OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



51 



small bight which appeared in the north-west corner of the bay, where alone, 1821 - 



August 



from one or two points overlapping each other, the slightest doubt of the con- ^y>J 

 tinuity of land could exist. We landed upon a point just to the eastward of 

 this bight, in which neighbourhood are several little islands and coves pro- 

 bably affording good anchorage, but which the more immediate objects we 

 had in view did not permit us to examine. Upon the point we found the re- 

 mains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations, consisting of stones laid 

 one over the other in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter, be- 

 sides nearly a hundred other rude though certainly artificial structures, some 

 of which had been fire-places, others store-houses, and the rest tolerably built 

 walls four or five feet high, placed two and two, and generally eight or nine 

 feet apart, which these people use for their canoes, as well as to keep the 

 dogs from gnawing them. A great many circles of stones Avere also seen 

 more inland. About three miles to the N. N.W. of our landing-place our 

 people reported having seen fifteen others of the same kind, and what 

 they took to be a burying-ground, consisting of nine or ten heaps of large 

 stones, three feet in diameter and as many in height. Under these were 

 found a variety of little implements, such as arrow or spear-heads tipped 

 with stone or iron, arrows, small models of canoes and paddles, some rough 

 pieces of bone and wood, and one or two strips of asbestos which, as 

 Crantz informs us, is used by the natives of Greenland for the wick of their 

 lamps, and for applying hot, in certain diseases, to the afflicted part*. 

 Under these articles were found smaller stones, placed as a pavement, six 

 or seven feet in length, which, in the part not concealed by the larger 

 stones, was covered with earth. Our men had not the curiosity or incli- 

 nation to dig any deeper, but a human skull was found near the spot. Our 

 people also reported that, several miles inland of this, they observed stones 

 set up as marks, many of which we also met with in the neighbourhood of 

 the point. Of these marks, which occur so abundantly in every part of the 

 American coast that we visited, we could not then conjecture the probable 

 use, but we afterwards learned that the Esquimaux set them up to guide 

 them in travelling from place to place, when a covering of snow renders it 

 difficult to distinguish one spot from another. We found among the stones 

 some seals' bones, with the flesh still upon them, which seemed to indicate 



* Crantz, I. 236. The Esquimaux on this part of the coast use it only as sticks for trim- 

 ming their lamps. 



H 2 



