May, 1859. SKELETONS AND RELICS. 251 



vestige of bark, yet the wood was perfectly sound. It may 

 have been and probably has been lying there for twenty or 

 thirty years, and during such a period would suffer less 

 decay in this region of frost than in one-sixth of the time at 

 home. Within two yards of it I noticed a few scanty tufts 

 of grass. 



But all these were after observations ; there was in the 

 boat that which transfixed us with awe, viz., portions of two 

 human skeletons ! One was that of a slight young person ; 

 the other of a large, strongly-made, middle-aged man. The 

 former was found in the bow of the boat, but in too much 

 disturbed a state to enable Hobson to judge whether the 

 sufferer had died there ; large and powerful animals, pro- 

 bably wolves, had destroyed much of this skeleton, which 

 may have been that of an officer. Near it we found the 

 fragment of a pair of worked slippers, of ^X^yK^K^ 

 which I give the pattern, as they may pos- ^^^^^^^ 

 sibly be identified. The lines were white, ^^^^^^ 

 with a black margin ; the spaces white, red, ^w&^S^ 

 and yellow. They had originally been 11 ^-^>.^ 

 inches long, lined with calf-skin with the hair left on, and 

 the edges bound with red silk ribbon. Besides these 

 slippers there were a pair of small strong shooting half- 

 boots. 



The other skeleton was in a somewhat more perfect 

 state ; it lay across the boat, under the after-thwart, and 

 was enveloped with cloths and furs. This would seem to 

 have been the survivor of the two men whose remains were 

 lying in the boat. Close beside it were found five watches ; 

 and there were two double-barrelled guns — one barrel in 

 each loaded and cocked — standing muzzle upwards against 

 the boat's side. It may be imagined with what deep 

 interest these sad relics were scrutinised, and how anxiously 

 every fragment of clothing was turned over in search of 



