ARCTIC TRAVELS; OR, AN ACCOUNT OF THE SEVERAL LAND EXPEDITIONS TO DETERMINE THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT.



Arctic Travels, Rapids in the Coppermine River. p 9

Perforated Rock near Cape Parry.

TO ARCTIC TRAVELS.

MR. JONES, a merchant residing in the city of Waterford, in the south of Ireland, was not more respected by his neighbours for his character in trade, than for the paternal solicitude with which he watched over the morals and education of his two sons, William and Patrick, and endeavoured to fit them for being useful members of society. During the day while he was engaged in his counting-house, they attended a school in the town, which was kept by a worthy and highly competent master; but in the evening Mr. Jones generally had some rational plan of occupation, which combined instruction with amusement, and made home what a judicious parent will always strive to make it--a scene of cheerfulness and improvement. In the summer of the preceding year, he had been greatly assisted by a Mr. Mackey, captain of a trading vessel, who had come to Waterford with goods and stopped at his house all the time that his ship was unlading and taking in fresh cargo. He had related to the family circle the voyages and discoveries of Captains Ross and Parry, in the Arctic Seas; and had excited their wonder by his account of his Esquimaux, with whom these expeditions had brought Europeans acquainted--their houses built of ice, the hardships these remote people endure in winter, their ignorance of all those inventions of art and science which have so much promoted the comforts of life; and he thus led them to reflect, with thankfulness, upon the happier circumstances in which their lot had been cast by Providence. They acquired also, in this way, a knowledge of the geography of these hitherto unexplored parts of the earth; while not the least advantage which accrued to them was, the important lesson which the narrative enforced, that zeal, intrepidity, and discretion, can, with the divine aid, surmount the most appalling dangers; while a firm reliance upon the care and protection of an ever-watchful Providence, and an unrepining fortitude under the trials which he sends, not only support the mind under suffering, but are often rewarded by the opening of a way of escape, when, to all human appearance, it was hopeless.

A year had now nearly elapsed since the sons of Mr. Jones had, in this way, been made acquainted with the enterprise and energy of British seamen in the Arctic Seas. Mr. Mackey had been twice in Waterford harbour during that interval; but his stay was too short, and his time too much occupied, to permit his compliance with their request, that, in like manner as he had given them such an interesting account of Arctic discoveries by sea, he would also communicate to them the result of those land expeditions which were sent out at different times to explore the northern parts of the North American continent, and to ascertain, by another mode, whether the northern shore of that vast region is washed by a sea connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

At length, however, the time came when the boys were to have their laudable curiosity gratified. Captain Mackey, about the middle of September, making for the harbour of Waterford, had met the equinoctial gales, which, blowing with the fierceness of a hurricane, had carried away his main-yard, unshipped and washed away part of his rudder, and, while the ship was no longer under the guidance of the helm, had driven it ashore in Tramore Bay, happily without the loss of life or limb to any one aboard. The loss of the cargo would have been a serious injury to her owners. By the good seamanship, however, of Captain Mackey, and the weather becoming moderate, she was got off the next tide, and towed, in this crippled state, to her old berth at the quay, where she was unloaded and laid down for repairs.

"There is something," says an old writer, "in the misfortunes of our best friends, to give us satisfaction;" which seems to imply, not that the good can ever be gratified at the calamities which befall a fellow-creature, but that the cup of evil is never unmixed with some mild ingredient, which qualifies its bitterness, and enables us more cheerfully to drink it. Duriug the delay which the refitting of the ship caused, Captain Mackey was induced to take up his abode with Mr. Jones, and this afforded the long wished-for opportunity of giving that gentleman's family the promised narration.

During the time of Captain Mackey's stay at Mr. Jones's, the family party, increased by the respected clergyman who presided over the school of Waterford, and who was greatly beloved by William and Patrick, used to assemble each evening around the tea-table. The map of North America being duly placed before the boys, corrected according to the discoveries of Captain Parry, Captain Mackey, after a kind encouragement to his young hearers freely to question him upon any subject which might require explanation, began. It is to be understood, that so long a narration must have occupied many evenings; indeed, it furnished matter for conversation for above a fortnight; but it is here given in an unbroken form, in order that it may be the more intelligible to the reader.

ARCTIC TRAVELS.

CHAPTER I.

CAPT. MACKEY. Before I proceed to detail the events of Captain Franklin's expeditions to explore the northern coast of America, it is necessary to inform you of the reasons which induced geographers in general to believe, not only that there was a sea of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but that it was not very far north of the latitude of the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, which Captain Parry had, unsuccessfully, attempted to penetrate, his way being blocked up by ice. You already know that he ascertained that strait to lie between the north-eastern promontory of the continent of North America, and Cockburn Island, in the 70th degree of north latitude.

William. Yes, sir, and we well remember that he satisfactorily established the fact, that beyond the strait, to the west, there lies a large collection of water, which, from its extent and the reports of the Esquimaux, there was every reason for believing is the sea which washes the northern shore of the American continent, and extends to Behring's Straits.

Capt. M. The strength of these reasons you will the better understand, when you learn that the merchants who carry on a trade with the North American Indians for furs, under the title of the Hudson's Bay Company, and have long had a factory called Prince of Wales's Fort, on the eastern shore of Hudson's Bay, were induced, in the year 1769, to send out one of their agents, Mr. Samuel Hearne, to explore the country east and north of the factory; and that this traveller actually penetrated to the banks of a great river, which ran northward, and emptied itself into the sea, in the latitude, as he reported, of 71° north, and longitude 120° west of London; and that subsequent to that period, in the years 1789 and 1793, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, one of the merchants trafficking also with the American Indians, as a partner in the North-west Company, established at Montreal, in Canada, set out with the design of extending their transactions; and after a journey equally perilous, and more lengthened than Mr. Hearne's, reached the mouth of a very large river, and saw the sea in latitude 69° north, and longitude 131° west.

Mr. Jones. It appears that in neither case was the immediate object the promotion of science.

Mr. Capel. Nevertheless we ought not to deny them the praise which is due to an enterprising spirit, when it does not wander into rashness. A great nation, like England, may be influenced by the sole desire of advancing science; but individuals and commercial companies will be influenced, partly, perhaps chiefly, by self-interest.

Capt. M. It was the hope of finding a shorter way to the East Indies which led Columbus to the discovery of America. So that Hearne and Mackenzie are not to be disparaged, because they were actuated by an honest spirit of commercial industry.

Mr. Capel. Our own times, however, have furnished a noble proof that men can be influenced by higher motives still than the love of science. Witness the patient and heroic missionary!

Mr. Jones. If it would not trespass too much on Captain Mackey, my boys would, I know, be gratified in hearing a short account of the expeditions of Hearne and Mackenzie. They were not, perhaps, so scientific as those who came after them; but we must still consider them as the pioneers of science, preparing the way for subsequent and more favourable results.

Capt. M. When I was shut up in Winter Island with Captain Parry, in 1822, and we were expecting that the breaking up of the ice would open for us a way into the long sought for passage, I read both these narratives, anxious, as you may suppose, to collect every information upon the subject which interested us. I shall therefore most willingly gratify the boys.

Mr. Jones. What were the circumstances which led Mr. Hearne to undertake this expedition?

Capt. M. He states, himself, that the Indians who range over the vast tracts of country which lie north and west of Churchill River, having repeatedly brought samples of copper to the factory of the Hudson's Bay Company, the agents of that establishment conjectured that it was found not far from the settlement; and, as the natives said that the specimens were collected on the banks of a great river, Mr. Hearne was directed to explore the district, as far as was possible, searching diligently for the copper mine, should he reach the river, and following the stream till he found its mouth.

Mr. Capel. Did they think that it would be found to flow into the Arctic Sea?

Capt. M. The existence of such a sea at that time was not ascertained. However, they desired Mr. Hearne to trace the course of the river to its mouth, conjecturing that it flowed into Hudson's Bay: and that thus an easy mode would be discovered of transporting to their factory the metal, which they hoped to find in abundance.

In reading the instructions which Mr. Hearne received from the company, I was particularly struck with their simplicity and good sense. He was to carry with him a sample of light trading goods, to be disposed of by way of present, and not of traffic; and to smoke the calumet of peace with the leaders of the Indians, in order to establish a friendship with them, dissuading them, as much as possible, from going to war with each other, and recommending them rather to cultivate peace and good-will.

Patrick. I fear, at that period, portable soups and such comforts as are known in our day for those who undertake a journey into frozen regions, were not thought of; nor was he so well provided with instruments for taking accurate observations.

Capt. M. You shall hear the provision he made for all the contingencies that were likely to arise. He drew a map on a large skin of parchment, which contained twelve degrees of latitude, north, and thirty of longitude, west, of Churchill Factory, leaving the inland parts of it blank, in order that he might prick off his daily courses and distances. He had also a quadrant and a compasss. As for his own personal stock, but little, he says, was required, as the difficulty of travelling in those countries will never admit of carrying even the common articles of clothing; so that the traveller is obliged to depend on the country through which he is passing for raiment as well as for provisions. Ammunition, useful iron work, some tobacco, a few knives, and other indispensable things, make a sufficient load for any one who has besides to bear the weight of the gun, on which he principally relies for food, and is entering on a journey likely to last twenty months or two years. He took, therefore, only the shirt and clothes he had on, a spare coat and a pair of drawers, and as much cloth as would make three pair of Indian stockings, together with a blanket in which he might wrap himself at night.

William. Was it the summer season that he chose for his expedition?

Capt. M. No, but winter; because, having so much to take with him, he was obliged to make use of a sledge, which is drawn on the ice with great ease.

On the 6th of November, 1769, he set out from the fort accompanied by two of his countrymen, William Isbester, sailor, and Thomas Merriman, landsman; two southern Indians; a northern Indian chief called Captain Choiwchinahaw, his lieutenant, Nabyah, and eight northern Indians, with their wives and children. The weather was mild; so that, for the first fortnight, they found the labour of hauling the sledges very severe. The road they followed was between west by north, and north-west, and was in general so rough and stony, that the sledges were daily breaking, while the land was so barren of trees, that they could not find the means of repairing them. At night, also, they thought themselves well off if they could scrape together as many shrubs as would make a fire; but it was not in their power to make any other defence against the weather than by digging a hole in the snow down to the moss, and, wrapping themselves in their blankets, lying down in it, with the sledges set up edgeways to windward.

Mr. Jones. He must have had a fine constitution to bear such hardships.

Capt. M. He and his countrymen bore them, not only without complaint, but cheerfully. Not so the northern Indians, who got disheartened, and deserted, carrying with them several bags of ammunition, and other useful articles, and were quickly followed by Choiwchinahaw and Nabyah; so that Hearne, his two companions, and the two southern Indians, were compelled, after suffering greatly from hunger, to return to the fort, where he arrived on the 8th of December.

Patrick. I hope he was more successful when he undertook the expedition a second time.

Capt. M. Nothing daunted by his failure, he again set out in quest of the river, on the 23d of February, in the following year, 1770; having engaged as guide a chief named Conne-e-quese, who said he had been very near the river where the copper was procured. It is not necessary, however, to detail the incidents of this journey, since, though he was eight months and twenty-two days absent from the fort, he was unable to reach the desired point.

Mr. Jones. What was the cause of this second failure?

Capt. M. The very same which frustrated his first attempt--the misconduct of the northern Indians who accompanied him. While food continued plentiful, and could be procured without much exertion, they behaved tolerably well; but as soon as it became scarce, and the road more difficult, they dropped off, one by one, carrying away several bags of gunpowder, and other articles.

Mr. C. One would think that, when North America abounds in lakes, where fish is plentiful, and the woods contain such numbers of reindeer, any want of food must have been the effect of great mismanagement.

Capt. M. So thoughtless of the future was the party which accompanied Mr. Hearne, that he never could induce them to lay up a store for a time of scarcity. A fortnight after they had set out, they reached the borders of a lake, where their nets procured for them a daily supply of fish; and, by the advice of Conne-e-quese, it was agreed to remain there till the geese should begin to fly northward, which is seldom before the middle of May. On the 1st of April, the fishing nets were found empty, and continued so; the Indian, therefore, took his gun and went off to look for game; but the others, indolent and thoughtless, passed their time smoking and sleeping. On the 10th Conne-e-quese returned with the blood and some fragments of two deer, which he had killed. This roused the sleeping Indians, who, for three preceding days, had taken no refreshment, except a pipe of tobacco and a draught of water. In an instant they were on their feet, and soon busily employed in cooking a large kettle of broth. The following day two more deer were killed, and subsequently five, and three beavers; yet nothing could make them provident. Such a quantity of meat would, with prudence, have sufficed for some time; but the Indians thought only of the present. While the supply lasted, they spent night and day in feasting and gluttony; but never during the whole time could they be induced to attend to the fishing nets; so that many fish which had been taken in them were entirely spoiled; and in a fortnight they were as much distressed as ever.

William. What was the cause that immediately led to their desertion?

Capt. M. When the snow melted off the ground, the snow shoes and sledges were discarded; the former, as no longer serviceable; the latter, from the difficulty and labour of drawing them over the rugged ground. The baggage, therefore, was divided between the party, who were obliged to carry it on their backs.

Patrick. The badness of the road was sufficient to weary them, without having to carry a heavy load.

Capt. M. It soon disheartened the Indians; but Mr. Hearne was a man of too much resolution to be cast down. Although more unaccustomed to bear such hardships, his load weighed sixty pounds. He was often obliged to eat his meat raw, from the impossibility of finding fuel to make a fire. Sometimes half fed; at other times obliged to leave quantities of food behind: now drenched with rain--again, like a sailor, when the storm is over, forgetting the past hardship. Still he would have gone on with good spirits, if the Indians had not left him, after having stolen his ammunition and rifled his knapsack. Thus left alone once more with his two southern Indians, and the winter cold again becoming severe, he was indebted to a chief named Matonnabee (whom he casually met as he was returning) for a supply of food, and snow shoes, and for guiding him safely to the fort, where he arrived on the 25th of November, 1770.

CHAPTER II.

William. I think if Mr. Hearne had not encumbered himself with so much baggage he might have succeeded better; but how then could he have requited the services which he received from the Indians whom he met?

Patrick. He might have given them an order for payment upon the governor at Prince of Wales's Fort.

Capt. M. When they were several hundred miles from the factory, such an order would have been little prized. For the least assistance they expected immediate payment; and if they gave the least morsel of victuals, they always asked something in exchange, which, in general, was three times the value of what they could have got for the same articles at the fort, even after going a long journey. The failure of this second attempt Mr. Hearne himself ascribed to his having been recommended by the governor not to take the wives of his Indian guides with him.

Mr. Capel. I should have thought women ill able to bear the fatigues of such a journey, and, therefore, an impediment that might have been well dispensed with.

Capt. M. In North America the Indian does little more than carry his rifle, and hunt down the game; all other occupations he considers beneath him; or as a chief said to Mr. Hearne, "When men are to hunt or travel to any considerable distance, they must not be heavily laden. In case they meet with success, who is to cook the food; who to carry our provisions; who to pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, or haul our nets? In fact," he added, "there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance, or for any length of time, without their assistance." This, however strange it may appear, is too true a description of the situation of women in that part of the world.

Patrick. Mr. Hearne was not, of course, discouraged, for we have not yet heard of any discoveries made by him; but I long to hear of his again setting out.

Capt. M. On the 25th of November, as I have mentioned, he returned to the fort, and on the 7th of December he again took leave of the governor. Past experience, however, had made him wiser--he declined taking any southern Indians with him; but engaged Matonnabee to be his guide; and as he was a chief of considerable reputation, and had already shown such a contrast to the rest of his countrymen, by his disinterested kindness, there was every reason to believe that he would behave far differently, and faithfully fulfil the duty which he undertook.

It is not, however, my intention to follow the track of Mr. Hearne by a narrative of each day's proceedings. They were nearly the same as those of the two former journeys, except in one particular--Matonnabee was true to his engagement, and conducted Mr. Hearne to the Coppermine River, which they reached on the 14th of July, 1771.

Patrick. How many miles did they walk in a day?

Capt. M. The average was from eight to ten miles, when they were on journey; but there were many days when the Indians would not move, and that was generally when they lighted on a good supply of food: on such occasions an Indian will eat at a sitting as much as would serve six moderate men; but their indulgence of appetite brings with it its own punishment, for they usually become so ill from repletion as to be unable to move for several days.

Without minutely detailing their course, I may mention that, on the 6th of February, they crossed the main branch of the Cathawhachaga River, lying north-west of the fort. It was at that part three-quarters of a mile broad; and, walking a short distance farther, they came to the side of Cossed Whoie, or Partridge Lake, which they crossed on the following day, over the ice, and found it fourteen miles wide.

Patrick. Looking at the map, I perceive they did not take the shortest road to the Coppermine River.

Capt. M. They were obliged to remain among the wooded parts of the country for the sake of food, which they found in such great plenty, that they often killed the animals for the marrow and tongue, and left the carcass behind to rot.

William. This was a great abuse of the kindness of Providence.

Mr. C. So it was; but among people so ignorant, every thing appears as the mere effect of chance; they do not consider that they are wasting the provisions which the Almighty places before them, and which they may themselves feel the want of at a future time: therefore they think it neither wrong nor improvident to live upon the best the country will afford.

Capt. M. On the 20th of May the party, augmented by several Indian families whom they had met in their course, arrived at the Clowey Lake, where they began to build canoes for crossing the river which lay between them and the Coppermine River. These vessels, though very slight and simple in their construction, are, nevertheless, the best that can be contrived for the use intended, as it is frequently necessary to carry them one hundred or one hundred and fifty miles at a time, without having occasion to put them into the water.

Patrick. Are they neatly made?

Capt. M. So neatly that they could not be excelled by our most expert mechanics, assisted with every tool they could wish for. The only tools used by the Indian consist of a hatchet, a knife, a file, and an awl. In shape this canoe resembles a weaver's shuttle, being flat-bottomed, with straight upright sides, and sharp at each end.

Mr. C. Living so long among these wandering people, Hearne must have had frequent opportunities of observing their habits.

Capt. M. From what I have mentioned about their indolence and gluttony, you may suppose he saw much to condemn. Their vices, indeed, were great; but we should not censure them too harshly. They were ignorant and uneducated, and they had not, as we have, the pure morality of the Christian religion to correct and guide them. But that which showed their barbarism most, was their treatment of the female sex. Matonnabee had no less than seven wives, or rather, I should say, servants, to carry his tent and furniture, and cook his victuals, dress the skins, and make them up into clothing. Hearne says that he has seen a woman carrying a burden weighing nearly a hundred pounds, in summer, and hauling a much greater weight in winter, while Matonnabee either sat in his tent smoking his pipe, or walked slowly on before with nothing but his gun in his hand.

The custom of these uninstructed people was, to wrestle for the woman to whom they were attached, the strongest always carrying off the prize; hence a weak man was seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thought worth his notice, more particularly if the latter had more baggage than his wives were able to carry. This wrestling is, in fact, nothing but pulling each other about by the hair of the head, to prevent which one of the combatants, and sometimes both, will come out with their hair close shorn, and their ears greased.

But the worst feature in these savages remains still unmentioned. While they were at Clowey, they entered into an inhuman combination to surprise and massacre the Esquimaux, who were understood to frequent the Coppermine River in considerable numbers.

Patrick. Did not Mr. Hearne endeavour to dissuade them from such an inhuman and cold-blooded scheme?--it was his instructions to do so.

Capt. M. He states that he did his utmost as soon as he became acquainted with the intentions of his companions, and saw their warlike preparations; but without effect;--nay, that they even accused him of cowardice, a reproach which would have endangered his own personal safety.

William. But did he stand by and see such preparations going on? He should have remembered his instructions, "to dissuade them as much as possible from going to war with each other." Matonnabee was employed by him, for a promised reward, to be his guide--his going to the Coppermine River was solely at Mr. Hearne's desire. Hearne, therefore, should at once have turned back, if all his efforts to prevent the perpetration of such a crime were unsuccessful.

Capt. M. So he should, my boy, even at the risk of his life; and so you would be still more inclined to think, if you heard the account of this massacre. On the 14th of July, having reached the river, they sent three spies to report what Esquimaux were inhabiting the banks between them and the sea; and having learned that there were five tents, the Indians began to get their arms in order, painted their shields with the figure of the sun or moon, or some bird or beast of prey; painted their faces, some all black, some red; and, to prevent their hair from blowing into their eyes, tied it before and behind, or else cut it short all around, pulled off their stockings, and tucked up their sleeves close to the shoulders, and thus set upon their victims, whom they found asleep, and put them every one to death, sparing neither age nor sex. None but savages--none but those who knew not God, and feared not punishment in another world--could be guilty of such a bloody act; and I quite agree with William, that Mr. Hearne should rather have suffered the Indians to pierce him with their spears than allow such a cruelty to be perpetrated.

But let us leave such a painful subject. On his arrival at the river, Hearne found it very different from the description given of it by the Indians at the factory; for, instead of being so large as to be navigable for shipping, it was scarcely deep enough to float a canoe, being every where full of shoals, and no less than three falls in sight; nor was it better adapted for shipping nearer the mouth, being all the way full of shoals and falls, and emptying itself into the sea over a ridge or bar. At a short distance from the mouth, the sea was full of islands, and great numbers of seals were sporting on the ice, which was, however, melted away for about three-quarters of a mile from the main shore.

Mr. C. Did Hearne determine the latitude and longitude of the mouth of the river?

Capt. M. He states that the weather was not fair enough to determine the latitude's exact position by observation; but, from the extraordinary care he took in observing the courses and distances which he walked, he computes the latitude to have been 71° 54' north, the longitude 120° 30' west. The mode, however, was a rough one, and, as might be expected, gave an incorrect position: of this, however, we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

Mr. C. Did Hearne find much copper?

Capt. M. The Copper Indians conducted him to what they called the mine, which was about twenty-nine miles to the south-south-east; but great was his disappointment on finding that, so far from its deserving the report made by the Indians, that ship-loads could be easily obtained, the hills being, as they said, entirely composed of that metal,--there was only a heap of stones and gravel, and so little appearance of the copper, that, after a search of some hours, but one piece of any size could be found.

On the 18th of July, the party set out on their return, and by great exertion reached, on the 31st, the place where the Indians found their wives and children, whom they had left behind. Hearne suffered greatly from fatigue: his legs and ankles swelled so much, that he had no power to direct his feet when walking; so that he frequently knocked them forcibly against the stones, and at last was in such a condition, that he left the prints of his feet in blood almost at every step he took, the raw parts being greatly irritated by the sand and gravel, which he could by no means exclude.

Patrick. What would they have done if his strength had not been equal to the exertion of keeping up with them?

Capt. M. I do not suppose Matonnabee would have left him behind to perish; but it is a fact, that, in the journey which they made, after having rejoined the women, one of the Indian women, who was afflicted with consumption, and unable to travel, was left, without any sign of regret, to perish on the road. This, he says, is their common practice: they generally, however, leave some food and water, and, if the place will afford it, a little firing; they then tell the road which they intend to take, in order that, if the patient recovers, he may follow. The poor woman whom Hearne mentions overtook the party three several times after having been left; at length the poor creature dropped behind, and no one attempted to go back in search of her.

