ds and coves, probably affording good anchorage, but
which the more immediate objects we had in view did not permit us
to examine. Upon the point we found the remains of no less than
sixty Esquimaux habitations, consisting of stones laid one over
the other in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter,
besides nearly a hundred other rude, though certainly artificial
structures, some of which had been fireplaces, others storehouses,
and the rest tolerably-built walls four or five feet high, placed
two and two, and generally eight or nine feet apart, which these
people use for their canoes, as well as to keep the dogs from
gnawing them. A great many circles of stones were also seen more
inland. About three miles to the N.N.W. of our landing-place, our
people reported having seen fifteen others of the same kind, and
what they took to be a burying-ground, consisting of nine or ten
heaps of large stones, of three feet in diameter, and as many in
height. Under these were found a variety of little implements,
such as arrow or spear heads tipped with stone or iron, arrows,
small models of canoes and paddles, some rough pieces of bone and
wood, and one or two strips of asbestos, which, as Crantz informs
us, is used by the natives of Greenland for the wick of their
lamps, and for applying hot, in certain diseases, to the afflicted
part.[*] Under these articles were found smaller stones, placed as
a pavement, six or seven feet in length, which, in the part not
concealed by the larger stones, was covered with earth. Our men
had not the curiosity or inclination to dig any deeper, but a
human scull was found near the spot. Our people also reported
that, several miles inland of this, they observed stones set up as
marks, many of which we also met with in the neighbourhood of the
point. Of these marks, which occur so abundantly in every part of
the American coast that we visited, we could not then conjecture
the probable use, but we afterward learned that the Esquimaux set
them up to guide them in travelling from place to place, when a
covering of snow renders it difficult to distinguish one spot from
another. We found among the stones some seals' bones, with the
flesh still upon them, which seemed to indicate that the natives
had occupied this station during a part of the same season and
judging from the number of circles collected in this place, and
still more from our subsequent knowledge of these people, it is
probable t