HOPEDALE. 29 



was at times awe-struck and silent, utterly unable to find words 

 with which to express himself. 



The next day we rounded Gull Island, which we identified 

 with some difficulty, owing to the absence of the flagstaff by 

 which the coast pilot says it can be distinguished, and, after a 

 delightful sail up the clear sound leading through the fringe of 

 islands to Hopedale, we spied the red-roofed houses and earth- 

 covered huts, the mission houses and Eskimo village, of which 

 the settlement consists, snugly hidden behind little " Anatokavit," 

 or little Snow Hill Island, at the foot of a steep and lofty hill 

 surmounted by the mission flagstaff. Here we were destined to 

 pass five days as pleasant as the five at Webeck had been tedious. 



The harbor at Hopedale is the best one we visited on the 

 coast. The twelve miles of sound, fringed and studded with 

 islands, completely broke the undertow which had kept our ves- 

 sel constantly rolling, when at anchor, in every harbor except 

 those up Hamilton Inlet and Lake Melville. 



About two miles south of us a vast, unexplored bay ran for a 

 long distance inland, while to the north, looking from Flagstaff 

 Peak, we could see Cape Harrigan and the shoals about it, the 

 numberless inlets, coves and bays which fill in the sixty miles to 

 Nain. We were very much disappointed at our inability to go 

 north to that place, but before our start from the United States 

 Hopedale had been named as the point with which we would be 

 content if ice and winds allowed us to reach it, and that point 

 proved the northern limit of our voyage. 



About half a mile across the point of land on which the mis- 

 sionary settlement lies, is the site of the pre-historic village of 

 " Avatoke," which means " may-we-have-seals." It consisted 

 of three approximately circular houses, in line parallel with the 

 shore, at the head of a slight cove, backed to the west by a 

 high hill, and with a fine beach in front, now raised considerably 

 from the sea level. Along the front of the row of houses were 

 immense shell heaps, from which we dug ivory, that is, walrus 

 teeth ; carvings, stone lamps, spear heads, portions of kyaks, 

 whips, komatiks, as the sleds are called, etc., etc., and bones 

 innumerable of all the varieties of birds, fish and game on which 