As the Indians in Hearne's company had determined to winter about Athabasca Lake, he was obliged to go along with them, though it greatly retarded his return to the fort. On the 11th of January, 1772, as the party was hunting, they saw the track of a strange snow-shoe, and, following it, came to a little hut, where they discovered a young woman sitting alone. She proved to be a western Dog-rib, taken prisoner by the Athabasca Indians, in the summer of 1770, but who, in the following summer, 1771, had eloped from them with the design of returning to her own country. The distance, however, was so great, and so many rivers were to be crossed, that she was forced to give it up; she had therefore built the hut to protect her from the weather, and there had resided seven months without seeing a human face.

William. How did the poor creature support herself?

Capt. M. By snaring partridges, rabbits, and squirrels. Indeed, when discovered, she had a small stock of provisions in her hut, and was in excellent health and condition.

Patrick. But she had other wants beside that of food. How did she supply herself with clothes?

Capt. M. The methods she practised were truly admirable, and proved the truth of the saying, "that necessity is the mother of invention." She sewed her clothing with the sinews of the rabbits' legs and feet, twisting them together with great dexterity and success. Of the skins she made a suit of neat and warm clothing for the winter, and even showed great taste in ornamenting her work with curious sewing. Her leisure hours, after hunting, she had employed in twisting the inner rind or bark of willows into small lines, like net-twine, with which she intended to make a fishing-net as soon as the spring advanced.

Patrick. What tools had she?

Capt. M. Five or six inches of an iron hoop, made into a knife, and the shank of an arrow head of iron, which served her as an awl; and with them she contrived also to make herself complete snow-shoes, and several other useful articles.

Her story was a melancholy one. The tribe to which she belonged, and which lived far to the westward, had been surprised in the night by the Athabasca Indians, who killed every one in the tent except herself, and three other young women. Among the slaughtered were her father, mother, and husband. Her young child she concealed in a bundle of clothing, and took with her undiscovered. But when she arrived at the place where the Athabascans had left their wives, and they began to examine the bundle, one of the women took it from her and killed it on the spot.

Mr. C. Such is man in a state of ignorance and barbarism!

Capt. M. This was more than a mother's affection for her infant could bear; and therefore, seizing the first opportunity, she fled from them into the woods, choosing rather to expose herself to misery and want than live with persons who had made her childless, a widow, and an orphan.

It is not necessary to follow more minutely the track of Mr. Hearne, as he returned homeward to the fort. They crossed the Athabasca Lake, and also the river of the same name, where it was two miles wide; Large Pike Lake, Bedsdid Lake, Hill Island Lake. On the 11th of May they threw away their snow shoes, as the ground was in most places so bare as not to require any such assistance. On the 18th, finding the ice so far melted in the river as to render walking on it dangerous, they built their canoes, which were now become necessary for crossing the waters which lay in their way; and, to be brief, reached the fort on the 29th of June, 1772, having been absent eighteen months and twenty-three days.

Mr. C. The courage and resolution of Mr. Hearne cannot be too much admired; but except the fact of having ascertained that the Coppermine River flowed northward into the sea, he does not appear to have added much to our geographical knowledge.

Capt. M. We must not, however, undervalue the importance of that one discovery; for, conjoined with the knowledge that the Mackenzie also poured its waters into a northern sea, it led the way to the expeditions of Captains Parry and Franklin. Hearne had not the instruments necessary for laying down his course with precision; but he showed the practicability of living among the Indians, and in their company of taking a long and perilous journey into the Arctic regions, where, for a certain period of the year, the sun never rises above the horizon; where the cold is so intense during winter, that the inferior animals leave it to seek the shelter of a more southern climate; and where the whole face of the country presents one unvarying appearance of snow.

CHAPTER III.

Mr. Jones. WHAT was the immediate cause of Mackenzie's journey, which I believe was the next that was undertaken in these regions?

Capt. M. He belonged to the North-west Fur Trading Company, which carried on a lucrative traffic with the Indians living to the north-west of Lake Superior, in North America; and, being of an inquisitive mind and enterprising spirit, together with a constitution and frame of body, as he states himself, equal to the most arduous undertakings, he determined to explore the country northwards, which furnished the furs to the hunters, and, if possible, open new channels of trade to the commercial establishment with which he was connected.

Patrick. Where do the company, who carry on this trade, reside?

Capt. M. At Montreal, in Canada; and it is an interesting fact, that, in the year 1789, this traffic carried those who were engaged in it to the astonishing distance of four thousand miles westward of Montreal, that is, to Fort Chipewyan, on the banks of the Lake of the Hills, in latitude 58° north, longitude 110° west. Subsequently, however, as we shall find, this company extended its establishment much farther to the north.

William. I should like to hear some account of their traffic.

Capt. M. It would be tedious to follow the route which is travelled by the agents, who leave Montreal at the beginning of May, in order to meet those who had spent the winter in the different establishments north of Lake Superior. It is sufficient to say, that, embarking in slight canoes of bark, they are obliged to unload them in order to tow them up above two hundred rapids, while the cargoes are conveyed on men's shoulders by land; that these same canoes, with their lading, are transported over no less than one hundred and thirty carrying places, called portages, from twenty-five paces to thirteen miles in length.

Mr. Capel. Looking at the map, it appears to me that there is a direct channel of communication between Lake Winnipeg, in longitude 97° west, and the southern shores of Hudson's Bay, which, therefore, would be a much shorter way of sending the furs than the great distance they are said to be carried.

Capt. M. It is, doubtless, a far shorter way, but the passage belongs to the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, who could scarcely be expected to assist their rival in the trade, in sending furs to the market on cheaper terms, and thus underselling them.

Mr. Jones. It must take a very long time before the capital expended in carrying on this trade brings in a return.

Capt. M. The following statement will show that very clearly:--

The orders for the goods are sent to England in October, 1825,

They are shipped from London in March, 1826,

They arrive in Montreal, in Canada, in June, 1827,

They are despatched inland in May, 1827,

They arrive in the interior and are exchanged for furs in winter, 1827, 1828,

Which furs come to Montreal in September, 1828,

And arrrive in London, and are paid for, in June, 1829.

William. That is very curious. But if Mr. Mackenzie's chief object was trade, what could have brought him to the shores of the Arctic Ocean? In that inclement region, which we find all animals leaving as winter commences, the Indian hunter would not find much to reward him for the toils and hardships he must undergo.

Capt. M. A great part of the furs which are obtained by the North-west Company are intended for the Chinese market. Mr. Mackenzie, therefore, thought that if he could reach the Pacific Ocean, a shorter route would be discovered for sending them by. He, therefore, set out from Fort Chipewyan, on the Lake of the Hills, on the 3d of June, 1789, and passed down the Peace or Slave River, to the Great Slave Lake, which he crossed to its main outlet, toward the north-west, in latitude 61° north. This stream carried him forward for twenty-seven days, with a rapid and safe current, till he was warned of his approach to the sea by the action of the tide in the channel and on the shore. The violence of the swell, and the lateness of the season, prevented him from going any farther; but it was not until then that he gave up the hope of some bend in the river leading westward to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. I do not give you the particulars of the expedition, because Captain Franklin's two narratives will present to you a much more interesting detail of occurrences over the very same course.

Patrick. Who were Mackenzie's companions?

Capt. M. The crew of his canoe, which was made of birch bark, consisted of a German and four Canadians, two of whom were attended by their wives. He was also accompanied by an Indian, called English Chief, and his two wives, in a small canoe, with two young Indians, his followers, in another small canoe. The Indian was one of the followers of Matonnabee, who had conducted Mr. Hearne to the Coppermine River, and had afterward become a principal leader of his tribe.

Mr. C. Was Mr. Mackenzie qualified to take the necessary observations?

Capt. M. It would appear as if his instruments were not very good. He mentions, however, on the 1st of July, having sat up all night to observe the sun, which never set. This shows that he was north of the Arctic circle, which is in latitude 67° north. "I called," he says, "one of the men to view a sight which he had never before seen. When he saw the sun so high, he thought it was a signal to embark, and began to call the rest of his companions. They returned to rest, however, when they found that the sun had not descended nearer the horizon, and that it was but a short time past midnight."

When he arrived at the utmost point of his journey northward, he took an observation which gave him 69° north latitude. We shall find, however, that in the longitude he was mistaken. He calculated it at 135° west.

Mr. C. How did he know that the body of water which he reached was the sea?

Capt. M. He says that the White Man's Lake, as his Indian guide called it, appeared covered with ice from about two leagues' distance, and no land ahead. They saw whales; from which circumstance he called an island on which he landed Whale Island. There was also a regular flow and ebb of the tide. The Indians, however, were anxious to return, their boat being ill fitted to venture into the sea beyond the ice, and the water between the ice and the shore being too shallow to float even the canoes. They therefore set out on their return, and on the 12th of September reached Chipewyan Fort in safety, concluding an expedition which had occupied them one hundred and two days.

Mr. C. These, then, were the grounds on which Captain Franklin's expedition was undertaken. It was known, from Captain Parry's discoveries, that, west of the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, there lay a large body of water, into which that strait opened. It was also known that a sea received the waters of the Coppermine River, and those also of the Mackenzie River; and it was therefore concluded, that in the latitude of these two mouths, namely, those of the Coppermine and the Mackenzie, lay the sea of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, or, as it might be said, between the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, east, and Behring's Straits, west.

Capt. M. Precisely so.

William. How much I long to hear an account of the dangers which were encountered in ascertaining this point!

Capt. M. The main object of the first expedition which was conducted by Captain Franklin, was to determine the latitude and longitude of the north coast of America, and the bearing of that coast from the mouth of the Coppermine River, to the north-eastern extremity of that continent.

But there were other objects connected with this, which you have yet to hear, the principal one of which was, to amend the very defective geography of that part of the North American coast, ascertaining the exact geographical situation of every remarkable spot upon the route, and of all the bays, harbours, rivers, headlands, and promontories that might occur along the shore. Conspicuous marks were to be erected at places where ships might enter, or to which a boat could be sent; and information as to the nature of the coast was to be left for the use of Captain Parry, should he happily make his way into that sea. In the journal of his route, Captain Franklin was to register the temperature of the air, at least three times in the twenty-four hours, together with the state of the weather and the wind, and any other remarkable circumstance connected with the state of the atmosphere.

Mr. George Back and Mr. Robert Hood, two admiralty midshipmen, also George Hepburn, an intelligent English seaman, were to be joined with him in the enterprise; and Dr. John Richardson was appointed surgeon to the expedition.

The governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who watches over their affairs, residing in England, and who is always chosen, not only for a consideration of the interest he possesses in that traffic, but for his commercial knowledge and activity, afforded Captain Franklin every assistance and information previous to his setting out; and orders were sent to the agents in North America to promote, by every means, the objects of the expedition, by furnishing him with such stores as he might require, and giving him such practical information as their local knowledge and experience qualified them to offer.

The provisions, instruments, and articles furnished by the admiralty, were embarked on board the Hudson's Bay Company's ship, Prince of Wales, appointed by the committee to convey the expedition to York Factory, their principal establishment in Hudson's Bay. The party embarked on the 23d of May, 1819. Touching at Stromness, one of the Orkney Islands, Captain Franklin there endeavoured to engage some seamen adapted to the service on which he was proceeding, and a handsome remuneration was offered; but so impressed were the people with the apprehension that great danger attended the expedition, or that they would be taken farther than the engagement required, that only four men presented themselves on the day named. These, however, were engaged, though it was evident that they too formed a very exaggerated idea of the perils which lay before them. Indeed the caution they used before they would sign the agreement, the minuteness with which they scanned all the intentions of the expedition, the narrowness with which they looked into the route, and, still more, into the prospect of return, afforded much amusement to those who, with minds full of ardour, unhesitatingly embarked in the enterprise.

William. What time of the year was it when they sailed from the Orkney Islands?

Capt. M. It was in the middle of July; I am not quite sure of the day of the month, but I know they did not meet with any icebergs until the 4th of August, by which time they were in latitude 59° 58', longitude 59° 53'. A dense fog set in two days afterward as they lay off Resolution Island, which you know is situated at the entrance of Hudson's Straits; and they narrowly escaped the double danger of being crushed by the icebergs, and of driving against the shore; for, from an injury sustained in the rudder, they were unable to make much effort to save the ship.

They lay in this perilous situation for some days, when a merciful Providence rescued them from their imminent danger, and spared their lives to encounter future perils, and to receive at his hands future mercies.

Having entered Hudson's Straits on the morning of the 12th of August, they lay off Upper Savage Island as near the shore as the wind would permit, in order that they might open a barter with the Esquimaux for some oil and seal-skin dresses, for which they gave them saws, knives, nails, tin kettles, and needles. I need not delay to speak of their intercourse with these people, as Captain Parry has already brought you acquainted with them.

If you examine your map you will be able to trace Captain Franklin's course to the termination of Hudson's Straits, and from thence in a due south-westerly direction across Hudson's Bay to York Factory, the seat of the Hudson's Bay Company's establishment, where Captain Franklin was to receive farther advice and instructions, and from whence his journey was in fact to begin. It is situated on the west bank of Hayes's River, about five miles from its mouth, on the marshy peninsula which separates the Hayes and the Nelson Rivers--longitude 92° 46' west, latitude 57° 2' north. The surrounding country is flat and swampy, covered with willow and birch trees; but the demand for fuel has consumed all the timber fit for that purpose, and the residents have now to send for it to a considerable distance.

Patrick. I should like to know what sort of place is York Factory--is it a town, or is there only one large house for storing merchandise?

Capt. M. It consists of a residence for the governor of that trading post, and dwellings for the various officers and other persons in his employment; storehouses on an extensive scale for the merchandise, and shops and sale rooms for the furs and the other articles of commerce. As might be expected, a great number of Indians have established their residence in the vicinity of the factory; and several of their rudely constructed tents were to be seen close outside the great wall which surrounds the whole.

Patrick. Are these tents like the summer tents of the Esquimaux at Igloolek?

Capt. M. Like them, these tents are covered with skins; but the frame is constructed differently. About thirty long poles are tied tight together at the top, and spread out wide at the base, so that it stands like a spread umbrella without a handle. The skins that cover them are those of the moose deer, dressed. The fire is kindled in the centre, a hole being left in the top for the escape of the smoke. The people who lived in these humble dwellings had a squalid sickly appearance, which was, however, sufficiently accounted for by the governor saying that they had been lately suffering from the twofold sickness of hooping cough and measles. Their sickness at this time was particularly felt by the traders, this being the season of the year when the exertion of every hunter is required to procure their winter stock of geese, which resort in immense flocks to the extensive flats in this neighbourhood, being then on their passage southward before the approach of winter. The fowl, also, make a short stay at these same marshes on their return northward in the following spring; and the season of the goose hunt, as they here style it, is hailed with joy, and is one of the most plentiful periods of the year. But I have so much of interesting matter to relate to you that I would rather pass over such comparative unimportant details, and proceed at once to narrate the events of the journey.

The governor having provided them with a boat fit for the passage up the several rivers which lay in their way, and all things being now ready, the party, consisting of Captain Franklin, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Hood, and Mr. Back, and two English seamen, four Stromness boatmen, and one steersman, furnished by Governor Williams, in all eleven persons, embarked early in the month of September, on their long and perilous expedition under a salute of eight guns from the fort. Part of their stores they were unable to carry with them on account of their bulk; but these the governor promised to forward early in the spring.

The wind and tide failing at the distance of six miles above the factory, and the current being too rapid for using oars with advantage, the crew had to commence tracking or dragging the boat by a line, to which they were harnessed. This operation is extremely laborious in these rivers, the men being obliged to walk along the steep declivity of a high bank, and their progress being often impeded by fallen trees, which, having slipped from the verge of a thick wood above, hang over the face of the bank.

They got on at the rate of about two miles an hour; one half of the crew relieving the other half every hour. The river at some places was not more than three feet deep, and in no part deeper than nine; so that you may easily conceive the labour of tracking boats so heavily laden. After a voyage of forty-seven miles, however, which took them four days, they reached the Hayes River, which is formed by the junction of the Shammattawa and Steel Rivers.

Patrick. They must have been a little disheartened to get on so very slowly.

Capt. M. They would have considered themselves happy if the rest of their course had been as favourable as the commencement; for on the second day of their progress up the Steel River, Captain Franklin's boat, being overladen, could not keep up with three other boats belonging to the company, which had overtaken him, and thus lost the advantage of observing the route followed by the guide, who was in the foremost boat. Frequently they took a wrong channel, deceived by the various branches of the river; and twice the tow-line broke, and the boat was only prevented from going broadside down the stream, and breaking to pieces against the stones, by the officers and men leaping into the water, and holding her head to the current, until the line should be carried again to the shore. It may well be supposed how fatiguing and how tedious must have been their progress throughout the day, and yet their night quarters were what one might call far from comfortable. At sunset they always landed, kindled a fire, around which they ate their supper, and then laid them down to sleep on the bare ground, each man covered with a buffalo skin instead of a blanket.

The banks of the Steel River are still higher than those of the Hayes, and beautifully wooded with the dark evergreen spruce, the willow, and the purple-leaved dogwood trees.

Patrick. I don't think Captain Franklin's party could have enjoyed much of the beauty of the scene, when they had to wade through the river every now and then to push on their boat.

Capt. M. This was not the most laborious part of their work; for, on the day following, they encountered a ridge of rocks, which extended nearly across the stream, leaving no passages open but narrow, rocky channels, through which the party was obliged to drag the boat, as over dry ground. On the following day they reached one of the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company, called Rock-house. Here, by the advice of the most experienced of his seamen, Captain Franklin determined to lighten his own boat of a part of her cargo. This being accomplished, and many things left behind in the charge of the York Rock-house establishment, the boats again proceeded on their course; but the difficulty of getting them over the rapids still was great, and their progress in the whole course of a day often only a mile and a half.

It is not necessary to recount to you the toils of each day of this laborious journey, during the whole of their course to Cumberland-house, where they arrived on the 22d of October; the travelling distance by water being about six hundred and twenty miles. It is right, however, to mention that nothing could exceed the indefatigable zeal and patience of the Orkney boatmen during the hardships they underwent, frequently jumping into the water to lift the boats over the rocks, or to launch them over precipitous rocky banks which lay across their course, and even carry them across the little islands which intercepted their progress, although the water was frequently as cold as ice. On one occasion the force of the current carried the boat broadside down the stream; fortunately, however, it grounded against a rock high enough to prevent the current from oversetting it; and the crews of the Company's boats having come to their assistance, those who were in the boat that was adrift succeeded in throwing a rope to their comrades, with which they dragged the almost sinking vessel, stern foremost, up the stream. On another occasion, Captain Franklin himself narrowly escaped being drowned; while superintending the work of some of the men, on the bank of the river, his foot slipped from the edge of a rock on which he had been standing, and he fell into the water. "I saw him," said the person who related the circumstance to me, "hurried down the stream, without, as it appeared to me, the slightest chance of saving him; and I ran, like others, along the bank to keep him in sight, until at length we saw him catch fast hold of a willow bough which hung over the water's edge, and, with indescribable presence of mind, he kept fast hold until a rope was thrown to him, by the assistance of which he was brought safely to shore."

At Swampy Lake they found a depôt, or station, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company; it was, however, but little assistance they could receive there, since the only residents were one gentleman and his attendant, who were as badly off for the comforts of life as their visiters were. They, however, divided with them their store of buffalo meat, dried, and prepared in the way in which they keep it for winter store. In this state they call it pemmican; and you will say it is not the most delicate kind of food when I tell you that the flesh of this animal is dried, pounded, and mixed with melted fat; and what Captain Franklin now received was quite in a mouldy state; yet was it the best these two solitary individuals had for themselves.

William. Did they meet any tribes of Indians in their progress?

Capt. M. On the twenty-eighth they met with a few poor Indians, encamped in the neighbourhood; they were living in a state of great wretchedness; the measles and hooping cough, under which they were actually suffering at the time, having been communicated to them, we may suppose from York Factory. For these, as well as for all other kinds of disorders, they know but one kind of remedy,--the use of which they call the sweating-house. It is a kind of hut, made in the form and about the size of a baker's oven, consisting of boughs of trees, covered closely with skins of the moose deer, and having but one opening, the entrance of which is closed up after the sick person has entered--some hot stones are laid in the centre of the floor, with a few leaves thrown over them. In a short time, as may well be supposed, the poor creature within is in a strong perspiration, which is no sooner at its height than he rushes out, and, hastening to the nearest river, or stream of water, plunges in headlong. In some cases the sick persons recover even after so strange a remedy; but the consequences are oftentimes fatal, and in that case the survivors only shake their heads, saying, "His hour was come, his hour was come!"

Mr. Jones. I hope we may look forward to the day when the blessings of Christianity will be extended to these poor creatures; and religion will take the place of superstition among them. Hitherto, I suppose, their intercourse with Europeans has been entirely confined to what they hold with the several stations of the Hudson's Bay Company; but that part of the country will probably become every year better known, and a channel for improvement will, in time, open for its unhappy natives.

Capt. M. It is, indeed, greatly to be desired; for if these poor people could be instructed in Christianity, their minds would be supported and consoled in the midst of their hardships and privations: but this must be a work of time. However, I was informed that the governor of the company is taking the best way of introducing improvement among them. He is establishing schools in the different forts or factories, and thus endeavouring to raise them above those evil habits which are fostered by ignorance. If the grown Indians are too old to learn, at least we may hope that the rising generation will profit by the opportunities which are now afforded to them.

I pass rapidly over the different places at which they stopped in their progress. On the eighth of October, they sailed along the northern shore of Lake Winnipeg, as the Indians term it, in their own language, which means Muddy Lake. The Aurora Borealis shone out every night with great brilliancy, often exhibiting flashes of light, in which the colours of purple and yellow were predominant.

William. How large is Lake Winnipeg?

Capt. M. It is two hundred and seventeen miles long, from north to south, and one hundred miles broad, from east to west, and lies between 50° 30' and 54° 32' north latitude, and 95° 50' and 99° 30' west longitude.

From Lake Winnipeg they entered the Sackashawan River, and at length arrived at Cumberland-house, where they found another establishment of the Fur Company, and were soon as comfortably accommodated as their circumstances would admit of. This was a matter of no small importance, for they were directed to winter there, and to wait till the opening weather in the following year would permit them again to pursue their course.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY in November, the ice upon the lake was sufficiently firm to admit of sledges crossing it; and some milder weather having set in, the whole party in Cumberland-house began to prepare for this, the favourite exercise and amusement in these winter countries.

William. I am so glad you have come to some account of the sledges! In Hearne's journey they were drawn by the Indian women; but I hope that custom does not prevail where the party were now living.

Capt. M. No; the sledges in this part of America are drawn by dogs, of which six, eight, or perhaps ten, are attached to each sledge, and draw it along with surprising rapidity. It was a great enjoyment to Captain Franklin's party for a time to travel about in this way, for their ease and pleasure. The dogs seemed as well pleased as their masters, and set off in full glee.

