Part 7 (1/2)
The isthmus which connects the land to the north with the continent is only one mile broad, and even in this short s.p.a.ce there are three small ponds. From the great number of stone marks set up (the only ones that I saw on this part of the coast), I am led to infer that this is a deer-pa.s.s in the autumn, and consequently a favourite resort of the natives. Its lat.i.tude is 69 31' N., longitude by account 91 29' 30” W.
This latter differs only a mile or two from that of the same place as laid down by Sir James C. Ross, with whose name I distinguished the isthmus, calling the land to the northward Sir John Ross's Peninsula.
After going down to the ice in Hardy Bay, and offering with a humble and grateful heart thanks to Him who had thus brought our journey so far to a successful termination, I began to retrace my steps towards my companions.
At a late hour I reached our snow hut, an excellent roomy one, in which we could lie in any position; no trifling comfort after a walk of more than forty miles over a rough road.
It was 7 o'clock the following morning before we started. The weather was pleasant, and the thermometer 12 below zero. Having taken possession of our discoveries with the usual formalities, we traced the inlet eastward, the sh.o.r.es of which were steep and rugged, in some places precipitous. When we had walked four miles the land on our left turned up to the northward, leaving an opening in that direction more than two miles wide, bounded on the south-east by one or more islands.
This inlet I named after that celebrated navigator and discoverer Sir John Franklin, whose protracted absence in the Arctic Sea is at present exciting so much interest and anxiety throughout England. The most distant visible point was called Cape Thomas after a relative. The land on our right still trended to the east for two miles, and then turned to the south. After walking seven miles in this last direction, and pa.s.sing two small bays and as many points, we stopped for the night. Here we were fairly puzzled about the proper route, there being so many inlets and small bays that it was impossible to tell which was the one we ought to follow. The day had become very warm, the thermometer rising as high as +26 in the sun, and as we were now travelling south, we found the reflection from the snow much more painful to the eyes than when proceeding north. The lat.i.tude of our snow house was 69 22' N., longitude 91 3' W., both by account. The thermometer -19 in the evening; cold water and pemmican for supper, and kettles of snow for bedfellows.
The morning of the 20th was cold, but calm; thermometer -24. We commenced our day's march at 2h. 30m. A.M., and in twenty minutes arrived at the head of the inlet where I hoped to find a pa.s.sage. Seeing that it would be madness to trace all the indentations of this most irregular coast, (for had a couple of days' stormy weather ensued we should all have run the risk of starving,) I struck over land towards our snow hut of the 17th.
This was the most fatiguing and at the same time the most ludicrous march we had experienced. As our route lay across several ranges of hills, we had no sooner climbed up one side than we had to slide down the other. To descend was not always an easy matter, as there were often large stones in the way, past which we required to steer with great care, or if a collision was unavoidable, to manage so as not to injure ourselves. Corrigal appeared to be an old hand at this sort of work, and I had had some practice, but poor Flett, who had begun to suffer much from inflammation of the eyes, got many queer falls, and was once or twice placed in such situations with his head down hill, his heels up, and the strap of his bundle round his neck, that it would have been impossible for him to get up by his own unaided exertions.
After crossing a number of small lakes, we arrived at the steep sh.o.r.es of Halkett Inlet about 11 o'clock, having been eight hours in walking as many miles. We crossed the inlet, and as it had now begun to blow a fresh breeze we stopped at a small bay, well sheltered, to take some rest, and obtain a meridian observation of the sun. The lat.i.tude was 69 16' 44” N., variation of the compa.s.s 76 45' W. We were so fortunate as to find here some heather by sc.r.a.ping away the snow, and we enjoyed the luxury of a cup of chocolate, which refreshed us very much.
