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 MARBLE ISLAND 
 
 AND THK 
 
 NORTH-WEST COAST OF HUDSON'S BAY, 
 
 BY • ■ -;:-'■' :- 
 
 ROBERT BELL, B.ASc , M.D., LL.D , 
 
 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE OBOLOOTCAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
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MARBLE ISLAND 
 
 AKD THE 
 
 NORTH-WEST COAST OF HUDSON'S BAY. 
 
 Br ,: -' :,: , . -^; 
 
 ROBERT BELL, B.A.Sc, M.D., LL.D., 
 
 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE OEOLOOICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
 
 (Revr-^ntedfrom the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, Toronto.) 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 THE COPP, CLARK COMPAW, LIMITED, PRINTERS, COLBORNE STREI;T, 
 
 1 887. 
 

iMARBLE ISLAND 
 
 AND TUB 
 
 NORTH - WEST COAST OF HUDSON'S BAY 
 
 BY ROBERT BELL, B.A.Sc., M.D., LL.D. 
 
 A88ISTJIKT DIRKCTOB OP THE OKOUMilCAL 81'RVBT OP CANADA. 
 
 Marble Island, in the north-western part of Hndson's Bay, is V)etter 
 known than any other spot in that part of tlie world, mainly owing 
 to the fact that it has long been the rendezvous of the Anieiican 
 whalere who frequent our great inland sea. But it has some very 
 interesting historical associations as well, and its extraordinary 
 appearance has Iwilped to bring it into notice. Although it was 
 tirst called Marble Island, the name was changed to Brook-Cobham, 
 by Fox, the discoverer of the great Channel which constitutes the 
 north-westward continuation of Hudson's Straits, and which beai's his 
 name. However, the original name is now generally adopted. 
 
 The island lies alx)ut sixteen miles out from the north-western 
 shore of Hud.son's Bay, in latitude 60*^ 40', and between longitude 
 QF and 92° west. It has a length of about twenty -five miles by a 
 breadth of live or six. The sui-face has an undulating outline 
 with long, gentle slopes ; and its general elevation is a few hundred 
 feet above the sea. The harbour used by the American whalers is 
 situated on the south side and near the west end. It consists of an 
 outer and aai inner harbour. The outer one is formed by a small 
 island called Deadraan's Island, and from it, a narrow channel, with 
 no great depth of water, which has been cut by nature through a 
 ridge of rocks, leads to the inner harbour, a land-locked basin measur- 
 ing fully a mile in its greatest diameter. 
 
 Perhaps the best way to give an idea of the appearance and char- 
 acteristic features of Marble Island will be to describe our own 
 impressions on first visiting it during the summer of 1884 by the 
 S.S. Neptune. No one connected with the expedition had been in this 
 <4uarter before. At the time when we were nearing this side of the 
 bay, we had lost our reckoning owing to thick weather, and although 
 
we happened to be going straight towards the island, none of us at firsi 
 recognized it on account of the very singular appearance which it pre- 
 sented. All the other shores we had been visiting looked nearly black, 
 but we had also become accustomed to plenty of whiteness in the form 
 of snow, ice and fog-banks. On approaching it in the early morning, 
 at first sight we naturally supposed, from its extent and whiteness, 
 that what we saw before us must be one of the.se oVyects ; but still, on 
 closer observation, it did not correspond with any of them in shape or 
 other characters. It was too large for an ice-berg (even if there were 
 any in Hudson's Bay, which is not the case), too stationary in position 
 and outline for a fog-bank, and too high for tield-ice. Then the 
 extraordinary dark lines and patches which we saw here and there, 
 puzzled us very much. As we drew nearer to it, however, we con~ 
 eluded it must be the far-famed Marble Island, but we had not 
 anticipated seeing such a gigantic mass of marble ; and its clean, 
 smooth, white ap{)earance was as wonderful as its extent, for the 
 weathered surface of marble is seldom smooth and white. When 
 within a short distance of the shore, the morning sun shone out and 
 the gorgeous appearance of the steep slopes of [»ure wliite i-ock, washed 
 by the bright sea, with screaming gulls sailing about in the air, was 
 beautiful in the extreme. On entering the harbour behind Deadman's 
 Island, the evidences of the work of civilized man which met the eye, 
 were in singular contrast to the monotony of nature in these desolate 
 regions of the north. A bank of shingle, rising a few feet above the 
 spring tides, forms the highest part of the island. Along this ridge 
 is a row of recently erected white monuments, which stand oxit in bold 
 relief. Some of them are high columns, but the majority resemble 
 ordinary headstones. They looked like white marble, and where this 
 material was so abundant, it was natural to suppose that they had 
 been formed from it. But appearances, as well as names, are some- 
 times very deceptive. On going ashore, we found the marble monu- 
 ments and headstones only painted wood and the marble hills solid 
 white quartzite, as hard as flint. But in spite of the fact that this rock 
 proved to be something very different from white marble, yet even on 
 close inspection, every detail in its apj>earance was still that of marble. 
 All the most beautiful varieties were there — the pure white, dove- 
 colored, veined, mottled and streaked, lovely lilac and pink, and deli- 
 cate tints of green and rose color and many other shades, which would 
 charm the most aesthetic eye. 
 
