COD-PISHEET.
with high-water line. On another island, one of the loftiest in the neighbourhood,
and distant from any other, the highest ridge is occupied by a series of
immense boulders. How they attained this extraordinary position I am unable
to sui-mise, our brief stay at Indian Hai'hour rendering it impossible for me to
reach the island.
Although Hamilton’s Inlet is in the same latitude as Sligo or Yorkshire, the
climate and yegetation are purely sub-arctic, and in the neighbourhood of the
sea, at all eyeuts, there is nothing approaching to cultiyation.
Whilst dredging I found that, at a distance of a quarter of a mile from shore,
the depth rarely exceeds 10 or 15 fathoms, and that the bottom is wholly
formed of uncovered rock or boulders. The shore-line itself consists of large
rounded masses of basalt and granite, which are destitute of organic growths of
any kind above extreme low-water mark—owing, no doubt, to the long-continuing
action of drift-ice and currents.
The method of catching the fish is somewhat singular, and shows that, with
all the appliances of civilization, the white man has been unable to teach the
Esquimaux how it may be improved. As carried on here, it is precisely similar
to that practised by the kayakers in Greenland,—three hooks being attached to
a slipper-shaped sinker, about 5 inches in length, which is “ jigged ” up and down
as the boat drifts along. No bait whatever is used.
With a view to obtain some information regarding the depths of water and
nature of bottom at this part of the inlet, I went alongside one or two of the
boats. Although the men were catching fish as fast as they could let down
their lines, they all corroborated the statement of Mr. Norman regarding the
poorness of the fishery this year. Faihng to elicit any facts bearing on the
zoology of the bottom from the fishermen, it struck me it might be derived
from the fish themselves. Accordingly I purchased forty, varying in weight
from two to ten pounds, for the small sum of four shillings. On appealing to
the stomachs of a few of these, I was equally unfortunate; for, with one
exception, they were entirely empty. They appear to be hooked almost as often
by the body as by the jaws, and in two out of the forty fish I had purchased
there were distinct cicatrices showing where they had been hooked on a previous
occasion. As all fish under a certain weight are thrown into the water again,
those that survive their injuries would present similar marks.
CHAEACTEES OF INLET. 41
Aug. 25.—Anchored in the evening at Bluff-Head Cove, about twenty miles
up the inlet. The naked character of the shores is already replaced by a growth
of dwarf spruce-fir, from one to three feet in height. The only resident in this
lonely spot is a Dorsetshire man. He states that the inlet is completely frozen
over in winter, and that his hunting-joumeys are then made by sledge. His
dogs are a breed between the true Esquimaux and the native Labrador dog.
They are very handsome, and sociable to a degree that proves canine distrust to be
engendered by man’s presence rather than his absence. One of the dogs had lost
a fore leg in an encounter with a hear, but seemed hardly to feel the loss of his
limb. He was the leading dog of the team before the accident, and retains his
post of honour still,—the absent member being replaced by a hide bag stuffed
tightly with moss, and secured around the stump. Thus equipped, the poor
animal performs his work, and frequently traverses from thirty to forty miles
a day.
The soundings taken from Indian Harbour up to this point are composed of
granitic sand, containing scarcely a trace of organic matter, either animal or
vegetable. The almost entire absence of any of the ordinary sea-birds was very
remarkable at the mouth of the inlet. The condition of the rocks indicated
that none frequented them. As we ascend further up the inlet, a few Ravens,
Sea-parrots, and Dovekies show themselves; but otherwise there is no living
creature to be seen above water.
Aug. 27.—Early this morning the ‘ Bulldog ’ steamed up the inlet, taking
bearings and soundings along her course. The hills on either side already
become somewhat loftier and more wooded; but the spruce-firs seem only to
thrive at a sufficient elevation above the shore-line to be beyond the influence of
the salt-water spray, and are still of too stunted a growth to detract materially
from the bare and unvaried character of the scenery.
Towards sunset several whales of small size were seen cruising about, but at
too great a distance to enable us to make out the species. The pilot we took on
board lower down the inlet states that no attempt has ever been made to capture
these animals. About the same time immense flights of Puffins kept crossing over
from the southern towards the northern shore, where, for some distance, the land
appears to be flat and marshy; and it was very curious to watch the Dovekies
rising up to the previously unruffled sm-face of the water as the ship approached,