94 REACH VILLAGE POINT. \AliyUSt, 



occupy a very conspicuous position in this narrative, I 

 may as well explain that four of these boats were sup- 

 plied for light ice-travelling, built of canvas and very 

 thin board cemented together, and weighing three hun- 

 dred pounds. A model of a Norway boat having very 

 kindly been lent to me by Captain Hamilton, the Secre- 

 tary of the Admiralty, these boats were a modification, 

 improved as the four were successively in progress of 

 building ; this, being the last, I selected, and named her 

 after my kind friend. She might be termed a brown- 

 paper boat, but did her duty well with those who knew 

 how to manage her. 



As Commander Richards would have much further 

 delay, and my operations could progress without him, I 

 pushed on for the low point in sight, being the extreme 

 seen from Mount Percy. Here we constructed a very 

 large cairn, composed principally of the remains of an 

 Esquimaux encampment, and which gained for the sta- 

 tion the name of "Village Point." This village, or en- 

 campment, was of the most substantial construction, and 

 from the remains of bones, etc., not of such great anti- 

 quity as travellers in these regions are in the habit of 

 assigning. Great ingenuity and labour had been exerted 

 in their construction. They were not superficial, but 

 their foundations were laid at least three feet below the 

 ground, a matter most difficult to execute, even with our 

 tools, at any season ! These foundations were of stone, 

 in double walls, with the interval filled in with fine clay 

 and gravel. The doors faced to the east, and evidently 

 had the long passages usually appertaining to those of 

 settled habitations in Greenland. Further, as noticed at 