In diversions of this kind, and in laying out the plan for his future proceedings, time passed rapidly with Captain Franklin. Christmas arrived, and the new year set in with great severity; but, at the same time, it told them that the season of delay was fast passing over. Their only visiters, during this winter, were the poor Crees Indians, who occasionally came in parties with squalid looks, and famished countenances, demanding relief.

William. Are they a powerful tribe?

Capt. M. They were formerly a very powerful and numerous nation, which ranged over a tract of country twenty thousand square miles in extent; but being now reduced to about five hundred souls, they have ceased to be held in any fear, and are, perhaps, the most inconsiderable of the whole Indian race. This change is entirely attributed to their intercourse with Europeans, and the great reduction of their numbers by sickness, and also by the use of spirituous liquors, which the traders, I am sorry to say, introduced among them.

Mr. Jones. Thus do we see the fatal effects of this pernicious vice of drinking are peculiar to no age or nation; from the labourer in our own fields to the poor Indian of North America, all suffer alike, and all alike become degraded and impoverished when they indulge in this propensity.

Capt. M. Did you ever see a drunkard in our own country, without his appearance at once testifying to his shame--his face bloated, his person thin, his limbs feeble, his dress neglected and dirty? Such is the Crees Indian, making allowance for the different costume. The dress of the male consists of a blanket thrown over the shoulders, a leathern shirt or jacket, and a piece of cloth tied around the middle. The women have, in addition, a long petticoat; and both sexes wear a kind of wide hose which, reaching from the ankle to the middle of the thigh, are suspended by strings from the girdle. Their shoes, or rather short boots, for they are tied around the ankle, are made of soft dressed moose-skins; and during the winter they wrap several pieces of blanket around their feet. In the winter season they suffer greatly from want of food, oftentimes fasting for three days successively, and sometimes actually expiring from hunger. When the deer have all fled to the southward, and the fish are bound up in the frozen rivers, they have no certain provision of food for nearly one half of the year. When the season of plenty sets in again, they eat their fill; but they have little foresight, and, in consequence, lay up no store for the time of scarcity.

Mr. Jones. It might be useful for the poorest in these countries to compare his own state and the comforts he possesses, or may possess by industry, with those enjoyed by these poor Indians.

Capt. M. I have no hesitation in saying, that the most distressed state of society in Great Britain, is comfort, ease, and security, compared with that of these people: and yet, degraded though they are, they have many good qualities: they are remarkably tender to their children, and will readily bear any kind of hardship to spare them pain or suffering. One poor man who came into Cumberland-house with his wife, carried a lifeless infant in his arms, which had died on the journey from want: he wept over it with the liveliest grief as he laid it down, exclaiming, "O, my poor child, my poor child!" Nor would he taste a morsel of food himself until he had given full vent to his tears.

Mr. Jones. I hope the party in Cumberland-house had been more provident than their neighbours, the Indians; for if not, I think such an addition as Captain Franklin and his companions would soon have brought on a famine among the household.

Capt. M. They had taken care to provide themselves better than you suppose; though this, as well as every thing else that man has to accomplish for himself in that country, can be attained only by extraordinary labour. Their supplies of meat, which was principally of the flesh of the moose deer and the buffalo, were brought to them on sledges, from a distance of forty and fifty miles, and fish from nearly the same distance, except what could be taken by nets in Pine Island Lake.

Patrick. I hope, cold as the weather was, they passed a pleasant Christmas.

Capt. M. Christmas, at home, is, indeed, a season of social enjoyment; but to our travellers it brought none of the usual pleasures, except those which they felt within their own breasts; for here were no public demonstrations of joy at the anniversary of a Saviour's birth, nor any thing to mark even the cheerful festivities of the day, except that, from the kindness of the governor, it was made a day of rest and pleasure to all persons in his employment; and even the men who had been despatched to different parts of the country in search of provisions, and to collect furs, returned to the fort on the occasion, and were treated to a substantial dinner, and a dance in the evening. Among our delicacies at their table that day, was a beaver, which had been killed for the occasion, and of which the flesh was found very palatable.

During the long and needful rest which Captain Franklin enjoyed at Cumberland-house, he was extremely active in procuring such information as the people around could give him; and the result induced him to resolve on proceeding himself, without more delay, to the great Slave Lake, taking Mr. Back and Hepburn with him, and leaving Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood to bring up the baggage in the spring. On the 18th of January, 1820, they, therefore, set out, each carrying a blanket, a hatchet, a flint, steel, and tinder, besides a fur cloak with a hood to wear under his fur cap. They had two sledges, and two carioles, which latter is a sledge with a covering of leather affixed, so as to embrace the lower part of the body. They wore leather trowsers, which closed around the moccasins, or Indian shoes, so as to keep out the snow. The Hudson's Bay Company provided the dogs which were necessary to draw the sledges, and proper person to drive them. Three dogs were attached to each sledge, which, when filled with the provisions, &c., for fifteen days, was rather more than three hundred pounds' weight, and with this the dogs are generally able to proceed about fifteen miles a day.

Patrick. Do they travel swiftly?

Capt. M. When the snow is hard, or the track well trodden, their rate of going is about two miles and a half per hour.

Mr. Jones. It is surprising that these dogs should be equal to such a draught!

Capt. M. Providence seems to have admirably adapted these animals for the life they lead and the uses they are put to. They bear long fasting and scanty meals, and, at the end of each day's journey, will burrow for themselves a resting place in the snow, where they sleep soundly till morning, lying generally together, and thus giving to and receiving warmth from each other.

There was, however, another part of the equipment that deserves particular mention; I mean the snow-shoes, which are as necessary in a winter journey as a sledge, the traveller always making use of them to help him in walking, where the difficulty of the ground renders it impossible for the dogs to do more than draw the baggage.

Patrick. Will you have the kindness to describe these snow-shoes?

Capt. M. You must not suppose that they resemble the neat leather shoes which we are accustomed to wear at home. They are made of two light bars of wood, fastened together at each end, the front turning up, and the back ending in a point; the spaces between the outside frame are filled with fine netting, formed of strips of leather down the whole length of the shoe, except where the feet go in. The netting is there close and strong, and the foot is attached to the main bar by straps passing around the heel, but only fixing the toes so that the heel rises after each step, and the tail of the shoe is dragged along the snow. The motion of walking in them is quite natural, for one is level with the snow when the edge of the other is passing over it.

William. Pray what may be the size of these shoes?

Capt. M. The length of a snow-shoe is from four to six feet, and the breadth one foot and a half, or one foot and three quarters, according to the size of the wearer--its weight is about two pounds when unclogged with snow; and so useful are they found in helping the walker's progress, that an active hunter will easily, in spring, when there is a crust on the surface of the snow, run down a moose or red deer.

All things being now ready, and the sledges laden, the party set out in high spirits, Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood accompanying them to a short distance before they bade them farewell. Soon after they had parted, Mr. Mackenzie, one of the Hudson's Bay Company, joined them, on his way to Isle-a-la-Crosse, which lay in their route, and, he having four sledges under his charge, the whole party formed a long train, and moved forward in a file following the track of the guide, who preceded the foremost dogs.

Each night they encamped, as they termed it, though their best accommodation was procured by "flooring a hut;" that is, strewing some chosen spot on the river bank, which they had previously cleared of snow, with pine branches, over which the party spread their blankets and cloaks. On this bed they lay down in the open air, and slept soundly, although the wolves were often heard howling at a short distance from them. In the centre they kindled a wood fire, which not only gave them warmth, but served to keep off these beasts of prey, while the party rested their weary frames, and acquired strength for the fatigues of the following day.

William. I should think the pain and difficulty of travelling in snow-shoes must be very great to those who are not accustomed to wear them.

Capt. M. Mr. Hood describes the sufferings they cause, in very strong language. He says "the miseries endured during the first journey of this nature are so great, that nothing could induce the sufferer to undertake a second till the effects have been removed by rest. He feels his whole frame affected by it: he drags a galling weight at his feet, and his steps are marked with his blood. When he rises from sleep, his body seems dead, till he has gone some distance, when the intolerable pain returns, and perhaps the distress is increased by the little sympathy he receives from the more experienced companions of his journey, who travel on as fast as they can, regardless of the pain of the sufferer.

On the 25th of January they passed the remains of two red deer, lying at the foot of some perpendicular cliffs, from the top of which they had probably been forced by the wolves. Indeed, that such was the case, Dr. Richardson had on a subsequent occasion clear proof. He had gone to the summit of a hill on one occasion, about midnight, and had remained for some minutes contemplating the objects around, which there was just light enough to discern, when he was roused by an indistinct noise behind him, and, on looking around, perceived that nine white wolves had ranged themselves in the form of a crescent, and were advancing apparently with the design of driving him over the brow of the hill. On his rising up, however, they halted; and when he advanced they made way for him.

Patrick. Is it not more likely that the wolves would devour the deer, while they had them on the hill, than lose them by driving them over the rocks?

Capt. M. The wolves are inferior in speed to the deer, and could not catch them in chase; so that when they see a herd browzing on the side of a hill, they assemble in great numbers to the attack, regularly form themselves into a crescent, and creep slowly toward the herd, so as not to alarm them much at first; but when they perceive that they have fairly hemmed in their prey, and cut off their retreat across the plain, they move more quickly, and with loud yells urge them to flight by the only open way, which is toward the precipice; as if they knew that when once the herd is at full speed, it is easily driven over the cliff, the rearmost urging on those that are before. The wolves then descend at their leisure, and feast on the mangled carcasses.

The weather was severe, and their supply of provisions becoming scanty, their sufferings were oftentimes more than we, at our comfortable fireside, can well form an idea of. A cold north-west wind blew in their faces, and they were compelled to walk as quickly as they could with their heavy shoes, and to keep constantly rubbing the exposed parts of the skin to prevent their being frost-bitten; the tea froze in their tin pots, before they could drink it; and their blankets, when they arose in the morning, oftentimes felt stiff and heavy, from the weight of snow which had fallen on them during the night. At length, on the 31st of January, they reached their destination, the establishment at Carlton-house, and dined heartily upon steaks of buffalo meat, the last of the men's provisions having been exhausted the preceding day, and the dogs having had, for some days, no other food than a little burned leather.

The circular letter with which Captain Franklin had been furnished previous to his leaving England, by the agent at Hudson's Bay, was a ready introduction for him at the several trading stations; if, indeed, any were necessary to a traveller whose peculiar circumstances gave him a claim on the hospitality of all who could, in any way, farther his plans or lighten his toils. The gentleman in charge of the post at Carlton-house received him with every mark of kindness, and was prepared by previous communication with some of the agents of the company to contribute every assistance in his power to forward the advance of the expedition to the Athabasca territory.

They had thus followed the Saskatchawan River nearly to its source, and were in lat. 52° 50' north, and long. 106° 12' west. The course that now lay before them was in a direction nearly due north, and was to lead them, for the most part, along the Athabasca River, to the lake of the same name, on the north side of which stands Fort Chipewyan, where Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood were by appointment to join them.

The tribe of Indians who inhabit the plains in the vicinity of Carlton-house are usually known by the name of the Stone Indians; and, as parties of them paid almost daily visits to the house, they afforded no small amusement to the strangers. By them is furnished almost all the provision consumed by the establishment: this they bring for sale in the form of dried meat, and fat, which is then made into pemmican, and forms the principal article of food, not only for those residing at the station-house, but being more portable than any other kind of provision, furnishes the principal store of those who go out on the expedition in quest of furs. The only articles of European commerce they demand, in return for the meat they furnish, are tobacco, knives, ammunition, and occasionally, some beads, but more frequently buttons, which they string to their hair as ornaments.

Their appearance is more pleasing than that of the Cree Indians; their figures are tall, above the middle size, and their limbs are well proportioned; their dress consists of a vest and trowsers of leather, fitted to the body, over which is worn a cloak of buffalo skin; they rub their leather dresses with a kind of white clay, like our whiting, which makes them look clean and white, contrasted with the black fur of the cloak; their quiver hangs behind them, and in their hand is carried the bow, with an arrow always ready for attack or defence: they also carry some tobacco, with a calumet or pipe, and a bag containing materials for making a fire, ornamented with porcupines' quills: thus equipped, the Stone Indian bears himself with an air of independence. Among them, however, the greatest proportion of labour in their domestic affairs generally falls on the women. Captain Franklin occasionally saw them employed in dressing skins, conveying wood, water, and provisions: when they have to fetch these, however, from a distance, they make use of their dogs to assist in carrying their burdens, which they do by having two long poles fastened on either side of the neck by a collar; the other ends of the poles trail on the ground, and are kept at a proper distance by a hoop, which is lashed between them immediately behind the dog's tail, and the hoop is covered with network, upon which the burden is placed.

Having recovered from the fatigue of their late expedition, and from the swellings and pains of the feet occasioned by the snow shoes, preparations were made for resuming their journey; and the weather being now much improved, they left Carlton-house on the morning of the 9th of February, for the Isle-a-la-Crosse and Fort Chipewyan, which last was to be the next halting-place on their journey. The sledges were sent off after breakfast; but Captain Franklin and Mr. Back remained till the afternoon, the agent at Carlton-house having kindly offered them his horses to convey them to the first encampment. On overtaking their party, they found them just engaged in "flooring a hut," under shelter of a few poplars. The dogs had been so much fatigued in wading through the very deep snow with their burdens, which were ninety pounds' weight on each, that they could get no farther that day. Much snow fell the same night, which increased the difficulties of their route.

On the 12th, the remains of an Indian hut were found in a deep glen, and close to it was placed a pile of wood, which was supposed to cover a store of provisions: on examining it, however, they found, to their surprise, the body of a female, clothed in leather, which appeared to have been recently placed there. Her former garments, the materials for making a fire, a fishing line, a hatchet, and a bark dish, were laid beside the corpse. You may suppose they carefully replaced the wood, honouring that principle which is found among the wandering tribes of America, as well as among the most enlightened,--that of marking out a spot for the poor remains of mortality, where they may be secure from disturbance or indignity.

It is needless to detail more minutely their route. They passed along the banks of Beaver River, crossed swamps and marshes, pursued their way across many lakes, which were covered with a thick crust of ice, as firm as the land. On the evening of the 23rd of February, they traversed the Isle-a-la-Crosse Lake; and, on the 26th of March, had the pleasure of arriving in health and safety at Fort Chipewyan, where they were kindly and hospitably received by the resident agent; having accomplished a journey of eight hundred and fifty seven miles from Cumberland-house, which, added to the preceding journey from York Factory, made the whole distance travelled over one thousand five hundred and forty-seven miles.

CHAPTER V.

AT Chipewyan Captain Franklin and his party remained until the middle of July,-- awaiting, with great anxiety, the arrival of Mr. Hood and Dr. Richardson, which did not take place until the 13th of that month. Late as the season was, however, they had made a very expeditious journey from Cumberland-house, bringing with them two canoes, and all the stores they could procure from the different stations as they passed.

Before Captain Franklin set out, he selected the party which was to accompany the expedition; and fortunately there was no difficulty in doing so, as Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood had taken the very judicious precaution of bringing up ten men from Cumberland-house, who were engaged to proceed, if their services were required. They were Canadians, accustomed to the country; and having shown much activity and zeal on their recent passage, they were retained in the place of others who began to be dissatisfied, and wished for their discharge. When the number was thus completed which Captain Franklin had been recommended by the traders to take, as a protection against the Esquimaux, he had sixteen Canadian voyagers, and the worthy John Hepburn; besides whom he was to receive two interpreters at the Great Slave Lake--in all twenty-one persons, with a Chipewyan woman.

Mr. Jones. What was found to be the latitude and longitude of Fort Chipewyan?

Capt. M. By several observations made during his residence there, it was determined to be lat. 58° 42' north, and west long. 111° 18'.

Early on the morning of the 19th of July, 1820, all preparations being made, they embarked in three canoes, their course being now almost uninterruptedly by water; the Slave River reaching from the Athabasca Lake to the Slave Lake, into which it discharges itself by two considerable branches. So small was the stock of provisions which they had been able to procure at Fort Chipewyan, that it did not amount to more than one day's consumption, exclusive of a small supply of flour, preserved meats, arrow-root, and portable soup. The Canadians, however, were in high spirits, and left the fort chanting one of their liveliest boat-songs.

The only interruption they experienced in their course down the Slave River was the several long portages, where, as the name implies, they were obliged to unload the boats, and carry every article to the other side of the rapid. With fish from the river, and occasional supplies of reindeer flesh from parties of Indians, who visited them from time to time, their stock of provisions held out better than they had at first apprehended.

Having descended the Slave River, and traversed Slave Lake, they made a short stay at Fort Providence, one of the company's stations on the northern shore of the lake; and, being joined by Mr. Wenzel, one of the agents residing there, whom they engaged to accompany them, they resumed their course; their party now consisted of twenty-eight persons, including the wives of three of the boatmen, who were brought for the purpose of making shoes and clothes for the men.

On the 3d of August they entered upon the Yellow Knife River, upon the banks of which they found a number of Indian hunters encamped, with their families, and their chief, Akaitcho. This party was quickly in motion, on the arrival of the strangers, and they were soon surrounded by a fleet of seventeen Indian canoes, several of which were managed by the women, who, however, proved very noisy companions; for they quarrelled frequently, and the clamour was not at all diminished whenever the husbands attempted to settle the difference by a few blows of the paddle.

Here the travellers held their first conference with the Indians, who were to assist them in their expedition; and, accordingly, they dressed themselves in their uniforms, as they were told the Indians thought much of appearances. At the appointed time, the Indians approached in regular order; and, on landing, the chief, whose name was Akaitcho, or Big Foot, marched up with a very grave air, till he reached the place where the officers were. After smoking his pipe, which he did with much solemnity, and drinking a glass of spirits and water, of which he also handed a glass to each of his followers, he began his harangue: "He rejoiced to see such great chiefs in his land; his tribe were poor, but they loved white men; he had heard that a great medical chief was among them, who could restore the dead to life, at which he had greatly rejoiced, hoping again to see his departed relatives; Mr. Wenzel, however, had informed him of his mistake, and he felt as if his friends were a second time torn from him; he would gladly, notwithstanding his disappointment, assist them; and he therefore wished to know the object of the expedition."

Captain Franklin answered, that he and his companions were come from the greatest chief in the world, (meaning the king of England,) who loved peace, and was the father of the trading companies in the country; and that hearing his Indian children in the north were in want of merchandise, in consequence of the distance by land, he had sent some people to find out a nearer way by sea, by which great ships could more readily bring a large supply to their country; that he required his assistance as a guide; and that, for his service, he should be rewarded with cloth, ammunition, and tobacco.

Akaitcho then gave all the information he possessed respecting the country; and having promised all the aid he could give, Captain Franklin, besides many other presents, put a medal around his neck, with which he was highly pleased, though he thought it becoming his dignity to look very grave. It is useful here to remark that, to many inquiries which were made by Akaitcho, the plain and simple truth always dictated the answers of Captain Franklin, not only because he detested falsehood, as every good man does, but because these northern nations, if they ever detect an untruth in what is said to them, make it the unceasing subject of their reproach, and withhold their confidence for ever after.

Mr. Jones. That is, indeed, an instruction to many who call themselves Christians!

Capt. M. A dance in the evening concluded this amicable introduction, when the Indians favoured the travellers with a sight of the celebrated dance of the Dog-rib tribe. To perform this, they ranged themselves in a circle, and with their legs widely separated, jumped all together sideway, with their bodies bent, and a "tsa" at the end of each jump.

Fort Providence, where this conference took place, is situated in lat. 62° 17' north, and long. 114° 9' west. It is the last establishment of the Hudson's Bay traders; but the North West Company have two beyond it, on the Mackenzie River.

It may be here useful to give the names of the party who composed the expedition, on its departure from Fort Providence.

John Franklin, Commander; John Richardson, Surgeon, R. N.; George Back, and Robert Hood, Midshipmen; Frederick Wentzel, clerk to the North-West Company; John Hepburn, English seaman.

Joseph Peltier, Matthew Pelonquin, Solomon Belanger, Joseph Bennoit, Joseph Gagne, Pierre Dumas, Joseph Forcier, Francoise Samandre, Gabriel Beaupoulant, Vincenza Fontano, Registe Vaillant, Jean Baptist Parent, Jean Baptiste Belanger, Jean Baptiste Belleau, Emanuel Cournoyée, Michel Teroahaute, an Iroquois, Canadian voyagers. Pierre St. Germain, Jean Baptist Adam, interpreters.

When Captain Franklin had selected from this tribe a few who engaged to accompany the expedition to Coppermine River, he resumed his journey, having obtained from Akaitcho a small canoe, to carry the three women.

Having ascended a very strong current, they now arrived at a range of three steep cascades, where they had to make a portage of one thousand three hundred yards, over a rocky bottom, which received the name of Bowstring Portage, from its shape.

The Indians had greatly the advantage over the rest of the party in this operation; the men carried the small canoes; the women and their children carried the clothes and provisions, and, at the end of the portage, were ready to embark; while it was necessary for the men belonging to the other boats to return four times before they could transport all their cargo.

The whole of their course down this river was marked only by a tedious succession of cascades and portages. Provisions became scanty, the river afforded but little fish, and the Indian hunters were despatched in quest of reindeer; but with strict injunctions to bring, without delay, whatever they could procure. The Canadians, however, murmured so much at the hardships they had to bear, (which, indeed, were great,) and at the scarcity of provisions, each requiring no less than eight pounds of solid food a day, that Captain Franklin was obliged to order that, if any of them dared to stop, he should be instantly punished. In consequence of this, they behaved tolerably for a time, and every supply of deer brought in by the hunters revived their spirits.

In this way they accomplished their journey from Fort Chipewyan to a spot where Akaitcho strenuously advised that the party should pass the winter, the distance they had travelled being five hundred and fifty-three miles. It was Sunday, the 20th of August, when they arrived; and their first act was to offer their united thanksgivings to the Almighty, for his goodness in having brought them thus far on their journey--a duty which they never neglected, when stationary, on the Sabbath day.

Captain Franklin, however, was desirous of proceeding without delay to the Coppermine River; and you may conceive his disappointment, when Akaitcho refused to accompany him any farther till the following spring: his reasons for this were, that the leaves were falling, the geese were passing to the southward, and every thing indicated that winter was setting in.

William. But this, surely, was a departure from his agreement, which I should not have expected from such a lover of truth and fair dealing.

Capt. M. Captain Franklin reproached him with this; and his defence was certainly plausible; perhaps we should say just. He said that every agreement was made upon certain conditions, expressed or implied: that when he made it, he thought the expedition would be able to keep up with his party, and thus they might easily have reached their destination before the winter; but he had been unacquainted with their slow mode of travelling, and never intended to expose himself and his followers to the rigours of a winter journey. In consequence of this, Captain Franklin was obliged to give up his intended journey for the winter, and to content himself with sending Mr. Back and Mr. Hood, with a party of Canadians, in a light canoe, to ascertain the distance and size of the Coppermine River. The spot where they were was well calculated for a winter encampment, being sheltered and covered with pines, between thirty and forty feet high. The position of the place was latitude 64° 15' north, and longitude 113° 2' west; and Captain Franklin gave it the name of Fort Enterprise.

