SHORES OF THE ARCTIC SEA IN 1846 AND 1847***


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NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE SHORES OF THE ARCTIC SEA
IN 1846 AND 1847.

by

JOHN RAE,

Hudson Bay Company's Service, Commander of the Expedition.

With Maps.







London:
T. & W. Boone, 29, New Bond Street.
1850.

Marchant Singer and Co., Printers, Ingram-Court,
Fenchurch-Street.




    TO
    SIR GEORGE SIMPSON,
    _Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land_,
    THE ZEALOUS PROMOTER OF ARCTIC DISCOVERY,
    THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED
    AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT AND REGARD
    BY THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE
    CHAPTER I.

    Object and plan of the Expedition--Equipment at York
    Factory--Boats--Crews--Articles useful in an Arctic
    Voyage--Breaking up of the ice in Hayes and Nelson
    Rivers--Departure from York Factory--Progress retarded by the
    ice--First night at sea--Reflections--Rupert's Creek--Unbroken
    fields of ice--Broad River--Description of the Coast--Double
    Cape Churchill--Open sea to the north and north-west--Arrive at
    Churchill--White whales--Mode of catching them--Sir George
    Simpson's instructions--Stock of provisions                        1

    CHAPTER II.

    Depart from Churchill--A gale--Anchor in Knap's Bay--Land on an
    island--Esquimaux graves--Visited by Esquimaux--A large river
    running into Knap's Bay--Nevill's Bay--Corbet's Inlet--Rankin's
    Inlet--Cape Jalabert--Greenland whales seen--Chesterfield
    Inlet--Walruses--Cape Fullerton--Visited by an
    Esquimaux--Reefs--Cape Kendall seen--Ice packed against the
    shore--Take shelter in an excellent harbour--River
    traced--Seals--Gale--Ice driven off--Direction of the tides
    reversed--Whale Point--Many whales seen--Again stopped by the
    pack--Wager River estuary--Ice drifts--Eddy currents--No second
    opening into Wager River seen--Enter Repulse Bay--Interview with
    Esquimaux--No intelligence of Sir John Franklin                   19

    CHAPTER III.

    Receive a visit from a female party--Their persons and dress
    described--Crossing the Isthmus--Drag one of the boats up a
    stream--Succession of rapids--North Pole Lake--Find a plant fit
    for fuel--Christie Lake--Flett Portage--Corrigal
    Lake--Fish--Deer-scaring stones--White wolf--Stony
    Portage--View of the sea--Exploring party sent in advance--Their
    report--Long Portage--Difficult tracking--Miles Lake--Muddy
    Lake--Rich pasturage and great variety of flowers on its
    banks--Marmot burrows--Salt Lake--Visit Esquimaux
    tents--Discouraging report of the state of the ice--Esquimaux
    chart--Reach the sea--Ross inlet--Point Hargrave--Cape Lady
    Pelly--Stopped by the ice--Put ashore--Find a sledge made of
    ship-timber--Thick fog--Wolves--Walk along the shore--Remains of
    musk-cattle and rein-deer--Nature of the coast--Danger from the
    ice--Irregular rise of the tide--Deer on the ice--Fruitless
    efforts to proceed northward--Cross over to Melville
    Peninsula--Gale--Again stopped by the ice--Dangerous position of
    the boat--Return to starting point--Meeting with our Esquimaux
    friends at Salt Lake--Deer begun to migrate southward--Walk
    across the isthmus to Repulse Bay                                 38

    CHAPTER IV.

    State of things at Repulse Bay--Determine to discontinue the
    survey till the spring--Reasons--Party sent to bring over the
    boat--Fix on a site for winter residence--Ptarmigan--Laughing
    geese--Eider and king ducks--Visits of natives too
    frequent--Return of the party sent for the boat--Report the bay
    more closely packed than before--Preparations for
    wintering--Fort Hope built--Proceed to North Pole and Christie
    Lakes to look out for fishing stations--Purchase dogs--Wariness
    of the deer--Flocks of geese pass southward--Blue-winged and
    snow-geese--Their habits--Snow-storm--Its effects--Return to
    Fort Hope--Daily routine--Signs of winter--Deer
    numerous--Quantity of game killed--Provision-store built of
    snow--Great fall of snow--Effects of the cold--Adventure with a
    deer--Visited by a party of natives--Their report of the ice
    westward of Melville Peninsula--An island said to be
    wooded--Produce of the chase in October--Temperature--Two
    observatories built of snow--Band of wolves--A party caught in a
    snow-storm--Esquimaux theory of the heavenly bodies--Temperature
    of November--Diminished supply of provisions                      61

    CHAPTER V.

    Winter arrangements completed--Learn to build
    snow-houses--Christmas-day--North Pole River frozen to the
    bottom--1st January--Cheerfulness of the men--Furious
    snow-storm--Observatories blown down--Boat buried under the
    snow--Ouligbuck caught in the storm--Dog attacked by a
    wolf--Party of natives take up their residence near Fort
    Hope--Esquimaux mentioned by Sir John Ross known to them--Boat
    dug out of the snow--A runaway wife--Deer begin to migrate
    northward--A wolf-chase--First deer of the season
    shot--Difficulty of deer-hunting in spring--Dimensions of an
    Esquimaux canoe--Serious accident to Ouligbuck--A
    conjuror--Preparations for the journey
    northward--Temperature--Aurora Borealis                           81

    CHAPTER VI.

    Set out for the north--Equipment of