426 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— IMS-ol. 



crew in the sports of leaping and running. The shooting parties were always 

 accompanied by some of them, and they were greatly surprised to see some 

 of the young officers killing the birds right and left. The moment our boats 

 started, until we got far up the river, we were preceded by their little 

 kayacks, sounding with their paddles, to the channel. We had pilots in each 

 of the large boats, who remained constantly with us, and who showed great 

 concern when they unavoidably got us on shore." Altogether the conduct 

 of the natives was friendly and respectful — very different from their behaviour 

 towards Captain Beechey in his voyage in 1825-28. Their tractable and 

 conciliatory demeanour was probably due to the circumstance that the white 

 men had an interpreter with them who could explain the friendly purposes of 

 the visitors ; but it was doubtless also due in part to the increased intercourse 

 between the Eskimos and the Russian settlers and fur traders at Michael- 

 ovski, on the south shore of Norton Sound. Many of the natives wore shirts, 

 handkerchiefs of gaudy colours, and cotton cloths, with printed figures of the 

 walrus, reindeer, and other Arctic animals, which they had obtained from the 

 Russians in exchange for peltry. When an Eskimo takes to wearing shirts 

 there is some hope of him. Long before St Paul's shall have crumbled 

 into ruins, there will not be a single New Zealander extant to sketch the 

 interesting relic. But Macaulay may rest in peace — the Eskimos are 

 excellent draughtsmen; and since within the last few years they have 

 advanced so far on the road to civilisation as to tolerate shirts, there is room 

 for the hope that when London shall have become a memory, though no 

 Maori shall be alive to sketch its site, the last respectful duty to the fallen 

 city may be paid by some R.A. from the Arctic shores. 



After the return of Kellett and his party, permission was given to a 

 number of officers to visit the extraordinary ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay. 

 This visit is described with much spirit and humour by Mr Edwin Jago, then 

 clerk of the "Herald," and now (1876), or recently, paymaster of the troopship 

 " Crocodile." The party shoved off early, in two boats, and were carried 

 rapidly by a favourable and strong wind to Eschscholtz Point. As they 

 neared the bold shore " the sun shone out, and the wind gradually dying 

 away, the weather became so beautifully serene that one was filled with 

 amazement when reflecting that the black-looking cliffs were composed of 

 huge and solid masses of ice." Among these ice-cliffs a sufficient number of 

 teeth, fossil bones, etc., were found to fill a large bag. These remains were 

 carefully examined and described by Dr Richardson in his " Zoology of the 

 Voyage of H.M.S. ' Herald.' " After stating that the summer thaw never 

 penetrates the soil deeper than about two feet below the surface in the 

 lands within the Arctic circle, and that animal substance solidly frozen in 

 the earth may be preserved for any conceivable length of time, Dr Richard- 

 son, in an admirable sketch of the ice-cUffs of Eschscholtz Bay and the 



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