Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1825, 1826, and 1827

by John Franklin; Sir John Richardson

The Esquimaux seemed to hold a consultation on the beach after we left them; but, as none attempted to follow us immediately, we enjoyed the respite from their forwardness and clamour, which had become very harrassing, particularly to Mr. Kendall and myself, who had other duties to attend to. He had full occupation in surveying and delineating the route; and as the Dolphin led the way through a shoal and intricate navigation, it was requisite that I should keep the sounding-lead constantly going, and be on the watch for any change in the appearance of the current which might indicate shoal water, the smallness of our crews preventing me from appointing any man to that service. In about an hour after leaving Point Encounter, we observed ten kaiyacks coming towards us from a cluster of islands; they soon overtook us, but kept at a reasonable distance, and no longer gave us any trouble by coming alongside. We wished to show that we had no desire to hurt them, notwithstanding their past conduct, and, therefore, began again to trade with them; yet we were naturally anxious that they should leave us before we encamped, because, from the fleetness of their kaiyacks, they could soon collect a great number of their countrymen, and give us much annoyance in the night. Our wishes were seconded by a fresh breeze of wind springing up and enabling us to set the sails, by which the crews enjoyed a rest, after fourteen hours' labour at the oars; and the Esquimaux had greater difficulty in keeping up with the increased velocity of our boats. Thinking that they would quit us as soon as they lost the hope of getting more goods, I desired Ooligbuck to tell them I would trade no more, and they accordingly, one by one, dropped behind and left us. Three followed us longer than the others, and as they were not of the party which attacked the Union, and had hitherto received nothing from us, I made each of them a small present of beads and fire-steels, when they also took leave, calling out "teymah, peechaw-ooloo," "friendship is good."

We learned in the course of the day, from the natives, that they call themselves Kitte-garrœ-oot, (inhabitants of the land near the mountains,) and that they were now on their way to a place favourable for the capture of white whales, as in the sea, which they said was many days' march distant, there was too much ice to take the black whales at this season. It also appeared that they annually ascend to the Narrows of Mackenzie River, for the purpose of trading with the Quarrellers, and were accustomed to spend their summers in a large lake of brackish water, (Esquimaux Lake,) lying to the eastward, where they occasionally meet parties of Loucheux. They informed us that the land to the eastward of Encounter Point is a collection of islands, and that there were many of their countrymen fishing in the rivers which separate them. They had heard of the Esquimaux at the mouth of the Coppermine River, and knew them by their name of Naggœ-ook-tor-mœ-oot, (or Deer-horns,) but said they were very far off, and that they had no intercourse with them; adding, that all the inhabitants of the coast to the eastward were bad people. They knew white people by the name of Kabloonacht, and Indians by that of Eitkallig, the same appellations that are used by the Esquimaux of Hudson's Bay; but their name for the black whale was different from that given to it by Ooligbuck; and they also gave names to some of their utensils which he had never heard before. Ooligbuck was not of much use as an interpreter, in our intercourse with these people, for he spoke no English; but his presence answered the important purpose of showing that the white people were on terms of friendship with the distant tribes of Esquimaux. As a boatman he was of the greatest service, being strongly attached to us, possessing an excellent temper, and labouring cheerfully at his oar.

We could not ascertain the numbers of Esquimaux we saw in the course of the day, because they were always coming and going, but we passed at least thirty tents, and had reason to believe that on some of the islands there were tents which we did not see. Four grown people is, perhaps the average number of the inhabitants of each tent. A short time before the attack on the Union, I counted forty kaiyacks round the two boats.

