A SCENE OF GRANDEUR. 539 Never shall I forget that night. It was very cold, and we sat on the sledge well clothed in furs, while the dogs flew merrily and at their most rapid rate. Occupying a place in the rear of all the rest, where all was clear for action, with the box chronometer under my eye, I threw the log every ten minutes, holding the reel up in my right hand.* We all felt the cold severely, and had recourse to various contrivances to keep some warmth in our limbs. No doubt I presented rather a grotesque appearance as I sat with native stockings on my hands now and then instead of outside mittens. Toward midnight we felt the want of shelter and rest; but, in my own case, all sense of discomfort was banished by the beauty which Nature placed before me. The grandeur of Kingaite's grotto mountains that we were leaving behind us, with their contrasts of light and shade, as viewed in the night, and watched as light increased with advancing day, filled my soul with inexpressible delight. It was like beholding a mighty city of cathedrals, monuments, palaces, and castles overthrown by an earthquake, the ruins resting amid mountain drifts of snow. At 3 A.M. of the 18th, when near the islands which diversify Frobisher Bay in the locality between M'Lean Island and Chase Island, the sun began to peer out from behind the dark clouds, when we stopped the dogs, threw ourselves flat on the bare snow, and slept soundly for one hour and thirty-five minutes. At 8 A.M we arrived at the 18th encampment (which was the same as the tenth), whence we had started on the 8th instant, making an absence while on this journey of just ten days. The number of miles traveled was 176 nautical, or 203 English miles, this distance having been made in exactly 54 hours and 31 minutes traveling time. A brief extract from my notes, written after my return from this journey, reads as follows: "Taking my departure from the tenth encampment on May 8, 1862, and sledging 176 miles (nautical), now, on my return to same place, my dead reckoning'—which has been kept independent of all the astronomical observations, taken during the trip—makes the same place differ in latitude 23 miles, and in longitude less *See accompanying engraving, and also type on larger scale of sledge-log, line and reel, on page 521, drawn to one sixth of the size of the original. This contrivance was made while encamped on the ice in the middle of Frobisher Ray (ninth encampment). The reel was wood, the line a codfish-line, the log a relic of the wrecked Rescue—a ring-bolt, weighing just two pounds, which answered admirably the purpose for which I desired it. than half a geographical mile, an approximation I little expected to make." I found Henry very sick, and it was necessary that I should get him to the vessel as soon as possible. Tunukderlien and Jennie were well, the latter as evil-disposed as ever. Sharkey, however, had to receive sad news. By his former wife he had a child, which had been given in care to another Innuit. This child would occasionally, by various acts such as are common to young children, annoy its guardian, who accordingly conveyed it to the top of a lonely and rocky mountain, sewed it up in a sealskin, and threw it down a deep cleft, leaving it there to be frozen to death, and there its little corpse was afterward discovered by some Innuits. We found plenty of food among the people here, and blubber, the commercial value of which would have been some hundreds of dollars, and yet all soon to be wasted. One ookgook which they had captured must have weighed quite 1500 pounds, and its blubber was two inches thick. The following day, May 19th, finding that Koojesse was too sick to accompany me farther, and that Sharkey had to remain with his wife, I made arrangements with the Innuit "Bill," who agreed to take Henry and myself, with my dogs, to Oopungnewing. After farewells with my Innuit friends, away we went, all six of us (Bill would have his wife and two children along too), down the bay; but in the evening a heavy snow-storm came on, and, though we tried to breast it for some time, we were at length obliged to give in, and encamp, after midnight, on Clarke's Island, which is between Jones's Cape and Chapel's Point. The next morning, the 20th, we again proceeded, the traveling, in consequence of rough ice, being very bad, and, on arriving at a point near Twerpukjua, we were obliged to make our course over a narrow neck of land, called the Pass of Ee-too-nop-pin, which leads directly to the Countess of Warwick's Sound. The channel between Niountelik and Oopungnewing was also much broken up, and it was only with great difficulty we reached the latternamed place in the afternoon. Here I found numerous Innuit families, and also heard that Captain B had visited the place, but had gone down to Cape True fifteen days before. "Bill," my sledge-driver, was so stricken with snow-blindness that I had to make arrangements with Innuit "Charley" to carry me back to the ship. This was speedily effected, and in an hour's time we again started. We proceeded rapidly across the sound to Lincoln Bay, and thence, taking Bayard Taylor Pass, arrived at Field Bay. On the way quite an accident occurred. While on the descent of the land pass, Field Bay side, the sledge capsized and broke down, and one of the runners split from stem to stern. At first we thought that it was a complete wreck, and that nothing could be done except to walk the remaining distance; but "Charley" at once proceeded to unload the sledge and make repairs. With a seal-knife he bored three holes through the twoinch plank runner, bound the shattered parts together, made all secure, reloaded the sledge, and then, when we had taken something to eat and drink, declared that all was once more ready to proceed. The dexterity with which "Charley" did this was remarkable. In fifty minutes from the time the sledge was broken he had it all in order again. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, May 21st, when we arrived at the ship, where I found on board only the steward and "Fluker." CHAPTER XXXV. Ebierbing and Tookoolito.—They decide to Visit America.—More Frobisher Relics. —A Musket-ball.—Old Ookijoxy Ninoo.—Interesting Conversation.—Her Sketch of the Monument.—Innuit Superstition.—The Lock of Hair.—Sledge-journey alone. Another Trip with Ebierbing.—Danger on the Ice.—Remains of Innuit subterranean Houses.—A critical Situation.—Boat-excursion to Countess of Warwick's Sound.—A large Traveling Company.—Kodlunarn again.—Fresh Discoveries. Another Voyage.—Sharkey's Monument.—Walrus Meat. For a week after my return to the ship nothing especially worthy of note occurred. An extract from my diary of May 25th, 1862, will show that I was reasonably certain of having Innuit companions on my return to the United States: "Ebierbing and his nuliana, Tookoolito, will return here in season to accompany me to America. I am to take them for the purpose of having them accompany me on a future expedition to King William's Land. I hope, after what I have done here in the North in the way of explorations, in discovering relics of Frobisher's expeditions of near three centuries ago, and in determining the probable fate of the five of his company that were kidnapped here, I shall have no insurmountable obstacle to overcome in preparing for that voyage which I still have at heart—the voyage to King William's Land and Boothia—to investigate all the facts relative to Sir John Franklin's expedition while in the vicinity of the places named. That the Innuits are still living who know all about the mysterious termination of that expedition I have not the shadow of a doubt. What is requisite is to visit those regions, get acquainted with and establish friendly relations among the Innuits there, become familiar with their language, and then learn of them the history of that expedition." On the 3d of June I was fortunate in obtaining two more relics of the Frobisher expedition. Ooksin, an Innuit whom I had known before, came on board from Oopungnewing, and gave me, as a present from Annawa's wife, Noodlooyong, a piece of brick, or rather of tile, about two inches long, one inch thick, and one and a half inches wide, and also a musket-ball, both found on Kod |