Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of the Arctic Sea in 1846 and 1847

e-Flett Portage-Corrigal Lake-Fish-Deer-scaring stones-White wolf-Stony Portage-View of the sea-Exploring parties sent in advance-Their report-Long Portage-Difficult tracking-Miles Lake-Muddy Lake-Ric

ast-Danger from the ice-Irregular rise of the tide-Deer on the ice-Fruitless efforts to proceed northward-Cross over to Melville Peninsula-Gale-Again stopped by the ice-Da

face, the form on each being nearly the same, viz. a number of curved lines drawn from between the eyebrows up over the forehead, two lines across the cheek from near the nose towards the ear, and a number of diverging curved lines from the lower lip towards the chin and lower jaw. Their hands and arms were much tatooed from the tip of the finger to the shoulder. Their hair was collected in two large bunches, one on each side of the head; and a piece of stick about ten inches long and half-an-inch thick being placed among it, a strip of different coloured deer-skin is wound round it in a spiral form, producing far from an unpleasing effect. They all had

st returned from hunting deer, in which they had been successful, having dr

Island, and still wore round her wrist some beads which she had obtained from these

red in our little land-locked harbour, the party, assisted by

variation of the compass by an azimuth was 58° 37' 30" W. This I afterwards found to be erroneous, probably arising from local attraction. The rate

no better occupation for their teeth. At half-past nine P.M. the men returned from the boat, having been absent since half-past seven in the morning. They had with much labour dragged her three miles through a succession of rapids, the channel being so obstructed with large boulder stones and rocks, that the most of the party were obliged to be almost

these fish was over, as they had now returned to deep water. The evening was cloud

d breakfast they carried each a load

he had eaten some when on board Captain Parry's ships. I remained at our landing-place until the afternoon to obtain some observations. That for latitude gave a result different only 4" from that of yesterday. Having engaged three Esquimaux to carry up some things that were s

nd in some places thirty fathoms deep. The lake, as well as the stream up which we had come, was named after our boat. We now turned to the westward and entered a narrow passage one-and-a-half miles long, which connects the lake we had passed through with the next one; the current was strong,

of the baggage. This portage, which I named after Flett, one of the steersmen, was half a mile long; and being in some places soft and in others stony, it was half-past four before we were afloat in the lake on the other side of it. It being calm, great numbers of fish were seen in this small body of water, which was narrow and only two-and-a-half miles long, with a deep bay on each side, which gave it the form of a T. It received the name of Corrigal, after one of my men. We lost our way here for a shor

l like glue) at 20 minutes after 6, and embarked on what I then supposed was another lake, but which afterwards turned out to be a portion of the second lake we had entered, and the largest body of fres

route, and whilst on my way to some high ground in order to ascertain

addened with a sight of what we so anxiously looked for, but the view was far from flattering to our hopes. The sea, or rather the ice on its surface, was seen apparently not more than twelve miles distant, bearing north; but there was not a pool of open water visible. It was

ose who went to the N.W. reported that there was a small stream flowing tow

ch a quarter of a mile, and traverse a lakelet one mile in extent, before we reached the body of water which the men had traced to its outlet. It was half

much more steep and rugged than any we had yet passed, being in some places two or three hundred feet high. It is situated in latitude 66° 55' N., and longitude 87° 35' W. We fo

ly drawn out and doubled up, so that it was necessary to remove the whole. At half-past 10, when half-way across, we breakfasted, after which we met with a bank of snow, over which we went at a great rate. The latitude, 66° 59' 37" N., was observed. Near the extremity of the portage there were some ponds of water deep enough to float the boat, that helped us not a little. The descent of a steep bank fully a hundred feet high brought us into another fine lake eight miles long and one mile broad, lying nearly north and south, with steep rocky shores on its west side: the place where we came upon its waters was about three miles from its southern extremity. This lake was named "M

kfast, and the latitude 67° 4' 22" N., variation of the compass 66° 38' W., were observed. The shores of this lake, being covered with a rich pasturage and a great variety of flowers, afforded a pleasing contrast to the country we had hitherto travelled through. There were great numbers of marmots here, with a wel

ks of two Esquimaux

stream we had descended empties its waters in

d woman made her appearance, apparently just out of bed, as she was very coolly drawing on her capacious boots, whilst she surveyed her visitors without showing the slightest symptoms of alarm, although I afterwards learned that I was the first European she had ever seen. An old man soon after popped out his head alongside that of his better half, who appeared to be endowed with a flow of language which set all his efforts to say anything at defiance. A few trifling presents put us all, in a few minutes, on a most friendly footing. Their report of the state of the ice in the large bay before us was far from encou

