294 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP 
XL 
Sept. 
1826. 
On the 5th I visited the northern side of Escholtz Bay, and found 
the country almost impassable from swamp, notwithstanding the season 
was so far advanced. It seemed as if the peaty nature of the covering 
obstructed the draining of the water, which the power of the sun had 
let loose during the summer, and that the frozen state of the ground 
beneath prevented its escape in that direction. The power of the sun’s 
rays upon the surface was still great, and large stones and fragments 
of rock that had been spht by the frost were momentarily relinquish- 
ing their hold and falling down upon the beach. A thermometer ex- 
posed upon a piece of black cloth rose to 112°, and in the shade stood 
at 62°. On the side of the hill that sloped to the southward the wiUow 
and birch grew to the height of eighteen feet, and formed so dense a 
wood that we could not penetrate it. The trees bordering upon the 
beach were quite dead, apparently in consequence of their bark having 
been rubbed through by the ice, which had been forced about nine 
feet above high water mark, and had left a steep ridge of sand and 
shingle. The berries were at this time in great perfection and abun- 
dance, and proved a most agreeable addition to the salt diet of the 
seamen, who were occasionally permitted to land and collect them. 
The chffs on this side of Choris Peninsula were composed of a 
green-coloured mica slate, in which the mica predominated, and con- 
tained garnets, veins of feldspar, enclosing crystals of schorl, and had its 
fissures filled with quartz ; but I shall avoid saying any thing on geo- 
logical subjects here. 
On the 6th our curiosity was excited by the appearance of tw'O 
small boats under sail, which, when first seen through a light fog, 
were so different from the sails of the Esquimaux, that our imagination, 
which had latterly converted every unusual appearance in the horizon 
into the boats of Captain F ranklin, really led us to conclude he had 
at length arrived ; but as they rounded the point, w^e clearly dis- 
tinguished them to be two native baidars. We watched their landing, 
and were astonished at the rapidity with which they pitched their tents, 
settled themselves, and transferred to their new habitation the contents 
of the baidars, which they drew out of the sea and turned bottom up- 
wards. On visiting their abode an hour after they landed, every thing 
