﻿1848. POINT ENCOUNTER. 235 



ward, which resembled an artificial barrow, having 

 a conical form, with very steep sides and a trun- 

 cated summit. This summit, in some points of 

 view, presented three small points, in others, only- 

 two, divided from one another by an acute notch. 

 In the afternoon I landed on Richard's Island, which 

 rises about one hundred and fifty or two hundred 

 feet above the water, has an undulated grassy 

 surface, and is bordered by clayey or sandy cliffs 

 and shelving beaches. The main shore has a 

 similar character. The channel varies in depth 

 from two to six fathoms, but is full of sand-banks, 

 on which the boats frequently grounded. 



At ten in the evening we encamped on Point 

 Encounter, in latitude 69° 16' N., and set a watch 

 at the boats, and also on the top of the bank, which 

 is here nearly two hundred feet high. The tide 

 ebbed at the encampment, from seven in the evening 

 till half an hour after midnight. The ensign was 

 planted on the summit of the cliff all the evening, 

 and was no doubt seen by the Eskimos, who were in 

 our neighbourhood, and most probably reconnoitred 

 our encampment, but we saw nothing of them. 



The readers of the narrative of Sir John Frank- 

 lin's Second Overland Journey will recollect that 

 off this point the Eskimos made a fruitless attempt 

 to drag the boats of the eastern detachment on 

 shore, for the purpose of plundering them. 



