Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea Part 15

On the 16th of February, Augustus and two Dog-Ribs were sent forward to be at the track in the line of my intended route. My departure being fixed for the 20th, the charts, drawings, journals, and provisions were distributed between the cariole and three sledges of which my train consisted; and as the dogs were in too weak a condition for drawing heavy burdens, two Indians were engaged, to accompany us four days, for the purpose of carrying part of the pemmican. I afterwards delivered written instructions to Captain Back, directing him to proceed to York Factory as soon as the ice should break, and from thence, by the Hudson's Bay s.h.i.+p, to England, taking with him the British party, but to send the Canadians to Montreal. Augustus and Ooligbuck were to be forwarded to Churchill, that they might rejoin their relatives.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 20th.] At ten A.M., I quitted the Fort, accompanied by five of our men and the two Indians, the latter dragging each sixty pounds of pemmican on their sledges. Captain Back, the officers, and men a.s.sembled to give us a farewell salute of three hearty cheers, which served to renew my regret at leaving a society whose members had endeared themselves to me by unremitting attention to their duties, and the greatest personal kindness. We crossed the lake expeditiously, favoured by a north-west gale, and then continued our course to the southward until sunset. The mode of bivouacking in the winter, as well as the course of proceeding, having been so fully described in my former Narrative, and by several other travellers in this country, I need not repeat them. We usually set forward at the first appearance of light and marched until sunset, halting an hour to breakfast. The rate of walking depended on the depth of snow; where the track was good, we made about two miles in the hour.

On the evening of the second day, we were deserted by our Indian companions, who, as we afterwards learned, took advantage of the rest of the party being some distance in advance of them, to turn back to the nearest wood, and there deposit the pemmican on a stage which they constructed by the road side. Supposing that they had only halted in consequence of the gale that was then blowing, we did not send to look after them before the following morning, when every trace of their path was covered with the snow drift; and as I considered we might possibly spend some time in a fruitless search, I thought the wisest course was to put the party and dogs on a shorter allowance than usual, and proceed on our journey. Their conduct affords another instance of the little dependence that ought to be placed on the Indians of this country, when more than ordinary exertion is required.

[Sidenote: March.] We travelled fifty miles through a swampy level country, thinly wooded, with a few ridges of hills visible in the distance, east and west of our course. The country was uneven and better wooded for the succeeding thirty miles. We next crossed a steep range of hills elevated about eight hundred feet above the surrounding land, and then pa.s.sing over a succession of lower hills and vallies, descended to the Mackenzie, and following that river for thirty miles, came to Fort Simpson on the 8th of March; the whole distance being two hundred and twenty miles, and for the last one hundred and seventy miles, through a well wooded country. We crossed several rivers which flow into the Mackenzie, and some considerable lakes which are laid down in the map.

But one solitary family of Indians were seen on the journey, and these were stationed within a day's march of Fort Simpson. They had inclosed large tracts of ground with hedges, in which they set snares for hares, and, being very successful, were living in abundance, and were well clothed, their dress consisting princ.i.p.ally of hare skins.

As soon as Mr. Smith, the chief Factor of the District, was informed of our approach, and that we were short of provisions, in consequence of the Indians having made off with the pemmican, he kindly sent a supply of fresh meat for our use; and on our arrival at the Fort, he gave us the most friendly reception. Our Indian guide had never been nearer to Fort Simpson by land, than the Lake of the Elevated Land, and only once by the course of the Mackenzie, many years before the Fort was built; and yet if he had not been led aside by falling upon the track leading to the Indians above-mentioned, he would have come upon the Mackenzie, directly opposite Fort Simpson. His course he told me was governed by his recollection of a particular mountain, which he remembered to have noticed from the Mackenzie, and which we now pa.s.sed within two miles, but on his former visit, he did not approach it nearer than eighteen miles. Its outline must have appeared so different when seen from these distances, that one can hardly imagine a less observant eye than that of an Indian recognising any of its distinguis.h.i.+ng points, especially as it was not a detached mountain, but formed one of a line of hills of considerable extent. Our dogs being completely tired, I remained a week to recruit their strength. During this interval I had the opportunity of examining all the accounts which the Hudson's Bay Company had to present for supplies to the Expedition from this department, and of making provision for the outward journey of Captain Back and his party.

