of January, 1825,
+the Aurora broke out to the southward, and continued variable for
+three hours, between a N.W. and S.E. bearing.&nbsp; From three to
+four o&rsquo;clock the whole horizon, from south to west, was
+brilliantly illuminated, the light being continuous almost
+throughout the whole extent, and reaching several degrees in
+height.&nbsp; Very bright vertical rays were constantly shooting
+upwards from the general mass.&nbsp; At half-past five it again
+became so brilliant as to attract particular notice, describing
+two arches passing in an east and west direction, very near the
+zenith, with bright coruscations issuing from it; but the whole
+gradually disappeared with the returning dawn.&nbsp; At dusk the
+same evening, the Aurora again appeared in the southern quarter,
+and continued visible nearly the whole night, but without any
+remarkable feature.</p>
+<p>About midnight on the 27th of January, this phenomenon broke
+out in a single compact mass of brilliant yellow light, situated
+about a S.E. bearing, and appearing only a short distance above
+the land.&nbsp; This mass of light, notwithstanding its general
+continuity, sometimes appeared to be evidently composed of
+numerous pencils of <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 35</span>rays, compressed, as it were,
+laterally into one, its limits both to the right and left being
+well defined and nearly vertical.&nbsp; The light, though very
+bright at all times, varied almost constantly in intensity, and
+this had the appearance (not an uncommon one in the Aurora) of
+being produced by one volume of light overlaying another, just as
+we see the darkness and density of smoke increased by cloud
+rolling over cloud.&nbsp; While Lieutenants Sherer and Ross, and
+myself, were admiring the extreme beauty of this phenomenon from
+the observatory, we all simultaneously uttered an exclamation of
+surprise at seeing a bright ray of the Aurora shoot suddenly
+downward from the general mass of light, and between us and the
+land, which was there distant only three thousand yards.&nbsp;
+Had I witnessed this phenomenon by myself, I should have been
+disposed to receive with caution the evidence even of my own
+senses, as to this last fact; but the appearance conveying
+precisely the same idea to three individuals at once, all
+intently engaged in looking towards the spot, I have no doubt
+that the ray of light actually passed within that distance of
+us.</p>
+<p>About one o&rsquo;clock on the morning of the 23rd of
+February, the Aurora again appeared over the hills in a south
+direction, presenting a brilliant mass of light, very similar to
+that just described.&nbsp; The rolling motion of the light
+laterally was here also very striking, as well as the increase of
+its intensity thus occasioned.&nbsp; The light occupied
+horizontally about a point of the compass, and extended in height
+scarcely a degree above the land, which seemed, however, to
+conceal from us a part of the phenomenon.&nbsp; It was always
+evident enough that the most attenuated light of the Aurora
+sensibly dimmed the <!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 36</span>stars, like a thin veil drawn over
+them.&nbsp; We frequently listened for any sound proceeding from
+this phenomenon, but never heard any.&nbsp; Our
+variation-needles, which were extremely light, suspended in the
+most delicate manner, and from the weak directive energy
+susceptible of being acted upon by a very slight disturbing
+force, were never in a single instance sensibly affected by the
+Aurora, which could scarcely fail to have been observed at some
+time or other, had any such disturbance taken place, the needles
+being visited every hour for several months, and oftener, when
+anything occurred to make it desirable.</p>
+<p>The meteors called Falling-stars were much more frequent
+during this winter than we ever before saw them, and particularly
+during the month of December.&nbsp; On the 8th, at a quarter past
+seven in the evening, a particularly large and brilliant meteor
+of this kind fell in the S.S.W., the weather being very fine and
+clear overhead, but hazy near the horizon.&nbsp; On the following
+day, between four and five P.M., another very brilliant one was
+observed in the north, falling from an altitude of about
+thirty-five degrees till lost behind the land; the weather was at
+this time clear and serene, and no remarkable change took
+place.&nbsp; On the 12th, no less than five meteors of this kind
+were observed in a quarter of an hour, and as these were attended
+with some remarkable circumstances, I shall here give the account
+furnished me by Mr. Ross, who with Mr. Bell observed these
+phenomena.&nbsp; &ldquo;From seven to nine P.M. the wind suddenly
+increased from a moderate breeze to a strong gale from the
+southward.&nbsp; At ten it began to moderate a little; the haze,
+which had for several hours obscured every star, gradually
+sinking towards the horizon, and by <!-- page 37--><a
+name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>eleven
+o&rsquo;clock the whole atmosphere was extremely clear above the
+altitude of five or six degrees.&nbsp; The thermometer also fell
+from -5&deg; to -9&deg; as the haze cleared away.&nbsp; At a
+quarter past eleven my attention was directed by Mr. Bell to some
+meteors which he observed, and in less than a quarter of an hour
+five were seen.&nbsp; The two first, noticed only by Mr. Bell,
+fell in quick succession, probably not more than two minutes
+apart.&nbsp; The third appeared about eight minutes after these,
+and exceeded in brilliancy any of the surrounding stars.&nbsp; It
+took a direction from near &beta; Tauri, and passing slowly
+towards the Pleiades, left behind it sparks like the tail of a
+rocket, these being visible for a few seconds after the meteor
+appeared to break, which it did close to the Pleiades.&nbsp; The
+fourth meteor made its appearance very near the same place as the
+last, and about five minutes after it.&nbsp; Taking the course of
+those seen by Mr. Bell, it passed to the eastward, and
+disappeared half way between &beta; Tauri and Gemini.&nbsp; The
+fifth of these meteors was seen to the eastward, passing through
+a space of about five degrees from north to south parallel to the
+horizon, and moving along the upper part of the cloud of haze
+which still extended to the altitude of five or six
+degrees.&nbsp; It was more dim than the rest, and of a red colour
+like Aldebaran.&nbsp; The third of these meteors was the only one
+that left a tail behind it, as above described.&nbsp; There was a
+faint appearance of the Aurora to the westward near the
+horizon.</p>
+<p>On the 14th of December several very bright meteors were
+observed to fall between the hours of five and six in the
+evening, at which time the wind freshened from the N.W. by N. in
+a very remarkable manner.&nbsp; On this occasion, as well as on
+the 12th of December, there <!-- page 38--><a
+name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>appeared to
+be an evident coincidence between the occurrence of the meteors
+and the changes of the weather at the time.</p>
+<p>Particular attention was paid to the changes in the barometer
+during this winter, to which much encouragement was given by the
+excellence of the instruments with which we were now
+furnished.&nbsp; The times of register at sea had been three and
+nine, A.M. and P.M.; those hours having been recommended as the
+most proper for detecting any horary oscillations of the
+mercurial column.&nbsp; When we were fixed for the winter, and
+our attention could be more exclusively devoted to scientific
+objects, the register was extended to four and ten, and
+subsequently to five and eleven o&rsquo;clock.&nbsp; The most
+rigid attention to the observation and correction of the column,
+during several months, discovered an oscillation amounting only
+to ten thousandth-parts of an inch.&nbsp; The times of the
+maximum and minimum altitude appear, however, decidedly to lean
+to four and ten o&rsquo;clock, and to follow a law directly the
+reverse, as to time, of that found to obtain in temperate
+climates, the column being highest at four, and lowest at ten
+o&rsquo;clock, both A.M. and P.M.</p>
+<p>The barometer did not appear to indicate beforehand the
+changes of the weather with any degree of certainty.&nbsp; Indeed
+the remark that we had always before made, that alterations in
+the mercurial column more frequently accompany than precede the
+visible changes of weather in these regions, was equally true of
+our present experience; but on one or two occasions hard gales of
+considerable duration occurred without the barometer falling at
+all below the mean altitude of the column in these regions, or
+even rose steadily during the continuance of the gale.&nbsp; <!--
+page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+39</span>During one week of almost constant blowing weather, and
+two days of very violent gales from the eastward, in the month of
+April, the barometer remained considerably above thirty inches
+the whole time.&nbsp; It is necessary for me here to remark that
+the unusual proportion of easterly winds registered in our
+journals during this winter must, in my opinion, be attributed to
+the local situation of our winter-quarters, which alone appears
+to me sufficient to account for the anomaly.&nbsp; The lands on
+each side of Port Bowen, running nearly east and west, and rising
+to a height of six to nine hundred feet above the sea, with deep
+and broad ravines intersecting the country in almost every
+direction, may be supposed to have had considerable influence on
+the direction of the wind.&nbsp; In confirmation of this
+supposition, indeed, it was usually noticed that the easterly
+winds were with us attended with clear weather, while the
+contrary obtained with almost every breeze from the west and
+north-west, thus reversing in this respect also the usual order
+of things.&nbsp; It was moreover observed that the clouds were
+frequently coming from the north-west, when the wind in Port
+Bowen was easterly.&nbsp; I must, however, except the gales we
+experienced from the eastward, which were probably strong enough
+to overcome any local deflection to which a light breeze would be
+subject; and indeed these were always accompanied with overcast
+weather and a high thermometer.&nbsp; After the middle of October
+the gales of wind were very few till towards the middle of April,
+when we experienced more blowing weather than during the whole
+winter.</p>
+<h3><!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+40</span>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Meteorological Phenomena
+continued&mdash;Re-equipment of the Ships&mdash;Several Journeys
+undertaken&mdash;Open Water in the Offing&mdash;Commence sawing a
+Canal to liberate the Ships&mdash;Disruption of the
+Ice&mdash;Departure from Port Bowen.</p>
+<p>The height of the land about Port Bowen deprived us longer
+than usual of the sun&rsquo;s presence above our horizon.&nbsp;
+Some of our gentlemen, indeed, who ascended a high hill for the
+purpose, caught a glimpse of him on the 2nd of February; on the
+15th it became visible at the observatory, but at the ships not
+till the 22nd, after an absence of one hundred and twenty-one
+days.&nbsp; It is very long after the sun&rsquo;s reappearance in
+these regions, however, that the effect of his rays, as to
+warmth, becomes perceptible; week passes after week with scarcely
+any rise in the thermometer except for an hour or two during the
+day; and it is at this period more than any other, perhaps, that
+the lengthened duration of a polar winter&rsquo;s cold is most
+wearisome, and creates the most impatience.&nbsp; Towards the
+third week in March, thin flakes of snow lying upon black painted
+wood or metal, and exposed to the sun&rsquo;s direct rays in a
+sheltered situation, readily melted.&nbsp; In the second week of
+April any very light covering of sand or ashes upon the snow
+close to the ships might be observed to make its way downward
+into holes; but a coat of sand laid upon the unsheltered ice, to
+the distance of about two-thirds of a mile, for dissolving a
+canal to hasten our liberation, produced no such sensible effect
+till the beginning of May.&nbsp; Even then the dissolution was
+very trifling till about the first week in June, when pools of
+water began to make their appearance, and not long <!-- page
+41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>after
+this a small boat would have floated down it.&nbsp; On shore the
+effect is in general still more tardy, though some deception is
+there occasioned by the dissolution of the snow next the ground,
+while its upper surface is to all appearance undergoing little or
+no change.&nbsp; Thus a greater alteration is sometimes produced
+in the aspect of the land by a single warm day in an advanced
+part of the season than in many weeks preceding, in consequence
+of the last crust of snow being dissolved, leaving the ground at
+length entirely bare.&nbsp; We could now perceive the snow
+beginning to leave the stones from day to day as early as the
+last week in April.&nbsp; Towards the end of May a great deal of
+snow was dissolved daily, but owing to the porous nature of the
+ground, which absorbed it as fast as it was formed, it was not
+easy to procure water for drinking on shore, even as late as the
+10th of June.&nbsp; In the ravines, however, it could be heard
+trickling under stones before that time, and about the 18th, many
+considerable streams were formed, and constantly running both
+night and day.&nbsp; After this, the thawing proceeded at an
+inconceivably rapid rate, the whole surface of the floes being
+covered with large pools of water rapidly increasing in size and
+depth.</p>
+<p>We observed nothing extraordinary with respect to the
+sun&rsquo;s light about the shortest day; but as early as the
+20th of November Arcturus could very plainly be distinguished by
+the naked eye, when near the south meridian at noon.&nbsp; About
+the first week in April the reflection of light from the snow
+became so strong as to create inflammation in the eyes, and
+notwithstanding the usual precaution of wearing black crape veils
+during exposure, several cases of snow-blindness occurred shortly
+afterwards.</p>
+<p>There are perhaps few things more difficult to obtain <!--
+page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+42</span>than a comparative measure of the quantity of snow that
+falls at different places, owing to the facility with which the
+wind blows it off a smooth surface, such as a floe of level ice,
+and the collection occasioned by drift in consequence of the
+smallest obstruction.&nbsp; Thus, its mean depth at Port Bowen,
+measured in twenty different places on the smooth ice of the
+harbour, was three inches on the 5th of April, and on the 1st of
+May it had only increased to four and a half inches, while an
+immense bank, fourteen feet deep, had formed on one side of the
+<i>Hecla</i>, occasioned by the heavy drifts.&nbsp; The crystals
+were, as usual, extremely minute during the continuance of the
+cold weather, and more or less of these were always falling, even
+on the clearest days.</p>
+<p>The animals seen at Port Bowen may now be briefly
+noticed.&nbsp; The principal of those seen during the winter were
+bears, of which we killed twelve, from October to June, being
+more than during all the other voyages taken together; and
+several others were seen.&nbsp; One of these animals was near
+proving fatal to a seaman of the <i>Fury</i>, who, having
+straggled from his companions, when at the top of a high hill saw
+a large bear coming towards him.&nbsp; Being unarmed, he
+prudently made off, taking off his boots to enable him to run the
+faster, but not so prudently precipitated himself over an almost
+perpendicular cliff, down which he was said to have rolled or
+fallen several hundred feet; here he was met by some of the
+people in so lacerated a condition as to be in a very dangerous
+state for some time after.</p>
+<p>A she-bear, killed in the open water on our first arrival at
+Port Bowen, afforded a striking instance of maternal affection in
+her anxiety to save her two cubs.&nbsp; She might herself easily
+have escaped the boat, but would not <!-- page 43--><a
+name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>forsake her
+young, which she was actually &ldquo;towing&rdquo; off by
+allowing them to rest on her back, when the boat came near
+them.&nbsp; A second similar instance occurred in the spring,
+when two cubs having got down into a large crack in the ice their
+mother placed herself before them, so as to secure them from the
+attacks of our people, which she might easily have avoided
+herself.</p>
+<p>This unusual supply of bear&rsquo;s flesh was particularly
+serviceable as food for the Esquimaux dogs we had brought out,
+and which were always at work in a sledge; especially as, during
+the winter, our number was increased by the birth of six others
+of these useful animals.</p>
+<p>One or two foxes (<i>Canis Lagopus</i>) were killed, and four
+caught in traps during the winter, weighing from four pounds and
+three-quarters to three pounds and three-quarters.&nbsp; The
+colour of one of these animals, which lived for some time on
+board the <i>Fury</i> and became tolerably tame, was nearly pure
+white till the month of May, when he shed his winter-coat and
+became of a dirty chocolate colour, with two or three light brown
+spots.&nbsp; Only three hares (<i>Lepus Variabilis</i>) were
+killed from October to June, weighing from six to eight pounds
+and three-quarters.&nbsp; Their fur was extremely thick, soft,
+and of the most beautiful whiteness imaginable.&nbsp; We saw no
+deer near Port Bowen at any season, neither were we visited by
+their enemies the wolves.&nbsp; A single ermine and a few mice
+(<i>Mus Hudsonius</i>) complete, I believe, our scanty list of
+quadrupeds at this desolate and unproductive place.</p>
+<p>Of birds, we had a flock or two of ducks occasionally flying
+about the small lanes of open water in the offing, as late as the
+3rd of October; but none from that time to the beginning of June,
+and then only a single pair was <!-- page 44--><a
+name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>occasionally
+seen.&nbsp; A very few grouse were met with also after our
+arrival at Port Bowen; a single specimen was obtained on the 23rd
+of December, and another on the 18th of February.&nbsp; They
+again made their appearance towards the end of March, and in less
+than a month about two hundred were killed; after which we
+scarcely saw another, for what reason we could not conjecture,
+except that they might possibly be on their way to the northward,
+and that the utter barrenness of the land about Port Bowen
+afforded no inducement for their remaining in our
+neighbourhood.</p>
+<p>Lieutenant Ross, who paid great attention to ornithology,
+remarked that the grouse met with here are of three kinds,
+namely, the ptarmigan (<i>Tetrao Lagopus</i>), the rock-grouse,
+(<i>Tetrao Rupestris</i>), and the willow-partridge (<i>Tetrao
+Albus</i>).&nbsp; Of these only the two former were seen in the
+spring, and by far the greater number killed were of the
+first-mentioned species.&nbsp; They usually had in their maws the
+leaves of the <i>Dryas Integrifolia</i>, buds of the <i>Saxifraga
+Oppositifolia</i>, <i>Salix Arctica</i>, and <i>Draba Alpina</i>,
+the quantities being according to the order in which the plants
+have here been named.&nbsp; A few leaves also of the <i>Polygonum
+Viviparum</i> were found in one or two specimens.&nbsp; The
+snow-bunting, with its sprightly note, was, as usual, one of our
+earliest visitants in the spring; but these were few in number
+and remained only a short time.&nbsp; A very few sand-pipers were
+also seen, and now and then one or two glaucous, ivory, and
+kittiwake gulls.&nbsp; A pair of ravens appeared occasionally
+during the whole winter here, as at most of our former winter
+stations.</p>
+<p>With a view to extend our geographical knowledge as much as
+our means permitted, three land journeys were undertaken as soon
+as the weather was sufficiently warm <!-- page 45--><a
+name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>for procuring
+any water.&nbsp; The first party, consisting of six men, under
+Captain Hoppner, were instructed to travel to the eastward, to
+endeavour to reach the sea in that direction and to discover the
+communication which probably exists there with Admiralty Inlet,
+so as to determine the extent of that portion of insular land on
+which Port Bowen is situated.&nbsp; They returned on the 14th,
+after a very fatiguing journey, and having with difficulty
+travelled a degree and three-quarters to the eastward of the
+ships, in latitude 73&deg; 19&prime;, from which position no
+appearance of the sea could be perceived.&nbsp; Captain Hoppner
+described the ravines as extremely difficult to pass, many of
+them being four or five hundred feet deep and very
+precipitous.&nbsp; These being numerous and running chiefly in a
+north and south direction, appearing to empty themselves into
+Jackson&rsquo;s Inlet, preclude the possibility of performing a
+quick journey to the eastward.&nbsp; During the whole
+fortnight&rsquo;s excursion scarcely a patch of vegetation could
+be seen.&nbsp; Indeed, the hills were so covered in most parts
+with soft and deep snow that a spot could seldom be found on
+which to pitch their tent.&nbsp; A few snow-buntings and some
+ivory gulls were all the animals they met with to enliven this
+most barren and desolate country; and nothing was observed in the
+geological character differing from that about Port Bowen.</p>
+<p>In the bed of one of the ravines Captain Hoppner noticed some
+immense masses of rock, thirty or forty tons in weight, which had
+recently fallen from above, and he also passed over several
+avalanches of snow piled to a vast height across it.</p>
+<p>The two other parties, consisting of four men each, under the
+respective commands of Lieutenants Sherer <!-- page 46--><a
+name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>and Ross,
+were directed to travel, the former to the southward, and the
+latter to the northward, along the coast of Prince Regent&rsquo;s
+Inlet, for the purpose of surveying it accurately, and of
+obtaining observations for the longitude and variation at the
+stations formerly visited by us on the 7th and 15th of August,
+1819.&nbsp; I was also very anxious to ascertain the state of the
+ice to the northward to enable me to form some judgment as to the
+probable time of our liberation.</p>
+<p>These parties found the travelling along shore so good as to
+enable them not only to reach those spots, but to extend their
+journeys far beyond them.&nbsp; Lieutenant Ross returning on the
+15th, brought the welcome intelligence of the sea being perfectly
+open and free from ice at the distance of twenty-two miles to the
+northward of Port Bowen, by which I concluded&mdash;what, indeed,
+had long before been a matter of probable conjecture,&mdash;that
+Barrow&rsquo;s Strait was not permanently frozen during the
+winter.&nbsp; From the tops of the hills about Cape York, beyond
+which promontory Lieutenant Ross travelled, no appearance of ice
+could be distinguished.&nbsp; Innumerable ducks, chiefly of the
+king, eider, and long-tailed species, were flying about near the
+margin of the ice, besides dovekies, looms, and glaucous,
+kittiwake, and ivory gulls.&nbsp; Lieutenant Sherer returned to
+the ships on the evening of the 15th, having performed a rapid
+journey as far as 72&frac14;&deg;, and making an accurate survey
+of the whole coast to that distance.&nbsp; In the course of this
+journey a great many remains of Esquimaux habitations were seen,
+and these were much more numerous on the southern part of the
+coast.&nbsp; In a grave which Lieutenant Sherer opened, in order
+to form some idea whether the Esquimaux had lately been here, he
+found the body apparently quite <!-- page 47--><a
+name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>fresh; but as
+this might in a northern climate remain the case for a number of
+years, and as our board erected in 1819 was still standing
+untouched and in good order, it is certain these people had not
+been here since our former visit.&nbsp; Less numerous traces of
+the Esquimaux, and of older date, occur near Port Bowen and in
+Lieutenant Ross&rsquo;s route along shore to the northward, and a
+few of the remains of habitations were those used as winter
+residences.&nbsp; I have since regretted that Lieutenant Sherer
+was not furnished with more provisions and a larger party to have
+enabled him to travel round Cape Kater, which is probably not far
+distant from some of the northern Esquimaux stations mentioned in
+my Journal of the preceding voyage.</p>
+<p>Towards the end of June, the dovekies (<i>Colymbus Grylle</i>)
+were extremely numerous in the cracks of the ice at the entrance
+of Port Bowen, and as these were the only fresh supply of any
+consequence that we were able to procure at this unproductive
+place, we were glad to permit the men to go out occasionally with
+guns, after the ships were ready for sea, to obtain for their
+messes this wholesome change of diet; while such excursions also
+contributed essentially to their general health and
+cheerfulness.&nbsp; Many hundreds of these birds were thus
+obtained in the course of a few days.&nbsp; On the evening of the
+6th of July, however, I was greatly shocked at being informed by
+Captain Hoppner that John Cotterell, a seaman of the <i>Fury</i>,
+had been found drowned in one of the cracks of the ice, by two
+other men belonging to the same party who had been with him but a
+few minutes before.&nbsp; We could never ascertain precisely in
+what manner this accident happened, but it was supposed that he
+must have overreached himself in stooping for a bird <!-- page
+48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>that
+he had killed.&nbsp; His remains were committed to the earth on
+Sunday the 10th, with every solemnity which the occasion
+demanded, and our situation would allow; and a tomb of stones
+with a suitable inscription was afterwards erected over the
+grave.</p>
+<p>In order to obtain oil for another winter&rsquo;s consumption
+before the ships could be released from the ice, and our
+travelling parties having seen a number of black whales in the
+open water to the northward, two boats from each ship were, with
+considerable labour, transported four miles along shore in that
+direction, to be in readiness for killing a whale and boiling the
+oil on the beach, whenever the open water should approach
+sufficiently near.&nbsp; They took their station near a
+remarkable peninsular piece of land on the south side of the
+entrance to Jackson&rsquo;s Inlet, which had on the former voyage
+been taken for an island.&nbsp; Notwithstanding these
+preparations, however, it was vexatious to find that on the 9th
+of July the water was still three miles distant from the boats,
+and at least seven from Port Bowen.&nbsp; On the 12th, the ice in
+our neighbourhood began to detach itself, and the boats under the
+command of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross being launched on the
+following day, succeeded almost immediately in killing a small
+whale of &ldquo;five feet bone,&rdquo; exactly answering our
+purpose.&nbsp; Almost at the same time, and as it turned out very
+opportunely, the ice at the mouth of our harbour detached itself
+at an old crack, and drifted off, leaving only about one mile and
+a quarter between us and the sea.&nbsp; Half of this distance
+being occupied by the gravelled canal, which was dissolved quite
+through the ice in many parts and had become very thin in all,
+every officer and man in both ships were set to work without
+delay to commence a fresh canal from the open water, to <!-- page
+49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+49</span>communicate with the other.&nbsp; This work proved
+heavier than we expected, the ice being generally from five to
+eight feet, and in many places from ten to eleven, in
+thickness.&nbsp; It was continued, however, with the greatest
+cheerfulness and alacrity from seven in the morning till seven in
+the evening daily, the dinner being prepared on the ice and eaten
+under the lee of a studding sail erected as a tent.</p>
+<p>On the afternoon of the 19th a very welcome stop was put to
+our operations by the separation of the floe entirely across the
+harbour, and about one-third from the ships to where we were at
+work.&nbsp; All hands being instantly recalled by signal, were on
+their return set to work to get the ships into the gravelled
+canal, and to saw away what still remained in it to prevent our
+warping to sea.&nbsp; This work, with only half an hour&rsquo;s
+intermission for the men&rsquo;s supper, was continued till
+half-past six the following morning, when we succeeded in getting
+clear.&nbsp; The weather being calm, two hours were occupied in
+towing the ships to sea, and thus the officers and men were
+employed at very laborious work for twenty-six hours, during
+which time there were, on one occasion, fifteen of them overboard
+at once; and, indeed, several individuals met with the same
+accident three times.&nbsp; It was impossible, however, to regret
+the necessity of these comparatively trifling exertions,
+especially as it was now evident that to have sawed our way out,
+without any canal, would have required at least a fortnight of
+heavy and fatiguing labour.</p>
+<h3><!-- page 50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+50</span>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Sail over towards the Western Coast of Prince
+Regent&rsquo;s Inlet&mdash;Stopped by the Ice&mdash;Reach the
+Shore about Cape Seppings&mdash;Favourable Progress along the
+Land&mdash;Fresh and repeated Obstructions from Ice&mdash;Both
+Ships driven on Shore&mdash;Fury seriously
+damaged&mdash;Unsuccessful Search for a Harbour for heaving her
+down to repair.</p>
+<p><i>July</i> 20.&mdash;On standing out to sea, we sailed with a
+light southerly wind towards the western shore of Prince
+Regent&rsquo;s Inlet, which it was my first wish to gain, on
+account of the evident advantage to be derived from coasting the
+southern part of that portion of land called in the chart
+&ldquo;North Somerset,&rdquo; as far as it might lead to the
+westward; which, from our former knowledge, we had reason to
+suppose it would do as far at least as the longitude of 95&deg;,
+in the parallel of about 72&deg;.&nbsp; After sailing about eight
+miles, we were stopped by a body of close ice lying between us
+and a space of open water beyond.&nbsp; By way of occupying the
+time in further examination of the state of the ice, we then bore
+up with a light northerly wind, and ran to the south-eastward to
+see if there was any clear water between the ice and the land in
+that direction; but found that there was no opening between them
+to the southward of the flat-topped hill laid down in the chart,
+and now called Mount Sherer.&nbsp; Indeed, I believe that at this
+time the ice had not yet detached itself from the land to the
+southward of that station.&nbsp; On standing back, we were
+shortly after enveloped in one of the thick fogs which had, for
+several weeks past, been observed almost daily hanging over some
+part of the sea in the offing, though we had scarcely experienced
+any in Port Bowen until the water became open at the mouth of the
+harbour.</p>
+<p><!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+51</span>On the clearing up of the fog on the 21st, we could
+perceive no opening of the ice leading towards the western land;
+nor any appearance of the smallest channel to the southward along
+the eastern shore.&nbsp; I was determined, therefore, to try at
+once a little farther to the northward, the present state of the
+ice appearing completely to accord with that observed in 1819,
+its breadth increasing as we advanced from Prince Leopold&rsquo;s
+Islands to the southward.&nbsp; As, therefore, I felt confident
+of being able to push along the shore if we should once gain it,
+I was anxious to effect the latter object in any part rather than
+incur the risk of hampering the ships by a vain, or, at least, a
+doubtful attempt to force them through a body of close ice
+several miles wide, for the sake of a few leagues of southing,
+which would soon be regained by coasting.</p>
+<p>Light winds detained us very much, but being at length
+favoured by a breeze, we carried all sail to the north-west, the
+ice very gradually leading us towards the Leopold Isles.&nbsp;
+Having arrived off the northernmost on the morning of the 22nd,
+it was vexatious, however curious, to observe the exact
+coincidence of the present position of the ice with that which it
+occupied a little later in the year 1819.&nbsp; The whole body of
+it seemed to cling to the western shore, as if held there by some
+strong attraction, forbidding, for the present, any access to
+it.&nbsp; We now stood off and on, in the hope that a southerly
+breeze, which had just sprung up, might serve to open us a
+channel.&nbsp; In the evening the wind gradually freshened, and
+before midnight had increased to a strong gale, which blew with
+considerable violence for ten hours, obliging us to haul off from
+the ice and to keep in smooth water under the eastern land until
+it abated; after which not a moment was lost in again standing
+over to the westward.&nbsp; <!-- page 52--><a
+name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>After running
+all night, with light and variable winds, through loose and
+scattered ice, we suddenly found ourselves, on the clearing up of
+a thick fog, through which we had been sailing on the morning of
+the 24th, within one-third of a mile of Cape Seppings, the land
+just appearing above the fog in time to save us from danger, the
+soundings being thirty-eight fathoms, on a rocky bottom.&nbsp;
+The <i>Fury</i> being apprised by guns of our situation, both
+ships were hauled off the land, and the fog soon after
+dispersing, we had the satisfaction to perceive that the late
+gale had blown the ice off the land, leaving us a fine navigable
+channel from one to two miles wide, as far as we could see from
+the mast-head along the shore.&nbsp; We were able to avail
+ourselves of this but slowly, however, in consequence of a light
+southerly breeze still blowing against us.</p>
+<p>We had now an opportunity of discovering that a long neck of
+very low land runs out from the southernmost of the Leopold
+Islands, and another from the shore to the southward of Cape
+Clarence.&nbsp; These two had every appearance of joining, so as
+to make a peninsula, instead of an island, of that portion of
+land which, on account of our distance preventing our seeing the
+low beach, had in 1819 been considered under the latter
+character.&nbsp; It is, however, still somewhat doubtful, and the
+Leopold Isles, therefore, still retain their original designation
+on the chart.&nbsp; The land here, when closely viewed, assumes a
+very striking and magnificent character, the strata of limestone,
+which are numerous and quite horizontally disposed, being much
+more regular than on the eastern shore of Prince Regent&rsquo;s
+Inlet, and retaining nearly their whole perpendicular height of
+six or seven hundred feet, close to the sea.&nbsp; The
+south-eastern promontory of the southernmost <!-- page 53--><a
+name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>island is
+particularly picturesque and beautiful, the heaps of loose
+<i>d&eacute;bris</i> lying here and there up and down the sides
+of the cliff giving it the appearance of some huge and
+impregnable fortress, with immense buttresses of masonry
+supporting the walls.&nbsp; Near Cape Seppings, and some distance
+beyond it to the southward, we noticed a narrow stratum of some
+very white substance, the nature of which we could not at this
+time conjecture.&nbsp; I may here remark that the whole of
+Barrow&rsquo;s Strait, as far as we could see to the N.N.E. of
+the islands, was entirely free from ice; and from whatever
+circumstance it may proceed, I do not think that this part of the
+Polar Sea is at any season very much encumbered with it.</p>
+<p>It was the general feeling, at this period, among us, that the
+voyage had but now commenced.&nbsp; The labours of a bad summer,
+and the tedium of a long winter, were forgotten in a moment when
+we found ourselves upon ground not hitherto explored, and with
+every apparent prospect before us of making as rapid a progress
+as the nature of this navigation will permit towards the final
+accomplishment of our object.</p>
+<p>Early on the morning of the 25th, we passed the opening in the
+land delineated in the former chart of this coast, in latitude
+73&deg; 34&prime;, which we now found to be a bay about three
+miles deep, but apparently open to the sea.&nbsp; I named it
+after my friend, Hastings Elwin, Esq., of Bristol, as a token of
+grateful esteem for that gentleman.&nbsp; The wind falling very
+light, so that the ships made no progress, I took the opportunity
+of landing in the fore-noon, accompanied by a party of the
+officers, and was soon after joined by Captain Hoppner.&nbsp; We
+found the formation to consist wholly of lime, and now discovered
+the nature of the narrow white stratum observed the day <!-- page
+54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+54</span>before from the offing, and which proved to be gypsum,
+mostly of the earthy kind, and some of it of a very pure
+white.&nbsp; A part of the rock near our landing-place contained
+a quantity of it in the state of selenite in beautiful
+transparent lamin&aelig; of a large size.&nbsp; The abundance of
+gypsum hereabouts explained also the extreme whiteness of the
+water near the whole of this part of the coast, which had always
+been observed in approaching it, and which had at first excited
+unnecessary apprehensions as to the soundings along the
+shore.&nbsp; This colour is more particularly seen near the
+mouths of the streams, many of which are quite of a dirty milk
+colour, and tinge the sea to the distance of more than a mile,
+without any alteration in the depth, except a gradual diminution
+in going in.&nbsp; The vegetation in this place was, as usual,
+extremely scanty, though much more luxuriant than on any of the
+land near our winter quarters, and no animals were seen.&nbsp;
+The latitude of our landing-place was 73&deg; 27&prime;
+23&Prime;, the longitude by chronometers 90&deg; 50&prime;
+34.6&Prime;, and the variation of the magnetic needle 125&deg;
+34&prime; 42&Prime; westerly.&nbsp; From half-past nine A.M. till
+a quarter past noon the tide fell two feet three inches; and as
+it was nearly stationary at the latter time, it was probably near
+low water.</p>
+<p>A breeze enabling us again to make some progress, and an open
+channel still favouring us of nearly the same breadth as before,
+we passed during the night a second bay, about the same size as
+the other, and also appearing open to the sea; it lies in
+latitude (by account from the preceding and following noon)
+73&deg; 19&prime; 30&Prime;, and its width is one mile and a
+half.&nbsp; It was called Batty Bay, after my friend Captain
+Robert Batty, of the Grenadier Guards.&nbsp; We now perceived
+that the ice closed completely in with <!-- page 55--><a
+name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>the land a
+short distance beyond us, and having made all the way we could,
+were obliged to stand off and on during the day in a channel not
+three-quarters of a mile wide.&nbsp; This channel being still
+more contracted towards the evening, we were obliged to make fast
+to some grounded land ice upon the beach in four fathoms water,
+there to await some change in our favour.&nbsp; We here observed
+traces of our old friends the Esquimaux, there being several of
+their circles of stones, though not of recent date, close to the
+sea.&nbsp; We also found a more abundant vegetation than before,
+and several plants familiar to us on the former voyages, but not
+yet procured on this, were now added to our collections.&nbsp;
+The geological character of the land was nearly the same as
+before, but we found here some gypsum of the fibrous kind,