Around both liHrl)Ours we noticed various discarded articles which 
 had been used in the wliak;-tishery, and in two or three phices on the 
 steep walls of rock overlooking the inner basin were painted lists of 
 the names of nmny men whose bones are buried among the gravel near 
 by. These, as well tis the poor fellows who lie under the wooden 
 monuments of Deadnian's Island outside, were seamen and whalers 
 who had died of scurvy, consumption, and other diseases, or from acci- 
 dents and shipwreck in {)rosecuting the whale-fishery. The short notes 
 accompanying some of their names suggest many a pathetic history 
 of brave and ad\ enturous men who had gone to these northern waters 
 to earn, by honest toil, the means of bettering their condition. No 
 doubt they must have endured great sufferings from sickness, cold, 
 hunger and pain, during the dark days of the long dreary winter 
 before they died a miserable death, unseen by any, save their equally 
 miserable companions. 
 
 In carrying on the whale-fishery around Marble Island the Ameri- 
 can captains call to their assistance the Eskimos of that region, who 
 are willing and industrious workers, already trained to the business ; 
 but it is said they receive very little remuneration for their services. 
 The black whale is stated to be the commonest species taken, but 
 other kinds are met with. In iddition to killing the larger whales, 
 our neighbours are reported to collect from the natives considerable 
 quantities of the oil or blubber of the small white whale, the walrus, 
 the narwhal, the polar bear and various kinds of seals. As Hudson's 
 " Bay " is really an inland sea of the Dominion, it is (questionable if 
 this business may not be a violation of our treaty rights. The 
 Russian government is understood to exact a very heavy license fee 
 from vessels whaling in the White Sea, which is by no means so 
 land-locked as the Canadian Mediterranean. In this matter we may 
 be allowing a source of i-e venue to go unimproved. 
 
 The Whalers' Harbour in Marble Island is an excellent place for 
 ballasting ships. The beach is steep, so that boats can lie against it 
 at all stages of the tide, and it is almost everywhere covered with 
 small boulders or coarse shingle derived from the white quai'tzite. 
 While the Neptune was lying here the captain availed himself of 
 these advantages and took in a large quantity of ballast to compensate 
 for the weight of fuel we had burnt. When the voyage was over, 
 the vessel went to Sydney for coal, and here these beautifully white 
 
6 
 
 rounded stones from Hudson's Bay, wliicli were now put ashore, 
 attracted considerable attention and were much admired. 
 
 Marble Island and the mainland opposite are entirely destitute of 
 timber, which, near the coast, does not extend further north than 
 Seal River, 280 statute miles to the south. From Seal River, the 
 northeni limit of the forest, which at the verge consists of only small 
 spruce and tamarac, runs in a north-westerly course almost directly 
 to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, thus leaving two or three 
 hundred miles of the Barren Grounds between this line and the coast 
 oi)posite to Marble Island. 
 
 Although no trees grow on the island, there is an abundance of 
 sub-arctic vegetation. The large ponds or small lakes among the 
 hills in the interior are encircled with green, and they have become 
 the breeding places of swans, arctic and red-throated divers, and 
 other water-fowl. Many species of smaller birds were noticed, and 
 owing to the open nature of the country they probably fall an easy 
 prey to the peregrine falcon which also breeds on the island. The 
 reindeer, or barren-ground carriboo, and the musk-ox, are found on 
 the mainland opposite, which is the southern limit, on the coast, of 
 the latter animal, but it ranges further south in the interior. 
 
