PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 13$ 



Welcome. They speedily entered Repulse Bay, in 

 which modern speculation had cherished the hope of a 

 passage ; but a short investigation made by boats in 

 every direction proved that it was really, as Middleton 

 had described it, completely enclosed. A good deal of 

 time had thus been lost through the scepticism so un 

 justly attached to the narrative of that eminent seaman. 



The appearance of the shores of Repulse Bay was far 

 from uninviting. " The surrounding land rose from six 

 or seven hundred to a thousand feet, and there was no 

 want of vegetation usually found in this part of the 

 Arctic regions, and in many parts it was extremely lux- 

 uriant." Reindeer and hares were plentiful ; so were 

 ducks, dovekies, and snow-buntings. Several black 

 whales also were observed in the bay. In one spot the 

 remains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations 

 were found, consisting of stones laid one over the other, 

 in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter ; 

 besides about a hundred artificial structures, fireplaces, 

 store-houses, and other walled enclosures four or five 

 feet high, used for keeping their skin- canoes from being 

 gnawed by the dogs. In various parts of the shore 

 were found numbers of circles of stones, which were 

 supposed to have been burying-places, a human skull 

 being found near one of them. 



Leaving Repulse Bay, Parry began the career of dis- 

 covery along a coast hitherto unknown. An inlet was 

 soon observed, and called by the name of Gore ; but 

 was not found to extend far into the interior. At the 

 mouth of this opening, the valleys were richly clad 

 with grass and moss, the birds singing, butterflies and 

 other insects displaying the most gaudy tints, so that 

 the sailors might have fancied themselves in some hap- 

 pier climate, had not the mighty piles of ice in the 

 Frozen Strait told a different tale. 



