450 SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



^^"^- only was occupied in crossing to the great northern inlet we had seen on 

 v^/-»^ this side of Cockburn Island, and the rest in travelling overland to a corre- 

 sponding inlet of the sea, on the other. This party confirmed the former 

 account respecting the two ships that had been forced on shftrc ; and indeed, 

 as an earnest of its truth, one man named Adloo, wlio was said to have actu- 

 ally seen them in this state, was a day or two afterwards met by our people 

 at Arlagnuk, while travelling to the southward, and having on his sledge a 

 great deal of wood of the same kind as that before described. 



This information having excited considerable interest, Lieutenant Hopp- 

 ner, who had taken great pains to ascertain the facts correctly, volunteered 

 his services to accompany some of the Esquimaux, who were said to be going 

 northwards very shordy, and to obtain every information on this and other 

 subjects which might lie within the scope of such a journey. Although I 

 was not sanguine as to his principal object of reaching one or more of the 

 Esquimaux stations on the northern shores of Cockburn Island, with guides 

 so uncertain and capricious, yet I could not but consider the attempt as 

 likely to i)roducc something of interest; more especially as we had never been 

 able to aj)proach in the ships those parts of the coast which would constitute 

 their first or second day's journey. I therefore directed Lieutenant Hoppner 

 to proceed on this service, accompanied by three men, and four of the Ilecla's 

 Frid. 4. best dogs to assist in carrying their baggage. On the night of the 4th, 

 having heard that a party of the Esquimaux intended setting out the follow- 

 ing morning. Lieutenant Hoppner and his people went out to their tents to 

 be in readiness to accompany them. We were surprised to find, the next 

 day, that not only Lieutenant Hoppner's intended guide, but the whole of 

 the rest of these people, had altogether left the island and, as it afterwards 

 proved, pemnancnlly for the summer. We were now therefore, for the first 

 time since our arrival here, entirely deserted by die natives, only two or 

 three of whom again visited the ships during the remainder of our stay. It 

 appears probable, indeed, that these wandering people are in the habit of 

 residing at their various stations only at particular intervals of time, perhaps 

 with the intention of not scaring the walruses and seals too much by a very 

 long residence at one time upon the same spot. Wliat made this appear still 

 more likely was the present state of their winter habitations at Igloolik which, 

 though offensive enough at about the same time the preceding year, were then 

 wholesome and comfortable in comparison. Besides quantities of putrid 

 walrus flesh, blubber, and oil, carcasses of dogs and even of human beings 