We now resumed our march, and the walking being good and the day fine we made rapid progress, although somewhat detained by the lameness and blindness of Flett, who stumbled at every inequality of the ground, and received some severe falls. After advancing two miles we came opposite to a clear opening to the north-eastward, in which nothing but rough ice could be seen. This was evidently the termination of the continent in this direction. At 4 P.M. we arrived at our snow hut in the small bay between the Twins. It was not my intention to remain here all night, but the lameness of our companion prevented us from continuing our journey.
Whilst I went to search for fuel, Corrigal enlarged our snow house. I found a little fuel, with which we contrived to thaw as much snow as gave each of us nearly half-a-pint of water. The remainder of our provisions, amounting to a few ounces of pemmican each, was fairly divided, and having eaten part of this we betook ourselves to rest.
21st.--Having pa.s.sed a far from pleasant night, and used the last of our alcohol to procure some water as a diluent for our not very plentiful breakfast, we started at a little before 2 A.M. There was a strong breeze from N.W. with thick drift occasionally, and a temperature of -20, but the wind being on our backs it was rather an advantage than otherwise. We directed our course straight for the island on which we had left the rest of the party, and which could be seen at intervals when the snow drift cleared away.
Flett being still very lame, I desired Corrigal to remain in company with him, whilst I went on alone to order some provisions to be prepared by the time they came to the snow house. The ice being smooth, and the snow on its surface hard, I made rapid progress until within about five miles of our temporary home. Here I observed some strange looking figures on the ice, which the thickness of the weather prevented me from seeing distinctly. On a nearer approach I found that what had puzzled me was a number of Esquimaux spears, lances, &c. stuck on a heap of snow; and immediately afterwards four Esquimaux came from behind a mound of ice, holding up their hands to show that they were unarmed. The natives of this part of the coast bear a very bad character, and are much feared by their countrymen of Repulse Bay. I therefore was not quite sure what sort of reception I might meet with, as my men were not in sight and I was quite unarmed. But to antic.i.p.ate evil is often the most likely way to cause it, so I went directly up, and saluted them with their usual term for peace (teyma), shaking hands with all after the fas.h.i.+on of our own country. They all shouted out Manig Tomig, which are the words mentioned by Sir John Ross as the form of salutation employed by the natives of Boothia Felix. A very animated conversation soon ensued, in which I bore but a very small share; but as I appeared to be a good listener, and put in a negative or affirmative every now and then when there appeared to be a necessity for saying something, we got on very well together.
We were soon joined by an old woman who took upon herself the office of mistress of the ceremonies, and commenced with great volubility to give me the names of the men, which were as follows:--A-li-ne-a-yuk, Kag-vik, Tag-na-koo and Nu-li-a-yuk; the first being old, the second middle aged, and the two last young men of about twenty-five. They were all married, and were much more forward in their manners and dirty in their persons and dress, than our friends of Repulse Bay. They were very anxious for me to enter their huts, but this I thought it prudent to decline, and after much persuasion and promises of knives, needles, beads, &c. I prevailed on them to follow me to our snow house.
A little more than an hour brought me to our encampment, where I found Adamson quite well but all alone, Ivitchuk and the boy being out looking for seals. They had not met with any Esquimaux, and no animals of any kind had been killed, Ivitchuk standing so much in awe of his countrymen that he was afraid to stay out seal-hunting during the night, which is the only time that these animals are to be caught at that season of the year. I found that much more of our stock of provisions had been used than there was any occasion for--in fact, the appearance of the men shewed that they had been on full allowance.
About an hour after my arrival, Corrigal and Flett made their appearance, accompanied by the four Esquimaux that I had seen and a boy.
A few trifling presents were made them, and they promised to return on the following day with oil, blubber, &c. to barter with us. It blew a gale all the evening, with the thermometer 21 below zero.
The morning of the 22d was fine with a temperature of -20, but during the day it blew hard with drift. Our party kept in bed rather longer than usual, and we were visited by the Esquimaux before we had got up.