+occurring in a single stratum about an inch and a half
+wide.&nbsp; About a mile to the north of us was a curious cascade
+or spout of water, issuing from a chasm in the rock, and falling
+more than two hundred feet perpendicular.&nbsp; Our gentlemen,
+who visited the spot, described it as rendered the more
+picturesque by innumerable kittiwakes having their nests among
+the rocks, and constantly flying about the stream.&nbsp; The
+latitude was 73&deg; 06&prime; 17&Prime;, the longitude by
+chronometers 91&deg; 19&prime; 52.3&Prime;, the dip of the
+magnetic needle 88&deg; 02.1&prime;, and the variation 128&deg;
+23&prime; 17&Prime; westerly.</p>
+<p>The ice opening in the afternoon of the 27th, we cast off and
+run four or five miles with a northerly breeze.&nbsp; This wind,
+however, always had the effect of making the ice close the shore,
+while a southerly breeze as uniformly opened it, so that on this
+coast, as on several others that I have known, a contrary
+wind&mdash;however great the paradox may seem&mdash;proved, on
+the whole, the most favourable for making progress.&nbsp; This
+circumstance is simply to be <!-- page 56--><a
+name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>attributed to
+the greater abundance of open water in the parts we have left
+behind (in the present instance the open sea of Barrow&rsquo;s
+Strait) than those towards which we are going.&nbsp; We were once
+more obliged to make fast, therefore, to some grounded ice close
+to the beach, rather than run any risk of hampering the ships,
+and rendering them unable to take advantage of a change in our
+favour.</p>
+<p>A light southerly breeze on the morning of the 28th gradually
+cleared the shore, and a fresh wind from the N.W. then
+immediately succeeded.&nbsp; We instantly took advantage of this
+circumstance, and casting off at six A.M. ran eight or nine miles
+without obstruction, when we were stopped by the ice, which, in a
+closely packed and impenetrable body, stretched close into the
+shore as far as the eye could reach from the crow&rsquo;s
+nest.&nbsp; Being anxious to gain every foot of distance that we
+could, and perceiving some grounded ice which appeared favourable
+for making fast to, just at a point where the clear water
+terminated, the ships were run to the utmost extent of it, and a
+boat prepared from each to examine the depth of water at the
+intended anchoring place.&nbsp; Just as I was about to leave the
+<i>Hecla</i> for that purpose, the ice was observed to be in
+rapid motion towards the shore.&nbsp; The <i>Fury</i> was
+immediately hauled in by some grounded masses, and placed to the
+best advantage; but the <i>Hecla</i> being more advanced was
+immediately beset in spite of every exertion, and after breaking
+two of the largest ice-anchors in endeavouring to heave in to the
+shore, was obliged to drift with the ice, several masses of which
+had fortunately interposed themselves between us and the
+land.&nbsp; The ice slackening around us a little in the evening,
+we were enabled, with considerable labour, to get to some
+grounded masses, where we lay much exposed, as the <!-- page
+57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+57</span><i>Fury</i> also did.&nbsp; In this situation, our
+latitude being 72&deg; 51&prime; 51&Prime;, we saw a
+comparatively low point of land three or four leagues to the
+southward, which proved to be near that which terminated our view
+of this coast in 1819.</p>
+<p>On the 29th, the ice being slack for a short distance, we
+shifted the <i>Hecla</i> half a mile to the northward, into a
+less insecure berth.&nbsp; I then walked to a broad valley facing
+the sea near us, where a considerable stream discharged itself,
+and where, in passing in the ships, a large fish had been
+observed to jump out of the water.&nbsp; In hopes of finding
+salmon here, we tried for some time with several hand-nets, but
+nothing was caught or seen.&nbsp; In this place were a number of
+the Esquimaux stone circles, apparently of very old date, being
+quite overgrown with grass, moss, and other plants.&nbsp; In the
+neighbourhood of these habitations the vegetation was much more
+luxuriant than anything of the kind we had seen before during
+this voyage.&nbsp; The state of this year&rsquo;s plants was now
+very striking, compared with those of the last, and afforded
+strong evidence, if any had been wanting, of the difference
+between the two seasons.&nbsp; I was particularly struck with the
+appearance of some moss collected by Mr. Hooper, who pointed out
+to me upon the same specimen the last year&rsquo;s miserable
+seeds just peeping above the leaves, while those of the present
+summer had already shot three-quarters of an inch beyond
+them.&nbsp; Another circumstance which we noticed about this
+time, and still more so as the season advanced, was the rapid
+progress which the warmth had already made in dissolving the last
+year&rsquo;s snow, this being always easily known by its dingy
+colour, and its admixture with the soil.&nbsp; Of the past
+winter&rsquo;s snow not a particle could be seen at the close of
+July on any part of <!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 58</span>this coast.&nbsp; These facts,
+together with the beautiful weather we had enjoyed for many weeks
+past, all tended to show that we were now favoured with an
+unusually fine summer.&nbsp; We found in this place, in the dry
+bed of an old stream, innumerable fossils in the limestone,
+principally shells and madrepore.&nbsp; On a hill abreast of the
+<i>Hecla</i>, and at an elevation of not less than three or four
+hundred feet above the sea, one particular spot was discovered in
+which the same kind of shells first found in Barrow&rsquo;s
+Strait in 1819 occurred in very great abundance and perfection,
+wholly detached from the lime in which for the most part they
+were found embedded in other places on this coast.&nbsp; Indeed,
+it was quite astonishing, in looking at the numberless fossil
+animal remains occurring in many of the stones, to consider the
+countless myriads of shell fish and marine insects which must
+once have existed on this shore.&nbsp; The cliffs next the sea,
+which here rise to a perpendicular height of between four and
+five hundred feet, were continually breaking down at this season,
+and adding, by falls of large masses of stone, to the slope of
+<i>d&eacute;bris</i> lying at their foot.&nbsp; The ships lay so
+close to the shore as to be almost within the range of some of
+these tumbling masses, there being at high water scarcely beach
+enough for a person to walk along the shore.&nbsp; The time of
+high water, near the opposition of the moon this night, was
+between half-past eleven and midnight, being nearly the same as
+at Port Bowen at full and change.</p>
+<p>The ice opening for a mile and a half along shore on the 30th,
+we shifted the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> berth about that distance to
+the southward, chiefly to be enabled to see more distinctly round
+a point which before obstructed our view, though our situation,
+as regarded the security of the ship, was much altered for the
+worse.&nbsp; The <i>Fury</i> remained <!-- page 59--><a
+name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>where she
+was, there being no second berth even so good as the bad one
+where she was now lying.&nbsp; In the afternoon it blew a hard
+gale, with constant rain, from the northward, the clouds
+indicating an easterly wind in other parts.&nbsp; This wind,
+which was always the troublesome one to us, soon brought the ice
+closer and closer, till it pressed with very considerable
+violence on both ships, though the most upon the <i>Fury</i>,
+which lay in a very exposed situation.&nbsp; The <i>Hecla</i>
+received no damage but the breaking of two or three hawsers, and
+a part of her bulwark torn away by the strain upon them.&nbsp; In
+the course of the night we had reason to suppose, by the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> heeling, that she was either on shore, or
+still heavily pressed by the ice from without.&nbsp; Early on the
+morning of the 31st, as soon as a communication could be
+effected, Captain Hoppner sent to inform me that the <i>Fury</i>
+had been forced on the ground, where she still lay; but that she
+would probably be hove off without much difficulty at high water,
+provided the external ice did not prevent it.&nbsp; I also
+learned from Captain Hoppner that a part of one of the propelling
+wheels had been destroyed, the chock through which its axis
+passed being forced in considerably, and the palm broken off one
+of the bower anchors.&nbsp; Most of this damage, however, was
+either of no very material importance, or could easily be
+repaired.&nbsp; A large party of hands from the <i>Hecla</i>
+being sent round to the <i>Fury</i> towards high water, she came
+off the ground with very little strain, so that, upon the whole,
+considering the situation in which the ships were lying, we
+thought ourselves fortunate in having incurred no very serious
+injury.&nbsp; The <i>Fury</i> was shifted a few yards into the
+best place that could be found, and the wind again blowing strong
+from the northward, the ice remained <!-- page 60--><a
+name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>close about
+us.&nbsp; A shift of wind to the southward in the afternoon at
+length began gradually to slacken it, but it was not till six
+A.M. on the 1st of August that there appeared a prospect of
+making any progress.&nbsp; There was, at this time, a great deal
+of water to the southward, but between us and the channel there
+lay one narrow and not very close stream of ice touching the
+shore.&nbsp; A shift of wind to the northward determined me at
+once to take advantage of it, as nothing but a free wind seemed
+requisite to enable us to reach this promising channel.&nbsp; The
+signal to that effect was immediately made, but while the sails
+were setting, the ice, which had at first been about
+three-quarters of a mile distant from us, was observed to be
+closing the shore.&nbsp; The ships were cast with all expedition,
+in hopes of gaining the broader channel before the ice had time
+to shut us up.&nbsp; So rapid, however, was the latter in this
+its sudden movement, that we had but just got the ships&rsquo;
+heads the right way, when the ice came bodily in upon us, being
+doubtless set in motion by a very sudden freshening of the wind
+almost to a gale in the course of a few minutes.&nbsp; The ships
+were now almost instantly beset, and in such a manner as to be
+literally helpless and unmanageable.&nbsp; In such cases, it must
+be confessed that the exertions made by heaving at hawsers or
+otherwise are of little more service than in the occupation they
+furnish to the men&rsquo;s minds under circumstances of
+difficulty; for when the ice is fairly acting against the ship,
+ten times the strength and ingenuity could in reality avail
+nothing.</p>
+<p>The sails were, however, kept set, and as the body of ice was
+setting to the southward withal, we went with it some little
+distance in that direction.&nbsp; The <i>Hecla</i> after thus
+driving, and now and then forcing her way through <!-- page
+61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>the
+ice, in all about three-quarters of a mile, quite close to the
+shore, at length struck the ground forcibly several times in the
+space of a hundred yards, and being then brought up by it
+remained immovable, the depth of water under her keel abaft being
+sixteen feet, or about a foot less than she drew.&nbsp; The
+<i>Fury</i> continuing to drive was now irresistibly carried past
+us, and we escaped, only by a few feet, the damage invariably
+occasioned by ships coming in contact under such
+circumstances.&nbsp; She had, however, scarcely passed us a
+hundred yards when it was evident, by the ice pressing her in, as
+well as along the shore, that she must soon be stopped like the
+<i>Hecla</i>; and having gone about two hundred yards farther she
+was observed to receive a severe pressure from a large floe-piece
+forcing her directly against a grounded mass of ice upon the
+beach.&nbsp; After setting to the southward for an hour or two
+longer the ice became stationary, no open water being anywhere
+visible from the mast-head, and the pressure on the ships
+remaining undiminished during the day.&nbsp; Just as I had
+ascertained the utter impossibility of moving the <i>Hecla</i> a
+single foot, and that she must lie quite aground fore and aft as
+soon as the tide fell, I received a note from Captain Hoppner
+informing me that the <i>Fury</i> had been so severely
+&ldquo;nipped&rdquo; and strained as to leak a good deal,
+apparently about four inches an hour; that she was still heavily
+pressed both upon the ground and against the large mass of ice
+within her; that the rudder was at present very awkwardly
+situated; and that one boat had been much damaged.&nbsp; As the
+tide fell the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> stern, which was aground, was
+lifted several feet, and the <i>Hecla</i> at low water having
+sewed five feet forward and two abaft, we presented altogether no
+very pleasing or comfortable spectacle.&nbsp; However, about high
+<!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+62</span>water, the ice very opportunely slacking, the
+<i>Hecla</i> was hove off with great ease, and warped to a floe
+in the offing to which we made fast at midnight.&nbsp; The
+<i>Fury</i> was not long after us in coming off the ground, when
+I was in hopes of finding that any twist or strain, by which her
+leaks might have been occasioned, would, in some measure, have
+closed when she was relieved from pressure and once more fairly
+afloat.&nbsp; My disappointment and mortification, therefore, may
+in some measure be imagined, at being informed by telegraph,
+about two A.M. on the 2nd, that the water was gaining on two
+pumps, and that a part of the doubling had floated up.&nbsp; The
+<i>Hecla</i> having in the mean time been carried two or three
+miles to the southward, by the ice which was once more driving in
+that direction, I directed Captain Hoppner by signal to endeavour
+to reach the best security in-shore which the present slackness
+of the ice might permit, until it was possible for the
+<i>Hecla</i> to rejoin him.&nbsp; Presently after perceiving from
+the mast-head something like a small harbour nearly abreast of
+us, every effort was made to get once more towards the
+shore.&nbsp; In this the ice happily favoured us, and after
+making sail and one or two tacks we got in with the land, when I
+left the ship in a boat to sound the place and search for
+shelter.&nbsp; I soon had the mortification to find that the
+harbour which had appeared to present itself so opportunely, had
+not more than six or seven feet water in any part of it, the
+whole of its defences being composed of the stones and soil
+washed down by a stream which here emptied itself into the
+sea.&nbsp; From this place, indeed, where the land gradually
+became much lower in advancing to the southward, the whole nature
+of the soundings entirely altered, the water gradually shoaling
+in approaching the beach, so that the ships <!-- page 63--><a
+name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>could
+scarcely come nearer, in most parts, than a quarter of a
+mile.&nbsp; At this distance the whole shore was more or less
+lined with grounded masses of ice; but after examining the
+soundings within more than twenty of them, in the space of about
+a mile, I could only find two that would allow the ships to float
+at low water, and that by some care in placing and keeping them
+there.&nbsp; Having fixed a flag on each berg, the usual signal
+for the ships taking their stations, I rowed on board the
+<i>Fury</i>, and found four pumps constantly going to keep the
+ship free, and Captain Hoppner, his officers and men, almost
+exhausted with the incessant labour of the last eight-and-forty
+hours.&nbsp; The instant the ships were made fast, Captain
+Hoppner and myself set out in a boat to survey the shore still
+farther south, there being a narrow lane of water about a mile in
+that direction; for it had now become too evident, however
+unwilling we might have been at first to admit the conclusion,
+that the <i>Fury</i> could proceed no farther without repairs,
+and that the nature of those repairs would in all probability
+involve the disagreeable, I may say the ruinous, necessity of
+heaving the ship down.&nbsp; After rowing about three-quarters of
+a mile we considered ourselves fortunate in arriving at a bolder
+part of the beach, where three grounded masses of ice, having
+from three to four fathoms water at low tide within them, were so
+disposed as to afford, with the assistance of art, something like
+shelter.&nbsp; Wild and insecure as, under other circumstances,
+such a place would have been thought for the purpose of heaving a
+ship down, we had no alternative, and therefore as little
+occasion as we had time for deliberation.&nbsp; Returning to the
+ships, we were setting the sails in order to run to the appointed
+place, when the ice closed in and prevented our <!-- page 64--><a
+name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>moving, and
+in a short time there was once more no open water to be
+seen.&nbsp; We were, therefore, under the necessity of remaining
+in our present berths, where the smallest external pressure must
+inevitably force us ashore, neither ship having more than two
+feet of water to spare.&nbsp; One watch of the
+<i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> crew were sent round to assist at the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> pumps, which required one-third of her
+ship&rsquo;s company to be constantly employed at them.</p>
+<p>The ice coming in with considerable violence on the night of
+the 2nd, once more forced the <i>Fury</i> on shore, so that at
+low water she sewed two feet and a half.&nbsp; Nothing but the
+number and strength of the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> hawsers prevented
+her sharing the same fate, for the pressure was just as much as
+seven of these of six inches and two stream-cables would
+bear.&nbsp; The <i>Fury</i> floated in the morning, and was
+enabled to haul off a little, but there was no opening of the ice
+to allow us to move to our intended station.&nbsp; The more
+leisure we obtained to consider the state of the <i>Fury</i>, the
+more apparent became the absolute, however unfortunate, necessity
+of heaving her down.&nbsp; Four pumps were required to be at work
+without intermission to keep her free, and this in perfectly
+smooth water, showing that she was, in fact, so materially
+injured as to be very far from seaworthy.&nbsp; One-third of her
+working men were constantly employed, as before remarked, in this
+laborious operation, and some of their hands had become so sore
+from the constant friction of the ropes, that they could hardly
+handle them any longer without the use of mittens, assisted by
+the unlaying of the ropes to make them soft.&nbsp; When, in
+addition to these circumstances, the wet state of the decks and
+the little room left, as well as the reduced strength for working
+the ship or heaving at hawsers among the ice, be <!-- page
+65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+65</span>considered, I believe that every seaman will admit the
+impracticability of pursuing this critical navigation till the
+<i>Fury</i> had been examined and repaired.&nbsp; As, therefore,
+not a moment could be lost we took advantage of a small lane of
+water deep enough for boats, which kept open within the grounded
+masses along the shore, to convey to the <i>Hecla</i> some of the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> dry provisions, and to land a quantity of
+heavy ironwork and other stores not perishable; for the moment
+this measure was determined on I was anxious, almost at any risk,
+to commence the lightening of the ship as far as our present
+insecurity and our distance from the shore would permit.</p>
+<p>The wind blowing fresh from the northward, which always
+increased our difficulties on this coast, the ice pressed so
+violently upon the ships as almost to force them adrift during
+the night, employing our people, now sufficiently harassed by
+their work during the day, for two or three hours in still
+further increasing our security by additional hawsers.&nbsp; We
+continued landing stores from the <i>Fury</i> on the 4th, and at
+night a bower cable was passed round one of the grounded masses
+alongside of her; for if either ship had once got adrift, it is
+difficult to say what might have been the consequence.</p>
+<p>At two A.M. on the 5th, the ice began to slacken near the
+ships, and as soon as a boat could be rowed along shore to the
+southward, I set out, accompanied by a second from the
+<i>Fury</i>, for the purpose of examining the state of our
+intended harbour since the recent pressure, and to endeavour to
+prepare for the reception of the ships by clearing out the loose
+ice.&nbsp; On my arrival there, the distance being about a mile,
+I found that one of the three bergs had shifted its place so
+materially by the late movements of the ice, as not only to alter
+the disposition of these masses, <!-- page 66--><a
+name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>on which our
+whole dependence rested, very much for the worse, but also to
+destroy all confidence in their stability upon the ground.&nbsp;
+Landing upon one of the bergs to show the appointed signal for
+the ships to come, I perceived, about half a mile beyond us to
+the southward, a low point forming a little bay, with a great
+deal of heavy grounded ice lying off it.&nbsp; I immediately
+rowed to this, in hopes of finding something like a harbour for
+our purpose, but on my arrival there, had once more the
+mortification to find that there were not above six feet of water
+at low tide in any part of it, and within the grounded ice not
+more than twelve.&nbsp; Having assured myself that no security or
+shelter was here to be found, I immediately returned to the
+former place, which the <i>Hecla</i> was just reaching.&nbsp; The
+<i>Fury</i> was detained some time by a quantity of loose ice
+which had wedged itself in, in such a manner as to leave her no
+room to move outwards; but she arrived about seven o&rsquo;clock,
+when both ships were made fast in the best berths we could find,
+but they were still excluded from their intended place by the
+quantity of ice which had fixed itself there.&nbsp; Within twenty
+minutes after our arrival, the whole body of ice again came in,
+entirely closing up the shore, so that our moving proved most
+opportune.</p>
+<h3><!-- page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+67</span>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Formation of a Basin for heaving the Fury
+down&mdash;Landing of the Fury&rsquo;s Stores, and other
+preparations&mdash;The Ships secured within the
+Basin&mdash;Impediments from the pressure of the Ice&mdash;Fury
+hove down&mdash;Securities of the Basin destroyed by a Gale of
+Wind&mdash;Preparations to tow the Fury out&mdash;Hecla
+re-equipped, and obliged to put to Sea&mdash;Fury again driven on
+Shore&mdash;Rejoin the Fury; and find it necessary finally to
+abandon her.</p>
+<p>As there was now no longer room for floating the ice out of
+our proposed basin, all hands were immediately employed in
+preparing the intended securities against the incursions of the
+ice.&nbsp; These consisted of anchors carried to the beach,
+having bower-cables attached to them, passing quite round the
+grounded masses, and thus enclosing a small space of just
+sufficient size to admit both ships.&nbsp; The cables we proposed
+floating by means of the two hand-masts and some empty casks
+lashed to them as buoys, with the intention of thus making them
+receive the pressure of the ice a foot or two below the surface
+of the water.&nbsp; By uncommon exertions on the part of the
+officers and men, this laborious work was completed before night
+as far as was practicable until the loose ice should set out; and
+all the tents were set up on the beach for the reception of the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> stores.</p>
+<p>The ice remaining quite close on the 6th, every individual in
+both ships, with the exception of those at the pumps, was
+employed in landing provisions from the <i>Fury</i>, together
+with the spars, boats, and everything from off her upper
+deck.&nbsp; The ice coming in, in the afternoon, with a degree of
+pressure which usually attended a northerly wind on this coast,
+twisted the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> rudder so forcibly against a mass
+of ice lying under her <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 68</span>stern that it was for some hours in
+great danger of being damaged, and was indeed only saved by the
+efforts of Captain Hoppner and his officers, who, without
+breaking off the men from their other occupations, themselves
+worked at the ice-saw.&nbsp; On the following day, the ice
+remaining as before, the work was continued without intermission,
+and a great quantity of things landed.&nbsp; The two carpenters
+(Messrs. Pulfer and Fiddis) took the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> boats in
+hand themselves, their men being required as part of our physical
+strength in clearing the ship.&nbsp; The armourer was also set to
+work on the beach in forging bolts for the martingales of the
+outriggers.&nbsp; In short, every living creature among us was
+somehow or other employed, not even excepting our dogs, which
+were set to drag up the stores on the beach; so that our little
+dockyard soon exhibited the most animated scene imaginable.&nbsp;
+The quickest method of landing casks and other things not too
+weighty, was that adopted by Captain Hoppner, and consisted of a
+hawser secured to the ship&rsquo;s main mast-head, and set up as
+tight as possible to the anchor on the beach; the casks being
+hooked to a block traversing on this as a jack-stay, were made to
+run down it with great velocity.&nbsp; By this means more than
+two were got on shore for every one landed by the boats, the
+latter, however, being constantly employed in addition.&nbsp; The
+<i>Fury</i> was thus so much lightened in the course of the day
+that two pumps were now nearly sufficient to keep her free, and
+this number continued requisite until she was hove down.&nbsp;
+Her spirit-room was now entirely clear, and, on examination, the
+water was found to be rushing in through two or three holes that
+happened to be in the ceiling, and which were immediately plugged
+up.&nbsp; Indeed; it was now very evident that nothing but <!--
+page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+69</span>the tightness of the Fury&rsquo;s diagonal ceiling had
+so long kept her afloat, and that any ship not thus fortified
+within could not possibly have been kept free by the pumps.</p>
+<p>At night, just as the people were going to rest, the ice began
+to move to the southward, and soon after came in towards the
+shore, again endangering the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> rudder, and
+pressing her over on her side to so alarming a degree, as to warn
+us that it would not be safe to lighten her much more in her
+present insecure situation.&nbsp; One of our bergs also shifted
+its position by this pressure, so as to weaken our confidence in
+the pier-heads of our intended basin; and a long
+&ldquo;tongue&rdquo; of one of them forcing itself under the
+<i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> forefoot, while the drift-ice was also
+pressing her forcibly from astern, she once more sewed three or
+four feet forward at low water, and continued to do so,
+notwithstanding repeated endeavours to haul her off, for four
+successive tides the ice remaining so close and so much doubled
+under the ship, as to render it impossible to move her a single
+inch.&nbsp; Notwithstanding the state of the ice, however, we did
+not remain idle on the 8th, all hands being employed in unrigging
+the <i>Fury</i>, and landing all her spars, sails, booms, boats,
+and other top-weight.</p>
+<p>The ice still continuing very close on the 9th, all hands were
+employed in attempting, by saws and axes, to clear the
+<i>Hecla</i>, which still grounded on the tongue of ice every
+tide.&nbsp; After four hours&rsquo; labour, they succeeded in
+making four or five feet of room astern, when the ship suddenly
+slid down off the tongue with considerable force, and became once
+more afloat.&nbsp; We then got on shore the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i>
+cables and hawsers for the accommodation of the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> men in our tiers during the heaving <!-- page
+70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>down,
+struck our top-masts which would be required as shores and
+outriggers, and, in short, continued to occupy every individual
+in some preparation or other.&nbsp; These being entirely
+completed at an early hour in the afternoon, we ventured to go on
+with the landing of the coals and provisions from the
+<i>Fury</i>, preferring to run the risk which would thus be
+incurred, to the loss of even a few hours in the accomplishment
+of our present object.&nbsp; As it very opportunely happened,
+however, the external ice slackened to the distance of about a
+hundred yards outside of us on the morning of the 10th, enabling
+us, by a most tedious and laborious operation, to clear the ice
+out of our basin piece by piece.&nbsp; The difficulty of this
+apparently simple process consisted in the heavy pressure having
+repeatedly doubled one mass under another&mdash;a position in
+which it requires great power to move them&mdash;and also by the
+corners locking in with the sides of the bergs.&nbsp; Our next
+business was to tighten the cables sufficiently by means of
+purchases, and to finish the floating of them in the manner and
+for the purpose before described.&nbsp; After this had been
+completed, the ships had only a few feet in length, and nothing
+in breadth to spare; but we had now great hopes of going on with
+our work with increased confidence and security.&nbsp; The
+<i>Fury</i>, which was placed inside, had something less than
+eighteen feet at low water; the <i>Hecla</i> lay in four fathoms,
+the bottom being strewed with large and small fragments of
+limestone.</p>
+<p>While thus employed in securing the ships, the smoothness of
+the water enabled us to see in some degree the nature of the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> damage; and it may be conceived how much pain
+it occasioned us plainly to discover that both the stern-post and
+forefoot were broken and turned <!-- page 71--><a
+name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>up on one
+side with the pressure.&nbsp; We also could perceive as far as we
+were able to see along the main-keel, that it was much torn, and
+we had therefore reason to conclude that the damage would
+altogether prove very serious.&nbsp; We also discovered that
+several feet of the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> false keel were torn
+away abreast of the fore-chains, in consequence of her grounding
+forward so frequently.</p>
+<p>The ships being now as well secured as our means permitted
+from the immediate danger of ice, the clearing of the <i>Fury</i>
+went on during the 11th with increased confidence, though greater
+alacrity was impossible, for nothing could exceed the spirit and
+zealous activity of every individual, and as things had turned
+out, the ice had not obliged us to wait a moment, except at the
+actual times of its pressure.&nbsp; Being favoured with fine
+weather, we continued our work very quickly, so that on the 12th
+every cask was landed and also the powder; and the spare sails
+and clothing put on board the <i>Hecla</i>.&nbsp; On the 13th we
+found that a mass of heavy ice, which had been aground within the
+<i>Fury</i>, had now floated off alongside of her at high water,
+still further contracting our already narrow basin, and leaving
+the ship no room for turning round.&nbsp; At the next high water,
+therefore, we got a purchase on it and hove it out of the way, so
+that at night it drifted off altogether.&nbsp; The coals and
+preserved meats were the principal things now remaining on board
+the <i>Fury</i>, and these we continued landing by every method
+we could devise as the most expeditious.&nbsp; The tide rose so
+considerably at night, new moon occurring within an hour of high
+water, that we were much afraid of our bergs floating: they
+remained firm, however, even though the ice came in with so much
+force as to break one of our hand-masts, <!-- page 72--><a
+name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>a fir spar of
+twelve inches diameter.&nbsp; As the high tides and the
+lightening of the <i>Fury</i> now gave us sufficient depth of
+water for unshipping the rudders, we did so, and laid them upon
+the small berg astern of us, for fear of their being damaged by
+any pressure of the ice.</p>
+<p>Early on the morning of the 14th, the ice slackening a little
+in our neighbourhood, we took advantage of it, though the people
+were much fagged, to tighten the cables, which had stretched and
+yielded considerably by the late pressure.&nbsp; It was well that
+we did so; for in the course of this day we were several times
+interrupted in our work by the ice coming with a tremendous
+strain on the north cables, the wind blowing strong from the
+N.N.W., and the whole &ldquo;pack&rdquo; outside of us setting
+rapidly to the southward.&nbsp; Indeed, notwithstanding the
+recent tightening and readjustment of the cables, the bight was
+pressed in so much as to force the <i>Fury</i> against the berg
+astern of her twice in the course of the day.&nbsp; Mr. Waller,
+who was in the hold the second time that this occurred, reported
+that the coals about the keelson were moved by it, imparting the
+sensation of a part of the ship&rsquo;s bottom falling down; and
+one of the men at work there was so strongly impressed with that
+belief that he thought it high time to make a spring for the
+hatchway.&nbsp; From this circumstance it seemed more than
+probable that the main keel had received some serious damage near
+the middle of the ship.</p>
+<p>From this trial of the efficacy of our means of security, it
+was plain that the <i>Fury</i> could not possibly be hove down
+under circumstances of such frequent and imminent risk; I
+therefore directed a fourth anchor, with two additional cables,
+to be carried out, with the hope <!-- page 73--><a
+name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>of breaking
+some of the force of the ice by its offering a more oblique
+resistance than the other, and thus by degrees turning the
+direction of the pressure from the ships.&nbsp; We had scarcely
+completed this new defence, when the largest floe we had seen
+since leaving Port Bowen came sweeping along the shore, having a
+motion to the southward of not less than a mile and a half an
+hour; and a projecting point of it just grazing our outer berg,
+threatened to overturn it, and would certainly have dislodged it
+from its situation but for the cable recently attached to
+it.&nbsp; A second similar occurrence took place with a smaller
+mass of ice about midnight, and near the top of an unusually high
+spring tide, which seemed ready to float away every security from
+us.&nbsp; For three hours about the time of this high water, our
+situation was a most critical one, for had the bergs, or indeed
+any one of them, been carried away or broken, both ships must
+inevitably have been driven on shore by the very next mass of ice
+that should come in.&nbsp; Happily, however, they did not suffer
+any further material disturbance, and the main body keeping at a
+short distance from the land until the tide had fallen, the bergs
+seemed to be once more firmly resting on the ground.&nbsp; The
+only mischief, therefore, occasioned by this disturbance was the
+slackening of our cables by the alteration in the positions of
+the several grounded masses, and the consequent necessity of
+employing more time, which nothing but absolute necessity could
+induce us to bestow in adjusting and tightening the whole of them
+afresh.</p>
+<p>The wind veering to the W.N.W. on the morning of the 15th, and
+still continuing to blow strong, the ice was forced three or four
+miles off the land in the course of <!-- page 74--><a
+name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>a few hours,
+leaving us a quiet day for continuing our work, but exciting no
+very pleasing sensations when we considered what progress we
+might have been making had we been at liberty to pursue our
+object.&nbsp; The land was, indeed, so clear of ice to the
+southward that Dr. Neill, who walked a considerable distance in
+that direction, could see nothing but an open channel in-shore to
+the utmost extent of his view.&nbsp; We took advantage of this
+open water to send the launch for the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i>
+ironwork left at the former station; for though the few men thus
+employed could very ill be spared, we were obliged to arrange
+everything with reference to the ultimate saving of time; and it
+would have occupied both ships&rsquo; companies more than a whole
+day to carry the things round by land.</p>
+<p>The <i>Fury</i> being completely cleared at an early hour on
+the 16th, we were all busily employed in &ldquo;winding&rdquo;
+the ship, and in preparing the outriggers, shores, purchases, and
+additional rigging.&nbsp; Though we purposely selected the time
+of high water for turning the ship round, we had scarcely a foot
+of space to spare for doing it, and indeed, as it was, her
+forefoot touched the ground, and loosened the broken part of the
+wood so much as to enable us to pull it up with ropes, when we
+found the fragments to consist of the whole of the
+&ldquo;gripe&rdquo; and most of the &ldquo;cutwater.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+The strong breeze continuing, and the sea rising as the open
+water increased in extent, our bergs were sadly washed and
+wasted; every hour producing a sensible and serious diminution in
+their bulk.&nbsp; As, however, the main body of ice still kept
+off, we were in hopes, now that our preparations were so near
+completed, we should have been enabled in a few hours to see the
+extent of the damage, and repair it sufficiently to <!-- page
+75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>allow
+us to proceed.&nbsp; In the evening we received the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> crew on board the <i>Hecla</i>, every
+arrangement and regulation having been previously made for their
+personal comfort, and for the preservation of cleanliness,
+ventilation, and dry warmth throughout the ship.&nbsp; The
+officers of the <i>Fury</i>, by their own choice, pitched a tent
+on shore for messing and sleeping in, as our accommodation for
+two sets of officers was necessarily confined.&nbsp; On the 17th,
+when every preparation was completed, the cables were found again
+so slack, by the wasting of the bergs in consequence of the
+continued sea, and possibly also in part by the masses having
+moved somewhat in-shore, that we were obliged to occupy several
+hours in putting them to rights, as we should soon require all
+our strength at the purchases.&nbsp; One berg had also, at the
+last low water, fallen over on its side in consequence of its
+substance being undermined by the sea, and the cable surrounding
+it was thus forced so low under water as no longer to afford
+protection from the ice should it again come in.&nbsp; In
+tightening the cables, we found it to have the effect of bringing
+the bergs in towards the shore, still further contracting our
+narrow basin; but anything was better than suffering them to go
+adrift.&nbsp; This work being finished at ten P.M. the people
+were allowed three hours&rsquo; rest only, it being necessary to
+heave the ship down at or near high water, as there was not
+sufficient depth to allow her to take her distance at any other
+time of tide.&nbsp; Every preparation being made, at three A.M.
