We found here a considerable quantity of small willows such as are brought down by the rivers we had hitherto seen, and hence we judged that a river discharges itself into the bottom of this bay. A paddle was also found which Augustus on examination declared to be made after the fashion of the White Goose Esquimaux, a tribe with whom his countrymen had had some trading communication as has been mentioned in a former part of the narrative.
This morning we passed the embouchure of a pretty large stream and saw the vestiges of an Esquimaux encampment not above a month old. Having obtained the latitude 68° 6′ 40″ North we recommenced our voyage under sail, taking the precaution to embark all the pieces of willow we could collect, as we had found the driftwood become more scarce as we advanced. Our course was directed to a distant point which we supposed to be a cape, and the land stretching to the westward of it to be islands, but we soon found ourselves in an extensive bay from which no outlet could be perceived but the one by which we had entered. On examination however from the top of a hill we perceived a winding shallow passage running to the north-west which we followed for a short time and then encamped, having come twenty-three miles north by east half east.
Some articles left by the Esquimaux attracted our attention; we found a winter sledge raised upon four stones, with some snow-shovels and a small piece of whalebone. An ice-chisel, a knife and some beads were left at this pile. The shores of this bay, which I have named after Sir George Warrender, are low and clayey and the country for many miles is level and much intersected with water, but we had not leisure to ascertain whether they were branches of the bay or freshwater lakes. Some white geese were seen this evening and some young gray ones were caught on the beach being unable to fly. We fired at two reindeer but without success.
On August 14th we paddled the whole day along the northern shores of the sound, returning towards its mouth. The land we were now tracing is generally so flat that it could not be descried from the canoes at the distance of four miles and is invisible from the opposite side of the sound, otherwise a short traverse might have saved us some days. The few eminences that are on this side were mistaken for islands when seen from the opposite shore; they are for the most part cliffs of basalt and are not above one hundred feet high; the subjacent strata are of white sandstone. The rocks are mostly confined to the capes and shores, the soil inland being flat, clayey, and barren. Most of the headlands showed traces of visits from the Esquimaux but none of them recent. Many ducks were seen, belonging to a species termed by the voyagers from their cry caccawees. We also saw some gray geese and swans. The only seal we procured during our voyage was killed this day; it happened to be blind and our men imagining it to be in bad health would not taste the flesh; we however were less nice.
We encamped at the end of twenty-four miles’ march on the north-west side of the bay to which I have given the name of my friend Captain Parry, now employed in the interesting research for a North-West Passage. Driftwood had become very scarce and we found none near the encampment; a fire however was not required as we served out pemmican for supper and the evening was unusually warm.
On the following morning the breeze was fresh and the waves rather high. In paddling along the west side of Parry’s Bay we saw several deer but, owing to the openness of the country, the hunters could not approach them. They killed however two swans that were moulting, several cranes and many gray geese. We procured also some caccawees which were then moulting and assembled in immense flocks. In the evening, having rounded Point Beechy and passed Hurd’s Islands, we were exposed to much inconvenience and danger from a heavy rolling sea, the canoes receiving many severe blows and shipping a good deal of water, which induced us to encamp at five P.M. opposite to Cape Croker which we had passed on the morning of the 12th; the channel which lay between our situation and it being about seven miles wide. We had now reached the northern point of entrance into this sound which I have named in honour of Lord Viscount Melville, the first Lord of the Admiralty. It is thirty miles wide from east to west and twenty from north to south, and in coasting it we had sailed eighty-seven and a quarter geographical miles. Shortly after the tents were pitched Mr. Back reported from the steersman that both canoes had sustained material injury during this day’s voyage. I found on examination that fifteen timbers of the first canoe were broken, some of them in two places, and that the second canoe was so loose in the frame that its timbers could not be bound in the usual secure manner, and consequently there was danger of its bark separating from the gunwales if exposed to a heavy sea. Distressing as were these circumstances they gave me less pain than the discovery that our people, who had hitherto displayed in following us through dangers and difficulties no less novel than appalling to them a courage beyond our expectation, now felt serious apprehensions for their safety which so possessed their minds that they were not restrained even by the presence of their officers from expressing them. Their fears we imagined had been principally excited by the interpreters, St. Germain and Adam, who from the outset had foreboded every calamity; and we now strongly suspected that their recent want of success in hunting had proceeded from an intentional relaxation in their efforts to kill deer in order that the want of provision might compel us to put a period to our voyage.
I must now mention that many concurrent circumstances had caused me during the few last days to meditate on the approach of this painful necessity. The strong breezes we had encountered for some days led me to fear that the season was breaking up and severe weather would soon ensue which we could not sustain in a country destitute of fuel. Our stock of provision was now reduced to a quantity of pemmican only sufficient for three days’ consumption and the prospect of increasing it was not encouraging for, though reindeer were seen, they could not be easily approached on the level shores we were now coasting, besides it was to be apprehended they would soon migrate to the south. It was evident that the time spent in exploring the Arctic and Melville Sounds and Bathurst’s Inlet had precluded the hope of reaching Repulse Bay, which at the outset of the voyage we had fondly cherished, and it was equally obvious that, as our distance from any of the trading establishments would increase as we proceeded, the hazardous traverse across the barren grounds which we should have to make if compelled to abandon the canoes upon any part of the coast would become greater.
I this evening communicated to the officers my sentiments on these points as well as respecting our return and was happy to find that their opinions coincided with my own. We were all convinced of the necessity of putting a speedy termination to our advance as our hope of meeting the Esquimaux and procuring provision from them could now scarcely be retained, but yet we were desirous of proceeding until the land should be seen trending again to the eastward, that we might be satisfied of its separation from what we had conceived, in passing from Cape Barrow to Bathurst’s Inlet, to be a great chain of islands. As it was needful however at all events to set a limit to our voyage I announced my determination of returning after four days’ examination, unless indeed we should previously meet the Esquimaux and be enabled to make some arrangement for passing the winter with them. This communication was joyfully received by the men and we hoped that the industry of our hunters being once more excited we should be able to add to our stock of provision.
It may here be remarked that we observed the first regular return of the tides in Warrender’s and Parry’s Bays, but their set could not be ascertained. The rise of water did not amount to more than two feet. Course today south one quarter east-nine miles and a quarter.
August 16.