ANOTHER COAL DEPOSITE. 



435 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



A Storm. — Detained at Niountelik. — Examine the Island. — Another Deposit of 

 Coal found. — Specimens collected. — Revisit Kodlunarn. — Minute Inspection. — 

 More Relics found of Frobisher's Expedition. — A large Piece of Iron. — The 

 "Ship's Trench." — Depart on return to Ship. — Twenty-sixth Encampment. — 

 Revisit the Whaling De'pot. — Passage through Bear Sound. — Twenty-seventh and 

 last Encampment by Lupton Channel. — Innuit Deposits of Food. — Good Faith 

 and Honesty of the Natives toward each other. — Avoidance of the "Dreaded 

 Land." — Last Day's Journey. — Arrive near Parker's Bay. — Anxiety and Excite- 

 ment as to the Ship. — Gain Sight of her. — Arrival on Board. — All well! 



On Tuesday, September 24th, 1861, a snow-storm from the 

 northeast was upon us. This delighted me, for it made a stay 

 of another day necessary, impatient as the Innuits were to get 

 back to the ship. After breakfast, enveloped in my cloak, I saun- 

 tered out, determining to give Niountelik a good look. I first 

 proceeded through snow and furious wind to the opposite side of 

 the island, but found nothing worthy of note in my walk there. 

 On my way back, however, by the beach east of the tupics, I found 

 several pieces of coal in the sand, and up a gully much more, with 

 some flint-stone. A little farther on I suddenly encountered an- 

 other deposit of coal, No. 2 of Niountelik, on the bank, by a cove 

 with a sandy beach, a short distance east of where I had found 

 the first deposit some months before. 



At this moment the Innuits came round with the boats, and 

 landed in the cove ; and the idea immediately struck me that this 

 was the identical landing-place of Frobisher in 1578 ! The coal- 

 bed was within thirty feet of high-water mark. Its depth, in the 

 thickest part, was six inches. It was nearly overgrown with 

 grasses, shrubs, and mosses; and some of it was washed down 

 into the sand and shingle of the beach. The flint-stones were 

 numerous, and of the same character as in the two other lots found. 

 Having made a very thorough examination here, I looked else- 

 where over the island. Eelics of Innuits were in all directions, 

 but especially on the eastern slope ; and some small pieces of 

 drift-wood, overgrown with grass, were met with and secured. 

 After going to the camp for a seal-spear, I succeeded — by dint 