+on the 18th, we began to heave her down on the larboard side, but
+when the purchases were nearly a-block, we found that the strops
+under the <i>Hecla&rsquo;a</i> bottom, as well as some of the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> shorefasts, had stretched or yielded so much,
+that they could not bring <!-- page 76--><a
+name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>the keel out
+of water within three or four feet.&nbsp; We immediately eased
+her up again, and readjusted everything as requisite, hauling her
+farther in-shore than before by keeping a considerable heel upon
+her, so as to make less depth of water necessary; and we were
+then in the act of once more heaving her down, when a snowstorm
+came on and blew with such violence off the land, as to raise a
+considerable sea.&nbsp; The ships had now so much motion as to
+strain the gear very much, and even to make the lower masts of
+the <i>Fury</i> bend in spite of the shores: we were, therefore,
+most unwillingly compelled to desist until the sea should go
+down, keeping everything ready to recommence the instant we could
+possibly do so with safety.&nbsp; The officers and men were now
+literally so harassed and fatigued as to be scarcely capable of
+further exertion without some rest; and on this and one or two
+other occasions, I noticed more than a single instance of stupor
+amounting to a certain degree of failure in intellect, rendering
+the individual so affected quite unable at first to comprehend
+the meaning of an order, though still as willing as ever to obey
+it.&nbsp; It was therefore perhaps a fortunate necessity which
+produced the intermission of labour which the strength of every
+individual seemed to require.</p>
+<p>The gale rather increasing than otherwise during the whole day
+and night of the 18th, had on the following morning, when the
+wind and sea still continued unabated, so destroyed the bergs on
+which our sole dependence was placed, that they no longer
+remained aground at low water; the cables had again become slack
+about them, and the basin we had taken so much pains in forming
+had now lost all its defences, at least during a portion of every
+tide.&nbsp; It will be plain, too, if I have succeeded in <!--
+page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+77</span>giving a distinct description of our situation, that,
+independently of the security of the ships, there was now nothing
+left to seaward by which the <i>Hecla</i> could be held out in
+that direction while heaving the <i>Fury</i> down, so that our
+preparations in this way were no longer available.&nbsp; After a
+night of most anxious consideration and consultation with Captain
+Hoppner, who was now my messmate in the <i>Hecla</i>, it appeared
+but too plain, that, should the ice again come in, neither ship
+could any longer be secured from driving on shore.&nbsp; It was
+therefore determined instantly to prepare the <i>Hecla</i> for
+sea, making her thoroughly effective in every respect; so that we
+might at least push her out into comparative safety among the
+ice, when it closed again, taking every person on board her,
+securing the <i>Fury</i> in the best manner we could, and
+returning to her the instant we were able to do so, to endeavour
+to get her out, and to carry her to some place of security for
+heaving down.&nbsp; If, after the <i>Hecla</i> was ready, time
+should still be allowed us, it was proposed immediately to put
+into the <i>Fury</i> all that was requisite, or at least as much
+as she could safely carry, and towing her out into the ice, to
+try the effect of &ldquo;foddering&rdquo; the leaks by sails
+under those parts of her keel which we knew to be damaged, until
+some more effectual means could be resorted to.</p>
+<p>Having communicated to the assembled officers and ships&rsquo;
+companies my views and intentions, and moreover given them to
+understand that I hoped to see the <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i>
+top-gallant-yards across before we slept, we commenced our work;
+and such was the hearty goodwill and indefatigable energy with
+which it was carried on, that by midnight the whole was
+accomplished, and a bower-anchor and cable carried out in the
+offing, for the double <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 78</span>purpose of hauling out the
+<i>Hecla</i> when requisite, and as some security to the
+<i>Fury</i>, if we were obliged to leave her.&nbsp; The people
+were once more quite exhausted by these exertions, especially
+those belonging to the <i>Fury</i>, who had never thoroughly
+recovered their first fatigues.&nbsp; The ice being barely in
+sight, we were enabled to enjoy seven hours of undisturbed rest;
+but the wind becoming light, and afterwards shifting to the
+N.N.E., we had reason to expect the ice would soon close the
+shore, and were, therefore, most anxious to continue our
+work.</p>
+<p>On the 20th, therefore, the reloading of the <i>Fury</i>
+commenced with recruited strength and spirits, such articles
+being in the first place selected for putting on board as were
+essentially requisite for her re-equipment; for it was my full
+determination, could we succeed in completing this, not to wait
+even for rigging a topmast, or getting a lower yard up, in the
+event of the ice coming in, but to tow her out among the ice, and
+there put everything sufficiently to rights for carrying her to
+some place of security.&nbsp; At the same time, the end of the
+sea-cable was taken on board the <i>Fury</i>, by way of offering
+some resistance to the ice, which was now more plainly seen,
+though still about five miles distant, A few hands were also
+spared, consisting chiefly of two or three convalescents, and
+some of the officers, to thrum a sail for putting under the
+<i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> keel; for we were very anxious to relieve the
+men at the pumps, which constantly required the labour of eight
+to twelve hands to keep her free.&nbsp; In the course of the day,
+several heavy masses of ice came drifting by with a breeze from
+the N.E., which is here about two points upon the land, and made
+a considerable swell.&nbsp; One mass came in contact with our
+bergs, which, though only held by the cables, brought it up in
+time to <!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 79</span>prevent mischief.&nbsp; By a long and
+hard day&rsquo;s labour, the people not going to rest till two
+o&rsquo;clock on the morning of the 21st, we got about fifty
+tons&rsquo; weight of coals and provisions on board the
+<i>Fury</i>, which, in case of necessity, we considered
+sufficient to give her stability.&nbsp; While we were thus
+employed, the ice, though evidently inclined to come in, did not
+approach us much; and it may be conceived with what anxiety we
+longed to be allowed one more day&rsquo;s labour, on which the
+ultimate saving of the ship might almost be considered as
+depending.&nbsp; Having hauled the ships out a little from the
+shore and prepared the <i>Hecla</i> for casting by a spring at a
+moment&rsquo;s notice, all the people except those at the pumps
+were sent to rest, which, however, they had not enjoyed for two
+hours, when at four A.M. on the 21st, another heavy mass coming
+violently in contact with the bergs and cables, threatened to
+sweep away every remaining security.&nbsp; Our situation, with
+this additional strain, the mass which had disturbed us fixing
+itself upon the weather-cable, and an increasing wind and swell
+setting considerably on the shore, became more and more
+precarious; and indeed, under circumstances as critical as can
+well be imagined, nothing but the urgency and importance of the
+object we had in view&mdash;that of saving the <i>Fury</i> if she
+was to be saved&mdash;could have prevented my making sail, and
+keeping the <i>Hecla</i> under way till matters mended.&nbsp;
+More hawsers were run out, however, and enabled us still to hold
+on; and after six hours of disturbed rest, all hands were again
+set to work to get the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> anchors, cables,
+rudder, and spars on board, these things being absolutely
+necessary for her equipment, should we be able to get her
+out.&nbsp; At two P.M. the crews were called on board to dinner,
+which they had not finished when several not very large masses
+<!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+80</span>of ice drove along the shore near us at a quick rate,
+and two or three successively coming in violent contact either
+with the <i>Hecla</i> or the bergs to which she was attached,
+convinced me that very little additional pressure would tear
+everything away, and drive both ships on shore.&nbsp; I saw that
+the moment had arrived when the <i>Hecla</i> could no longer be
+kept in her present situation with the smallest chance of safety,
+and therefore immediately got under sail, dispatching Captain
+Hoppner with every individual, except a few for working the ship,
+to continue getting the things on board the <i>Fury</i>, while
+the <i>Hecla</i> stood off and on.&nbsp; It was a quarter-past
+three P.M. when we cast off, the wind then blowing fresh from the
+north-east, or about two points upon the land, which caused some
+surf on the beach.&nbsp; Captain Hoppner had scarcely been an
+hour on board the <i>Fury</i>, and was busily engaged in getting
+the anchors and cables on board, when we observed some large
+pieces of not very heavy ice closing in with the land near her;
+and at twenty minutes past four P.M., being an hour and five
+minutes after the <i>Hecla</i> had cast off, I was informed by
+signal that the <i>Fury</i> was on shore.&nbsp; Making a tack
+in-shore, but not being able, even under a press of canvas, to
+get very near her, owing to a strong southerly current which
+prevailed within a mile or two of the land, I perceived that she
+had been apparently driven up the beach by two or three of the
+grounded masses forcing her onwards before them, and these, as
+well as the ship, seemed now so firmly aground as entirely to
+block her in on the seaward side.&nbsp; As the navigating of the
+<i>Hecla</i> with only ten men on board required constant
+attention and care, I could not at this time with propriety leave
+the ship to go on board the <i>Fury</i>.&nbsp; This, however, I
+the less regretted as Captain <!-- page 81--><a
+name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>Hoppner was
+thoroughly acquainted with all my views and intentions, and I
+felt confident that, under his direction, nothing would be left
+undone to endeavour to save the ship.&nbsp; I, therefore,
+directed him by telegraph, &ldquo;if he thought nothing could be
+done at present, to return on board with all hands until the wind
+changed;&rdquo; for this alone, as far as I could see the state
+of the <i>Fury</i>, seemed to offer the smallest chance of
+clearing the shore, so as to enable us to proceed with our work,
+or to attempt hauling the ship off the ground.&nbsp; About seven
+P.M. Captain Hoppner returned to the <i>Hecla</i>, accompanied by
+all hands, except an officer with a party at the pumps, reporting
+to me that the <i>Fury</i> had been forced aground by the ice
+pressing on the masses lying near her, and bringing home, if not
+breaking, the seaward anchor, so that the ship was soon found to
+have sewed from two to three feet fore and aft.</p>
+<p>With the ship thus situated, and masses of heavy ice
+constantly coming in, it was Captain Hoppner&rsquo;s decided
+opinion, as well as that of Lieutenants Austin and Ross, that to
+have laid out another anchor to seaward would have only been to
+expose it to the same damage as there was reason to suppose had
+been incurred with the other, without the most distant hope of
+doing any service; especially as the ship had been driven on
+shore, by a most unfortunate coincidence, just as the tide was
+beginning to fall.&nbsp; Indeed, in the present state of the
+<i>Fury</i>, nothing short of chopping and sawing up a part of
+the ice under her stern could by any possibility have effected
+her release, even if she had been already afloat.&nbsp; Under
+such circumstances, hopeless as for the time every seaman will
+admit them to have been, Captain Hoppner judiciously determined
+to return for the present, as directed by my <!-- page 82--><a
+name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>telegraphic
+communication; but being anxious to keep the ship free from water
+as long as possible, he left an officer and a small party of men
+to continue working at the pumps so long as a communication could
+be kept up between the <i>Hecla</i> and the shore.&nbsp; Every
+moment, however, decreased the practicability of doing this; and
+finding, soon after Captain Hoppner&rsquo;s return, that the
+current swept the <i>Hecla</i> a long way to the southward while
+hoisting up the boats, and that more ice was drifting in towards
+the shore, I was under the painful necessity of recalling the
+party at the pumps, rather than incur the risk, now an inevitable
+one, of parting company with them altogether.&nbsp; Accordingly
+Mr. Bird, with the last of the people, came on board at eight
+o&rsquo;clock in the evening, having left eighteen inches of
+water in the well, and four pumps being requisite to keep her
+free.&nbsp; In three hours after Mr. Bird&rsquo;s return, more
+than half a mile of closely-packed ice intervened between the
+<i>Fury</i> and the open water in which we were beating, and
+before the morning this barrier had increased to four or five
+miles in breadth.</p>
+<p>We carried a press of canvas all night, with a fresh breeze
+from the north, to enable us to keep abreast of the <i>Fury</i>,
+which, on account of the strong southerly current, we could only
+do by beating at some distance from the land.&nbsp; The breadth
+of the ice in-shore continued increasing during the day, but we
+could see no end to the water in which we were beating, either to
+the southward or eastward.&nbsp; Advantage was taken of the
+little leisure now allowed us, to let the people mend and wash
+their clothes, which they had scarcely had a moment to do for the
+last three weeks.&nbsp; We also completed the thrumming of a
+second sail for putting under the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> keel
+whenever we should be enabled to haul her off the shore.&nbsp; It
+fell <!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+83</span>quite calm in the evening, when the breadth of the ice
+in-shore had increased to six or seven miles.&nbsp; We did not
+during the day perceive any current setting to the southward, but
+in the course of the night we were drifted four or five leagues
+to the south-westward, in which situation we had a distinct view
+of a large extent of land, which had before been seen for the
+first time by some of our gentlemen who walked from where the
+<i>Fury</i> lay.&nbsp; This land trends very much to the
+westward, a little beyond the Fury Point, the name by which I
+have distinguished that headland near which we had attempted to
+heave the <i>Fury</i> down, and which is very near the southern
+part of this coast, seen in the year 1819.&nbsp; It then sweeps
+round into a large bay, formed by a long, low beach several miles
+in extent, afterwards joining higher land, and running in a
+south-easterly direction to a point which terminated our view of
+it in that quarter, and which bore from us S. 58&deg; W. distant
+six or seven leagues.&nbsp; This headland I named Cape Garry,
+after my worthy friend Nicholas Garry, Esq., one of the most
+active members of the Hudson&rsquo;s Bay Company, and a gentleman
+most warmly interested in everything connected with northern
+discovery.&nbsp; The whole of the bay (which I named after my
+much esteemed friend, Francis Cresswell, Esq.), as well as the
+land to the southward, was free from ice for several miles, and
+to the southward and eastward scarcely any was to be seen, while
+a dark water-sky indicated a perfectly navigable sea in that
+direction; but between us and the Fury there was a compact body
+of ice eight or nine miles in breadth.&nbsp; Had we now been at
+liberty to take advantage of the favourable prospect before us, I
+have little doubt we should without much difficulty have made
+considerable progress.</p>
+<p><!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+84</span>A southerly breeze enabling us to regain our northing,
+we ran along the margin of the ice, but were led so much to the
+eastward by it, that we could approach the ship no nearer than
+before during the whole day.&nbsp; She appeared to us at this
+distance to have a much greater heel than when the people left
+her, which made us still more anxious to get near her.&nbsp; A
+south-west wind gave us hopes of the ice setting off from the
+land, but it produced no good effect during the whole of the
+24th.&nbsp; We, therefore, beat again to the southward to see if
+we could manage to get in with the land anywhere about the shores
+of the bay; but this was now impracticable, the ice being once
+more closely packed there.&nbsp; We could only wait, therefore,
+in patience, for some alteration in our favour.&nbsp; The
+latitude at noon was 72&deg; 34&prime; 57&Prime;, making our
+distance from the <i>Fury</i> twelve miles, which by the morning
+of the 25th had increased to at least five leagues, the ice
+continuing to &ldquo;pack&rdquo; between us and the shore.&nbsp;
+The wind, however, now gradually drew round to the westward,
+giving us hopes of a change, and we continued to ply about the
+margin of the ice, in constant readiness for taking advantage of
+any opening that might occur.&nbsp; It favoured us so much by
+streaming off in the course of the day, that by seven P.M. we had
+nearly reached a channel of clear water, which kept open for
+seven or eight miles from the land.&nbsp; Being impatient to
+obtain a sight of the <i>Fury</i>, and the wind becoming light,
+Captain Hoppner and myself left the <i>Hecla</i> in two boats,
+and reached the ship at half-past nine, or about three-quarters
+of an hour before high water, being the most favourable time of
+tide for arriving to examine her condition.</p>
+<p>We found her heeling so much outward, that her main channels
+were within a foot of the water; and the large <!-- page 85--><a
+name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>floe-piece,
+which was still alongside of her, seemed alone to support her
+below water, and to prevent her falling over still more
+considerably.&nbsp; The ship had been forced much further up the
+beach than before, and she had now in her bilge above nine feet
+of water, which reached higher than the lower-deck beams.&nbsp;
+On looking down the stern-post, which, seen against the
+light-coloured ground, and in shoal water, was now very
+distinctly visible, we found that she had pushed the stones at
+the bottom up before her, and that the broken keel, stern-post,
+and deadwood had, by the recent pressure, been more damaged and
+turned up than before.&nbsp; She appeared principally to hang
+upon the ground abreast of the gangway, where, at high water, the
+depth was eleven feet alongside her keel; forward and aft from
+thirteen to sixteen feet; so that at low tide, allowing the usual
+fall of five or six feet, she would be lying in a depth of from
+five to ten feet only.&nbsp; The first hour&rsquo;s inspection of
+the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> condition too plainly assured me that
+exposed as she was, and forcibly pressed up upon an open and
+stony beach, her holds full of water, and the damage of her hull
+to all appearance and in all probability more considerable than
+before, without any adequate means of hauling her off to seaward,
+or securing her from the further incursions of the ice, every
+endeavour of ours to get her off, or if got off, to float her to
+any known place of safety, would be at once utterly hopeless in
+itself, and productive of extreme risk to our remaining ship.</p>
+<p>Being anxious, however, in a case of so much importance, to
+avail myself of the judgment and experience of others, I directed
+Captain Hoppner, in conjunction with Lieutenants Austin and
+Sherer, and Mr. Pulfer, carpenter, being the officers who
+accompanied me to the <i>Fury</i>, to <!-- page 86--><a
+name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>hold a survey
+upon her, and to report their opinions to me.&nbsp; And to
+prevent the possibility of the officers receiving any bias from
+my own opinion, the order was given to them the moment we arrived
+on board the <i>Fury</i>.</p>
+<p>Captain Hoppner and the other officers, after spending several
+hours in attentively examining every part of the ship, both
+within and without, and maturely weighing all the circumstances
+of her situation, gave it as their opinion that it would be quite
+impracticable to make her seaworthy, even if she could be hauled
+off, which would first require the water to be got out of the
+ship, and the holds to be once more entirely cleared.&nbsp; Mr.
+Pulfer, the carpenter of the <i>Fury</i>, considered that it
+would occupy five days to clear the ship of water; that if she
+were got off, all the pumps would not be sufficient to keep her
+free, in consequence of the additional damage she seemed to have
+sustained; and that, if even hove down, twenty days&rsquo; work,
+with the means we possessed, would be required for making her
+seaworthy.&nbsp; Captain Hoppner and the other officers were,
+therefore, of opinion that an absolute necessity existed for
+abandoning the <i>Fury</i>.&nbsp; My own opinion being thus
+confirmed as to the utter hopelessness of saving her, and feeling
+more strongly than ever the responsibility which attached to me
+of preserving the <i>Hecla</i> unhurt, it was with extreme pain
+and regret that I made the signal for the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i>
+officers and men to be sent for their clothes, most of which had
+been put on shore with the stores.</p>
+<p>The <i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> bower-anchor, which had been placed
+on the beach, was sent on board as soon as the people came on
+shore; but her remaining cable was too much entangled with the
+grounded ice to be disengaged without great loss of time.&nbsp;
+Having allowed the officers and men <!-- page 87--><a
+name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>an hour for
+packing up their clothes, and what else belonging to them the
+water in the ship had not covered, the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> boats
+were hauled up on the beach, and at two A.M. I left her, and was
+followed by Captain Hoppner, Lieutenant Austin, and the last of
+the people in half an hour after.</p>
+<p>The whole of the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> stores were of necessity
+left either on board her or on shore, every spare corner that we
+could find in the <i>Hecla</i> being now absolutely required for
+the accommodation of our double complement of officers and men,
+whose cleanliness and health could only be maintained by keeping
+the decks as clear and well ventilated as our limited space would
+permit.&nbsp; The spot where the <i>Fury</i> was left is in
+latitude 72&deg; 42&prime; 30&Prime;, the longitude by
+chronometers is 91&deg; 50&prime; 05&Prime;, the dip of the
+magnetic needle 88&deg; 19&prime; 22&Prime;, and the variation
+129&deg; 25&prime; westerly.</p>
+<p>When the accident first happened to the <i>Fury</i>, I
+confidently expected to have been able to repair her damages in
+good time to take advantage of a large remaining part of the
+navigable season in the prosecution of the voyage; and while the
+clearing of the ship was going on with so much alacrity, and the
+repairs seemed to be within the reach of our means and resources,
+I still flattered myself with the same hope.&nbsp; But as soon as
+the gales began to destroy, with a rapidity of which we had
+before no conception, our sole defence from the incursions of the
+ice, as well as the only trustworthy means we before possessed of
+holding the <i>Hecla</i> out for heaving the <i>Fury</i> down, I
+confess that the prospect of the necessity then likely to arise
+for removing her to some other station, was sufficient to shake
+every reasonable expectation I had hitherto cherished of the
+ultimate accomplishment of our object.&nbsp; Those <!-- page
+88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+88</span>expectations were now at an end.&nbsp; With a
+twelvemonth&rsquo;s provisions for both ships&rsquo; companies,
+extending our resources only to the autumn of the following year,
+it would have been folly to hope for final success, considering
+the small progress we had already made, the uncertain nature of
+this navigation, and the advanced period of the present
+season.&nbsp; I was, therefore, reduced to the only remaining
+conclusion that it was my duty, under all the circumstances of
+the case, to return to England, in compliance with the plain
+tenor of my instructions.&nbsp; As soon as the boats were hoisted
+up, therefore, and the anchor stowed, the ship&rsquo;s head was
+put to the north-eastward, with a light air off the land, in
+order to gain an offing before the ice should again set
+in-shore.</p>
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">Some Remarks upon the loss of the
+Fury&mdash;And on the Natural History, &amp;c., of the Coast of
+North Somerset&mdash;Arrive at Neill&rsquo;s Harbour&mdash;Death
+of John Page&mdash;Leave Neill&rsquo;s Harbour&mdash;Recross the
+Ice in Baffin&rsquo;s Bay&mdash;Heavy Gales&mdash;Aurora
+Borealis&mdash;Temperature of the Sea&mdash;Arrival in
+England.</p>
+<p>The accident which had now befallen the <i>Fury</i>, and
+which, when its fatal result was finally ascertained, at once put
+an end to every prospect of success in the main object of this
+voyage, is not an event which will excite surprise in the minds
+of those who are either personally acquainted with the true
+nature of this precarious navigation, or have had patience to
+follow me through the tedious and monotonous detail of our
+operations during seven successive summers.&nbsp; To any persons
+thus qualified to judge it will be plain that an occurrence of
+this nature was at all times rather to be expected than
+otherwise, <!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 89</span>and that the only real cause for
+wonder has been our long exemption from such a catastrophe.&nbsp;
+I can confidently affirm, and I trust that on such an occasion I
+may be permitted to make the remark, that the mere safety of the
+ships has never been more than a secondary object in the conduct
+of the expeditions under my command.&nbsp; To push forward while
+there was any open water to enable us to do so has uniformly been
+our first endeavour; it has not been until the channel has
+actually terminated that we have ever been accustomed to look for
+a place of shelter, to which the ships were then conducted with
+all possible despatch; and I may safely venture to predict that
+no ship acting otherwise will ever accomplish the Northwest
+Passage.&nbsp; On numerous occasions, which will easily recur to
+the memory of those I have had the honour to command, the ships
+might easily have been placed among the ice and left to drift
+with it in comparative, if not absolute, security, when the
+holding them on has been preferred, though attended with hourly
+and imminent peril.&nbsp; This was precisely the case on the
+present occasion; the ships might certainly have been pushed into
+the ice a day or two, or even a week beforehand, and thus
+preserved from all risk of being forced on shore; but where they
+would have been drifted, and when they would have been again
+disengaged from the ice, or at liberty to take advantage of the
+occasional openings in-shore (by which alone the navigation of
+these seas is to be performed with any degree of certainty), I
+believe it impossible for any one to form the most distant
+idea.&nbsp; Such, then, being the necessity for constant and
+unavoidable risk, it cannot reasonably excite surprise that on a
+single occasion out of so many in which the same accident seemed,
+as it were, impending, it should actually have taken place.</p>
+<p><!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+90</span>The ice we met with after leaving Port Bowen, previously
+to the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> disaster, and for some days after, I
+consider to have been much the lightest as well as the most
+broken we have ever had to contend with.&nbsp; During the time we
+were shut up at our last station near the <i>Fury</i>, one or two
+floes of very large dimensions drifted past us; and these were of
+that heavy &ldquo;hummocky&rdquo; kind which we saw off Cape
+Kater in the beginning of August, 1819.&nbsp; On the whole,
+however, Mr. Allison and myself had constant occasion to remark
+the total absence of floes, and the unusual lightness of the
+other ice.&nbsp; We thought, indeed, that this latter
+circumstance might account for its being almost incessantly in
+motion on this coast; for heavy ice, when once it is pressed home
+upon the shore, and has ceased to move, generally remains quiet,
+until a change of wind or tide makes it slacken.&nbsp; But with
+lighter ice, the frequent breaking and doubling of the parts
+which sustain the strain, whenever any increase of pressure takes
+place, will set the whole body once more in motion till the space
+is again filled up.&nbsp; This was so often the case while our
+ships lay in the most exposed situations on this unsheltered
+coast, that we were never relieved for a moment from the
+apprehension of some new and increased pressure.</p>
+<p>The summer of 1825 was, beyond all doubt, the warmest and most
+favourable we had experienced since that of 1818.&nbsp; Not more
+than two or three days occurred, during the months of July and
+August, in which that heavy fall of snow took place which so
+commonly converts the aspect of Nature in these regions, in a
+single hour, from the cheerfulness of summer into the dreariness
+of winter.&nbsp; Indeed, we experienced very little either of
+snow, rain, or fog; vegetation, wherever the soil allowed any to
+spring <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 91</span>up, was extremely luxuriant and
+forward; a great deal of the old snow which had laid on the
+ground during the last season was rapidly dissolving even early
+in August; and every appearance of Nature exhibited a striking
+contrast with the last summer, while it seemed evidently to
+furnish an extraordinary compensation for its rigour and
+inclemency.</p>
+<p>We have scarcely ever visited a coast on which so little of
+animal life occurs.&nbsp; For days together, only one or two
+seals, a single sea-horse, and now and then a flock of ducks,
+were seen.&nbsp; I have already mentioned, however, as an
+exception to this scarcity of animals, the numberless kittiwakes
+which were flying about the remarkable spout of water; and we
+were one day visited, at the place where the <i>Fury</i> was
+left, by hundreds of white whales sporting about in the shoal
+water close to the beach.&nbsp; No black whales were ever seen on
+this coast.&nbsp; Two reindeer were observed by the gentlemen who
+extended their walks inland; but this was the only summer in
+which we did not procure a single pound of venison.&nbsp; Indeed,
+the whole of our supplies obtained in this way during the voyage,
+including fish, flesh, and fowl, did not exceed twenty pounds per
+man.</p>
+<p>During the time that we were made fast upon this coast, in
+which situation alone observations on current can be
+satisfactorily made, it is certain that the ice was setting to
+the southward, and sometimes at a rapid rate, full seven days out
+of every ten on an average.&nbsp; Had I now witnessed this for
+the first time in these seas, I should probably have concluded
+that there was a constant southerly set at this season; but the
+experience we had before obtained of that superficial current
+which every breeze of wind creates in a sea encumbered with ice,
+<!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+92</span>coupled with the fact that while this set was noticed we
+had an almost continual prevalence of northerly winds, inclines
+me to believe that it was to be attributed&mdash;chiefly at
+least&mdash;to this circumstance, especially as, on one or two
+occasions, with rather a light breeze from the southward, the ice
+did set slowly in the opposite direction.&nbsp; It is not by a
+few unconnected observations that a question of this kind is to
+be settled, as the facts noticed during our detention near the
+west end of Melville Island in 1820 will abundantly testify;
+every light air of wind producing, in half an hour&rsquo;s time,
+an extraordinary change of current setting at an incredible rate
+along the land.</p>
+<p>The existence of these variable and irregular currents adds,
+of course, very much to the difficulty of determining the true
+direction of the flood-tide, the latter being generally much the