A party of the Canadians having been appointed to cut down wood sufficient for erecting a dwelling house and store house, and for such other purposes as their winter encampment might require, and the month of September having set in cold and bleak, they began to hasten their arrangements for their winter residence. Akaitcho and his Indians bade them all farewell, as soon as the canoes started for the Coppermine River, except two of the hunters, who remained to kill deer for the encamped party, and one old man, named Keskarrah, and his family, who did not wish to leave them.

Not many days after the departure of Mr. Back and Mr. Hood, Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson determined on taking a pedestrian excursion to the Coppermine River, leaving Mr. Wentzel in charge of the men, and to superintend the buildings. They took with them Keskarrah, who acted as guide, and two men, who carried their blankets, cooking vessels, hatchets, and a small supply of dried meat; and, having safely reached the Coppermine River, after a very fatiguing journey, had the happiness of finding it in latitude 65° 9' north, and west longitude 112° 57'. The main channel was deep, its banks high and rocky, and the valleys on its borders interspersed with clusters of spruce firs. Indeed their journey, as well as that of Mr. Back and Mr. Hood, satisfied them that, early in spring, they would find no difficulty in resuming their enterprise.

By this time their dwelling house was almost completed, for it did not require so much time for its erection as one of our modern residences: logs of wood supplied the place of brick and mortar, and skins of parchment made from deerskin answered the purpose of glass for the windows. The whole building was fifty feet in length, and twenty-four in width, and was divided into a hall, three bed-rooms, and a kitchen; the floor was laid with planks, rudely squared with a hatchet; and the walls and roof were plastered with clay, which, from the coldness of the weather, required to be tempered before the fire with hot water, but froze as it was daubed on, and afterward cracked, and freely admitted every cold blast of wind. A cheerful fire, however, made them enter upon their residence with renewed spirits, seating themselves on the floor, and using the same for a table by day, and for a bed by night, until the skill of their carpenters had produced some articles of furniture to supply its place. Nothing could exceed the alacrity and diligence with which the men pursued their work, nor the good humour of those who were obliged to put up with such uncomfortable accommodation. Every day, however, brought some improvement to their circumstances, as the labour of their workmen added a chair, a table, or a bedstead to the comforts of their establishment. The principal tool which an Indian, or a Canadian, makes use of, in the carpenter's work, is a small crooked knife, generally made of an old file, bent and tempered by heat, and which serves him for plane, for chisel, and for auger; with it the snow shoes and canoe timbers are fashioned, the deals of their sledges are reduced to their requisite thinness and polish, and their wooden bowls and spoons are hollowed out.

On the 7th of October a warmer sun than they had of late experienced melted the light snow and hoar frost which lay on the moss and herbage of the adjoining plains, and rendered them so tender as to attract great herds of reindeer to pasture there. It was a curious and an interesting sight to see upward of two thousand of these animals browzing together, formed into herds of different numbers, according as their fears or accident induced them to join or separate. Their visit, however, was of short duration, for a sharp frost set in, and they soon began to move to more southern and better sheltered pastures; but not until the good people of Fort Enterprise had secured, in their principal storehouse, the carcasses of one hundred deer, together with one thousand pounds' weight of suet and dried meat; and had, moreover, eighty deer stowed up at various distances from the house.

William. Do you mean that they had them shut up in houses, as we put pigs in a pig-sty?

Patrick. That could not be, for they had not houses to put them into.

Capt. M. No, my boys, these hundred deer were slaughtered, and, for want of a sufficiently commodious storehouse, it was necessary to adopt the plan used by the Indians themselves; this is what they call putting their meat en cache, laying it on the ground, and completely covering it with heaps of stones, to secure it against being carried off by wolves. The precaution, however, is not always sufficient; for these animals scent out their prey, and, working their way underneath the pile, take possession of the hidden treasure.

Toward the end of this month the men had completed the building of an additional dwelling house, appropriated for themselves, and took their abode in it: it was thirty-four feet long, and eighteen feet wide, was divided into two apartments, and stood at right angles to the officers' dwelling house, and facing the store house--the three buildings forming nearly three sides of a square.

At this time Mr. Back undertook to set out on an expedition to Fort Providence in quest of some stores, which were to have been forwarded to them before now from Cumberland-house, and of which they stood much in need: their ammunition was nearly exhausted, as was also their store of tobacco, which was an indispensable requisite, not only for the Canadians, who use it largely, and had stipulated for it in their engagement, but also a means of preserving the friendship of the Indians. Blankets, cloth, and iron work were scarcely less indispensable, to equip the men for the journey next season. Mr. Wentzel accompanied Mr. Back, as did also two of the men, and two Indians and their wives, setting out on the 18th of October. In less than ten days after their departure, Akaitcho and his party unexpectedly returned to Fort Enterprise, and quietly took up their residence there, as if they were sure of a welcome, although such an addition to the number of persons to be daily provided for made no small havoc, even in their stores of deer and dried meat; and Captain Franklin had no ammunition to distribute to them, to enable them to go on and hunt for themselves.

The weather was now so cold that the fish froze as they were taking them out of the nets, and in a short time became a solid mass of ice, which required a blow or two of the hatchet to split open; and the ice on the lake was two feet in thickness. Their apprehensions, however, for the safety of the party who had left them, were happily relieved by the return of one of the men, bearing the welcome news that they had arrived safely at their destination, after a fatiguing and perilous journey, for some of the last days of which they had been almost totally destitute of provisions. The man's appearance bore ample testimony to the hardships he related: his frame was emaciated, his hair matted with snow, and he was so incrusted with ice, from head to foot, as scarcely to be recognised.

During the whole of the month of December, the intense cold of the weather almost surpassed description. The trees, frozen to the very centre, became as hard as pillars of stone; the officers' watches could only be kept going while under their pillows at night. On the 21st, the shortest day, the sun, at half-past eleven, arose over the small ridge of hills opposite to the house, and at half-past twelve he set; so that he gave but little warmth or light.

At such a season, the whole party were glad to betake themselves to every kind of occupation or amusement within reach; yet time never hung heavily on their hands. With reindeer fat and strips of cotton shirts the men manufactured very tolerable candles; white soap was made from wood ashes, fat, and salt, by Hepburn, who acquired much skill in this manufacture.

The Sabbath was always strictly observed as a day of rest and devotion; and even the men whose office it was to provide wood for fuel were required to bring in on Saturday sufficient for the succeeding day.

Thus passed their winter. In the month of February it was still as cold as December; nor did the weather improve until the succeeding month, at which time they had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Back and his companions return in safety--protected by an Almighty power through difficulties and dangers unprecedented.

William. A journey on foot, over such a tract of country, during that severe winter, (1819-20,) must, indeed have been attended with great difficulties.

Capt. M. They were such as you may form an idea of from what has been already mentioned: it suffices to say that, in the five months during which they were absent, they had travelled one thousand one hundred and four miles in snow-shoes, sometimes passed two or three days without tasting food, and at night slept in the woods, without any other covering than a blanket and deerskin, the cold being so intense as to freeze even quicksilver. They brought, however, the stores which were wanted, and without which their farther progress would have been impossible. Two Esquimaux interpreters accompanied them, whose Indian names signified the Belly and the Ear; the English names by which they were known, were Augustus and Junius. Jean Belleau had been dismissed by Mr. Back, according to Captain Franklin's directions, and at his own request. Indeed, it was rather an advantage to the party to be free from the charge of this man, as he had been found too weak to perform the duty of a bowman, which he had undertaken.

CHAPTER VI.

AS spring advanced, the weather improved--the commencement of April was fine, and they began to look forward to the near approach of their journey northward. Their meals, by this time, had become scanty, and they were even frequently restricted to one in the day. Occasionally a deer was killed, perhaps at a distance of many miles. One of their guides fetched them one from a distance of forty-five miles on a dog-sledge; and old Keskarrah was indefatigable in his exertions to procure fish, or any other kind of provision that offered itself. His wife and daughter remained constantly at the winter quarters; the latter was named Green Stockings, and was considered a beauty in her own nation. It is a curious and amusing fact, that her mother for a long time refused to let Mr. Hood take her likeness, afraid, she said, lest the great chief in England, finding her so handsome, should send for her to make her his wife.

The month of May brought around again that pleasant sensation of warm weather to which they had been so long strangers: the deer were seen advancing from the southward; flocks of gulls, ducks, and geese, likewise, made their appearance; and even, now and then, a little robin paid them a visit. But the most extraordinary change they experienced was, that the sun, which in the winter scarcely shone on them for above three hours, now sank so short a time below the horizon that there was more light at midnight than they previously enjoyed in midwinter, except at noon.

Akaitcho, who had absented himself for a short time, sent two of his hunters to inform Captain Franklin that he meant to return to him immediately, and to request he might be received in state. As it was very essential to keep this chief in good humour, he was promised that all due respect should be paid to him; and his ambassadors were presented with some tobacco, vermilion to paint their faces, a comb, and a looking-glass. When the chief himself afterward arrived, all the old men of his party had their faces painted on the right cheek, and all the young upon the left.

The snow was now fast melting away, the mosses were beginning to vegetate, and the sap had thawed in the pine trees. Akaitcho, however, again showed an indisposition to accompany the expedition; but it soon appeared that he only wished to increase his demand of recompense, and to gratify his avarice by extorting as much as possible from the officers in the way of gifts. The first detachment of the party was to set out on the 4th of June, headed by Dr. Richardson, who was in great request before his departure, making up little packages of medicine for the leader, and for all the minor chiefs, to whom he had been physician-general during the whole winter; and it is a remarkable fact, that at the season when they generally lost many of their people, not one had died of the whole party who had frequented Fort Enterprise.

When all was packed up at the fort, and Akaitcho saw there was no chance of getting any more presents, he said, good-humouredly, "Well, now I see you have no more to give, and therefore I shall try to procure you provisions, and not trouble you any more." He promised, likewise, when he should return, to deposite a large store of them at Fort Enterprise, to be ready when Captain Franklin should reach it on his way back. In one of the rooms Captain Franklin left his journal and other papers; and, after blocking up the room, he painted on the door, by Mr. Wentzel's advice, a figure of a man holding a dagger, to deter the Indians from breaking it open; then, taking leave of his cheerless residence, where he had now been for ten months, he and his party set out, expecting to join Dr. Richardson, who had preceded him a few days. The commencement of their journey proved much more severe than they had apprehended, a succession of lakes which they had to traverse being so completely frozen that they had no alternative but to drag their burdens across them.

At Point Lake they met with Dr. Richardson's party, who had encamped there; and as the ice on this lake was six or seven feet in thickness, no other mode of proceeding remained to them, but to traverse it as they had the preceding ones. They all now travelled together. The three canoes were mounted on sledges, and nine men were appointed to conduct them, having the assistance of two dogs to each sledge; the stores and provisions being equally distributed among the rest of the party. They proceeded, according to the direction of their guide, to the west end of the lake, expecting there to find the entrance to the Coppermine River; but in vain did they seek for it. On their arrival there, no opening, no channel appeared. For some time, Captain Franklin apprehended that they were on the wrong track; the guide appeared confused, and evidently was at fault; but after a little, asking leave to look out from the summit of a high hill near them, he recognised a remarkable rock on the north-east of the lake, called by the Indians the Rook's Nest, and recollected that the river ran at its base. Their course was immediately changed to that direction, though the traverse was more dangerous than the preceding part of their journey had been, as the ice cracked under their feet at every step. They landed at the first point they could approach; but, having found an open channel close to the shore, they were obliged to ferry the goods across on pieces of ice. Again disappointed in finding the opening to the river, the guide ascended a neighbouring hill for the purpose of gaining a better view. On his return he was enabled to conduct them to the precise spot where the river and the lake unite; and having embarked, they descended two strong rapids, at the foot of which they found the Coppermine River about two hundred yards wide, and ten feet deep: the scenery of its banks was very rich and beautiful, having well wooded hills shelving to the water side. Here and there the progress of the travellers was stopped by drifted ice, over which they had to drag their canoes. They occasionally, however, encamped upon the shores, where they found the weather sunny and pleasant, and several plants in flower. A herd of buffaloes making its appearance, eight of them were killed by the Indians on shore, which proved a very acceptable supply, as also did some pemmican, which they received from a party of Indians they met with, headed by a Copper chief called "The Hook:" he was brother to Akaitcho; and finding they were in want of provisions, he ordered his people to give up all the meat they had, saying, "We can live on fish until more is procured." In return for this act of generosity, they received such presents as Captain Franklin could dispense among them. This chief also promised to deposite provisions in various places during the summer, both on the Coppermine River and on the Coppermine Mountains, for the use of the party in case they should be able to put in practice their present project, of returning by the same route which they were now pursuing; he also engaged to remain until November, on the east side of Bear Lake, at that spot where it approaches nearest to Coppermine River, from whence there is a communication by a chain of lakes and portages.

William. I suppose they were to be well rewarded for this kindness.

Capt. M. Captain Franklin promised to pay them liberally, whether he returned that way or not, by orders on the agents, at Fort Providence. Observations were here taken to ascertain their position, and the result was, latitude 66° 45' north; longitude 115° 42' west.

On the 7th they embarked again in their canoes, and proceeded down the river to the sea; but it is not necessary to detail their course, since it was unmarked by any incident worth relating. The river now became a succession of rapids; but, as the water was deep, they passed through them without being obliged to disembark or unload any part of the cargoes. One of these rapids was peculiarly dangerous, where the river appeared to have cut its narrow crooked channel through a hill between five and six hundred feet high. The body of water pent up within this narrow chasm dashed furiously around the projecting rocky cliffs which confined it at each side, and discharged itself at the northern extremity in a sheet of foam. The canoes, however, passed this, which was called Rocky Defile Rapid, without accident, mercifully preserved through dangers which appalled the Indians, who still accompanied them. On disembarking to take in a store of meat, which the hunters had provided, Captain Franklin ordered the party to disperse themselves over the Copper Mountains in search of native copper, agreeably to his instructions. After nine hours' walk, however, they returned with very few pieces of the ore, quite satisfied that it was not in sufficient plenty to make the collecting of it an object of commercial speculation; and also, that the impracticability of sailing up the river from the sea, and the want of wood, would always prevent any mercantile company from forming an establishment in the neighbourhood.

The river now became contracted to the breadth of one hundred and fifty yards; and here the rapids were most agitated: large masses of ice also, twelve feet thick, were still adhering to many parts of the bank, showing the slow departure of winter from this inhospitable land--the earth around, however, was rich with vegetation. The party was now arrived at the point where the Esquimaux have invariably been found; and now more caution was used in proceeding, Captain Franklin not being certain whether the massacre, at which Hearne was present, might not have made them hostile to strangers in general. To open a communication, Augustus and Junius were sent forward, furnished with beads, looking glasses, and other articles, as presents for their countrymen; and the Indians, as well as the Canadians, were directed to keep in the rear, lest the appearance of so many persons should scare the Esquimaux, and destroy any hope of friendly intercourse with them. After two days Junius returned with information, that he and Augustus had met a party of the natives encamped, but had not yet been able to free them from the alarm they felt at the approach of strangers. It was a satisfaction to learn that, though the language differed in some respects, the two parties had understood each other perfectly well.

Mr. Jones. I hope they were able to establish a friendly intercourse with the Esquimaux; the success of the expedition appears to me to depend on it.

Capt. M. All their efforts unfortunately proved unavailing. At one time Augustus, who showed great intelligence, had nearly succeeded in calming their apprehensions, when the sudden and incautious appearance of the Canadians put the whole party to flight; and though subsequently they came unawares upon another party, and actually overtook one of their number, named Terregannouch, or White Fox, whose apprehensions they succeeded in removing by kindness and by several presents, they never after were able to open a conference with them.

Patrick. Did they see the place where the poor Esquimaux were surprised and slaughtered by the Chipewyans?

Capt. M. Yes; they found the spot, and it is curious, that it was strewed with human bones, and that several of the skulls bore the marks of violence. Captain Franklin, therefore, preserved the name of Bloody Fall, which Hearne had given to it, though he ascertained its position to be different by 4° 30' of latitude, and 4° 15' of longitude, from that which he had laid down, namely, latitude 67° 42', and longitude 115° 49' west.

Mr. C. I remember that Mr. Hearne had no instruments; so that his error in reckoning is not to be wondered at. The rapid is a sort of shelving cascade, about three hundred yards in length, having a descent of fifteen feet.

William. Of course, they at length were gratified by a sight of the sea?

Capt. M. On the evening of the 15th of July, Dr. Richardson ascended a lofty hill, and obtained the first view of the Arctic Ocean. It appeared to be covered with ice. A large promontory, which was named Cape Hearne, bore north-east. It was near midnight, and the sun set while he remained; but before he had reached the tents, on his return, its rising rays again gilded the tops of the hills.

On the 18th of July, the Indians left them, solemnly promising to lodge a store of provisions at Fort Enterprise for the return of the party, and also to leave as much meat as they could in certain situations on the Coppermine River. After their departure, Captain Franklin proceeded with his party toward the sea, which was about nine miles below the Bloody Fall. At ten A. M. they pitched their tents on the western bank, at its junction with the sea. The mouth was here about a mile wide, but very shallow, being barred nearly across by sandbanks. Several islands were visible to seaward, and indeed filled the horizon in many points of the compass; the only open space being from north by east to north-east by north. Toward the east the land was like a chain of islands, the ice apparently surrounding them in a compact body, leaving a channel between its edges and the main, of about three miles.

Mr. C. Was the water salt?

Capt. M. At the mouth, where the river water poured into the sea, it was brackish, and it must have been there Hearne tasted it; but a short distance at sea it was decidedly salt.

Here Mr. Wentzel left the party, taking with him four of the Canadians, Parent, Gagnier, Dumas, and Forcier, whom Captain Franklin discharged, for the purpose of lessening the expenditure of provisions as much as possible. This reduced the number down to twenty, including officers.

Patrick. I suppose the rest of the Canadians cheerfully remained?

Captain M. At first they were amused at the sight of the sea, and particularly with the seals swimming about near the entrance of the river; but soon they gave way to despondency. They were terrified at the idea of a voyage through an icy sea in bark canoes; they thought of the length of the journey, the roughness of the waves, the uncertainty of provisions, the exposure to cold, when no fuel could be expected, and the prospect of having to traverse the barren grounds in returning, in order to get to some establishment. The two interpreters, St. Germain and Adam, urgently applied to be discharged, but only one of the Canadians made a similar request. Captain Franklin, however, was unable to yield to their wish, as they were the only two on whose skill in hunting he could rely. Indeed, the manner in which Hepburn viewed the element to which he had been long accustomed, and the joy he showed at the sight of the ocean, served more than any thing else to reconcile the interpreters to their situation, and to make the Canadians almost ashamed of their fears.

Mr. Jones. What were the instructions given by Captain Franklin to Mr. Wentzel?

Capt. M. He told him that if in his course eastward, he should be far distant from the river when the season or other circumstances rendered it necessary to put a stop to the advance of the party, and if he should have to lead them across the barren grounds toward some established post, he was to make his way to Fort Enterprise, where he might expect to find, through Mr. Wentzel's care, an ample supply of provisions. He sent by him his journals, to be forwarded to England along with despatches for the British government. He then supplied the party with ammunition; after which they set out, leaving Captain Franklin to pursue his hazardous, but dauntless course eastward, along the coast of the North American continent.

Thus was finished another portion of this vast journey. Our travellers had gone over three hundred and thirty-four miles since they left Fort Enterprise; in one hundred and seventeen of which they had been obliged to drag their baggage over snow and ice.

CHAPTER VI.

IT was not till the 21st of July, that a gale, which blew from the north-east, had sufficiently moderated to allow them to commence their voyage upon the Arctic Ocean. They had fifteen days' provisions with them, but their nets had hitherto supplied them with fish. All day they paddled eastward along the coast, on the inside of a crowded range of islands, and saw very little ice. In the evening after a run of thirty-seven miles, they landed on the main shore, set up their tents and prepared their supper, intending to start again early the next morning. Here St. Germain killed a fat deer, which was a great acquisition. The islands which they had passed, Captain Franklin named Beren's and Sir Graham Moore's Islands. The coast was well covered with drift timber; and a fat deer, now and then, rewarded the hunter's toil when he landed in quest of provisions. After a passage of about twenty miles on the next day, they entered the ice, and with difficulty paddled their little bark through its masses, till they reached Detention Harbour, where they landed for the night, being now in latitude 67° 53' north, longitude 110° 41' west. The ice was giving way fast, and they felt sure that it would all melt during the summer, as there were no traces of last year's ice to be met with. This was some consolation for the future; but still the ice, though only in small pieces, was so closely packed that there was no prospect of their being able to push through it at present into the open sea; and they began to be fearful of consuming all their scanty store of provisions before they could obtain any farther supply; for their last remaining bags of pemmican had become mouldy from damp, and their meat had been so badly cured, in consequence of being dried by fire instead of the sun, as to be scarcely eatable. A steady perseverance, however, in the discharge of duty, and an humble trust in that gracious Providence who had so often preserved them when in the most imminent danger, supported them under the several trials they endured, and enabled them still to pursue their course with courageArctic Travels, Boats in a swell among Ice. p. 89. and zeal. The two following days they proceeded slowly, and with great danger, through the body of ice; when Captain Franklin came to the resolution of seeking for the Esquimaux, who, he had been informed, frequented the shores at this season, determined, if possible, to obtain some supplies, and thinking that, if he found them disposed to be friendly, he might establish a winter encampment in this place. Some of the men were accordingly despatched on this errand; but they returned unsuccessful, except that they had procured several deer and a bear.

Arctic Travels, Boats in a swell among Ice. p. 89.

Patrick. But the bear would be of no use to them for food. I think they must be very hungry, when they could eat his flesh.

Capt. M. It may not be very palatable, but it surely is better than mouldy pemmican. However that may be, it was carried to the tent, and the officers made a feast upon its boiled paws.

Again, according to their usual plan, they embarked, and continued paddling for several days, making very good progress, and procuring plenty of deer. You will find, however, by your map, that after they had left Cape Barrow, which is to the north of Detention Harbour, they had been pursuing a south-east course, which made them fear they were leaving the main land, and entering into a large inlet. This they soon discovered to be the case, for it was terminated by a river, which they named Back's River. Landing here, a quantity of dried willows enabled them to light a good fire to dress their food, and the Canadians, who before refused to eat of the bear's flesh, were now glad to partake of one which had been shot that morning. Some fish were caught, and a few deer procured, with which they again embarked; and, taking an easterly course, they arrived at the eastern entrance of the inlet, which had cost them nine days in exploring, and which they named Bathurst's Inlet.

