Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/180

Rh brought to light new facts in connexion with the past. A piece of iron, semi-spherical in shape, weighing twenty pounds, was discovered under the stone that had been excavated for the "ship's way," and many other small pieces were also found at the head of the trench. Fragments of tile were found all over the island, and numerous other relics, indicating that civilized men had visited the place very many years ago.

The large piece of iron was found in the following manner: Koojesse and I had been examining the "ship's trench" to see how high up in it the tide at full and change rose, and then, leaving him to search for relics, I ascended the eastern bank, and walked along it to the bluff facing the sea. As I looked down to the base of the tongue on which I stood, I saw, wedged in between two rocks, what appeared to be a stick of timber, about two feet long and six inches square, very old in appearance. I called to Koojesse, and directed him to examine it, as, from where I stood, it was some twenty-five feet perpendicular to the bottom; he hastened down and around, and, on arriving at the supposed relic of wood, said it was a stone.

I was surprised and disappointed, and then proceeded with my occupation of pacing off the trench. In half a minute I heard Koojesse shout "Sheveye-un!" (iron.) I turned round, and saw that he had boldly mounted the steep bank beneath me, using the sharp rocks as stepping-stones, and had his hand resting on a piece of rusty iron just protruding from the débris of stone that had been dug out of the trench, and thrown up, making a bank. Koojesse continued shouting "Iron! big iron! Can't stir him!" I was soon on the spot, though at considerable risk, and trying to disengage the iron, but I could not move it. After digging around it, however, a few strong pulls started it. The