SO considerable a rate. By sinking the patent log first five fathoms,
and then three fathoms, and allowing it to remain in the first instance
six hours, and in the latter twelve hours, it was clearly ascertained
that there was no current at either of those depths ; but
at the distance of nine feet from the surface the motion of the water
was nearly equal to that at the top. Hence we must conclude that
the current was superficial, and confined to a depth between nine and
twelve feet.
By the freshness of the water alongside there is every reason to believe
that the current was occasioned by the many rivers which, at this
time of the year, empty themselves into the sea in different parts of
the coast, beginning with Schismareff Inlet. The specific gravity of the
sea off that place was 1.02502, from which it gradually decreased, and at
our station offthe point was 1.0178, the temperature at each being 58°.
On the other hand, the strength of the stream had gradually increased
from half a mile an hour to three miles, which was its greatest rapidity.
So far there is nothing extraordinary in the fact; but why this body of
water should continually press to the northw’ard in preference to taking
any other direction, or gradually expending itself in the sea, is a question
of considerable interest.
In the afternoon the barge was discovered at anchor, close in shore,
and being favoured with a breeze the ship was brought close to the
point. This enabled me to land, accompanied by Mr. Collie, who, while
I was occupied with my theodolite, went toward the huts, which at first
appeared to be deserted; but as he was examining them several old
women and children made their appearance, and gave him a friendly
reception. He brought them to me, and we underwent the full delights
of an affectionate Esquimaux salutation.
The persons of our new acquaintance were extremely diminutive,
dirty, and forbidding. Some were blind, others decrepit; and, dressed
in greasy worn-out clothes, they looked perfectly wretched. Their hospitality,
how'ever, was even greater than we could desire; and we were
dragged away by the wrists to their hovels, on approaching which we
passed between heaps of filth and ruined habitations, filled with stinking
water, to a part of the village which was in better repair. We were
then seated upon some skins placed for the purpose ; and bowls of blub- CIUVP.
ber walrus, and unicorn flesh (monodon monoceros), with various other .— ^
delicacies of the same kind, were successively offered as temptations to A.^s,
our appetite, which, nevertheless, we felt no inclination to indulge.
After some few exchanges, the advantage of which was on the side
of our acquaintances, who had nothing curious to part with, an old
man produced a tambourine, and seating himself upon the roof of one ol
the miserable hovels, threw his legs across, and commenced a song, accompanying
it with the tambourine, with as much apparent happiness
as if fortune had imparted to him every luxury oflife. 'i'he vivacity and
humour of the musician inspired two of the old hags, who joined chorus,
and threw themselves into a variety of attitudes, twisting their bodies,
snapping their fingers, and smirking from behind their sea -skin hoods,
with as ranch shrewd meaning as if they had been half a century
youno-er Several little chubby girls, roused by the music from the
subtekaiiean abodes, came blinking at the daylight through the greasy
aperture of the roof, and joined the performance ; and we had the satisfaction
of seeing a set of people happy who did not seem to possess a
single comfort upon earth.
The village consisted of a number of “ yourts” excavated in a ridge
of mud and gravel, which had been heaped up in a parallel hne with
the beach. Their construction more nearly approached to the habitations
of the Tschutschi than those of the Esquimaux of Greenland.
They consisted of two pits about eight feet deep, communicating by a
door at the bottom. The inner one had a dome-shaped roof, made with
dry wood or bones; it was covered with turf, and rose about four feet
above the surface of the earth. In the centre of this there was a circular
hole or window, covered with a piece of skin (part of the intestine
of the whale), which gave, however, but very little light. I he
outer pit had a flat roof, and was entered by a square hole, over which
there was a shed to protect it from the snow and the inclemency
of the weather. A rude ladder led to a floor of loose boards, beneath
which our noses as well as our eyes were greeted by a pool of
dirty green water. The inner chamber was the sleeping and cooking
room.
M
i l .