+weaker of the two, and therefore either wholly counteracted by
+the current, or simply tending to accelerate it.&nbsp; On this
+account, though I attended very carefully to the subject of the
+tides, I cannot pretend to say for certain from what direction
+the flood-tide comes on this coast; the impression on my mind,
+however, has been, upon the whole, in favour of its flowing from
+the southward.&nbsp; The time of high water on the full and
+change days of the moon is from half-past eleven to twelve
+o&rsquo;clock, being nearly the same as at Port Bowen; but the
+tides are so irregular at times, that in the space of three days
+the retardation will occasionally not amount to an hour.&nbsp; I
+observed, however, that, as the days of full and change, or of
+the moon&rsquo;s quarter approached, the irregularity was
+corrected, and the time rectified, by some tide of extraordinary
+duration.&nbsp; The mean rise and fall was about six feet.</p>
+<p><!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+93</span>The weather continuing nearly calm during the 26th, and
+the ice keeping at the distance of several miles from the land,
+gave us an opportunity of clearing our decks, and stowing the
+things belonging to the <i>Fury&rsquo;s</i> crew more comfortably
+for their accommodation and convenience.&nbsp; I now felt more
+sensibly than ever the necessity I have elsewhere pointed out, of
+both ships employed on this kind of service being of the same
+size, equipped in the same manner, and alike efficient in every
+respect.&nbsp; The way in which we had been able to apply every
+article for assisting to heave the <i>Fury</i> down, without the
+smallest doubt or selection as to size or strength, proved an
+excellent practical example of the value of being thus able, at a
+moment&rsquo;s warning, to double the means and resources of
+either ship in case of necessity.&nbsp; In fact, by this
+arrangement, nothing but a harbour to secure the ships was
+wanted, to have completed the whole operation in as effectual a
+manner as in a dockyard; for not a shore, or outrigger, or any
+other precaution was omitted, that is usually attended to on such
+occasions, and all as good and effective as could anywhere have
+been desired.&nbsp; The advantages were now scarcely less
+conspicuous in the accommodation of the officers and men, who in
+a short time became little less comfortable than in their own
+ship; whereas, in a smaller vessel, comfort, to say nothing of
+health, would have been quite out of the question.&nbsp; Having
+thus experienced the incalculable benefit of the establishment
+composing this expedition, I am anxious to repeat my conviction
+of the advantages that will always be found to attend it in the
+equipment of any two ships intended for discovery.</p>
+<p>A little snow, which had fallen in the course of the last two
+or three days, now remained upon the land, <!-- page 94--><a
+name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>lightly
+powdering the higher parts, especially those having a northern
+aspect, and creating a much more wintry sensation than the large
+broad patches or drifts, which, on all tolerably high land in
+these regions, remain undissolved during the whole of each
+successive summer.&nbsp; With the exception of a few such patches
+here and there, the whole of this coast was now free from snow
+before the middle of August.</p>
+<p>A breeze from the northward freshening up strong on the 27th,
+we stretched over to the eastern shore of Prince Regent&rsquo;s
+Inlet, and this with scarcely any obstruction from ice.&nbsp; We
+could, indeed, scarcely believe this the same sea which, but a
+few weeks before, had been loaded with one impenetrable body of
+closely packed ice from shore to shore, and as far as the eye
+could discern to the southward.&nbsp; We found this land rather
+more covered with the newly fallen snow than that to the
+westward; but there was no ice, except the grounded masses,
+anywhere along the shore.&nbsp; Having a great deal of heavy work
+to do in the re-stowage of the holds which could not well be
+accomplished at sea, and also a quantity of water to fill for our
+increased complement, I determined to take advantage of our
+fetching the entrance of Neill&rsquo;s Harbour to put in here, in
+order to prepare the ship completely for crossing the
+Atlantic.&nbsp; I was desirous also of ascertaining the depth of
+water in this place, which was wanting to complete Lieutenant
+Sherer&rsquo;s survey of it.&nbsp; At one P.M., therefore, after
+communicating to the officers and ships&rsquo; companies my
+intention to return to England, I left the ship, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Sherer in a second boat, to obtain the necessary
+soundings for conducting the ship to the anchorage, and to lay
+down a buoy in the proper berth.&nbsp; Finding the harbour an
+<!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+95</span>extremely convenient one for our purpose, we worked the
+ship in, and at four P.M. anchored in thirteen fathoms, but
+afterwards shifted out to eighteen on a bottom of soft mud.&nbsp;
+Almost at the moment of our dropping the anchor, John Page,
+seaman of the <i>Fury</i>, departed this life; he had for several
+months been affected with a scrofulous disorder, and had been
+gradually sinking for some time.</p>
+<p>The funeral of the deceased took place after Divine service
+had been performed on the 28th; the body being followed to the
+grave by a procession of all the officers, seamen, and marines of
+both ships, and every solemnity observed which the occasion
+demanded.&nbsp; The grave is situated near the beach close to the
+anchorage, and a board was placed at the head as a substitute for
+a tombstone, having on it a copper-plate with the usual
+inscription.</p>
+<p>This duty being performed, we immediately commenced landing
+the casks and filling water; but notwithstanding the large
+streams which, a short time before, had been running into the
+harbour, we could hardly obtain enough for our purpose by sinking
+a cask with holes in it.&nbsp; I have no doubt that this rapid
+dissolution of all the snow on land so high as this, was the
+result of an unusually warm summer.&nbsp; This work, together
+with the entire re-stowage of all the holds, occupied the whole
+of the 29th and 30th; during which time Lieutenant Sherer was
+employed in completing the survey of the harbour, more especially
+the soundings, which the presence of ice had before
+prevented.&nbsp; These arrangements had just been completed when
+the north-easterly wind died away, and was succeeded on the
+morning of the 31st by a light air from the north-west.&nbsp; As
+soon as we had sent to ascertain <!-- page 96--><a
+name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 96</span>that the sea
+was clear of ice on the outside, and that the breeze which blew
+in the harbour was the true one, we weighed and stood out, and
+before noon had cleared the shoals at the entrance.</p>
+<p>Neill&rsquo;s Harbour, the only one on this eastern coast of
+Prince Regent&rsquo;s Inlet, except Port Bowen, to which it is
+far superior, corresponds with one of the apparent openings seen
+at a distance in 1819, and marked on the chart of that voyage as
+a &ldquo;valley or bay.&rdquo;&nbsp; We found it not merely a
+convenient place of shelter but a most excellent harbour, with
+sufficient space for a great number of ships, and holding-ground
+of the best quality, consisting of a tenacious mud of a greenish
+colour, in which the flukes of an anchor are entirely
+embedded.&nbsp; A great deal of the anchoring ground is entirely
+land-locked, and some shoal points which narrow the entrance
+would serve to break off any heavy sea from the eastward.&nbsp;
+The depth of water in most parts is greater than could be wished,
+but several good berths are pointed out in the accompanying
+survey made by Lieutenant Sherer.&nbsp; The beach on the west
+side is a fine bold one, with four fathoms within twenty yards of
+low water mark, and consists of small pebbles of limestone.&nbsp;
+The formation of the rocks about the harbour is so similar to
+that of Port Bowen that no description of them is
+necessary.&nbsp; The harbour may best be known by its latitude;
+by the very remarkable flat-topped hill eight miles south of it,
+which I have named after Lieutenant Sherer who observed its
+latitude; by the high cliffs on the south side of the entrance,
+and the comparative low land on the north.&nbsp; The high land is
+the more peculiar, as consisting of that very regular horizontal
+stratification appearing to be supported by buttresses, which
+characterises a large portion of the <!-- page 97--><a
+name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>western shore
+of Prince Regent&rsquo;s Inlet, but is not seen on any part of
+this coast so well marked as here.&nbsp; It is a remarkable
+circumstance, and such as, I believe, very rarely occurs, that
+from the point of this land forming the entrance of the harbour
+to the southward, and where the cliffs rise at once to a
+perpendicular height of not less than five or six hundred feet, a
+shoal stretches off to the distance of one-third of a mile,
+having from three to eight fathoms upon it.&nbsp; I have reason
+to think indeed that there is not more than from ten to fourteen
+fathoms anywhere across between this and the low point on the
+other side, thus forming a sort of bar, though the depth of water
+is much more than sufficient for any ship to pass over.&nbsp; The
+latitude of Neill&rsquo;s Harbour is 73&deg; 09&prime; 08&Prime;;
+the longitude by chronometers 89&deg; 01&prime; 20&Prime;.8; the
+dip of the magnetic needle 88&deg; 08&prime;.25, and the
+variation 118&deg; 48&prime; westerly.</p>
+<p>I have been thus particular in describing Neill&rsquo;s
+Harbour, because I am of opinion that at no very distant period
+the whalers may find it of service.&nbsp; The western coast of
+Baffin&rsquo;s Bay, now an abundant fishery, will probably, like
+most others, fail in a few years; for the whales will always in
+the course of time leave a place where they continue year after
+year to be molested.&nbsp; In that case, Prince Regent&rsquo;s
+Inlet will undoubtedly become a rendezvous for our ships, as well
+on account of the numerous fish there, as the facility with which
+any ship, having once crossed the ice in Baffin&rsquo;s Bay, is
+sure to reach it during the months of July and August.&nbsp; We
+saw nine or ten black whales the evening of our arrival in
+Neill&rsquo;s Harbour; these, like most observed hereabouts, and
+I believe on the western coast of Baffin&rsquo;s Bay generally,
+were somewhat below the middle size.</p>
+<p><!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+98</span>Finding the wind at north-west in Prince Regent&rsquo;s
+Inlet, we were barely able to lie along the eastern coast.&nbsp;
+As the breeze freshened in the course of the day, a great deal of
+loose ice in extensive streams and patches came drifting down
+from the Leopold Islands, occasioning us some trouble in picking
+our way to the northward.&nbsp; By carrying a press of sail,
+however, we were enabled, towards night, to get into clearer
+water, and by four A.M. on the 1st of September, having beat to
+windward of a compact body of ice which had fixed itself on the
+lee shore about Cape York, we soon came into a perfectly open sea
+in Barrow&rsquo;s Strait, and were enabled to bear away to the
+eastward.&nbsp; We now considered ourselves fortunate in having
+got out of harbour when we did, as the ice would probably have
+filled up every inlet on that shore in a few hours after we left
+it.</p>
+<p>The wind heading us from the eastward on the 2nd, with fog and
+wet weather, obliged us to stretch across the Sound, in doing
+which we had occasion to remark the more than usual number of
+icebergs that occurred in this place, which was abreast of Navy
+Board Inlet.&nbsp; Many of these were large and of the long flat
+kind, which appear to me to be peculiar to the western coast of
+Baffin&rsquo;s Bay.&nbsp; I have no doubt that this more than
+usual quantity of icebergs in Sir James Lancaster&rsquo;s Sound
+was to be attributed to the extraordinary prevalence and strength
+of the easterly winds during this summer, which would drive them
+from the eastern parts of Baffin&rsquo;s Bay.&nbsp; They now
+occurred in the proportion of at least four for one that we had
+ever before observed here.</p>
+<p>Being again favoured with a fair wind, we now stretched to the
+eastward, still in an open sea; and our curiosity was
+particularly excited to see the present <!-- page 99--><a
+name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>situation of
+the ice in the middle of Baffin&rsquo;s Bay, and to compare it
+with that in 1824.&nbsp; This comparison we were enabled to make
+the more fairly, because the season at which we might expect to
+come to it coincided, within three or four days, with that in
+which we left it the preceding year.&nbsp; The temperature of the
+sea-water now increased to 38&deg;, soon after leaving the Sound,
+where it had generally been from 33&deg; to 35&deg;, whereas at
+the same season last year it rose no higher than 32&deg; anywhere
+in the neighbourhood, and remained even so high as that only for
+a very short time.&nbsp; This circumstance seemed to indicate the
+total absence of ice from those parts of the sea which had last
+autumn been wholly covered by it.&nbsp; Accordingly, on the 5th,
+being thirty miles beyond the spot in which we had before
+contended with numerous difficulties from ice, not a piece was to
+be seen, except one or two solitary bergs; and it was not till
+the following day, in latitude 72&deg; 45&prime;, and longitude
+64&deg; 44&prime;, or about one hundred and twenty-seven miles to
+the eastward of where we made our escape on the 9th of September,
+1824, that we fell in with a body of ice so loose and open as
+scarcely to oblige us to alter our course for it.&nbsp; At three
+P.M. on the 7th, being in latitude 72&deg; 30&prime;, and
+longitude 60&deg; 05&prime;, and having, in the course of eighty
+miles that we had run through it, only made a single tack, we
+came to the margin of the ice, and got into an open sea on its
+eastern side.&nbsp; In the whole course of this distance the ice
+was so much spread, that it would not, if at all closely
+&ldquo;packed,&rdquo; have occupied one-third of the same
+space.&nbsp; There were at this time thirty-nine bergs in sight,
+and some of them certainly not less than two hundred feet in
+height.</p>
+<p>The narrowness and openness of the ice at this season, <!--
+page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+100</span>between the parallels of 73&deg; and 74&deg;, when
+compared with its extent and closeness about the same time the
+preceding year, was a decided confirmation, if any were wanting,
+that the summer of 1824 was extremely unfavourable for
+penetrating to the westward about the usual latitudes.&nbsp; How
+it had proved elsewhere we could not of course conjecture, till,
+on the 8th, being in latitude 71&deg; 55&prime;, longitude
+60&deg; 30&prime;, and close to the margin of the ice, we fell in
+with the <i>Alfred</i>, <i>Ellison</i>, and <i>Elizabeth</i>,
+whalers of Hull, all running to the northward, even at this
+season, to look for whales.&nbsp; From them we learned that the
+<i>Ellison</i> was one of the two ships we saw, when beset in the
+&ldquo;pack&rdquo; on the 18th July, 1824; and that they were
+then, as we had conjectured, on their return from the northward,
+in consequence of having failed in effecting a passage to the
+westward.&nbsp; The master of the <i>Ellison</i> informed us
+that, after continuing their course along the margin of the ice
+to the southward, they at length passed through it to the western
+land without any difficulty, in the latitude of 68&deg; to
+69&deg;.&nbsp; Many other ships had also crossed about the same
+parallels, even in three or four days; but none, it seemed, had
+succeeded in doing so, as usual, to the northward.&nbsp; Thus it
+plainly appeared (and I need not hesitate to confess that to me
+the information was satisfactory) that our bad success in pushing
+across the ice in Baffin&rsquo;s Bay in 1824, had been caused by
+circumstances neither to be foreseen nor controlled; namely, by a
+particular position of the ice, which, according to the best
+information I have been able to collect, has never before
+occurred during the only six years that it has been customary for
+the whalers to cross this ice at all, and which, therefore, in
+all probability, will seldom occur again.</p>
+<p><!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+101</span>If we seek for a cause for the ice thus hanging with
+more than ordinary tenacity to the northward, the comparative
+coldness of the season indicated by our meteorological
+observations may perhaps be considered sufficient to furnish
+it.&nbsp; For as the annual clearing of the northern parts of
+Baffin&rsquo;s Bay depends entirely on the time of the disruption
+of the ice, and the rate at which it is afterwards drifted to the
+southward by the excess of northerly winds, any circumstance
+tending to retain it in the bays and inlets to a later period
+than usual, and subsequently to hold it together in large floes,
+which drive more slowly than smaller masses, would undoubtedly
+produce the effect in question.&nbsp; There is, at all events,
+one useful practical inference to be drawn from what has been
+stated, which is that, though perhaps in a considerable majority
+of years a northern latitude may prove the most favourable for
+crossing in, yet seasons will sometimes intervene in which it
+will be a matter of great uncertainty whereabouts to make the
+attempt with the best hope of success.</p>
+<p>As the whaling ships were not homeward bound, having as yet
+had indifferent success in the fishery, I did not consider it
+necessary to send despatches by them.&nbsp; After an hour&rsquo;s
+communication with them, and obtaining such information of a
+public nature as could not fail to be highly interesting to us,
+we made sail to the southward: while we observed them lying-to
+for some time after, probably to consult respecting the unwelcome
+information with which we had furnished them as to the whales,
+not one of which, by some extraordinary chance, we had seen since
+leaving Neill&rsquo;s Harbour.&nbsp; As this circumstance was
+entirely new to us, it seems not unlikely that the whales are
+already beginning to shift their ground, in <!-- page 102--><a
+name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>consequence
+of the increased attacks which have been made upon them of late
+years in that neighbourhood.</p>
+<p>On the 10th we had an easterly wind, which, gradually
+freshening to a gale, drew up the Strait from the southward, and
+blew strong for twenty-four hours from that quarter.&nbsp; In the
+course of the night, and while lying-to under the storm-sails, an
+iceberg was discovered, by its white appearance, under our
+lee.&nbsp; The main-topsail being thrown aback we were enabled to
+drop clear of this immense body, which would have been a
+dangerous neighbour in a heavy seaway.&nbsp; The wind moderated
+on the 11th, but on the following day another gale came on, which
+for nine or ten hours blew in most tremendous gusts from the same
+quarter, and raised a heavy sea.&nbsp; We happily came near no
+ice during the night, or it would scarcely have been possible to
+keep the ship clear of it.&nbsp; It abated after daylight on the
+13th, but continued to blow an ordinary gale for twelve hours
+longer.&nbsp; It was remarkable that the weather was extremely
+clear overhead during the whole of this last gale, which is very
+unusual here with a southerly wind.&nbsp; Being favoured with a
+northerly breeze on the 15th we began to make some way to the
+southward.&nbsp; From nine A.M. to one P.M. a change of
+temperature in the sea water took place from 37&deg; to
+33&deg;.&nbsp; This circumstance seemed to indicate our approach
+to some ice projecting to the eastward beyond the straight and
+regular margin of the &ldquo;pack,&rdquo; which was at this time
+not in sight.&nbsp; The indication proved correct and useful; for
+after passing several loose pieces of ice during the night, on
+the morning of the 15th, just at daybreak, we came to a
+considerable body of it, through which we continued to run to the
+southward.&nbsp; We were now in latitude 68&deg; 56&prime;, and
+in longitude 58&deg; 27&prime;, in which <!-- page 103--><a
+name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>situation a
+great many bergs were in sight, and apparently aground.&nbsp; We
+ran through this ice, which was very heavy, but loose and much
+broken up, the whole day; when having sailed fifty-three miles
+S.S.E., and appearances being the same as ever, we hauled to the
+E.S.E., to endeavour to get clear before dark, which we were just
+enabled to effect after a run of thirty miles in that direction,
+and then bore up to the southward.&nbsp; After this we saw but
+one iceberg and one heavy loose piece previous to our clearing
+Davis&rsquo;s Strait.</p>
+<p>On the 17th at noon we had passed to the southward of the
+Arctic Circle, and from this latitude to that of about 58&deg; we
+had favourable winds and weather; but we remarked on this, as on
+several other occasions during this season, that a northerly
+breeze, contrary to ordinary observation, brought more moisture
+with it than any other.&nbsp; In the course of this run we also
+observed more drift-wood than we had ever done before, which I
+thought might possibly be owing to the very great prevalence of
+easterly winds this season driving it further from the coast of
+Greenland than usual.&nbsp; We saw very large flocks of
+kittiwakes, some of the whales called finners, and, as we
+supposed, a few also of the black kind, together with multitudes
+of porpoises.</p>
+<p>On the morning of the 24th, notwithstanding the continuance of
+a favourable breeze, we met, in the latitude of 58&frac12;&deg;,
+so heavy a swell from the north-eastward as to make the ship
+labour violently for four-and-twenty hours.&nbsp; The northerly
+wind then dying away was succeeded by a light air from the
+eastward with constant rain.&nbsp; A calm then followed for
+several hours, causing the ship to roll heavily in the hollow of
+the sea.&nbsp; On the morning of the 25th we had again an
+easterly wind, <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 104</span>which in a few hours reduced us to
+the close-reefed topsails and reefed courses.&nbsp; At eight P.M.
+it freshened to a gale, which brought us under the main-topsail
+and storm-staysails, and at seven the following morning it
+increased to a gale of such violence from N.E.b.N. as does not
+very often occur at sea in these latitudes.&nbsp; The gusts were
+at times so tremendous as to set the sea quite in a foam, and
+threatened to tear the sails out of the bolt-ropes.&nbsp; It
+abated a little for four hours in the evening, but from nine P.M.
+till two the following morning blew with as great violence as
+before, with a high sea, and very heavy rain; constituting
+altogether as inclement weather as can well be conceived for
+about eighteen hours.&nbsp; The wind gradually drew to the
+westward, with dry weather, after the gale began to abate, and at
+six A.M. we were enabled to bear up and run to the eastward with
+a strong gale at north-west.</p>
+<p>The indications of the barometer previous to and during this
+gale deserve to be noticed, because it is only about Cape
+Farewell that, in coming from the northward down Davis&rsquo;s
+Strait, this instrument begins to speak a language which has ever
+been intelligible to us as a weather-glass.&nbsp; As it is also
+certain that a &ldquo;stormy spirit&rdquo; resides in the
+neighbourhood of this headland, no less than in that of more
+famed ones to the south, it may become a matter of no small
+practical utility for ships passing it, especially in the autumn,
+to attend to the oscillations of the mercurial column.&nbsp; It
+is with this impression alone that I have detailed the otherwise
+uninteresting circumstances of the inclement weather we now
+experienced here; and which was accompanied by the following
+indications of the barometer.&nbsp; On the 24th, notwithstanding
+the change of wind from north to east, <!-- page 105--><a
+name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>the mercury
+rose from 29.51 on that morning, to 29.72 at three A.M. the
+following day, but fell to 29.39 by nine P.M., with the strong
+but not violent breeze then blowing.&nbsp; After this it
+continued to descend very gradually, and had reached 28.84, which
+was its minimum, at three P.M. on the 26th, after which it
+continued to blow tremendously hard for eleven or twelve hours,
+the mercury uniformly though slowly ascending to 28.95 during
+that interval, and afterwards to 29.73 as the weather became
+moderate and fine in the course of the three following days.</p>
+<p>After this gale the atmosphere seemed to be quite cleared, and
+we enjoyed a week of such remarkably fine weather as seldom
+occurs at this season of the year.&nbsp; We had then a succession
+of strong southerly winds, but were enabled to continue our
+progress to the eastward, so as to make Mould Head, towards the
+north-west end of the Orkney Islands, at daylight on the 10th of
+October; and the wind becoming more westerly we rounded North
+Ronaldsha Island at noon, and then shaped a course for
+Buchaness.</p>
+<p>In running down Davis&rsquo;s Strait, as well as in crossing
+the Atlantic, we saw on this passage as well as in all our former
+autumnal ones, a good deal of the Aurora Borealis.&nbsp; It first
+began to display itself on the 15th of September, about the
+latitude of 69&frac12;&deg;, appearing in the (true) south-east
+quarter as a bright luminous patch five or six degrees above the
+horizon, almost stationary for two or three hours together, but
+frequently altering its intensity, and occasionally sending up
+vivid streamers towards the zenith.&nbsp; It appeared in the same
+manner on several subsequent nights in the south-west, west, and
+east quarters of the heavens; and on the 20th a bright arch of it
+passed across the zenith from S.E. to N.W., appearing to be very
+<!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+106</span>close to the ship, and affording so strong a light as
+to throw the shadow of objects on the deck.&nbsp; The next
+brilliant display, however, of this beautiful phenomenon which we
+now witnessed, and which far surpassed anything of the kind
+observed at Port Bowen, occurred on the night of the 24th of
+September, in latitude 58&frac12;&deg;, longitude
+44&frac12;&deg;.&nbsp; It first appeared in a (true) east
+direction, in detached masses like luminous clouds of yellow or
+sulphur-coloured light, about three degrees above the
+horizon.&nbsp; When this appearance had continued for about an
+hour, it began at nine P.M. to spread upwards, and gradually
+extended itself into a narrow band of light passing through the
+zenith and again downwards to the western horizon.&nbsp; Soon
+after this the streams of light seemed no longer to emanate from
+the eastward, but from a fixed point about one degree above the
+horizon on a true west bearing.&nbsp; From this point, as from
+the narrow point of a funnel, streams of light, resembling
+brightly illuminated vapour or smoke, appeared to be incessantly
+issuing, increasing in breadth as they proceeded, and darting
+with inconceivable velocity, such as the eye could scarcely keep
+pace with, upwards towards the zenith, and in the same easterly
+direction which the former arch had taken.&nbsp; The sky
+immediately under the spot from which the light issued appeared,
+by a deception very common in this phenomenon, to be covered with
+a dark cloud, whose outline the imagination might at times
+convert into that of the summit of a mountain, from which the
+light proceeded like the flames of a volcano.&nbsp; The streams
+of light as they were projected upwards did not consist of
+continuous vertical columns or streamers, but almost entirely of
+separate, though constantly renewed masses, which seemed to roll
+themselves <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 107</span>laterally onward with a sort of
+undulating motion, constituting what I have understood to be
+meant by that modification of the Aurora called the &ldquo;merry
+dancers,&rdquo; which is seen in beautiful perfection at the
+Shetland Islands.&nbsp; The general colour of the light was
+yellow, but an orange and a greenish tinge were at times very
+distinctly perceptible, the intensity of the light and colours
+being always the greatest when occupying the smallest
+space.&nbsp; Thus the lateral margins of the band or arch seemed
+at times to roll themselves inwards so as to approach each other,
+and in this case the light just at the edges became much more
+vivid than the rest.&nbsp; The intensity of light during the
+brightest part of the phenomenon, which continued three-quarters
+of an hour, could scarcely be inferior to that of the moon when
+full.</p>
+<p>We once more remarked in crossing the Atlantic that the Aurora
+often gave a great deal of light at night, even when the sky was
+entirely overcast, and it was on that account impossible to say
+from what part of the heavens the light proceeded, though it was
+often fully equal to that afforded by the moon in her
+quarters.&nbsp; This was rendered particularly striking on the
+night of the 5th of October, in consequence of the frequent and
+almost instantaneous changes which took place in this way, the
+weather being rather dark and gloomy, but the sky at times so
+brightly illuminated, almost in an instant, as to give quite as
+much light as the full moon similarly clouded, and enabling one
+distinctly to recognise persons from one end of the ship to the
+other.&nbsp; We did not on any one occasion perceive the
+compasses to be affected by the Aurora Borealis.</p>
+<p>As we approached the Orkneys, I demanded from the officers, in
+compliance with my instructions from my <!-- page 108--><a
+name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>Lords
+Commissioners of the Admiralty, all the logs, journals, drawings,
+and charts, which had been made during the voyage.&nbsp; After
+rounding the north end of the Orkneys on the 10th of October, we
+were on the 12th met by a strong southerly wind when off
+Peterhead.&nbsp; I, therefore, immediately landed (for the second
+time) at that place; and, setting off without delay for London,
+arrived at the Admiralty on the 16th.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding the ill success which had attended our late
+efforts, it may in some degree be imagined what gratification I
+experienced at this time in seeing the whole of the
+<i>Hecla&rsquo;s</i> crew, and also those of the <i>Fury</i>
+(with the two exceptions already mentioned), return to their
+native country in as good health as when they left it eighteen
+months before.&nbsp; The <i>Hecla</i> arrived at Sheerness on the
+20th of October, where she was detained for a few days for the
+purpose of Captain Hoppner, his officers, and ship&rsquo;s
+company, being put upon their trial (according to the customary
+and indispensable rule in such cases) for the loss of the
+<i>Fury</i>; when, it is scarcely necessary to add, they received
+an honourable acquittal.&nbsp; The <i>Hecla</i> then proceeded to
+Woolwich, and was paid off on the 21st of November.</p>
+<h3><!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 109</span>ACCOUNT OF THE ESQUIMAUX OF MELVILLE
+PENINSULA AND THE ADJOINING ISLANDS,</h3>
+<p class="gutsumm">More particularly of Winter Island and
+Igloolik.</p>
+<p>The number of individuals composing the tribe of Esquimaux
+assembled at Winter Island and Igloolik was two hundred and
+nineteen, of whom sixty-nine were men, seventy-seven women, and
+seventy-three children.&nbsp; Two or three of the men, from their
+appearance and infirmities, as well as from the age of their
+children, must have been near seventy; the rest were from twenty
+to about fifty.&nbsp; The majority of the women were
+comparatively young, or from twenty to five-and-thirty, and three
+or four only seemed to have reached sixty.&nbsp; Of the children,
+about one-third were under four years old, and the rest from that
+age upwards to sixteen or seventeen.&nbsp; Out of one hundred and
+fifty-five individuals who passed the winter at Igloolik, we knew
+of eighteen deaths and of only nine births.</p>
+<p>The stature of these people is much below that of Europeans in
+general.&nbsp; One man, who was unusually tall, measured five
+feet ten inches, and the shortest was only four feet eleven
+inches and a half.&nbsp; Of twenty individuals of each sex
+measured at Igloolik, the range was:&mdash;</p>
+<p>Men.&mdash;From 5 ft. 10 in. to 4 ft. 11 in.&nbsp; The average
+height, 5 ft. 5&#8531; in.</p>
+<p><!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+110</span>Women.&mdash;From 5 ft. 3&frac12; in. to 4 ft.