 The American whalers and others constantly speak of Marble Island 
 as if it were really composed of marble. Although I had not an 
 op])ortunity of personally examining it before 1884, I had long been 
 aware that the white rock of this island was quartzite, having re- 
 ceived specimens of it through friends in the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany's service. It appears to be identical with the quartzites of the 
 Huronian series, so largely developed on the north shore of Lake 
 Huron between Killarney and the Spanish River. The Marble 
 Island quartzite must have a very gi-eat thickness, and it is unlikely 
 that this is the only locality in the region where siuiilar rocks occur. 
 Indeed we have statements fi'om both Hudson's Bay Coaij)any"s 
 officers and Indians tliat similar white rocks are found in abundance 
 on the mainland opposite, and at various places for a long way into 
 the interior in a south-western direction. I have obtained a speci- 
 men of quartzite of a light or delicate pink color^ said to have been 
 broken from the rock in situ on the south side of Nevil Bav, about 
 150 miles south-westward of Marble Island. Continuing the same 
 course inland, white rocks are reported as occurring around 
 White Rabbit Lake, between Nevil Bay and Hatchet or Wollaston 
 
Lake, and bouldei-s of white quartzite are very numerous at the 
 Methy or Long Portage, still further to the south-west. 
 
 Our visit to Marble Island was so short that I had only time to 
 examine the western part, the whole of which consisted of different 
 varieties of light-colored quartzites. The rocks being free from 
 lichens or staining, both the shores and the hills in the interior have 
 a uniform white appearance, which might be taken for that of snow, 
 but for the strong contrast due to the dark brown of the peaty de- 
 {)ressions. The stratification is usually very massive. Ripple-marks, 
 varying from co"\s-i and wide to fine and narrow, were observed on 
 the surfaces of many of the beds, especially the thinner ones. 
 
 Near the south-western point of the island the (juartzite presents 
 beautiful lilac colors of various shades. Here the direction of the 
 dij) is N. 5° E., true (the magnetic variation being 5^ W.), and the 
 inclination SC from the horizontal plane. At the north-western 
 point the direction of the dip is N. 80° W., tme, and the inclination 
 45°. This is also the prevailing direction and angle in the interior 
 of the west end of the island. But on the north shore, opposite the 
 harbour on the south side, the direction is N. 65° W., triie., and the 
 inclination 40°. It will thus be seen that the strike of the bedding 
 varies considerably in different places. It was further observed that 
 although the general course of the rocks might be tolerably straight 
 locally, the lines of stratification undulated a good deal, the minor 
 sinuosities appearing on smooth sections as mere corrugations of the 
 lamination. 
 
 On Deadman's Island, the white quartzites pass into grey, and 
 these rocks are associated with a dark glossy micaceous schist, all 
 striking N. 80° W., true, or dipping N, 10° E., at an angle 
 
 of yo°. 
 
 In the course ot my examination of Marble Island, I observed the 
 debris of a variety of Huronian rocks, including the brown- weathering 
 dolomite of that series, strewn upon the surface, from which it was 
 inferred that these rocks would be found in situ at no great distance 
 in the direction from which the drift had come. Since my visit to 
 the island I have received from a friend a most interesting collection 
 of lithological specimens, representing the fixed rocks of the coast 
 from Chesterfield Inlet south-westward to Eskimo Point (where the 
 rocky shore terminates), embracing a distance of about 180 statute 
 
