NEW GROUND ENTERED UPON. 399 



ence in the Indian country, were of opinion that we ran much risk of starving ; 

 little was known of the resources of that part of the country to which we were 

 bound ; and all agreed that there was little chance of procuring fuel, unless 

 some oil could be obtained from the natives. Yet the novelty of our route, and 

 of our intended mode of operations, had a strong charm for me, and gave me 

 an excitement which I could not otherwise have felt." Next day the boats 

 were stopped at mid-day by ice, and now Eae found the advantage of having 

 nailed sheet copper along the bows of the boats, by which they were pro- 

 tected against the sharp edges of the floating masses. Progress was very 

 slow for many days, but the various kinds of ducks afforded sport and food, 

 and on the 22d a deer was killed. On the 26th, Cape Churchill was doubled. 

 From Nelson River to this cape, the ground is low and flat, with not a single 

 rock in situ ; but from the cape to Fort Churchill, the land gradually became 

 high and" rocky. On the 27th, the boats arrived at the fort, and Eae was 

 most kindly welcomed by Mr Sinclair, the chief trader in charge. 



Here Eae remained over the 4th July, on which day he received his letter 

 of instructions from Sir George Simpson ; and on the following morning, 

 having taken Ooligbuck and one of his sons on board to act as interpreters, 

 he set sail westward across Button's Bay. Favoured by tolerably fair winds, 

 Eae steered past Chesterfield Inlet on the evening of the 13th July ; and 

 on the night of the 14th, he sighted Cape Kendall on Southampton Island. 

 " On the 21st and 22d," says Eae, " we had a continued struggle amongst 

 heavy and close-packed ice, until we reached Wager Eiver estuary, where we 

 were detained all day by the immense quantities driving in with the flood, 

 and out again with the ebb tide, which ran at the rate of seven or eight 

 miles an hour, forcing up the floes into large mounds, and grinding them 

 against the rocks with a noise resembling thunder. ... To get to a 

 small bay a mile and a half to the west of us, we had more than once to pull 

 for our lives, as the eddy currents already spoken of caused such sudden and 

 uncertain movements among the ice that there was no telling on what side 

 we were to expect it. With much difficulty we entered our harbour, and 

 pulled half a mile up, so as to be safe from the ice, which we had reason to 

 expect would come in with the flood. The latitude of our new anchorage 

 was 65° 16' 8" N.," the most northerly point of land on the south side of 

 Wager Eiver. Pulling out of Wager Eiver on the 24th, Eae stood on his 

 course to the north, and favoured by a fine breeze, he rounded Cape Hope 

 at seven in the evening, and ran into Eepulse Bay, on the shores of which he 

 was to commence original exploration. 



On the following afternoon, the boats were run into Gibson Cove, on the 

 shores of which, to their great joy, the explorers beheld four Eskimos, Eae 

 immediately landed, and taking Ooligbuck's son with him as interpreter, 

 walked up to the natives, calling out, " Teyma " (peace), and shook hands 



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