242 THE CAIRN EMPTY. Chap. XV. 



CHAPTER XV. 



The cairn found empty — Discover Hobson's letter — Discovery of 

 Crozier's record — The deserted boat — Articles discovered about 

 the boat — The skeletons and relics — The boat belonged to the 

 ' Erebus ' — Conjectures. 



As the Esquimaux of this land, as well as those of Boothia 

 and Pond's Inlet, have long since given up the practice of 

 building stone dwellings — passing their winters in snow 

 huts and summers in tents — no other traces of them than 

 those described remain ; so that when or in what numbers 

 they may have been here, one cannot form any opinion, the 

 same caches and hiding-places serving for generations. 



I cannot divest myself of the belief that some record was 

 left here by the retreating crews, and perhaps some most 

 valuable documents which their slow progress and fast failing 

 strength would have assured them could not be carried much 

 further. If any such were left, they have been discovered by 

 the natives, and carried off, or thrown away as worthless. 

 Doubtless the natives, when they ascertained that famine 

 and fatigue had caused many of the white men "to fall down 

 and die " upon their fearful march, and heard, as they might 

 have done, of its fatal termination upon the mainland, lost no 

 time in following up their traces, examining every spot where 

 they halted, every mark they put up, or stone displaced. 



It is easy to tell whether a cairn has been put up or 

 touched within a moderate period of years ; if very old, the 

 outer stones have a weathered appearance, lichens will have 

 grown upon the sheltered portions and moss in the crevices ; 



