PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 451 



of a large river. It is, however, very improbable CI Jf, p * 

 that there should be any direct communication be- v-~ v*— - 

 tween these two inlets, as the natives would, in that ^Iq 

 case, have informed us of it when they drew their 

 chart of the sound. 



While we were off here, we noticed a parhelion 

 so bright that it was difficult to distinguish it from 

 the sun ; a circumstance the more deserving of re- 

 mark, in consequence of the naturalist of Kotzebue's 

 expedition having observed that this phenomenon is 

 very rare in these seas, and that a Russian grown 

 old in the Aleutian Islands never saw it more than 

 once. Quitting this inlet, we directed our course 

 along the land toward Cape Espenburg, and found 

 that the bar was not confined to the mouth of the 

 inlet alone, but extended the whole way to the 

 cape, and was not passable in any part ; having tried 

 ineffectually in those places which afforded the best 

 prospect of success. 



On landing at Cape Espenburg, we found that 

 the sea penetrated to the southward of it, and form- 

 ed it into a narrow strip of land, upon which were 

 some high sand-hills. The point had a great many 

 poles placed erect upon it, and had evidently been 

 the residence of the Esquimaux ; but it was now 

 entirely deserted. Near these poles there were 

 several huts and native burial-places, in which the 

 bodies were disposed in a very different manner to 

 that practised by the eastern Esquimaux. The corpse 

 was here enclosed in a sort of coffin formed of loose 

 planks, and placed upon a platform of drift-wood, 

 covered over with a board and several spars, which 

 were kept in their places by poles driven into the 

 o-round in a slanting direction, with their ends cross- 



2 g 2 



