Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/179

, a sketch of the inlet before us, and of the coast to the westward, as far as her knowledge extended. She represented the inlet as very deep; that they make many encampments in travelling round it; but that it receives no river. She also drew a bay of some size to the westward; and the old man added a long and very narrow projection, covered with tents, which I could not doubt to mean Point Barrow. The first and only rock seen in the whole extent of our discoveries—an angular mass of dark-coloured granite—lay off the point without the tents. We were just embarking when the hunters arrived. After exchanging a brief greeting, we gave each a piece of tobacco, distributed some rings and beads among the women and children, and took our departure. Scarcely had we left the shore when a strong north-east wind sprung up from seaward, bringing back the cold dense fog. We could not see a hundred yards ahead, but steered due west, by compass, across the inlet, which at this narrowest part proved to be five miles wide. I had much gratification in naming it Dease Inlet, as a mark of true esteem for my worthy colleague. The waves ran high on the passage, but our new craft surmounted them with wonderful buoyancy. The coast we attained was from ten to fifteen feet high, and the ground was