+8&frac34; in.&nbsp; The average height, 5 ft. &frac12;in.</p>
+<p>The women, however, generally appear shorter than they really
+are, both from the unwieldy nature of their clothes and from a
+habit, which they early acquire, of stooping considerably forward
+in order to balance the weight of the child they carry in their
+hood.</p>
+<p>In their figure they are rather well-formed than
+otherwise.&nbsp; Their knees are indeed rather large in
+proportion, but their legs are straight, and the hands and feet,
+in both sexes, remarkably small.&nbsp; The younger individuals
+were all plump, but none of them corpulent; the women inclined
+the most to this last extreme, and their flesh was, even in the
+youngest individuals, quite loose and without firmness.</p>
+<p>Their faces are generally round and full, eyes small and
+black, nose also small and sunk far in between the cheek bones,
+but not much flattened.&nbsp; It is remarkable that one man,
+<i>T&#275;-&#259;</i>, his brother, his wife, and two daughters
+had good Roman noses, and one of the latter was an extremely
+pretty young woman.&nbsp; Their teeth are short, thick, and
+close, generally regular, and in the young persons almost always
+white.&nbsp; The elderly women were still well furnished in this
+way, though their teeth were usually a good deal worn down,
+probably by the habit of chewing the seal-skins for making
+boots.</p>
+<p>In the young of both sexes the complexion is clear and
+transparent, and the skin smooth.&nbsp; The colour of the latter,
+when divested of oil and dirt, is scarcely a shade darker than
+that of a deep brunette, so that the blood is plainly perceptible
+when it mounts into the cheeks.&nbsp; In the old folks, whose
+faces were much wrinkled, the skin appears of a much more dingy
+hue, the dirt being less <!-- page 111--><a
+name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>easily, and
+therefore less frequently, dislodged from them.&nbsp; Besides the
+smallness of their eyes, there are two peculiarities in this
+feature common to almost all of them.&nbsp; The first consists in
+the eye not being horizontal as with us, but coming much lower at
+the end next the nose than at the other.&nbsp; Of the second an
+account by Mr. Edwards will be given in another place.</p>
+<p>By whatever peculiarities, however, they may in general be
+distinguished, they are by no means ill-looking people; and there
+were among them three or four grown-up persons of each sex who,
+when divested of their skin-dresses, their tattooing, and, above
+all, of their dirt, might have been considered pleasing-looking,
+if not handsome, people in any town in Europe.&nbsp; This remark
+applies more generally to the children also; several of whom had
+complexions nearly as fair as that of Europeans, and whose little
+bright black eyes gave a fine expression to their
+countenances.</p>
+<p>The hair both of males and females is black, glossy, and
+straight.&nbsp; The men usually wear it rather long, and allow it
+to hang about their heads in a loose and slovenly manner.&nbsp; A
+few of the younger men, and especially those who had been about
+the shores of the <i>Welcome</i>, had it cut straight upon the
+forehead, and two or three had a circular patch upon the crown of
+the head, where the hair was quite short and thin, somewhat after
+the manner of Capuchin friars.&nbsp; The women pride themselves
+extremely on the length and thickness of their hair; and it was
+not without reluctance on their part, and the same on that of
+their husbands, that they were induced to dispose of any of
+it.&nbsp; When inclined to be neat they separate their locks into
+two equal parts, one of which hangs on each side of their heads
+and in front of their shoulders.&nbsp; To <!-- page 112--><a
+name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>stiffen and
+bind these they use a narrow strap of deerskin attached at one
+end to a round piece of bone, fourteen inches long, tapered to a
+point, and covered over with leather.&nbsp; This looks like a
+little whip, the handle of which is placed up and down the hair,
+and the strap wound round it in a number of spiral turns, making
+the tail thus equipped very much resemble one of those formerly
+worn by our seamen.&nbsp; The strap of this article of dress,
+which is altogether called a <i>t&#335;gl&#275;&#275;g&#259;</i>,
+is so made from the deerskin as to show, when bound round the
+hair, alternate turns of white and dark fur, which give it a very
+neat and ornamental appearance.&nbsp; On ordinary occasions it is
+considered slovenly not to have the hair thus dressed, and the
+neatest of the women never visited the ships without it.&nbsp;
+Those who are less nice dispose their hair into a loose plait on
+each side, or have one <i>t&#335;gl&#275;&#275;g&#259;</i> and
+one plait; and others again, wholly disregarding the business of
+the toilet, merely tucked their hair in under the breast of their
+jackets.&nbsp; Some of the women&rsquo;s hair was tolerably fine,
+but would not in this respect bear a comparison with that of an
+Englishwoman.&nbsp; In both sexes it is full of vermin, which
+they are in the constant habit of picking out and eating; a man
+and his wife will sit for an hour together performing for each
+other that friendly office.&nbsp; The women have a comb, which,
+however, seems more intended for ornament than use, as we seldom
+or never observed them comb their hair.&nbsp; When a
+woman&rsquo;s husband is ill she wears her hair loose, and cuts
+it off as a sign of mourning if he dies&mdash;a custom agreeing
+with that of the Greenlanders.&nbsp; It is probable also, from
+what has been before said, that some opprobrium is attached to
+the loss of a woman&rsquo;s hair when no such occasion demands
+this sacrifice.&nbsp; The men wear the hair on the upper lip and
+<!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+113</span>chin, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, and
+some were distinguished by a little tuft between the chin and
+lower lip.</p>
+<p>The dresses both of male and female are composed almost
+entirely of deer-skin, in which respect they differ from those of
+most Esquimaux before met with.&nbsp; In the form of the dress
+they vary very little from those so repeatedly described.&nbsp;
+The jacket, which is close, but not tight, all round, comes as
+low as the hips, and has sleeves reaching to the wrist.&nbsp; In
+that of the women, the tail or flap behind is very broad, and so
+long as almost to touch the ground; while a shorter and narrower
+one before reaches half-way down the thigh.&nbsp; The men have
+also a tail in the hind part of their jacket, but of smaller
+dimensions; but before it is generally straight or ornamented by
+a single scollop.&nbsp; The hood of the jacket, which forms the
+only covering for their head, is much the largest in that of the
+women, for the purpose of holding a child.&nbsp; The back of the
+jacket also bulges out in the middle to give the child a footing,
+and a strap or girdle below this, and secured round the waist by
+two large wooden buttons in front, prevents the infant from
+falling through, when, the hood being in use, it is necessary
+thus to deposit it.&nbsp; The sleeves of the women&rsquo;s
+jackets are made more square and loose about the shoulders than
+those of the men, for the convenience, as we understood, of more
+readily depositing a child in the hood; and they have a habit of
+slipping their arms out of them, and keeping them in contact with
+their bodies for the sake of warmth, just as we do with our
+fingers in our gloves in very cold weather.</p>
+<p>In winter every individual, when in the open air, wears two
+jackets, of which the outer one
+(<i>C&#257;pp&#277;-t&#275;gg&#259;</i>) has the hair outside,
+and the inner one (<i>Att&#275;&#275;g&#259;</i>) next the <!--
+page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+114</span>body.&nbsp; Immediately on entering the hut the men
+take off their outer jacket, beat the snow from it, and lay it
+by.&nbsp; The upper garment of the females, besides being cut
+according to a regular and uniform pattern, and sewed with
+exceeding neatness, which is the case with all the dresses of
+these people, has also the flaps ornamented in a very becoming
+manner by a neat border of deer-skin, so arranged as to display
+alternate breadths of white and dark fur.&nbsp; This is,
+moreover, usually beautified by a handsome fringe, consisting of
+innumerable long narrow threads of leather hanging down from
+it.&nbsp; This ornament is not uncommon also in the outer jackets
+of the men.&nbsp; When seal-hunting they fasten up the tails of
+their jackets with a button behind.</p>
+<p>Their breeches, of which in winter they also wear two pairs,
+and similarly disposed as to the fur, reach below the knee, and
+fasten with a string drawn tight round the waist.&nbsp; Though
+these have little or no waist-band, and do not come very high,
+the depth of the jackets, which considerably overlap them, serves
+very effectually to complete the covering of the body.</p>
+<p>Their legs and feet are so well clothed, that no degree of
+cold can well affect them.&nbsp; When a man goes on a sealing
+excursion he first puts on a pair of deer-skin boots
+(<i>All&#277;kt&#275;&#275;g&#259;</i>) with the hair inside and
+reaching to the knee, where they tie.&nbsp; Over these come a
+pair of shoes of the same material; next a pair of dressed
+seal-skin boots perfectly water-tight; and over all a
+corresponding pair of shoes, tying round the instep.&nbsp; These
+last are made just like the moccasin of a North American Indian,
+being neatly crimped at the toes, and having several serpentine
+pieces of hide sewn across the sole to prevent wearing.&nbsp; The
+water-tight boots and shoes are made of <!-- page 115--><a
+name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>the skin of
+the small seal (<i>neitiek</i>), except the soles, which consist
+of the skin of the large seal (<i>oguke</i>); this last is also
+used for their fishing-lines.&nbsp; When the men are not prepared
+to encounter wet they wear an outer boot of deer-skin with the
+hair outside.</p>
+<p>The inner boot of the women, unlike that of the men, is loose
+round the leg, coming as high as the knee-joint behind, and in
+front carried up, by a long pointed flap, nearly to the waist,
+and there fastened to the breeches.&nbsp; The upper boot, with
+the hair as usual outside, corresponds with the other in shape,
+except that it is much more full, especially on the outer side,
+where it bulges out so preposterously as to give the women the
+most awkward, bow-legged appearance imaginable.&nbsp; This
+superfluity of boot has probably originated in the custom, still
+common among the native women of Labrador, of carrying their
+children in them.&nbsp; We were told that these women sometimes
+put their children there to sleep; but the custom must be rare
+among them, as we never saw it practised.&nbsp; These boots,
+however, form their principal pockets, and pretty capacious ones
+they are.&nbsp; Here, also, as in the jackets, considerable taste
+is displayed in the selection of different parts of the
+deer-skin, alternate strips of dark and white being placed up and
+down the sides and front by way of ornament.&nbsp; The women also
+wear a moccasin (<i>Itteeg&#277;g&#259;</i>) over all in the
+winter time.</p>
+<p>One or two persons used to wear a sort of ruff round the neck,
+composed of the longest white hair of the deerskin, hanging down
+over the bosom in a manner very becoming to young people.&nbsp;
+It seemed to afford so little additional warmth to persons
+already well clothed, that I am inclined rather to attribute
+their wearing it to some superstitious notion.&nbsp; The children
+between two and <!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 116</span>eight or nine years of age had a
+pair of breeches and boots united in one, with braces over their
+shoulders to keep them up.&nbsp; These, with a jacket like the
+others and a pair of deer-skin mittens, with which each
+individual is furnished, constitute the whole of their
+dress.&nbsp; Children&rsquo;s clothes are often made of the skins
+of very young fawns and of the marmot, as being softer than those
+of the deer.</p>
+<p>The Esquimaux, when thus equipped, may at all times bid
+defiance to the rigour of this inhospitable climate; and nothing
+can exceed the comfortable appearance which they exhibit even in
+the most inclement weather.&nbsp; When seen at a little distance
+the white rim of their hoods, whitened still more by the breath
+collecting and freezing upon it, and contrasted with the dark
+faces which they encircle, render them very grotesque objects;
+but while the skin of their dresses continues in good condition
+they always look clean and wholesome.</p>
+<p>To judge by the eagerness with which the women received our
+beads, especially small white ones, as well as any other article
+of that kind, we might suppose them very fond of personal
+ornament.&nbsp; Yet of all that they obtained from us in this way
+at Winter Island, scarcely anything ever made its appearance
+again during our stay there, except a ring or two on the finger,
+and some bracelets of beads round the wrist: the latter of these
+was probably considered as a charm of some kind or other.&nbsp;
+We found among them, at the time of our first intercourse, a
+number of small black and white glass beads, disposed alternately
+on a string of sinew, and worn in this manner.&nbsp; They would
+also sometimes hang a small bunch of these, or a button or two,
+in front of their jackets and hair; and many of them, in the
+course of the <!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 117</span>second winter, covered the whole
+front of their jackets with the beads they received from us.</p>
+<p>The most common ornament of this kind, exclusively their own,
+consists in strings of teeth, sometimes many hundred in number,
+which are either attached to the lower part of the jacket, like
+the fringe before described, or fastened as a belt round the
+waist.&nbsp; Most of these teeth are of the fox and wolf, but
+some also belong to the musk-ox
+(<i>&#333;&#333;m&#301;ngm&#365;k</i>), of which animal, though
+it is never seen at Winter Island, we procured from the Esquimaux
+several of the grinders and a quantity of the hair and
+skin.&nbsp; The bones of the
+<i>k&#257;bl&#277;&#277;-&#257;rioo</i>, supposed to be the
+wolverine, constitute another of their ornaments; and it is more
+than probable that all these possess some imaginary qualities, as
+specific charms for various purposes.&nbsp; The most
+extraordinary amulet, if it be one, of this kind was a row of
+foxes&rsquo; noses attached to the fore-part of a woman&rsquo;s
+jacket like a tier of black buttons.&nbsp; I purchased from
+Iligliuk a semicircular ornament of brass, serrated at the upper
+edge and brightly polished, which she wore over her hair in front
+and which was very becoming.&nbsp; The handsomest thing of this
+kind, however, was understood to be worn on the head by men,
+though we did not learn on what occasions.&nbsp; It consisted of
+a band two inches in breadth, composed of several strips of skin
+sewn together, alternately black and yellow; near the upper edge
+some hair was artfully interwoven, forming with the skin a very
+pretty chequer-work: along the lower edge were suspended more
+than a hundred small teeth, principally of the deer, neatly
+fastened by small double tags of sinew, and forming a very
+appropriate fringe.</p>
+<p>Among their personal ornaments must also be reckoned <!-- page
+118--><a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+118</span>that mode of marking the body called tattooing, which,
+of the customs not essential to the comfort or happiness of
+mankind, is perhaps the most extensively practised throughout the
+world.&nbsp; Among those people it seems to be an ornament of
+indispensable importance to the women, not one of them being
+without it.&nbsp; The operation is performed about the age of
+ten, or sometimes earlier, and has nothing to do with marriage,
+except that, being considered in the light of a personal charm,
+it may serve to recommend them as wives.&nbsp; The parts of the
+body thus marked are their faces, arms, hands, thighs, and in
+some few women the breasts, but never the feet as in
+Greenland.&nbsp; The operation, which by way of curiosity most of
+our gentlemen had practised on their arms, is very expeditiously
+managed by passing a needle and thread (the latter covered with
+lamp-black and oil) under the epidermis, according to a pattern
+previously marked out upon the skin.&nbsp; Several stitches being
+thus taken at once, the thumb is pressed upon the part while the
+thread is drawn through, by which means the colouring matter is
+retained, and a permanent dye of a blue tinge imparted to the
+skin.&nbsp; A woman expert at this business will perform it very
+quickly and with great regularity, but seldom without drawing
+blood in many places, and occasioning some inflammation.&nbsp;
+Where so large a portion of the surface of the body is to be
+covered, it must become a painful as well as tedious process,
+especially as, for want of needles, they often use a strip of
+whalebone as a substitute.&nbsp; For those parts where a needle
+cannot conveniently be passed under the skin they use the method
+by puncture, which is common in other countries, and by which our
+seamen frequently mark their hands and arms.&nbsp; Several of the
+men were marked on the back part of <!-- page 119--><a
+name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>their
+hands; and with them we understood it to be considered as a
+souvenir of some distant or deceased person who had performed
+it.</p>
+<p>In their winter habitations, I have before mentioned that the
+only materials employed are snow and ice, the latter being made
+use of for the windows alone.&nbsp; The work is commenced by
+cutting from a drift of hard and compact snow a number of oblong
+slabs, six or seven inches thick and about two feet in length,
+and laying them edgeways on a level spot, also covered with snow,
+in a circular form, and of a diameter from eight to fifteen feet,
+proportioned to the number of occupants the hut is to
+contain.&nbsp; Upon this as a foundation is laid a second tier of
+the same kind, but with the pieces inclining a little inwards,
+and made to fit closely to the lower slabs and to each other, by
+running a knife adroitly along the under part and sides.&nbsp;
+The top of this tier is now prepared for the reception of a third
+by squaring it off smoothly with a knife, all which is
+dexterously performed by one man standing within the circle and
+receiving the blocks of snow from those employed in cutting them
+without.&nbsp; When the wall has attained a height of four or
+five feet, it leans so much inward as to appear as if about to
+tumble every moment; but the workmen still fearlessly lay their
+blocks of snow upon it, until it is too high any longer to
+furnish the materials to the builder in this manner.&nbsp; Of
+this he gives notice by cutting a hole close to the ground in
+that part where the door is intended to be, which is near the
+south side, and through this the snow is now passed.&nbsp; Thus
+they continue till they have brought the sides nearly to meet in
+a perfect and well-constructed dome, sometimes nine or ten feet
+high in the centre; and this they take considerable <!-- page
+120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+120</span>care in finishing, by fitting the last block or
+keystone very nicely in the centre, dropping it into its place
+from the outside, though it is still done by the man
+within.&nbsp; The people outside are in the meantime occupied in
+throwing up snow with the <i>p&#335;o&#257;ll&#277;r&#257;y</i>,
+or snow-shovel, and in stuffing in little wedges of snow where
+holes have been accidentally left.</p>
+<p>The builder next proceeds to let himself out by enlarging the
+proposed doorway into the form of a Gothic arch three feet high,
+and two feet and a half wide at the bottom, communicating with
+which they construct two passages, each from ten to twelve feet
+long and from four to five feet in height, the lowest being that
+next the hut.&nbsp; The roofs of these passages are sometimes
+arched, but more generally made flat by slabs laid on
+horizontally.&nbsp; In first digging the snow for building the
+hut, they take it principally from the part where the passages
+are to be made, which purposely brings the floor of the latter
+considerably lower than that of the hut, but in no part do they
+dig till the bare ground appears.</p>
+<p>The work just described completes the walls of a hut, if a
+single apartment only be required; but if, on account of
+relationship, or from any other cause, several families are to
+reside under one roof, the passages are made common to all, and
+the first apartment (in that case made smaller) forms a kind of
+ante-chamber, from which you go through an arched doorway, five
+feet high, into the inhabited apartments.&nbsp; When there are
+three of these, which is generally the case, the whole building,
+with its adjacent passages, forms a tolerably regular cross.</p>
+<p>For the admission of light into the huts a round hole is cut
+on one side of the roof of each apartment, and a circular plate
+of ice, three or four inches thick and two <!-- page 121--><a
+name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>feet in
+diameter, let into it.&nbsp; The light is soft and pleasant, like
+that transmitted through ground glass, and is quite sufficient
+for every purpose.&nbsp; When after some time these edifices
+become surrounded by drift, it is only by the windows, as I have
+before remarked, that they could be recognised as human
+habitations.&nbsp; It may, perhaps, then be imagined how singular
+is their external appearance at night, when they discover
+themselves only by a circular disc of light transmitted through
+the windows from the lamps within.</p>
+<p>The next thing to be done is to raise a bank of snow, two and
+a half feet high, all round the interior of each apartment,
+except on the side next the door.&nbsp; This bank, which is
+neatly squared off, forms their beds and fireplace, the former
+occupying the sides, and the latter the end opposite the
+door.&nbsp; The passage left open up to the fireplace is between
+three and four feet wide.&nbsp; The beds are arranged by first
+covering the snow with a quantity of small stones, over which are
+laid their paddles, tent-poles, and some blades of whalebone;
+above these they place a number of little pieces of network, made
+of thin slips of whalebone, and, lastly, a quantity of twigs of
+birch and of the <i>andromeda tetragona</i>.&nbsp; Their
+deer-skins, which are very numerous, can now be spread without
+risk of their touching the snow; and such a bed is capable of
+affording not merely comfort but luxurious repose, in spite of
+the rigour of the climate.&nbsp; The skins thus used as blankets
+are made of a large size, and bordered, like some of the jackets,
+with a fringe of long narrow slips of leather, in which state a
+blanket is called <i>k&#275;ipik</i>.</p>
+<p>The fire belonging to each family consists of a single lamp,
+or shallow vessel of <i>lapis ollaris</i>, its form being the
+lesser segment of a circle.&nbsp; The wick, composed of <!-- page
+122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+122</span>dry moss rubbed between the hands till it is quite
+inflammable, is disposed along the edge of the lamp on the
+straight side, and a greater or smaller quantity lighted,
+according to the heat required or the fuel that can be
+afforded.&nbsp; When the whole length of this, which is sometimes
+above eighteen inches, is kindled, it affords a most brilliant
+and beautiful light, without any perceptible smoke or any
+offensive smell.&nbsp; The lamp is made to supply itself with
+oil, by suspending a long thin slice of whale, seal, or sea-horse
+blubber near the flame, the warmth of which causes the oil to
+drip into the vessel until the whole is extracted.&nbsp;
+Immediately over the lamp is fixed a rude and rickety framework
+of wood, from which their pots are suspended, and serving also to
+sustain a large hoop of bone, having a net stretched tight within
+it.&nbsp; This contrivance, called <i>Inn&#277;t&#259;t</i>, is
+intended for the reception of any wet things, and is usually
+loaded with boots, shoes, and mittens.</p>
+<p>The fireplace, just described as situated at the upper end of
+the apartment, has always two lamps facing different ways, one
+for each family occupying the corresponding bed-place.&nbsp;
+There is frequently also a smaller and less-pretending
+establishment on the same model&mdash;lamp, pot, net, and
+all&mdash;in one of the corners next the door; for one apartment
+sometimes contains three families, which are always closely
+related, and no married woman, or even a widow without children,
+is without her separate fireplace.</p>
+<p>With all the lamps lighted and the hut full of people and
+dogs, a thermometer placed on the net over the fire indicated a
+temperature of 38&deg;; when removed two or three feet from this
+situation it fell to 31&deg;, and placed close to the wall stood
+at 23&deg;, the temperature of the open <!-- page 123--><a
+name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>air at the
+time being 25&deg; below zero.&nbsp; A greater degree of warmth
+than this produces extreme inconvenience by the dropping from the
+roofs.&nbsp; This they endeavour to obviate by applying a little
+piece of snow to the place from which a drop proceeds, and this
+adhering is for a short time an effectual remedy; but for several
+weeks in the spring, when the weather is too warm for these
+edifices, and still too cold for tents, they suffer much on this
+account.</p>
+<p>The most important perhaps of the domestic utensils, next to
+the lamp already described, are the
+<i>&#333;&#333;tk&#335;&#335;s&#277;&#277;ks</i> or stone pots
+for cooking.&nbsp; These are hollowed out of solid <i>lapis
+ollaris</i>, of an oblong form, wider at the top than at the
+bottom, all made in similar proportion, though of various sizes,
+corresponding with the dimensions of the lamp which burns under
+it.&nbsp; The pot is suspended by a line of sinew at each end to
+the framework over the fire, and thus becomes so black on every
+side that the original colour of the stone is in no part
+discernible.&nbsp; Many of them were cracked quite across in
+several places, and mended by sewing with sinew or rivets of
+copper, iron, or lead, so as, with the assistance of a lashing
+and a due proportion of dirt, to render them quite
+water-tight.&nbsp; I may here remark that as these people
+distinguish the Wager River by the name of
+<i>O&#333;tk&#335;&#335;s&#277;&#277;ks&#259;lik</i>, we were at
+first led to conjecture that they procured their pots, or the
+material for making them, in that neighbourhood; this, however,
+they assured us was not the case, the whole of them coming from
+Akkoolee, where the stone is found in very high situations.&nbsp;
+One of the women at Winter Island, who came from that country,
+said that her parents were much employed in making these pots,
+chiefly it seems as articles of barter.&nbsp; The asbestos, which
+they use in the shape of a roundish pointed stick called
+<i>tatko</i> for <!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 124</span>trimming the lamps, is met with
+about Repulse Bay, and generally, as they said, on low land.</p>
+<p>Besides the ootkooseeks, they have circular and oval vessels
+of whalebone of various sizes, which, as well as their ivory
+knives made out of a walrus&rsquo;s tusk, are precisely similar
+to those described on the western coast of Baffin&rsquo;s Bay in
+1820.&nbsp; They have also a number of smaller vessels of skin
+sewed neatly together, and a large basket of the same material,
+resembling a common sieve in shape, but with the bottom close and
+tight, is to be seen in every apartment.&nbsp; Under every lamp
+stands a sort of &ldquo;save-all,&rdquo; consisting of a small
+skin basket for catching the oil that falls over.&nbsp; Almost
+every family was in possession of a wooden tray very much
+resembling those used to carry butcher&rsquo;s meat in England,
+and of nearly the same dimensions, which we understood them to
+have procured by way of Noowook.&nbsp; They had a number of the
+bowls or cups already once or twice alluded to as being made out
+of the thick root of the horn of the musk-ox.&nbsp; Of the
+smaller part of the same horn they also form a convenient
+drinking-cup, sometimes turning it up artificially about
+one-third from the point, so as to be almost parallel to the
+other part, and cutting it full of small notches as a convenience
+in grasping it.&nbsp; These, or any other vessels for drinking,
+they call <i>Imm&#333;&#333;chiuk</i>.</p>
+<p>Besides the ivory knives, the men were well supplied with a
+much more serviceable kind, made of iron, and called
+<i>panna</i>.&nbsp; The form of this knife is very peculiar,
+being seven inches long, two and a quarter broad, quite straight
+and flat, pointed at the end, and ground equally sharp at both
+edges; this is firmly secured into a handle of bone or wood,
+about a foot long, by two or three iron rivets, and has all the
+appearance of a most destructive <!-- page 125--><a
+name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>spear-head,
+but is nevertheless put to no other purpose than that of a very
+useful knife, which the men are scarcely ever without, especially
+on their sealing excursions.&nbsp; For these, and several knives
+of European form, they are probably indebted to an indirect
+communication with our factories in Hudson&rsquo;s Bay.&nbsp; The
+same may be observed of the best of their women&rsquo;s knives
+(<i>ooloo</i>), on one of which, of a larger size than usual,
+were the names of &ldquo;Wild and Sorby.&rdquo;&nbsp; When of
+their own manufacture, the only iron part was a little narrow
+slip let into the bone and secured by rivets.&nbsp; It is curious
+to observe in this, and in numerous other instances, how exactly,
+amidst all the diversity of time and place, these people have
+preserved unaltered their manners and habits as mentioned by
+Crantz.&nbsp; That which an absurd dread of innovation does in
+China, the want of intercourse with other nations has effected
+among the Esquimaux.</p>
+<p>Of the horn of the musk-ox they make also very good spoons
+much like ours in shape; and I must not omit to mention their
+marrow spoons (<i>patt&#275;kniuk</i>, from
+<i>p&#257;tt&#277;k</i>, marrow), made out of long, narrow,
+hollowed pieces of bone, of which every housewife has a bunch of
+half a dozen or more tied together, and generally attached to her
+needle-case.</p>
+<p>For the purpose of obtaining fire the Esquimaux use two lumps
+of common iron pyrites, from which sparks are struck into a
+little leathern case containing moss well dried and rubbed
+between the hands.&nbsp; If this tinder does not readily catch, a
+small quantity of the white floss of the seed of the ground
+willow is laid above the moss.&nbsp; As soon as a spark has
+caught, it is gently blown till the fire has spread an inch
+around, when, the pointed end of a piece of oiled wick being
+applied, it soon bursts into a <!-- page 126--><a
+name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>flame, the
+whole process having occupied perhaps two or three minutes.</p>
+<p>Among the articles in their possession, which must have been
+obtained by communication along shore with Hudson&rsquo;s Bay,
+were two large copper kettles, several open knives with crooked
+wooden handles, and many fragments of copper, iron, and old
+files.&nbsp; On a small European axe was observed the name of
+&ldquo;Foster.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In enumerating the articles of their food, we might perhaps
+give a list of every animal inhabiting these regions, as they
+certainly will at times eat any one of them.&nbsp; Their
+principal dependence, however, is on the reindeer
+(<i>t&#333;&#333;kto&#335;</i>), musk-ox
+(<i>&#333;&#333;m&#301;ngm&#365;k</i>)(in the parts where this
+animal is found), whale (<i>&#257;gg&#259;w&#277;k</i>), walrus
+(<i>&#275;i-&#365;-&#277;k</i>), the large and small seal
+(<i>&#333;g&#365;ke</i> and <i>n&#275;itiek</i>), and two sorts
+of salmon, the <i>&#275;w&#277;e-t&#257;r&#335;ke</i> (<i>salmo
+alpinus</i>?) and <i>ichl&#363;&#335;w&#335;ke</i>.&nbsp; The
+latter is taken by hooks in freshwater lakes, and the former by
+spearing in the shoal water of certain inlets of the sea.&nbsp;
+Of all these animals they can only procure in the winter the
+walrus and small seal upon this part of the coast; and these at
+times, as we have seen, in scarcely sufficient quantity for their
+subsistence.</p>
+<p>They certainly in general prefer eating their meat cooked, and
+while they have fuel they usually boil it; but this is a luxury
+and not a necessary to them.&nbsp; Oily as the nature of their
+principal food is, yet they commonly take an equal proportion of
+lean to their fat, and unless very hungry do not eat it
+otherwise.&nbsp; Oil they seldom or never use in any way as a
+part of their general diet; and even our butter, of which they
+were fond, they would not eat without a due quantity of
+bread.&nbsp; They do not like salt meat as well as fresh, and
+never use salt themselves; but ship&rsquo;s pork, or even a red
+herring, did not come amiss <!-- page 127--><a
+name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>to
+them.&nbsp; Of pea-soup they would eat as much as the sailors
+could afford to give them; and that word was the only one, with
+the exception of our names, which many of them ever learned in
+English.&nbsp; Among their own luxuries must be mentioned a rich
+soup called <i>k&#257;y&#335;</i>, made of blood, gravy, and
+water, and eaten quite hot.&nbsp; In obtaining the names of
+several plants, we learned that they sometimes eat the leaves of
+sorrel (<i>k&#333;ng&#335;lek</i>), and those of the ground
+willow; as also the red berries (<i>pa&#333;&#333;na-rootik</i>)
+of the <i>vaccinium uliginosum</i>, and the root of the
+<i>potentilla pulchella</i>; but these cannot be said to form a
+part of their regular diet; scurvy grass they never eat.</p>
+<p>Their only drink is water; and of this, when they can procure
+it, they swallow an inconceivable quantity; so that one of the
+principal occupations of the women during the winter is the
+thawing of snow in the ootkooseks for this purpose.&nbsp; They
+cut it into thin slices, and are careful to have it clean, on
+which account they will bring it from a distance of fifty yards
+from the huts.&nbsp; They have an extreme dislike to drinking
+water much above the temperature of 32&deg;.&nbsp; In eating
+their meals the mistress of the family, having previously cooked
+the meat, takes a large lump out of the pot with her fingers, and
+hands it to her husband, who placing a part of it between his
+teeth cuts it off with a large knife in that position, and then
+passes the knife and meat together to his next neighbour.&nbsp;
+In cutting off a mouthful of meat the knife passes so close to
+their lips, that nothing but constant habit could ensure them
+from the danger of the most terrible gashes; and it would make an
+English mother shudder to see the manner in which children, five
+or six years old, are at all times freely trusted with a knife to
+be used in this way.</p>
+<p><!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+128</span>The length of one of the best of seven canoes belonging
+to these Esquimaux was twenty-five feet, including a
+narrow-pointed projection, three feet long at each end, which
+turns a little upward from the horizontal.&nbsp; The extreme
+breadth, which is just before the circular hole, was twenty-one
+inches, and the depth ten inches and a half.&nbsp; The plane of
+the upper surface of the canoe, except in the two extreme
+projections, bends downwards a little from the centre towards the
+head and stern, giving it the appearance of what is in ships
+called &ldquo;broken-backed.&rdquo;&nbsp; The gunwales are of
+fir, in some instances of one piece, three or four inches broad
+in the centre and tapering gradually away towards the ends.&nbsp;
+The timbers, as well as the fore-and-aft connecting pieces, are
+of the same material, the former being an inch square, and
+sometimes so close together as to require between forty and fifty
+of them in one canoe: which when thus &ldquo;in frame&rdquo; is
+one of the prettiest things of the kind that can be
+imagined.&nbsp; The skin with which the canoe is covered is
+exclusively that of the <i>neitiek</i>, prepared by scraping off
+the hair and fat with an <i>ooloo</i>, and stretching it tight on
+a frame over the fire; after which and a good deal of chewing, it
+is sewn on by the women with admirable neatness and
+strength.&nbsp; Their paddles have a blade at each end, the whole
+length being nine feet and a half; the blades are covered with a
+narrow plate of bone round the ends to secure them from
+splitting: they are always made of fir, and generally of several
+pieces scarfed and woolded together.</p>
+<p>In summer they rest their canoes upon two small stones raised
+four feet from the ground; and in winter, on a similar structure
+of snow; in one case to allow them to dry freely, and in the
+other to prevent the snow-drift <!-- page 129--><a
+name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>from
+covering, and the dogs from eating them.&nbsp; The difficulty of
+procuring a canoe may be concluded from the circumstance of there
+being at Winter Island twenty men able to manage one, and only
+seven canoes among them.&nbsp; Of these indeed only three or four
+were in good repair, the rest being wholly or in part stripped of
+the skin, of which a good deal was occasionally cut off during
+the winter, to make boots, shoes, and mittens for our
+people.&nbsp; We found no <i>oomiak</i>, or women&rsquo;s boat,
+among them, and understood that they were not in the habit of
+using them, which may in part be accounted for by their passing
+so much of the summer in the interior; they knew very well,
+however, what they were, and made some clumsy models of them for
+our people.</p>
+<p>In the weapons used for killing their game there is
+considerable variety, according to the animal of which they are
+in pursuit.&nbsp; The most simple of these is the
+<i>&#333;&#333;n&#259;k</i>, which they use only for killing the
+small seal.&nbsp; It consists of a light staff of wood, four feet
+in length, having at one end the point of a narwhal&rsquo;s horn,
+from ten to eighteen inches long, firmly secured by rivets and
+wooldings; at the other end is a smaller and less effective point
+of the same kind.&nbsp; To prevent losing the ivory part in case
+of the wood breaking, a stout thong runs along the whole length
+of the wood, each end passing through a hole in the ivory, and
+the bight secured in several places to the staff.&nbsp; In this
+weapon, as far as it has yet been described, there is little art
+or ingenuity displayed; but a considerable degree of both in an
+appendage called <i>si&#257;tk&#335;</i>, consisting of a piece
+of bone three inches long, and having a point of iron at one end,
+and at the other end a small hole or socket to receive the point
+of the oonak.&nbsp; Through the middle of this instrument is
+secured <!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 130</span>the <i>&#257;llek</i>, or line of
+thong, of which every man has, when sealing, a couple of coils,
+each from four to six fathoms long, hanging at his back.&nbsp;
+These are made of the skin of the <i>oguke</i> as in Greenland,
+and are admirably adapted to the purpose, both on account of
+their strength, and the property which they possess of preserving
+their pliability even in the most intense frost.</p>
+<p>When a seal is seen, the siatko is taken from a little
+leathern case, in which, when out of use, it is carefully
+enclosed, and attached by its socket to the point of the spear;
+in this situation it is retained by bringing the allek tight down
+and fastening it round the middle of the staff by what seamen
+call a &ldquo;slippery hitch,&rdquo; which may instantly be
