Meet Esquimaux--News of Franklin's people--Frighten a solitary
party--Reach the Great Fish River--On Montreal Island--Total absence
of all relics--Examine Ogle Peninsula--Discover a
skeleton--Vagueness of Esquimaux information--Cape Herschel--Cairn.
{MEET ESQUIMAUX.}
_7th May._--To avoid snow-blindness, we commenced night-marching.
Crossing over from Matty Island towards the King William Island shore,
we continued our march southward until midnight, when we had the good
fortune to arrive at an inhabited snow-village. We found here ten or
twelve huts and thirty or forty natives of King William's Island; I do
not think any of them had ever seen white people alive before, but they
evidently knew us to be friends. We halted at a little distance, and
pitched our tent, the better to secure small articles from being stolen
whilst we bartered with them.
{PURCHASE OF RELICS.}
I purchased from them six pieces of silver plate, bearing the crests or
initials of Franklin, Crozier, Fairholme, and McDonald; they also sold
us bows and arrows of English woods, uniform and other buttons, and
offered us a heavy sledge made of two short stout pieces of curved wood,
which no mere boat could have furnished them with, but this of course
we could not take away; the silver spoons and forks were readily sold
for four needles each.
They were most obliging and peaceably disposed, but could not resist the
temptation to steal, and were importunate to barter everything they
possessed; there was not a trace of fear, every countenance was lighted
up with joy; even the children were not shy, nor backward either, in
crowding about us, and poking in everywhere. One man got hold of our
saw, and tried to retain it, holding it behind his back, and presenting
his knife in exchange; we might have had some trouble in getting it from
him, had not one of my men mistaken his object in presenting the knife
towards me, and run out of the tent with a gun in his hand; the saw was
instantly returned, and these poor people seemed to think they never
could do enough to convince us of their friendliness; they repeatedly
tapped me gently on the breast, repeating the words "Kammik toomee" (We
are friends).
Having obtained all the relics they possessed, I purchased some seal's
flesh, blubber, frozen venison, dried and frozen salmon, and sold some
of my puppies. They told us it was five days' journey to the wreck,--one
day up the inlet still in sight, and four days overland; this would
carry them to the western coast of King William Land; they added that
but little now remained of the wreck which was accessible, their
countrymen having carried almost everything away. In answer to an
inquiry, they said she was without masts; the question gave rise to some
laughter amongst them, and they spoke to each other about _fire_, from
which Petersen thought they had burnt the masts through close to the
deck in order to get them down.
There had been _many books_ they said, but all have long ago been
destroyed by the weather; the ship was forced on shore in the fall of
the year by the ice. She had not been visited during this past winter,
and an old woman and a boy were shown to us who were the last to visit
the wreck; they said they had been at it during the winter of 1857-8.
{NEWS OF FRANKLIN'S PEOPLE.}
Petersen questioned the woman closely, and she seemed anxious to give
all the information in her power. She said many of the white men dropped
by the way as they went to the Great River; that some were buried and
some were not; they did not themselves witness this, but discovered
their bodies during the winter following.
We could not arrive at any approximation to the numbers of the white men
nor of the years elapsed since they were lost.
This was all the information we could obtain, and it was with great
difficulty so much could be gleaned, the dialect being strange to
Petersen, and the natives far more inclined to ask questions than to
answer them. They assured us we should find natives upon the south shore
of King William's Island only three days' journey from here, and also at
Montreal Island; moreover they said we might find some at the wreck. For
these reasons I did not prolong my stay with them beyond a couple of
hours. They seemed to have but little intercourse with other
communities, not having heard of our visit to the Boothians two months
before; one man even asked Petersen if he had seen his brother, who
lived in Boothia, not having heard of him since last summer.
{JOURNEY CONTINUED.}
It was quite a relief to get away from these good-humored, noisy
thieves, and rather difficult too, as some of them accompanied us for
miles. They had abundance of food, were well clothed, and are a finer
race than those who inhabit North Greenland, or Pond's Inlet: the men
had their hair cropped short, with the exception of one long, straggling
lock hanging down on each side of the face; like the Boothians, the
women had lines tattooed upon their cheeks and chins.
