1827. 



PACIFIC AND BEERIXG'S STRAIT. 299 



and the continent of America, the only part of the sea chap 

 that is navigable, it must rather impede than favour the v^^^' 

 enterprise, by blocking the ice against both the strait, Oct 

 and the western coast of Melville Peninsula. Upon the 

 whole, however, I am disposed to favour the western 

 route, and am of opinion that could steam vessels 

 properly fitted, and adapted to the service, arrive in 

 good condition in Kotzebue Sound, by the beginning 

 of one summer, they might with care and patience 

 succeed in reaching the western shore of Melville 

 Peninsula in the next. There, however, they would 

 undoubtedly be stopped, and have to encounter diffi- 

 culties which had repulsed three of the most persever- 

 ing attempts ever made toward the accomplishment 

 of a similar object. 



I shall now offer a few remarks upon the inhabitants 

 whom we met upon this coast. 



The western Esquimaux appear to be intimately 

 connected with the tribes inhabiting the northern and 

 north-eastern shores of America, in language, features, 

 manners, and customs. They at the same time, in 

 many respects, resemble the Tschutschi, from whom 

 they are probably descended. These affinities I shall 

 notice as I proceed with my remarks upon the people 

 inhabiting the north-west coast of America, whom, for 

 the convenience of the reader, I shall call the western 

 Esquimaux, in order to distinguish them from the 

 tribes inhabiting Hudson's Bay, Greenland, Igloolik, 

 and indeed from all the places eastward of Point 

 Barrow. This line ought properly to be drawn at 

 M'Kenzie River, in consequence of certain peculiari- 

 ties connecting the people seen near that spot with 

 the tribe to the westward ; but it will be more conve- 

 nient to confine it within the above-mentioned limits. 



These people inhabit the north-west coast of Ame- 



