REMAINS OF ESQUIMAUX HOUSES. 459 



order from Belcher. Both vessels were to be aban- 

 doned. 



Two distant travelling parties were already out on 

 searching expeditions. Word was left at a proper point 

 for their guidance. Then, having fitted the Intrepid's 

 engines so that she could be got under steam in two 

 hours, having stored both ships with provisions, and 

 made them in every respect " ready for occupation/ ' Kel- 

 lett ordered the hatches to be calked down, all hands 

 looked their last on the Resolute and Intrepid, and on 

 the 15th of May, 1854, they started, with sledges, for 

 Beechey Island, where their unexpected arrival caused 

 much surprise to the officers and crew of the Investi- 

 gator, who had preceded them. 



All this time the other division of the squadron, 

 consisting of the Assistance and Pioneer, under Sir 

 Edward Belcher, which, as we have seen, sailed north 

 on the day before Kellett sailed west, namely, on the 

 14th of August, 1852, had been engaged in exploring 

 Wellington Channel. Having reached latitude 76 52', 

 and longitude 37 west, the vessels came to anchor 

 in a locality near Cape Beecher, which was chosen for 

 their winter quarters. Boat and sledge explorations to 

 the northward were commenced on the 23d of August. 

 On the 25th, when rounding a point where the coast 

 suddenly turns to the eastward, the remains of several 

 well-built Esquimaux houses were discovered. " They 

 were/' says Belcher, " not simply circj.es of small 

 stones, but two lines of well-laid wall in excavated 

 ground, filled in between by about two feet of fine 

 gravel, well paved, and, withal, presenting the appear- 

 ance of great care more, indeed, than I am willing to 

 attribute to the rude inhabitants or migratory Esqui- 

 maux. Bones of deer, wolves, seals, etc., were numer- 

 ous, and coal was found. }) There is no mention of any 



