Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/304

274 removed inland to pass the summer at fishing stations, or in places most frequented by reindeer and musk-cattle.

On the evening of the 24th we were at length able to double the promontory, but we did so at the imminent hazard of the boats. In this operation one of them got an upper plank and the wash-board split, from a squeeze between the ice and the rocks. With great labour we advanced two miles, and encamped in a little gravelly bay beside a cascade. The sun set for about three hours; and the new ice, which formed in the open pools, remained till late the following morn- ing: the night was calm and serene. Our nets at these two last stations yielded only two small Arctic salmon, though these elegant fish were seen sporting about the mouth of every streamlet.

25th.—After several hours' preliminary cutting through the ice, we were enabled to move forward in the afternoon; and, by frequently repeating the same process, we effected an advance of five miles. There was an Esquimaux road upon the ice, and one of their stone traps was found where we encamped, near Port Epworth, the estuary of Tree River. We also remarked, while walking along the rocky shore, one or two places where seals had been trailed up by the indefatigable natives.