With this prospect of an open sea before them, they resumed their voyage along the coast, and persevered until a severe storm arose, which raised the waves to such a height as terrified the Canadians, who were only used to fresh-water navigation. When the wind had somewhat abated, they continued along the coast until they entered a large gulf, which Captain Franklin named George the Fourth's Coronation Gulf; and they afterward passed Parry's Bay, and Melville's Sound. At this latter place Captain Franklin found, to his great regret, that the canoes had suffered considerably from the rough sea and the drifted ice. But he was most grieved to find that his crew, who had hitherto borne their hardships tolerably cheerfully, now felt such fears for their safety, that they could not help expressing them before him.

These two circumstances, added to many others of less consideration, made him think seriously of returning; and, after consulting those about him, he came to the resolution of retracing his steps in four days, provided that during that time he did not meet with the Esquimaux. This news cheered the Canadians, who had begun to murmur very much; they once more set forward with alacrity; and after passing various bays and islands, until they had proceeded, in all, five hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Coppermine River, they had the pleasure of seeing the sea free from ice to the north-east. Here they again encamped, but searched in vain for the Esquimaux. Captain Franklin and a party of the officers walked for twelve miles along the shore, until they came to a point which they named Point Turnagain, the land still continuing its northern direction--latitude 68° 18' north, 109° 25' west longitude. This was on the 18th of August.

Mr. Jones. How very interesting this coincidence! The boys, I am sure, well remember that this was the very day that Captain Parry sailed out of Repulse Bay, which the map shows us lies eastward, and a little south of Point Turnagain: but I should like very much to hear what is the supposed distance between the two places where these two intrepid and zealous men were.

Capt. M. The distance may be considered about five hundred miles; but from the bottom of George the Fourth's Coronation Inlet to the bottom of Wager River, it is little more than two hundred; and as a river falls into the former from the eastward, and another into the latter from the westward, there appears little doubt that a water communication will yet be found between these two bays, with a short portage between.

Mr. Jones. Now my boys can see the benefit which their discoveries are likely to confer upon mankind. By what a tedious land-journey are the furs collected by the Indians brought to the vessels which every year are sent to Quebec, and to the shores of Hudson's Bay!--perhaps it would save the two companies a transport of many thousand miles!

Capt. M. Well, sir, many theories have been built on much less foundation, and therefore I must speculate a little farther on the probable results of our north-west expeditions. I believe I forgot to mention that Dr. Richardson found beds of coal in several places; and we know that it is abundant on the shores of Mackenzie's River. Who can tell, therefore, but mankind may, ere long, see steam vessels plying upon this northern sea, making their way up the river and across the numerous lakes which we have traced, collecting the articles which the Indians have for sale, and bringing to these scattered and wretched tribes the comforts of plenty, the arts of civilization, and, above all, the blessings of pure religion?

Captain Franklin's original intention had been to return to the Coppermine River, and from thence to reach the Slave Lake: but, in consequence of the scarcity of their provisions, it was now necessary to fix upon a shorter route. He determined, therefore, to go back to the Arctic Sound, where the animals had been more plentiful, and, after paddling up Hood's River as far as possible, to make smaller canoes out of their larger ones, and to carry them over the barren grounds which lay between, till he should reach Fort Enterprise. The shortness of the summer was enough to chill any one's hopes of doing much; it had not begun till the middle of June; and now when the middle of August was come, the birds and the deer were seen returning to the southward, the nights were cold and frosty, and every sign of winter again appeared. Determined, therefore, to return, and now feeling great want of provisions, the party resolved on making a stretch of fifteen miles across Melville Sound, in a very strong wind and heavy sea, for they were suffering from hunger. It was, indeed, a bold attempt; but the little canoes reached the shore in safety; and after an encampment was made, the whole party went to hunt. A few more days' sailing enabled them to reach Hood's River, and thus their voyage in the Arctic Sea was completed, to the great joy of the Canadians, who spent the evening talking over their adventures, and boasting of their own exploits. Little did they know the sufferings that yet awaited them: so wisely is it ordained by Providence, that the prospect which would unfit us for bearing present ills is, in mercy, concealed from our view.

On the 26th of August, previous to their departure, they planted the English flag on the loftiest hill in the neighbourhood, and left, in a tin box, a letter containing a short account of their proceedings, the latitude and longitude of the principal places, and the course they intended to pursue to Slave Lake, with a present of beads and trinkets for the Esquimaux, should they come there. They then proceeded up the river, which will be ever memorable from their misfortunes. The shoals and rapids became so numerous, that the officers were obliged to walk along the banks, while the crew dragged on the canoes. After this laborious day's work, they encamped at the foot of two magnificent cascades, where the water, which was confined between two great perpendicular rocks, rushes down a precipice of such depth that they could only just see the top of the spray which it throws up. These cascades they named Wilberforce Falls.

And now the task of converting the canoes into smaller ones was put into execution, and was completed in a few days. Each man was provided with leather shoes, worsted stockings, and other warm clothing. The weather was tolerably mild, and all were anxious to begin their journey. The officers carried as much of the baggage as they could, and the rest was divided between the men, two of whom carried the canoes. They proceeded cheerfully, notwithstanding each had so great a burden to carry; and, as they met with a small supply of deer and oxen, they experienced no present want of food. Thus does the Almighty, in mercy, enable us to support one evil, by lightening us of another. It is true, the men were much fatigued by marching under such heavy loads; but still they did not complain, although on the 1st of September they saw their last piece of pemmican distributed.

A fall of snow, succeeded by heavy rain, now interrupted them, and they lay for some nights drenched with wet, having no fuel to make fires, and but little food to strengthen their bodies under such hardships. At this period commenced their great sufferings. A frost set in with such severity that their tents were frozen: but the pangs of hunger were greater than those they suffered from the cold.

Finding it quite useless to delay the prosecution of their journey, in the hope of any improvement in their condition, on the 7th of September the order to proceed was given; though we may well suppose that, weak from hunger, and their clothes stiffened with frost, they were but ill able to travel. Captain Franklin was seized with a fainting fit, and was with difficulty persuaded to take a little portable soup, so unwilling was he to diminish the scanty store of provisions which remained. It revived him, however; and they went on, the ground covered with deep snow, and the wind so strong as oftentimes to throw down the men who carried the canoes. By this means the largest of the canoes, and the only one they had capable of carrying the party over the river, was so broken as to be quite unserviceable The accident, however, could not be remedied; and, to make the best of their misfortune, they cut up the broken planks, made a good fire of them, and cooked the remainder of their portable soup and arrow root. This, in some measure, restored them to health, and enabled them to proceed, which they did by moving in a regular line, each following in the footsteps of the other, the Canadians taking it in turn to lead the way, and, as it were, assisting and encouraging themselves to proceed, by fixing upon some distant object as a mark to be reached. In this manner they travelled on for several days, their meals consisting only of some partridge, cooked with a kind of moss, called tripe de roche, which they gathered on the rocks. Yet was this scanty meal received with thankfulness. One instance of the state of starvation to which they were at this time reduced, I particularly recollect. Junius having brought in a report that a herd of buffaloes were on the other side of the river, two of the best hunters were sent out in search of them, but were two hours getting within gun-shot of their prey, during which time the others awaited their return with eagerness, and offered up many a fervent prayer for their success. At length they returned with one buffalo-ox, which was actually, in a few minutes, skinned and cut up, and the contents of the stomach, and even the raw intestines, devoured with avidity. The travellers had before been complaining of a thick fog; but it was this very fog which enabled the hunters to get near enough to shoot the ox.

Mr. Jones. So ignorant are we, my boys, of what is best for us, and so apt to repine at events which are actually ordered for our good!

Capt. M. However, so ravenous were they in the use of animal food, that, far from proving nutritious to them, it disordered their stomachs, and made the whole party even more unfit for their journey than they were before. They were now again reduced to live upon the moss called tripe de roche; but even that proved unwholesome; and they had no longer the means of catching fish, as the Canadians, who, though on all occasions the most eager for food, and the most voracious when it was procured, were at the same time the most improvident, and had imprudently thrown away the fishing nets; yet were there some instances of good feeling exhibited by them, which it is but fair to mention, while we speak of their faults. Perault came one day and gave each of the officers a little piece of meat, which he had saved from his own allowance.

William. I should not have expected to hear that of one of them; for I think they have hitherto shown themselves selfish and unreasonable.

Capt. M. They now attempted to cross the river; but here the loss of the large canoe was likely to prove very fatal, for Captain Franklin, having embarked in the small canoe with Belanger and St. Germain, the boat was driven to the brink of a rapid, and Belanger, having applied his paddle, to prevent its being forced down the stream, lost his balance, and the little canoe upset. They kept hold of it, however, until they touched a rock, on which they managed to keep their footing until they had emptied the water out of the boat, when Belanger held it steady while St. Germain and Captain Franklin got into it: Belanger himself they were forced to leave upon the rock, for the canoe dashed down the rapid, filled with water, and was again emptied; but at last they got safe to shore. Meanwhile Belanger, standing up to his middle in a freezing rapid, called aloud for help. St. Germain tried to get him into the canoe, but in vain, for it was again hurried down the rapid. They then threw him a line; but it did not reach him, and he was nearly exhausted; when the canoe was happily brought near enough for them to throw him a cord, by which they dragged him, perfectly senseless, through the rapid. He was instantly stripped, rolled in a blanket, and, by Doctor Richardson's orders, two of the men lay down beside him, until he began to get warm. We may well suppose what anxiety Captain Franklin suffered while he stood alone on the opposite bank of the river, watching the several unsuccessful efforts which were made by St. Germain for Belanger's relief. Yet his own fate would have been the most miserable of all, had the boat been lost, as he must then have been left to wander alone, without the means to light a fire, or relieve himself from his wet clothes, without either gun, hatchet, or ammunition, to procure himself provisions of any kind. The canoe, however, was saved; so that his companions were enabled to join him.

But among all the sufferings of the party, that from hunger was by far the most acute--tripe de roche, and singed hide, were considered an acceptable meal, although many of them experienced excessive sickness after eating it. Snow fell in abundance, their blankets scarcely served to keep them warm; and when they encamped at night, they lighted a fire to thaw their shoes. They ate their wretched meal usually in the dark, for the small fire they could procure only sufficed to cook the food; and they struggled to keep up a cheerful conversation among themselves, until the blankets warmed their bodies sufficiently to allow them to go to sleep.

Patrick. When they had no fire, how did they dry their clothes?

Capt. M. They actually went to bed in their wet clothes, lest they should be so frozen in the morning as to prevent them from being able to wear them. As a farther instance of their sufferings from hunger, I may tell you, that on one occasion Captain Franklin and Doctor Richardson, having been walking to some distance, on their return found a party of Canadians seated around a willow fire, and enjoying themselves over a meal, such as is almost too disgusting to think of--pieces of skin, and bones of deer, which had been killed by wolves the year before, and some old shoes which they had cut to pieces.

And now another trial awaited Captain Franklin and his friends; for Peltier and Vaillant at this moment announced to him, that the canoe had received so many falls that they considered it no longer of any service, and had left it behind!--the canoe which, humanly speaking, he knew to be one of the principal means of reaching the end of their journey--without which they could not cross any river that might obstruct their way, or reach the opposite bank of the one along which they were now travelling, should it become necessary. He entreated the men to fetch it; but they refused--the officers were not strong enough--and eventually, for their thoughtless obstinacy, the Canadians had to suffer more than they could have then anticipated. The loss being without remedy, the party resumed their march; but the heavy fall of snow had so covered the footsteps of Mr. Back and the hunters, who were gone before, that it was quite impossible to trace them; and, between their apprehensions and their wants, the Canadians became quite furious. The hunting party, however, returned with a small supply of deer; and with the strength which this welcome meal afforded them, they all marched on, until they, at length, found themselves arrived at a part of the Coppermine River. The loss of their canoe was now severely felt; for they could find there neither ford nor raft, nor wood to make one. Mr. Back and the hunters were again despatched in quest of food, and the remainder of the party sat down to breakfast on some putrid deer, which they gathered on the ground. They tried to make a raft of willows; but the wood was so green, and it had so little buoyancy, that only one man could be supported upon it at a time. Still they thought it might suffice to transport the whole party across the river, if a line could be conveyed to the opposite shore; and Doctor Richardson, with his usual promptitude, offered to swim across the stream with the line, and to haul the raft over. He plunged in with the line around his waist, but had not swam far when his arms became so benumbed with cold, that he could not move them: he turned on his back, and had nearly reached the opposite bank, when his legs too became stiffened with cold, and he began to sink. His terrified companions then pulled the line with all their strength, and dragged him back almost lifeless. The same means that had been used with Belanger were now equally successful in restoring Doctor Richardson to animation; and toward evening he was able to converse a little, and he gradually got better. He attributed the effect of the cold water to his being so emaciated in his frame; and it is a farther instance of his manly perseverance in his exertions for the sake of his companions, that, although he had trodden upon a dagger, as he was getting into the water, and cut his foot to the bone, it did not deter him from endeavouring to perform what he had undertaken.

The raft having totally failed, St. Germain undertook to make a canoe out of some pieces of canvass, in which they had hitherto wrapped up their clothes; and Mr. Back, having returned without any supplies, or tidings of the Indians, the greater number of the party began to sink into the utmost despondency. The officers daily grew weaker, the Canadians refused to gather the tripe de roche, and the cook (Samandre) refused to make any exertion whatever: the faithful Hepburn alone remained active, and collected the supply for the daily mess of the officers. The canoe being at last finished, the whole party were transported, one by one, across the river, and Mr. Back, with Belanger, St. Germain, and Beaupoulant, went again in search of the Indians: the remainder of the unhappy sufferers, after eating what was left of their old shoes, and scraps of leather, set off over a range of hills that lay before them, except Crédit and Vaillant, who, being too weak to keep up with their companions, sent word to Captain Franklin that they must remain behind. Doctor Richardson turned back, and found them lying in different places, unequal to the smallest exertion; and when some of the other men, who were stronger, were entreated to carry them, they positively refused, and even threatened, if they were farther urged, to lay down the portion of baggage which they carried, and make the best of their way to Fort Enterprise.

After consulting what was to be done in this emergency, Doctor Richardson and Mr. Hood generously proposed to halt at the first place that offered a supply of firewood, and with the weak and worn-down of the party to remain there until assistance should be sent to them from the fort, from which they were now only twenty-four miles distant. To this arrangement Captain Franklin reluctantly consented, as he had every reason to expect that they would find a store of provisions at the fort, and a band of Indians in the neighbourhood, according to the arrangement made with Mr. Wentzel. With Doctor Richardson and Mr. Hood, John Hepburn, the worthy English seaman, whose conduct on all occasions was above all praise, volunteered to stay.

Their tent, therefore, being securely pitched, the offer was made for any of the men who felt themselves too weak to proceed, to remain behind; but none of them accepted it. After uniting, therefore, in thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God, the two parties separated, Peltier and Benoit repeating their promise to return with provisions, if any should be found at the house, or to guide the Indians to them, if any were met on the way.

The party who accompanied Captain Franklin consisted of eight persons. The snow was very deep; and before they had proceeded many miles, Belanger and Michel being quite exhausted, they were forced to encamp. After passing the night in a wretched and half-perishing condition, Captain Franklin consented to let these two return, sending a note by them to Dr. Richardson, to tell him of a group of pines which would afford a good shelter for the tent. Michel took a good deal of ammunition with him, saying he would go in search of Vaillant. The next day Fontano fainted, and Perrault was seized with dizziness: a few morsels of burned leather were given to them, which enabled them to proceed; subsequently, however, they both were sent back.

Captain Franklin had now only four Canadians with him, Adam, Peltier, Benoit, and Samandre. Augustus had gone on, being impatient at the delay occasioned by so many being sent back. With these he arrived at the fort on the evening of the 11th, having tasted nothing for five days but a single meal of tripe de roche.

On reaching the fort, to their utter dismay there were no provisions, no Mr. Back, no Mr. Wentzel; nor any letter, save a few lines in the handwriting of Mr. Back, stating that he had reached the place on the 9th, but, finding no supplies, he had gone on in search of the Indians.

Patrick. They will perish, sir, if relief does not come from some quarter?

Mr. C. Our duty, however, is never to give way to despair. We should rely on the goodness of Providence, and use every exertion to preserve life.

Capt. M. On their arrival the party set to work to collect skins and tripe de roche for supper: they also pulled up some wood from the floor, which made them an excellent fire. Augustus joined them, and in a few days after Solomon Belanger, sent by Mr. Back to say he could not find the Indians, and to receive orders how to go on. The poor fellow, having had a fall down a rapid, was covered with a crust of ice, and quite speechless; and Captain Franklin observed with pleasure, from the kind attention of the Canadians, that affliction had softened their hearts, making them, for a time, forget their own sufferings in their care for another.

When Belanger recovered, he returned to Mr. Back, and Benoit and Augustus being sent in another direction in search of the Indians, the party at the fort were now reduced to four. Two of them, Adam and Samandre, were unable to stir; so that Peltier and Captain Franklin had to share the fatigue of collecting the wood, pounding the bones which they gathered around the fort, the remains of former days of plenty, and preparing the two meals which Captain Franklin insisted they should eat every day; and in this miserable condition they continued for eighteen days. You may conceive what Captain Franklin's feelings were during this period, when he found himself unable to send any assistance to Mr. Hood's party. He set out, at length, with his companions, determined to satisfy himself of their fate, but soon found that not one of them had strength to proceed, and they returned to the house of misery the following day.

One day as they were sitting together, taking some soup which they had made from pieces of skin, the hair of which had been singed off, they heard the sound of voices--"O! the Indians!" cried one of the Canadians--but no; it was Dr. Richardson and Hepburn, carrying each his bundle; the looks of the party at the fort seemed to say, Where are your companions? Dr. Richardson at once answered,--"Mr. Hood and Michel are dead, and the others have never been heard of."

Hepburn had shot a partridge, which he had in his hand. The doctor, having torn out the feathers, held it to the fire for a few minutes, and divided it into seven portions. It was the first morsel of flesh some of them had eaten for thirty-one days; they then knelt down together, and having prayed for some time, and read some portions of Scripture, they felt their spirits revive, and lay down to rest.

William. But we long to know the events which had befallen Dr. Richardson and his companions, and what had become of Mr. Hood and Michel.

Capt. M. It is a most melancholy story; but I shall relate it, briefly, in the doctor's words.

"When you left us," said he, "Hood and I sat over the fire while it lasted. We talked over the events of our past lives, and then read some devotional books, which had been given to us before we left England. We dwelt also with hope on our future prospects, and were so much comforted, that, were my poor friend alive, I should look back with delight to this period of my life. A few days after, Michel, the Iroquois, came in with your note, telling us to remove to a clump of pines. He said that Solomon Belanger had left you before him, and, he supposed, had lost his way. We got to the pines, however, and Michel left us for a couple of days. On his return his conduct was savage and extraordinary: sometimes he refused to hunt or cut wood, or to do any thing we wished him; and once he answered Mr. Hood, surlily, 'It is no use hunting--you had better kill and eat me.' Poor Mr. Hood was daily growing weaker: the tripe de roche gave him so much pain that he could not take more than a spoonful at a time. Our minds were weak, as well as our bodies; we felt as if we could not hold out much longer; we tried not to talk of it; our only effort was not to complain.

"One morning we begged Michel to go and hunt, but he lingered about the fire, cleaning his gun. Hepburn was employed cutting down a tree, at a short distance from the tent. In a few minutes I heard a gun; and about ten minutes afterward, Hepburn called to me in a tone of alarm, to come directly. When I arrived, I found the dead body of Mr. Hood by the fire--a ball had been shot through his head. Michel attempted to make out a story that he had shot himself by accident; but his ferocious look, and his confusion, convinced us that he was the murderer. The shot had entered the back part of the head, and passed out at the forehead, and the gun was so long that it could not have been placed in such a position, except by a second person. Hepburn, also, had seen Michel rising from before the tent door, just behind where Mr. Hood was sitting, and going into the tent. We did not, however, let him know we suspected him, though he was repeatedly protesting that he was incapable of committing such an act, and carefully avoided leaving Hepburn and me together; and whenever Hepburn spoke to me in English, which the other understood but imperfectly, he always inquired if we accused him of the murder. We removed the body into a clump of willows, and, returning to the fire, read the funeral service, in addition to the evening prayers.

"The next day we packed up our garments, and set out for the fort. Michel was surly, and for ever saying that we thought ill of him, and that Hepburn told tales of him. In short, we felt that he meant to kill us, and that we were too weak to make our escape from him--his strength was superior to ours united, and he had, besides his gun, two pistols, an Indian bayonet, and a knife. On coming to a rock, he, for the first time, left us together, saying that he would stop to gather some tripe de roche, and follow us in a short time. Hepburn now mentioned certain circumstances which he had observed in Michel's behaviour, and which confirmed me in the opinion that there was no safety for us, except in his death. He offered to become the instrument of it; but I determined, as I was painfully convinced of the necessity of the act, to take the whole responsibility on myself; and immediately on Michel's coming up, I put an end to his life, by shooting him through the head with a pistol."

William. O! father, was Dr. Richardson justified in taking away the life of a fellow-creature, and on suspicion too?

Mr. Jones. The circumstances, I have always heard, were such as to leave no doubt that the unhappy man had murdered Mr. Hood, but, as to your question, William, I know not how to answer it. Self-preservation has generally been considered an excuse for such a deed; but it is an awful thought to send a fellow-creature into eternity. May we, my sons, never be placed in such a situation as will oblige us to decide between that desire of safety which is natural to us all, and what I fear is, strictly speaking, a forbidden mode of preserving life. On the other hand, let us not condemn the proceeding of Dr. Richardson till we are sure we should have acted otherwise, if placed in his unexampled situation.

Capt. M. When Dr. Richardson gave this narrative to Captain Franklin, he added these remarkable words, which show how acutely he felt the painful situation in which he was placed: "Had my own life alone been threatened, I would not have purchased it by such a measure; but I considered myself intrusted with the protection of Hepburn's--a man who, by his humane attentions and devotedness, had so endeared himself to me that I felt more anxiety for his safety than for my own."

In continuing his narrative, Dr. Richardson recounted that they had been six days making their way to the fort, famished with hunger, and only saved from perishing by the moss which they gathered, and pieces of the skin cloak of poor Mr. Hood.

And now the two united parties put forth all their strength to provide food. Samandre and Peltier, however, grew daily worse, and at last died. Their companions removed the bodies to a distant part of the house, but were not strong enough to carry them out, or to bury them. Their own dissolution, as they thought, was near at hand. Their stock of bones was spent, and the fatigue of taking the hair off the skin, to make it into soup, was too much for any of them. The hardness of the floor had caused great soreness to their skeleton bodies; but, even in the midst of their hardships, they could enjoy three or four hours' sleep at night; and, strange to say, their dreams were always about the pleasure of feasting. They grew pettish one with another, and without reason; though the peevishness was no sooner expressed than it was apologized for, to be repeated in the course of a few minutes: each, also, thought the other weaker in intellect than himself, and more in need of advice and assistance; and this was so obvious even to themselves that on one occasion Hepburn exclaimed, "Dear me! if we are spared to return to England, I wonder if we shall ever recover our understandings."