dward Hutchison, Peter Mathieson, Jacques St. Germain, and William Ouligbuck. We now passed for two miles through a narrow channel-not more than 40 yards wide-among pieces of ice which were carried along with great rapidity by the ebb tide that had just commenced; this led us into the deep inlet which we had seen on the 29th ult. This inlet I named after Donald Ross, Esq., Chief-Factor. We found but little open water; by keeping near the rocks, however, we made some progress northward by using our ice-poles, and after advancing a mi

ury or Sir John Ross's steamer the Victory) as there were holes in it bored with an auger. After working our way a mile or two further, we arrived at a high rocky cape having three elevations upon it lying east and west from each oth

ing 8? feet, and the depth of water within a hundred yards

n a foot of the surface. At 4 P.M. the ice was too closely packed to allow us to proceed; we therefore turned towards the shore, and after some trouble effected a landing. The fog still continued so thick, that, after wandering about for a

their dismal howlings, were seen prowling about; and a white-winged silvery gull

ward, passing a few low sandy points about a mile and a half from each other, which formed a succession of small bays, into each of which a ravine with high and steep mud banks opened, down which a streamlet of pea-soup-coloured water flowed. We fell in with the heads and horns of several musk cattle and reindeer, and saw recent footmarks of some of the latter, but they had probably been driven some distance away by the

in the afternoon it fell to 48°; and in the evening

than the one we had left, for as soon as the tide began to ebb large pieces of our "enemy" broke away and fell with a loud crash close alongside of us. It was high-water this morning at 3 o'clock, the rise of the tide being 11 feet 6 inches, whilst that of yesterday evening was only 5? feet, an irregularity resembling that which was observed by Captain S

farthest, I determined to retrace our route, and if possible cross over to Melville Penins

ricate ourselves; and after some hours of hard labour in chopping off some points of ice, and pushing aside s

o the poor deer had little chance of escape from his biped and quadruped enemies when acting in concert. After a long chase he was shot whilst swimming from one floe to another. Having pulled and poled along shore all night, we landed for breakfast at 8 h. 30 m. A.M., on the 6th, about three mil

Peninsula, which bore east (true) of us, distant ten miles, and after threading our way among much heavy and close-packed floes, which obliged

inlet on its south side. To this point I gave the name of Cape T

the boat to the rocks, and the men although drenched to the skin went immediately to slee

renewed our voyage, but our progress was very slow, having our old opponent to contend with; in four hours we gained as many miles and were again stopped. Seeing some deer near the beach, we lande

tely barred us from the shore), and made fast to the largest of them. In getting this far we were in much danger from the falling, or breaking off, of overhanging masses (some of them 20 feet in height), which were crashing all around us, and under which we had frequently to pass. At 5 A.M. our floe got afloat, and began driving to leeward at a great rate. We just got the boat clear in time to prevent its being crushed against a berg that still remained

ossible. On pushing out to sea it soon became apparent that we could not proceed on our course, and that there was but little open water in the direction from whence we had come, and even tha

g, which now appeared inevitable. The weather continued so much overcast that no observations could be obtained. In the afternoon a light breeze sprang up from W.N.W., which enabled us to reach in a short time Ross Inlet, where we had some trouble in finding the entrance of the river on account of the altered appearance of the rocks, it being now nearly low water and the shore clear of ice, compared with what it formerly was. We h

The old people had during our absence been joined by the musk-ox hunters, two fine young active-looking fellows (named Ark-shuk and I-vit-chuck) and their wives. These women were the cleanest and best-looking I had yet seen. They were tatooed much in the same way as those at Repulse Bay. The hunters said they had been unsuccessful, but as each o

case, I prepared to walk across to Repulse Bay to see what progress the party left there had made in their

ny great distance, as we were forced to make long circuits to avoid precipices and arms of lakes. After a most fatiguing day's march over hill and dale, through swamp and stream, we halted at half-past 6 P.M. close to the second portage crossed

eep was neither long, sound, nor refreshing. In fact I had carried no coat with me except a thin Macintosh, which, being damp fro

t of yesterday, but we had the advantage of a cool morning and got on more easily. At 7 o'clock we arrived at the narrows which separate Christie and North Pole Lakes, where we found the greater number of the Esquimaux we had s

ites, but rather foot-sore, our shoes and socks having been