+disengaged by pulling on the other end of the line.&nbsp; As soon
+as the spear has been thrown, and the animal struck, the siatko
+is thus purposely separated; and being slung by the middle, now
+performs very effectually the important office of a barb, by
+turning at right angles to the direction in which it has entered
+the orifice.&nbsp; This device is in its principle superior even
+to our barb; for the instant any strain is put upon the line it
+acts like a toggle, opposing its length to a wound only as wide
+as its own breadth.</p>
+<p>The <i>&#257;kl&#277;ak</i>, or <i>akl&#275;&#275;g&#259;</i>,
+used for the large seal, has a blown bladder attached to the
+staff, for the purpose of impeding the animal in the water.&nbsp;
+The weapon with two long parallel prongs of bone or iron,
+obtained from the natives of the Savage Islands, these people
+also called <i>akleak</i>, and said it was for killing seals.</p>
+<p>The third and largest weapon is that called <i>katteelik</i>,
+with which the walrus and whale are attacked.&nbsp; The staff of
+this is not longer but much stouter than that of the others,
+especially towards the middle, where there is <!-- page 131--><a
+name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>a small
+shoulder of ivory securely lashed to it for the thumb to rest
+against, and thus to give additional force in throwing or
+thrusting the spear.&nbsp; The ivory point of this weapon is made
+to fit into a socket at the end of the staff, where it is secured
+by double thongs, in such a manner as steadily to retain its
+position when a strain is put upon it in the direction of its
+length, but immediately disengaging itself with a sort of spring,
+when any lateral strain endangers its breaking.&nbsp; The siatko
+is always used with this spear; and to the end of the allek, when
+the animal pursued is in open water, they attach a whole
+seal-skin (<i>h&#335;w-w&#363;t-t&#259;</i>), inflated like a
+bladder, for the purpose of tiring it out in its progress through
+the water.</p>
+<p>They have a spear called <i>&#299;ppoo</i> for killing deer in
+the water.&nbsp; They described it as having a light staff and a
+small head of iron, but they had none of these so fitted in the
+winter.&nbsp; The <i>n&#363;g&#365;ee</i>, or dart for birds,
+has, besides its two ivory prongs at the end of the staff, three
+divergent ones in the middle of it, with several small double
+barbs upon them turning inwards; they differ from the
+<i>nuguit</i> of Greenland, and that of the Savage Islands, in
+having these prongs always of unequal lengths.&nbsp; To give
+additional velocity to the bird-dart, they use a throwing-stick
+(<i>noke-shak</i>) which is probably the same as the
+&ldquo;hand-board&rdquo; figured by Crantz.&nbsp; It consists of
+a flat board about eighteen inches in length, having a groove to
+receive the staff, two others and a hole for the fingers and
+thumb, and a small spike fitted for a hole in the end of the
+staff.&nbsp; This instrument is used for the bird-dart
+only.&nbsp; The spear for salmon or other fish, called
+k&#257;k&#277;e-w&#277;i, consists of a wooden staff with a spike
+of bone or ivory, three inches long, secured at one end.&nbsp; On
+each <!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 132</span>side of the spike is a curved prong,
+much like that of a pitchfork, but made of flexible horn, which
+gives them a spring, and having a barb on the inner part of the
+point turning downwards.&nbsp; Their fish-hooks
+(<i>kakli&#333;kia</i>) consist only of a nail crooked and
+pointed at one end, the other being let into a piece of ivory to
+which the line is attached.&nbsp; A piece of deer&rsquo;s horn or
+curved bone, only a foot long, is used as a rod, and completes
+this very rude part of their fishing-gear.</p>
+<p>Of their mode of killing seals in the winter I have already
+spoken in the course of the foregoing narrative, as far as we
+were enabled to make ourselves acquainted with it.&nbsp; In their
+summer exploits on the water, the killing of the whale is the
+most arduous undertaking which they have to perform; and one
+cannot sufficiently admire the courage and activity which, with
+gear apparently so inadequate, it must require to accomplish this
+business.&nbsp; Okotook, who was at the killing of two whales in
+the course of a single summer, and who described the whole of it
+quite <i>con amore</i>, mentioned the names of thirteen men who,
+each in his canoe, had assisted on one of these occasions.&nbsp;
+When a fish is seen lying on the water, they cautiously paddle up
+astern of him, till a single canoe, preceding the rest, comes
+close to him on one quarter, so as to enable the man to drive the
+<i>katteelik</i> into the animal with all the force of both
+arms.&nbsp; This having the <i>siatko</i>, a long <i>allek</i>,
+and the inflated seal-skin attached to it, the whale immediately
+dives, taking the whole apparatus with him except the
+<i>katteelik</i> which, being disengaged in the manner before
+described, floats to the surface and is picked up by its
+owner.&nbsp; The animal re-appearing after some time, all the
+canoes again paddle towards him, some warning being <!-- page
+133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+133</span>given by the seal-skin buoy floating on the
+surface.&nbsp; Each man being furnished like the first, they
+repeat the blows as often as they find opportunity, till perhaps
+every line has been thus employed.&nbsp; After pursuing him in
+this manner, sometimes for half a day, he is at length so wearied
+by the resistance of the buoys, and exhausted by loss of blood,
+as to be obliged to rise more and more often to the surface,
+when, by frequent wounds with their spears, they succeed in
+killing him, and tow their prize in triumph to the shore.&nbsp;
+It is probable that with the whale, as with the smaller
+sea-animals, some privilege or perquisite is given to the first
+striker; and, like our own fishermen, they take a pride in having
+it known that their spear has been the first to inflict a
+wound.&nbsp; They meet with the most whales on the coast of
+<i>Einw&#299;llik</i>.</p>
+<p>In attacking the walrus in the water they use the same gear,
+but with much more caution than with the whale, always throwing
+the <i>katteelik</i> from some distance, lest the animal should
+attack the canoe and demolish it with his tusks.&nbsp; The walrus
+is in fact the only animal with which they use any caution of
+this kind.&nbsp; They like the flesh better than that of the
+seal; but venison is preferred by them to either of these, and
+indeed to any other kind of meat.</p>
+<p>At Winter Island they carefully preserved the heads of all the
+animals killed during the winter, except two or three of the
+walrus, which we obtained with great difficulty.&nbsp; There is
+probably some superstition attached to this, but they told us
+that they were to be thrown into the sea in the summer, which a
+Greenlander studiously avoids doing; and, indeed, at Igloolik,
+they had no objection to part with them before the summer
+arrived.&nbsp; As the blood of the animals which they kill is all
+used as <!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 134</span>food of the most luxurious kind,
+they are careful to avoid losing any portion of it; for this
+purpose they carry with them on their excursions a little
+instrument of ivory called <i>t&#335;op&#333;&#333;t&#259;</i>,
+in form and size exactly resembling a &ldquo;twenty-penny&rdquo;
+nail, with which they stop up the orifice made by the spear, by
+thrusting it through the skin by the sides of the wound, and
+securing it with a twist.&nbsp; I must here also mention a simple
+little instrument called <i>keipk&#363;ttuk</i>, being a slender
+rod of bone nicely rounded, and having a point at one end and a
+knob or else a laniard at the other.&nbsp; The use of this is to
+thrust through the ice where they have reason to believe a seal
+is at work underneath.&nbsp; This little instrument is sometimes
+made as delicate as a fine wire, that the seal may not see it;
+and a part still remaining above the surface informs the
+fishermen by its motion whether the animal is employed in making
+his hole: if not, it remains undisturbed, and the attempt is
+given up in that place.</p>
+<p>One of the best of their bows was made of a single piece of
+fir, four feet eight inches in length, flat on the inner side and
+rounded on the outer, being five inches in girth about the
+middle, where, however, it is strengthened on the concave side,
+when strung, by a piece of bone ten inches long, firmly secured
+by tree-nails of the same material.&nbsp; At each end of the bow
+is a knob of bone, or sometimes of wood covered with leather,
+with a deep notch for the reception of the string.&nbsp; The only
+wood which they can procure not possessing sufficient elasticity
+combined with strength, they ingeniously remedy the defect by
+securing to the back of the bow, and to the knobs at each end, a
+quantity of small lines, each composed of a plait or
+&ldquo;sinnet&rdquo; of three sinews.&nbsp; The number of lines
+thus reaching from end to end is generally about <!-- page
+135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+135</span>thirty; but besides these, several others are fastened
+with hitches round the bow, in pairs, commencing eight inches
+from one end, and again united at the same distance from the
+other, making the whole number of strings, in the middle of the
+bow sometimes amount to sixty.&nbsp; These being put on with the
+bow somewhat bent the contrary way, produce a spring so strong as
+to require considerable force as well as knack in stringing it
+and giving the requisite velocity to the arrow.&nbsp; The bow is
+completed by a woolding round the middle and a wedge or two, here
+and there, driven in to tighten it.&nbsp; A bow in one piece is,
+however, very rare; they generally consist of from two to five
+pieces of bone of unequal lengths, secured together by rivets and
+tree-nails.</p>
+<p>The arrows vary in length from twenty to thirty inches,
+according to the materials that can be commanded.&nbsp; About
+two-thirds of the whole length is of fir rounded, and the rest of
+bone let by a socket into the wood, and having a head of thin
+iron, or more commonly of slate, secured into a slit by two
+tree-nails.&nbsp; Towards the opposite end of the arrow are two
+feathers, generally of the spotted oval, not very neatly lashed
+on.&nbsp; The bow-string consists of from twelve to eighteen
+small lines of three-sinew sinnet, having a loose twist, and with
+a separate becket of the same size for going over the knobs at
+the end of the bow.</p>
+<p>We tried their skill in archery by getting them to shoot at a
+mark for a prize, though with bows in extremely bad order, on
+account of the frost, and their hands very cold.&nbsp; The mark
+was two of their spears stuck upright in the snow, their breadth
+being three inches and a half.&nbsp; At twenty yards they struck
+this every time; at thirty, sent the arrows always within an inch
+or two of it; and at forty or fifty yards, I should think, would
+generally hit <!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 136</span>a fawn if the animal stood
+still.&nbsp; These weapons are perhaps sufficient to inflict a
+mortal wound at something more than that distance, for which,
+however, a strong arm would be required.&nbsp; The animals which
+they kill with the bow and arrow for their subsistence are
+principally the musk-ox and deer, and less frequently the bear,
+wolf, fox, hare, and some of the smaller animals.</p>
+<p>It is a curious fact that the musk-ox is very rarely found to
+extend his migrations to the eastward of a line passing through
+Repulse Bay, or about the meridian of 86&deg; west, while in a
+northern direction we know that he travels as far as the
+seventy-sixth degree of latitude.&nbsp; In Greenland this animal
+is known only by vague and exaggerated report; on the western
+coast of Baffin&rsquo;s Bay it has certainly been seen, though
+very rarely, by the present inhabitants; and the eldest person
+belonging to the Winter Island tribe had never seen one to the
+eastward of Eiwillik, where, as well as at
+Akk&#333;&#333;le&#277;, they are said to be numerous on the
+banks of fresh-water lakes and streams.&nbsp; The few men who had
+been present at the killing of one of these creatures seemed to
+pride themselves very much upon it.&nbsp; Toolooak, who was about
+seventeen years of age, had never seen either the musk-ox or the
+<i>k&#257;ble&#277;-&#257;rioo</i>, a proof that the latter also
+is not common in this corner of America.</p>
+<p>The reindeer are killed by the Esquimaux in great abundance in
+the summer season, partly by driving them from islands or narrow
+necks of land into the sea, and then spearing them from their
+canoes; and partly by shooting them from behind heaps of stones
+raised for the purpose of watching them and imitating their
+peculiar bellow or grunt.&nbsp; Among the various artifices which
+they employ for this purpose, one of the most ingenious <!-- page
+137--><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+137</span>consists in two men walking directly from the deer they
+wish to kill, when the animal almost always follows them.&nbsp;
+As soon as they arrive at a large stone, one of the men hides
+behind it with his bow, while the other, continuing to walk on,
+soon leads the deer within range of his companion&rsquo;s
+arrows.&nbsp; They are also very careful to keep to leeward of
+the deer, and will scarcely go out after them at all when the
+weather is calm.&nbsp; For several weeks in the course of the
+summer some of these people almost entirely give up their fishery
+on the coast, retiring to the banks of lakes several miles in the
+interior, which they represent as large and deep and abounding
+with salmon, while the pasture near them affords good feeding to
+numerous herds of deer.</p>
+<p>The distance to which these people extend their inland
+migrations, and the extent of coast of which they possess a
+personal knowledge, are really very considerable.&nbsp; Of these
+we could at the time of our first intercourse form no correct
+judgment, from our uncertainty as to the length of what they call
+a <i>seenik</i> (sleep), or one day&rsquo;s journey, by which
+alone they could describe to us, with the help of their imperfect
+arithmetic, the distance from one place to another.&nbsp; But our
+subsequent knowledge of the coast has cleared up much of this
+difficulty, affording the means of applying to their
+hydrographical sketches a tolerably accurate scale for those
+parts which we have not hitherto visited.&nbsp; A great number of
+these people, who were born at Amitioke and Igloolik, had been to
+<i>Noowook</i>, or nearly as far south as Chesterfield Inlet,
+which is about the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of their united knowledge
+in a southerly direction.&nbsp; Not one of them had been by water
+round to Akkoolee, but several by land; in which mode of
+travelling they only consider that country <!-- page 138--><a
+name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>from three
+to five days&rsquo; journey from Repulse Bay.&nbsp; Okotook and a
+few others of the Winter Island tribe had extended their
+peregrinations a considerable distance to the northward, over the
+large insular piece of land to which we have applied the name of
+Cockburn Island; which they described as high land and the resort
+of numerous reindeer.&nbsp; Here Okotook informed us he had seen
+icebergs, which these people call by a name
+(<i>p&#299;cc&#259;l&#333;&#333;y&#259;k</i>) having in its
+pronunciation some affinity to that used in Greenland.&nbsp; By
+the information afterwards obtained when nearer the spot, we had
+reason to suppose this land must reach beyond the seventy-second
+degree of latitude in a northerly direction; so that these people
+possess a personal knowledge of the continent of America and its
+adjacent islands, from that parallel to Chesterfield Inlet in
+63&frac34;&deg;, being a distance of more than five hundred miles
+reckoned in a direct line, besides the numerous turnings and
+windings of the coast along which they are accustomed to
+travel.&nbsp; Ewerat and some others had been a considerable
+distance up the Wager River; but no record had been preserved
+among them of Captain Middleton&rsquo;s visit to that inlet about
+the middle of the last century.</p>
+<p>Of the continental shore to the westward of Akkoolee, the
+Esquimaux invariably disclaimed the slightest personal knowledge;
+for no land can be seen in that direction from the hills.&nbsp;
+They entertain, however, a confused idea that neither Esquimaux
+nor Indians could there subsist, for want of food.&nbsp; Of the
+Indians they know enough by tradition to hold them in
+considerable dread, on account of their cruel and ferocious
+manners.&nbsp; When, on one occasion, we related the
+circumstances of the inhuman massacre described by Hearne, they
+crowded <!-- page 139--><a name="page139"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 139</span>round us in the hut, listening with
+mute and almost breathless attention; and the mothers drew their
+children closer to them, as if to guard them from the dreadful
+catastrophe.&nbsp; It is worthy of notice that they call the
+Indians by a name (<i>E&#275;rt-k&#277;i-l&#277;e</i>), which
+appears evidently the same as that applied by the Greenlanders to
+the man-eaters supposed to inhabit the eastern coast of their
+country, and to whom terror has assigned a face like that of a
+dog.</p>
+<p>The Esquimaux take some animals in traps, and by a very
+ingenious contrivance of this kind they caught two wolves at
+Winter Island.&nbsp; It consists of a small house built of ice,
+at one end of which a door, made of the same plentiful material,
+is fitted to slide up and down in a groove; to the upper part of
+this a line is attached, and, passing over the roof, is let down
+into the trap at the inner end, and there held by slipping an eye
+in the end of it over a peg of ice left for the purpose.&nbsp;
+Over the peg, however, is previously placed a loose grummet, to
+which the bait is fastened, and a false roof placed over all to
+hide the line.&nbsp; The moment the animal drags at the bait the
+grummet slips off the peg, bringing with it the line that held up
+the door, and this falling down closes the trap and secures
+him.</p>
+<p>A trap for birds is formed by building a house of snow just
+large enough to contain one person, who closes himself up in
+it.&nbsp; On the top is left a small aperture, through which the
+man thrusts one of his hands to secure the bird the moment he
+alights to take away a bait of meat laid beside it.&nbsp; It is
+principally gulls that are taken thus; and the boys sometimes
+amuse themselves in this manner.&nbsp; A trap in which they catch
+foxes has been mentioned in another place.</p>
+<p><!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+140</span>The sledges belonging to these Esquimaux were in
+general large and heavily constructed, being more adapted to the
+carriage of considerable burdens than to very quick
+travelling.&nbsp; They varied in size, being from six and a half
+to nine feet in length, and from eighteen inches to two feet in
+breadth.&nbsp; Some of those at Igloolik were of larger
+dimensions, one being eleven feet in length, and weighing two
+hundred and sixty-eight pounds, and two or three others above two
+hundred pounds.&nbsp; The runners are sometimes made of the right
+and left jaw-bones of a whale; but more commonly of several
+pieces of wood or bone scarfed and lashed together, the
+interstices being filled, to make all smooth and firm, with moss
+stuffed in tight, and then cemented by throwing water to freeze
+upon it.&nbsp; The lower part of the runner is shod with a plate
+of harder bone, coated with fresh-water ice to make it run
+smoothly and to avoid wear and tear, both which purposes are thus
+completely answered.&nbsp; This coating is performed with a
+mixture of snow and fresh water about half an inch thick, rubbed
+over it till it is quite smooth and hard upon the surface, and
+this is usually done a few minutes before setting out on a
+journey.&nbsp; When the ice is only in part worn off, it is
+renewed by taking some water into the mouth, and spirting it over
+the former coating.&nbsp; We noticed a sledge which was extremely
+curious, on account of one of the runners and a part of the other
+being constructed without the assistance of wood, iron, or bone
+of any kind.&nbsp; For this purpose a number of seal-skins being
+rolled up and disposed into the requisite shape, an outer coat of
+the same kind was sewed tightly round them; this formed the upper
+half of the runner, the lower part of which consisted entirely of
+moss moulded while wet into the <!-- page 141--><a
+name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>proper
+form, and being left to freeze, adhering firmly together and to
+the skins.&nbsp; The usual shoeing of smooth ice beneath
+completed the runner, which for more than six months out of
+twelve, in this climate, was nearly as hard as any wood; and for
+winter use no way inferior to those constructed of more durable
+materials.&nbsp; The crosspieces which form the bottom of the
+sledge are made of bone, wood, or anything they can muster.&nbsp;
+Over these is generally laid a seal-skin as a flooring, and in
+the summertime a pair of deer&rsquo;s horns are attached to the
+sledge as a back, which in the winter are removed to enable them
+when stopping to turn the sledge up, so as to prevent the dogs
+running away with it.&nbsp; The whole is secured by lashings of
+thong, giving it a degree of strength combined with flexibility
+which perhaps no other mode of fastening could effect.</p>
+<p>The dogs of the Esquimaux, of which these people possessed
+above a hundred, have been so often described that there may seem
+little left to add respecting their external appearance, habits,
+and use.&nbsp; Our visits to Igloolik having, however, made us
+acquainted with some not hitherto described, I shall here offer a
+further account of these invaluable animals.&nbsp; In the form of
+their bodies, their short pricked ears, thick furry coat, and
+bushy tail, they so nearly resemble the wolf of these regions
+that, when of a light or brindled colour, they may easily at a
+little distance be mistaken for that animal.&nbsp; To an eye
+accustomed to both, however, a difference is perceptible in the
+wolf&rsquo;s always keeping his head down and his tail between
+his legs in running, whereas the dogs almost always carry their
+tails handsomely curled over the back.&nbsp; A difference less
+distinguishable, when the animals are apart, is the superior size
+and more muscular make of the <!-- page 142--><a
+name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>wild
+animal, especially about the breast and legs.&nbsp; The wolf is
+also, in general, full two inches taller than any Esquimaux dog
+we have seen; but those met with in 1818, in the latitude of
+76&deg;, appear to come nearest to it in that respect.&nbsp; The
+tallest dog at Igloolik stood two feet one inch from the ground,
+measured at the withers; the average height was about two inches
+less than this.</p>
+<p>The colour of the dogs varies from a white, through brindled,
+to black-and-white, or almost entirely black.&nbsp; Some are also
+of a reddish or ferruginous colour, and others have a
+brownish-red tinge on their legs, the rest of their bodies being
+of a darker colour, and these last were observed to be generally
+the best dogs.&nbsp; Their hair in the winter is from three to
+four inches long; but besides this, Nature furnishes them during
+this rigorous season with a thick under-coating of close soft
+wool, which they begin to cast in the spring.&nbsp; While thus
+provided, they are able to withstand the most inclement weather
+without suffering from the cold; and at whatever temperature the
+atmosphere may be, they require nothing but a shelter from the
+wind to make them comfortable, and even this they do not always
+obtain.&nbsp; They are also wonderfully enabled to endure the
+cold even on those parts of the body which are not thus
+protected, for we have seen a young puppy sleeping, with its bare
+paw laid on an ice-anchor, with the thermometer at -30&deg;,
+which with one of our dogs would have produced immediate and
+intense pain, if not subsequent mortification.&nbsp; They never
+bark, but have a long melancholy howl like that of the wolf, and
+this they will sometimes perform in concert for a minute or two
+together.&nbsp; They are besides always snarling and fighting
+among one another, by which several of them are generally
+lame.&nbsp; When much <!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 143</span>caressed and well fed, they become
+quite familiar and domestic; but this mode of treatment does not
+improve their qualities as animals of draught.&nbsp; Being
+desirous of ascertaining whether these dogs are wolves in a state
+of domestication, a question which we understood to have been the
+subject of some speculation, Mr. Skeoch, at my request, made a
+skeleton of each, when the number of all the vertebra was found
+to be the same in both, and to correspond with the well-known
+anatomy of the wolf.</p>
+<p>When drawing a sledge, the dogs have a simple harness
+(<i>annoo</i>) of deer or seal skin, going round the neck by one
+bight, and another for each of the fore-legs, with a single thong
+leading over the back and attached to the sledge as a
+trace.&nbsp; Though they appear at first sight to be huddled
+together without regard to regularity, there is, in fact,
+considerable attention paid to their arrangement, particularly in
+the selection of a dog of peculiar spirit and sagacity, who is
+allowed, by a longer trace, to precede the rest as leader, and to
+whom, in turning to the right or left, the driver usually
+addresses himself.&nbsp; This choice is made without regard to
+age or sex, and the rest of the dogs take precedency according to
+their training or sagacity, the least effective being put nearest
+the sledge.&nbsp; The leader is usually from eighteen to twenty
+feet from the fore part of the sledge, and the hindmost dog about
+half that distance, so that when ten or twelve are running
+together, several are nearly abreast of each other.&nbsp; The
+driver sits quite low on the fore part of the sledge, with his
+feet overhanging the snow on one side, and having in his hand a
+whip, of which the handle, made either of wood, bone, or
+whalebone, is eighteen inches, and the lash more than as many
+feet in length.&nbsp; The part of the thong next the handle is
+plaited a little <!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 144</span>way down to stiffen it and give it a
+spring, on which much of its use depends; and that which composes
+the lash is chewed by the women to make it flexible in frosty
+weather.&nbsp; The men acquire from their youth considerable
+expertness in the use of this whip, the lash of which is left to
+trail along the ground by the side of the sledge, and with which
+they can inflict a very severe blow on any dog at pleasure.&nbsp;
+Though the dogs are kept in training entirely by fear of the
+whip, and indeed without it would soon have their own way, its
+immediate effect is always detrimental to the draught of the
+sledge; for not only does the individual that is struck draw back
+and slacken his trace, but generally turns upon his next
+neighbour, and this, passing on to the next, occasions a general
+divergency, accompanied by the usual yelping and showing of
+teeth.&nbsp; The dogs then come together again by degrees, and
+the draught of the sledge is accelerated; but, even at the best
+of times, by this rude mode of draught, the traces of one-third
+of the dogs form an angle of thirty or forty degrees on each side
+of the direction in which the sledge is advancing.&nbsp; Another
+great inconvenience attending the Esquimaux method of putting the
+dogs to, besides that of not employing their strength to the best
+advantage, is the constant entanglement of the traces by the dogs
+repeatedly doubling under from side to side to avoid the whip, so
+that, after running a few miles, the traces always require to be
+taken off and cleared.</p>
+<p>In directing the sledge the whip acts no very essential part,
+the driver for this purpose using certain words, as the carters
+do with us, to make the dogs turn more to the right or
+left.&nbsp; To these a good leader attends with admirable
+precision, especially if his own name be <!-- page 145--><a
+name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 145</span>repeated at
+the same time, looking behind over his shoulder with great
+earnestness, as if listening to the directions of the
+driver.&nbsp; On a beaten track, or even where a single foot or
+sledge mark is occasionally discernible, there is not the
+slightest trouble in guiding the dogs; for even in the darkest
+night and in the heaviest snowdrift there is little or no danger
+of their losing the road, the leader keeping his nose near the
+ground, and directing the rest with wonderful sagacity.&nbsp;
+Where, however, there is no beaten track, the best driver among
+them makes a terribly circuitous course, as all the Esquimaux
+roads plainly show; these generally occupying an extent of six
+miles, when with a horse and sledge the journey would scarcely
+have amounted to five.&nbsp; On rough ground, as among hummocks
+of ice, the sledge would be frequently overturned, or altogether
+stopped, if the driver did not repeatedly get off, and, by
+lifting or drawing it to one side, steer it clear of those
+accidents.&nbsp; At all times, indeed, except on a smooth and
+well-made road, he is pretty constantly employed thus with his
+feet, which, together with his never-ceasing vociferations and
+frequent use of the whip, renders the driving of one of these
+vehicles by no means a pleasant or easy task.&nbsp; When the
+driver wishes to stop the sledge, he calls out &ldquo;Wo,
+woa,&rdquo; exactly as our carters do; but the attention paid to
+this command depends altogether on his ability to enforce
+it.&nbsp; If the weight is small and the journey homeward, the
+dogs are not to be thus delayed; the driver is therefore obliged
+to dig his heels into the snow to obstruct their progress; and
+having thus succeeded in stopping them, he stands up with one leg
+before the foremost cross-piece of the sledge, till, by means of
+laying the whip gently over each dog&rsquo;s head, he has <!--
+page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+146</span>made them all lie down.&nbsp; He then takes care not to
+quit his position; so that should the dogs set off he is thrown
+upon the sledge, instead of being left behind by them.</p>
+<p>With heavy loads the dogs draw best with one of their own
+people, especially a woman, walking a little way ahead; and in
+this case they are sometimes enticed to mend their pace by
+holding a mitten to the mouth, and then making the motion of
+cutting it with a knife, and throwing it on the snow, when the
+dogs, mistaking it for meat, hasten forward to pick it up.&nbsp;
+The women also entice them from the huts in a similar
+manner.&nbsp; The rate at which they travel depends, of course,
+on the weight they have to draw, and the road on which their
+journey is performed.&nbsp; When the latter is level and very
+hard and smooth, constituting what in other parts of North
+America is called &ldquo;good sleighing,&rdquo; six or seven dogs
+will draw from eight to ten hundredweight, at the rate of seven
+or eight miles an hour, for several hours together, and will
+easily under those circumstances perform a journey of fifty or
+sixty miles a day; on untrodden snow, five-and-twenty or thirty
+miles would be a good day&rsquo;s journey.&nbsp; The same number
+of well-fed dogs, with a weight of only five or six hundred
+pounds (that of the sledge included), are almost unmanageable,
+and will on a smooth road run any way they please at the rate of
+ten miles an hour.&nbsp; The work performed by a greater number
+of dogs is, however, by no means in proportion to this, owing to
+the imperfect mode already described of employing the strength of
+these sturdy creatures, and to the more frequent snarling and
+fighting occasioned by an increase of numbers.</p>
+<p>In the summer, when the absence of snow precludes the use of
+sledges, the dogs are still made useful on <!-- page 147--><a
+name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>journeys
+and hunting excursions, by being employed to carry burdens in a
+kind of saddle-bags laid across their shoulders.&nbsp; A stout
+dog thus accoutred will accompany his master, laden with a weight
+of about twenty to twenty-five pounds.&nbsp; When leading the
+dogs, the Esquimaux take a half hitch with the trace round their
+necks to prevent their pulling, and the same plan is followed
+when a sledge is left without a keeper.&nbsp; They are also in
+the habit of tethering them, when from home, by tying up one of
+the fore-legs; but a still more effectual method is similar to
+that which we saw employed by the Greenlanders of Prince
+Regent&rsquo;s Bay, and consists in digging with their spears two
+holes in the ice in an oblique direction and meeting each other,
+so as to leave an eye-bolt, to which the dogs are fastened.</p>
+<p>The scent of the Esquimaux dogs is excellent; and this
+property is turned to account by their masters in finding the
+seal holes, which these invaluable animals will discover entirely
+by the smell at a very great distance.&nbsp; The track of a
+single deer upon the snow will in like manner set them off at a
+full gallop, when travelling, at least a quarter of a mile before
+they arrive at it, when they are with difficulty made to turn in
+any other direction; and the Esquimaux are accustomed to set them
+after those animals to hunt them down when already wounded with
+an arrow.&nbsp; In killing bears the dogs act a very essential
+part, and two or three of them when led on by a man will eagerly
+attack one of those ferocious creatures.&nbsp; An Esquimaux
+seldom uses any other weapon than his spear and <i>panna</i> in
+this encounter, for which the readiness of the dogs may be
+implied from the circumstance of the word &ldquo;nennook&rdquo;
+(bear), being often used to encourage them when running in a
+sledge.&nbsp; Indeed, the only animal <!-- page 148--><a
+name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>which they
+are not eager to chase is the wolf, of which the greater part of
+them seem to have an instinctive dread, giving notice at night of
+their approach to the huts by a loud and continued howl.&nbsp;
+There is not one dog in twenty among them that will voluntarily,
+or indeed without a great deal of beating, take the water if they
+think it is out of their depth, and the few that would do so were
+spoken of as extraordinary exceptions.</p>
+<p>The Esquimaux in general treat their dogs much as an unfeeling
+master does his slaves; that is, they take just as much care of
+them as their own interest is supposed to require.&nbsp; The
+bitches with young are in the winter allowed to occupy a part of
+their own beds, where they are carefully attended and fed by the
+women, who will even supply the young ones with meat and water
+from their mouths as they do their own children, and not
+unfrequently also carry them in their hoods to take care of
+them.&nbsp; It is probably on this account that the dogs are
+always so much attached to the women, who can at any time catch
+them or entice them from the huts when the men fail.&nbsp; Two
+females that were with young on board the <i>Fury</i> in the
+month of February brought forth six and seven at a litter, and
+the former number were all females.&nbsp; Their feeding, which,
+both in summer and winter, principally consists of
+<i>k&#257;&#335;w</i>, or the skin and part of the blubber of the
+walrus, is during the latter season very precarious, their
+masters having then but little to spare.&nbsp; They therefore
+become extremely thin at that time of the year, and would
+scarcely be recognised as the same animals as when regularly fed
+in the summer.&nbsp; No wonder therefore that they will eat
+almost anything however tough or filthy, and that neither
+whipping nor shouting will prevent their turning out of the road,
+even <!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 149</span>when going at full speed, to pick up
+whatever they espy.&nbsp; When at the huts they are constantly
+creeping in to pilfer what they can, and half the time of the
+people sitting there is occupied in vociferating their names and
+driving them by most unmerciful blows out of the
+apartments.&nbsp; The dogs have no water to drink during the
+winter, but lick up some clean snow occasionally as a substitute;
+nor indeed if water be offered them do they care about it unless
+it happens to be oily.&nbsp; They take great pleasure in rolling
+in clean snow, especially after or during a journey, or when they
+have been confined in a house during the night.&nbsp;
+Notwithstanding the rough treatment which they receive from their
+masters their attachment to them is very great, and this they
+display after a short absence by jumping up and licking their
+faces all over with extreme delight.&nbsp; The Esquimaux,
+however, never caress them, and indeed scarcely ever take any
+notice of them but when they offend, and they are not then
+sparing in their blows.&nbsp; The dogs have all names, to which
+they attend with readiness, whether drawing in a sledge or
+otherwise.&nbsp; Their names are frequently the same as those of
+the people, and in some instances are given after the relations
+of their masters, which seems to be considered an act of kindness
+among them.&nbsp; Upon the whole, notwithstanding the services
+performed by these valuable creatures, I am of opinion that art
+cannot well have done less towards making them useful, and that
+the same means in almost any other hands would be employed to
+greater advantage.</p>
+<p>*****</p>
+<p>In the disposition of these people, there was of course among
+so many individuals considerable variety as to <!-- page 150--><a
+name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>the minute
+points; but in the general features of their character, which
+with them are not subject to the changes produced by foreign
+intercourse, one description will nearly apply to all.&nbsp; The
+virtue which, as respected ourselves, we could most have wished
+them to possess is honesty, and the impression derived from the
+early part of our intercourse was certainly in this respect a
+favourable one.&nbsp; A great many instances occurred, some of
+which have been related, where they appeared even scrupulous in
+returning articles that did not belong to them; and this too when
+detection of a theft, or at least of the offender, would have
+been next to impossible.&nbsp; As they grew more familiar with
+us, and the temptations became stronger, they gradually relaxed
+in their honesty, and petty thefts were from time to time
+committed by several individuals both male and female among
+them.</p>
+<p>The bustle which any search for stolen goods occasioned at the
+huts was a sufficient proof of their understanding the estimation
+in which the crime was held by us.&nbsp; Until the affair was
+cleared up they would affect great readiness to show every
+article which they had got from the ships, repeating the name of
+the donor with great warmth, as if offended at our suspicions,
+yet with a half-smile on their countenances at our supposed
+credulity in believing them.&nbsp; There was, indeed, at all
+times some degree of trick and cunning in this show of openness
+and candour; and they would at times bring back some very
+trifling article that had been given them, tendering it as a sort
+of expiation for the theft of another much more valuable.&nbsp;
+When a search was making they would invent all sorts of lies to
+screen themselves, not caring on whom besides the imputation
+fell; and more than once they directed our people to the
+apartments of others who were innocent of the <!-- page 151--><a
+name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>offence in
+question.&nbsp; If they really knew the offender, they were