Arrangements were also made, that the Hudson's Bay Company should take, at a valuation, the spare stores of the Expedition on its quitting Bear Lake. I accompanied Mr. Smith to a part of the River of the Mountains, where a portion of the bank, several acres in extent, had been torn off, and thrown a considerable distance into the channel of the river. The disruption took place in the preceding November, some days after the water had been frozen, and when there was no apparent cause for its separation. When the water is flowing over the banks, and the earth is in consequence loosened, the falling of the bank is not unfrequent in the Mackenzie, though on a much smaller scale than in this instance. I can only account for the separation of the ma.s.s after the ground had been frozen, by the supposition, that there was some spring of warm water in its rear, which loosened the soil, and that the pressure of the ice contributed, with the weight of snow at the top, to its overthrow.

At the time of my visit, an Indian woman committed suicide, by hanging herself, in a fit of jealousy, at an encampment a short distance from the Fort. I had thought that suicide was extremely rare among the Northern Indians; but I subsequently learned that it was not so uncommon as I had imagined, and I was informed of two instances that occurred in the year of 1826. The weather was remarkably mild; during my stay icicles were formed on the southern front of the house, and there were many other indications of an early spring.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 15th.] On the afternoon of the 15th of March I took leave of Mr. Smith, who kindly furnished me with his best dog for my cariole, one of mine having proved unfit for the journey to Slave Lake; we were also indebted to him for the skin of a mountain goat and a lynx; and to Mr. M'Pherson for the skins of several smaller animals and birds, from the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, which they added to our collection. Having sent back one of my men with the Indian guides to Bear Lake, we had now only two sledges; but as we were unable to carry the whole of our lading, Mr. Smith had the goodness to send a sledge and one of his men to convey a part of the provisions for four days. At the distance of eight miles we met two men with a cariole and sledge, which Mr. M'Vicar had sent for my use from Slave Lake; but being well provided I did not require the services of this party, though we derived great benefit from their track as we proceeded, and also from some deposits of provision which they had made on the route.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 21st.] Following the course of the Mackenzie, we arrived, on the 21st, at the expansion of the river called the Little Lake, and there had the pleasure of meeting two Canadians, on their way to Bear Lake, with a packet of letters from England. We hastened towards the sh.o.r.e and encamped; and though the night was piercingly cold, I spent the greatest part of it most agreeably, scanning the contents of the box by the unsteady light of a blazing fire. After breakfast next morning I despatched the packet to its destination, under the charge of M'Leay, who had accompanied me from Bear Lake, and retained one of the Canadians in his stead. We arrived at Fort Resolution, on the Slave Lake to breakfast, on the 26th, and I once more had the happiness of receiving the friendly attentions of Mr. M'Vicar, to whom it will be remembered by the readers of my last Narrative, that the members of that Expedition were so greatly indebted for his tender care of them after their sufferings. Dr. Richardson had quitted this place in the preceding December, for the purpose of joining Mr. Drummond, the a.s.sistant Botanist in the Saskatchawan River, and that he might have the benefit of an earlier spring than in this quarter to collect plants. The prospect here being completely wintry, I made another halt of eight days, being desirous of remaining as long as I could, without incurring the risk of exposure to the thaw on my way to Fort Chipewyan.

I was glad to find that the Chipewyans and Copper Indians were at length employing dogs to drag their sledges. A superst.i.tious belief that their own origin was derived from those animals, had for several years past thrown this laborious and degrading occupation on the poor women, who, by the change, experienced a most happy relief. It was indeed, highly gratifying to observe that these Indians no longer beat their wives in the cruel manner to which they had been formerly accustomed; and that, in the comparative tenderness with which they now treat the s.e.x, they have made the first and greatest step to all moral and general improvement.

It will be recollected that on receiving, at Bear Lake, a report of the traces of white people having been seen near the sea-coast, I had requested that Mr. M'Vicar would collect a party of Indians, and send them to the spot to convey a letter from me to Captain Parry. Mr.

