OF THE POLAR SEA. 223 



feet in depth. Both of the canoes received much 

 water, and one of them struck twice on sunken 

 rocks. At the end of eighteen miles we halted 

 to breakfast in a bay, which I have named after 

 Vice- Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, one 

 of the Lords of the Admiralty. 



We found here a considerable quantity of small 

 willows, such as are brought down by the rivers 

 we have hitherto seen ; and hence we judged, 

 that a river discharges itself into the bottom of 

 this bay. A paddle was also found, which Au- 

 gustus, on examination, declared to be made after 

 the fashion of the White Goose Esquimaux, a 

 tribe with whom his countrymen had had some 

 trading communication, as has been mentioned in 

 a former part of the Narrative. 



This morning we passed the embouchure of a 

 pretty large stream, and saw the vestiges of an 

 Esquimaux encampment, not above a month old. 

 Having obtained the latitude 68° 6' 40" N., we 

 recommenced our voyage under sail, taking the 

 precaution to embark all the pieces of willow we 

 could collect, as we had found the drift wood 

 become more scarce as we advanced. Our course 

 was directed to a distant point, which we sup- 

 posed to be a cape, and the land stretching to 

 the westward of it to be islands ; but we soon 

 found ourselves in an extensive bay, from which 



