A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 235 



the natives, who met them in great numbers whenever they 

 approached any point of the coast. One circumstance 

 recorded on this occasion is worthy of note. Although the 

 Esquimeaux, as they are called, are reputed savages, and 

 are represented as mischievous and sanguinary, yet to the 

 interference of one of those savages, the California, one of 

 the ships, owed her preservation. 



Having been thrown upon a ledge of rocks, and in danger 

 every moment of going to pieces, the natives came around, 

 as usual, to barter, when one old man, perceiving the 

 danger in which the vessel lay, pointed out a deep passage, 

 through which, when the California tloated on the return of 

 tide, they sailed in the utmost safety, the same old man 

 paddling on before, and showing how to avoid the rocks. 



Notwithstanding the failure of this last expedition in 

 search of a north-west passage, still the arguments in favour 

 of its practicability remained in sufficient force to impress 

 the minds of the persons engaged in even that expedition, 

 to expect success at some future opportunity. To this 

 effect Mr. Ellis has left his opinion upon record, that the 

 expected opening would be found somewhere in the 

 north extremity of Hudson's Bay, and not in Davis's 

 Strait ; but Mr. Ellis had no knowledge of that Strait. 



Since the expedition in the Dobbs and California, the 

 subject of a passage to India northwards had been 



9 H 2 