M'Vicar now informed me that some Indians had left his Fort for the purpose, under the charge of a Canadian, named Joseph St. Pierre, who volunteered for the occasion, but the Indians continued with him only for a short distance beyond the east end of Slave Lake, when they became weary of their journey, and dropping off one by one, left him alone. St.

Pierre, however, having determined to deliver the letter to Captain Parry, if possible, persevered for many days in a fruitless search for the river on the banks of which the marks were reported to have been seen; even after he had sustained the loss of all his clothes (except those on his person,) by the gra.s.s catching fire when he was asleep; but at length, being short of food, his shoes worn out, and almost without covering for his feet, he was compelled to return to the Fort. He was not at the house at the time of my visit, but I left an order with Mr.

M'Vicar, that he might be rewarded for his zeal and exertions, and handsomely remunerated for his loss.

[Sidenote: April.] The subsequent journey to the Athabasca Lake occupied eight days; we arrived at Fort Chipewyan in the afternoon of the 12th of April. I found Mr. Stewart, the Chief Factor of the Department, surrounded by a large body of Indians, who quitted the Fort as soon as they had exchanged their furs, in order to seek their living by fis.h.i.+ng and hunting wild fowl, instead of pa.s.sing four or five weeks in indolence about the Establishment, as had been their custom at this season for many preceding years. This beneficial change of conduct, on their part, is owing to the Hudson's Bay Company having ceased to bring spirits into the northern department; and to some other judicious regulations which the Directors have made respecting the trade with the natives. The plans now adopted offer supplies of clothes, and of every necessary, to those Indians who choose to be active in the collection of furs; and it was pleasing to learn, that the natives in this quarter had shown their acquiescence in these measures by increased exertion during the preceding winter. Some other very wholesome regulations have been introduced by the Company; amongst others, the Sabbath is ordered to be properly observed, and Divine Service to be read at every post. They have also directed, where the soil will allow, a portion of ground to be cultivated for the growth of culinary vegetables at each of their establishments, and I witnessed the good effects of this order, even at this advanced post, where the ground is rocky; the tables of the officers being supplied daily, and those of the men frequently, with potatoes and barley. Such luxuries were very rarely found beyond c.u.mberland House, on the route that we travelled during my former journey.

Feeling a deep interest in the welfare of this country, in which I have spent a large portion of the last seven years, I have much pleasure in recording these improvements; and in stating my conviction, that the benevolent wishes of the Directors, respecting the inhabitants of their territories, will be followed up with corresponding energy by the resident Governor, the chief factors, and the traders of the Company.

I mentioned in my former Narrative, that the Northern Indians had cherished a belief for some years, that a great change was about to take place in the natural order of things, and that among other advantages arising from it, their own condition of life was to be materially bettered. This story, I was now informed by Mr. Stewart, originated with a woman, whose history appears to me deserving of a short notice. While living at the N.W. Company's Post, on the Columbia River, as the wife of one of the Canadian servants, she formed a sudden resolution of becoming a warrior; and throwing aside her female dress, she clothed herself in a suitable manner. Having procured a gun, a bow and arrows, and a horse, she sallied forth to join a party of her countrymen then going to war; and, in her first essay, displayed so much courage as to attract general regard, which was so much heightened by her subsequent feats of bravery, that many young men put themselves under her command. Their example was soon generally followed, and, at length she became the princ.i.p.al leader of the tribe, under the designation of the "Manlike Woman." Being young, and of a delicate frame, her followers attributed her exploits to the possession of supernatural power, and, therefore, received whatever she said with implicit faith. To maintain her influence during peace, the lady thought proper to invent the above-mentioned prediction, which was quickly spread through the whole northern district. At a later period of her life, our heroine undertook to convey a packet of importance from the Company's Post on the Columbia to that in New Caledonia, through a tract of country which had not, at that time, been pa.s.sed by the traders, and which was known to be infested by several hostile tribes. She chose for her companion another woman, whom she pa.s.sed off as her wife. They were attacked by a party of Indians, and though the Manlike Woman received a wound in the breast, she accomplished her object, and returned to the Columbia with answers to the letters. When last seen by the traders, she had collected volunteers for another war excursion, in which she received a mortal wound. The faith of the Indians was shaken by her death, and soon afterwards the whole of the story she had invented fell into discredit.

