They did not know how to get inside by the doors, and cut a hole in
the side of the ship, on a level with the ice, so that when the ice
broke up during the following summer the ship filled and sunk. No
tracks were seen in the salt-water ice or on the ship, which also was
covered with snow, but they saw scrapings and sweepings alongside,
which seemed to have been brushed off by people who had been living
on board. They found some red cans of fresh meat, with plenty of what
looked like tallow mixed with it. A great many had been opened, and
four were still unopened. They saw no bread. They found plenty of
knives, forks, spoons, pans, cups, and plates on board, and afterward
found a few such things on shore after the vessel had gone down. They
also saw books on board, and left them there. They only took knives,
forks, spoons, and pans; the other things they had no use for. He
never saw or heard of the white men's cairn on Adelaide Peninsula.
Peowat, son-in-law of the previous witness, a man about forty, said
that when about fourteen or fifteen years old he saw two boats come
down Back's River. One had eight men in it, and the other he did not
notice how many. He afterward saw a stone monument on Montreal Island,
which, when he opened it, was found to contain a pocket-knife, a pair
of scissors, and some fish-hooks, which he took away.
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