ure from 43
degrees to 53 degrees, and we felt a comfortable sensation of warmth, to
which we had been strangers for the preceding month.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 26th.] We took advantage of a favourable breeze to
embark before daylight on the morning of the 26th; at sunrise it
increased to a gale, and raised a heavy sea. In two hours we ran to the
commencement of the intricate channels leading to Herschel Island, where
the Esquimaux seen at Barter Island were encamped on a reef, and
apparently gazing in astonishment at the speed of our boats. They made
many signs for us to land, which we were desirous of doing had it been
practicable for the surf. That the boats might be perfectly manageable,
we took two reefs in the sails, and shaped the course for Herschel
Island; but scarcely were the sails reset before a fog came on that
hid every mark that could guide us; a heavy swell was rolling at the
time, and to arrive at the island we had to pass through a channel only
about two hundred yards broad. To find this, surrounded as it was by
shoals, in the midst of a dense fog, was a task of considerable anxiety
and danger, and our situation was not rendered more agreeable by being
assailed the whole way with continued shouting from persons to us
invisible; our arrival having been communicated by the Esquimaux who
first descried us, to their companions on the neighbouring reefs. We
effected it, however, and landed in safety, though we did not discover
the island till we were within forty yards of its shore. We had scarcely
landed before the fog dispersed, and discovered to us a solitary tent on
an adjacent point. Three men soon paid us a visit, whom we had not seen
before, and they informed us that nearly the whole of the tribe was now
collected in the vicinity for the purpose of hunting deer, and catching
whales and seals for the winter's consumption. We quitted the island at
ten A.M., and steered directly for Point Kay, to avoid the sinuosities
of the coast, and the frequent interruption of the Esquimaux, whose
tents were observed to be scattered on the beach nearly the whole way to
Babbage River. Three men and some women came off to bring us fish, and
being liberally rewarded, they went away perfectly happy, singing the
praises of the white people. We passed round Point Kay at four P.M.,
with a moderate breeze from W.N.W., and steered for Point King, keeping
about two miles from the land. As the afternoon wore away, gloomy clouds