404 VOYAGE TO THE 



willow and birch grew to the height of eighteen 

 feet, and formed so dense a wood that we could not 

 penetrate it. The trees bordering upon the beach 

 were quite dead, apparently in consequence of their 

 bark having been rubbed through by the ice, which 

 had been forced about nine feet above high water 

 mark, and had left there a steep ridge of sand and 

 shingle. The berries were at this time in great per- 

 fection and abundance, and proved a most agreeable 

 addition to the salt diet of the seamen, who were 

 occasionally permitted to land and collect them. 



The cliffs on this side of Choris Peninsula were 

 composed of a green-coloured mica slate, in which 

 the mica predominated, and contained garnets, veins 

 of feldspar, enclosing crystals of schorl, and had its 

 fissures filled with quartz ; but I shall avoid saying 

 any thing on geological subjects here. 



On the 6th our curiosity was excited by the ap- 

 pearance of two small boats under sail, which, when 

 first seen through a light fog, were so different from 

 the sails of the Esquimaux, that our imagination, 

 which had latterly converted every unusual appear- 

 ance in the horizon into the boats of Captain Frank- 

 lin, really led us to conclude he had at length ar- 

 rived ; but as they rounded the point, we clearly 

 distinguished them to be two native baidars. We 

 watched their landing, and were astonished at the 

 rapidity with which they pitched their tents, settled 

 themselves, and transferred to their new habita- 

 tion the contents of the baidars, which they drew 

 out of the sea and turned bottom upwards. On 

 visiting their abode an hour after they landed, every 

 thing was in as complete order as if they had been 

 established there a month, and scarcely any thing 



