Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1

by Sir William Edward Parry

CHAPTER IV.

Hoppner's Inlet entered and surveyed by the Boats.—Continuity of Land there determined.—Proceed to examine another Opening leading to the Westward.—Favourable Appearance of a continued Passage in that direction.—Meet with some Esquimaux.—Arrival in Ross Bay, being the Termination of Lyon Inlet.—Discovery and Examination of various Creeks.—Return to the Ships, after finding the Land entirely continuous.—Some Account of the Natural History of this Part of the Coast.

A thick fog unfortunately coming on just before we left the ships, prevented us from making choice of any part of the land which might be the most likely to afford a passage to the northward and westward. We could only, therefore, direct our course northerly, with tolerable certainty, by a compass bearing previously taken on board, and by occasionally obtaining an indistinct glimpse of the land through the fog. Having rowed four miles, we came to a high point, round which we turned rather to the westward, and then landed a little beyond it.

The tents were struck at thirty minutes past three A.M. on the 7th and our course directed, up the inlet, the weather being calm and tolerably clear. At three miles and a quarter we passed on our starboard hand a point of land, which, from the bright colour of the rocks, composed chiefly of feldspar, obtained the name of Red Point.

Opposite to Red Point was a small opening, which we next proposed to examine. We had not, however, advanced a mile within the entrance when the boats grounded, the water becoming more and more shoal within. As it was plain that no passage could here be found for the ships, which alone it was my present object to discover, I did not choose to wait for the flowing of the tide to enable us farther to explore this place, but determined to prosecute our examination of the other parts of the coast without delay. There were here a great number of stones placed in an upright position in every conspicuous spot, many of them looking like men at a distance. These marks are generally placed without regard to regularity, but there were here several lines of them about fifty yards in length, the stones being four or five yards apart, and each having a smaller one placed on its top. Having rowed out of the inlet, we landed at six P.M. in a little bay just outside of the last night's sleeping-place, pitching the tents on a fine shingly beach, which was the kind of ground we usually looked out for towards the conclusion of the day, as affording the softest bed, consistently with dryness, that nature supplies in this country. Of such a convenience the men were not sorry to avail themselves, having rowed above thirty miles since the morning.

The boats were launched at daylight on the 8th, and we soon came to a much more promising opening on the same shore, about a mile wide at the entrance, and leading directly to the westward. After rowing four miles in that direction, we arrived at the mouth of a bay from three to five miles wide, out of which there did not appear the least chance of discovering an outlet. As nothing, however, but rowing round the bay would satisfactorily determine this, we were proceeding to do so, when we observed in the northern corner something like a low point overlapping the high land at the back. Towards this spot we steered, as the readiest way of completing the circuit of the bay, and half a mile short of it landed to breakfast.

In the mean time I sent Mr. Ross to one hill, and ascended another myself, expecting to save the time and trouble of rowing into the nook. I was not a little astonished to find, from my own and Mr. Ross's observations, that there was on the other side of the point a broad and apparently navigable channel, through which the tide was setting to the northward, at the rate of three or four miles an hour. I am thus minute in the discovery of this channel, which afterward promised to be of no small importance, to show how nearly such a place may be approached without the slightest suspicion being entertained of its existence, and the consequent necessity of close examination wherever a passage is to be sought for.

We continued our examination, and I despatched Mr. Sherer to the ships for a fresh supply of provisions. On his return on the 10th we proceeded to the westward. In running along the coast with a fresh and favourable breeze, we observed three persons standing on a hill, and, as we continued our course, they followed us at full speed along the rocks. Having sailed into a small sheltered bay, I went up, accompanied by Mr. Bushnan, to meet them on the hills above us. In sailing along the shore we had heard them call out loudly to us, and observed them frequently lift something which they held in their hands; but, on coming up to them, they remained so perfectly mute and motionless, that, accustomed as we had been to the noisy importunities of their more sophisticated brethren, we could scarcely believe them to be Esquimaux. There was, besides, a degree of lankness in the faces of the two men, the very reverse of the plump, round, oily cheeks of those we had before seen. Their countenances at the time impressed me with the idea of Indian rather than of Esquimaux features; but this variety of physiognomy we afterward found not to be uncommon among these people. The men appeared about forty and twenty-two years of age, and were accompanied by a good-looking and good-humoured boy of nine or ten. They each held in their hand a sealskin case or quiver, containing a bow and three or four arrows, with a set of which they willingly parted, on being presented with a knife in exchange. The first looks with which they received us betrayed a mixture of stupidity and apprehension, but both wore off in a few minutes on our making them understand that we wished to go to their habitations. With this request they complied without hesitation, tripping along before us for above two miles over very rough ground, and crossing one or two considerable streams running from a lake into the sea. This they performed with so much quickness that we could with difficulty keep up with them, though they good-naturedly stopped now and then till we overtook them. We were met on our way by two women, from twenty to twenty-five years of age, having each a child at her back; they too accompanied us to their tent, which was situated on a high part of the coast overlooking the sea. It consisted of a rude circular wall of loose stones, from six to eight feet in diameter and three in height, in the centre of which stood an upright pole, made of several pieces of fir-wood lashed together by thongs, and serving as a support to the deerskins that formed the top covering. Soon after our arrival we were joined by a good-looking, modest girl of about eight, and a boy five years old. Of these nine persons, which were all we now saw, only the elder man and two of the children belonged to this tent, the habitations of the others being a little more inland. The faces of the women were round, plump, tattooed, and, in short, completely Esquimaux. The kayak or canoe belonging to this establishment was carefully laid on the rocks close to the seaside, with the paddle and the man's mittens in readiness beside it. The timbers were entirely of wood, and covered, as usual, with sealskin. Its length was nineteen feet seven inches, and its extreme breadth two feet; it was raised a little at each end, and the rim or gunwale of the circular hole in the middle was high, and made of whalebone. A handsome sealskin was smoothly laid within as a seat, and the whole was sewn and put together with great neatness. The paddle was double, made of fir, and the ends of the blades tipped with bone, to prevent splitting.

