PACIFIC AND BEERINCx'S STRAIT. 255 



cjuittccl tlie island ; and on examining the grave of our 

 unfortunate shipmate we found it had been disturbed 

 by the natives, who, disappointed in their search, had 

 again filled in the earth. It would be unfair to im- ^^^^ 

 pute to these people any malicious intentions from this 

 circumstance, as they nuist have had every reason to 

 suppose, from their custom of concealing provisions 

 undergroimd, and from having found a cask of our 

 flour buried the preceding year, that they would find a 

 similar treasure, especially as they do not inter their 

 dead. The cask of flour and the box of beads, which 

 had been deposited in the sand, had been unmolested ; 

 but a copper coin which we nailed upon a post on the 

 summit of the island was taken away. 



The swarms of mosquitos that infested the shore at 

 this time greatly lessened our desire to land. How- 

 ever, some of our sportsmen traversed the island, and 

 succeeded in killing a white hare, weighing nearly 

 twelve pounds, and a few ptarmigan; the hare was get- 

 ting its summer coat, and the young birds were strong 

 upon the wing. 



For several days after our arrival the weather was 

 very thick, with rain and squalls from the south-west, 

 which occasioned someanxiety for the barge ; but on the 

 11th she joined us, and I learned from Mr. Elson that 

 he had succeeded in finding the inlet, and that as far 

 as he could judge, the weather being very foa^gy and 

 boisterous, it was a spacious and excellent port. He 

 was visited by several of the natives while there, one 

 of whom drew him a chart, which corresponded with 

 that constructed upon the sand in Kotzebue Sound 

 the preceding year. On his putting to sea from the 

 inlet, the weather continued very thick, so much so 

 that he passed through Beering's Strait without seeing 

 land ; and was unable to explore Schismarcff Inlet. 



