this service; and Messrs. Parkinson and Frodsham, with their usual liberality, intrusted to our care several other excellent watches, on trial, at their own expense.

Annexed is a list of the different articles composing the equipment of the boats, together with the actual weight of each.

Enter.

prise.

Endeav.

⚫mo

Boat

Bamboo mast, 1 spreat, 1 boat-hook, 1 steer-oar

Fourteen paddles

Sail (or awning).

Spare rope and line

Small sounding line (750 fathoms in all)

Carpenters' tools, screws, nails, &c. .

Copper and felt for repairs

Four fowling-pieces, with 2 bayonets

Small articles for guns

4

Ammunition

(Fur Suits for sleeping in (14 in each boat) Thick-nailed boots (14 in each boat)

Esquimaux do., with spare soles (14 in each

boat)

Flannel shirts (7 in each boat)

Guernsey frocks (do. do.)

Thick drawers (do. do.)

Mittens (28 in each boat)
Comforters (14 in each boat)

Scotch caps (do. do.)

A bag of small articles for the officers, including

162

162

47

47

33

33

82

81

111

111

14

5

5

1

Medicine chest

Pannikins, knife, fork, and spoon (14 in each boat) 5
Weighing-dials and measures

Various small articles for repairs, &c., not mentioned above

Packages for provisions, clothes, &c.

2

Weight, per man

268 lbs.

Exclusive of four sledges, weighing 26 lbs. each.

I have not thought it necessary, in the course of this volume, to enter into any examination of the question respecting the approaches to the North Pole which had already been effected previous to our late attempt. I shall, therefore, only add that, after carefully weighing the various authorities, from which every individual interested in this matter is at liberty to form his own conclusions, my own impartial conviction, at the time of our setting out on this enterprise, coincided (with a single exception) with the opinion expressed by the Commissioners of Longitude in their memorial to the king, that "the progress of discovery had not arrived northward, according to any well-authenticated accounts, so far as eighty-one degrees of north latitude." The exception to which I allude is in favour of Mr. Scoresby, who states his having, in the year 1806, reached the latitude of 81° 12′ 42′′ by actual observation, and 81° 30′ by dead reckoning. I therefore consider the latter parallel as, in all probability, the highest which had ever been attained prior to the attempt recorded in the following pages.

THE Hecla being ready to proceed down the river, she was taken in tow, at ten A.M. on the 25th of March, 1827, by the Lightning steam-ves. sel; and having received and returned the cheers of the Greenwich pensioners, the children of the Naval Asylum, and of various ships in the river, she made fast to the moorings at Northfleet at three P.M. The following day was occupied in swinging the ship round on the various points of the compass, in order to obtain the amount of the deviation of the magnetic needle produced by the attraction of the ship's iron, and to fix Mr. Barlow's plate for correcting it.* On the 3d of April the ship's company received three months' wages in advance, together with their river-pay; and on the following morning, at half past four, we weighed and made sail from the Nore.

We had at this time remarkably fine weather for the season of the year, and such a continuance of southerly winds that we arrived off the island of Soroe, within which Hammerfest lies, on the 17th, without having had occasion to make a tack till we entered the fiord which forms the northern entrance.

The wind becoming light from the southward, and very variable, we were occupied the whole of the 18th in beating up towards Hammerfest.

In

* The merits of this simple but valuable invention being now too well known to require any detailed account of the experiments, it is only necessary for me to remark, in this place, that the compass, having the plate attached to it, gave, under all circumstances, the correct magnetic bearing.

the evening a Lapland boat came on board, and one of the men undertook to pilot the ship to the anchorage, which, after beating all night against an ebb tide, we reached at three A.M. on the 19th. Finding that our reindeer had not arrived, I immediately despatched Lieutenant Crozier, in one of our own boats, to Alten, from whence they were expected-a distance of about sixty English miles. At the same time, we landed our observatories and instruments at Fugleness, near the establishment of Messrs. Crowe and Woodfall, the British merchants residing here; and Lieutenant Foster and myself immediately commenced our magnetic and other observations, which were continued during the whole of our stay here. We completed our supply of water, and obtained a small quantity of venison, with abundance of good fish (principally torsk and cod), and some milk. We also purchased a set of snow-shoes for our travelling party, together with the Lapland shoes of leather (called Kamooga*), which are the most convenient and comfortable for wearing with them; and we practised our people in the manner of walking in them in deep snow, which afforded them fine exercise and amusement.

On the 23d, Lieutenant Crozier returned in the boat from Alten, and was followed the next day by Mr. Wooodfall, who brought with him eight rein. deer for our use, together with a supply of moss for their provender (cenomyce rangiferina). As, however, the latter required a great deal of picking, so as to render it fit to carry with us over the ice, and

It is remarkable, that the Esquimaux word for boot is very like this-Kameega.

VOL. II.-Y

as it was also necessary that we should be instruct. ed in the manner of managing the deer, I deter. mined on remaining a day or two longer for these purposes. Nothing can be more beautiful than the training of the Lapland reindeer. With a simple collar of skin round his neck, a single trace of the same material attached to the "pulk" or sledge, and passing between his legs, and one rein, fastened like a halter about his neck, this intelligent and docile animal is perfectly under the command of an experienced driver, and performs astonishing journeys over the softest snow. When the rein is thrown over on the off side of the animal, he im mediately sets off at a full trot, and stops short the instant it is thrown back to the near side. Sha. king the rein over his back is the only whip that is required. In a short time after setting off, they appear to be gasping for breath, as if quite exhausted; but, if not driven too fast at first, they soon rẹ. cover this, and then go on without difficulty. The quantity of clean moss considered requisite for each deer per day is four pounds; but they will go five or six days without provender, and not suffer ma. terially. As long as they can pick up snow as they go along, which they like to eat quite clean, they require no water; and ice is to them a com. fortable bed. It may well be imagined, with such qualifications, how valuable these animals seemed likely to prove to us; and the more we became accustomed, and, I may say, attached to them, the more painful became the idea of the necessity which was likely to exist, of ultimately having recourse to them as provision for ourselves.

Our preparations were completed on the 27th,