OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



435 



guish the land from the ice, (so entirely were both covered with snow,) that J 823 - 

 we could literally no longer muster one eye among three of us to direct lyyv 

 the sledge. I found a handkerchief tied close, but not too tightly, round 

 the eyes for a whole night, to be a more effectual remedy for this dis- 

 agreeable complaint than any application of eye-water ; and my companions, 

 being induced to try the same experiment, derived equal benefit from it. 

 The 12th proved so inclement a day, with hard gales from the N.W. and Thur. 12. 

 N.E., and continued snow and drift, that no observations could be obtained, 

 and we were glad to keep within the shelter of the tent. On the following 

 day, after waiting for observations, which gave the lat. 69° 18' 33", and the Frid. 13. 

 long. 31' 36" W. of the Fury, we set off for Aiiagnuk, where I wished to 

 visit our shooting parties. A bay on the south shore, subsequently named 

 after Mr. Mogg, of the Hecla, was reserved for future examination, it being 

 impossible to distinguish the coast line till the snow was more cleared from 

 the land ; this was in fact much less the case at this period than it had been 

 during the second week in May. Reaching Aiiagnuk towards evening, we 

 found that our parties had each thirty or forty ducks ready for the ships ; 

 and that the Esquimaux had lately altogether deserted this station, owing to 

 the scarcity of walruses, and had removed to Ooglit, where these animals 

 were said to be abundant at this season. Leaving our people on the morning 

 of the 14th, I returned on board soon after noon, where I found that nothing Sat. 14. 

 worthy of particular notice had occurred during my absence. The latitude 

 of our tents at Aiiagnuk, which was one mile to the southward of the point 

 more properly so called, was, by the mean of several observations by Mr. 

 Ross, 69° 11' 33", and I found it, by chronometer, 23' 09" East of the Fury's 

 winter station. This shore, the whole way along the south coast of Hooper 

 Inlet, from the head of Quilliam Creek, is composed nearly of the same loose 

 limestone formation as that of Igloolik. 



The golden plovers and sand-pipers now appeared occasionally in flocks, 

 and a few were sometimes brought in by our sportsmen. Black and red- 

 throated divers had also made their appearance about the small ponds and 

 lakes at Aiiagnuk, as well as a few brent and bernacle geese. The two 

 latter are considered by the Esquimaux, though certainly erroneously, as the 

 same species, of which they take the bernacle to be the male bird. They of 

 course, therefore, call both by one name (neer-luk,) from which, as we after- 

 wards learned, the island of Neerlonalrto, which abounds in these birds, has 

 received its appellation. Some silvery gulls and king-ducks began occasion- 



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