The ice being rather less close on the morning of the 16th, we made sail to the westward at 7.45 A.M., and continued "boring" in that situation the whole day, which enabled us to join the three strange ships. They proved to be, as we had supposed, the Prince of Wales, Eddystone, and Lord Wellington, bound to Hudson's Bay. I sent a boat to the former to request Mr. Davidson, the master, to come on board, which he immediately did. From him we learned that the Lord Wellington having on board one hundred and sixty settlers for the Red River, principally foreigners, of both sexes and every age, had now been twenty days among the ice, and had been drifted about in various directions at no small risk to the ship. By the Prince of Wales we sent our last letters for our friends in England. Proceeding slowly to the westward, we had reached at noon on the 21st the lat. of 61° 50' 13", long., by chronometers, 67° 07' 35". In this situation several islands were in sight to the northward and westward, and, among the rest, a remarkable one called Saddle-back on account of its shape. The wind backing to the westward in the afternoon, we anchored the ships to the largest floe-piece we could find, there not being room to beat to the windward. While thus employed we heard voices in-shore, which we soon knew to be those of some Esquimaux coming off to us. Shortly after, several canoes made their appearance, and seventeen of these people came alongside the Fury. Having hauled their _kayaks_ (canoes) upon the floe, they began to barter their commodities, consisting of seal and whale blubber, whalebone, spears, lines, and the skins of the seal, bear, fox, deer, and dog. Our first endeavour was to procure as much oil as possible, of which, as we had been informed by the Hudson's Bay ships, several tons are thus almost annually obtained from these people. We soon found that they had been well accustomed to bargain-making, for it was with some difficulty that we could prevail on them to sell the oil for anything of reasonable value. They frequently gave us to understand that they wanted saws and harpoons in exchange for it, and as these were articles which we could not spare, it was not without trouble that we obtained, in the course of the evening, two barrels of blubber in exchange for several knives, large nails, and pieces of iron hoop, which was certainly a dear bargain on our side. If they saw more than one of these at a time, they would try hard to get the whole for the commodity they were offering, though, when we had for some time persisted in refusing, they would not only accept what was offered, but jump for joy at having obtained it. They always licked the articles given them, and in one instance only did we notice any inclination to break the contract after this process had been gone through.