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An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 109 
68° N. lat., they all perished of hunger, cold and disease. During the 
following years these regions were visited by several Search Expeditions. In 
the summer of 1855 the Factor of The Hudson Bay Company, James 
ANDERSON, was sent northwards along Back River, but in the beginning of 
August he turned back at about the middle of the east coast of the Adelaide 
Peninsula, after having found several articles belonging to FRaNnKLIN’s ships 
in the possession of the Eskimo at the northernmost channel of Back River, 
but no traces of living Europeans. Mc. Curntock, who had the Danish- 
Greenland interpretor, Cart Petersen, on board, sailed in 1858 into Bellot 
Strait, whence, in the spring of 1854, he travelled in dog sledges south- 
‘wards along the west coast of Boothia, and round about King William 
Land, where on the west coast he found in a cairn a record written by 
FRanKLIN’s crew. In the spring of 1866, C. F. Hatn made a sledge journey 
from Repulse Bay, along the south coast of Boothia Gulf, to find relics of 
Franxuin’s Expedition, but turned back before reaching Boothia. Only on 
a later journey, in the spring of 1869, did he succeed in getting as far as 
King William Land. In 1879 the Netchillik region was visited by the 
American, Lieutenant ScuhwaTKa, who was sent out to make thorough 
investigations regarding the fate of the Franxiin Expedition. An account 
of the expedition was given by his fellow-travellers, W. H. Gitper and 
H. W. Kiutscnax. Lastly, the Norwegian Gjoa Expedition under Roatp 
AMUNDSEN spent two years, from 1903—1905, in a bay on the south-east 
coast of King William Land. 
The area of the Netchillik district is not so high or mountainous that 
its surface is anywhere covered by such immense masses of perpetual snow 
that calving glaciers can be formed. Nevertheless, the country consists 
chiefly of primitive rock, as also do the numerous smaller islands and the 
majority of the coasts. Groups of rocky isles occur on both sides of 
Boothia Isthmus and in Simpson Strait, and, in addition, granitic islets are 
mentioned as ,occurring in the estuary itself, and in Pelly Bay. According 
to Kiurcnak the east bank of the estuary is granitic, while the Point Ogle 
Peninsula, on the west side, is low and sandy. Mo. Crmvrock found that 
the west coast of Boothia, south of 71° 10’ N. lat., consisted of granite, and 
Ross on May 31, 1830, travelled in a sledge along a granitic rocky coast 
on the east coast of Boothia Isthmus, which “closely resembled the Swedish 
coast between Gothenburg and Strémstad’’. Also inland, the granite protrudes 
along the banks of the lakes, of which there are specially many in Boothia 
Isthmus. According to Mc. Crinrock’s description King William Land is 
“extremely desolate, and its surface is studded with numerous lakes and pools.” 
The sea which is surrounded by these countries, and in the above has. 
been named after Back River, but which should rather be called Netchillik 
Sea, is naturally covered with ice during the greater part of the year. 
As regards the nature of this ice, it is evident from the geographical con- 
ditions and from the experiences made by the expeditions, and also from 
communications imparted by Eskimo, that it is a smooth winter-ice, which 