miles in a straight line. They include a considerable variety of 
 species, and from them it is manifest that the Huronian series is 
 well developed and occupies a large area on the north-west side of 
 Hudson's Bay. This would be a highly important fact, even if the 
 collection referred to contained no direct evidence of the existence 
 there of economic minerals, because we already know, from an exten- 
 sive examination of these ix)cks in other parts of the Dominion, that 
 they constitute the repositories of numerous metallic ores and other 
 useful minerals, while the primitive Laurentian rocks are almost 
 destitute of them. But in this collection there are eleven specimens 
 of granular iron pyrites, from different parts of this coasv, all of which 
 apparently contain small quartz grains. Most of the specimens 
 are angular, and their aggregate weight is about fifty pounds. Mr. 
 Hoffmann, chemist to the Geological Survey, has made an assay of 
 one of these specimens from a bay south of Cape Jones, which forms the 
 southern horn of Rankin Inlet, and found it to contain ti*aces of both 
 gold and silver. A good sized angular piece of similar pyrites, which I 
 obtained from the Eskimos in 1879, and which they brought from a 
 place called Inari, described as being about two-thii'ds of the distance 
 from Churchill Harbour to Marble Island, had a small quantity of 
 light bluish grey magnesian limestone adhering to it. Some of the 
 other specimens of this pyrites have small pieces of soft dark-greenish 
 schist attached to them. 
 
 The specimens from the above-mentioned 180 miles of the north- 
 west shore of Hudson's Bay embrace the following rocks : Chloritic 
 schist, dark chert}' schist, hard dark argillaceous slate, finely ribboned 
 hornblende and quartz schist, imperfect gneiss, dark silicious breccia 
 with calcspar, dark-green crystalline pyroxene rock, dark chocolate- 
 coloured silicious argillite with conchoidal fracture, calcspar vein- 
 stones, semi-ti-anslucent white quartz, red aplite of medium texture, 
 rather fine-grained groy granite, grey diorite, consLsting of light- 
 coloured felspar and dark hornblende in small distinct crystals, giving 
 it an even and finely speckled appearance, fine-grained hornblende 
 schists, greenstones, <[uartz and epidote rock, light grey coarse 
 gi-ained sandstone altered to quartzite and holding fragments of 
 indurated i-ed shale, compact banded white quartz-rock with crystals 
 of iron pyrites in some of the layers, light quartzite like that of 
 Marble Island, grey felsites, crystalline hornblende- rock, diorite, 
 consisting of compact white felspar with long crystals of dark horn- 
 
9 
 
 blende, banded grey hornblende and quartz-rock with some layers 
 approaching chert, mica schists of diflferent kinds, mixed hornblende 
 and mica-schist, chocolate-coloured porphyry with flesh-coloured 
 crystals of felspar and grains of clear quartz, granulite, red jasper 
 with dull fracture, hard brownish-red sandstone, grey felsitic quarl- 
 zite with lenticular patches of dark mica-schist, chloritic schist, the 
 granular iron pyrites associated with dark-gi-eenish schist above 
 referred to, several hundreds of cubes of iron pyrites, mostly small, 
 taken from a dark glossy schist, quartz veinstone with large scales of 
 light-coloured mica together with garnets, calcspar veinstone with 
 embedded crystals of quartz and having grey steatitic rock adhering 
 to it, also a veinstone of quartz containing silky i-adiating aggregates 
 of hornblende and a few specks of calcspar and iron pyrites ; some 
 greenish schist is attached to this specimen. A loose piece of brown- 
 weathering dolomite with reticulating strings of white quartz was 
 found on Marble Island. 
 
 The granular quartziferous iron pyrites of this collection bears a 
 strong resemblance to that of the mines at Capelton, in the Township 
 of Ascot, Province of Quebec, and to that of the more cupriferous 
 pyrites of the Tilt Cove Mine in Newfoundland, as afeo to the equally 
 rich copper-bearing pyrites more recently discovei'ed among the 
 Huronian rocks at Sudbury, in the Province of Ontaiio. The speci- 
 men of pyrites from Inari did not show the presence of copper, but 
 elsewhere in working pyrites veins it has been observed that although 
 this metal may be present only in small quantities at the surface, the 
 proportion increases rapidly in going downward. 
 
 The resemblance between the pyrites of the three localities above 
 mentioned is interesting, not only from an economical, but also from 
 a geological point of view, especially in connection with the question 
 of equivalency in age, or otherwise, of the different sets of rocks in 
 which they are found. 
 
 At the south-west point of Marble Island, large green stains of 
 carbonate of copper occur on the surface of the quartzite, some of 
 them being three or four feet in diameter. They are probably due to 
 the decomposition of sulphide of copper in the rock. 
 
