After obtaining an observation for latitude, we embarked, and continued our course along the coast until we came to the extremity of a cape, which was formed by an island separated from the main by a shallow channel. The cliffs of this island were about forty feet high, and the snow which had accumulated under them in the winter, was not yet dissolved, but, owing to the infiltration and freezing of water, now formed an inclined bank of ice, nearly two-thirds of the height of the cliff. This bank, or iceberg, being undermined by the action of the waves, maintained its position only by its adhesion to the frozen cliffs behind it. In some places large masses had broken off and floated away, whilst in others the currents of melting snow floating from the flat land above, had covered the ice with a thick coating of earth; so that at first sight it appeared as if the bank had broken down; the real structure of the iceberg being perceptible only where rents existed. In a similar manner the frozen banks, or icebergs, covered with earth, mentioned by Lieutenant Kotzebue, in his voyage to Behring Straits, might have been formed. Had the whole mass of frozen snow broken off from this bank, an iceberg would have been produced thirty feet wide at its base, and covered on one side to the depth of a foot, or more, with black earth. The island was composed of sand and slaty clay, into which the thaw had not penetrated above a foot. The ravines were lined with fragments of compact white limestone, and a few dwarf-birches and willows grew on their sides. The sun's rays were very powerful this day, and the heat was oppressive, even while sitting at rest in the boat; the temperature of the air at noon being, in the shade, 62°, and that of the surface water, where the soundings were three fathoms, 55°.
Immediately after rounding the cape, which was named after His Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, we entered a channel ten miles wide, running to the eastward, with an open horizon in that direction; and a doubt arose as to whether it was a strait, or merely a bay. Many large masses of ice were floating in it, which proved to us that it had considerable depth; but the water being only brackish, excited a suspicion that there was no passage through it. While we were hesitating whether to hazard a loss of time by exploring the opening, or to cross over at once to the northern land, several deer were seen, and the hope of procuring a supply of fresh meat, induced us to put ashore and encamp for the night, that the hunters might go in chase. The beach here was strewed with fragments of dark-red sandstone, white sandstone, white compact limestone, and a few pieces of syenite. There were many large trunks of spruce-firs lying on the sand, completely denuded of their bark and branches; and numerous exuviæ of a marine crustaceous animal (gammarus borealis) lay at high water mark. Our hunters were successful, Ooligbuck and M'Leay each killing a deer. Many of these animals had fled to the cool moist sands on the coast, but even there the musquitoes tormented them so much as to render them regardless of the approach of the hunters. The latitude of our encampment was 70° 7', longitude 127° 45'; and the length of the day's voyage twenty-three miles. The temperature varied from 52° to 63°. By watching the motion of the tide for the greater part of the night, I fully satisfied myself that the ebb set out of the opening, and that the flood came round the land on the north side; hence I concluded that there could be no passage to the eastward in this direction, and that the opening led into a bay, to which the name of Harrowby was given, in honour of the Right Honourable the Earl of Harrowby.
Tuesday, 18th.Embarking on the 18th at three in the morning, we set the sails to a favourable though light breeze, and using the oars at the same time, crossed Harrowby Bay, at its mouth. During the traverse, land was seen round the bottom of the bay. On nearing the shore we distinguished twelve Esquimaux tents on an eminence; and a woman who was walking on the beach gave the alarm, but not until we were near enough to speak to her, her surprise having fixed her to the spot for a time. The men then rushed out, brandishing their knives, and, using the most threatening expressions, forbade us to land, and desired us to return by the way we came. Ooligbuck endeavoured to calm their fears, by telling them that we were friends, but they replied only by repeating their threats, and by hideous grimaces and gestures, which displayed great agility; frequently standing on one foot and throwing the other nearly as high as the head. At length on my bawling "noowœrlawgo," (I wish to barter,) they became quiet at once, and one of them running to his kaiyack, and paddling off to us, was followed by many of the others, even before they could witness the reception we gave him. They came boldly alongside, and exchanged their spears, arrows, bows, and some pieces of well-dressed seal-skin, for bits of old iron-hoop, files and beads. They were not so well furnished with iron-work as the Esquimaux we had seen further to the westward, and very eagerly received a supply from us. In our intercourse with them we experienced much advantage from a simple contrivance suggested by Mr. Kendall, and constructed during our halt in Refuge Cove: it was a barricade formed by raising the masts and spare oars eighteen inches above the gunwale on two crutches or davits, which not only prevented our Esquimaux visitors from stealing out of the boats, but, in the event of a quarrel, could have been rendered arrow proof by throwing the blankets or sails over it. On a light breeze springing up we set the sails, and continuing to ply the oars, advanced at the rate of four miles an hour, attended by eleven kaiyacks. Three oomiaks with the women followed us, and we found that, when rowed by two women, and steered by a third, they surpassed our boats in speed.
