534 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, earth. It would be unfair to impute to these people any malicious 
intentions from this circumstance, as they must have had every reason 
Aug. to suppose, from their custom of concealing provisions underground, and 
from having found a cask ol our flour buried the preceding year, that 
they would find a similar treasure, especially as they do not inter their 
dead. The cask of flour and the box of beads, which had been deposited 
in the sand, had been unmolested; but a copper coin which we nailed 
upon a post on the summit of the island was taken away. 
The swarms of mosquitos that infested the shore at this time 
greatly lessened our desire to land. However, some of our sportsmen 
traversed the island, and succeeded in killing a white hare, weighing 
nearly twelve pounds, and a few ptarmigan ; the hare was getting its 
summer coat, and the young birds were strong upon the wing. 
For several days after our arrival the weather was very thick, with 
rain and squalls from the south-west, which occasioned some anxiety for 
the barge ; but on the 11th she joined us, and I learned from Mr. Elson 
that he had succeeded in finding the inlet, and that as far as he could 
judge, the weather being very foggy and boisterous, it was a spacious 
and excellent port. He was visited by several of the natives while 
there, one of whom drew him a chart, which corresponded with that 
constructed upon the sand in Kotzebue Sound the preceding year. On 
his putting to sea from the inlet the weather continued very thick, so 
much so that he passed through Beering's Strait without seeing land ; 
and was unable to explore Schismareff' Inlet. 
The discovery of a port so near to Beering’s Strait, and one in 
which it was probable the ship might remain after circumstances should 
oblige her to quit Kotzebue Sound, was of great importance ; and I 
determined to take an early opportunity of examining it, should the 
situation of the ice to the northward aflbrd no prospect of our pro- 
ceeding further than we had done the preceding year. In order that 
Captain Franklin’s party might not be inconvenienced by such an 
arrangement, the barge was fitted, and placed under the command of 
Lieutenant Belcher, who was ordered to proceed along the coast as in 
the preceding year, and to use his best endeavours to communicate with 
the party under Captain Franklin’s command, by penetrating to the 