 In 1850, James Tennant, Esq., Professor of Mineralogy, in King's 
 College, London, examined seven rock-specimens which had been 
 brought from the north point of Rankin Inlet, directly opposite to and 
 in sight of the west end of Marble Island, and among them he men- 
 
10 
 
 tions *' quartz, enclosing chlorite and copper-pyrites ; carbonate and 
 silicate of copper, with copper-pyrites on argillaceous slate ; ditto, 
 with a thin coating of green carbonate of copper." 
 
 Judging from what Professor Tennant says as to a few i-ock- 
 specimens which were submitted to him from Repulse Bay and vicin- 
 ity, 300 miles northeastward of Marble Island, the Huronian rocks 
 would appear to occur there also. One specimen from this bay, he 
 describes as " quartz coloured bv oxide of iron and containing minute 
 particles of gold." The existence of visible gold in quartz at Repulse 
 Bay is an important fact. It has been already mentioned that gold 
 and silver were found by assay in a specimen of iron pyrites from a 
 bay south of Cape Jones, not far soiith-west of Marble Island. Both 
 gold and silver have been discovered by assay in specimens of quartz 
 or pyrites which I have brought from various parts of Hudson's Bay 
 and Straits. In 1877, Dr. Harrington, who was then chemist to the 
 Geological Survey, detected both gold and silver in iron pyrites which 
 I had collected from a small vein cutting gneiss on a point about one 
 mile south of the mouth of Great Whale River, and also in pyrites 
 from veins in the dolomite which forms Dog Island, close to the main 
 shore, a few miles north of the Cape Jones of the East-main coast. 
 The galena of the old mine, about three miles north-east of Little 
 Whale River trading j)ost, was found to contain 5" 104 ounces of 
 silver to the ton of 2,000 lbs., and that from the south side of the inlet 
 of Richmond Gulf, 12-03 ounces to the same quantity of ore. More 
 recently, Mr. Hoffmann, now chemist to the Survey, has found 
 small quantities of gold and silver in quartz which I obtained from a 
 thin vein on one of the Ottawa Islands, in the north-eastern part of 
 Hudson's Bay. He has also proved the occurrence of the precious 
 metals in quartz veinstones, which I brought from Cape Prince of 
 Wales, about the middle of the south side of Hudson's Straits ; Cape 
 Chudleigh, on the south side of the eastern entrance to the Straits ; 
 and Nachvak Inlet, on the Labrador coast, about 140 miles south 
 of the last mentioned cape. 
 
 From the data I have gathered at Marble Island and that afforded 
 by the valuable series of specimens which I have referred to, as well as 
 from the fact that Laurentian types of rocks are absent from the col- 
 lections, it is to be inferred, as already stated, that we have a great 
 development of the Huronian series along the 180 miles of coast from 
 Chesterfield Inlet to Eskimo Point, both in regard to the variety of 
 
11 
 
 the rocks themselves and their geographical extent. The information 
 afforded by the materials of the drift and that derived from the other 
 sources I have alluded to, all indicate that these rocks likewise occupy 
 a very lai-ge area of country extending inland from this part of the 
 coast. This unexj)lored egion would, no doubt, prove a highly 
 interesting field for research both tc the geologist and the miner. 
 
 In my various reports on Hudson's Bay and Straits, I have had 
 occasion to refer to the indications everywhere to be met with, of the 
 great changes which have taken place in the relative levels of the sea 
 and land in comparatively recent geological times. Similar phenom- 
 ena have been observed in Baffin Land and on the northern shores of 
 the American continent, as well as on all the islands north of the 
 mainland, Vjy the officers of the numerous Franklin search expedi- 
 tions, and other explorei's. This change in the relative levels of the 
 land and water has not, therefore, been limited to " an area of up- 
 heaval," but has been general in all these noithern regions of the 
 earth. 
 
 The evidence of the rapid rise of the land, or perhaps more correctly 
 speaking, of the recession of the sea, is strikingly manifested on 
 Marble Isiand. The smooth pebbles and rounded stones of the 
 ancient beaches, being snowy white, the horizoi ^al lines of the latter 
 are rendered 'xinspicuous in the naked landscapes by their contrast 
 with the yellowish-grey or brown color of the vegetable matter which 
 occupies the intervals between them. They occur at numerous dif- 
 ferent levels, up to 200 or 300 feet, and some at still greater elevations. 
 