+generally ready enough to inform against him, and this with an
+air of affected secrecy and mysterious importance; and, as if the
+dishonesty of another constituted a virtue in themselves, they
+would repeat this information frequently, perhaps for a month
+afterwards, setting up their neighbour&rsquo;s offence as a foil
+to their own pretended honesty.</p>
+<p>In appreciating the character of these people for honesty,
+however, we must not fail to make due allowance for the degree of
+temptation to which they were daily exposed amidst the boundless
+stores of wealth which our ships appeared to them to
+furnish.&nbsp; To draw a parallel case, we must suppose a
+European of the lower class suffered to roam about amidst hoards
+of gold and silver; for nothing less valuable can be justly
+compared with the wood and iron that everywhere presented
+themselves to their view on board the ships.&nbsp; The European
+and the Esquimaux who, in cases so similar, both resist the
+temptation of stealing, must be considered pretty nearly on a par
+in the scale of honesty; and judging in this manner, the balance
+might possibly be found in favour of the latter when compared
+with any similar number of Europeans taken at random from the
+lower class.</p>
+<p>In what has been hitherto said, regard has been had only to
+their dealings with us.&nbsp; In their transactions among
+themselves there is no doubt that, except in one or two
+privileged cases, such as that of destitute widows, the strictest
+honesty prevails, and that as regards the good of their own
+community they are generally honest people.&nbsp; We have in
+numberless instances sent presents by one to another, and
+invariably found that they had <!-- page 152--><a
+name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>been
+faithfully delivered.&nbsp; The manner in which their various
+implements are frequently left outside their huts is a proof,
+indeed, that robbery is scarcely known among them.&nbsp; It is
+true that there is not an article in the possession of one of
+them of which any of the rest will not readily name the owner,
+and the detection of a theft would therefore be certain and
+immediate.&nbsp; Certainty of detection, however, among a lawless
+and ferocious people, instead of preventing robbery, would more
+probably add violence and murder to the first crime, and the
+strongest would ultimately gain the upper hand.&nbsp; We cannot,
+therefore, but admire the undisturbed security in which these
+people hold their property without having recourse to any
+restraint beyond that which is incurred by the tacitly received
+law of mutual forbearance.</p>
+<p>In the barter of their various commodities their dealings with
+us were fair and upright, though latterly they were by no means
+backward or inexpert in driving a bargain.&nbsp; The absurd and
+childish exchanges which they at first made with our people
+induced them subsequently to complain that the Kabloonas had
+stolen their things, though the profit had been eventually a
+hundredfold in their favour.&nbsp; Many such complaints were made
+when the only fault in the purchaser had been excessive
+liberality, and frequently also as a retort by way of warding off
+the imputation of some dishonesty of their own.&nbsp; A trick not
+uncommon with the women was to endeavour to excite the
+commiseration and to tax the bounty of one person by relating
+some cruel theft of this kind that had, as they said, been
+practised upon them by another.&nbsp; One day, after I had bought
+a knife of Togolat, she told Captain Lyon, in a most piteous
+tone, that <i>Parree</i> had stolen her last <i>ooloo</i>, that
+she did not know what to do <!-- page 153--><a
+name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>without
+one, and, at length coming to the point, begged him to give her
+one.&nbsp; Presently after this, her husband coming in and asking
+for something to eat, she handed him some meat accompanied by a
+very fine ooloo.&nbsp; Her son, being thus reminded of eating,
+made the same request, upon which a second knife was produced,
+and immediately after, a third of the same kind for
+herself.&nbsp; Captain Lyon, having amused himself in watching
+these proceedings, which so well confirmed the truth of the
+proverb that certain people ought to have good memories, now took
+the knives, one by one, out of their hands, and holding them up
+to Togolat, asked her if Parree had not stolen her last
+ooloo.&nbsp; A hearty laugh all round was the only notice taken
+by them of this direct detection of the deceit.</p>
+<p>The confidence which they really placed in us was daily and
+hourly evinced by their leaving their fishing gear stuck in the
+snow all round the ships; and not a single instance occurred, to
+my knowledge, of any theft committed on their property.&nbsp; The
+licking of the articles received from us was not so common with
+them as with Esquimaux in general, and this practice was latterly
+almost entirely left off by them.</p>
+<p>Among the unfavourable traits in their character must be
+reckoned an extreme disposition to envy, which displayed itself
+on various occasions during our intercourse with them.&nbsp; If
+we had made any presents in one hut, the inmates of the next
+would not fail to tell us of it, accompanying their remarks with
+some satirical observation, too unequivocally expressed to be
+mistaken, and generally by some stroke of irony directed against
+the favoured person.&nbsp; If any individual with whom we had
+been intimate happened to be implicated in a theft, the
+circumstance <!-- page 154--><a name="page154"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 154</span>became a subject of satisfaction too
+manifest to be repressed, and we were told of it with expressions
+of the most triumphant exultation on every occasion.&nbsp; It was
+indeed curious, though ridiculous, to observe that, even among
+these simple people, and in this obscure corner of the globe,
+that little gossip and scandal so commonly practised in small
+societies among us were very frequently displayed.&nbsp; This was
+especially the case with the women, of whom it was not uncommon
+to see a group sitting in a hut for hours together, each relating
+her quota of information, now and then mimicking the persons of
+whom they spoke, and interlarding their stories with jokes
+evidently at the expense of their absent neighbours, though to
+their own infinite amusement.</p>
+<p>In extenuation, however, of these faults, it must be allowed
+that we were ourselves the exciting cause which called them into
+action, and without which they would be comparatively of rare
+occurrence among them.&nbsp; Like every other child of Adam, they
+undoubtedly possess their share of the seeds of these human
+frailties; but even in this respect they need not shrink from a
+comparison with ourselves, for who among us can venture to assure
+himself that if exposed to similar temptations he would not be
+found wanting?</p>
+<p>To another failing to which they are addicted the same excuse
+will not so forcibly apply, as in this respect our acquaintance
+with them naturally furnishes an opportunity for the practice of
+a virtue, rather than for the development of its opposite
+vice.&nbsp; I have already, in the course of the foregoing
+narrative, hinted at the want of gratitude evinced by these
+people in their transactions with us.&nbsp; Among themselves,
+almost the only case in which this sentiment can have any field
+for exertion is <!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 155</span>in the conduct of children towards
+their parents, and in this respect, as I shall presently have
+occasion to notice, their gratitude is by no means
+conspicuous.&nbsp; Anything like a free gift is very little, if
+at all, known among them.&nbsp; If A gives B a part of his seal
+to-day, the latter soon returns an equal quantity when he is the
+successful fisherman.&nbsp; Uncertain as their mode of living is,
+and dependent as they are upon each other&rsquo;s exertions, this
+custom is the evident and unquestionable interest of all.&nbsp;
+The regulation does credit to their wisdom, but has nothing to do
+with their generosity.&nbsp; This being the case, it might be
+supposed that our numerous presents, for which no return was
+asked, would have excited in them something like thankfulness,
+combined with admiration; but this was so little the case that
+the <i>coyenna</i> (thanks) which did now and then escape them,
+expressed much less than even the most common-place &ldquo;thank
+ye&rdquo; of civilised society.&nbsp; Some exceptions, for they
+were only exceptions, and rare ones, to this rule have been
+mentioned as they occurred; but, in general, however considerable
+the benefit conferred, it was forgotten in a day; and this
+forgetfulness was not unfrequently aggravated by their giving out
+that their benefactor had been so shabby as to make them no
+present at all.&nbsp; Even those individuals who, either from
+good behaviour or superior intelligence, had been most noticed by
+us, and particularly such as had slept on board the ships, and
+whether in health or sickness had received the most friendly
+treatment from everybody, were in general just as indifferent as
+the rest; and I do not believe that any one amongst them would
+have gone half a mile out of his road, or have sacrificed the
+most trivial self-gratification, to have served us.&nbsp; Though
+the riches lay on our side, they possessed abundant means of
+making some <!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 156</span>nominal return, which, for the sake
+of the principle that prompted it, would of course have been
+gratifying to us.&nbsp; Okotook and Iligliuk, whom I had most
+loaded with presents, and who had never offered me a single free
+gift in return, put into my hand, at the time of their first
+removal from Winter Island, a dirty crooked model of a spear, so
+shabbily constructed that it had probably been already refused as
+an article of barter by many of the ship&rsquo;s company.&nbsp;
+On my accepting this, from an unwillingness to affront them, they
+were uneasy and dissatisfied till I had given them something in
+return, though their hands were full of the presents which I had
+just made them.&nbsp; Selfishness is, in fact, almost without
+exception their universal characteristic, and the main-spring of
+all their actions, and that, too, of a kind the most direct and
+unamiable that can well be imagined.</p>
+<p>In the few opportunities we had of putting their hospitality
+to the test, we had every reason to be pleased with them.&nbsp;
+Both as to food and accommodation, the best they had were always
+at our service; and their attention, both in kind and degree, was
+everything that hospitality and even good breeding could
+dictate.&nbsp; The kindly offices of drying and mending our
+clothes, cooking our provision, and thawing snow for our drink
+were performed by the women with an obliging cheerfulness which
+we shall not easily forget, and which commanded its due share of
+our admiration and esteem.&nbsp; While thus their guest, I have
+passed an evening not only with comfort, but with extreme
+gratification; for with the women working and singing, their
+husbands quietly mending their lines, the children playing before
+the door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp,
+one might well forget for the time that an Esquimaux hut was the
+scene of this <!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 157</span>domestic comfort and tranquillity;
+and I can safely affirm with Cartwright, that, while thus lodged
+beneath their roof, I know no people whom I would more
+confidently trust, as respects either my person or my property,
+than the Esquimaux.&nbsp; It is painful, and may perhaps be
+considered invidious after this, to inquire how far their
+hospitality would in all probability be extended if interest were
+wholly separated from its practice, and a stranger were destitute
+and unlikely soon to repay them.&nbsp; But truth obliges me to
+confess that, from the extreme selfishness of their general
+conduct, as well as from their behaviour in some instances to the
+destitute of their own tribe, I should be sorry to lie under the
+necessity of thus drawing very largely on their bounty.</p>
+<p>The estimation in which women are held among these people is,
+I think, somewhat greater than is usual in savage life.&nbsp; In
+their general employments they are by no means the drudges that
+the wives of the Greenlanders are said to be; being occupied only
+in those cares which may properly be called domestic, and as such
+are considered the peculiar business of the women among the lower
+classes in civilised society.&nbsp; The wife of one of these
+people, for instance, makes and attends the fire, cooks the
+victuals, looks after the children, and is sempstress to her
+whole family; while her husband is labouring abroad for their
+subsistence.&nbsp; In this respect it is not even necessary to
+except their task of cutting up the small seals, which is, in
+truth, one of the greatest luxuries and privileges they enjoy;
+and even if it were esteemed a labour, it could scarcely be
+considered equivalent to that of the women in many of our own
+fishing-towns, where the men&rsquo;s business is at an end the
+moment the boat touches the beach.&nbsp; The most laborious of
+their tasks occurs <!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 158</span>perhaps in making their various
+journeys, when all their goods and chattels are to be removed at
+once, and when each individual must undoubtedly perform a full
+share of the general labour.&nbsp; The women are, however, good
+walkers, and not easily fatigued; for we have several times known
+a young woman of two-and-twenty, with a child in her hood, walk
+twelve miles to the ships and back again the same day for the
+sake of a little bread-dust and a tin canister.&nbsp; When
+stationary in the winter, they have really almost a sinecure of
+it, sitting quietly in their huts, and having little or no
+employment for the greater part of the day.&nbsp; In short, there
+are few, if any, people in this state of society among whom the
+women are so well off.&nbsp; They always sit upon the beds with
+their legs doubled under them, and are uneasy in the posture
+usual with us.&nbsp; The men sometimes sit as we do, but more
+generally with their legs crossed before them.</p>
+<p>The women do not appear to be in general very prolific.&nbsp;
+Illumea, indeed, had borne seven children, but no second instance
+of an equal number in one family afterwards came to our
+knowledge; three or four is about the usual number.&nbsp; They
+are, according to their own account, in the habit of suckling
+their children to the age of three years; but we have seen a
+child of five occasionally at the breast, though they are
+dismissed from the mother&rsquo;s hood at about the former
+age.&nbsp; The time of weaning them must of course, in some
+instances, depend on the mother&rsquo;s again becoming pregnant,
+and if this succeeds quickly it must, as Crantz relates of the
+Greenlanders, go hard with one of the infants.&nbsp; Nature,
+however, seems to be kind to them in this respect, for we did not
+witness one instance, nor hear of any, in which a woman was put
+to this inconvenience and distress.&nbsp; It is not uncommon to
+see one <!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 159</span>woman suckling the child of another,
+while the latter happens to be employed in her other domestic
+occupations.&nbsp; They are in the habit also of feeding their
+younger children from their own mouths, softening the food by
+mastication, and then turning their heads round, so that the
+infant in the hood may put its lips to theirs.&nbsp; The chill is
+taken from water for them in the same manner, and some fathers
+are very fond of taking their children on their knees and thus
+feeding them.&nbsp; The women are more desirous of having sons
+than daughters, as on the former must principally depend their
+support in old age.</p>
+<p>Twelve of the men had each two wives, and some of the younger
+ones had also two betrothed; two instances occurred of the father
+and son being married to sisters.&nbsp; The custom of betrothing
+children in their infancy is commonly practised here, in which
+respect these people differ from the natives of Greenland, where
+it is comparatively rare.&nbsp; A daughter of Arnaneelia, between
+two and three years old, had long been thus contracted to
+Okotook&rsquo;s son, a hero of six or seven, and the latter used
+to run about the hut, calling his intended by the familiar
+appellation of <i>N&#335;&#335;ll&#275;-&#259;</i> (wife), to the
+great amusement of the parents.&nbsp; When a man has two wives,
+there is generally a difference of five or six years in their
+ages.&nbsp; The senior takes her station next the principal fire,
+which comes entirely under her management; and she is certainly
+considered in some respects superior to the other, though they
+usually live together in the utmost harmony.&nbsp; The men
+sometimes repudiate their wives without ceremony, in case of real
+or supposed bad behaviour, as in Greenland, but this does not
+often occur.&nbsp; There was a considerable disparity of age
+between many of the men and their wives, the husband being
+sometimes the oldest <!-- page 160--><a name="page160"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 160</span>by twenty years or more, and this
+also when he had never married any former wife.&nbsp; We knew no
+instance in which the number of a man&rsquo;s wives exceeded two,
+and indeed we had every reason to believe that the practice is
+never admitted among them.&nbsp; We met with a singular instance
+of two men having exchanged wives, in consequence merely of one
+of the latter being pregnant at the time when her husband was
+about to undertake a long journey.</p>
+<p>The authority of the husband seems to be sufficiently
+absolute, depending nevertheless in great measure on the
+dispositions of the respective parties.&nbsp; Iligliuk was one of
+those women who seemed formed to manage their husbands; and we
+one day saw her take Okotook to task in a very masterly style for
+having bartered away a good jacket for an old useless pistol
+without powder or shot.&nbsp; He attempted at first to bluster in
+his turn, and with most women would probably have gained his
+point.&nbsp; But with Iligliuk this would not do; she saw at once
+the absurdity of his bargain, and insisted on his immediately
+cancelling it, which was accordingly done, and no more said about
+it.&nbsp; In general, indeed, the husband maintains his
+authority, and in several instances of supposed bad behaviour in
+a wife, we saw obedience enforced in a pretty summary
+manner.&nbsp; It is very rare, however, to see them proceed to
+this extremity; and the utmost extent of a husband&rsquo;s want
+of tenderness towards his wife consists in general in making her
+walk or lead the dogs, while he takes his own seat in the sledge
+and rides in comfort.&nbsp; Widows, as might be expected, are not
+so well off as those whose husbands are living, and this
+difference is especially apparent in their clothes, which are
+usually very dirty, thin, and ragged; when indeed they happen to
+have <!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 161</span>no near relatives, their fate, as we
+have already seen, is still worse than this.</p>
+<p>I fear we cannot give a very favourable account of the
+chastity of the women, nor of the delicacy of their husbands in
+this respect.&nbsp; As for the latter, it was not uncommon for
+them to offer their wives as freely for sale as a knife or a
+jacket.&nbsp; Some of the young men informed us that, when two of
+them were absent together on a sealing excursion, they often
+exchanged wives for the time, as a matter of friendly
+convenience; and indeed, without mentioning any other instances
+of this nature, it may safely be affirmed that in no country is
+prostitution carried to greater lengths than among these
+people.&nbsp; The behaviour of most of the women when their
+husbands were absent from the huts plainly evinced their
+indifference towards them, and their utter disregard of connubial
+fidelity.&nbsp; The departure of the men was usually the signal
+for throwing aside restraint, which was invariably resumed on
+their return.&nbsp; For this event they take care to be prepared
+by the report of the children, one of whom is usually posted on
+the outside for the purpose of giving due notice.</p>
+<p>The affection of parents for their children was frequently
+displayed by these people, not only in the mere passive
+indulgence, and abstinence from corporal punishment, for which
+Esquimaux have before been remarked, but by a thousand playful
+endearments also, such as parents and nurses practise in our own
+country.&nbsp; Nothing indeed can well exceed the kindness with
+which they treat their children; and this trait in their
+character deserves to be the more insisted on, because it is in
+reality the only very amiable one which they possess.&nbsp; It
+must be confessed, indeed, that the gentleness and docility of
+<!-- page 162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+162</span>the children are such as to occasion their parents
+little trouble, and to render severity towards them quite
+unnecessary.&nbsp; Even from their earliest infancy, they possess
+that quiet disposition, gentleness of demeanour, and uncommon
+evenness of temper, for which in more mature age they are for the
+most part distinguished.&nbsp; Disobedience is scarcely ever
+known, a word or even a look from a parent is enough; and I never
+saw a single instance of that frowardness and disposition to
+mischief which with our youth so often requires the whole
+attention of a parent to watch over and to correct.&nbsp; They
+never cry from trifling accidents, and sometimes not even from
+very severe hurts, at which an English child would sob for an
+hour.&nbsp; It is indeed astonishing to see the indifference with
+which, even as tender infants, they bear the numerous blows they
+accidentally receive when carried at their mothers&rsquo;
+backs.</p>
+<p>They are just as fond of play as any other young people, and
+of the same kind; only that while an English child draws a cart
+of wood, an Esquimaux of the same age has a sledge of whalebone;
+and for the superb baby-house of the former, the latter builds a
+miniature hut of snow, and begs a lighted wick from her
+mother&rsquo;s lamp to illuminate the little dwelling.&nbsp;
+Their parents make for them, as dolls, little figures of men and
+women, habited in the true Esquimaux costume, as well as a
+variety of other toys, many of them having some reference to
+their future occupations in life, such as canoes, spears, and
+bows and arrows.&nbsp; The drum or tambourine, mentioned by
+Crantz, is common among them, and used not only by the children,
+but by the grown-up people at some of their games.&nbsp; They
+sometimes serrate the edges of two strips of whalebone and whirl
+them round their heads, just as <!-- page 163--><a
+name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>boys do in
+England to make the same peculiar humming sound.&nbsp; They will
+dispose one piece of wood on another, as an axis, in such a
+manner that the wind turns it round like the arms of a windmill;
+and so of many other toys of the same simple kind.&nbsp; These
+are the distinct property of the children, who will sometimes
+sell them while their parents look on, without interfering or
+expecting to be consulted.</p>
+<p>When not more than eight years old the boys are taken by their
+fathers on their sealing excursions, where they begin to learn
+their future business; and even at that early age they are
+occasionally intrusted to bring home a sledge and dogs from a
+distance of several miles over the ice.&nbsp; At the age of
+eleven we see a boy with his watertight boots and moccasins, a
+spear in his hand, and a small coil of line at his back,
+accompanying the men to the fishery, under every circumstance;
+and from this time his services daily increase in value to the
+whole tribe.&nbsp; On our first intercourse with them we supposed
+that they would not unwillingly have parted with their children
+in consideration of some valuable present, but in this we
+afterwards found that we were much mistaken.&nbsp; Happening one
+day to call myself Toolooak&rsquo;s <i>attata</i> (father), and
+pretend that he was to remain with me on board the ship, I
+received from the old man, his father, no other answer than what
+seemed to be very strongly and even satirically implied, by his
+taking one of our gentlemen by the arm and calling him his son;
+thus intimating that the adoption which he proposed was as
+feasible and as natural as my own.</p>
+<p>The custom of adoption is carried to very great lengths among
+these people, and served to explain to us several apparent
+inconsistencies with respect to their relationships.&nbsp; <!--
+page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+164</span>The adoption of a child in civilised countries has
+usually for its motive either a tenderness for the object itself,
+or some affection or pity for its deceased, helpless, or unknown
+parents.&nbsp; Among the Esquimaux, however, with whom the two
+first of these causes would prove but little excitement, and the
+last can have no place, the custom owes its origin entirely to
+the obvious advantage of thus providing for a man&rsquo;s own
+subsistence in advanced life; and it is consequently confined
+almost without exception to the adoption of sons, who can alone
+contribute materially to the support of an aged and infirm
+parent.&nbsp; When a man adopts the son of another as his own, he
+is said to &ldquo;<i>tego</i>,&rdquo; or take him; and at
+whatever age this is done (though it generally happens in
+infancy), the child then lives with his new parents, calls them
+father and mother, is sometimes even ignorant of any such
+transfer having been made, especially if his real parents should
+be dead; and whether he knows it or not, is not always willing to
+acknowledge any but those with whom he lives.&nbsp; Without
+imputing much to the natural affection of these people for their
+offspring, which, like their other passions, is certainly not
+remarkable for its strength, there would seem, on the score of
+disinterestedness, a degree of consideration in a man&rsquo;s
+thus giving his son to another, which is scarcely compatible with
+the general selfishness of the Esquimaux character; but there is
+reason to suppose that the expediency of this measure is
+sometimes suggested by a deficiency of the mother&rsquo;s milk,
+and not unfrequently perhaps by the premature death of the real
+parent.&nbsp; The agreement seems to be always made between the
+fathers, and to differ in no respect from the transfer of other
+property, except that none can equal in value the property <!--
+page 165--><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+165</span>thus disposed of.&nbsp; The good sense, good fortune,
+or extensive claims of some individuals were particularly
+apparent in this way, from the number of sons they had
+adopted.&nbsp; Toolemak, deriving perhaps some advantage from his
+qualifications as Angetkook, had taken care to negotiate for the
+adoption of some of the finest male children of the tribe; a
+provision which now appeared the more necessary from his having
+lost four children of his own, besides Noogloo, who was one of
+his <i>tego&rsquo;d</i> sons.&nbsp; In one of the two instances
+that came to our knowledge of the adoption of a female child,
+both its own parents were still living, nor could we ascertain
+the motive for this deviation from the more general custom.</p>
+<p>In their behaviour to old people, whose age or infirmities
+render them useless and therefore burdensome to the community,
+the Esquimaux betray a degree of insensibility, bordering on
+inhumanity, and ill-repaying the kindness of an indulgent
+parent.&nbsp; The old man Hikkeiera, who was very ill during the
+winter, used to lie day after day little regarded by his wife,
+son, daughter, and other relatives, except that his wretched
+state constituted, as they well knew, a forcible claim upon our
+charity; and, with this view, it was sure to excite a whine of
+sympathy and commiseration whenever we visited or spoke of
+him.&nbsp; When, however, a journey of ten miles was to be
+performed over the ice, they left him to find his way with a
+stick in the best manner he could, while the young and robust
+ones were many of them drawn on sledges.&nbsp; There is, indeed,
+no doubt that, had their necessities or mode of life required a
+longer journey than he could thus have accomplished, they would
+have pushed on like the Indians and left a fellow-creature to
+perish.&nbsp; It was certainly considered incumbent on his son to
+support him, <!-- page 166--><a name="page166"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 166</span>and he was fortunate in that
+son&rsquo;s being a very good man; but a few more such journeys
+to a man of seventy would not impose this incumbrance upon him
+much longer.&nbsp; Illumea, the mother of several grown-up
+children, lived also in the same apartment with her youngest son,
+and in the same hut with her other relations.&nbsp; She did not,
+however, interfere, as in Greenland, with the management of her
+son&rsquo;s domestic concerns, though his wife was half an
+idiot.&nbsp; She was always badly clothed, and even in the midst
+of plenty not particularly well fed, receiving everything more as
+an act of charity than otherwise; and she will probably be less
+and less attended to in proportion as she stands more in need of
+assistance.</p>
+<p>The different families appear always to live on good terms
+with each other, though each preserves its own habitation and
+property as distinct and independent as any housekeeper in
+England.&nbsp; The persons living under one roof, who are
+generally closely related, maintain a degree of harmony among
+themselves which is scarcely ever disturbed.&nbsp; The more
+turbulent passions, which when unrestrained by religious
+principle or unchecked by the dread of human punishment, usually
+create so much havoc in the world, seem to be very seldom excited
+in the breasts of these people, which renders personal violence
+or immoderate anger extremely rare among them; and one may sit in
+a hut for a whole day, and never witness an angry word or look,
+except in driving out the dogs.&nbsp; If they take an offence, it
+is more common for them to show it by the more quiet method of
+sulkiness; and this they now and then tried as a matter of
+experiment with us.&nbsp; Okotook, who was often in this humour,
+once displayed it to some of our gentlemen in his own hut, by
+turning his back and frequently <!-- page 167--><a
+name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>repeating
+the expression &ldquo;Good-bye,&rdquo; as a broad hint to them to
+go away.&nbsp; Toolooak was also a little given to this mood, but
+never retained it long, and there was no malice mixed with his
+displeasure.&nbsp; One evening that he slept on board the
+<i>Fury</i> he either offended Mr. Skeoch, or thought that he had
+done so, by this kind of humour; at all events, they parted for
+the night without any formal reconciliation.&nbsp; The next
+morning Mr. Skeoch was awakened at an unusually early hour by
+Toolooak&rsquo;s entering his cabin and taking hold of his hand
+to shake it by way of making up the supposed quarrel.&nbsp; On a
+disposition thus naturally charitable, what might not Christian
+education and Christian principles effect!&nbsp; Where a joke is
+evidently intended, I never knew people more ready to join in it
+than these are.&nbsp; If ridiculed for any particularity of
+manner, figure, or countenance, they are sure not to be long
+behindhand in returning it, and that very often with
+interest.&nbsp; If we were the aggressors in this way, some
+ironical observation respecting the <i>Kabloonas</i> was
+frequently the consequence; and no small portion of wit as well
+as irony was at times mixed with their raillery.</p>
+<p>In point of intellect, as well as disposition, great variety
+was of course perceptible among the different individuals of this
+tribe; but few of them were wanting in that respect.&nbsp; Some,
+indeed, possessed a degree of natural quickness and intelligence
+which perhaps could hardly be surpassed in the natives of any
+country.&nbsp; Iligliuk, though one of the least amiable, was
+particularly thus gifted.&nbsp; When she really wished to develop
+our meaning, she would desire her husband and all the rest to
+hold their tongues, and would generally make it out while they
+were puzzling their heads to no purpose.&nbsp; In <!-- page
+168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+168</span>returning her answers, the very expression of her
+countenance, though one of the plainest among them, was almost of
+itself sufficient to convey her meaning; and there was in these
+cases a peculiar decisive energy in her manner of speaking, which
+was extremely interesting.&nbsp; This woman would indeed have
+easily learned anything to which she chose to direct her
+attention; and had her lot been cast in a civilised country
+instead of this dreary region, which serves alike to
+&ldquo;freeze the genial current of the soul&rdquo; and body, she
+would probably have been a very clever person.&nbsp; For want of
+a sufficient object, however, neither she nor any of her
+companions ever learned a dozen words of English, except our
+names, with which it was their interest to be familiar, and
+which, long before we left them, any child could repeat, though
+in their own style of pronunciation.</p>
+<p>Besides the natural authority of parents and husbands, these
+people appear to admit no kind of superiority among one another,
+except a certain degree of superstitious reverence for their
+<i>angetkooks</i>, and their tacitly following the counsel or
+steps of the most active seal-catcher on their hunting
+excursions.&nbsp; The word <i>nallegak</i>, used in Greenland to
+express &ldquo;master,&rdquo; and &ldquo;lord&rdquo; in the
+Esquimaux translations of the Scriptures, they were not
+acquainted with.&nbsp; One of the young men at Winter Island
+appeared to be considered somewhat in the light of a servant to
+Okotook, living with the latter, and quietly allowing him to take
+possession of all the most valuable presents which he received
+from us.&nbsp; Being a sociable people, they unite in
+considerable numbers to form a settlement for the winter; but on
+the return of spring they again separate into several parties,
+each appearing to choose his own route, without regard to that
+<!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+169</span>of the rest, but all making their arrangements without
+the slightest disagreement or difference of opinion that we could
+ever discover.&nbsp; In all their movements they seem to be
+actuated by one simultaneous feeling that is truly admirable.</p>
+<p>Superior as our arts, contrivances, and materials must
+unquestionably have appeared to them, and eager as they were to
+profit by this superiority, yet, contradictory as it may seem,
+they certainly looked upon us in many respects with profound
+contempt, maintaining that idea of self-sufficiency which has
+induced them, in common with the rest of their nation, to call
+themselves, by way of distinction, <i>Inn&#365;ee</i>, or
+mankind.&nbsp; One day, for instance, in securing some of the
+gear of a sledge, Okotook broke a part of it composed of a piece
+of our white line, and I shall never forget the contemptuous
+sneer with which he muttered in soliloquy the word
+&ldquo;Kabloona!&rdquo; in token of the inferiority of our
+materials to his own.&nbsp; It is happy, perhaps, when people
+possessing so few of the good things of this life can be thus
+contented with the little allotted them.</p>
+<p>The men, though low in stature, are not wanting in muscular
+strength in proportion to their size, or in activity and
+hardiness.&nbsp; They are good and even quick walkers, and
+occasionally bear much bodily fatigue, wet, and cold, without
+appearing to suffer by it, much less to complain of it.&nbsp;
+Whatever labour they have gone through, and with whatever success
+in procuring game, no individual ever seems to arrogate to
+himself the credit of having done more than his neighbour for the
+general good.&nbsp; Nor do I conceive there is reason to doubt
+their personal courage, though they are too good-natured often to
+excite others to put that quality to the test.&nbsp; It <!-- page
+170--><a name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>is
+true, they will recoil with horror at the tale of an Indian
+massacre, and probably cannot conceive what should induce one set
+of men deliberately and without provocation to murder
+another.&nbsp; War is not their trade; ferocity forms no part of
+the disposition of the Esquimaux.&nbsp; Whatever manly qualities
+they possess are exercised in a different way, and put to a far
+more worthy purpose.&nbsp; They are fishermen, and not warriors;
+but I cannot call that man a coward who, at the age of
+one-and-twenty, will attack a Polar bear single-handed, or
+fearlessly commit himself to floating masses of ice which the
+next puff of wind may drift for ever from the shore.</p>
+<p>If, in short, they are deficient in some of the higher
+virtues, as they are called, of savage life, they are certainly
+free also from some of its blackest vices; and their want of
+brilliant qualities is fully compensated by those which, while
+they dazzle less, do more service to society and more honour to
+human nature.&nbsp; If, for instance, they have not the
+magnanimity which would enable them to endure without a murmur
+the most excruciating torture, neither have they the ferocious
+cruelty that incites a man to inflict that torture on a helpless
+fellow-creature.&nbsp; If their gratitude for favours be not
+lively nor lasting, neither is their resentment of injuries
+implacable, nor their hatred deadly.&nbsp; I do not say there are
+not exceptions to this rule, though we have never witnessed any;
+but it is assuredly not their general character.</p>
+<p>When viewed more nearly in their domestic relations, the
+comparison will, I believe, be still more in their favour.&nbsp;
+It is here as a social being, as a husband and the father of a
+family, promoting within his own little sphere the benefit of
+that community in which <!-- page 171--><a
+name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>Providence
+has cast his lot, that the moral character of a savage is truly
+to be sought; and who can turn without horror from the Esquimaux,
+peaceably seated after a day of honest labour with his wife and
+children in their snow-built hut, to the self-willed and
+vindictive Indian, wantonly plunging his dagger into the bosom of
+the helpless woman whom nature bids him cherish and protect!</p>
+<p>Of the few arts possessed by this simple people some account
+has already been given in the description of their various
+implements.&nbsp; As mechanics, they have little to boast when
+compared with other savages lying under equal disadvantages as to
+scantiness of tools and materials.&nbsp; As carpenters, they can
+scarf two pieces of wood together, secure them with pins of
+whalebone or ivory, fashion the timbers of a canoe, shoe a
+paddle, and rivet a scrap of iron into a spear or arrow
+head.&nbsp; Their principal tool is the knife (<i>panna</i>),
+and, considering the excellence of a great number which they
+possessed previous to our intercourse with them, the work they do
+is remarkably coarse and clumsy.&nbsp; Their very manner of
+holding and handling a knife is the most awkward that can be
+imagined.&nbsp; For the purpose of boring holes they have a drill
+and bow so exactly like our own that they need no further
+description, except that the end of the drill-handle, which our
+artists place against their breast, is rested by these people
+against a piece of wood or bone held in their mouths, and having
+a cavity fitted to receive it.&nbsp; With the use of the saw they
+were well acquainted, but had nothing of this kind in their
+possession better than a notched piece of iron.&nbsp; One or two
