Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/135

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LIFE WITH THE ESQUIMAUX .

he should make his way over the land terminating Frobisher Bay to Kingaite, where he would find us, we decided to strike tupics, pack boats, and push on. At 10.30 a.m. the two boats and two kias were under way, our course nearly due west, to a point of land called by the natives Kou-mark-bing—named by me Peale Point[1]—that shoots down abruptly some three miles from the most northerly extreme of Frobisher Bay.

We soon passed an indentation in the coast of about three miles, at the head of which was a grassy plain, a little inclined from the water's edge to the hills that flank it, and extending back for about a mile. As we approached Peale Point I found it fringed with many islets, and, on arriving there, landed for making meridional observations. Peale Point consists of rugged rocks, which, though not of great height, are yet considerably more elevated than any part of the land at the head proper of Frobisher Bay. Here we found on the sandy beach large and remarkable time-worn boulders, nearly white, and numerous tuktoo tracks. I noticed, also, the usual signs of Innuit encampments, such as circles of stones, bones of various animals, &c. On reaching the lower group of islands near the cape, Koojesse, who was in his kia, came alongside. I asked him, "Nou-ti-ma?"—where now? He pointed toward a long island out of our regular course across the bay. I told him I wished and expected to go direct to the opposite side from our last encampment—to go to Ag-goun, the west side of the head of the bay. He replied that we could not get there, as the tide would be too low for the boat before arriving. I thought differently, and said I wished to go there and spend a day or two. He, however, seemed not disposed to please me, and remarked that I could see the whole head of the bay from the point where he desired to go. I answered that this would not do; I must go where I wanted to. If he wished to visit the point named, well and good; he might go there and spend the night, but on the morrow I must have him and the others proceed with me in the direc-

  1. Named after Washington Peale, of New York City. It is in lat. 63° 43′ 30″ N. long. 68° 33′ W.