154 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. 



gnawed by the dogs. In various parts of the shore 

 were found numbers of circles of stones, which were 

 supposed to have been burying-places, a human 

 skull being found near one of them. Among these 

 stones the Hudson mouse was very abundant. " I 

 do not know," says Parry, " whether the seals' 

 flesh remaining on some of the bones was any at- 

 traction to these creatures, but it is certain that 

 two of them being put together into a cage, the 

 larger killed the other and eat a part of it." 



Commander Parry having now satisfactorily de- 

 termined the non-existence of a passage to the 

 westward through Repulse Bay, he was next, in 

 compliance with his instructions, tl to keep along 

 the line of this coast to the northward, always 

 examining every bend or inlet which might appear 

 likely to afford a practicable passage to the west- 

 ward ;" and he congratulates himself on having 

 reached this point so early, and especially " at hav- 

 ing passed almost without impediment the strait to 

 which, on nearly the same day seventy-nine years 

 before, so forbidding a name had been applied." 



He had not yet, however, got rid of that formid- 

 able strait, with its obnoxious name. In coasting 

 down the northern shore of Repulse Bay it was 

 necessary again to cross the northern part of the 

 Frozen Strait, and through Hurd's Channel nearly 

 blocked up by Bushnan Island, which leaves only a 

 narrow passage at each extremity to get to the east- 

 ward, and, when passed, other islands and narrow 



