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

imaux method of catching seals-A concert-Lateness of the summer-A native salmon-wear-Salmon spear-Boulders on the surface of the ice-Visited by a native from

oofs of our houses. They were obliged even to go to work during the night, and notwithstanding all the care that was taken, two of the boats' yards were broken, and the masts very nearly shared a like fate, as the post placed under them gave way. For so great a quantity of sno

ged for the better, although the thermometer was as low as +12°. On this day the first geese (laughing geese) and some sandpipers were seen, and one of each was shot. As the partridges were migrating northward about thir

y had all behaved well, not having committed any thefts that could be discovered. We had, however, one most incorrigible thief among our party, Ouligbuck's son, who, during the few days of his fathers absence, was twice caught with the old man's bale open, eating sugar; some toba

returned to the Almighty for His protection th

requent showers of snow. House very damp; th

n, &c., removed from the meat store (which was now dropping much from

considerable stream of water running on the ice of North Pole River, formin

h it still blew a gale; however, as the day advanced the wind b

ss of destruction was fast going on among the snow and ice. The lat

cross them. In attempting to get near some geese this day I sunk to the waist amidst snow and water, and

clothes, &c. to the summer tents, which had been pitched about 300 yards nearer the shore. Two leather tents we

t of our first batch was well baked, but the floor of the oven was not sufficiently warm to bake the lower part. It

°. The water of North Pole Lake had broken through its barrier of snow and ice, and

id throughout its whole length, with not an eddy to stop in, they came down at rather a quick rate, but were compelled to stop within a few hundred yards of the salt water, on account of

could not be ascertained. Our old friends were accompanied by three strangers, viz., an old man and two young ones, with their wives and families. Our tra

ice. He and one or two more old men were nearly starved to death last winter, being so much reduced that they could not walk. Twenty-three sa

patience and is very fatiguing, as the hunter must lie flat on his face or on his side, and advance towards the seal by a series of motions resembling those of the animal itself. He has frequently to proce

le, springs up and intercepts its return. The women are very expert at this mode of hunting, and

round which, when it is to be used, a wet parchment deer skin is stretched. In beating this rough instrument, the hoop, not the skin, is struck. The performer being in the centre of the tent, keeps turning slowly round, whilst four or five women add their voices to the execrable so

hing station, and three young men and their wives, went the following day to an island four mi

be seen in Repulse Bay; the snow had nearly all disappeared, and the various streams had shrunk to their lowest level. Now there was not a pool of water in the bay, except where the en

orry for, as the Esquimaux said that the ice in the bay woul

ore at this season, are by this means, during the ebb of the tide, cut off from the sea, and are easily speared. About sixty were thus killed this day. The spear used is usually made of two diverging pieces of musk-ox horn, from 4 to 5 inches apart at the extremities; between these there is a prong of bone about 3 or 4 inches

boots for sale. The tins which contained preserved meat, and table knives and forks, were in great demand among these good folks. One of the ladies

from the shore opposite the mouth of the river, but

is. At the commencement of winter the ice layer acquiring considerable thickness, had become frozen to the stones lying on the bottom, and raised them up when the tide came in. The stones would get gradually enclosed in the ice as it grew thicker by repeated freezings, whilst by the process of evaporation, which goes on very rapidly in the spring, the upper surface was continua

umber of walruses, and some black whales, with two small boats; that the walruses were put in "cache" for them (the Esquimaux), who were rather short of provisions at the time, and that they received the skins of the whales. They had abundance of provisions last winter, but were visited by a very fatal d

eir canoes capsized and broken, and the whole party drowned. Another poor fellow having early in the winter harpooned a walrus through a hole in the ice,

the winter between this and the Frozen Strait, through which a strong current runs with the flow and ebb of the ti

wives from the same quarter, accompanied by Akk

st of the other savage tribes of America, and never thought of looking out for food, so long as they could get enough to support

er habitations, which are usually formed in dry sandy banks, as soon as the snow has in a great measure disappeared, and

tle effect on the ice in the bay, which still remained hard and fa

rrier between us and the south point, although a passage to the northward might easily have been made. The nets produced eighty salmon, the gr

as it was much lighter, and passed over and round the nets with more facility. Notwithstanding its continued use on a rocky shore, it never required the slightest re

by the Esquimaux with their baggage, which it took

ice. There were a great many seals in the open water,

omewhat abated, and the weather cleared up. Great havoc was made among the

om the ground having been converted into solid ice soon after the spring thaw commenced, we had to dig out the chain and anchor of one of the boats, which were buried under ice of that thi

, and shot two young deer; St. Germain and Mineau set the nets for a supply of salmon, a

ed with ice, but in the bay ther

TNO

acid being finely powdered and dry, are to be well mixed together; this mixture being well wrought up with the dry flour, the water is to be