The wind freshened, and the night began to look stormy, as we stood across a wide sound which was open from the N.W. to the N.E., and had a depth of water varying from three to seven feet. White whales were seen; and some of the crew thought the water tasted brackish. About nine p.m. a drizzling rain came on, attended with very dark weather, which induced us to make for a round islet, with a view of encamping, and securing the boats for the night; it was skirted by shoals that prevented us from landing, and we therefore anchored the boats by poles stuck in the mud, raised the coverings of the cargo on masts and oars, so as to turn off the rain; and after eating our supper and setting a watch, we endeavoured to get some repose by lying down in our clothes, wet as they were. We had scarcely laid down, however, before the wind changed and began to blow with violence directly on the shore, so as to render it necessary for us to shift our situation without delay. An attempt was made to row the boats round to the other side of the islet, but they drifted upon the shoals in spite of the exertions of the crew, and began to strike violently. Saturday, 8th.In this perilous situation we perceived some smooth water to leeward, upon which setting the foresails, the boats were pushed over a sandy bar into two fathoms water. We then stood towards the eastern shore, and keeping in deep water, entered a small inlet, which received the name of Refuge Cove; where having made fast the boats to the beach, pitched a tent on the shore, and set a watch, we attempted a second time to obtain some rest.

We were not, however, destined to enjoy much repose that night, for we had scarcely overcome the chilliness occasioned by lying down in wet clothes, when the Union broke from her moorings in a violent gust of wind, and began to drive across the inlet towards the lee-shore, on which there was a considerable surf. Mr. Kendall and one of the crew, who were sleeping on board, to be ready in case of accident, lowered the covering with the utmost expedition, and taking the oars, kept her from driving far, until the rest of the party arrived to their assistance in the Dolphin. The boats were brought to the beach and secured, and we had again retired to rest, when the tent-pegs, although loaded with drift timber, were drawn up by the force of the wind, and the tent, drenched with rain, fell upon us. It was in vain to attempt to sleep after this, benumbed as we were by the coldness of the weather; but the rain ceasing about four in the morning of the 8th, we were enabled to make a good fire, and dry our clothes. The cargo of the boats was then landed, the wet packages spread out to dry, and the boats were drawn upon the beach so as to form, with the baggage, a three-sided breast-work, to which we could retreat, should the Esquimaux pay us a hostile visit. These arrangements being made, the tent was removed to a more sheltered spot, and we slept quietly until ten o'clock in the morning. In the night an accident happened to Mr. Kendall, which might have had fatal consequences, and alarmed us at the time exceedingly. The point of a small two-edged knife which he wore in a sheath slung from his neck, was, by his falling against one of the tent-poles, forced through the sheath into his side, exactly in the region of the heart. Through the mercy of Providence, its progress was arrested by one of the ribs, and the wound healed in the course of a few days. At noon a meridian observation was obtained, which placed the mouth of Refuge Cove in latitude 69° 29' N.; and the sun's bearing showed the variation of the magnetic needle to be 49½° easterly. The length of our voyage the preceding day was fifty-seven miles. Refuge Cove has an irregular form; its length is about two miles and a half, and its greatest width one mile. It is upwards of two fathoms deep at the entrance, and for some distance within; but a bar runs from Shoal Islet to its north side. Its shores are flat and sandy, but here and there hummocks rise abruptly to the height of one hundred feet, resembling the downs on the Norfolk coast. The sandy hummocks are bound together by the creeping fibrous roots of a species of grass, named Elymus mollis; and many of them are covered by a coat of black vegetable mould. Ruins of Esquimaux houses, that appeared to have been deserted for many years, were scattered along the borders of the cove, and much drift-timber lay on the low grounds. We saw some ducks and geese, and two of the crew went to hunt round the harbour for deer, but they had no success.

The wind having moderated in the evening, we prepared to resume the voyage, and had begun to load the boats, when I thought I saw a kaiyack paddle across the mouth of the cove. It was followed by many others, that were in succession lost behind the point, with the exception of one which seemed to return and look into the inlet. I concluded that the natives were in search of us; and, as it was desirable to have all the cargo on board when they arrived, the utmost despatch was used in loading the boats. Before this operation was completed, Mr. Kendall, on attentively examining one of the objects with his telescope, suggested that it was not a kaiyack; and accompanying me to a sandy eminence nearer the entrance of the cove, we ascertained that the whole was an optical deception, caused by the haze of an easterly wind magnifying the stumps of drift wood, over which the surf was rolling. The imagination, no doubt, assisted in completing the resemblance, but the deception, for a few minutes, was perfect.