We now proceeded round a bay which I named Latrobe in honor of the late
Governor of Victoria, and of his brother, the head of the Moravian
Church in London, both esteemed friends of Franklin.
{FRIGHTEN A SOLITARY PARTY.}
Finding the "Mathison Island" of Rae to be a flat-topped hill, we
crossed over low land to the west of it, and upon the morning of the
10th May reached a single snow-hut off Point Booth. I was quite
astonished at the number of poles and various articles of wood lying
about it, also at the huge pile of walrus' and reindeer's flesh, seal's
blubber, and skins of various sorts. We had abundance of leisure to
examine these exterior articles before the inmates would venture out;
they were evidently much alarmed by our sudden appearance.
A remarkably fine old dog was tied at the entrance--the line being made
fast within the long passage--and although he wagged his tail, and
received us as old acquaintances, we did not like to attempt an
entrance. At length an old man and an old woman appeared; they trembled
with fear, and could not, or would not, say anything except "Kammik
toomee:" we tried every means of allaying their fears, but their wits
seemed paralyzed, and we could get no information. We asked where they
got the wood? They purchased it from their countrymen. Did they know the
Great River? Yes, but it was a long way off. Were there natives there
now? Yes. They even denied all knowledge of white people having died
upon their shores. A fine young man came out of the hut, but we could
learn nothing of him; they said they had nothing to barter, except what
we saw, although we tempted them by displaying our store of knives and
needles.
The wind was strong and fair, and the morning intensely cold, and as I
could not hope to overcome the fears of these poor people without
encamping, and staying perhaps a day with them, I determined to push on,
and presented the old lady with a needle as a parting gift.
The principal articles which caught my attention here were eight or ten
fir poles, varying in length from 5 to 10 feet, and up to 2-1/2 inches
in diameter (these were converted into spear handles and tent poles), a
kayak paddle constructed out of the blade of two ash oars, and two large
snow shovels 4 feet long, made of thin plank, painted white or pale
yellow; these might have been the bottom boards of a boat. There were
many smaller articles of wood.
{GREAT FISH RIVER.}
Half a mile further on we found seven or eight deserted snow-huts. Bad
weather had now fairly set in, accompanied by a most unseasonable degree
of cold. On the morning of the 12th May we crossed Point Ogle, and
encamped upon the ice in the Great Fish River the same evening; the cold
and the darkness of our more southern latitude, having obliged us to
return to day-travelling. All the 13th we were imprisoned in our tent by
a most furious gale, nor was it until late on the morning of the 14th
that we could proceed; that evening we encamped 2 miles from some small
islands which lie off the north end of Montreal Island.
{MONTREAL ISLAND.}
On the morning of the 15th we made only a short march of 6 miles, as one
of the men suffered severely from snow-blindness, and I was anxious to
recommence night-travelling; encamped in a little bay upon the N.E. side
of Montreal Island. The same evening we again set out, although it was
blowing very strongly, and "snowing for a wager," as the men expressed
it, but it was only necessary for us to keep close along the shore of
the island: we discovered, however, a narrow and crooked channel which
led us through to the west side of the island, and, one of the men
appearing seriously ill, we encamped about midnight.
Whilst encamped this day, explorations were made about the N.E. quarter
of the island; islets and rocks were seen to abound in all directions;
eventually it proved to be a separate island upon which we had encamped.
The only traces or relics of Europeans found were the following
articles, discovered by Petersen, beside a native mark (one large stone
set upright on the top of another), at the east side of the Main--or
Montreal--island:--A piece of preserved-meat tin, two pieces of iron
hoop, some scraps of copper, and an iron-hoop bolt. These probably are
part of the plunder obtained from the boat, and were left here until a
more favorable opportunity should offer, or perhaps necessity should
compel the depositor to return for them.