On the 7th of November, Adam, at last, appeared dying. Captain Franklin was employed in cheering him, and Dr. Richardson and Hepburn were cutting wood, when a musket shot was heard, and three Indians came up to the house. The two officers knelt down, and returned thanks to the Almighty for this deliverance; but poor Adam was in so low a state, that he could scarcely comprehend the information.

These Indians were sent by Mr. Back, who, with a generous devotedness, never rested going from one station to another, till he met with the relief his friends so much required. They brought some dried deer's meat and tongues; and all ate voraciously, except Adam, who was too weak to feed himself, and therefore came better off. The Indians gave him small pieces at a time, and would not let him eat too much. These kind creatures never rested till they had made the travellers more comfortable: they buried the dead bodies, cleared the room of the dirt, kept up cheerful fires, and persuaded them to wash and shave themselves. A fresh arrival of food completed the recovery of the sufferers, and before long they were enabled to set out for the Indian encampment; their deliverers feeding them like children, and taking every care of them. Here they saw their old friend Akaitcho, who showed the tenderest pity for their sufferings.

A very few days brought letters from Mr. Back, as well as from England, which informed them of their friends, and that they had received promotion: they also mentioned Captain Parry's safe return, after he had reached to within five hundred miles of Point Turnagain. In a few days after this they reached Fort Providence, where they were once more in a comfortable dwelling. They again renewed their grateful praises for their deliverance.

This closes the narrative of Captain Franklin's proceedings; for as soon as they were sufficiently recruited, they set out for York Factory, which they reached on the 14th of July,

CHAPTER VIII.

William. Such sufferings, and so providential a deliverance from a painful death, must have made Captain Franklin and his companions thankful to the Almighty. We may regret, however, that the question of a north-west passage should be still undetermined; and the more so, because such privations as he endured will deter all others from attempting a land expedition with the same object.

Capt. M. I am persuaded that many men would be found to attempt it, such is the character of our navy; but it will surprise you to hear, that Captain Franklin himself should have had the fortitude and resolution to embark a second time on the very same kind of journey.

Mr. C. I have heard of his having offered his services to the government; and have, since his return, read the account which he has given of his journey, and feel the greatest admiration for his character. When the boys reflect on all the hardships he underwent--how very narrowly he escaped from perishing by famine--how long he and his party supported nature by pieces of bones and scraps of skins--that their lodging was in a miserable hovel, which the wind and snow could penetrate--that the cold was much greater than we in this country can have any idea of--and that the delay of another day in the arrival of assistance would, in all probability, have put an end to their existence and their sufferings--we cannot but praise his courage in exposing himself a second time to the same trials.

Patrick. And yet I am glad he did: the man who bore so much deserved that no other should step into his place, and accomplish that which he had left unfinished.

William. Did he suffer as much as in his first expedition, and was he at last successful?

Mr. Jones. Now, William, reflect for a moment: that would be to anticipate the result, and deprive you of the pleasure you will feel in accompanying his progress as Captain Mackey relates it to you.

Capt. M. As Captain Franklin himself states in his account, when the government determined, at the close of the year 1823, to send out Captain Parry on another attempt to effect a northern passage by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it seemed to him desirable to pursue the same end by more ways than one; and he therefore submitted a plan which, he hoped, would be conducive to the end proposed, namely to make his way over land to the mouth of Mackenzie River, and to divide his party when he arrived there into two bands: one to coast westward to the north-western extremity of North America; the other to proceed eastward, and survey the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers. The English government could by no means have been induced to concur in it, if Captain Franklin had not shown satisfactorily that, in the course he proposed, such dangers were not to be apprehended as attended his first journey, while the objects to be obtained were of the most important description.

Dr. Richardson again went with him as surgeon, and Lieutenant Back as second in command: in addition to which, Mr. Thomas Drummond was appointed assistant to Dr. Richardson, in collecting specimens of natural history; and Mr. Kendal, as assistant surveyor to the expedition.

The arrangements which Captain Franklin made were chiefly the following: he obtained, through the kindness of the governor and directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, directions to their officers engaged in the fur trade, to provide the necessary depôts of provisions which Captain Franklin should indicate, and to give every other aid in their power; stores, also, were forwarded in March, 1824, for the purpose of relieving the expedition from the incumbrance of heavy baggage, and at the same time of providing for their reception at the place where their operations were to commence.

Mr. C. If I don't mistake, that spot was the Great Bear Lake, and the reason it was chosen, was on account of its being the place nearest to the mouth of the Mackenzie known to the traders, where a sufficient supply of fish could be procured for the support of so large a party.

Capt. M. When we come to speak of it we shall, of course, have to mention its particular situation; but I may here say, that from it flows the Great Bear River, which runs into the Mackenzie, so that there was a direct sea-water communication from that post to the sea.

There were also sent out from England in June, 1824, three light boats, built under Captain Franklin's directions, which were to be left at York Factory by the annual Hudson's Bay ship, and thence to be forwarded to Cumberland-house, in order that, in the spring of 1825, they might be sent toward the Bear Lake, and be as far advanced as possible on their way thither before they should be overtaken by the officers of the expedition, who intended to take the shortest route through the United States: besides which, two large canoes, with the necessary equipment-stores, were directed to be sent from Montreal, and deposited at Penetanguishine, the naval depôt of Lake Huron, to await their arrival in the spring of 1825.

The canoes which navigate the rivers of North America are well adapted for the purpose, both on account of their lightness, which enables them to be carried when necessary, and the ease with which they can be repaired; but as they are much too slight to bear the waves in a rough sea, and still less fitted for coming in contact with ice, Captain Franklin had three boats made for the purpose at Woolwich, by order of the lords commissioners of the admiralty. They were built of mahogany, with timbers of ash, both ends exactly alike, and fitted to be steered either with a sweep oar or a rudder. The largest, twenty-six feet long, and five feet four inches broad, was adapted for six rowers, a steersman, and an officer: it could be borne on the shoulders of six men, and could carry three tons' weight, in addition to the crew. The two others were each twenty-four feet long, four feet ten inches broad, and were capable of receiving a crew of five men, a steersman, and an officer, with an additional lading of two and a half tons.

In addition to those, a little cock-boat was built at Woolwich, called the Walnut Shell, from its shape and lightness. It was nine feet in length, the breadth four feet four inches, and was framed of well-seasoned ash, fastened with thongs, and covered with prepared water-proof canvass. It weighed only eighty-five pounds, when taken in pieces could be made up in five or six parcels, and was capable of being put together in less than twenty minutes.

The stores consisted of bedding and clothing, including two suits of water-proof dresses for each person. Guns, ammunition, a quantity of wheaten flour, arrow-root, macaroni, portable soup, chocolate, essence of coffee, sugar, and tea, calculated to last two years. They were made up into packages of eighty-five pounds, and covered with three layers of water-proof canvass, to protect them from wet.

There was, likewise, an ample stock of tobacco, a small quantity of wine and spirits, markees and tents for the men and officers, some books, writing paper and drawing paper, nets, twine, fishing lines and hooks; together with many articles to be used at winter quarters, for the service of the post and for the supply of the Indian hunters, such as cloth, blankets, shirts, coloured belts, chiefs' dresses, combs, looking glasses, beads, tapes, gartering, knives, guns, daggers, hatchets, awls, gun-worms, flints, fire-steels, files, whip and hand-saws, ice-chisels, and trenching-hoes, as they are called, to break open the beaver lodges.

We may pass rapidly over the proceedings of Captain Franklin and his officers, till they joined the three canoes which had been sent out from England the preceding year, and, according to direction, had been sent forward from York Factory to Cumberland-house, and from thence had been sent on toward the Bear Lake. It will suffice to mention, for the information of the young lads, who can follow me on the map, that, on the 16th of February, 1825, Captain Franklin embarked, with his officers already mentioned and four mariners, at Liverpool, on board the American packet-ship, Columbia, Captain Lee, and reached New-York on the 15th of March, from whence they went up the Hudson River, in a steamboat, to Albany: they were afterward conveyed by stages, through Utica, Rochester, and Geneva, to Lewiston, at which latter place they entered Canada, crossing the River Niagara, and visited the Falls, so justly celebrated as the first in the world. Their course then led them across Lake Ontario to York, the capital of Upper Canada; then across Lake Simcoe to Kempenfeldt Bay, down the River Nattawassaga, and through a part of Lake Huron to Penetanguishine, where they found the two canoes sent out from Montreal, but were obliged to wait for the arrival of the Canadian voyagers, who were to come from that city, for the purpose of conveying them to the place of rendezvous, on the Great Bear Lake.

The Canadians arrived at Fort William on the 10th of May. There they exchanged their two large canoes for four small north canoes, in one of which, more lightly laden, Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson embarked, with a view of proceeding as rapidly as possible to arrange supplies of provisions at the different posts; while Lieutenant Back was left to bring up the three remaining and more deeply laden canoes.

Proceeding now by the route marked in maps of these parts, through Rainy Lake, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Winnipeg, and the Saskatchawan River, they reached Cumberland-house on the 15th of June, where they learned that the three boats sent out from England by the Hudson's Bay ship, and forwarded from York Factory, had left it on the 2d of the same month. Here, also, they found that Thomas Matthews, the principal carpenter, who had accompanied the boats from England, had broken his leg the evening before their departure, and was laid up, in consequence, unable to stir--a loss which, in that remote situation, could not be easily supplied.

After stopping one night at Cumberland-house, Captain Franklin and his companions resumed their voyage; and, after passing through Pine Island Lake and Beaver Lake, Deep River, Clear and Buffalo Lakes, overtook the boats in Methye River, lat. 56° 10' N., long. 108° 55' W., at sunrise on the 29th of June; and here the account, properly speaking, commences.

CHAPTER IX.

Capt. M. THE three boats of the expedition had advanced from Hudson's Bay into the interior one thousand two hundred miles before they were joined by Captain Franklin; while he and his companions, from taking a more circuitous land-route by New-York and Canada, had travelled no less than two thousand eight hundred miles to reach the same point.

Mr. C. Do you remember what were the instructions which Captain Franklin received from the British government?

Capt. M. They were briefly these, that he was to make the best of his way to the western side of the Great Bear Lake, where he was to pass the winter of 1825; and, early in the spring of 1826, to proceed down the Mackenzie River to the sea, in order to take advantage of the first opening of the ice on the Polar Sea, so as to enable him to prosecute his voyage westward along the coast to Icy Cape, around which he was to proceed to Kotzebue's Inlet, near Behring's Straits, where his majesty's ship Blossom would be directed to meet him; after which he might either return to the established winter-quarters, at Great Bear Lake, if he thought it could be done with safety, or embark on board the Blossom, and proceed to China.

On his arrival at the mouth of Mackenzie's River, he was to despatch Dr. Richardson, with Mr. Kendal and five or six men, in one of the boats, to examine the intermediate coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers. He received many cautions not to risk the lives of the party by an excess of ardour for discovery; and, should the ice impede the westerly progress of Captain Franklin, or any accident to the boats delay him in reaching Icy Cape, he was not to consider himself authorised to risk himself and his party by wintering on the coast, but to commence his return to the Bear Lake about the 15th or 20th of August; unless he could be perfectly satisfied of the safety of wintering with the Esquimaux, and of reaching Behring's Straits the following season, when the Blossom was again to proceed to Kotzebue's Inlet, to await his arrival.

Mr. C. Such a humane regard for the lives of those brave men, who exposed themselves to cold, and disease, and famine, and gave up every personal comfort and convenience at the honourable call of duty, is worthy of a nation like Great Britan, which has led the way in all those discoveries that advance our knowledge of the earth on which we dwell, at the same time that they improve the condition of those remote tribes of people.

Capt. M. Those in the foremost boats received their officers with cheers, and the more so because at the moment they were struggling with a great many difficulties. The river was obstructed by three impassable rapids, and there it was necessary to unload the boats and carry them past the danger; besides which, through its whole course of forty miles, its bed was so shallow as scarcely to admit of flat-bottomed batteaux, much less the English-built boats, which drew, when laded, from eighteen to twenty inches.

William. Were there any of the party who had accompanied the captain in his former expedition?

Capt. M. There was one, whom he was delighted to see, Augustus, the Esquimaux, who had acted as his interpreter; and he was accompanied by Ooligbuck, and Esquimaux, also from Churchill.

At ten, A. M., they began to ascend the stream, but soon found that it was necessary for the whole party to walk in the water, and drag the boats through the mud; but their difficulties were light, when compared with those that awaited them at the Methye Portage, which is ten miles and three-quarters long. It was there necessary to make an equal division of the cargoes, and to devise means for the conveyance of the boats. The packages amounted to one hundred and sixteen, weighing from seventy to ninety pounds each, exclusive of the three boats, and the men's personal luggage; and there were nineteen men of the boats' crews, two Canadians, and two boys, to carry these burdens. One of the smaller boats was carried on the shoulders of eight men; another of the same size was dragged by other eight men; and the largest was conveyed on a truck made for the purpose on the spot. Their mode of travelling was as follows: rising at three, A. M., the men carried a part of their burden to the first stage, and continued to go backward and forward till the whole was deposited; they then slept for a few hours, and in the cool of the evening the boats were brought up. By these means, every thing was ready at the western end of the portage on the 11th of July.

They embarked on the Athabasca Lake on the 15th of July, reached Fort Chipewyan on the 18th, and on the 23d they were followed by the three canoes which had been left in charge of Lieut. Back. It would be tedious to describe the difficulties they encountered; sometimes hurried away with, and sometimes struggling against, the streams of rivers; and dragging their boats and luggage over the portages which separate the waters, or which are crossed to avoid the rapids. At Chipewyan they were enabled to procure, out of the company's stores, warm clothing, blankets, and other necessaries.

On the 30th of July the expedition reached Slave Lake; and here the captain found two old friends of the Copper Indians waiting to see them; Keskarrah, and Humpy, the brother of Akaitcho. Several times they would seize the hands of the captain and his officers, and pressing them against their hearts, exclaim, "How much we regret that we cannot tell you what we feel for you here!"

Akaitcho himself had left the fort about two months before, on a hunting excursion, hoping to return, with plenty of provisions for the party, by the middle of August, which was as early as he thought they would arrive. Keskarrah gave them the melancholy intelligence, that most of the hunters who had been with Captain Franklin at Fort Enterprise had been treacherously murdered by the Dog-ribs; with which nation the Copper Indians had been, in consequence, at war till the preceding spring, when peace was made, through the good offices of two of the company's traders; and it was gratifying to learn, that Akaitcho and his tribe had been induced to this reconciliation by a desire to please Captain Franklin, and that no impediment might be placed in the way of the expedition. "We have too much esteem," said Akaitcho, "for our father, and are too anxious for the service in which he is about to be again engaged, to impede its success by our wars." And, on being asked whether he and some of his young men would go to hunt for the party at their winter quarters, he replied, "Our hearts will be with them; but we will not go to those parts where the bones of our murdered brethren lie, for fear our bad passions should be aroused by the sight of their graves, and we should be tempted to renew the war by the recollection of the manner of their death. Let the Dog-ribs, who live in the neighbourhood of Bear Lake, furnish them with meat."

Mr. C. Such sentiments did them honour, and ought to increase our wish to see them instructed in the principles of true religion; and we hope that such a blessing will be among the benefits which they are to derive from these Arctic expeditions.

Capt. M. That would, indeed, be a happy consequence! Fortunately, Captain Franklin was now able to reward the friendship of these faithful men, by giving to each of the chiefs of the tribe a liberal present. On delivering the articles to Keskarrah and Humby, he desired them to inform Akaitcho, and the whole tribe, of the necessity of their strictly adhering to the terms of peace; adding, that he himself would not fail to urge the same upon the Dog-ribs.

Mr. C. The intercourse with these poor people must be, in many ways, beneficial; but I have heard that the rum which our traders barter with them for furs, more than counter-balances any good they might derive from it.

Capt. M. It has been so, unquestionably; but now (and we may suppose it is partly at Captain Franklin's suggestion) the Fur Company have ceased to furnish this article to the Indians. They often importuned our officers for it; but they steadily refused it, though they were always ready to give them a share of their supper, and tea, and tobacco, which the others were fain to accept; yet they did it with a bad grace.

On the 31st of July the party quitted the track of the former journey to Fort Enterprise, along which they had been travelling from Lake Winnipeg. They first steered for the Buffalo River, and then along the south shore of Slave Lake, in latitude 61° 1' north, and longitude 110° 8' west.

On the 4th of August they reached Fort Simpson, three hundred and thirty-eight miles from Fort Resolution. With the chief factor resident there, Mr. Smyth, Captain Franklin arranged for such supplies of provisions or stores as the party might require during its residence at Bear Lake. On the 6th, the channel being contracted, and the current rapid, they travelled one hundred and twenty miles. On the 7th they reached Fort Norman, five and a quarter miles from Fort Resolution, and only four days' journey from Bear Lake.

From Fort Norman he set out, with Mr. Kendal, and a boat's crew, for the sea, in order to collect whatever information could be obtained respecting the general state of the ice in the summer and autumn; the direction of the coast, east and west of the Mackenzie; and whether they might calculate on any supply of provisions. Secondly, Doctor Richardson, on his own suggestion, was to proceed in a boat along the northern shore of Bear Lake to the part where it approached nearest to the Coppermine River, and then fix upon a spot to which he might lead his party the following year, on its return from the mouth of that river. And, thirdly, that these plans might not interfere with the important operations necessary for the comfortable residence and subsistence of the expedition during the following winter, Lieutenant Back was to superintend them, assisted by Mr. Dease, chief trader of the Fur Company.

On the 8th of August the party left Fort Norman, and separated at the mouth of the Bear Lake River; Captain Franklin pursuing his way to the north, along the course of the stream, while Lieutenant Back and the remainder of the expedition turned to the right, and ascended the Bear River to the Lake.

On the 10th of August they arrived at Fort Good Hope, in latitude 67° 28' north, and longitude 130° 51' west; and on the 12th of August they reached a very spacious opening, in which were numerous well-wooded islands and various channels. Captain Franklin, persuaded that he had now arrived at the branches by which the Mackenzie discharges its waters into the sea, chose the eastern channel, as being that through which the current appeared to run swiftest. On the 14th they were in latitude 68° 40' north. After supper, the party being assembled in the tent to read prayers, they returned thanks to the Almighty for having thus far crowned their labours with success. He then pushed on toward an island which was seen in the north-east, and here they had the great pleasure of finding the water decidedly salt.

"The sun was setting," Captain Franklin says, "as the boat touched the beach; but they hastened to the most elevated part of the island, about two hundred and fifty feet high, and never was there a sight more gratifying than that which lay open to their view--a range, called the Rocky Mountains, was seen from S. W. to W. by N.; and, from the latter point around by the north, the sea appeared in all its majesty, free from ice, and without any visible obstruction to its navigation. Many seals and black and white whales were sporting on its waves, and the whole scene was calculated to excite in the mind the most flattering expectations as to the success of the expedition, and that of their friends in the Hecla and Fury, under Capt. Parry."

To this island Captain Franklin gave the name of Garry: its latitude is 69° 29' north; the longitude 135° 41' west, and its distance from Fort Simpson eight hundred and seventy-four miles. The tent was pitched on the beach, and the silk union-flag hoisted, which had been given to him when leaving England, by his wife, then lying at the point of death, under the express injunction that it was not to be unfurled before the expedition reached the sea; and a small quantity of spirits, which had been saved for the occasion, being issued to the men, they drank, with three fervent cheers, to the health of their king, the munificent patron of every object connected with the welfare and reputation of the country which he governed; and also to the continued success of their enterprise.

William. I wonder much that Captain Franklin could leave England while his wife was in such a situation that he could not have hoped to see her again.

Mr. C. It must have been a severe struggle between affection and a sense of duty; but I have heard that her disease was a lingering one, which rendered her recovery hopeless, and that she herself, with heroic fortitude, urged him not to delay his departure, as he valued her dying wish. Besides, had he missed his passage in the vessel which was to take him from Liverpool to New-York, the enterprise must have been given up, after all the preparations and arrangements which the government had made for its success. As he planted the flag on Garry Island, he tells us himself, that it was with emotions which it would be impossible to describe: these, however, with manly fortitude he concealed from his companions, determined not to damp their joy by any allusion to his own domestic griefs.

Fully satisfied, and highly delighted with the favourable promise of the sea to the westward, Captain Franklin deposited a letter for Captain Parry, under a pole, to which was attached a blue and red flag, as he had some expectations that his enterprising friend might be able to penetrate to this point; and the party then made the best of their way back, and joined their companions at winter quarters, on the 5th of September. About the same time Doctor Richardson returned from the north-eastern shores of Great Bear Lake, having ascertained the spot to which he might bring his party the following year, in the event of his reaching the mouth of the Coppermine, by proceeding for the Mackenzie, eastward, according to his instructions.

All the members of the expedition were now snugly settled in their winter quarters, before the severity of the weather had set in; and the site of an old fort, belonging to the North-west Company, was selected for the residence of the party, near that part of the lake where the fish had usually been most abundant. On Captain Franklin's arrival, he found all the buildings in a habitable state. They were disposed so as to form three sides of a square, the officers' house being in the centre, those for the men on the right, and a house for the interpreter's family, with the store, on the left; a blacksmith's shop and meal store were added; and the whole was enclosed by the stockading of the original fort, which was found highly serviceable in screening them from the snow drift and the wintry blasts. The officers' building measured fourteen feet by twenty-four, and contained a hall and four apartments, besides a kitchen; that of the men was thirty-six feet by twenty-three, and was divided into three rooms. These buildings were placed on a dry sand-bank, about eighty yards from the lake, and twenty-five above it: at the distance of half a mile in the rear the ground rose to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, and continued in an even ridge, on which, though the timber had been felled, they found plenty of small trees for fuel. This ridge bounded the view to the north and to the west: though confined to less than two miles, the prospect was pretty, from its taking in a small lake, and the mouth of a narrow stream that flowed in at its head. The southern view commanded the south-west arm of Bear Lake, which was in that part four miles wide, and not deeper than from three to five fathoms. There was also, at some distance, a quantity of black and white spruce-fir and larch trees, some of which measured five feet in girth, and were from fifty to fifty-five feet high. To this place they gave the name of Fort Franklin, in honour of their commander. Its situation was 65° 11' north latitude, and 123° 12' west longitude.

The number of persons belonging to the establishment amounted to fifty, consisting of five officers, including Mr. Dease; nineteen British seamen, marines, and voyagers, nine Canadians, two Esquimaux, Beaulieu, and four Chipewyan hunters, three women, six children, and one Indian lad; besides a few infirm Indians, who required temporary support.