The females, unlike those of the Indian tribes, had much handsomer features than the men; and one young woman of the party would have been deemed pretty even in Europe. Our presents seemed to render them perfectly happy, and they danced with such ecstasy in their slender boats as to incur, more than once, great hazard of being overset. A bundle of strings of beads being thrown into an oomiak, it was caught by an old woman, who hugged the treasure to her breast with the strongest expression of rapture, while another elderly dame, who had stretched out her arms in vain, became the very picture of despair. On my explaining, however that the present was for the whole, an amicable division instantly took place; and to show their gratitude, they sang a song to a pleasing air, keeping time with their oars. They gave us many pressing invitations to pass the night at their tents, in which they were joined by the men; and to excite our liberality the mothers drew their children out of their wide hoods, where they are accustomed to carry them naked, and holding them up begged beads for them. Their entreaties were, for a time, successful; but being desirous of getting clear of our visitors before breakfast-time, we at length told them that our stock was exhausted, and they took leave.
These Esquimaux were as inquisitive as the others we had seen respecting our names, and were very desirous of teaching us the true pronunciation of theirs. They informed us that they had seen Indians, and had heard of white people, but had never seen any before. My giving a little deer's meat to one of them in exchange for fish, led to an inquiry as to how we killed the animal. On which Ooligbuck showed them his gun, and obtaining permission, fired it off after cautioning them not to be alarmed. The report astonished them much, and an echo from some neighbouring pieces of ice made them think that the ball had struck the shore, then upwards of a mile distant. The women had left us previously; several of the men departed the instant they heard the report; and the rest, in a short time, followed their example. They applied to the gun the same name they give to their harpoons for killing whales.
We learned from these people that the shore we were now coasting was part of the main land, and that some land to the northward, which appeared soon after we had passed their tents, consisted of two islands; between which and the main shore, there was a passage leading to the open sea. On landing to cook breakfast and obtain a meridian observation for latitude, we observed the interior of the country to be similar to that seen from Nicholson's Island. The soil was in some spots sandy, but, generally, it consisted of a tenacious clay which cracks in the sun. The air was perfumed by numerous tufts of a beautiful phlox, and of a still handsomer and very fragrant cruciform flower, of a genus hitherto undescribed.
On re-embarking we pulled about eight miles farther betwixt the islands and the main, and found a narrow opening to the sea nearly barred up. The bottom was so soft and muddy that the poles sunk deep into it, and we could not carry the cargo ashore to lighten the boats. We succeeded, however, in getting through, after much labour, and the moment we crossed the bar, the water was greenish, and perfectly salt. The cape forming the eastern point of this entrance lies in latitude 70° 36' N., longitude 127° 35' W. and proved to be the most northerly part of the main shore which we saw during the voyage. It is a few miles farther north than Return Reef of Captain Franklin, and is most probably, with the exception of the land near Icy Cape, since discovered by Captain Beechey, in the Blossom, the most northern point of the American Continent. It was called Cape Bathurst, in honour of the Right Honourable the Earl of Bathurst, and the islands lying off it were named after George Baillie, Esq., of the Colonial Office. I could not account in any other way for the comparative freshness of the sheet of water we had left, than by supposing that a sand-bank extended from Cape Dalhousie to Baillie's Islands, impeding the communication with the sea, and this notion was supported by a line of heavy ice which was seen both from Cape Bathurst and Cape Dalhousie, in the direction of the supposed bar, and apparently aground.
Taking for granted that the accounts we received from the natives were (as our own observations led us to believe) correct, Esquimaux Lake is a very extensive and curious piece of water. The Indians say that it reaches to within four days' march of Fort Good Hope; and the Esquimaux informed us that it extends from Point Encounter to Cape Bathurst, thus ascribing to it an extent from north to south of more than one hundred and forty miles, and from east to west of one hundred and fifty. It is reported to be full of islands, to be every where brackish; and, besides its communication with the eastern branch of the Mackenzie, to receive two other large rivers. If a conjecture may be hazarded about the original formation of a lake which we had so few opportunities of examining, it seems probable that the alluvial matters brought down by the Mackenzie, and other rivers, have gradually formed a barrier of islands and shoals, which, by preventing the free access of the tide, enables the fresh water to maintain the predominance behind it. The action of the waves of the sea has a tendency to increase the height of the barrier, while the currents of the rivers and ebb-tide preserve the depth of the lake. A great formation of wood-coal will, I doubt not, be ultimately formed by the immense quantities of drift-timber annually deposited on the borders of Esquimaux Lake.
FOOTNOTES:
[8]The ridge-poles were omitted in the section by mistake.