In the Athabasca department, which includes Slave Lake and Peace River, as well as in the more southern districts, the autumn of 1826, and the following winter, were unusually mild. Near the Saskatchawan River, there was so little snow before the middle of January, that the sledges could not be used; but at Bear Lake, and throughout the Mackenzie, the weather was severe during the same periods, and the snow came early; hence it would appear, that even in this climate the meteorological register kept at any one place, affords no index from whence we can judge of the season at another. In my journey from Slave Lake to the Athabasca we had a snow-storm for three days, which we found did not extend beyond sixty miles; and on our arrival at Fort Chipewyan, we learned there had not been a single shower during these days. The only coinciding circ.u.mstance, at the different stations this year, was the prevalence of north-east winds.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 15th.] We welcomed the appearance of two of the large-sized swans on the 15th April, as the harbingers of spring; the geese followed on the 20th; the robins came on the 7th May; the house martins appeared on the 12th, and in the course of a week were busily employed repairing their nests; and the barn or forked-tail swallows arrived on the 20th; and on the same day, the small-sized swans were seen, which the traders consider the latest of the migratory birds.

[Sidenote: May, 20th.] The only symptoms of reviving vegetation at this period, were a few anemones in flower, and the bursting of some catkins of willows; but we learned by an arrival of a boat from the Peace River that, even so early as the 14th, the trees were in full foliage at not more than a day's journey from the lake. The barley was sown at Fort Chipewyan on the 15th May, potatoes on the 21st, and the garden seeds on the 22d, which were expected to be ready for use by the close of the following September. As an experiment, whether the barley would yield a better crop by remaining in the ground through the winter, some had been sown in the preceding autumn, but only a few of the plants appeared at the close of this month, and the crop did not promise favourably.

Some canoes having arrived on the 26th of May with the furs from Slave Lake, the last of the Company's brigade of boats was despatched to York Factory. Augustus, who was desirous of seeing Dr. Richardson again before his departure from the country, and two other men of the Expedition, embarked in them. I embarked on the 31st May in the Company's light canoe with Mr. Stewart and Mr. M'Vicar, having previously made the necessary arrangements for the pa.s.sage of Captain Back and his party. We reached c.u.mberland House on the 18th June, where I had the happiness of meeting Dr. Richardson after a separation of eleven months. I learned from him that during our absence in the north, Mr. Drummond the a.s.sistant Botanist had been indefatigable in collecting specimens of Natural History, having been sent for that purpose to the Rocky Mountains at the head of the Athabasca River; in the course of which service, he had been exposed to very great privations. To his perseverance and industry, science is indebted for the knowledge of several new and many rare quadrupeds, birds, and plants. That the reader may form some notion of the labour he sustained, and the zeal he displayed in making his very valuable and highly interesting collections, and to point out to the naturalist, the districts from whence they were brought, I subjoin his brief account of his journey in his own words.

[Sidenote: 1825, June.] "I remained at c.u.mberland House about six weeks after the departure of Captain Back and Mr. Kendall, in June, 1825, when the Company's boats with the brigade of traders for the Columbia, arriving from York Factory, I accompanied them up the Saskatchawan River two hundred and sixty miles to Carlton House. The unsettled state of the Indians in that neighbourhood rendering excursions over the plains very unsafe, I determined on proceeding with the brigade as far as the Rocky Mountains. We left Carlton House on the 1st of September, and reached Edmonton, which is about four hundred miles distant on the 20th of the same month. Sandy plains extend without material alteration the whole way, and there is, consequently, little variety in the vegetation; indeed, I did not find a single plant that I had not seen within ten miles of Carlton House, although I had an opportunity of examining the country carefully, having performed the greater part of the journey on foot. After a halt of two days at Edmonton, we continued our route one hundred miles farther to Fort a.s.sinaboyn on the Red Deer River, one of the branches of the Athapescow. This part of the journey was performed with horses through a swampy and thickly wooded country, and the path was so bad, that it was necessary to reduce the luggage as much as possible. I therefore took with me only one bale of paper for drying plants, a few s.h.i.+rts, and a blanket; Mr. M'Millan, one of the Company's chief traders, who had charge of the brigade, kindly undertaking to forward the rest of my baggage in the ensuing spring. [Sidenote: October, 2d.] We left Fort a.s.sinaboyn to proceed up the Red Deer River to the Mountains, on the 2d of October; but the Canoe appointed for this service being very much lumbered, it was necessary that some of the party should travel by land, and of that number, I volunteered to be one. A heavy fall of snow, on the third day after setting out, rendered the march very fatiguing, and the country being thickly wooded and very swampy, our horses were rendered useless before we had travelled half the distance."

