In the Arctic Regions. 209 
scarcely eatable ; this was occasioned by our having 
been compelled, through haste, to dry it by fire instead 
of the sun. It was not, however, the quality of our 
provision that gave us uneasiness, but its diminution, 
and the utter incapacity to obtain any addition. Seals 
were the only animals that met our view at this place, 
and these we could never approach. 
Dr. Richardson discovered near the beach a small 
vein of galena, traversing gneiss rocks, and the people 
collected a quantity of it in the hope of adding to our 
stock of balls ; but their endeavors to smelt it, were, 
as may be supposed, ineffectual. The drift timber on. 
this part of the coast consists of pine and tacca mahac, 
( populus balsamifera) most probably from Macken- 
zie’s, Or some other river to the eastward of the Cop- 
‘per-Mine; It all appears to have lain long in the 
water, the bark being completely worn off, and the 
ends of the pieces rubbed perfectly smooth. There 
was a sharp frost last night, which formed a pretty 
thick crust of ice in a kettle of water that stood in the“ 
tents ; and for several nights past thin films of ice 
have been formed on the salt ‘water amongst the cakes 
of stream ice.* Notwithstanding this state of tem- 
perature we were tormented by swarms of musqui- 
toes; we’ had ,persuaded ourselves that these pests 
could not sustain the cold in the vicinity of the sea, 
* This is termed bay ice by the Greenland-men., 
