with a good stock of tea, sugar, and chocolate, but only four gallons of brandy and two gallons of port wine, as I was well aware of the bad effects of spirits in a cold climate. Considering that we were to be absent fifteen or perhaps twenty-seven months, our quantity of provisions (amounting in all to little more than four months' consumption at full allowance) was not very great.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The male and female of the northern diver (colymbus glacialis) resemble one another so much that it is very difficult to distinguish the one from the other. The immature bird has often been described by ornithologists as the female.
CHAPTER II.
Depart from Churchill—A gale—Anchor in Knap's Bay—Land on an island—Esquimaux graves—Visited by Esquimaux—A large river running into Knap's Bay—Nevill's Bay—Corbet's Inlet—Rankin's Inlet—Cape Jalabert—Greenland whales seen—Chesterfield Inlet—Walruses—Cape Fullerton—Visited by an Esquimaux—Reefs—Cape Kendall seen—Ice packed against the shore—Take shelter in an excellent harbour—River traced—Seals—Gale—Ice driven off—Direction of the tides reversed—Whale Point—Many whales seen—Again stopped by the pack—Wager River estuary—Ice drifts—Eddy currents—No second opening into Wager River seen—Enter Repulse Bay—Interview with Esquimaux—No intelligence of Sir John Franklin.
Having taken on board Ouligbuck and one of his sons as Esquimaux interpreters, and bid adieu to Mr. Sinclair, who, during our stay, had omitted nothing that could in any way tend to the comfort of the party, we set sail at 11 o'clock on the 5th July with a light air of N.N.E. wind, and stood to the westward across Button's Bay. The weather was fine, and to enliven the scene numbers of white whales were seen sporting about, and sometimes coming within a few yards of the boats. The men were all in excellent health and spirits, there not being a melancholy look nor a desponding word to be seen or heard among them.
At 3.30 P.M. we passed Pauk-a-thau-kis-cow River, and the wind having freshened and shifted round to the S.E. we had run upwards of forty miles before 10 o'clock. The temperature of the air was 49°, and of the water 50°, thus showing that there was little or no ice in the neighbourhood.
The night being fine we continued under sail, the crews being divided into two watches. The land had now become much lower than it was about Churchill, and the coast very flat; so that it was necessary to keep six or eight miles from the land when the tide was out; and even then, although the boats drew only two and a half feet water, there was little enough for them. The bottom was of mud, sand, or shingle, with every here and there a large boulder stone, some of them ten or twelve feet high.