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reached by Dease and Simpson. Dr. Rae was appointed to the command, and the party left Fort Churchill in two boats on the 5th of July, 1846. Coasting the western shore of Hudson Bay, they entered Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome, and on the 15th encountered heavy packed ice ten miles northward of Cape Fullerton. They were detained two days in an inlet which they entered for safety, and experienced another detention in Wager Bay, which was reached on the 22nd. Large masses of ice drove in and out with the tide, meeting frequently with a crash as loud as thunder, and agitating the water in the most violent manner.

The head of Repulse Bay was reached on the night of the 24th, however, and the voyagers anchored in Gibson Cove, where they found a party of Esquimaux, the women of which wore bracelets made of the beads they had obtained from Parry at Winter Island and Igloolik. One of the men made a rough chart, showing that the isthmus which connects Melville Peninsula with the continent was only forty miles across, of which distance only five miles was land, a chain of lakes rendering the peninsula almost an island. Rae resolved, therefore, to cross this isthmus (which now bears his name), instead of following the longer route through Fox Channel. The Esquimaux's chart was found correct; and on the 2nd of August the explorers launched one of their boats on the Gulf of Boothia, having left the other on the southern side of the isthmus, to avoid the toil of dragging it over the strips of land between the lakes.

A strong gale and heavy packed ice impeded their progress so much, however, that they returned to the isthmus, dragged over the other boat, and prepared to winter there. There being no drift-wood on the coast large enough for the purpose, they constructed the walls of their house of large stones, using

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Wintering on Rae Isthmus.

191 the masts and oars of the boats for rafters, covering them with a roof of oil-cloth and walrus-hides, and forming a door of skins stretched upon a frame of wood. Though the winter was stormy, and the temperature often forty-seven degrees below freezing point, they seem to have passed it in tolerable comfort. Deer were migrating southward in large herds, and the partridges were countless. Rae shot seven deer in one day within two miles of the house; and during September, October, and November, the party killed no fewer than a hundred and sixtytwo deer, and two hundred partridges. A few salmon were also taken by lowering a net through a hole made in the ice. The blubber of a couple of seals furnished them with oil, and they found drift-wood enough for fuel.

On the 5th of April, 1847, they started northward in sledges drawn by dogs obtained from the Esquimaux; but turned back on the 18th, without making any discovery, all the party suffering from temporary blindness, caused by the dazzling whiteness of the illimitable wastes of snow. On the 13th of May, Rae and four others set out to trace the western coast of Melville Peninsula, which they explored as far as 69° 42'. They were within a few miles of Hecla and Fury Strait, but their provisions were nearly exhausted, and their return to the hut became imperative. They reached the isthmus on the 30th, and on the 9th of June crossed to Repulse Bay. The ice not having yet broken up, they remained there until the 12th of August, when they commenced their homeward voyage, which was protracted by head-winds and stormy weather until the 31st, on which day they were again at Fort Churchill.

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LAST EXPEDITION OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN-SIR JAMES Ross's SEARCH FOR THE LOST SHIPSWINTER IN LEOPOLD HARBOUR - EXPLORATION OF NORTH SOMERSET - VOYAGE OF COMMANDER SAUNDERS.

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ANY considerations being urged by learned men in favour of another effort to settle the long-agitated question of the north-west passage, the British Government was at length induced to sanction what was intended to be a final expedition. The ships selected were the two with which Com

mander (now Sir James) Ross had made the most important voyage on record in the ice-encumbered seas around the South Pole, and which were now fitted with steamengines, and provided with ample stores for three years, and everything that could promote the health and comfort of the crews. The command was given to Sir John Franklin, with Captain Crozier as Commander of the second ship. Their instructions were to follow the track of Parry in his first and most successful voyage, and push westward from Melville Island to Behring Strait, whence, in the event of success, they were to steer to the Sandwich Islands, and there refit and refresh, preparatory to returning to England by way of Cape Horn.

Sir John Franklin sailed in May 1845, and, as all our readers must be aware, never returned. The ships were seen by whalers

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