midshipmen, and Dr. Richardson, as surgeon, left England on the 23rd of May, 1819, for the purpose of ascertaining the actual position of the mouth of the Coppermine River, and the trending of the Polar Sea to the eastward of it.

Captain Franklin was considered a fit person to conduct this expedition, having been out on a similar enquiry with Captain Flanders and Captain Buchan. This distinguished officer and his party reached York Factory on the shores of Hudson's Bay, on the 30th of August. On the 9th of September, Captain Franklin and his party embarked, and going about 690 miles by water, reached a place called Cumberland House on the 9th of October. Though winter had commenced, he set out over land, and performing a journey of 857 miles, with the thermometer sometimes 50° below zero, arrived at Fort Chepeywan on the 26th of March, 1820.

Nothing could exceed the misery of travelling, not only from cold, but from hunger and fatigue. On the 18th of July, the whole party left Fort Chepey wan for the northward, in the hope of reaching Coppermine River before the winter set in; but numerous impediments prevented their getting so far, and they were obliged to fix their winter quarters on the 20th of Âugust, at Fort Enterprize, a place about 550 miles from Chepeywan.

The Canadian voyagers who accompanied the expedition, and who, when at the Company's forts, have eight pounds of animal food each per day, got disheartened when they had but one scanty meal a day, and that of but a few ounces of fish or deer's flesh. They were, therefore, compelled to content themselves

for this season with making an excursion to the head of the coppermine River, in Point Lake, about sixty miles to the northward. While they remained here, the thermometer was sometimes 57 degrees below zero, and the party destitute of ammunition; and their blankets, &c. all being spoiled, it was determined that Lieut. Back should return to Fort Enterprize to obtain supplies. This journey was performed on foot between the 18th of October and the 17th of March, when he returned to his friends, having during these five months travelled 1104 miles in snow shoes, and had no covering at night in the woods but a blanket and a deer-skin, although the thermometer was frequently at 40 degrees below zero.

On the 14th of June the ice was considered as sufficiently broken up to admit of its being navigated by canoes. They then set out, and arriving at the Copper Mountains, near the foot of which the river flows, the canoes stopped to allow a party to land. At this spot the Indians determined to quit the party. Some of the Canadians also wished to return; they were alarmed at the idea of launching on an icy sea in bark canoes: and indeed it was a perilous enterprise, and such as none but British seamen would have risked. However, on the 21st of July, twenty people, of whom fifteen had never seen salt water, launched upon the rough and chilly hyperborean ocean, in two miserable birch bark caoes, with no more than fifteen days consumption, and with a voyage before them of 1200 miles at the least.

The return was attended with greater hardships than the journey; and their sole food for several days was a

species of moss which grows upon the rocks, and dried skins; however, on the 14th of July, 1822, Captain Franklin arrived at York Factory, and thus terminated his long, fatiguing, and disastrous travels by water and land, including the navigation of the Polar Sea, of 5450 miles.

CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE.

A new expedition was soon fitted out. Lieutenant Parry considering that two vessels of equal burthen would be better suited to the expedition, the Fury, of 327 tons, was prepared together with the Hecla. Lieutenant Parry, now promoted to the rank of Captain, hoisted his flag on board the Fury, and Captain Lyon, an officer distinguished for his services in Africa, commanded the Hecla. After being duly equipped, he sailed May 8th, 1821; and, after some detention, arrived, on the 2nd of July, at the mouth of Hudson's Strait. The naked rocks, the snow in the valleys, and the thick fogs, presented a scene, even to those who were accustomed to it, of gloomy desolation.

Early in August, Captain Parry reached the entrance of Fox's Channel, and saw Southampton Island; discovered and named Duke of York's Bay, where they saw a most beautiful floe of ice, covered with minerals, shells, and plants. On the 21st they passed through Frozen Strait and entered Repulse Bay, from which they found no outlet, and having left it, continued surveying a coast hitherto unknown; and found an inlet, which they named Gore. At the mouth of this beautiful spot the valleys were clad with grass and moss,

the birds singing, butterflies and other insects displaying their various bright colours, produced an effect which might have made them imagine they were in the south of Europe, had not the icebergs of the Frozen Straits reminded them of their situation.

The vessels passed up the Straits, and keeping near the land to the south, explored the west towards Repulse Bay. After proceeding west to 86° of longitude, and 69° 48, north latitude, which was the highest point they gained, they wintered at a small island, in 82 53, west longitude, and latitude 66° 11, north, which they called Winter Island.

A canal was cut in the new-formed ice, and the ships properly placed by the 10th of October, about a quarter of a mile from the shore. They were soon afterwards frozen up and snugly housed over, and otherwise prepared for the winter, which now set in very fast; the land was covered with snow and deserted by almost every animal, excepting the foxes and bears. Recreations and amusements now became necessary, and the Polar theatre opened with "the Rivals,"-Captain Parry assuming the character of Sir Anthony, and Captain Lyons that of Captain Absolute;- the play was performed with spirit, and was well received. The novelty of this amusement wearing off, a school was established; and the hardy veterans of the voyage applied themselves with all the emulation of schoolboys to the attainment of their tasks. At Christmas, sixteen well-written exercises were produced by those who, two months previously, could scarcely write a single letter. Amid these various occupations, the ice never entirely left them as before, and the shortest day

passed away almost unheeded. Christmas was celebrated by regaling the crews with fresh beef, cranberry pies, and grog; they became enthusiastically elevated, and drank the health of each officer successively with three cheers.

In April, the ships were so unfortunate as to lose a man, who was killed by a fall from the mast head. In May and June, a canal was cut to the sea, a distance of 2000 feet, through ice from four to six feet in thickness. In that time the Fury lost two of her men; one died of a pectoral complaint, who had been ill ever since they left England; and the other, of inflammation in the bowels. On the 2nd of July, the ships got out to sea, and followed the coast to the north-west-ward, or northward, meeting much ice drifting to the southward, which impeded the passage very much, and once or twice gave the ships some severe squeezes. On the 16th they came to a large bay, in latitude 69°, a little to the eastward of Winter Island; in it were several islands, one of which was inhabited by natives. They agreed with a chart which one of the women in Winter Island had drawn, which had also a straight leading to the westward into a large open sea; and which, they said, was only two days' journey across the land from Repulse Bay. The west side of the Bay they could not approach on account of the ice, until the end of August, when it broke away, and Captain Parry proceeded up a Strait about 60 miles, until he came to heavy ice, which had not broke up. Parties were sent away to the westward over the ice, but the farthest extent they could reach presented nothing but a sea totally covered with ice.