All the 16th we were unable to move, not only because Hampton was ill,
but the weather was extremely bad, and snow thickly falling with
temperature at zero; certainly strange weather for the middle of May! We
have not had a single clear day since the 1st of the month.
{SEARCH FOR RELICS.}
On the 17th the weather, though dull, was clear, so Mr. Petersen,
Thompson, and I, set off with the dog-sledge to complete the examination
of Montreal Island, leaving the other three men with the tent: we hoped
also to find natives, but had not seen any recent traces of them since
passing Point Booth. Petersen drove the dog-sledge close along shore
round the island to the south, and as far up the east side as to meet
our previously explored portion of it, whilst Thompson and I walked
along on the land, the one close down to the beach, and the other higher
up, examining the more conspicuous parts: in this order we traversed the
remaining portion of the island.
Although the snow served to conceal from us any traces which might exist
in hollows or sheltered situations, yet it rendered all objects intended
to serve as marks proportionably conspicuous; and we may remember that
it was in its winter garb that the retreating crews saw Montreal Island,
precisely as we ourselves saw it. The island was almost covered with
native marks, usually of one stone standing upright upon another,
sometimes consisting of three stones; but very rarely of a greater
number.
{TOTAL ABSENCE OF RELICS.}
No trace of a cairn could be found.
In examining, with pickaxe and shovel, a collection of stones which
appeared to be arranged artificially, we found a quantity of seal's
blubber buried beneath; this old Esquimaux câche was near the S.E. point
of the island. The interior of the island and the principal islets
adjacent were also examined without success, nor was there the slightest
evidence of natives having been here during the winter: it is not to be
wondered at that we returned in the evening to our tent somewhat
dispirited. The total absence of natives was a bitter disappointment;
circles of stones, indicating the sites of their tenting places in
summer, were common enough.
Montreal Island is of primary rock, chiefly grey gneiss, traversed with
whitish vertical bands in a N. and S. direction (by them I often
directed my route when crossing the island). It is of considerable
elevation, and extremely rugged. The low beaches and grassy hollows were
covered with a foot or two of hard snow, whilst all the level, the
elevated, or exposed parts were swept perfectly bare; had a cairn, or
even a grave existed (raised as it must be, the earth being frozen hard
as rock), we must at once have seen it. If any were constructed they
must have been levelled by the natives; every doubtful appearance was
examined with the pickaxe.
A remark made by my men struck me as being shrewd; they judged from the
washed appearance of the rock upon the east side of Montreal Island that
it must be often exposed to a considerable sea, such as would
effectually remove everything not placed far above its reach; when
looking over the smooth and frozen expanse one is apt to forget this.
Since our first landing upon King William's Island we have not met with
any heavy ice; all along its eastern and southern shore, together with
the estuary of this great river, is one vast unbroken sheet formed in
the early part of last winter where _no ice previously existed_; this I
fancy (from the accounts of Back and Anderson) is unusual, and may have
caused the Esquimaux to vary their seal-hunting localities. Mr. Petersen
suggested that they might have retired into the various inlets after the
seals; and therefore I determined to cross over into Barrow's Inlet as
soon as we had examined the Point Ogle Peninsula.
{SHOOTING GAME.}
Upon Montreal Island I shot a hare and a brace of willow-grouse. Up to
this date we had shot during our journey only one bear and a couple of
ptarmigan. The first recent traces of reindeer were met with here.
On the 18th May crossed over to the mainland near Point Duncan, but
Hampton again complaining, I was obliged to encamp. When away from my
party, and exploring along the shore towards Elliot Bay, I saw a herd
of eight reindeer and succeeded in shooting one of them. In the evening
Petersen saw another. Some willow-grouse also were seen. Here we found
much more vegetation than upon King William's Island, or any other
Arctic land I have yet seen.
