May, 185S. INFORMATION OF WHALERS. 121 



a few days after tlie commencement of the 

 summer's thaw. Captain Walker tells me there 

 are many years in which the whalers can pass 

 up the western shore late in the season, but not 

 always so far as Pond's Bay ; of Melville Bay 

 after the 10th or 15th July they know nothing, 

 but the voyages of discovery afford us ample 

 details ; whilst of the southern route almost 

 nothing has been made publicly known. 



There are many intelligent whaling captains 

 who possess much valuable knowledge of these 

 lands and seas, and even in the terra incognita 

 of Frobisher's Straits, whalers have wintered, 

 whilst our charts scarcely afford even a vague 

 idea of the configuration of these extensive 

 islands. The so-called "Home Bay" has been 

 penetrated for fifty miles, and is supposed to be 

 a strait leading to Fox's Furthest. Scott's Inlet 

 is also said to be a strait leading into a western 

 arm of the same sea. A surveying vessel would 

 be usefully employed fbr a couple of summers 

 in tracing the general outline of these pos- 

 sessions of Her Majesty, more particularly as 

 they are rather thickly inhabited by Esquimaux 

 most eager to barter their produce for rifles, 

 saws, files, knives, needles, and such like 

 articles. Good coal has been found upon Durbin 

 Island (near Cape Searle), in a convenient little 



