back his ships in nearly as perfect a condition as when they left the docks; and every man of his crew (with the exception of one, who carried out with him an incurable disease) in as high and robust health as when they quitted England; while he had shown that his own talents were of the very highest order.

No greater compliment can be paid to Sir Edward Parry, for his conduct in this expedition, than by quoting the words of Sir John Barrow, who says "We are proud, and justly proud, of the name of Cook; but we venture to assert, without fear of contradiction, and without meaning to derogate one tittle from the merits of that renowned navigator, that in no part of his career of discovery had he occasion to call into action all those personal exertions and mental energies, which were perpetually demanded in, and essential to the safety of, the late expedition."

4 Review of Voyage in "Quarterly," 1821, p. 214

CHAPTER XVI.

Franklin's Overland Expedition, accompanied by Richardson, Hood, Back, and Hepburn-Attempt, but fail, to reach the Copper-mine River-Construction of Winter Residence-Laying-up Provisions-Influx of Indian Visitors; consequent insufficiency of Food-Back's adventurous Journey in quest of Supplies His success and return-Pursuance of JourneyHardships and Dangers-Murder of Hood by Michel the Iroquois-Retribution-Exhaustion and Starvation-Ultimate Succour through the energy of Back—Return to England.

WHILE Parry was engaged in the above arduous attempt at exploring a passage through Sir James Lancaster's Sound, a land expedition was determined on by the Admiralty Board, with a view to define the limits and trending of the northern coast of the American continent, which had been visited at the mouths of two great rivers by Hearne and Mackenzie, from whose narratives the conclusion was naturally drawn, that it was washed by a great Polar Sea. It was also thought in the event of Captains Parry and Liddon reaching the mainland at a point anywhere near the mouth of the river Coppermine, they might stand greatly in need of advice and assistance.

Lieutenant Franklin, who had already given promise of talents of the highest order while in command of the Trent in Captain Buchan's voyage, was selected to carry out this dangerous service, accompanied by Dr. (now Sir John) Richardson, two Admiralty midshipmen, Mr. Robert Hood aud Mr. George Back,

and an English seaman named John Hepburn, to whose faithful and untiring zeal they subsequently Iowed their lives.

This little band sailed from England on the 23rd of May 1819, in the Hudson's Bay Company's ship Prince of Wales, and after a narrow escape from shipwreck on the dreaded shores of Resolution Island, arrived in safety at the York Factory Station, on the 30th of August; but they were unable to set out on their journey till the 9th of September. On the 22nd of October, they arrived at Cumberland House, on Pine Island Lake, after having travelled by water a distance of nearly seven hundred miles, and surmounted all the usual difficulties in the shape of rock, rapid, and portage.

Late as the season was, Franklin determined, with his accustomed energy, to push on to Carlton House, on the Athabasca Lake; and accordingly, taking leave of Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, he set out on the 18th January, 1820, accompanied by Mr. Back and the faithful Hepburn; and after a journey of eight hundred and fifty miles, with the thermometer 40° and sometimes 50° below zero, arrived at Fort Chipewyan on the 20th March.

Here they were joined early in July by Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, and on the 18th of that month the whole party, with an addition of sixteen or eighteen Canadian voyageurs, embarked on their voyage, but, notwithstanding, the greatest efforts were made to reach winter quarters at the mouth of the Coppermine, they were compelled to halt on the banks of a river in lat. 64° 28' N., long. 113° 6' W., five hundred and fifty miles from Fort Chipewyan, where they commenced building a hut and laying in a good stock of provisions.

From the herds of rein-deer which covered the surrounding country, about a hundred and eighty fell

victims to the skill of the hunter, and the flesh, after being partially dried, was kneaded up with fat into a paste, well known in North America by the name of pemmican. But this stock was soon found to be insufficient to supply the wants of the numbers of Indians, who crowded to the station when the winter had fairly set in; and accordingly, Mr. Back, with his usual zeal, volunteered to conduct a party back to Fort Providence, and if necessary to Chipewyan, to obtain further supplies.

This journey, one of the most perilous on record, was successfully performed, though at the cost of a great deal of suffering to Back and his party. The misery of travelling over a distance of one thousand one hundred and four miles, in snow shoes" can be but faintly imagined by a person who thinks upon the inconvenience of marching with a weight of between two and three pounds constantly attached to galled feet and swelled ankles," which mark his weary track with blood; well indeed may Sir John Franklin say "I had every reason to be much pleased with his (Back's) conduct on this arduous undertaking."

These supplies arrived on the 15th January, 1821. In June the first party started on their voyage down the Coppermine, and on the 14th, Franklin and the remainder left Fort Enterprise, "a name that, in reference to future events, might, with great and deplorable propriety, be changed to that of the 'House of Misery, Lamentation, and Woe'." Before leaving, however, Akaitcho, a chief of the Copper Indians, and Mr. Wentzel, a clerk of the North-West Company and a companion of Back in his journey, made a promise that a supply of provisions should be deposited there previous to September.

On the 1st July they embarked on the Coppermine, and, after a tedious and hazardous voyage, on the 18th arrived at the mouth of the river, nine

miles from the "Bloody Fall" of Hearne, and three hundred and thirty miles from Fort Enterprise. On the 21st they all embarked in their two crazy bark canoes, on an undertaking on which few but English sailors would have had the hardihood to venture.

Fifteen of the party had never seen salt-water before in their lives, and their delight on first viewing it speedily gave way to sensations of fear and despondency; more particularly as they had but fifteen days provisions, and a very remote chance of relief from the Eskimaux.

For the first four days their progress was due east, along a coast which was free from ice, and at first well covered with vegetation. Numerous rocky and barren islands, with high cliffs, were seen to the north, as well as that peculiar phenomenon termed ice-blink, which indicates the presence of large masses of ice. Little or no tide was observed, but the indications of an eastern current were found in the deposit of quantities of drift wood, chiefly of the poplar, on the western shores of all the projecting headlands.

On the 25th, during a dense fog, they doubled a bold cape, to which the name of Barrow was given. The coast was here composed of granite cliffs, fourteen or fifteen hundred feet high, on which no landing could be affected with any degree of safety, and which presented a most dreary aspect to their anxious eyes. At a great risk to their slender canoes, from the ice which encompassed Cape Barrow, they made their way unto Detention Harbour, so named from being unable to get out for some days after their entrance. On the 29th the progress was resumed, favored by a land breeze, and on the 30th, after rounding Cape Kater, they entered a deep gulf to which the name of Arctic Sound was given; the name of Hood was bestowed on a river at the bottom