No. I. APPENDIX. 319 



1838; some bows and arrows, in which wood, iron, or copper has been 

 used in the construction — but of no other interest. 



Remarks upon these Articles. 



The spear-staff measures 6 feet 3 inches in length, and appears to 

 have been part of a light boat's gunwale ; it measured (before being 

 partially rounded to adapt it to its present use) about i\ by if inch, is 

 made of English oak, and upon the side has been painted white over 

 green. The spear-head is of steel, riveted to two pieces of hoop, with 

 bone between, and lashed on to the staff. The rivets are of copper 

 nails. The native who sold it said he himself got it from the boat in 

 the Fish River. Another spear of the same kind was seen. The knives 

 are made either of iron or steel, riveted to two strips of hoop, between 

 which the handle of wood is inserted, and rivets passed through, securing 

 them together. The rivets are almost all made out of copper nails, such 

 as would be found in a copper-fastened boat, but those which have been 

 examined do not bear the Government mark. It is probable that most 

 of the boats of the ' Erebus ' and ' Terror ' were built by contract, and 

 therefore would not have the broad arrow stamped upon their iron and 

 copper work. One small knife appears to have been a surgical instru- 

 ment. A large knife obtained in April bears some marking, such as a 

 sword or a cutlass might have. The man who sold it said he bought it 

 from another, who picked it up on the land where the ship was driven 

 ashore by the ice, and where the white people had thrown it away ; it 

 was then about as long as his arm. This was the first information we 

 received of one of the ships having drifted on shore. One knife and one 

 file are stamped with the broad arrow. The handles are variously com- 

 posed of oak, ash, pine, mahogany, elm, and bone. The spoons and 

 forks were readily sold for a few needles each, also the buttons, which 

 they wore as ornaments on their dresses. Bows and arrows were readily 

 exchanged for knives. Previously to the stranding on the neighbouring 

 shore of the lost Expedition these people must have been almost destitute 

 of wood or iron. Some of them even had only bone knives and bone 

 spear-points. Some of their sledges were seen, consisting of two rolls 

 of sealskin, flattened and frozen, to serve as runners, and connected 

 together by cross bars of bones. Many more knives, bows, and buttons, 

 similar to those brought away, might have been obtained, but no per- 

 sonal or important relics. 



Seen in a Snow Hut in lat. 70J N., 20th of April, 1859, 

 not brought away : — 

 Two wooden shovels, one of them made of mahogany board, some 

 spear-handles and a bow of English wood, a deal case which might have 

 served for a telescope or barometer. Its external dimensions were : — 

 length, 3 ft. 1 in. ; depth, 3^ in.; width, 9 in. ; two brass hinges 

 remained attached to it. 



