Arrived at the cairn we found it as he said, "a white
man's cairn" unmistakably, but before proceeding to take it down we
examined it carefully and found scratched on a clay stone with the
point of a sharp instrument,
MAY
H XII
1869
and on the opposite side,
ETERNAL HONOR TO THE DISCOVER-
ERS OF THE NORTH WE-
and knew it to be the cairn erected by our countryman, Captain Hall,
over the bones of two of Franklin's men which he speaks of having found
here. A portion of the inscription was lost by the breaking off of a
piece of the stone on which it was written. We did not take down the
monument, but after making a hasty sketch, returned to camp, having
travelled over fifty miles in ten hours.
At this camp we found another interesting relic, in a pine board that
seems to have been part of the head of a bunk or other permanent
fixture, and has the initials "L. F." in brass tacks upon it. This was
picked up on the west coast of Adelaide Peninsula, near where the ship
went down that drifted through Victoria Strait, and may serve to
identify that vessel, thus proving a most interesting and valuable
historic relic. At the next camp, which was our last stopping-place on
the main-land, we met an old woman named Tooktoocheer, widow of
Pooyetah, who was among the first to visit the boat place we saw a few
days ago.
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