324 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, weighed 160lbs., and it took us the greater part of the night to accora- 
^ plish it. In our way on board we met several native caiacs, and had an 
Sept, exhibition of the skill of one of the Esquimaux in throwing his dart, 
which he placed in a slip, a small wooden instrument about a foot in 
length, with a hole cut in the end to receive the forefinger, and a 
notch for the thumb. 4’he stick being thus grasped, the dart was laid 
along a groove in the slip, and embraced by the middle finger and thumb. 
The man next propelled his caiac with speed in order to communicate 
greater velocity to the dart, and then whirled it through the air to a 
considerable distance. As there was no mark, we could not judge of 
his skill in taking aim. His party lived a long distance up Buckland 
river, and were acquainted with the musk ox, which I am the more 
particular in remarking, as we had never seen that animal on the 
coast. 
About eight o’clock at night we had a brilliant display of the 
aurora borealis, a phenomenon of the heavens so beautiful that it has 
been justly thought to surpass all description. 
In our return to the ship to deposit the fossils, a calm obliged us 
to anchor on the north side of the bay, where we landed with difficulty, 
in consequence of the shallowness of the beach, and of several ridges of 
sand thrown up parallel with it, too near the surface for the boat to 
pass over, and with channels of water between them too deep to wade 
through without getting completely wet. The country abounded in 
lakes, in which were many wild ducks, geese, teal, and widgeon ; and 
was of the same swampy nature before described : it was covered with 
moss, and occasionally by low bushes of juniper, cranberry, whortleberry, 
and cloudberry. Near this spot, two days before, we saw a herd of 
eleven rein-deer, and shot a musk rat. 
Hence westward, to the neck of Choris Peninsula, the shore was 
difficult of access, on account of long muddy flats extending into the 
bay, and at low water drying in some places a quarter of a mile from 
the beach. 
Bad weather and the duties of the ship prevented my resuming 
the examination of the sound until the 20th, when we ran across in 
the barge to Spafarief Bay, and explored the coast from thence to the 
