Upon going ashore at Gale Point, I discovered traces of Esquimaux much more recent than those at Gould Bay and other places on the shores of Grinnell Land. Indeed they were of such a character as to cause me strongly to suspect that the shore is at present inhabited. The cliffs are composed of a dark sandstone which, to the northward of the Point, breaks suddenly away into a broad plain that slopes gently down to the water's edge. This plain is about five miles wide, and is bounded at the north much as at the south, by lofty cliffs, which rise above the primitive rocks back of Cape Isabella. The plain was composed of loose shingle, covered over in many places with large patches of green, through which flowed a number of broad streams of water. These streams sprang from the front of a glacier which bulged down the valley from the _mer de glace_. It was about four miles from the sea, and bounded the green and stony slope with a great white wall several hundred feet high, above which the snow-covered steep of the _mer de glace_ led the eye away up to the bald summits of the distant mountains. As I looked up at this immense stream of ice it seemed as if a dozen Niagaras had been bounding together into the valley and were frozen in their fall, and the discharging waters of the river below had dried up, and flowers bloomed in the river-bed. My journal compares it to a huge white sheet, hung upon a cord stretched from cliff to cliff. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXXVIII. LEAVING SMITH SOUND.--CROSSING THE NORTH WATER.--MEETING THE PACK.--THE SEA AND AIR TEEMING WITH LIFE.--REMARKABLE REFRACTION.--REACHING WHALE SOUND.--SURVEYING IN A BOAT.--THE SOUND TRACED TO ITS TERMINATION.--MEETING ESQUIMAUX AT ITEPLIK.--HABITS OF THE ESQUIMAUX.--MARRIAGE CEREMONY.--THE DECAY OF THE TRIBE.--VIEW OF BARDEN BAY.--TYNDALL GLACIER. The ice coming in at length with an easterly wind, and being unable to find any harbor (Cadogen Inlet was completely filled with ice), we had no alternative but to stand away to the south; and this we did at a fortunate moment, for the ice crowded in against the shore with great rapidity; and, had we waited longer, we should have been unable to escape, and would have been driven upon the beach by the irresistible pack. We carried the wind along with us down the coast until we reached below Talbot Inlet, when we came upon a heavy pack, and held our course for Whale Sound, which I was desirous of exploring. Passing close to the land, I had an excellent opportunity for observing the coast and perfecting the chart, especially of Cadogen and Talbot Inlets, both of which were traced around their entire circuit. The coast is everywhere bristling with glaciers. A large island lies below Talbot Inlet, inside of the Mittie Island of Captain Inglefield, and not before laid down. [Sidenote: A RARE DAY.] [Sidenote: ARCTIC MIRAGE.]