"We reached the mountains on the 14th, and I continued to accompany the brigade, for fifty miles of the Portage-road, to the Columbia, when we met a hunter whom Mr. M'Millan hired to supply me with food during the winter. The same gentleman having furnished me with horses and a man to take care of them, I set out with the hunter and his family towards the Smoking River, one of the eastern branches of the Peace River, on which we intended to winter. [Sidenote: December.] My guide, however, loitered so much on the way, that the snow became too deep to admit of our proceeding to our destination, and we were under the necessity of leaving the Mountains altogether, and taking up our winter-quarters about the end of December, on the Baptiste, a stream which falls into the Red Deer River. During the journey, I collected a few specimens of the birds that pa.s.s the winter in the country, and which belong princ.i.p.ally to the genera _tetrao_ and _strix_. I also obtained a few mosses, and on Christmas day, I had the pleasure of finding a very minute _gymnostomum_, hitherto undescribed."

"In the winter, I felt the inconvenience of the want of my tent, the only shelter I had from the inclemency of the weather being a hut built of the branches of trees. Soon after reaching our wintering ground, provisions became very scarce, and the hunter and his family went off in quest of animals, taking with them the man who had charge of my horses to bring me a supply as soon as they could procure it. I remained alone for the rest of the winter, except when my man occasionally visited me with meat; and I found the time hang very heavy, as I had no books, and nothing could be done in the way of collecting specimens of Natural History. I took however, a walk every day in the woods to give me some practice in the use of snow shoes. The winter was very severe, and much snow fell until the end of March, when it averaged six feet in depth; in consequence of this, I lost one of my horses, and the two remaining ones became exceedingly poor. The hunter was still more unfortunate, ten of his young colts having died."

[Sidenote: April 1826.] "In the beginning of April, 1826, setting out for the Columbia Portage road, I reached it after a fatiguing march on the sixth day, and two days afterwards, had the pleasure of meeting Mr.

M'Millan, who brought me letters from Dr. Richardson, informing me of the welfare of the Expedition; and he also placed me in comparatively comfortable circ.u.mstances by bringing my tent, a little tea and sugar, and some more paper. [Sidenote: May, 6th.] I remained on the Portage preparing specimens of birds until the 6th of May, when the brigade from the Columbia arrived. On that day the _Anemone cuneifolia_, and _Ludoviciana_ and _Saxifraga oppositifolia_, began to flower in favourable situations. My hunter, who had, in the mean time, returned to our late wintering ground, now sent me word that he had changed his mind, and would not accompany me into the Mountains, as he had engaged to do. His fickleness deranged my plans, and I had no alternative but to remain with the man who had charge of the horses used on the Columbia Portage, and botanize in that neighbourhood."

[Sidenote: August.] "On the 10th of August, I set out with another hunter, upon whom I had prevailed to conduct me to the Smoking River, although, being disappointed in a supply of ammunition, we were badly provided. We travelled for several days without meeting with any animals, and I shared the little dried provision which I had with the hunter's family. On the 15th we killed a Mountain sheep, which was quickly devoured, there not being the smallest apprehension at the time that famine would overtake us--day after day, however, pa.s.sed away without a single head of game of any description being seen, and the children began to complain loudly; but the hunter's wife, a young half-breed woman, bore the abstinence with indifference, although she had two infant twins at the breast. On the 21st, we found two young porcupines, which were shared amongst the party, and two or three days afterwards, a few fine trout were caught. We arrived in the Smoking River on the 5th of September, where the hunter killed two sheep, and a period was put to our abstinence, for before the sheep were eaten, he shot several buffaloes."

