I this morning tried some of our male friends with a little tea and
biscuit, which they did not relish nearly so well as the ladies had done
the previous evening. Indeed, one of the latter, whom I have already
mentioned, knew what biscuit was the moment she saw it, and said she had
eaten some when on board Captain Parry's ships. I remained at our
landing-place until the afternoon to obtain some observations. That for
latitude gave a result different only 4" from that of yesterday. Having
engaged three Esquimaux to carry up some things that were still to be
taken, at one o'clock I followed my men and came up with them some
distance up the lake. As we could not prevail on any of the Esquimaux to
accompany us as guides, they left us here, and I sent back John Folster
and Ouligbuck to take care of the property left behind.
Our course was nearly N.N.W., but a gale of head wind impeded our
progress greatly. The temperature of the air was 52°; water of lake 40°.
A few hours' poling, pulling, and tracking brought us to the end of the
lake, which is about six miles long, from two hundred yards to half a
mile broad, and in some places thirty fathoms deep. The lake, as well as
the stream up which we had come, was named after our boat. We now turned
to the westward and entered a narrow passage one-and-a-half miles long,
which connects the lake we had passed through with the next one; the
current was strong, but between poling and tracking we soon got into
still water. Our course now turned again to the N.N.W., and after
proceeding a mile in this direction, we put on shore for the night in a
small bay, where we found a good supply of a plant (_andromeda
tetragona_), which answers very well for fuel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account