At the appointed time on the following morning four men only presented themselves and these, after much hesitation, engaged to accompany the Expedition to Fort Chipewyan if they should be required so far.  The bowmen and steersmen were to receive forty pounds wages annually and the middle men thirty-five pounds.  They stipulated to be sent back to the Orkney Islands free of expense and to receive their pay until the time of their arrival.  Only these few men could be procured although our requisition had been sent to almost every island, even as far as the northernmost point of Ronaldsha.  I was much amused with the extreme caution these men used before they would sign the agreement; they minutely scanned all our intentions, weighed every circumstance, looked narrowly into the plan of our route, and still more circumspectly to the prospect of return.  Such caution on the part of the northern mariners forms a singular contrast with the ready and thoughtless manner in which an English seaman enters upon any enterprise, however hazardous, without inquiring or desiring to know where he is going or what he is going about.

The brig Harmony, belonging to the Moravian Missionary Society and bound to their settlement at Nain on the coast of Labrador, was lying at anchor.  With the view of collecting some Esquimaux words and sentences, or gaining any information respecting the manners and habits of that people, Doctor Richardson and myself paid her a visit.  We found the passengers who were going out as Missionaries extremely disposed to communicate; but as they only spoke the German and Esquimaux languages, of which we were ignorant, our conversation was necessarily much confined; by the aid however of an Esquimaux and German Dictionary some few words were collected which we considered might be useful.  There were on board a very interesting girl and a young man who were natives of Disco in old Greenland; both of them had fair complexions, rather handsome features, and a lively manner; the former was going to be married to a resident Missionary and the latter to officiate in that character.  The commander of the vessel gave me a translation of the Gospel of St. John in the Esquimaux language printed by the Moravian Society in London.

June 16.

The wind being unfavourable for sailing I went on shore with Dr. Richardson and took several lunar observations at the place of our former residence.  The result obtained was latitude 58 degrees 56 minutes 56 seconds North; longitude 3 degrees 17 minutes 55 seconds West; variation 27 degrees 50 minutes West; dip of the magnetic needle 74 degrees 33 minutes 20 seconds.  In the afternoon the wind changed in a squall some points towards the north and the Prince of Wales made the preparatory signal for sea.  At three P.M. the ships weighed, an hour too early for the tide; as soon as this served we entered into the passage between Hoy and Pomona, and had to beat through against a very heavy swell which the meeting of a weather tide and a strong breeze had occasioned.