Lyon, and requested him to move the ships, when practicable, into some more secure situation, I left the Fury, accompanied by Mr. Ross and Mr. Sherer, taking with us our tents, blankets, and stove, together with four days' provisions and fuel.

CHAPTER IV.

Hoppner's Inlet entered and surveyed by the Boats.- Continuity of Land there determined.-Proceed to examine another Opening leading to the Westward.-Favouarble Appearance of a continued Passage in that direction. Meet with some Esquimaux.-Arrival in Ross Bay, being the termination of Lyon Inlet.-Discovery and Examination of various Creeks.-Return to the Ships, after finding the Land entirely continuous.Some Account of the Natural History of this part of the Coast.

A THICK fog unfortunately coming on just before we left the ships, prevented us from making choice of any part of the land which might be the most likely to afford a passage to the northward and westward. We could only, therefore, direct our course northerly, with tolerable certainty, by a compass-bearing previously taken on board, and by occasionally obtaining an indistinct glimpse of the land through the fog. Having rowed four miles, we came to a high point, round which we turned rather to the westward, and then landed a little beyond it.

The tents were struck at thirty minutes past three A.M. on the 7th and our course directed up the

inlet, the weather being calm and toleraoly clear. At three miles and a quarter we passed on our starboard hand a point of land, which, from the bright colour of the rocks, composed chiefly of feldspar, obtained the name of Red Point.

Opposite to Red Point was a small opening, which we next proposed to examine. We had not, however, advanced a mile within the entrance when the boats grounded, the water becoming more and more shoal within. As it was plain that no passage could here be found for the ships, which alone it was my present object to discover, I did not choose to wait for the flowing of the tide to enable us farther to explore this place, but determined to prosecute our examination of the other parts of the coast without delay. There were here a great number of stones placed in an upright position in every conspicuous spot, many of them looking like men at a distance. These marks are generally placed without regard to regularity, but there were here several lines of them about fifty yards in length, the stones being four or five yards apart, and each hav ing a smaller one placed on its top. Having row. ed out of the inlet, we landed at six P.M. in a little bay just outside of the last night's sleeping-place, pitching the tents on a fine shingly beach, which was the kind of ground we usually looked out for towards the conclusion of the day, as affording the softest bed, consistently with dryness, that nature supplies in this country. Of such a convenience the men were not sorry to avail themselves, having rowed above thirty miles since the morning.

The boats were launched at daylight on the 8th, and we soon came to a much more promising open.

ing on the same shore, about a mile wide at the entrance, and leading directly to the westward. After rowing four miles in that direction, we arrived at the mouth of a bay from three to five miles wide, out of which there did not appear the least chance of discovering an outlet. As nothing, however, but rowing round the bay would satisfactorily determine this, we were proceeding to do so, when we observed in the northern corner something like a low point overlapping the high land at the back. Towards this spot we steered, as the readiest way of completing the circuit of the bay, and half a mile short of it landed to breakfast.

In the mean time I sent Mr. Ross to one hill, and ascended another myself, expecting to save the time and trouble of rowing into the nook. I was not a little astonished to find, from my own and Mr. Ross's observations, that there was on the other side of the point a broad and apparently navigable channel, through which the tide was setting to the northward, at the rate of three or four miles an hour. I am thus minute in the discovery of this channel, which afterward promised to be of no small importance, to show how nearly such a place may be approached without the slightest suspicion being entertained of its existence, and the consequent necessity of close examination wherever a passage is to be sought for.

We continued our examination, and I despatched Mr. Sherer to the ships for a fresh supply of provisions. On his return on the 10th we proceeded to the westward. In running along the coast with a fresh and favourable breeze, we observed three persons standing on a hill, and, as we continued our

course, they followed us at full speed along the rocks. Having sailed into a small sheltered bay, I went up, accompanied by Mr. Bushnan, to meet them on the hills above us. In sailing along the shore we had heard them call out loudly to us, and observed them frequently lift something which they held in their hands; but, on coming up to them, they remained so perfectly mute and motionless, that, accustomed as we had been to the noisy importunities of their more sophisticated brethren, we could scarcely believe them to be Esquimaux. There was, besides, a degree of lankness in the faces of the two men, the very reverse of the plump, round, oily cheeks of those we had before seen. Their coun tenances at the time impressed me with the idea of Indian rather than of Esquimaux features; but this variety of physiognomy we afterward found not to be uncommon among these people. The men

appeared about forty and twenty-two years of age, and were accompanied by a good-looking and goodhumoured boy of nine or ten. They each held in their hand a sealskin case or quiver, containing a bow and three or four arrows, with a set of which they willingly parted, on being presented with a knife in exchange. The first looks with which they received us betrayed a mixture of stupidity and apprehension, but both wore off in a few minutes on our making them understand that we wished to go to their habitations. With this request they complied without hesitation, tripping along before us for above two miles over very rough ground, and crossing one or two considerable streams running from a lake into the sea. This they performed with so much quickness that we could with difficulty keep

up with them, though they good-naturedly stopped now and then till we overtook them. We were met on our way by two women, from twenty to twenty-five years of age, having each a child at her back; they too accompanied us to their tent, which was situated on a high part of the coast overlooking the sea. It consisted of a rude circular wall of loose stones, from six to eight feet in diameter and three in height, in the centre of which stood an upright pole, made of several pieces of fir-wood lashed together by thongs, and serving as a support to the deerskins that formed the top covering. Soon after our arrival we were joined by a good. looking, modest girl of about eight, and a boy five years old. Of these nine persons, which were all we now saw, only the elder man and two of the children belonged to this tent, the habitations of the others being a little more inland. The faces of the women were round, plump, tattoed, and, in short, completely Esquimaux. The kayak or canoe belonging to this establishment was carefully laid on the rocks close to the seaside, with the paddle and the man's mittens in readiness beside it. The tim. bers were entirely of wood, and covered, as usual, with sealskin. Its length was nineteen feet seven inches, and its extreme breadth two feet; it was raised a little at each end, and the rim or gunwale of the circular hole in the middle was high, and made of whalebone. A handsome sealskin was smoothly laid within as a seat, and the whole was sewn and put together with great neatness. paddle was double, made of fir, and the ends of the blades tipped with bone, to prevent splitting.

The

The fireplace in the tent consisted of three rough