The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-01-09
Attic Exploration.

In purbuAuco VI VIC OiuoAs Va N"P.
tain Howgate, directing me to proceed
to Cumberland Gulf, or elsewhere IN
my discretion, for the purpose OF col
lecting skins, skin clothing, Esquimau
dogs and sledges, and other material
and supplies necessary for long Arc
tic voyage, We sailed from New Lon
Don, Conn, on the 81 OF August, 1877,
at half,p ten A. N. After long and
tedious voyage of forty-one days we
arrived in Cumberland Gulf. Owing
to the large number of vessels We found
there and the presence of others dur
ing the summer, which had left prior
to our arrival, there was a very great
learth of skins; in fact there were none.
Two of these vessels, steamers, had car
ried such ksquimaux as were there to
the southwark; other Esquimaux who
were accustomed to congregate there
were of in the mountains deer hunt
ing and these, before their departure,
had contracted with some of the vessels
for the skins they might obtain.
Under these circumstances you can
readily perceive the difficult position
in which we were placed. 1t being too
late to go elsewhere l determined to
stay and do the best we could. Accord
ingly We remained at Mantle Harbor,
latitude G5 deg. 10 min. north, longi-
tude 81 deg. 80 min. west, awaiting the
return of the Esquimaux, which l con-
cluded would be about the last OF Sep
temher or the 1st of October. About
the last OF the former month many ar
rived, but they went Immediately to the
British vessels from Scotland with whom
! a. ho N, tha DSth
boats crew arrived and came immedi-
ately to the Florence. These we en-
gagged, and on the LIST Of October we got
under way, intending to winter at the
head of the Gulf and remote from any
of tho other vessels. My object in this
WAS to keep the E>quimaux we had Sc.
cured from the inuhence Of the whites
in the Gulf.
We lifted the Keickertons Islands
before going up. and, finding nothing
there, continued on our way and an
chored in Annatook Harbor, at the
head Of the Gulf, on the 9TH Of Octo-
Der, in latitude GO deg. % min. north,
longitude 6S deg. As min. west. There
we passed the winter and spring, in the
mean time collecting quite number of
skins. Some OF these were nude into
clothing. Those We obtained in the
spring however, not having time 10 make
them up We secured and packed away.
On breaking out from our winter quar-
tiers in the summer of the present year
we managed to induce five men to ac-
company us to the coast Of Greenland.
There were also five women and five
children, making fifteen in all, and
they carried with them q large number
of skins.
Ga the 10Th of July we sailed for
Disco Island, carrying with us the tif-
teen Esquimaux, twenty eight dogs, a
fair quantity of skin clothing and a
great many skins, soon to be put into
shape by the manipulations of the wo-
men. We arrived at Disco on the last
day of July, where, as Of course you
know, we did not meet any expedition.
We waited patiently until the 22l of
August, receiving no letters and no in
formation concerning the vessels pro-
posed to he sent out 10y the Govern
ment, and then disparing Of any COM
munication, we started on our return
to Cumberland Gulf, carrying every
thing with us.
And now came the most difficult
portion of our voyage. The season
has been very prolific in ice. none of
the Scotch whalers being able to get
through to Melville Bay on the Green
land SIDE, and up to the time we left
Disco the Danish ships had been I'M
able to reach their upper settlements.
We encountered the ice off Cape
Mercy, latitude "a deg. As min. north,
longitude 65 deg. 80 min. west, and
worked our way through the pack a
distance of 200 miles, often with the
greatest labor and at times threat
ened with serious catastrophe. Hap.
PLY we arrived in the Gulf on the
last day of August, and as the sea-
son was so far advanced that no further
delay was practicable, we paid and
discharged the E,quimaux on the ID
of September and at once started on
our return.
With the result Of the voyage there
10 every reason to be satisfied, though
the accomplishment Of its immedi-
ate purposes led to no practical end.
Tho scientific gentlemen Messrs. Kun
lin and Sherman, have been indefati-
gable in the perform nee Of their du-
ties and are much pleased with their
discoveries. OF the moro interesting
results may be mentioned the finding
OF meteoric iron in the trap rock, the
addition Of five species of birds to
the fauna OF the Atlantic seaboard, and
tba nrocurinu ~ ~hola'a okalat,o