Sailing northward along the coast, the ships were soon stopped by the ice. While they remained stationary, a party of natives was discovered on shore, who proved to be their neighbors of Winter Island. They were cordially greeted by the officers and seamen as old acquaintances, and loaded with presents. On leaving the ships, one of them sent Captain Parry a piece of seal skin as a present, without the least prospect or expectation of a return. We mention this trifling incident, merely because it was the first and only undeniable proof of gratitude observed among these people.
Slowly and painfully our navigators pursued their course northward, always with difficulty and often with great danger. On the 12th of the month, they discovered the mouth of a considerable river, and Captain Parry went on shore to examine it. The water was fresh, and the stream varied in breadth from four hundred yards to the third of a mile. After ascending a mile and a half, the Captain heard the roar of a waterfall. At the mouth, the banks of the river were about two hundred feet high, but here they rose much higher, and the water ran on a more elevated level. As Captain Parry proceeded inland, he found the stream rushing with great fury over two small cataracts. Then turning a right angle of the river, he perceived a greater spray, occasioned by a very magnificent fall. Where the stream begins its descent it is contracted to the breadth of one hundred and fifty feet, the channel being worn in a solid bed of gneiss rock. After falling about fifteen feet, at an angle of thirty degrees, the river is again narrowed to forty yards, and as if collecting its strength for a great effort, is precipitated ninety feet, in one unbroken mass. A cloud of spray rises from the cataract, surmounted by an uncommonly vivid rainbow. The basin which receives the fall is circular and about four hundred yards in diameter, rather wider than the river immediately below. Above the cataract, the stream winds in the most romantic manner imaginable among the hills, with a smooth and unruffled surface. To this beautiful water-course Captain Parry gave the name of Barrow’s River. Its entrance is in latitude 67 deg. 18 min. 05 sec., and longitude 81 deg. 25 min. 20 sec.
The next day large herds of walrusses were seen upon the drift ice, and all the boats were sent to kill some for the sake of the oil. The sportsmen found them lying huddled together, piled upon one another. They waited quietly to be shot, and were not greatly alarmed even after one or two volleys. They suffered the people to debark on the ice near them, but on their near approach displayed a somewhat pugnacious purpose. After they got into the water three were struck with harpoons and killed. When first wounded, they were quite furious: one of them resolutely attacked Captain Lyon’s boat, and injured it with his tusks. Those which remained uninjured surrounded the wounded animals, and struck them with their tusks; whether to assist their escape, or with a hostile intention, cannot be ascertained. Two of the animals killed were females, and one weighed over fifteen hundred pounds, which was not considered an uncommon bulk. The strength of the walrus is very great. One of them being touched with an oar, seized it with his flippers, and snapped it with the utmost ease. Many of these animals had young ones, which, when assailed, they carried off, either between their flippers or on their backs. They were most easily killed with musket-balls, even after being struck with the harpoon, as their skins are so tough as to resist a whaling lance.
On the 15th, the ships reached Igloolik, for the situation of which we refer our readers to the map. Here they found a new band of Exquimaux, who proved to be the acquaintances and relatives of those of Winter Island. These people dwelt not in snow huts, but in tents, made of the skins of the walrus and seal, the former shaved thin enough to allow the transmission of light. They were clumsily made, and supported by a kind of tent-pole, constructed by tying bones or deer’s horns together. The edges of the tents were kept down by placing stones upon them. To keep the whole fabric erect, a thong was extended from the top to a large stone at the distance of a few yards. These abiding places had little appearance of affording comfort or convenience.
From these people Captain Parry learned that he had unquestionably been coasting the continent. He then determined to attempt to penetrate a large inlet, stretching west-ward from Igloolik, which, at the time of his arrival, was closed by a fixed barrier of ice, and which he named The Strait of the Fury and Hecla. We shall not follow the navigators in their arduous but unsuccessful efforts to penetrate west-ward at this point, as we have already alloted more space to their adventures than consists with our intended limits. Suffice it to say, that after persevering in the attempt till the 30th of September, they found themselves as far from the attainment of their object as at first. The cold weather then setting in, they were compelled to lay the ships up at Igloolik.
One important point was settled, however, beyond the possibility of doubt. Finding his researches ineffectual by water, Captain Parry undertook to explore the Strait of the Fury and Hecla by land. He found it continuous, and pursued his journey far enough to see the open sea beyond, thus proving the existence of a passage at this point, though it was then, and probably ever will be, closed by an insurmountable barrier of ice. Besides this result of his endeavors, the position of Cockburn Island, and indeed of all the lands adjacent to Igloolik, was ascertained, and correctly laid down on the map.
Besides the Esquimaux found at Igloolik, our friends had the society of the savages of Winter Island, who rejoined them shortly after their arrival. We are sorry that we cannot relate the adventures and observations of this winter, as they are extremely entertaining; but as they are not important in their nature, we trust to be excused for omitting them.
Igloolik is a low island, ten miles long and six broad, and exhibits the same appearance of sterility as the adjacent continent, excepting in places which have been inhabited by the natives. There, the accumulation of animal substances has produced a luxuriant vegetation. In some parts there are spots several hundred yards in extent, covered with bright green moss. The whole land seems to be composed of innumerable fragments of thin schistose limestone, some of which contain the impressions of fossil remains, while others present the cellular structure usually found in madreporite. The interior is almost an entire swamp; but there are rising grounds, which, with the remains of Esquimaux habitations upon them, are excellent landmarks.
East of Igloolik is a group of small islands called by Captain Parry Calthorpe Islands. Like almost all the land in this vicinity, they are low, but their geology differs from that of Igloolik, and resembles that of Winter Island, being composed of gneiss. Two of this group, however, are high and rugged. From the top of one of these there is a view of the adjacent shores.
The entrance of the Strait of the Fury and Hecla is about three miles wide, and is formed by two projecting headlands between which the tide rushes with great velocity. The south shore is high, but of gradual ascent, perfectly smooth and composed of beautifully variegated sand-stone. Beyond the entrance the land is bold and mountainous. Captain Parry, who it will be remembered explored the southern shore of the Strait, states the hills to consist of gray gneiss and red granite, rising, in some instances, a thousand feet above the level of the sea. In some places he saw slate, and in others sand-stone. He has left no positive data, by which we may determine the length of this Strait; but as he was rather more than a day in accomplishing the distance on foot, by a circuitous route, we may conclude that it does not exceed fifteen or twenty miles. From the point where his journey terminated he saw a continuous sea to the westward, open and unobstructed save by ice and by one small island.