﻿310 CROSS RAE RIVER. Sept. 



best sleeping places we could find among the blocks 

 of basalt, passed a pretty comfortable night. 



We started a quarter before six on the morning 

 of the 4th, to walk round the inlet ; and Frazer 

 having sprained his knee on the preceding day, 

 we were constrained to lighten his load by leaving 

 a large hatchet, and distributing a portion of his 

 pemican among the others. Our course along the 

 inlet was south 74° west for four miles and a half, 

 when we perceived ten Eskimo tents on the opposite 

 shore. Mr. Rae and Albert went ahead of the men, 

 who were straggling very slowly along; and on 

 coming opposite to the tents, and shouting, three 

 Eskimos crossed the inlet in their kaiyaks, and cor- 

 dially consented to ferry the whole party over. This 

 small tribe have no " umiaks ;" and, as the kaiyaks 

 carry only one person, some contrivance was re- 

 quisite to render them available as ferry-boats. 

 Our friends had already learned how to effect this 

 from their intercourse with Mr. Simpson and his 

 party in 1838, viz., by placing two poles across a 

 pair of kaiyaks, and lashing them firmly together. 

 In this way a single paddler could take over a 

 sitter and his bundle. Four kaiyaks, being all 

 they could muster, were brought into requisition, 

 by which, with the addition of Lieutenant Hal- 

 kett's portable boat, three men with their loads 

 could be ferried over at each trip. At the place 



