OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



69 



and which we had not met with so abundantly anywhere else. On the sur- A 1821 g ' t 

 face of the ground, but most especially near the beach, were many loose ^-rsJ 

 pieces of limestone of a white colour and quite sharp-edged. On the banks 

 of the lakes the vegetation was quite luxuriant, giving them when viewed 

 from an eminence and assisted by bright sunshine a cheerful and picturesque 

 appearance. There was no snow upon the land, except here and there a 

 broad thick patch in the hollows, where it may probably remain year after year 

 undissolved ; but with the exception of these patches, there was nothing in the 

 appearance of the country to remind one of being near the polar circle. 

 Piles of stones and the remains of Esquimaux habitations, were everywhere 

 to be seen, and Mr. Ross met with their marks even on the highest hills j but 

 none appeared of recent date. The rein-deer were here very numerous. 

 Mr. Ross saw above fifty in the course of his walk, and several others were 

 met with near the tents. A large one was shot by one of the men, who 

 struck the animal, as he lay on the ground, a blow on the head with the 

 butt-end of his piece, and leaving him for dead ran towards the tents for a 

 knife to bleed and skin him ; when the deer very composedly got on his legs, 

 swam across a lake, and finally escaped. A small fawn was the only one 

 killed. Three black whales and a few seals were playing about near the 

 beach. 



Our people being somewhat fatigued with walking were allowed to rest 

 till half past one on the morning of the 29th, when it being high water the Wed. 29. 

 tents were struck and the boat loaded. The morning was beautifully clear 

 and tranquil, and the Aurora Borealis was faintly visible at break of day in 

 the south-west quarter of the heavens. Leaving the shore before two o'clock, 

 we steered for an island in the direction of Point Cheyne, and landed to 

 breakfast on a rock off its eastern end. The water is very shoal on the north 

 and east sides of this island ; the southern side is bold, the whole surface 

 rocky, and composed entirely of gneiss. Proceeding towards Point Cheyne, 

 we first began to perceive the influence of a stream of tide, as we approached 

 some heavy ice about a mile from the point, which we found to be aground 

 upon a shoal in twelve to seventeen feet, lying abreast of an island called 

 by Captain Lyon, Rouse Island. Over this shoal the ebb-tide was running 

 from the N.N.W., at the rate of three miles an hour, to join the main 

 stream which sets to the eastward along the south shore. After taking- 

 marks for the shoal, which lies rather in the way of a ship coming through 

 this channel, we rowed over to the point. The strength of the tide gradu- 



