OLD WHALING DAYS. 39 



sight of them, they would be miles away. The natives are 

 of a roaming disposition, and do not stay long in one place. 

 In the summer months they go into the interior, hunting 

 deer and salmon fishing in the ponds, some of which are 

 miles inland, and about 1000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 A few years after, in travelling inland, I came to some 

 ponds or very small lakes, and saw many salmon in them. 

 Some might call them trout, yet they had no spots upon 

 them. They were much larger than any trout I had seen, 

 and more like salmon. There is no road to the sea from 

 these ponds, which are surrounded by mountains. It was a 

 question how the fish lived through the winter, as the water 

 is frozen solid to the bottom. Of this matter I do not 

 profess to have any knowledge. 



To continue my narrative. At daylight the wind fell 

 light, and we were about ten miles from Kemisuack, so we 

 called all hands to tow towards that place. After four 

 hours' work amongst several sunken rocks, with a boat 

 ahead, we arrived in the harbour and brought up in 14 

 fathoms. This place or harbour is formed by a lot of small 

 outlying islands, and from the masthead the sea is seen over 

 them. The rise and fall is about forty feet, similar to 

 Niatlick. Still there is no strong tide. The strong 

 southerly current is caused by the melting of the snows 

 from the mountains in the months of June, July, August, 

 and September. The captains landed, but no natives or 

 white men were there. Evidently the place had been 

 lately visited, as the encampment seemed to shew. The 

 natives who were on board were asked about the men, and 

 they said they were at a place called Neubuyan, a name we 

 had not heard before, as the harbour we were in was the 

 furthest any ship had ever been up the Gulf. Our captain 

 was one of the first, if not the first, who had visited this 

 neighbourhood. Things began to look a little mysterious, 

 with uneasy forebodings respecting the fate of the Americans. 



