124 MR. EAE'S EXPEDITION. July, 



this party returned with us to the boat, where they received 

 presents, which I had some difficulty in getting them to 

 accept, as they said they had nothing to give in exchange. 

 On the evening of the 18th we ran down stream, and landed 

 our guide among his friends, who seemed very glad to see 

 him return safe. They were now much less timid than 

 when we first met them, and we pitched our tent close to 

 theirs, without causing any apparent alarm, although it was 

 afterwards observed that two of the men kept watch during 

 the night. 



" Early on the 19th we took a friendly leave of these 

 simple and inoffensive people, and pulled down to the mouth 

 of the river, where I stayed until noon, when the lati- 

 tude 67° 55' 20" N. was observed. The cloudy state of the 

 weather during the two preceding days had prevented any 

 observations being made. New moon occurring to-day, it 

 was high water a few minutes before 1 p. m. ; the rise 

 being 10 inches. In the afternoon, when on our way to 

 Cape Kendall, we experienced a severe thunder-storm from 

 north-north-west, which obliged us to land for shelter. 



" Our advance along the coast was so slow, that we did 

 not arrive at the place where the boats were left last 

 autumn until the 24th. We found that they had been 

 much broken up by the Eskimos to obtain the ironwork. 

 The tents, oil-cloths, and part of the sails, still remained 

 uninjured, and were of much value to us, as we were ill- 

 provided with the two first of these articles. The ' cache ' 

 of pemican and ammunition was also untouched, having 

 apparently escaped notice from being covered with snow. 

 The latitude 68° 10' 44" N., and variation 56° 8' E., were 

 observed here. 



" On the 27th a west-north-west breeze having cleared 

 away the ice for a short distance from the shore, we con- 