{RETURN JOURNEY COMMENCED.}
{PROCEEDINGS OF THE DOGS.}
On the evening of the 19th we commenced our return journey, but for the
three following weeks our route led us over new ground. Hampton being
unable to drag, I made over my puppy-team to him, and was thus left free
to explore and fully examine every doubtful object along our route. I
shall not easily forget the trial my patience underwent during the six
weeks that I drove that dog-sledge. The leader of my team, named "Omar
Pasha," was very willing, but very lame; little "Rose" was coquettish,
and fonder of being caressed than whipped; from some cause or other she
ceased growing when only a few months old; she was therefore far too
small for heavy work; "Darky" and "Missy" were mere pups; and last of
all came the two wretched starvelings, reared in the winter, "Foxey" and
"Dolly." Each dog had its own harness, formed of strips of canvas, and
was attached to the sledge by a single trace 12 feet long. None of them
had ever been yoked before, and the amount of cunning and perversity
they displayed to avoid both the whip and the work, was quite
astonishing. They bit through their traces, and hid away under the
sledge, or leaped over one another's backs, so as to get into the middle
of the team out of the way of my whip, until the traces became plaited
up, and the dogs were almost knotted together; the consequence was I had
to halt every few minutes, pull off my mitts, and, at the risk of frozen
fingers, disentangle the lines. I persevered, however, and, without
breaking any of their bones, succeeded in getting a surprising amount of
work out of them. Hobson drove his own dog-sledge likewise, and as long
as we were together we helped each other out of difficulties, and they
were frequently occurring, for, apart from those I have above mentioned,
directly a dog-sledge is stopped by hummock, or sticks fast in deep
snow, the dogs, instead of exerting themselves, lie down, looking
perfectly delighted at the circumstance, and the driver has to extricate
the sledge with a hearty one, two, three haul! and apply a little gentle
persuasion to set his canine team in motion again.
Having searched the east shore of this land for 7 or 8 miles further
north, we crossed over into Barrow's Inlet, and spent a day in its
examination, but not a trace of natives was met with.
{EXAMINE OGLE PENINSULA.}
Regaining the shore of Dease and Simpson's Strait, some miles to the
west of Point Richardson, we crossed over to King William's Island upon
the morning of the 24th, striking in upon it a short distance west of
the Peffer River. The south coast was closely examined as we marched
along towards Cape Herschel. Upon a conspicuous point, to the westward
of Point Gladman, a cairn nearly five feet high was seen, which,
although it did not appear to be a recent construction, was taken down,
stone by stone, and carefully examined, the ground beneath being broken
up with the pickaxe, but nothing was covered.
The ground about it was much exposed to the winds, and consequently
devoid of snow, so that no trace could have escaped us. Simpson does not
mention having landed here, or anywhere upon the island except at Cape
Herschel, yet it seemed to me strange that natives should construct such
a mark here, since a huge boulder, which would equally serve their
purpose, stood upon the same elevation, and within a couple of hundred
yards. We had previously examined a similar but smaller cairn, a few
miles to the eastward.
{A SKELETON DISCOVERED.}
We were now upon the shore along which the retreating crews must have
marched. My sledges of course travelled upon the sea-ice close along the
shore; and, although the depth of snow which covered the beach deprived
us of almost every hope, yet we kept a very sharp look-out for traces,
nor were we unsuccessful. Shortly after midnight of the 24th May, when
slowly walking along a gravel ridge near the beach, which the winds kept
partially bare of snow, I came upon a human skeleton, partly exposed,
with here and there a few fragments of clothing appearing through the
snow. The skeleton--now perfectly bleached--was lying upon its face, the
limbs and smaller bones either dissevered or gnawed away by small
animals.
A most careful examination of the spot was of course made, the snow
removed, and every scrap of clothing gathered up. A pocket-book afforded
strong grounds of hope that some information might be subsequently
obtained respecting the unfortunate owner and the calamitous march of
the lost crews, but at the time it was frozen hard. The substance of
that which we gleaned upon the spot may thus be summed up:--
This victim was a young man, slightly built, and perhaps above the
common height; the dress appeared to be that of a steward or officer's
servant, the loose bow-knot in which his neck-handkerchief was tied not
being used by seamen or officers. In every particular the dress
confirmed our conjectures as to his rank or office in the late
expedition,--the blue jacket with slashed sleeves and braided edging,
and the pilot-cloth great-coat with plain covered buttons. We found,
also, a clothes-brush near, and a horn pocket-comb. This poor man seems
to have selected the bare ridge top, as affording the least tiresome
walking, and to have fallen upon his face in the position in which we
found him.
