262 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



seen with his gun quietly seated on the rocks overlooking the 

 bay and watching for seals. A few words of greeting were ex- 

 changed, and I then looked around the place. I noticed that 

 about here there was quite a level spot of ground for these re- 

 gions ; and what more particularly attracted my attention was a 

 complete natural breakwater of stones, evidently thrown up by 

 the heavy seas. The side next the sea was sloping at an angle 

 of 40°, and that facing the flat of land, which it protected, about 

 50°. The sfones were of every variety of shape, though not much 

 worn, and weighing from one to twenty-five pounds. 



On this flat portion of land I perceived many signs of its hav- 

 ing been the frequent resort of Innuits during the summer months 

 — circles of stones for keeping down the skins which form their 

 tents ; bones of walrus and reindeer were also numerous. Here, 

 too, I saw, to my surprise, ship's blocks, iron hoops two and a half 

 inches wide, part of a coffee-pot, preserved meat canisters, an oak- 

 en bucket in good order, and several pieces of wood, all, as I aft- 

 erward conjectured, formerly belonging to the " Traveller," an En- 

 glish whaling vessel lost three years previous near " Bear Sound," 

 about thirty miles nearer the sea. 



It was at this place we lunched, and had the pleasure of finding 

 abundance of water on the rocks to quench our thirst. Here, on 

 a point of land called by the Innuits Evictoon, was a native mon- 

 ument such as they usually erect on prominent places. 



As we were about to resume our march, two seals were discov- 

 ered in the sun near some cracked ice. Immediately the old man 

 started off to try his rusty gun upon them, at first stumbling hur- 

 riedly over some broken ice that intervened, and then proceeding 

 very cautiously. When within forty rods he lay down upon his 

 front, and kneed, footed, and bellied himself along, not unlike the 

 movements of the seals he was after. But, as in Miner's case, a 

 moment afterward his prey, taking the alarm, rose up, and with a 

 plunge instantly disappeared. The old man jumped up, crying 

 aloud E-e-e-uh ! and walked on. 



As we traveled forward the mountains of Kingaite loomed up in 

 magnificent grandeur, and, on looking at them, something struck 

 me as it had done when first viewing the place in August, 1860, 

 that more than mere land existed there. It seemed as if a huge 

 ice ridge ran along parallel with the coast, uniting mountain with 

 mountain and peak with peak. Seeing how intent I was upon 

 this, Kokerjabin readily answered my inquiry as to what it really 



