153 
Account of the Expedition to BafirCs Bay, 
the latitude of 76 30', but had found no inhabitants in any of 
the twenty-three islands to the north of Tessiursak. Between 
the parallels of 76® and 77®, however. Captain Boss discover- 
ed a tribe of Esquimaux, who reside principally a few miles to 
the north of Cape Dudley Digges, and who, during the sum- 
mer months, spread themselves about thirty or forty miles to 
the north and south. A few of the southern stragglers ap- 
peared on the 8th August, in latitude 75® 55', and longitude 65° 
37', and were recognised by a general shout, which they set up 
for the purpose of frightening away the ships, whom they re- 
garded as animals sent from the sun and moon to destroy them. 
They rode in sledges, drawn J3y dogs, and when their shout 
was returned from the ships, they wheeled round, and drove 
off with great velocity to their habitations. In order to induce 
them to approach. Captain Ross erected a pole, on which he 
fixed a flag, and a bag, containing presents, and then sailed to 
a distance. The natives, however, did not reappear, till the 
10th of August, when eight sledges were seen advancing by a 
circuitous route. The natives halted about a mile from the 
Isabella, ascended a small iceberg, and Avere induced to ap- 
proach, when they observed John Saccheuse, a southern Es- 
quimaux, who accompanied the expedition, advancing from the 
ship, with a white flag and presents. When both parties had 
arrived as near to each other as a chasm in the ice Avould per- 
mit, Saccheuse soon discovered that they spoke the Humock 
dialect, which prevails in the Womens Islands, and which he had 
fortunately learned, when a child. By this means he was ena- 
bled to remove the alarm which the sight of the ships had at 
first occasioned, and to prevail upon them to go on board the 
Isabella. The scenes which were exhibited at this and subse- 
quent interviews, though extremely amusing to those who Avit- 
nessed them, do not present us with much new information re- 
specting the inhabitants of these forlorn regions. The dress 
and the manners of the Esquimaux, their sledges drawn by 
dogs, their domestic arrangements, their superstitions, and their 
methods of procuring their food, have been all described Avith 
such accuracy by Sir Charles Giesecke, who resided eight years 
in their country, that it is not easy to gather any neAV informa- 
tion from, the descriptions of more hurried visitors. There are 
some points, however, in the narrative of Captain Ross, and 