[Sidenote: September.] "We proceeded along the Mountains until the 24th of September, and had reached the head waters of the Peace River, when a heavy fall of snow stopped my collecting plants for that season. I was, however, very desirous of crossing the Mountains to obtain some knowledge of the vegetation on the Columbia River, and, accordingly, I commenced drying provisions to enable me to accompany the Columbia brigade, when it arrived from Hudson's Bay. [Sidenote: October.] I reached the Portage on the 9th of October, and on the 10th the brigade arrived, and I received letters from Captain Franklin, instructing me to descend in the spring of 1827, time enough to rejoin the Expedition on its way to York Factory. It was, therefore, necessary that I should speedily commence my return, and having gone with the brigade merely to the west-end of the Portage, I came back again on the 1st of November.

The snow covered the ground too deeply to permit me to add much to my collections in this hasty trip over the Mountains, but it was impossible to avoid remarking the great superiority of climate on the western side of that lofty range. From the instant the descent toward the Pacific commences, there is a visible improvement in the growth of timber, and the variety of forest trees greatly increases. The few mosses that I gleaned in the excursion were so fine, that I could not but deeply regret that I was unable to pa.s.s a season or two in that interesting region."

"Having packed up all my specimens, I embarked on the Red Deer River, with Mr. M'Donald, one of the Company's officers, who was returning from a long residence on the Columbia with his family, and continued to descend the stream until we were set fast by the frost. I then left Mr.

M'Donald in the charge of the baggage, and, proceeding on foot to Fort a.s.sinaboyn, for the purpose of procuring horses, I reached it on the fifth day. It was several days before the horses could be obtained, and they were several more in travelling from the Fort to Mr. M'Donald, during which time that gentleman and his family were very short of provisions. The relief, however, arrived opportunely, and they reached the Fort in safety. After resting a few days, I set out for Edmonton, where I remained for some months."

[Sidenote: March.] "The winter express brought me a letter from Dr.

Richardson, requesting me to join him at Carlton House in April, and I accordingly set out for that place on snow shoes, on the 17th of March, taking with me single specimens of all the plants gathered on the Mountains, lest any accident should happen to the duplicates which were to come by canoe in the spring. [Sidenote: April.] Two men with a sledge drawn by dogs accompanied me, but the Indian inhabitants of the plains being very hostile, we made a large circuit to avoid them, and did not reach Carlton House before the 5th of April. We suffered much from snow-blindness on the march, the dogs failed from want of food, we had to carry the baggage on our backs, and had nothing to eat for seven days. These sufferings were, however, soon forgotten in the kind welcome I received from Dr. Richardson, and Mr. Prudens, the Company's Chief Trader at Carlton, and the hospitable entertainment and good fare of the latter gentleman's table enabled me speedily to recruit my lost strength."

"My collections on the Mountains amounted to about fifteen hundred species of plants, one hundred and fifty birds, fifty quadrupeds, and a considerable number of insects."

[Sidenote: June.] There being yet two months in which Mr. Drummond might continue his researches, before Captain Back could arrive at c.u.mberland House, Dr. Richardson had left him on the Saskatchawan River.

[Sidenote: 18th.] After remaining part of a day at c.u.mberland House, we proceeded on our journey, Dr. Richardson following in one of the Company's boats. I reached Norway House on the 24th of June, and Dr.

Richardson on the third day after. Mr. Simpson, the resident Governor of the Company, was absent on urgent business at York Factory; but, previous to his departure, he had provided a canoe, and some additional men, with every other requisite for my journey. We found here Mr.

Dougla.s.s, who had been sent to the Columbia River by the Horticultural Society, as a Collector of Natural History, and who had recently crossed the Rocky Mountains, for the purpose of proceeding to England from Hudson's Bay. This gentleman being desirous of occupying himself previous to the arrival of the s.h.i.+p, in making an addition to his collection from the neighbourhood of the Red River Colony, I felt happy in being able to give him a conveyance, in the canoe with Dr. Richardson and myself, through Lake Winipeg, to Fort Alexander, where he met another canoe that was going to the Colony.

