deemed by their own relatives. These slaves have been known to be sometimes sacrificed as victims to the shades of their departed warriors and heroes. They also possess the art of manufacturing various articles of iron ware; an accomplishment which they probably derived at an early period, from their intercourse with Russian traders.

The winter having at length passed away, the travelers who composed Sir John Richardson's company at Fort Confidence, prepared in the ensuing spring to resume their operations. It yet remained their duty to reach Wollaston and Victoria Lands, and thus to complete the search in that direction. In consequence of the forced desertion and loss of the boats of the expedition as previously narrated, it would have beem impracticable for the whole party to accompany those who performed this journey; nor was this in fact necessary; and Mr. Rae, the younger and more robust associate of Captain Richardson, was selected to perform the service which yet remained. The ability and zeal of this gentleman well fitted him for the task. He had already explored the country between Fort Confidence and the Coppermine River during the winter months, for the purpose of ascertaining the best route to be followed in the spring.

Accordingly, in April Mr. Rae, taking charge of the only boat which the expedition still possessed, conveyed provisions, boat-stores, and various other necessaries on dog-sledges, across toward the Kendall River, and posted two men at Flett's Station, together with two Indians, to protect them. Six men composed the crew of the boat under the command of Mr. Rae. Two men were left in charge of Fort Confidence.

Mr. Rae having waited for the breaking up of the ice on the Dease River, hauled his boat thither, on which he embarked on the 8th of June. His ascent of the stream was slow, in consequence of the large masses of ice, some of them miles in length, which impeded his progress. They ascended the south-east

ern branch of that stream. On the 17th they passed over the lake from which the river flows, on the ice. It contains some islands and is four miles in width. From this lake they traveled overland for six miles nearly due east, and on the 21st they reached the Kendall River, to which the provisions had been previously conveyed in April. They then descended the Kendall to the Coppermine River.

At this place they were detained by the ice, which was still unbroken, during five days. They then sailed down the Coppermine to the sea; and found a narrow channel along the shore of Richardson Bay, where the ice still lay against the rocks. They proceeded on and rounded Point Mackenzie, and entered Back's Inlet, which was then but partially opened. They soon reached the head of the inlet, and at once sailed up Rae River, which Captain Richardson had discovered the preceding autumn.

For the purpose of examining the country, Mr. Rae followed the river for twenty geographical miles inland. It is very straight in its direction, and flows over a bed of limestone. Its banks are extremely rugged, and sometimes presented precipices 200 feet in height. The party then returned to the mouth of the river. Their position now was 67° 55' 20" north latitude. They reached Cape Kendall, where they experienced a heavy thunder-storm, which compelled them to land. On the 27th they continued their course to Cape Hearne. Basil Hall Bay they found filled with unbroken ice from one side to the other. The next day a crack occurred in the ice large enough to permit the boat to reach an island in the middle of the bay. On the north side of this island they found some open water which enabled them to advance two miles further. On the 30th they reached Cape Krusenstern.

This was the most suitable spot from which to desert the shore, and commence the traverse or direct route to Wollaston Land, passing near to Douglass

Island. This circumstance was more fortunate, as the condition of the ice along the shore rendered their further advance in that direction impossible. The party disembarked here and pitched their tents on the top of the cliffs, and waited for a more favorable state of the ice; which had already commenced to break up. Here they were visited by some Esquimaux, who informed them that they had seen several natives of Wollaston Land during the preceding winter, and had been informed by them that no European ships, boats, or seamen had ever visited their country. The situation of the party here was ascertained to be 68° 24′ 35′′ north latitude.

The ice in the bay was not sufficiently cleared to permit Mr. Rae to proceed until the 19th of August. Until this period there had been a closely packed stream of ice stretching along the entire shore, and grinding against the rocks as it was driven upon them by the wind. Having pulled seven miles from land and being yet three miles distant from Douglass Island, they were met by a stream of ice so closely packed and so rough, that it was impossible either to pass over it or through it. This compelled the company to return to their former position on the shore. During several succeeding days they poled their way along the beach, and thus advanced a few miles to the southward. On the evening of the 22d Mr. Rae ascended a hill near the shore, and there beheld with a spy-glass nothing in the direction of Wollaston Land but the white ice forced upward by the wind into irregular heaps; while to the east and south-east there was a large space of open water, between which and the ice-bound shore, a vast stream of ice some miles in length was driving rapidly toward Cape Hearne.

There was now no prospect hat the sea would open so as to permit the frail craft r which Mr. Rae and his men were embarked to venture across the main to Wollaston Land. Winter was then very near;

and Mr. Rae was reluctantly compelled to give the order to return to the Coppermine River. In ascending this river to the Bloody Fall, the company met the misfortune of losing Albert, their Esquimaux interpreter, and one of the most useful members of the expedition. He was drowned in attempting to extricate the boat from a dangerous eddy into which it had been drawn. The boat was lost with him. They then commenced their journey on foot across the land toward Great Bear Lake, each man carrying a weight of about eighty pounds. After seven days' march from the Bloody Fall the party reached Fort Confidence, whence the expedition had started. They had failed to discover any traces of Sir John Franklin, and had not even reached Wollaston Land, the proposed terminus of their journey, in consequence of the strait being filled with impassable ice.

Meanwhile Captain Richardson and the rest of the men belonging to the expedition, explored Bear Lake and Cape McDonald. They then reached Fort Franklin. The only vestige of the latter which remained, was the foundation of the chimney-stack. Thence they proceeded to Fort Norman. They then embarked on Bear Lake River and descended with the current to its mouth. Retracing the route which they had pursued in their outward journey during the preceding year, the company eventually reached Methy Lake; where Captain Richardson received his first letters from England, which had been brought up from Canada by the governor's canoe, which annually leaves La Chine in May. He arrived at Norway House on the 13th of August, and there the men composing the expedition were discharged. The Europeans among them were sent down to York factory to sail to England in one of the ships of the Hudson Bay company.

Captain_Richardson himself returned by way of Boston to Liverpool; and thus ended this additional attempt to discover Sir John Franklin's fate, without

having obtained the slightest clue of them; although the plan of search pursued possessed some novel and very considerable advantages in its favor.

THE SECOND VOYAGE OF THE PRINCE ALBERT IN SEARCH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, UNDER THE COMMAND OF WILLIAM KENNEDY, IN 1853.

THIS expedition was fitted out for the second time by the liberality of Lady Franklin. The vessel was small, but had proved herself, on a former voyage to the Polar seas, well adapted to the service.* That voyage resulted in discovering traces of the the missing ships at the entrance of Wellington Channel; and on its return Lady Franklin instantly resolved to equip the present undertaking, with hopes of more complete success; and Captain Kennedy was invited by her to take the command.

In May, 1851, the Prince Albert lay in the harbor of Aberdeen ready for sea. Along the sides from the keel to about two feet above the water-line, there had been placed a doubling of planking two and a half inches thick. The bows and stern-posts were sheathed in wrought iron, a quarter of an inch in thickness. Her hold had been strengthened with a perfect labyrinth of cross-beams, for the purpose of better enabling her to endure the immense pressure of the ice. The object of this second expedition of the Prince Albert, was to continue the search by way of Prince Regent's Inlet, an important portion of the Polar region, which neither Captain Penny nor Captain Austin had explored, nor any other Arctic voyager previous to that period.

The crew of the Prince Albert consisted of the commanding officer and seventeen men. She was furnished with two large and valuable boats, one of gutta-percha, and the other of mahogany; together

• See page 848 of this volume for the details of this voyage