The runners of the only sledge we saw were composed of the right and left jawbones of a young whale, being nine feet nine inches long, and one foot seven inches apart, and seven inches high from the ground.  They are connected by a number of parallel pieces, made out of the ribs of the whale, and secured transversely with seizings of whalebone, so as to form the bottom of the sledge, and the back is made of two deers’ horns placed in an upright position.  The lower part of the runners is shod with a harder kind of bone, to resist the friction against the ground.  The whole vehicle is rudely executed, and, being nearly twice the weight of the sledges we saw among the northern Esquimaux, is probably intended for carrying heavy burdens.  The dogs were not less than fifty or sixty in number, and had nothing about them different from those on the eastern coast of Baffin’s Bay, except they do not stand near so high as those of the latitude of 76 deg.  They are very shy and wild, and the natives had great difficulty in catching them while we were by, as well as holding them in when caught.  Some of them have much more of the wolf in their appearance than others, having very long heads and sharp noses, with a brushy tail, almost always carried between the legs; while the bodies of others are less lank, as well as their noses less sharp, and they carry their tails handsomely curled over their backs:  their colour varied from quite dark to brindled.  The ravenous manner in which they devour their food is almost incredible.  Both the old and young ones, when a bird is given them, generally swallow feathers and all; and an old dog that I purchased, though regularly fed while on board by a person appointed for that purpose, ate up, with great avidity, a large piece of canvass, a cotton handkerchief, which one of the men had just washed and laid down by his side, and a part of a check shirt.  The young dogs will at any time kill themselves by over-eating if permitted.  The children appeared to have some right of property in the smaller puppies, or else their parents are very indulgent to them, for several bargains of this kind were made with them, without any objection or interference on the part of the parents, who were standing by at the time.

Within a few stones, irregularly placed in a corner of each tent, was a lump of oil and moss, and over each of these was suspended a small stone vessel of an oblong shape, and broader at the top than at the bottom, containing a large mess of seahorse flesh, with a great quantity of thick gravy.  Some ribs of this meat were by no means bad looking; and, but for the blood mixed with the gravy, and the dirt which accompanied the cooking, might perhaps be palatable enough.  I bargained with a woman for one of the stone vessels, giving her a brass kettle in exchange.  Before she gave it into my possession, she emptied the meat into another vessel, and then, with the flap of her jacket, wiped out the remains of the gravy;