It was on the fishery they principally depended for subsistence, as they wished to save the provisions they had brought with them; and accordingly, besides fishing parties placed some miles distant, from fifteen to twenty nets were kept in use, opposite the house; and toward the end of summer, and in autumn, they yielded daily from three to eight hundred fish, of the kind called herring-salmon, trout, tittamey, and carp. The hunting of the Indians contributed little to their stock. The shortest day at Fort Franklin was only two hours long; and after the regular daily duty was over, many hours remained, in which, if they had not been occupied, the time would have passed very listlessly. Hear, therefore, how Captain Franklin endeavoured to engage his people:--

"As the day shortened," he says, "it became necessary to find employment during the long evenings for those resident at the house: a school was established on three nights of the week, from seven o'clock to nine, for their instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and it was attended by most of the British. The learners were divided into equal portions among the officers, whose labour was amply repaid by the advancement their pupils made. Some of those who began with the alphabet, learned to read and write with tolerable correctness. Sunday was a day of rest, and, with the exception of two or three of the Canadians, the whole party uniformly attended divine service, morning and evening."

William. I can't help thinking, sir, how much better we are off in the present day with respect to education than those seamen were when they were children. I remember taking a ride with my father last week, and we counted no less than four neat school-houses, though we were out but two hours. Everywhere there are schools for the children of our peasantry; so that it is not necessary for any one, now, to wait for education till he joins a polar expedition, for he has the means of instruction at his door.

Mr. Jones. Well remarked, my boy; and, if parents will only do their duty to their offspring, there will not, in a few years, be a single individual of the rising generation unable to read. Do you remember what the man said who joined us on the road, when I said how different it was now from former times, and asked him had he ever been at school? "No, sir; but it shan't be so with my children; for, with the help of God, I'll give them every one a little learning." But we are interrupting our friend. Pray, how did Captain Franklin contrive on the other evenings of the week, when the school was not going on?

Capt. M. On the other evenings, for which no particular occupation was appointed, the men amused themselves in the hall, at various games, in which they were joined by their officers; and by this condescension, Captain Franklin tells us, "the hearts and feelings of the whole party were united in one common desire to make the time pass as agreeably as possible to each other, until the return of spring should enable them to resume the great object of the expedition."

William. I should like to know, more particularly, how the officers employed themselves.

Capt. M. The officers had particular duties to attend:--Lieutenant Back had the superintendence of the men, and also made the drawings which embellish the published account of the journey; Dr. Richardson, besides the duties of medical officer, devoted his attention to natural history; Mr. Kendal constructed all the charts, from calculations made by himself and the others, and examined a second time by Captain Franklin. To Mr. Dease was given in charge whatever related to the procuring and issuing of provisions, and the management of the Canadian voyagers and Indians.

On the 23d of September, the chimney of the last of the buildings being completed, and the flag staff erected, a deputation from the men invited the officers to be present at the festivities usual on the opening of a new establishment in this country. When they appeared, they found their guns ornamented with blue ribands, and were requested to advance and fire at a piece of money which was fastened to the flag staff. The men then fired two volleys, and gave three hearty cheers; after which Wilson, the piper, struck up a lively tune, and, placing himself at the head of his companions, marched with them to the entrance of the hall, where they drank to his majesty's health, and the success of the expedition.

The month of October commenced with frost and snow, and, in consequence, they were furnished by Captain Franklin with fur caps, leather mittens, trowsers, and the rest of their warm clothing. They had for some time a plentiful supply of provisions. Their nets furnished them with about five hundred fish daily, till the drift ice obliged them to take up their nets in Bear Lake, and the supply at length so completely failed, that they got but three or four small herring-salmon per man.

Patrick. But they had plenty of reindeer, sent in by the hunters, I warrant.

Capt. M. In October they got fifteen of these animals, in November ten more; but the days then became too short even for the Indians to hunt; nor was it till February that this kind of food could be obtained; they were, therefore, obliged to draw upon the stores of provisions which were set apart for the voyage along the sea coast. The Indians, chiefly owing to their own indolence, were also severe sufferers.

Mr. C. When there is a scarcity of food among them, I should apprehend they show but little humanity to their aged and to children.

Capt. M. Captain Franklin mentions some very distressing instances of their inhumanity on such occasions.

On one occasion, a party of Chipewyan hunters brought to the fort a Dog-rib girl, about twelve years old, whom they found perishing in the woods, having been deserted by her tribe, who left her without any food. When they discovered her, she was in the last stage of weakness, sitting by the expiring embers of a fire; and but for the timely appearance of her preservers, death must have soon ended her sufferings. They fed and clothed her, and, with great humanity, waited until she gained strength to accompany them. I mention these facts the more readily in order to show you that the utility of these north polar expeditions is not to be measured by the light they throw upon geography alone, or by the advantages which commerce might derive from them, but by the better feelings of the improved civilization which they are calculated to produce among these poor uninstructed savages. When the Indians, who had deserted her, came to the fort, Captain Franklin took the first opportunity of their being assembled in the hall, to send for the hunters who had preserved her, and their wives, and to reward them by a substantial present of clothing and ammunition. He gave them also some neat steel instruments, consisting of gimlets and other useful articles, which they were desired to preserve as a testimony of his approbation of their humanity. He concluded by sharply reproving the Dog-ribs for their unfeeling conduct.

It is fair also to mention, that such conduct is not without exceptions. In the month of December, a party of Hare Indians arrived at the fort, with some sledges of dried reindeer meat and furs. While they were unpacking their lading, the wife of a Dog-rib brought in her only child, a female, for medical advice: though it was evident that the hand of death was upon the infant, Dr. Richardson used various means for its recovery, but without effect. So gentle was its last sigh, that the mother was not at first aware of its death, but continued to press the infant to her bosom; as soon, however, as she perceived the truth, she cast herself on the ground in an agony heightened by the consciousness that she had delayed to seek relief till too late. Captain Franklin says it was most interesting to observe the sympathizing concern expressed by the Indians who were present; they discontinued their occupations, remained silent, and showed in their countenances what they felt. At the dawn of day, the poor creature, though almost exhausted by her ceaseless lamentation, carried the body across the lake for interment.

The 22d of December was their shortest day at the fort. The sun rose about half-past ten o'clock, A. M., and set about half-past one o'clock, P. M. On the 25th they celebrated Christmas, with innocent and cheerful festivity. Matthews, the carpenter, who had now joined the party, nearly recovered from his broken leg, displayed his taste by ornamenting a chandelier with cut paper and trinkets. Christmas-day falling on a Sunday, the men were regaled with the best fare the stores could supply; and on the following evening a dance was given, at which were present sixty persons, including the Indians, who sat as spectators of the merry scene. Seldom, perhaps, in such a confined space as the hall of the officers' building, or in the same number of persons, was there greater variety of character, or greater confusion of tongues. The party consisted of English, Highlanders, (who mostly conversed with each*Not a very good example to set before untutored savages, if they wished to convert them to a pure Christianity.--ED. other in Gaelic,) Canadians, Esquimaux, Chipewyan, Dog-ribs, Hare Indians, Cree women and children. I am afraid Patrick will be disappointed that there were no Irish among them; and I confess I am surprised at it myself, for seldom is there a gallant enterprise undertaken by our country, in which the reputation is not equally shared by the three parts of the United Kingdom.

On the 10th of April, Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall set out on snow-shoes, accompanied by an Indian guide and a man driving a dog-sledge with provisions, to complete the survey of the Bear Lake, which he had commenced in the preceding autumn; and this survey they finished by the first of May; finding the length of the lake, from east to west, to be one hundred and seventy-five miles; and its breadth, from north to south, one hundred and fifty miles. It is fed on the east by Dease River, which rises in the Coppermine Mountain, the Bear Lake River, on the western side, conveying its waters into the Mackenzie River. Its depth, in some places, is very great; forty-five fathoms of line having been let down near one of the shores, without finding bottom.

In the beginning of May, a flock of swans with some geese and ducks, were the harbingers of genial weather. The snow at this time was rapidly diminishing from the surface of the lake, and there were many spots of ground visible. The carpenters were now set to the repairs of the three boats, and to build a fourth boat, a little larger than the Lion, which received the name of the Reliance. They had plenty of white spruce-fir timber, which answered the purpose very well; but their many contrivances to make her sea-worthy will show how easily difficulties are overcome when invention is set to work. The timbers were fastened in the same way as other boats, but with iron instead of copper; and to procure sufficient nails they were obliged to cut up all the spare axes, trenches, and ice-chisels. Being without tar, they substituted strips of water-proof canvass, soaked in India-rubber varnish, to lay between the seams of the planks; and for paint made use of rosin, procured from the pine tree, boiled and mixed with grease.

Captain Franklin's attention was next directed to the necessary arrangements for the expedition. It was settled that Beaulieu, the interpreter, and four Canadians, should quit Fort Franklin on the 6th of August, and proceed direct to Dease River with a batteau, and wait the arrival of Dr. Richardson's party until the 20th of September. Mr. Dease was to keep the fort well stored with provisions, in case the western party should fail in reaching the Blossom, and be obliged to return.

On the 15th of June the men were furnished with the sky-blue water-proof uniforms, as well as with the warm clothing which had been provided for the voyage. Fourteen men, including Augustus, were appointed to accompany Captain Franklin and Lieutenant Back, in the Lion and Reliance, the two larger boats; and ten, including Oolegbuck, to go with Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall, in the Dolphin and Union.

On the following Sunday, the officers and men assembled at divine service, dressed in their new uniforms; and, in addition to the service of the day, the divine protection was implored on the enterprise they were about to commence; and at half past ten, on the 22d of June, the party quitted the house, leaving none but an old fisherman, named Coté, in charge, until Mr. Dease should return from Fort Norman, whither he was now proceeding on business. This worthy old man (says Captain Franklin) shared in the enthusiasm which animated the whole party, and would not allow them to depart without giving his hearty, though solitary, cheer, which the others returned in full chorus.

CHAPTER X.

THOUGH the whole party left Fort Franklin on the 22d of June, yet they met with so many obstructions, from the drifting ice, that they did not reach Fort Norman till the 25th. The longitude of this place was observed to be 124° 44' west, its latitude 64° 40' north.

Early on the morning of the 28th the boats again set out; and on the 1st of July they reached Fort Good Hope, and found there a large party of Loucheux Indians, who had been for some time waiting, with their wives and families, to see them. On the 3d they entered the part of the river where it widens, and from whence the different channels branch off. Here they encamped, to make the necessary arrangements for the separation of the two parties. Warm clothing, provisions, &c., were supplied to each.

Dr. Richardson's orders were, to take under his charge Mr. Kendall and ten men, and proceed, in the Dolphin and Union, to survey the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers. On reaching the latter, he was to travel by land to the north-east end of Bear Lake, where Beaulieu would meet him with a boat for the conveyance of his party to Fort Franklin, as already stated.

Mr. C. Were they well furnished with instruments necessary for taking observations?

Capt. M. The only deficiency was a chronometer, the mainsprings of two out of three furnished to the expedition having been broken. To supply its place, however, Mr. Dease lent his watch, which, being a good one, might enable Mr. Kendall to obtain the longitude pretty accurately.

By six in the morning of the 4th, the boats were all laden, and ready for departure. At Dr. Richardson's desire, the western party embarked first, and received the parting cheer, which, as you may suppose, was warmly returned.

The western party was distributed as follows:--

Lion.--John Franklin, captain, R. N.; William Duncan, cockswain; Thomas Matthews, carpenter; Gustavus Aird, bowman; George Wilson, marine; Archibald Steward, soldier; Neil M'Donald, voyager; Augustus, Esquimaux.

Reliance.--George Back, lieutenant, R. N.; Robert Spinks, cockswain; Robert Hallam, corporal of marines; Charles Mackenzie, bowman; Alexander Currie, middleman; Robert Spencer, do.; Alexis Vivier, Canadian; François Felix, do.

On the 7th of July they reached the mouth of the river, the latitude being 68° 56' north, the longitude 136° 19' west. Captain Franklin, while walking to the mouth of the river, discovered, on an island which formed the east side of the bay into which the Mackenzie opened, a crowd of tents, with many Esquimaux strolling among them. He quickly made a selection of articles as presents and for trade, as it was his intention to land among them, with Augustus; and he directed Lieutenant Back to keep the boats afloat, and the crews ready to support him, should the natives prove hostile; but he gave positive orders that none should make use of their fire-arms till he himself should set the example, or they were ordered to do so by Lieutenant Back.

The boats now entered the bay, which was about six miles wide, and steered toward the tents, with their ensigns flying. As they drew toward the island, the water became shallow, and they touched ground when about a mile from the beach. Unable, therefore, to approach nearer, they shouted and made signs to the Esquimaux to come off. The canoes were launched in such quick succession, that the whole space was soon covered with them.

Patrick. How many does a canoe hold?

Capt M. A canoe holds but one person, and is named a kaiyack; but they have a kind of open boat, for women and children, called ooniaks, capable of holding six or eight. Captain Franklin counted the canoes as they approached, and had proceeded as far as seventy-three, and five ooniaks, when the sea became so crowded by fresh arrivals that he could advance no farther in the reckoning. Three canoes, which headed the fleet, and were paddled by elderly men, halted within speaking distance, and did not advance till Augustus had explained to them the object of the expedition, and stated the advantages they would derive from trade, provided a navigable channel was found for large ships. This seemed to delight them much, for they repeated it to their countrymen, who testified their joy by tossing their arms aloft and raising a deafening shout of applause. Captain Franklin computed that the number collected was not less than two hundred and fifty or three hundred, who all anxiously pressed forward, offering for sale their bows, arrows, and spears. As, in the bustle and clamour of trade, it was impossible to obtain information respecting the coast, it was determined to leave them. In the mean time, however, the boats grounded, from the rapid ebb of the tide; so that it appeared they had no alternative but to wait the rising of the water, the whole bay being, as they informed Augustus alike flat.

Hitherto they had manifested the kindest disposition, and even assisted to drag the boats into deep water; but an accident put an end to this friendly intercourse. A kaiyack being overset by one of the Lion's oars, its owner was plunged into the water, with his head in the mud, and apparently in danger of being drowned. He was instantly extricated from his unpleasant situation, and taken into the boat; and Augustus, good-naturedly, gave him his own great coat, to wrap around him. At first he was extremely angry, but he soon became reconciled to his situation, and began to ask for every thing he saw. Displeased at being refused, he left the boat, and told his companions what he had seen; so that they soon came close, and endeavoured to get aboard, though without success. It was afterward discovered that the man whose kaiyack had been upset had stolen a pistol from Lieutenant Back, and the sight of such a valuable article made them all eager to get something, by theft, if not by barter. The tide was not knee-deep at the boats, and soon the younger men came wading in crowds around the boats, and tried to steal every thing within their reach. At length, seizing the Reliance by the bow, they began to drag her toward the shore, and soon after the Lion.

Patrick. Had I been Captain Franklin, I should have directed the men to fire.

Capt. M. Had Captain Franklin been you, Patrick, perhaps that is what he would have done; but he wished to abstain from shedding blood as long as possible. Two of the most powerful men jumped aboard his boat, seized him by the wrists, and forced him to sit between them; and, as he shook them loose two or three times, a third Esquimaux took his station in front, to catch his arm, whenever he should attempt to lift his gun, or the broad dagger which hung by his side. The whole way to the shore they kept repeating the word "teyma," beating gently on his left breast, and pressing his hands against their breasts. The Reliance and Lion were now dragged on shore, and a numerous party drawing their knives, and stripping themselves to the waist, began to pillage the Reliance, handing the articles to the women, who, ranging themselves in a row behind, quickly conveyed them out of sight.

Patrick. Now, at least, they took up their arms, and fired.

Capt. M. (smiling.) Not yet, Patrick. Lieutenant Back and his crew strenuously, but good-humouredly, resisted, and rescued many things from their grasp; but they were overpowered by numbers, and had even some difficulty in preserving their arms. One man had the audacity to snatch Vivier's knife from his breast, and to cut the buttons from his coat, while three stout Esquimaux surrounded Lieutenant Back, with uplifted daggers, and were incessant in their demands for whatever attracted their attention. In this juncture, a young chief, coming to his aid, drove the assailants away. They carried off, however, a writing desk and cloak, which the chief rescued, and then, seating himself on Lieutenant Back's knee, he endeavoured to persuade his countrymen to desist, by vociferating, "Teyma, teyma."

The Lion had to cope with smaller numbers, and her crew, by beating the natives off with the butt-ends of their muskets, had been able to prevent any article of importance from being carried away. Captain Franklin had gone, with Augustus, to assist in repressing the tumult in the Reliance; but he was soon summoned back, and, on his return, found the sides of the Lion lined with Esquimaux, as thick as they could stand, brandishing their knives in a furious manner, and attempting to seize whatever was moveable. Several articles were carried away, and the principal object of the crew was now to prevent the loss of the arms, oars, or masts, or any thing on which the success of the voyage and safety of the party depended. Many attempts were made to purloin the box containing the astronomical instruments; and Duncan, after thrice rescuing it from their hands, made it fast to his leg with a cord, determined that they should drag him also away, if they took it.

Irritated, at length, by being so often foiled in their attempts, several of the Esquimaux jumped aboard, and forcibly endeavoured to take the daggers and shot belts that were about the crew's persons; Captain Franklin himself being engaged with three, who were endeavouring to disarm him. Lieutenant Back perceiving this, sent the young chief who had protected him to his captain's assistance, who, on his arrival, drove his countrymen out of the boat. But, in the mean time, the crew were nearly overpowered in the fore part of the boat; and, while Captain Franklin hastened to their aid, another party recommenced their operations on the stern. Just at that moment George Wilson had raised his musket to discharge its contents into the body of an Esquimaux, who had struck at him with a knife, and cut through his coat and waistcoat; when Captain Franklin stopped him, not knowing, indeed, the provocation he had received, nor that some other seamen had been similarly treated. In short, the struggle was now assuming a more serious aspect, when, on a sudden, the whole body of the assailants fled, seized with a panic, and hid themselves behind the drift timber and canoes on the beach.

William and Patrick (speaking at the same time.) How wonderful! What was the cause of their alarm?

Capt. M. Seldom has the hand of Providence more plainly interposed for the protection of the injured. By the great exertions of the crew, the Reliance suddenly floated; and Lieutenant Back, wisely judging that this was the proper moment for more active interference, directed his men to level their muskets, the sight of which at once put them to flight. The Lion happily floated soon after; so that both boats were able to retire from the beach.

William. Did they lose much by the attack?

Capt. M. The only things of importance which the Esquimaux carried off were, the mess canteens and kettles, a tent, a bale containing blankets and shoes, one of the men's bags, and the jib sails: the other articles which they took were of little value.

They had not proceeded above a quarter of a mile from the scene of action, which Captain Franklin named Pillage Point, when the boats took the ground again, at the distance of one hundred and fifty-six yards from the shore. Augustus now volunteered to go ashore and remonstrate with his countrymen on their bad conduct; and Captain Franklin consented the more readily on seeing the young chief, who had acted so friendly a part, among the crowd. His report of what occurred was in the highest degree interesting. "Your conduct," said he, "has been very bad, and unlike that of all other Esquimaux. Some of you even stole from me, your countryman; but this I do not mind; I only am sorry that you should have treated thus violently the white people, who came solely to do you a kindness. My tribe were in the same unhappy state in which you now are, before the white people came to Churchill; but at present they are supplied with every thing they need, and you see I am well clothed, and I get all that I want, and am very comfortable. You cannot expect, after the transactions of this day, that these people will ever bring goods to your country again, unless you show your contrition, by restoring the stolen goods. The white people love the Esquimaux, and wish to show them the same kindness that they bestow upon the Indians. Do not deceive yourselves, and suppose that they are afraid of you. I tell you they are not, and that it is entirely owing to their humanity that many of you were not killed to-day; for they have all guns, with which they can destroy you, either when near or at a distance. I, also, have a gun, and can assure you that, if a white man had fallen, I would have been the first to revenge his death."

The Esquimaux expressed great sorrow for their conduct, and begged Augustus to assure his friends that they would never do the like again; and as a proof of their sincerity, they restored the tent, the large kettle, and some shoes. They then invited him to join in a dance, and the brave little fellow actually remained with them upward of an hour, singing and dancing with all his might.

But, notwithstanding their fair professions, Captain Franklin suspected them, and his suspicions were soon confirmed: for, while the men were engaged in repairing the damage received from the Esquimaux, Lieut. Back espied the whole body paddling toward them. With all haste the party launched their boats through the surf, and had scarcely got them afloat, before some of the kaiyacks had arrived within speaking distance, and offered to restore the remainder of the articles which had been stolen; and they continued to advance, until Captain Franklin fired a ball ahead of the leading canoe, which had the desired effect, the whole party veering around, and rejoining their companions. Captain Franklin's prudence, in not permitting them to approach, was, soon after, fully justified by information which he received, that, after their first repulse, the Esquimaux regretted that they had suffered the party to escape, and had laid a very artful plan for their total destruction.

On the 8th of July the party proceeded along the coast, in a west-north-west direction, until eleven in the evening, when they halted on a low island, covered with driftwood; and on the following morning, at three o'clock, they kept on their course, at the distance of two miles from the land. Here the prospect before them became most discouraging, for the sea appeared as firmly frozen as if it was winter.

Captain Franklin took the precaution of setting a watch, whenever he took up ground for an encampment; and, indeed, that night proved how necessary his vigilance was; for hardly had they fallen asleep, when they were roused by the men on guard calling out that a party of Esquimaux were close to the tents, which soon turned them all out under arms. Three Esquimaux had come on them unawares, and were on the point of discharging their arrows, when Augustus's voice stopped them, and, by explaining the circumstance of our countrymen being there, soon calmed their fears. It was found that they belonged to a party whose tents were pitched at the distance of two miles; and, as they showed great delight at the presents they received, and appeared amicable, Augustus was allowed to accompany them to their friends, to invite them to come over: but precautions were taken to prevent their advancing beyond a prescribed distance.

Augustus soon returned, accompanied by twenty men and two elderly women, who halted at the boundary: and, being directed to approach singly, they each received presents of beads, fish-hooks, and trinkets. At the desire of Augustus, Captain Franklin put on his gayest dress and his medals. The Esquimaux expressed the greatest surprise and delight at his appearance, and his numerous ornaments so engaged their minds that their attention could not be drawn, for half an hour, to answer the questions put to them respecting the coast. When they at length did attend, their account was sufficiently disheartening, as they said ice often adheres to the land for an entire summer; and they added, that any channels which were on the coast were unsafe for boats, as the ice was continually tossing about. But as they told Augustus that they seldom travelled to the westward beyond a few days' journey, Captain Franklin was not much discouraged by their report.

On the following morning, another party of Esquimaux came to visit Captain Franklin with their women and children, whose number altogether amounted to forty-eight persons. They seated themselves in a semicircle, the men being in front, the women behind. Presents were made to those who had not before received any. Beads, pins, needles, and ornamental articles were most in request by the women, to whom the goods principally belonged: but the men were eager to get any thing that was made of iron. They were supplied with hatchets, files, ice-chisels, fire-steels, Indian awls, and fish-hooks. It was amusing to see the purpose to which they applied some of the articles given to them. Some of the men danced about with a large codfish-hook dangling from the nose; others stuck an awl through the same part; and the women immediately decorated their dresses with the ear-rings, thimbles, or whatever trinkets they received. As they were already well supplied with knives, none were given.

Mr. Jones. Were there any circumstances which marked them as a different people from those seen by Captain Parry?

