452 Thirty Tears 



The outer parts of the island appeared closely beset 

 with ice. At the end of five miles we discerned 

 another large party of Esquimaux, encamped on a 

 reef; they waved their jackets as signals for us to 

 land, which we declined doing, as we perceived the 

 water to be shallow between us and them. They ran 

 along th-e beech as far as the end of the reef, tempting 

 us by holding up meat. Only two of the party were 

 provided with canoes, and they followed us to a bluff 

 point of the main shore, on which we landed. These 

 proved to be persons whom we had seen at Herschel 

 Island, and who had visited the Esquimaux in this 

 quarter on purpose to make them acquainted with our 

 arrival. We were happy to learn from them that we 

 should not see any more of their countrymen for some 

 time, because, while surrounded by them, the necessity 

 of closely watching their motions, prevented us from 

 paying due attention to other objects. Resuming our 

 voyage, we pulled along the outer border of a gravel 

 reef, about two hundred yards broad, that runs paral- 

 lel to, and about half a mile from, the coast, having a 

 line of drift ice on the outside of us. The wind being 

 contrary, and the evening cold, temperature 40°, we 

 encamped on the reef at eight p. m., where we found 

 plenty of drift timber ; the water was brackish The 

 distance traveled this day was eight miles and a half. 

 The main shore opposite the encampment was low to 