On quitting Norway House we took leave of our worthy companion, Augustus, who was to wait there until Captain Back should arrive. The tears which he shed at our parting, so unusual in those uncultivated tribes, showed the strength of his feelings, and I have no doubt, they proceeded from a sincere affection; an affection which, I can venture to say, was mutually felt by every individual. With great regret he learned that there was no immediate prospect of our again meeting, and he expressed a very strong desire to be informed, if another Expedition should be sent to any of the northern parts of America, whether by sea or land; and repeatedly a.s.sured me, that he and Ooligbuck would be ready at any time to quit their families and their country, to accompany any of their present officers, wherever the Expedition might be ordered.[16]

We reached Fort Alexander on the 8th of July, and Mr. Dougla.s.s having left us, I was enabled to offer a pa.s.sage, as far as Montreal, to Monsieur Picard, one of the clergymen attached to the Roman Catholic Mission at the Red River Colony. [Sidenote: August.] We arrived at Lachine, near Montreal, on the 18th of August, and were hospitably entertained by Mr. James Keith, Chief Factor, and Agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, with whom we remained five days, to settle the accounts of the Expedition. After I had paid my respects to his Excellency, the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor in Chief of Canada, we proceeded to New York by the way of Lake Champlain. In our pa.s.sage through the United States, we received the same kind attentions we had before experienced; our personal baggage, and the collections of Natural History, were forwarded by the officers of the customs without examination, and every a.s.sistance we required was promptly rendered.

[Sidenote: September.] Having embarked, in the packet s.h.i.+p, on the 1st of September, we reached Liverpool on the 26th, after an absence of two years, seven months and a half. Captain Back, Lieutenant Kendall, and Mr. Drummond, with the rest of the British party, arrived at Portsmouth on the 10th of October. I then received the distressing intelligence of the death of two excellent men, on their homeward pa.s.sage from Bear Lake to York Factory; Archibald Stewart, who died from consumption; and Gustavus Aird, who was drowned in consequence of his jumping out of the boat, in his exertions to save her, when she was hurrying down the Pelican Fall, in Slave River. Until this account reached me, I had cherished the hope that our Expedition would have terminated without my having to record a single casualty. The loss of these men was the more deeply felt by me, from their uniform, steady, obedient, and meritorious conduct, which I had repeated opportunities of observing and admiring, while they were my companions in the Lion, during the voyage along the coast.

I must be allowed to add, that in this long homeward journey, in which there were no fresh discoveries to be made, nor any of those excitements that relieve the monotony of constant labour, and in which they had to contend with a succession of dangerous rapids, there was the same masterly skill and exemplary conduct evinced by Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall; and the same patient and ready obedience by the men[17], which had marked their whole conduct, while more immediately under my own observation.

On my arrival in London, on the 29th of September, accompanied by Dr.

Richardson, I had the honour of laying the charts and drawings before his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral, and Mr. Secretary Huskisson; and, from the latter, I received directions to publish an account of our proceedings.

In concluding this Narrative, I feel it inc.u.mbent on me to offer a few remarks on the subject of a _North-West Pa.s.sage_, which, though it has not been the immediate object of the enterprises in which I have been engaged, is yet so intimately connected with them, as to have naturally excited in my mind, a strong and permanent interest. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the opinion I ventured to express in my former work, as to the practicability of the pa.s.sage[18], has been considerably strengthened by the information obtained during the present Expedition.

The Northern Coast of America has now been actually surveyed from the meridian of 109 degrees to 149-1/2 degrees west; and again by the exertions of Captain Beechey, in His Majesty's s.h.i.+p the Blossom, from Icy Cape eastward to about 156 degrees west, leaving not more than fifty leagues of unsurveyed coast, between Point Turnagain and Icy Cape.

Further, the delineation of the west side of Melville Peninsula, in the chart of Captain Parry's Second Voyage, conjoined with information which we obtained from the Northern Indians, fairly warrants the conclusion, that the coast preserves an easterly direction from Point Turnagain towards Repulse Bay; and that, in all probability, there are no insurmountable obstacles between this part of the Polar Sea and the extensive openings into the Atlantic, through Prince Regent Inlet and the Strait of the Fury and Hecla.

