January, 1803.] A Scol-AfjloO. 137 



ice for a new hut now struck the dome of a seal r/r/Zoo, the inclosure 

 in which the young seal is born and reared. It was oval, its diameters 

 being 4 J and 5i feet, and its height from the floor of sea-ice to its dome, 

 2 feet. Those which Hall had before seen were circular. Tlie «)})en- 

 ing for the seal to come up into this snow-dome made by her through 

 the sea-ice, was near the end of the longer diameter. 



The party found their resting-place for this night warmer 

 than that in their first ?V//oo, which they said was because tliis 

 hut was entirely new. They were, however, several miles from land, 

 and in danger of being driven by the storm into the broad Hudson 

 Bay. 



On the two following days the wind was fair, and the thermome- 

 ter ranged from 36° to 34°. On the 12th, their fourth igloo was made 

 on a small island 28 miles due west of their third. The land on their 

 right was too low to be seen, but, according to the Eskimos, it was 

 marked by deep inlets and bays, one of which extended to the north 

 from 50 to 75 miles. On the left a ridge of hummocks intervened 

 between them and the open water, a distance of from one to three 

 miles. Hall expresses a desire to make an accurate survey of this 

 whole coast-line, even from York Factory to Repulse Bay ; as, from 

 what he had seen, he judged that no chart gave anything like an 

 accurate delineation of it — certainly none showed the coast from 

 Cape Fullerton to Depot Island. On account of the shore being 

 very low and nearly uniform, a survey would have required much 

 time and care. 



At a late hour of the next day, Oti-e-Ja, mounting a hummock, 

 pointed out the masts of the whale-ships, which his quick eye discov- 

 ered when Hall could not see them ; they appeared only as sharp 



