Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/211

 note-books. At 10 the moon, now at the full, and seen for the first time since our leaving Athabasca, arose, and, after lowly circling over the eminences next the coast, set again long before the reappearance of the sun.

At 1 next morning we reached Point Stokes, where we supped, and were soon visited by the women and junior branches of several Esquimaux families, who told us that the men were all hunting in the interior. We asked one or two of the young lads to accompany us, with a view of training them as interpreters for the eastern voyage; but they peremptorily refused. Resuming our route, we at 6 reached Point Kay, where we halted till the afternoon to rest and refresh our wearied men. During this interval the thermometer ascended to 54°, and a sea-bath was a real luxury.

Several native families visited us. They confirmed what the remarkable clearness of the atmosphere had discovered to us; that the Babbage is at this time of year an insignificant stream, but swells into a torrent in the spring when the mountain snows dissolve. This great reduction in the volume of water discharged into the sea accounts for the fact, that some deep channels in the reefs, through which our boats entered on the outward voyage, were