THE LAST OF MR SHEDDON. 445 



and with a silent prayer for a continuation of the protection and aid 

 which had hitherto been vouchsafed to us." 



At Point Barrow, Mr PuUen was obliged to reconsider the situation in 

 which he found himself placed from all points of view. " Now was the 

 time," he says, "to decide on my future operations — whether to make a 

 bold push for the Mackenzie with the whalers, or attempt a portion only 

 of the distance with all. I learned from the Eskimos that the ice was 

 open fpr boats the whole way along the coast; with their information, 

 which I have generally found correct, and what I could now see, and have 

 experienced, I was for the former ; but the consideration that if we should 

 not be able to return, and should, in consequence, be obliged to seek the 

 Hudson's Bay posts, the provision taken in the whale-boats would never 

 hold out for the winter, formed in my mind an almost insuperable objec- 

 tion to such a course, for I knew not of the possibility of establishing 

 fisheries. However, it was only, a momentary apprehension, which was 

 entirely removed by an opportunity, now afforded and eagerly embraced by 

 me, of purchasing a large oomiak from the Eskimos, which would enable 

 us to carry a greatly-increased stock of provisions, and I could not doubt, 

 with the aid of that Providence which had brought us thus far in safety 

 and our own good-will to the work, of being other than successful in 

 reaching the river. At the same time, I determined on taking the large 

 boats on for one day, as I saw nothing as yet to prevent their return." 



On the evening of the 2d August, the expedition again started to push 

 on eastward. " As we were on the point of leaving," says PuUen, " Mr 

 Sheddon, with two of his men, appeared, having landed two miles to the 

 southward and walked up the coast. He came on board, and again ofiered 

 any supplies we might require, but as we had everything necessary, I could 

 only repeat my thanks for his kindness and for the service he had already 

 rendered us. He said he should either remain here for the return of the 

 large boats, or wait off Eefuge Inlet, where it was his intention to make a 

 large cache ; and every day at noon, after the 14th of August, he would 

 fire a gun as long as he remained in sight of the ice. At 11.30 p.m. 

 we parted, with mutual good wishes for each other's success — he for his 

 vessel, then not more than a mile from the point, and we to the eastward, 

 with a light southerly wind and easterly set. It was the last time I saw him 

 alive. 



" Our course was rather a devious one, being among the loose ice and 

 quite out of sight of the low land of Elson's Bay. At noon of the 3d 

 we were in lat. 71° 17' N., long. 155° 08' W., running with a moderate 

 but increasing breeze, by the aid of which, and of the current, we made 

 rapid progress, and shortly got sight of a low gravelly patch, being the 

 westernmost of a chain of small islets, marked in Simpson's chart as ex- 



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