_Friday, 17._–On taking up the nets, they were found to contain but
six fish. We embarked at four in the morning, and passed four
encampments; which appeared to have been very lately inhabited. We then
landed upon a small round island, close to the Eastern shore; which
possessed somewhat of a sacred character, as the top of it seemed to be
a place of sepulture, from the numerous graves which we observed there.
We found the frame of a small canoe, with various dishes, troughs, and
other utensils, which had been the living property of those who could
now use them no more, and form the ordinary accompaniments of their last
abodes. As no part of the skins that must have covered the canoe was
remaining, we concluded that it had been eaten by wild animals that
inhabit, or occasionally frequent, the island. The frame of the canoe,
which was entire, was put together with whale-bone; it was sewed in some
parts, and tied in others. The sledges were from four to eight feet
long; the length of the bars was upwards of two feet; the runners were
two inches thick and nine inches deep; the prow was two feet and an half
high, and formed of two pieces, sewed with whalebone, to three other
thin spars of wood, which were of the same height; and fixed in the
runners by means of mortises, were sewed two thin broad bars lengthways,
at a small distance from each other; these frames were fixed together
with three or four cross bars, tied fast upon the runners, and on the
lower edge of the latter, small pieces of horn were fastened by wooden
pegs, that they might slide with greater facility. They are drawn by
shafts, which I imagine are applied to any particular sledge as they are
wanted as I saw no more than one pair of them.
About half past one we came opposite to the first spruce-tree that we
had seen for some time: there are but very few of them on the main land,
and they are very small: those are larger which are found on the
islands, where they grow in patches, and close together. It is, indeed,
very extraordinary that there should be any wood whatever in a country
where the ground never thaws above five inches from the surface. We
landed at seven in the evening. The weather was now very pleasant, and
in the course of the day we saw great numbers of wild fowl, with their
young ones, but they were so shy that we could not approach them. The
Indians were not very successful in their foraging party, as they killed
only two grey cranes, and a grey goose. Two of them were employed on
the high land to the Eastward, through the greater part of the day, in
search of rein-deer, but they could discover nothing more than a few
tracks of that animal. I also ascended the high land, from whence I had
a delightful view of the river, divided into innumerable streams,
meandering through islands, some of which were covered with wood and
others with grass. The mountains, that formed the opposite horizon,
were at the distance of forty miles. The inland view was neither so
extensive nor agreeable, being terminated by a near range of bleak,
barren hills, between which are small lakes or ponds, while the
surrounding country is covered with tufts of moss, without the shade of
a single tree. Along the hills is a kind of fence, made with branches,
where the natives had set snares to catch white partridges.
