The Sun.
London, England, 1823-10-25 00:00:00

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' Since writing this account, and on looking over our brie
memoranda, &c. we are reminded of eight or ten specimens of
tomtits and minerals. A dark piece of iron pyrites is that with
which the natives strike sparks among dry moss, to light their
fires. We have also OR our desk a part of. the yolk of a sea-
bird's egg, as prepared by the Esquimaux to keep for food. It
is as hard and transparent as amber, for which it might readily,
be mistaken. A model of a canoe ingeniously made by a na-
tive, and only fourteen inches long, is also among our stores.
It does credit to their skill ; but not so much as a female's re-
ticule (if we may call it) made of ducks' feet curiously disposed
in a neat circular shape, and the toes hanging out like tags or
timid/. This is a very singalar piece of workmanship, and
looks well. Small bottles of matting woven closely, and of an
elegant form, are among their manufactures; and the string-
ing, on threads of fish-fibres, of the teeth of foxes' wolves, &c..
for female ornaments, does not always betray a bad taste, how-
ever common the materials are. Images of bone, an inch or
an inch and a half long, afford no high notion of the native
talents for carving in ivory—they just so far resemble the
human shape as to show they were meant to represent it.
One petrifaction of the back7bone of a fish is in our calla-
tipa, and extremely curious.

of the Elmlimaux dog is witnessed. These strong and hardy
animals draw the country sledges at the rate of five Miles, and
mare, an hour. Nor is this performed with a light 'weight at-
tithed to them. Eight in harness will draw three or four per-
eons With ease and speed in this manlier. On'one occasion an
anchor and stock, Weighing about a ton, was dragged to its
destination by 15 or 16 of them ; and, generally speaking, they
are fully equal to a load of one hundred weight per dog.
They are also bold and vigorous in the chase. With them
the Esquimaux hunts 'the great white Polar bear; and sonic of
those brought to England carry the scars of ' their prowess in
this way. They seize their adversary by his long shaggy hair,
and'worry and detain him till their masters come up with their
spears to end the conflict.
-Those in the ships, 12 or 14 in number, are large creatures of
various colours, tan, grey, but mostly black with white spots over
the eyes and on the feet and tip of the tail. They are exceed-
ingly- fierce, and more like wolves than dogs. They do not bark,
but snarl, growl, end howl in a savage manner. A. good many
died in consequence of the heat, on their way to England ; and
though Wednesday was a cold October day, the survivors were
panting as if they had exhausted themselves with running. In
the }ltch was one dog bred between the Esquimaux dog and
a lurcher taken out from this country. She had six female,
pips, and the specimen we saw is now a fine powerful animal,
and quite tame. It gave a singular proof of its sagacity in the
.river : A lighter came alongside with some casksof fresh water,
into which it immediately leapt over the side, and ran from
cask to cask, trying to get its head into a bung-hole. This
being impossible, one of the men good-humouredly drew a
bowl full for it, ich it dispatched with evident delight, and '
then begged for another draught. This it also obtained, drank
it nearly all, and with signs of gratification and thankfulness
made its way back to the ship.
On their native soil, however, these ferocious animals are
often destroyed by the still more ferocious wolves. The latter
hunt in packs, and even drag the dogs from the huts to devour
them. Attracted by the scent, they were always prowling about
our vessels, and daringly canied off whatever came in their
way. Thirteen of them were seen in one pack ; all of which
were trapped and slain. It was of these the hungry Esqui-
maux made their dinners. At one time they bore away a dog
from the Fury, in spite of the pursuit Of the men.
The animals which may be enumerated besides RTC, -bears,
faxes, rein-deer, hares, lemmings, the white ermine, and the
natnnot.
'The birds are, the swan, the beautiful king duck, the eider
duck, the king-tailed duck, the silver Arctic duck, &c. &e.
Oulls of every kind, the Arctic diver, the loom, the red-throat,
guillemots, the snow bunting, the ptarmigan ; ravens, snowy
owls, and hawks; birds of song, with a short low chirping
note, the Siberian lark and the Lapland finch.
The insect creation is very limited. There are about site
species of flies ; the mosquito, very troublesome, but existing
only about one month ; the wild bee, i. c. the large black and
not our hive-bee; the spider; the butterfly, a small kind of
the golden ; and the white moth.
The water teems, as we have stated, with molusca, the food
for the enormous whale and other species of fish. There is also
another minute creature in extraordinary abundance • we mean
the small shrimp, which is known by the name of the sea-
louse. These performed a very curious office to the naturalists
in the expedition, and their usefulness was very drolly disco-
vered. An officer one day was desirous of preparing a Solan
goose for cooking, and in order to reduce its saltness,
lie plunged it through an ice-hole into the water : but alas
next morning, when the goose was to be drawn up for spitting,
nothing but the skeleton appeared. The sea-lice had picked
its bones As clean as any anatomist could have scraped them,
and thus finely prepared it for any collection of natural his-
tory which might want inch a specimen I The hint was
not lost, .for, after this time, whatever skeletons or bones
required polishing, were submitted to the lice operators, and
so diligent were they in executing the task confided to them,
they would eat a sea-horse's head clean in a couple of nights
In the Botanical department we have already mentioned the
bonus siccus, which has been so kindly presented to us. Hardly
one of the plants exceeds two or three inches in height, and the
flowers are all small. Yet some of them are very pretty; and
they bloom in such profusion as entirely to enamel their
wild and drear locality, for a season of two or three months.
The most remarkable which we observe among our spe-
cimens, besides the early blue saxifrage, is the andro-
meda,, of which the natives make their beds ; and the
potentilla or wild tansey, the roots of which they eat.—
This we believe is also done in some of the most northern
Scottish Isles : it is a very minute plant, not more than two
inches in height, and the root not larger than that of a single
corn-stalk. The andrometia is wiry, like heath. All the
flowers are yellow or blue ; and we find the poppy, one resent-
bling a cowslip, one with a curious berry seed, several of saxi-
frag.., grasses, a beautiful bright yellow moss, &c. &c. among
our specimens.
On the voyage home, the ships touched at Winter Island,
and were surprised to find their garden vegetables thriving.
Whether the. plants had resown themselves, or sprung again
from the roots, could not be ascertained, but the singular fact
of salads and peas growing spontaneously on the artic circle was
exhibited to the wonder of the visitors.
On leaving the Esquimaux, some muskets of small worth
were given them ; and one native and his wife were willing to
have come to England, but the trouble and uncertainty of
restoring them to their own country prevented their Voyage. An
axe, and still better a saw, would console them for any disap-
pointment.
‘Ve have now related, we are persuaded, nearly all the prin-
cipal occurrences which attended this interesting Expedition.
For the want of order and polish, our circumstances will, we
trust, obtain pardon; and especially as our information, though
hastily put together, and not much extended by descriptions, is
very complete in its character, and may be relied upon as accu-
rately embracing nearly all the leading features of a voyage,
than which none ever excited a stronger public feeling. Anxi-
ous to gratify Oda, we have done our utmost endeavour, and
cannot-but hope that it will afford very general satisfaction. •