Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/145

 canoes below. There were also a number of old marmot snares set upon the slope, but none of those curious little animals were to be seen. The fog and cold returned in the evening, attended with a drizzling rain.

The morning of the 14th was calm, and we observed the first regular flow of the tide. At 8 o'clock it had risen eight inches, detaching the heavy field-ice to seaward from the broken ice in the bay, and opening a narrow passage to the opposite land, of which we immediately took advantage. It was, however, a work of labour and some danger to force our way through in many places, and it was noon before we reached Point Stokes. At a stream issuing out of a lake farther on, we found another small camp of Esquimaux, whose conduct was similar to that of the last party, and equally well rewarded. We procured from them some fine salmon-trout, taken in a seine of whalebone, which they dragged ashore by means of several slender poles spliced together to a great length. A tame full-grown seal was playing in the water around the tents, and, while we were there, came to the brink to be fed. We found the strait between Herschel Island and the mainland open. While passing through it, we were visited by three men, and two oomiaks filled with women and