﻿258 YOUNG MEN. August, 



said that now was the first time that they had 

 seen white men. They do not go as far as the 

 mouth of the Mackenzie, and dread their turbulent 

 countrymen in that quarter. 



As none of the ponds or ditches which intersect 

 Point Atkinson in all directions contain drinkable 

 water, we were on first landing at some loss. The 

 old woman, however, had told us that her people 

 procured water from the seaward side of the sand- 

 hills, and, by following a path which led in that 

 direction, we discovered three wells, carefully built 

 round with drift-timber, below high-water mark; 

 which, when we first saw them, were completely 

 sanded up. On clearing them out water contami- 

 nated with fetid whale oil flowed in abundantly, but 

 this being repeatedly drawn off, until the sur- 

 rounding sand was washed from its impurities, we 

 at length obtained tolerable water for making tea. 

 These wells are evidently supplied from rain falling 

 on the sand-hills, and kept up to the level at which 

 we found it by the pressure of the sea. 



August 6th. — The old woman whom we first 

 saw, another still older, and an aged blind man, 

 came to the village this day ; and in the afternoon 

 three fine young men brought some ducks, which 

 we purchased from them. They were eager to sell 

 water-fowl for buttons, beads, or any trifle we chose 

 to off'er, and our crews eventually obtained a con- 



