RAE'S LAND EXPEDITION 251 



to another, being propelled by the women, who use 

 small paddles for the purpose. 



On the 13th, Chesterfield Inlet was passed. Walruses 

 were here seen. " They were grunting and bellowing," 

 says Rae, "making a noise which I fancy would much 

 resemble a concert of old boars and buffaloes." At the 

 head of Repulse Bay, where they landed on the 25th, 

 they fell in with more Esquimaux, and procured from 

 them some seal-skin boots. When about to put o.n a 

 pair of these boots, says Rae, " one of our female visit- 

 ors, noticing that the leather of the foot was rather 

 hard, took them out of my hands, and began chewing 

 them with her strong teeth." By this process they 

 were softened for the wearing. 



They quitted the head of Repulse Bay, in latitude 

 66 32' north, and succeeded in conveying one of their 

 boats to the southern extremity of the Gulf of Akkolee, 

 in latitude 61* 13' north. They found a chain of lakes 

 lying across the isthmus, and derived great aid from it 

 in the conveying of the boat. They proceeded along 

 the coast of the Gulf of Akkolee till the 5th of August, 

 and the} 7 observed the tides to be, on the average, far 

 higher than in the Polar Sea, but exceedingly irregular, 

 and varying in rise from four to ten feet ; and already 

 they began to entertain a strong presumption that 

 Boothia, after all, is a peninsula of the American main- 

 land. But they were utterly baffled in their progress 

 by ice and fogs and northerly winds, and felt obliged to 

 return at about latitude 67 30' north, and spend the 

 winter at Repulse Bay. There they built a house, and 

 procured a stock of provisions by hunting and fishing, 

 principally reindeer and salmon ; and, excepting what 

 was used for cooking, they had no fuel throughout the 

 winter. The sporting-book for September showed that 

 they had been diligent : sixty-three deer, five hares, 



