OF THE POLAR SEA. 



363 



Point Lake we had boiled the Indian tea plant, ledum palustre, 

 which produced a beverage in smell much resembling rhubarb ; 

 notwithstanding which we found it refreshing, and were gratified to 

 see this plant flourishing abundantly, though of dwarfish growth, on 

 the sea-shore. 



July 21. — The wind, which had blown strong through the night, 

 became moderate in the morning, but a dense fog prevented us from 

 embarking until noon, when we commenced our voyage on the 

 Hyperborean Sea. Soon afterwards we landed on an island where 

 the Esquimaux had erected a stage of drift timber, and stored up 

 many of their fishing implements and winter sledges, together with 

 a great many dressed seal, musk ox, and deer skins. Their spears 

 headed with bone, and many small articles of the same material, 

 were worked with extreme neatness, as well as their wooden dishes, 

 and cooking utensils of stone ; and several articles, very elegantly 

 formed of bone, were evidently intended for some game, but 

 Augustus was unacquainted with their use. We took from this 

 deposit four seal-skins to repair our shoes, and left in exchange a 

 copper-kettle, and some awls and beads. 



We paddled all day along the coast to the eastward, on the inside 

 of a crowded range of islands, and saw very little ice ; the " blink" 

 of it, however, was visible to the northward, and one small iceberg 

 was seen at a distance. A tide was distinguishable among the 

 islands by the foam floating on the water, but we could not ascer- 

 tain its direction. In the afternoon St. Germain killed, on an 

 island, a fat deer, which was a great acquisition to us ; it was the 

 first we had seen for some months in good condition. 



Having encamped on the main shore, after a run of thirty-seven 

 miles, we set up a pole to ascertain the rise and fall of the water, which 

 was repeated at every halting-place, and Hepburn was ordered 

 to attend to the result. We found the coast well covered with 

 vegetation, of moderate height, even in its outline, and easy of 



3 A 2 



