river. It is, however, very improbable that there should be any direct
communication between these two inlets, as the natives would, in that
case, have informed us of it when they drew their chart of the sound.
While we were offhere, we noticed a parhelion so bright that it
was difficult to distinguish it from the sun ; a circumstance the more
deserving of remark, in consequence of the naturalist of Kotzebue’s e.x-
pedition having observed that this phenomenon is very rare in these
seas, and that a Russian grown old in the Aleutian Islands never saw
it more than once. Quitting this inlet, we directed our course along
the land toward Cape Espenburg, and found that the bar was not confined
to the mouth of the inlet alone, but extended the whole way to
the cape, and was not passable in any part; having tried ineffectually
in those places which afforded the best prospect of success.
On landing at Cape Espenburg, we found that the sea penetrated
to the southward of it, and formed it into a narrow strip of land, upon
which were some high sand-hills. The point had a great many poles
placed erect upon it, and had evidently been the residence of the Esquimaux;
but it was now entirely deserted. Near these poles there
were several huts and native burial-places; the manner in which these
bodies were disposed differed from that of the eastern Esquimaux. The
corpse was here deposited in a sort of coffin formed of loose planks,
placed upon a platform of driftwood, and covered over with a board
and several spars, kept in their places by poles driven into the ground
in a slanting direction, with their ends crossing each other over the
pile. The body was found lying with the head to the westward, and
had been interred in a double dress, the under one made of the skins
of eider-drakes, and the upper one of those of rein-deer. It had been
exposed a considerable time, as the skeleton only was le ft; but enough
of the dress remained to show the manner in which the body had been
clothed.
The beach was in a great measure composed of dark-coloured vol-
canic sand, and was strewed with dead shells of the cardium, Venus,
turbo, murex, solen, trochus,mytilus, mya, lepas, and tellina genus; there
were also some large asterias. The sand-hills were partly covered with
elymus grass, the vaccinium vitis idaea, empetrum nigrum, and other
I Ml
shrubs, while the carex preferred the hollow moist places; the rest of the CHAI
surface was occupied by lichens. On the border of the lakes there were
several curlew, sanderlings, and guUs ; while small flocks of ptarmigan
Sept.
182G.
alighted upon those parts which produced berries. A red fox prowling
among the deserted huts and the graves was the only quadruped seen.
Nearly the whole of the day was passed at this place in making astronomical
observations; after which we embarked, and were obliged by
bad weather to return to the ship.
The day after my departure, a new cutter, which had been built
of some wood of the porou-tree grown upon Otaheite, was completed
and launched, and upon trial found to answer under canvas beyond
our expectations, doing great credit to Mr. Garrett, the carpenter, who
built her almost entirely himself. I placed her under the ch.arge
of Lieutenant Belcher, who was afterwards almost daily employed in
surveying.
On the 22d the aurora borealis was seen in the W. N . V".; from which
quarter it passed rapidly to the N. E., and formed a splendid arch
emitting vivid and brilliantly coloured coruscations.
On the 25th the wind, which had blown strong from the northward
the day before, changed to the southward, and had such an effect
upon the tide that it ebbed twenty hours without intermission.
In another excursion which I made along the north side of the
sound, I landed at a cape which had been named after the ship, and
had the satisfaction of examining an ice formation of a similar nature
to that in Escholtz Bay, only more extensive, and having a contrary
aspect. The ice here, instead of merely forming a shield to the cliff,
was imbedded in the indentations along its edge, filling them up nearly
even with the front. A quantity of fallen earth was accumulated at
the base of the cliff, which uniting with the earthy spaces intervening
between the beds of ice, might lead a person to imagine that the ice
formed the cliff, and supported a soil two or three feet thick, part of
which appeared to have been precipitated over the brow. But on
examining it above, the ice was found to be detached from the cliff
at the back of i t ; and in a few instances so much so, that there were
deep chasms between the two. 'I’hese chasms are no doubt widened by
I