+small European axes were lashed to handles in a contrary
+direction to ours; that is, to be used like an adze, a form
+which, according to the observation <!-- page 172--><a
+name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>of a
+traveller well qualified to judge, savages in general
+prefer.&nbsp; It was said that these people steamed or boiled
+wood in order to bend it for fashioning the timbers of their
+canoes.&nbsp; As fishermen or seamen, they can put on a woolding
+or seizing with sufficient strength and security, and are
+acquainted with some of the most simple and serviceable knots in
+use among us.&nbsp; In all the arts, however, practised by the
+men, it is observable that the ingenuity lies in the principle,
+not in the execution.&nbsp; The experience of ages has led them
+to adopt the most efficacious methods, but their practice as
+handicrafts has gone no further than absolute necessity requires;
+they bestow little labour upon neatness or ornament.</p>
+<p>In some of the few arts practised by the women there is much
+more dexterity displayed, particularly in that important branch
+of a housewife&rsquo;s business, sewing, which even with their
+own clumsy needles of bone they perform with extraordinary
+neatness.&nbsp; They had, however, several steel needles of a
+three-cornered shape, which they kept in a very convenient case,
+consisting of a strip of leather passed through a hollow bone and
+having its ends remaining out, so that the needles which are
+stuck into it may be drawn in and out at pleasure.&nbsp; These
+cases were sometimes ornamented by cutting; and several thimbles
+of leather, one of which in sewing is worn on the first finger,
+are usually attached to it, together with a bunch of narrow
+spoons and other small articles liable to be lost.&nbsp; The
+thread they use is the sinew of the reindeer (<i>tooktoo
+&#277;w&#257;ll&#335;&#335;</i>), or, when they cannot procure
+this, the swallow-pipe of the <i>neitiek</i>.&nbsp; This may be
+split into threads of different sizes, according to the nature of
+their work, and is certainly a most admirable material.&nbsp;
+This, together with any other articles of a similar kind, they
+<!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+173</span>keep in little bags, which are sometimes made of the
+skin of birds&rsquo; feet, disposed with the claws downwards in a
+very neat and tasteful manner.&nbsp; In sewing, the point of the
+needle is entered and drawn through in a direction towards the
+body, and not from it or towards one side, as with our
+sempstresses.&nbsp; They sew the deer-skins with a &ldquo;round
+seam,&rdquo; and the water-tight boots and shoes are
+&ldquo;stitched.&rdquo;&nbsp; The latter is performed in a very
+adroit and efficacious manner, by putting the needle only half
+through the substance of one part of the seal-skin, so as to
+leave no hole for admitting the water.&nbsp; In cutting out the
+clothes, the women do it after one regular and uniform pattern,
+which probably descends unaltered from generation to
+generation.&nbsp; The skin of the deer&rsquo;s head is always
+made to form the apex of the hood, while that of the neck and
+shoulders comes down the back of the jacket; and so of every
+other part of the animal, which is appropriated to its particular
+portion of the dress.&nbsp; To soften the seal-skins of which the
+boots, shoes, and mittens are made, the women chew them for an
+hour or two together, and the young girls are often seen employed
+in thus preparing the materials for their mothers.&nbsp; The
+covering of the canoes is a part of the women&rsquo;s business,
+in which good workmanship is especially necessary to render the
+whole smooth and water-tight.&nbsp; The skins, which are those of
+the <i>neitiek</i> only, are prepared by scraping off the hair
+and the fleshy parts with an <i>ooloo</i>, and stretching them
+out tight on a frame, in which state they are left over the lamps
+or in the sun for several days to dry; and after this they are
+well chewed by the women to make them fit for working.&nbsp; The
+dressing of leather and of skins in the hair is an art which the
+women have brought to no inconsiderable degree of <!-- page
+174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+174</span>perfection.&nbsp; They perform this by first cleansing
+the skin from as much of the fat and fleshy matter as the
+<i>ooloo</i> will take off, and then rubbing it hard for several
+hours with a blunt scraper, called <i>si&#257;k&#335;&#335;t</i>,
+so as nearly to dry it.&nbsp; It is then put into a vessel
+containing urine, and left to steep a couple of days, after which
+a drying completes the process.&nbsp; Skins dressed in the hair
+are, however, not always thus steeped; the women, instead of
+this, chewing them for hours together, till they are quite soft
+and clean.&nbsp; Some of the leather thus dressed looked nearly
+as well as ours, and the hair was as firmly fixed to the pelt;
+but there was in this respect a very great difference, according
+to the art or attention of the housewife.&nbsp; Dyeing is an art
+wholly unknown to them.&nbsp; The women are very expert at
+platting, which is usually done with three threads of sinew; if
+greater strength is required, several of these are twisted
+slackly together, as in the bowstrings.&nbsp; The quickness with
+which some of the women plat is really surprising; and it is well
+that they do so, for the quantity required for the bows alone
+would otherwise occupy half the year in completing it.</p>
+<p>It may be supposed that among so cheerful a people as the
+Esquimaux there are many games or sports practised; indeed, it
+was rarely that we visited their habitations without seeing some
+engaged in them.&nbsp; One of these our gentlemen saw at Winter
+Island, on an occasion when most of the men were absent from the
+huts on a sealing excursion, and in this Iligliuk was the chief
+performer.&nbsp; Being requested to amuse them in this way, she
+suddenly unbound her hair, platted it, tied both ends together to
+keep it out of her way, and then, stepping out into the middle of
+the hut, began to make the most hideous faces that can be
+conceived, by drawing both <!-- page 175--><a
+name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 175</span>lips into
+her mouth, poking forward her chin, squinting frightfully,
+occasionally shutting one eye, and moving her head from side to
+side as if her neck had been dislocated.&nbsp; This exhibition,
+which they call <i>&#257;y&#335;k&#301;t-t&#257;k-poke</i>, and
+which is evidently considered an accomplishment that few of them
+possess in perfection, distorts every feature in the most
+horrible manner imaginable, and would, I think, put our most
+skilful horse-collar grinners quite out of countenance.</p>
+<p>The next performance consists in looking stedfastly and
+gravely forward and repeating the words
+<i>t&#259;b&#257;k-tabak</i>, <i>k&#277;ib&#333;-keibo</i>,
+<i>k&#277;-b&#257;ng-&#277;-n&#363;-t&#335;-&#277;&#277;k</i>,
+<i>kebangenutoeek</i>, <i>&#259;m&#257;t&#259;m&#257;</i>,
+<i>amatama</i>, in the order in which they are here placed, but
+each at least four times, and always by a peculiar modulation of
+the voice, speaking them in pairs, as they are coupled
+above.&nbsp; The sound is made to proceed from the throat in a
+way much resembling ventriloquism, to which art it is indeed an
+approach.&nbsp; After the last <i>amatama</i> Iligliuk always
+pointed with her finger towards her body, and pronounced the word
+<i>angetkook</i>, steadily retaining her gravity for five or six
+seconds, and then bursting into a loud laugh, in which she was
+joined by all the rest.&nbsp; The women sometimes produce a much
+more guttural and unnatural sound, repeating principally the word
+<i>&#299;kk&#277;r&#277;e-ikkeree</i>, coupling them as before,
+and staring in such a manner as to make their eyes appear ready
+to burst out of their sockets with the exertion.&nbsp; Two or
+more of them will sometimes stand up face to face, and with great
+quickness and regularity respond to each other, keeping such
+exact time that the sound appears to come from one throat instead
+of several.&nbsp; Very few of the females are possessed of this
+accomplishment, which is called <i>pitkoo-she-r&#257;k-poke</i>,
+and it is not <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 176</span>uncommon to see several of the
+younger females practising it.&nbsp; A third part of the game,
+distinguished by the word <i>keit&#299;k-poke</i>, consists only
+in falling on each knee alternately, a piece of agility which
+they perform with tolerable quickness, considering the bulky and
+awkward nature of their dress.</p>
+<p>The last kind of individual exhibition was still performed by
+Iligliuk, to whom in this, as in almost every thing else, the
+other women tacitly acknowledged their inferiority, by quietly
+giving place to her on every occasion.&nbsp; She now once more
+came forward, and letting her arms hang down loosely and bending
+her body very much forward, shook herself with extreme violence,
+as if her whole frame had been strongly convulsed, uttering at
+the same time, in a wild tone of voice, some of the unnatural
+sounds before mentioned.</p>
+<p>This being at an end, a new exhibition was commenced, in which
+ten or twelve women took a part, and which our gentlemen compared
+to blind man&rsquo;s buff.&nbsp; A circle being formed, and a boy
+despatched to look out at the door of the hut, Iligliuk, still
+the principal actress, placed herself in the centre, and after
+making a variety of guttural noises for about half a minute, shut
+her eyes, and ran about till she had taken hold of one of the
+others, whose business it then became to take her station in the
+centre, so that almost every woman in her turn occupied this
+post, and in her own peculiar way, either by distortion of
+countenance or other gestures, performed her part in the
+game.&nbsp; This continued three-quarters of an hour, and, from
+the precaution of placing a look-out, who was withdrawn when it
+was over, as well as from some very expressive signs which need
+not here be mentioned, there is reason to believe that it is
+usually <!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 177</span>followed by certain indecencies,
+with which their husbands are not to be acquainted.&nbsp;
+Kaoongut was present indeed on this occasion, but his age seemed
+to render him a privileged person; besides which his own wife did
+not join in the game.</p>
+<p>The most common amusement, however, and to which their
+husbands made no objection, they performed at Winter Island
+expressly for our gratification.&nbsp; The females, being
+collected to the number of ten or twelve, stood in as large a
+circle as the hut would admit, with Okotook in the centre.&nbsp;
+He began by a sort of half-howling, half-singing noise, which
+appeared as if designed to call the attention of the women, the
+latter soon commencing the <i>Amna Aya</i> song hereafter
+described.&nbsp; This they continued without variety, remaining
+quite still while Okotook walked round within the circle; his
+body was rather bent forward, his eyes sometimes closed, his arms
+constantly moving up and down, and now and then hoarsely
+vociferating a word or two, as if to increase the animation of
+the singers, who, whenever he did this, quitted the chorus and
+rose into the words of the song.&nbsp; At the end of ten minutes
+they all left off at once, and, after one minute&rsquo;s interval
+commenced a second act precisely similar and of equal duration,
+Okotook continuing to invoke their Muse as before.&nbsp; A third
+act which followed this varied only in his frequently towards the
+close throwing his feet up before and clapping his hands
+together, by which exertion he was thrown into a violent
+perspiration.&nbsp; He then retired, desiring a young man (who,
+as we were informed, was the only individual of several then
+present thus qualified) to take his place in the centre as master
+of the ceremonies, when the same antics as before were again gone
+through.&nbsp; After this <!-- page 178--><a
+name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>description
+it will scarcely be necessary to remark that nothing can be
+poorer in its way than this tedious singing recreation, which, as
+well as everything in which dancing is concerned, they express by
+the word <i>m&#335;m&#275;k-poke</i>.&nbsp; They seem, however,
+to take great delight in it; and even a number of the men, as
+well as all the children, crept into the hut by degrees to peep
+at the performance.</p>
+<p>The Esquimaux women and children often amuse themselves with a
+game not unlike our &ldquo;skip-rope.&rdquo;&nbsp; This is
+performed by two women holding the ends of a line and whirling it
+regularly round and round, while a third jumps over it in the
+middle according to the following order:&mdash;She commences by
+jumping twice on both feet, then alternately with the right and
+left, and next four times with the feet slipped one behind the
+other, the rope passing once round at each jump.&nbsp; After this
+she performs a circle on the ground, jumping about half-a-dozen
+times in the course of it, which bringing her to her original
+position, the same thing is repeated as often as it can be done
+without entangling the line.&nbsp; One or two of the women
+performed this with considerable agility and adroitness,
+considering the clumsiness of their boots and jackets, and seemed
+to pride themselves in some degree on the qualification.&nbsp; A
+second kind of this game consists in two women holding a long
+rope by its ends and whirling it round in such a manner, over the
+heads of two others standing close together near the middle of
+the bight, that each of these shall jump over it
+alternately.&nbsp; The art therefore, which is indeed
+considerable, depends more on those whirling the rope than on the
+jumpers, who are, however, obliged to keep exact time, in order
+to be ready for the rope passing under their feet.</p>
+<p>The whole of these people, but especially the women, <!-- page
+179--><a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+179</span>are fond of music, both vocal and instrumental.&nbsp;
+Some of them might be said to be passionately so, removing their
+hair from off their ears and bending their heads forward, as if
+to catch the sounds more distinctly, whenever we amused them in
+this manner.&nbsp; Their own music is entirely vocal, unless
+indeed the drum or tambourine before mentioned be considered an
+exception.</p>
+<p>The voices of the women are soft and feminine, and when
+singing with the men are pitched an octave higher than
+theirs.&nbsp; They have most of them so far good ears that, in
+whatever key a song is commenced by one of them, the rest will
+always join in perfect unison.&nbsp; After singing for ten
+minutes, the key had usually fallen a full semitone.&nbsp; Only
+two of them, of whom Iligliuk was one, could catch the tune as
+pitched by an instrument; which made it difficult with most of
+them to complete the writing of the notes, for if they once left
+off they were sure to re-commence in some other key, though a
+flute or violin were playing at the time.</p>
+<p>During the season passed at Winter Island, which appears to
+have been a healthy one to the Esquimaux, we had little
+opportunity of becoming acquainted with the diseases to which
+they are subject.&nbsp; Our subsequent intercourse with a greater
+number of these people at Igloolik having unfortunately afforded
+more frequent and fatal instances of sickness among them, I here
+insert Mr. Edwards&rsquo;s remarks on this subject:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Exempted as these people are from a host of diseases
+usually ascribed to the vitiated habits of more civilised life,
+as well as from those equally numerous and more destructive ones
+engendered by the pestilential effluvia that float in the
+atmosphere of more favoured climes, the diversity of their
+maladies is, as might <i>&agrave; priori</i> be <!-- page
+180--><a name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+180</span>inferred, very limited.&nbsp; But, unfortunately, that
+improvidence which is so remarkable in their kindred tribes is
+also with them proof against the repeated lessons of bitter
+experience they are doomed to endure.&nbsp; Alternate excesses
+and privations mark their progress through life, and consequent
+misery in one or another shape is an active agent in effecting as
+much mischief amongst them as the diseases above alluded to
+produce in other countries.&nbsp; The mortality arising from a
+few diseases and wretchedness combined, seems sufficient to check
+anything like a progressive increase of their numbers.&nbsp; The
+great proportion of deaths to births that occurred during the
+period of our intercourse with them has already been noticed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is doubtful in what proportion the mortality is
+directly occasioned by disease.&nbsp; Few perhaps die, in the
+strict sense of the term, a natural death.&nbsp; A married person
+of either sex rarely dies without leaving destitute a parent, a
+widow, or a helpless female infant.&nbsp; To be deprived of near
+relations is to be deprived of everything; such unfortunates are
+usually abandoned to their fate, and too generally perish.&nbsp;
+A widow and two or three children left under these circumstances
+were known to have died of inanition, from the neglect and apathy
+of their neighbours, who jeered at the commanders of our ships on
+the failure of their humane endeavours to save what the Esquimaux
+considered as worthless.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Our first communication with these people at Winter
+Island gave us a more favourable impression of their general
+health than subsequent experience confirmed.&nbsp; There,
+however, they were not free from sickness.&nbsp; A catarrhal
+affection in the month of February became generally prevalent,
+from which they readily recovered after the exciting
+causes&mdash;intemperance and exposure to <!-- page 181--><a
+name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+181</span>wet&mdash;had ceased to operate.&nbsp; A solitary
+instance of pleurisy also occurred, which probably might have
+ended fatally but for timely assistance.&nbsp; Our intercourse
+with them in the summer was more interrupted; but at our
+occasional meetings they were observed to be enjoying excellent
+health.&nbsp; It is probable that their certain supplies of food,
+and the nomad kind of life they lead in its pursuit during that
+season, are favourable to health.&nbsp; Nutrition goes on
+actively, and an astonishing increase of strength and fulness is
+acquired.&nbsp; Active diseases might now be looked for, but that
+the powers of nature are providentially exerted with effect.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The unlimited use of stimulating animal food, on which
+they are from infancy fed, induces at an early age a highly
+plethoric state of the vascular system.&nbsp; The weaker
+over-distended vessels of the nose quickly yield to the increased
+impetus of the blood, and an active hemorrhage relieves the
+subject.&nbsp; As the same causes continue to be applied in
+excess at frequent intervals, and are followed by similar
+effects, a kind of vicarious hemorrhage at length becomes
+established by habit; superseding the intervention of art, and
+having no small share in maintaining a balance in the circulating
+system.&nbsp; The phenomenon is too constant to have escaped the
+observation of those who have visited the different Esquimaux
+people; a party of them has indeed rarely been seen that did not
+exhibit two or three instances of the fact.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;About the month of September the approach of winter
+induced the Esquimaux at Igloolik to abandon their tents and to
+retire into their more established village.&nbsp; The majority
+were here crowded into huts of a permanent construction, the
+materials composing the sides being stones and the bones of
+whales, and the roofs being formed <!-- page 182--><a
+name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 182</span>of skins,
+turf, and snow; the rest of the people were lodged in
+snow-huts.&nbsp; For a while they continued very healthy; in
+fact, as long as the temperature of the interior did not exceed
+the freezing-point, the vapours of the atmosphere congealed upon
+the walls, and the air remained dry and tolerably pure; besides,
+their hard-frozen winter stock of walrus did not at this time
+tempt them to indulge their appetites immoderately.&nbsp; In
+January the temperature suffered an unseasonable rise, some
+successful captures of walrus also took place, and these
+circumstances, combined perhaps with some superstitious customs,
+of which we were ignorant, seemed the signal for giving way to
+sensuality.&nbsp; The lamps were accumulated and the kettles more
+frequently replenished, and gluttony in its most disgusting form
+became for a while the order of the day.&nbsp; The Esquimaux were
+now seen wallowing in filth, while some surfeited lay stretched
+upon their skins enormously distended, and with their friends
+employed in rolling them about to assist the operations of
+oppressed nature.&nbsp; The roofs of their huts were no longer
+congealed, but dripping with wet and threatening speedy
+dissolution.&nbsp; The air was in the bone-huts damp, hot, and,
+beyond sufferance, offensive with putrid exhalations from the
+decomposing relics of offals, or other animal matter, permitted
+to remain from year to year undisturbed in these horrible
+sinks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What the consequences might have been had this state of
+affairs long continued, it is not difficult to imagine; but,
+fortunately for them, an early and gradual dispersion took place,
+so that by the end of January few individuals were left in the
+village.&nbsp; The rest, in divided bodies, established
+themselves in snow-huts upon the sea-ice at some distance from
+the land.&nbsp; Before this change had <!-- page 183--><a
+name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>been
+completed, disorders of an inflammatory character had
+appeared.&nbsp; A few went away sick, some were unable to remove,
+and others taken ill upon the ice, and we heard of the death of
+several about this period.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The cold snow-huts into which they had moved, though
+infinitely preferable to those abandoned, were ill-suited to the
+reception of people already sick or predisposed, from the
+above-named causes, to sickness; many of them were also deficient
+in clothing to meet the rigorous weather that followed.&nbsp;
+Nevertheless, after this violent excitement had passed away, a
+comparatively good condition of health was enjoyed for the
+remainder of the winter and spring months.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Their distance from the ships at once precluded any
+effectual assistance being rendered them at their huts, and their
+removal on board with safety; the complaints of those who died at
+the huts, therefore, did not come under observation.&nbsp; It
+appears, however, to have been acute inflammation of some of the
+abdominal viscera, very rapid in its career.&nbsp; In the
+generality the disease assumed a more insidious and sub-acute
+form, under which the patient lingered for a while, and was then
+either carried off by a diarrh&oelig;a or slowly recovered by the
+powers of nature.&nbsp; Three or four individuals who, with some
+risk and trouble, were brought to the ships, we were
+providentially instrumental in recovering; but two others, almost
+helpless patients, were so far exhausted before their arrival
+that the endeavours used were unsuccessful, and death was
+probably hastened by their removal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Abdominal and thoracic inflammations, in fact, seem to
+be the only active diseases they have to encounter.&nbsp; Where a
+spontaneous recovery does not take place, these <!-- page
+184--><a name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+184</span>prove fatal in a short time.&nbsp; The only instance
+among them of chronic sequels to those complaints occurred in an
+old man almost in dotage, whose feeble remains of life were
+wasting away by an ulceration of the lungs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No traces of the exanthematous disorders met our
+observation.&nbsp; A solitary case of epilepsy was seen in a deaf
+and dumb boy, who eventually died.&nbsp; Chronic rheumatism
+occurs, but it is rare and not severe.&nbsp; I have some doubt in
+saying that scurvy exists among them.&nbsp; A disease, however,
+having a close affinity to it was witnessed, but as in the only
+case that came fairly under our notice it was complicated with
+the symptoms of a previous debilitating disease, the diagnosis
+was difficult.&nbsp; During the patient&rsquo;s recovery from one
+of the abdominal attacks above mentioned, the gums were observed
+to be spongy, separated from the teeth and reverted, bleeding,
+and in various parts presenting the livid appearance of scorbutic
+gums.&nbsp; At the same period arose pains of an anomalous
+description, and of considerable severity about the shoulders and
+thorax.&nbsp; These gradually yielded as he recovered strength,
+but were succeeded by other pains and tenderness of the bones and
+muscles of the thighs and legs.&nbsp; The citric acid was given
+to him freely from the beginning, until it interfered with his
+appetite and bowels, when it was omitted.&nbsp; Topical
+applications were at the same time used, and afterwards
+continued.&nbsp; Signs of amendment appeared before it became
+necessary to withhold the vegetable acid, and it was not recurred
+to while he remained on board.&nbsp; Urged by impatience of
+control, he left us to join his countrymen before he had well
+regained his strength; but we saw him on board several times
+afterwards in a progressive state of improvement, and, though yet
+weak, free from scorbutic symptoms.&nbsp; <!-- page 185--><a
+name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span>Another
+instance offered in a woman, whom I saw but once.&nbsp; Her gums
+were spongy and reverted, but not discoloured; her countenance
+sallow, lips pale, and she suffered under general debility,
+without local pain or rigidity of the limbs.&nbsp; She remained
+in this state for a long time, and eventually, as the weather
+improved, recovered without assistance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That affection of the eyes known by the name of
+snow-blindness, is extremely frequent among these people.&nbsp;
+With them it scarcely ever goes beyond painful irritation, whilst
+among strangers inflammation is sometimes the consequence.&nbsp;
+I have not seen them use any other remedy besides the exclusion
+of light; but as a preventive a wooden eye-screen is worn, very
+simple in its construction, consisting of a curved piece of wood
+six or seven inches long and ten or twelve lines broad.&nbsp; It
+is tied over the eyes like a pair of spectacles, being adapted to
+the forehead and nose, and hollowed out to favour the motion of
+the eyelids.&nbsp; A few rays of light only are admitted through
+a narrow slit an inch long, cut opposite to each eye.&nbsp; This
+contrivance is more simple and quite as efficient as the more
+heavy one possessed by some who have been fortunate enough to
+acquire wood for the purpose.&nbsp; This is merely the former
+instrument complicated by the addition of a horizontal plate
+projecting three or four inches from its upper rim, like the peak
+of a jockey&rsquo;s cap.&nbsp; In Hudson&rsquo;s Strait the
+latter is common, and the former in Greenland, where also we are
+told they wear with advantage the simple horizontal peak
+alone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are upon the whole no people more destitute of
+curative means than these.&nbsp; With the exception of the <!--
+page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+186</span>hemorrhage already mentioned, which they duly
+appreciate, and have been observed to excite artificially to cure
+head-ache, they are ignorant of any rational method of procuring
+relief.&nbsp; It has not been ascertained that they use a single
+herb medicinally.&nbsp; As prophylactics they wear amulets, which
+are usually the teeth, bones, or hair of some animal, the more
+rare apparently the more valuable.&nbsp; In absolute sickness
+they depend entirely upon their Angekoks, who, they persuade
+themselves, have influence over some submarine deities who govern
+their destiny.&nbsp; The mummeries of these impostors, consisting
+in pretended consultations with their oracles, are looked upon
+with confidence, and their mandates, however absurd,
+superstitiously submitted to.&nbsp; These are constituted of
+unmeaning ceremonies and prohibitions generally affecting the
+diet, both in kind and mode, but never in quantity.&nbsp;
+Seal&rsquo;s flesh is forbidden, for instance, in one disease,
+that of the walrus in the other; the heart is denied to some and
+the liver to others.&nbsp; A poor woman, on discovering that the
+meat she had in her mouth was a piece of fried heart instead of
+the liver, appeared horrorstruck; and a man was in equal
+tribulation at having eaten, by mistake, a piece of meat cooked
+in his wife&rsquo;s kettle.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This charlatanerie, although we may ridicule the
+imposition, is not, however, with them, as it is with us, a
+positive evil.&nbsp; In the total absence of the medical art, it
+proves generally innoxious; while in many instances it must be a
+source of real benefit and comfort, by buoying up the sick spirit
+with confident hopes of recovery, and eventually enabling the
+vital powers to rise superior to the malady, when, without such
+support, the sufferer <!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 187</span>might have sunk under its
+weight.&nbsp; It was attempted to ascertain whether climate
+effected any difference in animal heat between them and ourselves
+by frequently marking the temperature of the mouth; but the
+experiments were necessarily made, as occasion offered, under
+such various states of vascular excitement, as to afford nothing
+conclusive.&nbsp; As it was, their temperature varied from
+97&deg; to 102&deg;, coinciding pretty nearly with our own under
+similar circumstances.&nbsp; The pulse offered nothing
+singular.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I may here remark that there is in many individuals a
+peculiarity about the eye, amounting in some instances to
+deformity, which I have not noticed elsewhere.&nbsp; It consists
+in the inner corner of the eye being entirely covered by a
+duplication of the adjacent loose skin of the eyelids and
+nose.&nbsp; This fold is lightly stretched over the edges of the
+eyelids, and forms, as it were, a third palpebra of a crescentic
+shape.&nbsp; The aperture is in consequence rendered somewhat
+pyriform, the inner curvature being very obtuse, and in some
+individuals distorted by an angle formed where the fold crosses
+the border of the lower palpebra.&nbsp; This singularity depends
+upon the variable form of the orbit during immature age, and is
+very remarkable in childhood, less so towards adult age, and
+then, it would seem, frequently disappearing altogether; for the
+proportion in which it exists among grown-up persons bears but a
+small comparison with that observed among the young.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Personal deformity from mal-conformation is uncommon,
+the only instance I remember being that of a young woman, whose
+utterance was unintelligibly nasal, in consequence of an
+imperfect development of <!-- page 188--><a
+name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>the
+palatine bones leaving a gap in the roof of the mouth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The imperfect arithmetic of these people, which resolves every
+number above ten into one comprehensive word, prevented our
+obtaining any very certain information respecting the population
+of this part of North America and its adjacent islands.&nbsp; The
+principal stations of these people not visited by us are
+<i>Akkoolee</i>, <i>Toonoonee-roochiuh</i>, <i>Peelig</i>, and
+<i>Toonoonek</i>, of whose situation I have already spoken.&nbsp;
+The first of these, which is the only one situated on the
+continent, lies in an indentation of considerable depth on the
+shores of the Polar Sea, running in towards Repulse Bay on the
+opposite coast, and forming with it the large peninsula situated
+like a bastion at the north-east angle of America, which I have
+named Melville Peninsula, in honour of Viscount Melville, the
+First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty.&nbsp; From what we know
+of the habits and disposition of the Esquimaux, which incline
+them always to associate in considerable numbers, we cannot well
+assign a smaller population than fifty souls to each of the four
+principal stations above-mentioned; and including these, and the
+inhabitants of several minor ones that were occasionally named to
+us, there may perhaps be three or four hundred people belonging
+to this tribe with whom we have never had communication.&nbsp; In
+all their charts of this neighbourhood they also delineate a
+tract of land to the eastward, and somewhat to the northward, of
+Igloolik, where they say the <i>Seadl&#275;rmeoo</i>, or
+strangers, live, with whom, as with the Esquimaux of Southampton
+Island, and all others coming under the same denomination, they
+have seldom or never any intercourse, either of a friendly or a
+hostile <!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 189</span>nature.&nbsp; It is more than
+probable that the natives of the inlet called the river Clyde, on
+the western coast of Baffin&rsquo;s Bay, are a part of the people
+thus designated; and, indeed, the whole of the numerous bays and
+inlets on that extensive and productive line of coast may be the
+residence of great numbers of Esquimaux, of whom these people
+possess no accurate information.</p>
+<p>Whatever may be the abundance sometimes enjoyed by these
+people, and whatever the maladies occasioned by their too
+frequent abuse of it, it is certain that they occasionally suffer
+very severely from the opposite extreme.&nbsp; A remarkably
+intelligent woman informed Captain Lyon that two years ago some
+Esquimaux arrived at Igloolik from a place near Akkoolee,
+bringing information that during a very grievous famine one party
+of men had fallen upon another and killed them; and that they
+afterwards subsisted on their flesh while in a frozen state, but
+never cooked nor even thawed it.&nbsp; This horrible account was
+soon after confirmed by Toolemak on board the <i>Fury</i>; and
+though he was evidently uneasy at our having heard the story, and
+conversed upon it with reluctance, yet by means of our questions
+he was brought to name, upon his fingers, five individuals who
+had been killed on this occasion.&nbsp; Of the fact therefore
+there can be no doubt; but it is certain, also, that we ourselves
+scarcely regarded it with greater horror than those who related
+it; and the occurrence may be considered similar to those
+dreadful instances on record, even among civilised nations, of
+men devouring one another, in wrecks or boats, when rendered
+desperate by the sufferings of actual starvation.</p>
+<p>The ceremony of crying, which has before been <!-- page
+190--><a name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+190</span>mentioned as practised after a person&rsquo;s death, is
+not, however, altogether confined to those melancholy occasions,
+but is occasionally adopted in cases of illness, and that of no
+very dangerous kind.&nbsp; The father of a sick person enters the
+apartment, and after looking at him for a few seconds without
+speaking, announces by a kind of low sob his preparation for the
+coming ceremony.&nbsp; At this signal every other individual
+present composes his features for crying, and the leader of the
+chorus then setting up a loud and piteous howl, which lasts about
+a minute, is joined by all the rest, who shed abundant tears
+during the process.&nbsp; So decidedly is this a matter of form,
+unaccompanied by any feeling of sorrow, that those who are not
+relatives shed just as many tears as those that are; to which may
+be added that in the instances which we witnessed there was no
+real occasion for crying at all.&nbsp; It must therefore be
+considered in the light of a ceremony of condolence, which it
+would be either indecorous or unlucky to omit.</p>
+<p>I have already given several instances of the little care
+these people take in the interment of their dead, especially in
+the winter season; it is certain, however, that this arises from
+some superstitious notion, and particularly from the belief that
+any heavy weight upon the corpse would have an injurious effect
+upon the deceased in a future state of existence; for even in the
+summer, when it would be an easy matter to secure a body from the
+depredations of wild animals, the mode of burial is not
+essentially different.&nbsp; The corpse of a child observed by
+Lieutenant Palmer, he describes &ldquo;as being laid in a regular
+but shallow grave, with its head to the north-east.&nbsp; It was
+decently dressed in a good deer-skin jacket, <!-- page 191--><a
+name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>and a
+seal-skin, prepared without the hair, was carefully placed as a
+cover to the whole figure, and tucked in on all sides.&nbsp; The
+body was covered with flat pieces of limestone, which, however,
+were so light that a fox might easily have removed them.&nbsp;
+Near the grave were four little separate piles of stones, not
+more than a foot in height, in one of which we noticed a piece of
+red cloth and a black silk handkerchief, in a second a pair of
+child&rsquo;s boots and mittens, and in each of the others a
+whalebone pot.&nbsp; The face of the child looked unusually clean
+and fresh, and a few days only could have elapsed since its
+decease.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>These Esquimaux do not appear to have any idea of the
+existence of One Supreme Being, nor indeed can they be said to
+entertain any notions on this subject, which may be dignified
+with the name of Religion.&nbsp; Their superstitions, which are
+numerous, have all some reference to the preternatural agency of
+a number of <i>to&#333;rng&#335;w</i>, or spirits, with whom, on
+certain occasions, the Angetkooks pretend to hold mysterious
+intercourse, and who in various and distinct ways are supposed to
+preside over the destinies of the Esquimaux.&nbsp; On particular
+occasions of sickness or want of food the Angetkooks contrive, by
+means of a darkened hut, a peculiar modulation of the voice, and
+the uttering of a variety of unintelligible sounds, to persuade
+their countrymen that they are descending to the lower regions
+for this purpose, where they force the spirits to communicate the
+desired information.&nbsp; The superstitious reverence in which
+these wizards are held, and a considerable degree of ingenuity in
+their mode of performing their mummery, prevent the detection of
+the imposture, and secure implicit confidence in these absurd
+oracles.&nbsp; My <!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 192</span>friend Captain Lyon having
+particularly directed his attention to this part of their history
+during the whole of our intercourse with these people, and
+intending to publish his Journal, which contains much interesting
+information of this nature, I shall not here enter more at large
+on the subject.&nbsp; Some account of their ideas respecting
+death, and of their belief in a future state of existence, have
+already been introduced in the course of the foregoing pages, in
+the order of those occurrences which furnished us with
+opportunities of observing them.</p>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF THE THIRD VOYAGE FOR THE
+DISCOVERY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE***</p>
+<pre>
+
+
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