 The solid rocks of Marble Island are pretty thoroughly glaciated 
 and the striae are very distinct. At the north-west point of the 
 island their course is S. 25^ E. true, and on Deadman's Island it is 
 8. 15° E. true. It may be mentioned in connection with this sub- 
 ject that at Fort Churchill the course of the glacial striae is S.S.W., and 
 at the first solid rock seen in ascending the Hayes River it is S.S.E., 
 with an older set at the same place, running nearly east and west. 
 To the west and south of James' Bay the general course is south-west- 
 ward ; along the southern part of the East-main coast, westward, and 
 toward the northern part of this coast, northward ; while in Hudson's 
 Straits it is eastward. From these facts it might be inferred 
 that during the glacial period, the ice which formed in the basin 
 of Hudson's Bay, or flowed into it from the high lands to the north- 
 west and those of the Labradoi jieninsula to the east, found outlets 
 
12 
 
 towanls the south and south-west, and also to the north-eastward into 
 Hudson's Straits. The glacial debris, found all around the Bay and 
 in the Straits, has been transported in directions corresponding with 
 this view of the gen i-al conditions during tlie drift period. 
 
 At the east end of Marble Island there is a bay or harbour, with 
 which a very sad history is associated ; and as the events connected with 
 it form an interesting chapter -n the progress of discovery in these 
 parts, I may be here allowed to devote a little space to the subject. 
 When the Hudson's Bay Company first established a trading post at 
 the Churchill Kiver, in 1715, the Indians who i*anged over the Ban-en 
 Grounds to the westward of Marble Island frequently brought samples 
 of native copper to the settlement, and stated that they were found 
 near a large river, which afterwards proved to be the Coppermine, 
 flowing into the Arctic Sea. At that time, however, the Company's 
 people believed the river referred to emptied into Hudson's Bay, as 
 they did not suppose these savages could wander or trade as tar as a 
 great river discharging into another sea. In addition to this pure 
 copper, it was supposed that " gold and other valuable commodities" 
 were to be found " to the northward." To prove this and to discover 
 the North-west Passage, the Com})any, in 1719, sent out two vessels, 
 the Albany frigate, George Barlow, master, and the sloop Discovery, 
 David Vaughan, master, under the command of Mr. James Knight, 
 " who had been many years governor at the different factoiies in the 
 Bay, and who had made the first settlement at Churchill River." 
 
 Mr. Knight was then nearly eighty years of age, but nevei-theless 
 he appears to have been full of enthusiasm ; and Hearne says " he 
 was so prepossessed of his success and of the great advantage that 
 would ari.se from his discoveries, that he procured and took with him 
 some large iron-bound chests to hold gold-dust and other valuables 
 which he fondly flattered himself were to be found in these parts." 
 
 Neither of the vessels having returned to England, and the Com- 
 pany feeling alarm for their welfare, in 1722 a sloop called iheWhale- 
 bone, John Scroggs, master, was sent from Churchill in search of 
 them, but he returned the same season without having ascertained 
 anything definite as to the whereabouts of the vessels, 
 
 ITie story of the unhappy termination of this expedition is graphi- 
 cally told by Samuel Hearne in the account of his " Journey from 
 
18 
 
 Fort Prince of Wales to the Northern Ocean, in 1769 to 1772," and 
 as it is not long, I shall quote what he says : — 
 
 " The strong opinion which then prevailed in Europe respecting 
 the probability of a North-west passage by the way of Hudson's Bay, 
 made many conjecture that Messrs. Knight and Barlow had found a 
 passage and had gone through it into the South Sea by the way of 
 California. Many years elapsed without any other convincing proof 
 to the contrary, except that Middleton, Ellis, Bean, Christopher and 
 Johnson had not been able to find any such passage. And notwith- 
 standing a sloop was annually sent to the northward on discovery 
 and to trade with the Eskimos, it was the summer of 1767 (forty- 
 eight years) before we had positive proofs that poor Mr. Knight and 
 Captain Barlow had been lost in Hudson's Bay. 
 
