474. — Thirty Years 
not been very closely watched. Many more relics of our countrymen 
were obtained—we could not carry away all we might have purchased. 
They pointed to the inlet we had crossed the day before, and told 
us that one day’s march up it, and from thence four days overland, 
brought them to the wreck. 
None of these people had been there since 1857-8, at which time 
they said but little remained, their countrymen having carried away 
almost everything. 
Most of our information was received from an intelligent old woman ; 
she said that it was on the fall of the year that the ship was forced 
ashore; many of the white men dropped by the way as they went to- 
wards the Great River; but this was only known to them in the winter 
following, when their bodies were discovered, They all assured us 
that we would find natives upon the south shore, at the Great River, 
and some few at the wreck; but unfortunately this was not the case. 
Only one family was met with off Point Booth, and none at Montreal 
Island, or any place subsequently visited. 
Point Ogle, Montreal Island, and Barrow Island, were searched 
without finding anything except a few scraps of copper and iron in an 
Esquimaux hiding-place. ‘ 
Recrossing the Strait to King William's Island, we continued the ex- 
amination of its southern shore without success until the 24th of May, 
when about ten miles eastward of Cape Herschel a bleached skeleton 
was found, around which lay fragments of European clothing. Upon 
carefully removing the snow a small pocket book was found contain- 
ing a few letters—these, although much decayed, may yet be decipher- 
_ed. Judging from the remains of his dress, this unfortunate young 
man was a steward or officer’s servant, and his position exactly verified 
the Esquimaux’s assertion that they dropped as they walked along. 
On reaching Cape Herschel_next day, he examined Simpson’s Cairn, 
or rather what remains of it, which is only four feet high, and the 
central stores had beeri removed, as if by men seeking something 
within it. My impression at the time, and which I still retain, is that 
records were deposited there by the retreating crews, and subsequeut- 
ly removed by the natives. 
After parting from me at Cape Victoria on the 28th April, Lieutenant 
Hobson made for Cape Felix ; at a short distance westward of it he 
found a very large cairn, and close to it three small tents, with blan- 
kets, old clothes, and other relics of a shooting or a magnetic station ; 
but although the cairn was dug under, and a trench dug all round itat 
a distance of ten feet, no record was discovered. A piece of blank 
paper folded up was found in the cairn, and two broken bottles which 
may perhaps have contained records, lay beside it amcengst some stones 
which bad fallen from off the top. The most interesting of the arti- 
cles discovered here, including a boat’s ensign, were brought away by 
Mr. Hobson. About two miles farther to the S. W. a small cairn was 
found, but neither records nor relics obtained. About three miles 
