In the Arctic Regions. 229 
trance into this sound, which I have named in honor 
of Lord Viscount Melville, the First Lord of the Ad- 
miralty. It is thirty miles wide from east to west, 
and twenty from north to south ;.and in coasting it 
we had sailed eighty-seven and a quarter geographi- 
cal miles. Shortly after the tents were pitched, Mr. 
Back reported from the steersmen that both canoes 
had sustained material injury during this day’s voyage. 
I found upon examination that fifteen timbers of the 
first canoe were broken, some of them in two places, 
and that the second canoe was so loose in the frame 
that its timbers could not be bound in the usual se- 
cure manner, and consequently there was danger of its 
bark separating from the gunwales if exposed to a 
heavy sea. Distressing as were these circumstances, 
they gave me less pain than the discovery that our 
people, who had hitherto displayed, in following us 
through dangers and difficulties no less novel than ap- 
palling to them, a courage beyond our expectation, 
now felt serious apprehensions for their safety, which 
so possessed their minds that they were not restrained 
even by the presence of their officers from expressing 
them. Their fears, we imagined, had been principally 
excited by the interpreters, St. Germain and Adam, 
who from the outset had foreboded every calamity ; 
and we now strongly suspected that their recent want 
‘of success in their hunting excursions, had proceeded 