Whenever it may be considered desirable to complete the delineation of the coast of the American Continent, I conceive that another attempt should be made to connect Point Turnagain with the important discoveries of Captain Parry, by renewing the Expedition which was undertaken by Captain Lyon, and which, but for the boisterous weather that disabled the Griper, must have long since repaid his well known zeal and enterprize with discoveries of very great interest.

In considering the best means of effecting the North-West Pa.s.sage in a s.h.i.+p, it has. .h.i.therto been impossible not to a.s.sent to the opinion so judiciously formed, and so convincingly stated, by Captain Parry, that the attempt should be made from the Atlantic rather than by Behring's Straits, because the enterprise is then commenced after a voyage of short duration, subject to comparatively few vicissitudes of climate, and with the equipments thoroughly effective. But important as these advantages are, they may, perhaps, be more than balanced by some circ.u.mstances which have been brought to light by our Expedition. The prevalence of north-west winds during the season that the ice is in the most favourable state for navigation, would greatly facilitate the voyage of a s.h.i.+p to the eastward, whilst it would be equally adverse to her progress in the opposite direction. It is also well known, that the coast westward of the Mackenzie is almost unapproachable by s.h.i.+ps, and it would, therefore, be very desirable to get over that part of the voyage in the first season. Though we did not observe any such easterly current as was found by Captain Parry in the Fury and Hecla Strait, as well as by Captain Kotzebue, on his voyage through Behring's Straits; yet this may have arisen from our having been confined to the navigation of the flats close to the sh.o.r.e; but if such a current does exist throughout the Polar Sea, it is evident that it would materially a.s.sist a s.h.i.+p commencing the undertaking from the Pacific, and keeping in the deep water, which would, no doubt, be found at a moderate distance from the sh.o.r.e.

The closeness and quant.i.ty of the ice in the Polar Seas vary much in different years; but, should it be in the same state that we found it, I would not recommend a s.h.i.+p's leaving Icy Cape earlier than the middle of August, for after that period the ice was not only broken up within the sphere of our vision, but a heavy swell rolling from the northward, indicated a sea unsheltered by islands, and not much enc.u.mbered by ice.

By quitting Icy Cape at the time specified, I should confidently hope to reach a secure wintering place to the eastward of Cape Bathurst, in the direct route to the Dolphin and Union Straits, through which I should proceed.[19] If either, or both, of the plans which I have suggested be adopted, it would add to the confidence and safety of those who undertake them, if one or two depots of provisions were established in places of ready access, through the medium of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Arctic discovery has been fostered princ.i.p.ally by Great Britain; and it is a subject of just pride that it has been prosecuted by her from motives as disinterested as they are enlightened; not from any prospect of immediate benefit to herself, but from a steady view to the acquirement of useful knowledge, and the extension of the bounds of science. Each succeeding attempt has added a step towards the completion of northern geography; and the contributions to natural history and science have excited a general interest throughout the civilized world.

It is, moreover, pleasing to reflect that the loss of life which has occurred in the prosecution of these discoveries does not exceed the average number of deaths in the same population at home under circ.u.mstances the most favourable. And it is sincerely to be hoped that Great Britain will not relax her efforts until the question of a north-west pa.s.sage has been satisfactorily set at rest, or at least until those portions of the northern sh.o.r.es of America, which are yet unknown, be laid down in our maps; and which with the exception of a small s.p.a.ce on the Asiatic continent eastward of Shelatskoi Noss, are the only intervals wanting to complete the outline of Europe, Asia, and America.

END OF THE NARRATIVE.

_Summary of the Distances travelled by the Expedition, from its Landing in America, until its Embarkation._

_Statute Miles._ Distance travelled in 1825, as given in page 60 5,803 Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall's excursion on the ice to the eastern parts of Bear Lake, in the Spring of 1826 359 Distance travelled by the Western Party in 1826 (given in p. 235.) 2,048 Distance travelled by the Eastern Party in 1826, after its separation from the Western Party 1,455 Return from Fort Franklin to New York 4,000 Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall's journey to York Factory, after quitting Captain Franklin's route 520 ------ Distance travelled by the Expedition in going and returning, including the excursions of detached parties 14,185 ------ Number of miles surveyed and laid down in the maps, but not all included under the head of discoveries, because the routes have been traversed by Traders 5,000