 " The Company were now carrying on a black-whale fishery and 
 Marble Island was made the place of rendezvous, not only on account of 
 the commodiousness of the harbour, but because it had been observed 
 that the whales were more plentiful about that island than on any 
 other part of the coast. This being the case, the boats, when on the 
 lookout for fish, had frequent occasion to row close to the land, by 
 which means they discovered a new harbour near the east end of it, 
 at the head of which they found guns, anchors, cables, bricks, a 
 smith's anvil and many other articles, which the hand of time had not 
 defaced, and which, being of no use to the natives, or too heavy to 
 be removed by them, had not been taken from the place in which 
 they were originally laid. The remains of the house, though pulled 
 to pieces by the Eskimos for the wood and iron, are yet very plain to be 
 seen, as also the hulls, or more propeily speaking, the bottoms of the 
 ship and sloop, which lie sunk in about five fathoms of water, toward 
 head of the harbour. The figure-head of the ship, and also the guns, 
 &c., were sent home to the Company, and are certain proofs that 
 Messrs. Knight and Barlow had been lost on that inhospitable island, 
 where neither stick nor stump was to be seen, and which lies sixteen 
 miles from the mainland. Indeed, the main is little better, being 
 a jumble of barren hills and rocks, destitute of every kind of herbage 
 except moss and grass, and at that part, the woods are several hun- 
 dreds of miles from the sea-side. 
 
 " In the summer of 1769, while we were prosecuting the fishery, 
 we saw several Eskimos at this new harbour, and perceiving that one 
 or two of them were greatly advanced in yeard, our curiosity was 
 
u 
 
 excited to iisk them some questions concerning tlie above siiip and 
 sloop, which we were the better enabled to do by the assistance of an 
 Eskimo, who was then in the Company's service as a linguist, and 
 annually sailed in one of their vessels in that chamcter. The account 
 which we received fi'om them was full, clear and unreserved, and the 
 sum of it was to the following purport : 
 
 " When the vessels arrived at this place (Marble Island), it was 
 very late in the fall, and in getting them into the harbour, the largest 
 received much damage; but on being fairly in, the English began to 
 build the house, their number at that time seeming to be about 
 fifty. As soon as the ice permitted in the following summer (1720), 
 the Eskimos paid them another visit, by which time the number of 
 the English was greatly reduced, and those that were living, seemed 
 very unhealthy. According to the account given by the Eskimos, they 
 were then very busily employed, but about what, they could not easily 
 describe, probably in lengthening the long-boat, for at a little dis- 
 tance from the house there is now lying a great quantity of oak 
 chips, which have been most assuredly made by carpentei-s. 
 
 " Sickness and famine occasioned such havoc among the English 
 that by the setting in of the second winter their number was reduced 
 to twenty. That winter (1720) some of the Eskimos took up their 
 abode on the opposite side of the harbour to that on which the English 
 had built their houses, and frequently supplied them with such pro- 
 visions as they had, which chiefly consisted of whales' blabber and 
 seals' flesh and train oil. (I, Hearne, have seen the remains of 
 those houses several times ; they are on the west side of the harbour 
 and in all probability will be discernable for many yeare to come). 
 When the spring advanced, the Eskimos went to the continent, 
 and on their visiting Marble Island again in the summer of 
 1721, they found five of the English alive, and those were in such 
 distress for provisions that they eagerly ate the seals' flesh and 
 whales' blubber quite raw, as they purchased it from the natives. 
 This disordered them so much that thi-ee of them died in a few days, 
 and the other two, though very weak, made a shift to buiy them. 
 Those two survived many days after the rest and frequently went to 
 the top of J»a adjacent rock and looked earnestly to the south and 
 east, as if in expectation of some vessel coming to their relief. After 
 continuing there a considerable time together, and nothing appearing 
 
15 
 
 in sight, they sat down close together and wej.t bitterly. At length 
 one of the two died and the other's strength was so Inr exhausted, 
 that he fell down and died also in attempting to dig a grave for his 
 companion. The skulls and other large bones of those two men are 
 now lying above ground, close to the house. The longest liver was, 
 according to the Eskimo account, always employed in working of iron 
 into implements for them ; probably he was the armourer or smith." 
 
 THB COPP, CliARK COMPANY, UMITED, PRIKTKRS, COLBOENE STREET, TORONTO.