It was a melancholy truth that the old woman spoke when she said, "they
fell down and died as they walked along."
I do not think the Esquimaux had discovered this skeleton, or they would
have carried off the brush and comb: superstition prevents them from
disturbing their own dead, but would not keep them from appropriating
the property of the white man if in any way useful to them. Dr. Rae
obtained a piece of flannel, marked "F. D. V., 1845," from the Esquimaux
of Boothia or Repulse Bay: it had doubtless been a part of poor Des
V[oe]ux's garments.
{VAGUENESS OF INFORMATION.}
At the time of our interview with the natives of King William's Island,
Petersen was inclined to think that the retreat of the crews took place
in the fall of the year, some of the men in boats, and others walking
along the shore; and as only five bodies are said to have been found
upon Montreal Island with the boat, this fact favored his opinion,
because so small a number could not have dragged her there over the ice,
although they could very easily have taken her there by water.
Subsequently this opinion proved erroneous. I mention it because it
shows how vague our information was--indeed all Esquimaux accounts are
naturally so--and how entirely we were dependent upon our own exertions
for bringing to light the mystery of their fate.
The information obtained by Dr. Rae was mainly derived second-hand from
the Fish River Esquimaux, and should not be confounded with that
received by us from the King William's Island Esquimaux. These people
told us they did not find the bodies of the white men (that is, they did
not know any had died upon the march) until the following winter. This
is probably true, as it is only in winter and early spring they can
travel overland to the west shore, or that they make a practice of
wandering along the shore in search of seals and bears.
The remains of those who died in the Fish River may very probably have
been discovered in the summer shortly after their decease.
Along the south coast of King William's Land, as upon the mainland, I
was sadly disappointed in my expectation of meeting natives. We found
only six or eight deserted snow-huts, showing that they had recently
been here, and consequently there was the less chance of meeting with
them on our further progress, as the season had now arrived when they
seek the rivers and the favorite haunts and passes of the reindeer in
their northern migration.
{CAPE HERSCHEL.}
Hobson was however upon the western coast, and I hoped to find a note
left for me at Cape Herschel containing some piece of good news. After
minutely examining the intervening coast-line, it was with strong and
reasonable hope I ascended the slope which is crowned by Simpson's
conspicuous cairn. This summit of Cape Herschel is perhaps 150 feet
high, and about a quarter of a mile within the low stony point which
projects from it, and on which there was considerable ice pressure and a
few hummocks heaped up, the first we had seen for three weeks. Close
round this point, or by cutting across it as we did, the retreating
parties _must_ have passed; and the opportunity afforded by the cairn of
depositing in a known position--and that, too, where their own
discoveries terminated--some record of their own proceedings, or, it
might be, a portion of their scientific journals, would scarcely have
been disregarded.
{SIMPSON'S CAIRN.}
Simpson makes no mention of having left a record in this cairn, nor
would Franklin's people have taken any trouble to find it if he had left
one; but what now remained of this once "ponderous cairn" was only four
feet high; the south side had been pulled down and the central stones
removed, as if by persons seeking for something deposited beneath. After
removing the snow with which it was filled, and a few loose stones, the
men laid bare a large slab of limestone; with difficulty this was
removed, then a second, and also a third slab, when they came to the
ground. For sometime we persevered with a pickaxe in breaking up the
frozen earth, but nothing whatever was found, nor any trace of European
visitors in its vicinity. There were many old câches and low stone
walls, such as natives would use to lurk behind for the purpose of
shooting reindeer; and we noticed some recent tracks of those animals
which had crossed direct hither from the mainland.