Capt. M. These people were taller than Augustus, and more stout and robust: their cheek bones were less projecting than the representations given of the Esquimaux on the eastern coast; but they had the same small eye and broad nose which ever distinguish that people. They wore the hair on the upper lip and chin, the latter, as well as that on the head, being suffered to grow long. Every man had pieces of bone or shells thrust through the sceptum of the nose; and holes were pierced on each side of the under lip, in which were placed circular pieces of ivory with a large blue bead in the centre, like the inhabitants of the north-west of America.

Patrick. How were they dressed, sir?

Capt. M. In a jacket of reindeer skin, with a skirt behind and before, and a small hood, breeches of the same, and seal-skin boots. Their weapons for the chase are bows and arrows, very neatly made, the latter being headed with bone or iron; and for fishing, they used spears tipped with bone. The dress of the women differed from that of the men only in their wearing wide trowsers, and in their hoods, which do not fit close to the head, but are made large for the purpose of receiving their children. These are ornamented with stripes of different coloured skins, and around the top is fastened a band of wolf's hair, made to stand erect. Their own black hair is very tastefully turned up from behind to the top of the head, and tied by strings of white and blue beads, or cords of white deerskin. It is divided in front, so as to form on each side a thick tail, to which are hung strings of beads that reach to the waist. The women were above four feet and a half, and generally fat. Lieutenant Back took a likeness of one who was very pretty, and she showed her joy by smiling and jumping about: the men also sat for their portraits, and were not less pleased, though they were more sedate than the females.

On the 11th a north-east gale came on in the evening, and rolled such a heavy surf on the beach, that twice, during the night, the party were roused to drag the boats and cargoes higher up. This, however, was not attended with difficulty, for you will observe that they had the sun constantly above the horizon, a circumstance which caused a great many amusing mistakes among the men with respect to the hour.

On the 13th, the wind having opened a passage for the boats, they were immediately launched: and the sails being set they passed a wide, but not a deep bay, whose points were named Sabine and King Points. Here, however, again, a compact body of ice was observed, joined to the land ahead, and at the same time a dense fog came on, which prevented their seeing an oar's length before them. Indeed they were in great danger, the wind having suddenly shifted, and raised a heavy swell, which brought down masses of ice of a size that, tossed about as they were by the waves, would have injured a ship. For five hours they continued pulling in and out between the masses of ice, before they could get near the shore. Providentially, however, they effected a landing, and the rain having ceased, and the fog, for a short time, cleared away, they observed the whole sea to the westward completely blocked up, and no appearance of a disruption of the ice which would allow their progress. Their fatigue and sufferings were now greatly augmented. Sometimes, when the ice broke a little from the land, if they pushed into the opening, they found all advance closed against them, and were obliged to retrace their course: at others, they discovered that the narrow channel, which was at times not wide enough for the oars to ply, led into the interior of a reef, and they were obliged to haul their boats over it and launch them on the other side; not unfrequently, when forced by the swell, which dashed the ice toward land in huge masses, to draw the boats upon the beach, if, on looking from a height, they saw open water at the distance of half a mile from the shore, they had to drag the boats over the intervening ice, in order to embark again on their way. One morning they made two miles and three quarters, and they were obliged to stop for the two following days, waiting for the ice to open. But the greatest difficulties the expedition had to encounter were occasioned by the dense fog which prevailed for some portion of almost every day, after they had left the mouth of the Mackenzie, and often prevented them seeing one end of the boat from the other. Indeed, on one occasion they were detained by a fog in the same spot nine days, without being able to do any thing to forward the object of the expedition. In the mean time the ill effects began to appear in the declining health of the crew.

I must now concisely state the observations they made on the coast. They found that the entire range called the Rocky Mountains was divided into four distinct chains, which, as they proceeded westward, were called successively, Richardson's, Buckland, British, and Romanzoff's chains. When they had passed the first of these ranges, they observed, between it and the second, a large river, at least two miles broad, which emptied itself into the sea, after coming, as they were informed by the Esquimaux, from a distant part of the interior. The bay into which this river flows was called Philip's Bay. On the 17th of July they discovered Herschel Island, lying a few miles from the main land, in latitude 69° 33' north, longitude 139° 3' west. Opposite this island was another river, which the Esquimaux call Mountain Indian River: and this part of the coast is farther remarkable, as being the only place Captain Franklin had seen since quitting the Mackenzie River in which a ship could find shelter. On the 27th of July they passed another large river, which they called the Clarence River, in honour of his royal highness the duke of Clarence. Here, and on the most elevated point of land near its mouth, they deposited, under a pile of drift timber, a tin box, containing a royal silver-medal, with an account of the proceedings of the expedition. This was nearly in latitude 69° 38' north, and longitude 140° 46' west.

On the 30th of July they witnessed the setting sun, at half-past eleven o'clock, P. M.; "a most unwelcome sight," Captain Franklin says, "for it forced upon the mind the conviction that the favourable season for operation was fast passing away, while as yet they had made but little progress."

On the 31st of July they reached Point Demarcation, which was so named from its being situated in longitude 141° west, the boundary between the British and Russian dominions on the northern coast of America. On the 3d of August, in latitude 69° 43' north, and longitude 141° 30' west, they crossed a bay, which Captain Franklin called Beaufort Bay. In latitude 70° 5' north, and longitude 143° 55' west, they passed another, which was called Camden Bay. In latitude 70° 7' north, and longitude 145° 27' west, they met a large river, to which they gave the name of Canning River. On the 7th, in latitude 70° 16' north, longitude 147° 38' west, they reached Foggy Island, which Captain Franklin so designated, because the expedition was detained there by continual fogs for nine days, extremely distressed by the painful conviction, that every day of their being shut up here was taking away from the hope o accomplishing the object they had in view.

The weather at length becoming clearer, they embarked on the 16th, and passed the point, which, from having so often vainly attempted to reach from Foggy Island, had been named Point Anxiety. They passed Point Chandos, eight miles to the westward, and the mouth of an inlet, which was called Yarborough Inlet; but they were compelled by the return of the fog, and the drifting ice, again to seek for a landing place. After being frustrated in various attempts, they suddenly got into smooth water, and found, on a temporary dispersion of the fog, that they were surrounded with banks, nearly on a level with the water, and protected to seaward by a large body of ice aground. They landed, and encamped on one of these banks. But it now became the duty of Captain Franklin to consider what was his prospect of ultimately reaching Icy Cape, as the 16th of August had arrived, only a day earlier than the commencement of winter, on his former expedition, when he was two degrees more to the south; and yet in the space of forty days he had reached only the half-way point between Mackenzie River and Icy Cape, while every thing indicated the immediate approach of winter. He was aware that he had higher duties to perform than the gratification of his own feelings. The lives of his party were placed in his hands, and this paramount consideration forced him to the conclusion that he had reached the point beyond which perseverance would be rashness, and all his efforts fruitless.

Patrick. I am sorry he did not press on; it would have been so great an advantage to complete the survey of the North American coast, from the Mackenzie to Icy Cape.

Mr. C. You should consider, Patrick, what had been the difficulties of navigating such a coast during the finest part of the summer, if any portion of a season which had been marked by a succession of fogs and gales could have been called so. During that time no opportunity of advancing had been let slip; and yet from Herschel Island westward they had explored but ten degrees of longitude.

Mr. Jones. I suppose the Blossom was at the appointed place waiting for them.

Capt. M. When the Blossom arrived off Icy Cape, on the 18th of August, Captain Beechey despatched Mr. Elson, the master, in the barge to meet the expedition, if it should be advancing and he proceeded to latitude 71° 23' north, longitude 154° 21' west, where he found his course obstructed by a compact body of ice. This point, which is the most northern part of the continent, lies one hundred and twenty miles east of Icy Cape, so that there were still nine degrees of longitude between the two parties. Captain Beechey's party now ascertained the outline of the land around Gwydyr Bay, and named its outer point after Lieutenant Back; and saw fifteen miles beyond it, a still more westerly hummock, which was distinguished by the name of Point Beechey, from the captain of the Blossom. At this latter place, in latitude 70° 24' north, and longitude 149° 37' west, their discoveries terminated, the whole distance traced westward from the mouth of the Mackenzie River being three hundred and seventy-four miles.

On the 18th of August the party quitted Return Reef, and began to retrace their way toward the Mackenzie, through fogs, drift ice, and shoals; and on one occasion, while passing between Point Kay and Point King, they met with such a violent tempest that they were forced to make for the shore: they took the ground in a favourable spot, where the boats were unloaded and dragged up, without having sustained any material damage.

On the 30th of August, Captain Franklin's party entered the Mackenzie River, and on the following evening encamped within the limit of the spruce-fir trees. On the 7th of September they arrived at Fort Good Hope; on the 16th at the entrance of Bear Lake River; and on the 21st they safely reached Fort Franklin, where they had the happiness of finding Doctor Richardson and his party, who had arrived on the 1st, after a most successful voyage.

The proceedings of the eastern expedition were so prosperous throughout, and met with so few obstructions, either from the ice or the weather, that you will not find them so full of incident as the narrative of Captain Franklin's course. It is highly important, however, in a geographical point of view.

The detachment was composed of twelve individuals, distributed in two boats--the Dolphin and the Union--as follows:

Dolphin--Doctor Richardson; Thomas Gillet, cockswain; John M'Lellan, bowman; Shadrach Tysoe, mariner; Thomas Fuller, carpenter; Oolegbuck, Esquimaux.

Union--Mr. Kendal; John M'Leay, cockswain; George Munroe, bowman; William Money, mariner; John M'Duffey; George Harkness.

After leaving Point Separation, on the 4th of July, 1826, they proceeded along the Middle Channel, and passed William's Island on the 5th. On the 6th they passed Sacred Isle, so called from being the burial place of the Esquimaux; also Richards's Island, where the party landed for the night, in latitude 69° 4' north, and longitude 134° 10' west.

On the morning of the 7th, embarking at four o'clock, they came alongside four or five Esquimaux tents, with several skin-canoes and boats, lying on the beach; and they had for some time to resist an attack, little inferior in violence to that which Captain Franklin's party had experienced; but the prudence of Dr. Richardson, assisted by Oolegbuck, the interpreter, frustrated the design of their assailants, and they at length commenced bartering, in an amicable manner, fish, adzes, spears, and arrows, for beads, fire-steels, flints, files, knives, hatchets, and kettles. In this traffic they showed considerable intelligence, not displaying all they had for sale at once, lest the appearance of abundance should lower their price, and not attempting to outbid each other. Like all other tribes of Esquimaux, however, whom Captain Franklin or Dr. Richardson met, they missed no opportunity of stealing whatever they could lay their hands on, and frequently acted in concert. Thus, one fellow would lay hold of the boat with both his hands, and, while the men endeavoured to disengage them, his companion, on the other side, was employed in carrying off something with all the coolness of a practised thief. They were in almost every instance detected, and always restored, with perfect good humour, every thing as soon as it was demanded, often laughing heartily at their own want of address. The spot where this transaction took place was named Point Encounter, and is in latitude 69° 16' north, and longitude 136° 20' west.

On the 8th of July, having now left the channel of the river, and got into the Arctic Sea, they anchored the boats by poles stuck in the mud; but a terrible tempest prevented them from enjoying any repose till the following morning. On the 11th they were in 69° 42' north, and 130° 58' west. On the 13th, they pitched their tents on Cape Warren; after which they passed Hutchinson Bay, Philip's Island, and Atkinson's Island; the latter is situated in latitude 69° 55' north, longitude 130° 43' west. On the 14th they crossed M'Kinley Bay and Browell Cove. On the 15th they passed Rumb Inlet, Cape Brown, Cape Dalhousie, and Liverpool Bay; after which the land stretched very much to the north, in a kind of promontory, which was called Cape Bathurst. Doubling this, the land trended to the south-east. It was as they approached Cape Bathurst they saw twelve Esquimaux tents, the owners of which ran out, brandishing their knives, and forbidding the party to land. However, on Dr. Richardson's using the well known words, Noower lawgo, (I wish to barter,) they became quiet, and boldly went alongside, to exchange their spears, arrows, bows, &c., for pieces of old iron-hoop, files, and beads. The females of this tribe were better-looking than the men, and one young woman of the party would have been deemed pretty, even in this country. The presents they received seemed to make them perfectly happy: to excite the liberality, however, of the party, the mothers drew their children out of their wide boots, where they are accustomed to carry them naked, and, holding them up, begged beads for them.

From the 18th to the 21st they coasted along Fitton Point, Trail Point, and the mouth of Wilmot Horton's River, in latitude 69° 50' north, longitude 125° 55' west.

On the 22d they continued their course along the eastern side of the bay, which was marked by the two headlands, Cape Bathurst on the west, and Cape Parry on the east. To this bay Dr. Richardson gave the name of his commander, Captain Franklin; and to a cluster of islands, north of Cape Parry, the name of Booth Islands.

On the 24th they sailed down the eastern side of the promontory which is terminated by Cape Parry, passed Clapperton Island, in latitude 69° 41', which they found to be nearly in the same meridian of longitude as Fort Franklin, from which it was distant three hundred and thirteen miles in a straight line. The nearest part of the Great Bear Lake, however, and the Arctic Sea, does not much exceed one hundred and ninety miles. On the 25th they reached the extremity of another promontory, which was called Cape Lyon, the bay between it and Cape Parry being denominated Darnley Bay.

On the 26th the lower part of the sun's orb just touched the horizon at midnight, for as yet they had no darkness. On the 27th, at eight in the evening, they started from Cape Lyon, and, running nearly east, passed, on the 28th, Point Keats, Point Deas Thompson, Palgrave River, Roscoe River, forty-eight miles east of Cape Lyon, in latitude 69° 41' north, longitude 121° 2' west. On the 29th they passed Point De Witt Clinton; and, on the 30th, came up with a compact body of ice, which barred their farther progress, and obliged them to make for the beach: in nearing it, the Union narrowly escaped being crushed by two large floes of ice. On the 31st they passed Buchanan River, and Tinney Point, in latitude 69° 17' north, longitude 119° 27' west; and on the 1st of August, Clifton Point, Croker River, Clerk's Island, Inman River, and Wise Point, which last is situated in latitude 69° north, longitude 118° west.

On the 2d of August they continued their course, giving the name of Harding River to a wide but shallow stream, which flowed between two sand-hills of the sea. Five miles beyond this, on the extremity of a rocky cape, the Esquimaux had constructed some storehouses of drift timber, which were filled with dried deer's meat and seal blubber; along with which, cooking kettles and lamps made of hard stone, called pot-stone, copper-headed spears, and various other articles, were carefully laid up. Our party felt a benevolent pleasure in figuring to themselves the surprise and joy which the Esquimaux would behold, on their return, the iron utensils which they deposited in their storehouses for their use.

On part of the 2d and 3d the boats, for some miles, made way for themselves, by the constant use of the hatchet and ice-chisel. By reckoning, they were now nearly in the longitude of Coppermine River, but about seventy miles north of it.

On the 4th they passed a strait between the main land and Woolaston Island, which they named, after their little boats, the Dolphin and Union Straits. It varied in width from twelve to twenty miles. On the 5th Chantry Island was passed, in latitude 68° 45' north, longitude 114° 23' west; also, Sutton and Liston's Islands. On the 6th, the Dolphin was caught between a floe and a piece of ice that lay aground, and fairly raised out of the water by the pressure, which broke one of her timbers and several of her planks.

We now draw near the Coppermine River, and I have given you a few of the names and bearings of the coast, in order that, with a map, you may be able to trace the gradual progress of the expedition from west to east. On the 7th, they entered George the Fourth's Coronation Gulf, at a cape to which they gave the name of Krusenstern, lying in latitude 68° 23' north, and longitude 113° 45' west. From a cliff, near Cape Krusenstern, they saw across the Gulf to Cape Barrow, in longitude 111° 20' west, the space between being crowded with islands.

On the 8th the party landed on a bold cape, which Dr. Richardson called after his companion and friend, Cape Kendal: and from its summit he had the pleasure of pointing out to him the gap in the hills at Bloody Falls, through which the Coppermine River flows. At noon the situation of Cape Kendal was ascertained to be 67° 58' north, longitude 115° 18' west; and now they announced to the men that a short travel would bring them to the mouth of the Coppermine River. They immediately steered for that wished-for destination, with the sails set to a fine breeze; and, on rounding Cape Kendal, opened a magnificent inlet, or bay, rendered very picturesque by the manner in which its lofty cliffs came successively in sight as they crossed its mouth. This bay was distinguished by the name of their friend, Lieut. Back.

Mr. Jones. The completion of the sea voyage so early in the season must have proved a great subject of congratulation to the whole party.

Capt. M. Yes; and to see the men, fresh and vigorous, and ready to commence the laborious march across the barren grounds, to the Great Bear Lake, was a still farther cause of thankfulness.

Mr. C. Without a chronometer, it must have been difficult for Mr. Kendal to calculate the reckonings accurately.

Capt. M. And yet so correct were his observations that, on approaching the Coppermine River, Mr. Kendal's reckoning differed from the position of that place, as laid down by Captain Franklin, only twenty seconds of time, or about two miles and a half of distance, which is a very trifling variation, when all the circumstances are taken into account.

William. It appears to me that the natives, who were met by Dr. Richardson during his voyage, were more numerous and apparently more wealthy than those west of the Mackenzie.

Capt. M. Yes; and Dr. Richardson remarked that their winter huts were of a superior kind. On one occasion they saw an Esquimaux village, in which there was a very curious building, evidently intended for an assembly-house for the tribe. It was in the interior a square of twenty-seven feet, having the log-roof resting on four upright posts. The floor was formed of split logs, and surrounded by a raised border for seats. The outside, covered with earth, had nearly a dome-shape form, and around its base there were ranged the skulls of twenty-one whales. The general attention to comfort in the construction of the village, and the erection of a building of such magnitude, evinced no small progress toward civilization. Drift wood was sometimes found of a very large size. Doctor Richardson mentions one straight log of spruce fir, thirty feet long, seven feet in circumference at the small end, and twelve a short distance above the root. He also makes a remark which deserves to be mentioned, that should the course of events ever introduce a steam vessel into those seas, in coasting from Cape Bathurst to Mackenzie River, fire wood sufficient for her daily consumption may be gathered without any difficulty.

CHAPTER XI.

ON the 9th of August, Dr. Richardson and his party left the encampment, in the boats, for the Bloody Falls. Here they were obliged toArctic Travels, Winter Houses of the Esquimaux. p. 171. leave the Dolphin and Union, together with every thing that was not necessary for the journey. Twenty pounds of pemmican were allotted to each man, and the packages of other articles, with the blankets, spare shoes, guns, and ammunition, made a load of about seventy-two pounds a man.

Arctic Travels, Winter Houses of the Esquimaux. p. 171.

Patrick. What was done with the boats and various stores which they could not carry with them?

Capt. M. Exactly what you might expect from a benevolent nation, anxious to do good to the poor people among whom their expedition had now passed so much time. The boats were drawn upon shore, out of the reach of any flood, and the articles which had been brought to give to the Esquimaux were put in boxes and placed in the tents, that they might be readily found by the first party that should pass that way: they consisted of fish-hooks, lines, hatchets, knives, files, fire-steels, kettles, combs, awls, needles, thread, blue and red cloth, gartering, and beads, sufficient to serve a considerable number for several years. The tents were securely pitched, and the union-jack hoisted, partly to attract the notice of the natives, and partly to show them the mode of using the tents--a hint which may prove very useful in their summer journeys.

On Thursday, the 10th of August, at six o'clock in the morning, they began their march. On setting out, Mr. Kendal walked at the head of the line, at a steady pace, halting for five minutes every half-hour to rest the party, and to prevent straggling. The distance travelled each day was from twelve to seventeen miles, and they generally halted for the night at about five o'clock, P. M.

On the 18th they reached a bay of the Bear Lake, about a mile from Dease River; but, to their great mortification, Beaulieu did not arrive till the 24th, though he was to have left Fort Franklin on the 6th. He was accompanied by four Canadians, four Chipewyans, and ten Dog-ribs, their wives and children, amounting in all to thirty. The party embarked on the 28th in the boat which brought Beaulieu, and reached the fort on the 1st of September, after an absence of seventy-one days, in which time they had travelled by land and water one thousand seven hundred and nine geographical, or nineteen hundred and eighty statute miles.

On the 21st, as already mentioned, they were joined by the western expedition; and thus was the whole party again reunited, after the perils and hardships they had undergone. They were greatly disappointed at finding that, notwithstanding the zeal and exertions of Mr. Dease, there were no provisions stored for their winter consumption, owing to the apathy and indolence of the Dog-ribs; but supplies were soon received from Fort Norman, which furnished them not only with food, but with clothing, of which the eastern party were in great need. A large packet of letters was also received from England, soon after they reached the fort; and you will be glad to hear, my boys, that they brought out the intelligence that Lieutenant Back had been promoted to the rank of commander in the royal navy.

The united party remained at the fort during the four following months, with the exception of Dr. Richardson, who, accompanied by Augustus, left it in the month of December, to complete his account of these unfrequented regions. The cold became so intense that in the beginning of February the thermometer was ninety degrees below the freezing point; and Mr. Kendal froze some mercury in the mould of a pistol bullet, and fired it against a door at the distance of six paces.

On the 20th of February, Captain Franklin, anxious to set out on his return, quitted the fort, accompanied by five men of his crew, and two Indians, dragging sixty pounds of pemmican on their sledges, leaving directions that Captain Back and the remainder of the party should proceed to York Fort, as soon as the ice broke, and then, by the Hudson's Bay ship to England. He spent some time at Fort Simpson, Fort Resolution, &c. On the 18th of June he reached Cumberland-house, where he rejoined his friend Dr. Richardson. At Norway-house they took leave of Augustus, who was to wait for Captain Back's arrival. The tears which this affectionate and faithful creature shed at parting showed the warmth of his attachment, and called forth corresponding emotions in Captain Franklin. They now took the route by Montreal and Lake Champlain, to New-York, where they embarked on the 1st of September, and arrived at Liverpool on the 26th, after an absence of two years seven months and a half. Captain Back, Lieutenant Kendal, and the rest of the British party arrived at Portsmouth on the 10th of the following month, to enjoy that reputation which their exemplary conduct and exertions had so deservedly earned for them.

Let us not forget the advantages which science has gained by this expedition. The fact of a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is now fully established, and the practicability of a passage from the other rendered nearly certain. The North American coast has been actually surveyed, from the meridian of 109° to 149°; and again, from Icy Cape, west, to 156° east; so that not more than fifty leagues of unsurveyed coast are left, from Point Turnagain to Icy Cape. The savage tribes of the frozen regions have been taught the value of industry and exertion, and furnished with various tools and utensils, necessary to their improvement in the arts of civilized life; and such views of their moral duties have been impressed upon them as may, perhaps, prove instrumental in leading them to Christianity.

Mr. Jones. I cannot adequately express my gratitude to you, Captain Mackey, for your interesting narrative, and believe me, that, wherever your future lot in life may be cast, you will always possess the esteem and best wishes of my family.

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