North Bluff— Ashe's Inlet. 75 



all this country (these rocks), and give them " tobaci-mik," and 

 powder, and shot, and guns, and even tea and coffee. They smiled 

 credulously, but didn't understand what was meant, or if they 

 understood at all, one thing is certain, they didn't care a plug of 

 " toback " whether we were Canadians or Hottentots. 



Here, in company with Dr. Bell and Mr. Fox, I made another 

 trip inland. We made the excursion in the interests of geology and 

 general discovery, and more particularly general sport. After 

 climbing the rocks for an hour we were about a mile inland, and 

 two hundred and fifty feet above the water. After that the pro- 

 gress was much easier, but it was little less than rock climbing all 

 the time. We did not succeed in getting more than seven miles 

 from the vessel, nor in making discoveries of any great value. The 

 deer kept out of our way, and we carried our rifles that day for 

 naught. The ptarmigan were more obliging ; we could easily kill 

 them with stones. 



We iourneyed over a rough, uneven country. It was alternately 

 very wet and very dry. The long ranges of rough gneiss rocks, 

 heaped about, were dry enough, but hard on the feet; while between 

 there were curving ravines, partly covered with bog, which were 

 always wet and interlaced with running streams, or dotted here and 

 there by ponds of water. 



Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the most of Saturday, the 

 13th, 14th, loth and 16th, were spent in Ashe's Inlet. Friday 

 brought in more than a dozen Eskimo women and their dirty little 

 papooses, naked, and tucked down the backs of their mothers under 

 their seal-skin jackets next to the skin to keep them warm. Satur- 

 day morning another squad of natives boarded the ship, with such 

 peltries as they had. We traded with them as with all the others, 

 giving tobacco, powder, etc., and taking their skins at our own prices. 

 At noon, on Saturday, we had twenty-seven natives, men, women, 

 and eight papooses on board, and when we were about to swing 

 ship it was a curious sight to see these thirty-five souls piling into 

 one small boat to return to land. 



We left Ashe's Inlet, all being in readiness, and the station 

 buildings having been completed, on Saturday at two o'clock. It 



