6-4 First Talk about Franklin. [September, is64. 



first inconvenience was the An-ge-kd's decree, this day, that no iron 

 should be filed by either kob-lu-nas or Innuits till the ice formed. 



Armou the next morning, on taking leave, received presents of 

 ammunition, tobacco, and deer-skin mittens ; and before the party sep- 

 arated on this day Hall had begun his inquiries as to what these na- 

 tives might have heard of Franklin's men and what they knew of the 

 geograph}' of the country further north. He says : 



I was not long in arriving at the subject wliicli led me Xorth. When I told 

 these natives where I wanted to go, to wit, to I-wil-lik (Repulse Bay), and thence 

 to Boothia, Felix Peninsula (which they call Keitchil-le), to find out all about 

 some koh-hi-nasj whites, that went there many years ago, they at once told me 

 that there were two ships lost near I^eitchil-le many years ago, and that a great 

 many loh-Ju-nas, whites, died — some starved and some were frozen to death — but 

 that there wcrcfonr that did not die! How astounded I was as Too-koo-li-too (the 

 best interpreter of Innuit language into our vernacular that ever accompanied 

 an Arctic expedition) told me this ! Little did I expect so soon to find natives 

 that seemed to know a volume of interesting and important facts bearing on the 

 Franklin Expedition. I had before us a large English Admiralty chart of the 

 Arctic Regions from the meridian of Smith's Sound westward to that of Macken- 

 zie River. They at once pointed out where Repulse Bay was, which they called 

 I-wil-lik, and thence followed the track of Dr. Rae, whom they saw in 1847 and 

 1854. They showed the locality of where the two ships were lost, and where Neit- 

 cliil-le is. They pointed out the bay where they themselves were when they heard 

 about the two ships being fast in the ice, and how the koh-lu-nas left them, and 

 finally nearly all starved or froze to death. This bay Dr. Rae named Pelly Bay. 

 These natives all told me that I ought not to think of wintering at I-wil-lik (Re- 

 pulse Bay) ; that 1 was too late for killing any tooTc-too there, and that no seals or 

 walrus could be killed there in winter. Besides all these objections to my win- 

 tt-ring at Repulse Bay, all the natives stated that I could not pass the entrance 

 to AVager Bay and thence to Repulse Bay at this late season of the year with my 

 Iie:i\ ily laden boat without great risk of losing the boat and our lives. Indeed, I 

 could not induce any one of the natives to go with me on account of the reasons 

 now stated. Besides, they said I would not find any Innuits at Repulse Bay, for 

 they uniCoiiuly left that ])art of the country in the fall of the year to spend the whi- 

 ter ulieie theveouhl kill seals aud walrus. They stated that it was their own pur- 