We quitted Refuge Cove at nine o'clock in the evening, and rounding Shoal Islet, steered to the northward along the coast. The circuit of Shoal Islet was made because there was too little water to float our boats over the bar, which we had crossed the preceding evening. The temperature of the air on leaving the cove, was 36°, but it fell at midnight to 32°; and the night proved fine. When resting on our oars, the boats were drifted to the westward, by a current which we ascertained, by subsequent observations, to be the flood tide.

Sunday, 9th.After pulling along the coast for some time, the ice-blink appeared in the horizon, and about one o'clock in the morning on the 9th, we could perceive a stream of ice lying at the distance of eight or nine miles from the shore, and inclosing several small icebergs. At four o'clock, a northerly breeze springing up, brought a quantity of loose ice down upon us, and we made for the shore. This part of the coast is skirted to the distance of two miles by flat sands, on which there is not more than a foot or eighteen inches of water. The depth of water gradually increases to four fathoms, which it attains at the distance of six or seven miles from the shore, and the heavy ice we saw outside, showed that the depth there was considerable. Esquimaux winter-huts occur frequently on the coast, and the rows of drift-trees planted in the sand with the roots uppermost, in their vicinity, assume very curious forms, when seen through a hazy atmosphere. They frequently resembled a crowd of people, and sometimes we fancied they were not unlike the spires of a town just appearing above the horizon. We learnt by experience that the shore was more approachable at the points on which the Esquimaux had built, and we effected a landing at one of those places, when, having discharged the cargoes, we hauled the boats up, and pitched the tents. The water at our landing-place was fresh, but too hard to make tea; and at four or five miles from the shore, it was disagreeable to drink. Out of respect to Captain Toker of the Royal Navy, under whom I had once the honour to serve, his name was given to this Point. Mr. Kendall ascertained its latitude to be 69° 38' N.; its longitude by reckoning, 132° 18' W.; and the variation of the magnetic needle 50½ degrees easterly. The distance rowed from Refuge Cove was about twelve miles. A tide pole was erected, by which it appeared that the ebb ran from four o'clock, the time at which we landed, until ten in the morning, producing a fall of eighteen inches; but the afternoon tide did not rise so high, and at 10h. 50 minutes p.m. it was low water again, the wind blowing fresh from the northward all the time.

The vicinity of Point Toker, like the rest of the lands to the eastward of Point Encounter, consists of level sands, inclosing pieces of water which communicate with the estuary of the river, and interspersed with detached conical hills rising from one to two hundred feet above the general level. These hills are sometimes escarped by the action of the water, and are then seen to consist of sand of various colours, in which very large logs of drift-timber are imbedded. They are covered by a coat of black vegetable earth, from six inches to a foot in thickness, which shows that they cannot be of very recent formation, though at some distant period they may have been formed by the drifting of moveable sands. At present, the highest floods reach only to the foot of the hills, where they deposit a thick layer of drift-timber. One straight log of spruce fir, thirty feet long, was seven feet in circumference at the small end, and twelve a short distance above the root. The branches and bark are almost always rubbed off from the drift-timber which reaches the sea, but a few of the main divisions of the root are generally left. Various instruments tied up in bundles were suspended to poles near some of the Esquimaux houses, such as spear-heads and ice chisels made from the tooth of the narwhal, and spoons of musk-ox horn. The marine animals that frequent this part of the coast, according to the information we obtained from the Esquimaux, are, the white whale, the narwhal, large and small seals, (oggœ-ook and nat-chœ-ook,) and a species of black whale, named aggee-wœrk. There are also many sea-fish, of which the capeline (ang-mag-gœ-ook,) that abound on the shoals at this season, are most easily caught. The natives are unacquainted with sea-horses. Swans, Canada and white geese, and Arctic ducks, are numerous, and we killed several. Ooligbuck likewise killed a rein-deer, which afforded us an agreeable change of diet.

In the evening, having assembled in one of the tents, prayers were read, a practice to which we adhered on every Sunday evening during the voyage. At 10h. 45m. p.m., I lighted a piece of touchwood with a convex lens, an inch in diameter, the altitude of the sun being then 3° 6'. It is seldom that the sun in warmer climates affords so much heat at so low an altitude.