294 SKELETONS AND EELICS. Chap. XV. 



was that in the boat which transfixed us with 

 awe. It was portions of two human skeletons. 

 One was that of a slight young person ; the 

 other of a large, strongly-made, middle-aged 

 man. The former was found in the bow of the 

 boat, but in too much disturbed a state to 

 enable Hobson to judge whether the sufferer 

 had died there ; large and powerful animals, 

 probably wolves, had destroyed much of this 

 skeleton, which may have been that of an officer. 

 Near it we found the fragment of a pair of 

 '^^^^^^ worked slippers, of which I give the 

 <^^^^^ pattern, as they may possibly be iden- 

 <^^^^' tified. The lines were white, with a 

 black margin ; the spaces white, red, and yellow. 

 They had originally been 1 1 inches long, lined 

 with calf-skin with the hair left on, and the 

 edges bound with red silk ribbon. Besides these 

 slippers there were a pair of small strong shoot- 

 ing half-boots. The other skeleton was in a 

 somewhat more perfect state,* and was enveloped 

 with clothes ' and furs ; it lay across the boat, 

 under the after-thwart. Close beside it were 

 found five watches ; and there were two double- 

 barrelled guns — one barrel in each loaded and 

 cocked — standing muzzle upwards against the 



* No part of the skull of either skeleton was foiind, with the 

 exception only of the lower jaw of each. 



