154 BEECHEY'S EXPEDITION. 



of the coast by Cape Thomson, Point Hope, Cape Lis- 

 burn, Cape Beaufort, and Icy Cape. As there were 

 here strong' indications of the ice closing in, and his 

 instructions were positive to keep in open water, if pos- 

 sible, he determined to return to Kotzebue's Sound, 

 whilst he despatched the barge, under his lieutenants, 

 to trace the coast to the north-eastward, as far as they 

 could navigate. 



On this service the barge set out," on the 17th of 

 August. She proceeded along the coast, and surveyed 

 one hundred and twenty-six miles of new shore, until 

 stopped by a long, low, projecting tongue of land, to 

 which the name of Point Barrow was given, but without 

 meeting or hearing any tidings of the expected overland 

 party ; though it was afterwards ascertained that 

 Point Barrow was distant only one hundred and forty- 

 six miles from the extreme point reached by Franklin. 



In the mean time Beechey returned with the Blossom 

 to Kotzebue's Sound. There she remained at the an- 

 chorage till October, when it became necessary to 

 depart, to prevent her being frozen in for the winter ; 

 and, after a cruise in the Pacific, she shaped her course 

 once more for the rendezvous at Chamisso Island. Dur- 

 ing the voyage to that point, where they arrived August 

 27th, 1827, Beechey and his men had repeated inter- 

 views with the Esquimaux, whose habits and disposi- 

 tion were in no respect different from those of the 

 natives already described. They found them uniformly 

 friendly, sociable, devotedly fond of tobacco, eager to 

 engage in traffic, and, upon the whole, honest, though 

 disposed to drive a hard bargain. On some occasions 

 they attempted to impose upon their customers, by 

 skins artfully put together, so as to represent an entire 

 fish ; but it was difficult to determine whether they 

 intended a serious fraud or only a piece of humor, for 