They brought a quant.i.ty of seal's flesh, blood, and blubber, which I was about to purchase from them when the thermometer was reported as missing. I immediately shut the box containing the valuables, and intimated that they should receive nothing unless the thermometer was given up. After about ten minutes' delay one of the women brought in the lost article, saying, that the dogs had pulled it down and carried it off,--a very probable story certainly; but having obtained what I wanted I cared little who might be the thief.
A brisk traffic was soon commenced for oil, seals, blubber, flesh and blood, for which knives, files, beads, needles, &c. were given. We also obtained half a dozen dried salmon and a small piece of dried musk-ox flesh, both very old and mouldy. These Esquimaux were found to be much more difficult to deal with than our friends of Repulse Bay, being very forward and much addicted to stealing. They had undoubtedly had communication with the natives of Boothia Felix, as there were many of their weapons, and parts of their sledges formed of oak. I also observed some small pieces of mahogany among them. One of the strangers proved to be an uncle of Ivitchuk.
It continued to blow hard in the evening with a temperature of -15.
Preparations were made for examining the sh.o.r.es of the bay in which, by Esquimaux report, we now were.
23d.--This was another stormy and cold day until the afternoon, when it became fair. We were again visited by our neighbours, who brought us a further and very acceptable supply of seals' flesh and blood, and also two fine dogs to complete our teams, one or two of those we had being still very weak.
When about to make a tour round the bay, I learnt from one of the natives that a complete view of its sh.o.r.es could be obtained from the summit of the island on which we were. I found also that a chart which he made of the bay agreed very closely with one drawn by the natives of Repulse Bay, who had visited the place. The evening being beautifully clear, I took with me the Esquimaux, one of the men, and the interpreter to the highest point of the island, from which I obtained a distinct view of the whole bay, except a small portion immediately under the sun.
The sh.o.r.es were high and regular in their outline, and being, in most places, to a certain extent denuded of snow, they were much more clearly seen than could have been expected. The bay appeared to extend 16 or 18 miles slightly to the east of south, and was about 11 miles wide near its head. Its surface was studded with a number of dark-coloured rocky islands. The highest of these was the one on which we were staying, and was found by measurement to be 730 feet above the level of the sea. It was called Helen Island, whilst the group to which it belonged was named after Benjamin Harrison, Esq. one of the Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Esquimaux pointed out the direction in which two rivers near the head of the bay lay. These rivers, of which I took the bearings by compa.s.s, were said to be of no great size, and frozen to the bottom in winter. The bay was honoured with the name of Sir John H. Pelly, Bart., Governor of the Company.
The morning of the 24th was as beautiful as could be desired, with the thermometer at -15. There was a gentle air from the east, and the horizon being very clear, I again obtained a fine view of the bay.
Having abundance of blubber for dogs' meat and fuel, and as much seals'
flesh and blood for ourselves as at half allowance would serve us for six or seven days, I determined to trace the sh.o.r.es of the land across which we had travelled on our outward journey.
For this purpose, both men and dogs being now much recruited, we started at 8h. 30m. A.M. and took a N.E. by E. course towards the eastern sh.o.r.e of the bay, which, having a western exposure, was much enc.u.mbered with rough ice. We had some trouble in getting over this, but found it more smooth along the sh.o.r.e, which trended due north. Finding that our sledges were too heavily laden, we left on the ice a quant.i.ty of our oil and blubber. Here we made a mistake in retaining the fresh fat of the seal, instead of that which had become somewhat rancid, as we found that, although the dogs ate the latter with avidity, they would scarcely taste the former. This Ivitchuk well knew, but he was too stupid to tell me of it at the time. One of our dogs that had done his work well since leaving Repulse Bay, had become so weak that he could scarcely walk. We endeavoured to coax him on, but unsuccessfully; it was therefore thought advisable to leave him where we had lightened our load, as he would have provisions for at least a fortnight, if not a.s.sisted by other animals, and before that time he would very likely be found by the Esquimaux. A meridian observation gave lat.i.tude 68 50' 46” N., variation 78 56' W.