ing up the inlet, to the southward of the ships, to kill the
_neitiek,_ or small seal, which brings forth its young at this season,
and probably retires into sheltered places for that purpose. Besides the
old seals, which were taken in the manner before explained, the
Esquimaux also caught a great number of young ones, by fastening a hook
to the end of a staff, and hooking them up from the sea-hole after the
mother had been killed. Our large fishhooks were useful to them for this
purpose, and the beautiful silvery skins of these young animals were
occasionally brought to the ships as articles of barter: those of the
foetus of the _neitiek_ are more yellow than the others, and, indeed,
both in colour and texture, very much resemble raw silk.

The first ducks noticed by the Esquimaux were mentioned to us on the
16th, and a few days afterward immense flocks appeared, all of the
king-duck species, about the open water near the margin of the ice; but
our distance from this was so great, that we never saw any of them, and
the weather was yet too cold to station a shooting-party in that
neighbourhood. Dovekies were now also numerous, and a gull or two, of
the silvery species, had been seen.

On the 20th, after divine service, I took the opportunity of Captain
Lyon and his people being on board the Fury, to communicate to the
assembled officers and ships' companies my intentions respecting the
future movements of the expedition; at the same time requesting Captain
Lyon to furnish me with a list of any of the Hecla's men that might
volunteer to remain out, as it would be necessary to fill up, or,
perhaps, even to increase the complement of the Fury.

Our preparations were therefore immediately commenced, a twelvemonths'
provision and other stores being received by the Fury, and various
necessary exchanges made in anchors, cables, and boats; and, in the
course of a single fortnight, the whole of these were transported from
ship to ship without any exposure or labour to the men outside their
respective ships, our invaluable dogs having performed it for us with
astonishing ease and expedition. It was a curious sight to watch these
useful animals walking off with a bower-anchor, a boat, or a topmast,
without any difficulty; and it may give some idea of what they are able
to perform, to state, that nine dogs of Captain Lyon's dragged sixteen
hundred and eleven pounds a distance of seventeen hundred and fifty
yards in nine minutes,