The fireplace in the tent consisted of three rough stones carelessly placed on end against one side, and they had several pots of lapis ollaris for culinary purposes. These people seemed to us altogether more cleanly than any Esquimaux we had before seen, both in their persons and in the interior of their tent, in neither of which could we discover much of that rancid and pungent smell which is in general so offensive to Europeans. One instance of their cleanliness which now occurred, deserves, perhaps, to be noticed, both because this is justly considered rather a rare quality among Esquimaux, as well as to show in what way they do sometimes exercise it. When leaving the tent to return to our boats, I desired one of the seamen to tie the articles we had purchased into a single bundle, for the convenience of carrying them; but the elder of the two male Esquimaux, who watched the man thus employed, would not permit it to be done without excluding a pot, which, as he explained by wiping the lampblack off with one of his fingers, would soil a clean sealskin jacket that formed part of the bundle.

Among the few domestic utensils we saw in the tent was the woman's knife of the Greenlanders described by Crantz, and resembling, in its semicircular shape, that used by shoemakers in England. The most interesting article, however, was a kind of bowl, exactly similar to that obtained by Captain Lyon from the natives of Hudson's Strait, being hollowed out of the root of the musk-ox's horn. As soon as I took the cup in my hand, the boy who was our first companion, and had since been our constant attendant, pronounced the word oomingmuk, thus affording an additional confirmation to that obtained on the former voyage, of the musk-ox being the animal described by the natives of the west coast of Greenland as having occasionally, though rarely, been seen in that country.

As soon as the Esquimaux became a little more familiar with us, they repeatedly asked for sowik (iron), in answer to which we gave them to understand that they must accompany us to our boats if they wished to obtain any of this precious article. Accordingly, the whole group set off with us on our return, the males keeping up with us, and the women a short distance behind. The whole of the children carried bundles of the branches of ground willow, which we had just before seen them bring in for their own use, and which they seemed to consider an article of barter that might be acceptable to us. As we returned I noticed a quantity of the ledum palustre, and, having plucked some of it, gave it to the boy to carry; after which, though he very much disliked its smell, he gathered every root of it that we came to, and deposited it at our tents. This lad was uncommonly quick and clever in comprehending our meaning, and seemed to possess a degree of good-humour and docility which, on our short acquaintance, made him a great favourite among us.

We had hitherto been much pleased with our new acquaintance, who were certainly a good-humoured, decent sort of people. We therefore loaded them with presents, and endeavoured to amuse them by showing them the manner of rowing our boats, which were hauled up on the beach. While the men and children were occupied in observing this, the women were no less busily employed, near the tents, in pilfering and conveying into their boots some of our cups, spoons, and other small articles, such as they could conveniently secrete. This they accomplished with so much dexterity, that no suspicion would have been excited of their dishonesty had not Mr. Sherer fortunately missed a cup which was required for supper. A general search being instituted in consequence, and the cargo of the women's boots brought back to our tents, I directed all our presents to be likewise taken from the two offenders; and, dismissing the whole party with great appearance of indignation, thus put an end, for the present, to our communication with these people.

We spent the two next days in exploring a creek which we called CULGRUFF, and another on the opposite or eastern shore, which received the name of NORMAN'S CREEK, and returned to the Hecla on the evening of the 14th.

I learned from Captain Lyon that the Hecla had just anchored at her present station, the Fury still remaining at the former place, into which the ice had lately come so thick as to require the assistance of all hands from both ships to warp and tow the Hecla out. Proceeding with a fresh boat's crew towards the Fury, which we found close beset by thick and heavy ice, we succeeded, after much difficulty, in hauling the boat through it, and arrived on board at ten P.M.

As soon as the tide would serve in the offing on the morning of the 15th, we weighed, and, by means of warping and towing, in which we were assisted by Captain Lyon's boats, succeeded in joining the Hecla at her anchorage at three P.M.