OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. lOl 



doubtless attracted by the shrimps, moluscae, and other marine productions, 

 with which the sea abounds to an extraordinary degree. The gulls (lama 

 glaucus and argentatiis, J the eider and other ducks, and the divers (coli/mbu<i 

 troile and ■septentrioiialis,J which are also numerous, appear to derive a plenti- 

 ful subsistence from the same means which nature has so amply provided. 

 To this may perhaps be attributed the occasional visits we received from 

 whales, black and white, of which the latter were in far the greatest num- 

 bers, but not so frequently seen near the ships. While at our first anchorage 

 a large black whale came and lay so close to our gangway as to be witliin 

 reach of a harpoon, but while the officer of the watch ran down to inform 

 me of the circumstance the fish moved from us. 



" Our sportsmen met with very tolerable success in their rambles and 

 procured a plentiful supply of hares and ptarmigan, but Avere not so fortu- 

 nate as to kill above two deer. Several ermines and marmots were also 

 taken, and three foxes of a bluish colour evidently advancing to their wintery 

 hue. In the hills of which I have spoken as consisting of granite and gneiss 

 we found numerous lakes, some of which, although of no great extent, must 

 from their situation have been of considerable depth. They appeared to 

 be the resort of the young of the red-throated diver, some of which birds 

 we killed, and it may thence be inferred that they contain sufficient food 

 for their subsistence. One of the officers caught a large salmon-trout in a 

 piece of water a very considerable height up the hills. In the valleys the 

 vegetation, although at this time on the decline, appeared to have been 

 very rich, abounding in grasses, and some other plants, but the sorrel had 

 all withered. Some gentlemen who visited the isles lying off Five-hawser 

 Bay, found that iron-stone bore a considerable share in their formation, and 

 some pieces which they brought on board emitted a strong sulphureous 

 smell on being heated, and had in a slight degree the power of attracting 

 iron. A few small rounded pieces of graphite were also procured from 

 the same place ; their appearance was like those ashes which are found 

 in a blacksmith's for^e. Alone: most of the beaches we found that the 

 rocks were absolutely studded with garnets of a clear and brilliant colour, 

 but in a state of decomposition, which caused them to breaJc easily on 

 endeavouring to detach them from the rocks in which they were em- 

 bedded. Amongst the shingle we obtained several fine specimens of ma- 

 drepore, and also found a few fossil shells, of which some were of a deli- 



