The inhabitants of thirteen Esquimaux lodges, whom they met with at Cape Hamilton, were all very fat, having abundance of seal's flesh and fat, large quantities of which were carefully deposited in seal-skin bags under the

snow.

Capt. Penny, in a letter to the Admiralty, on his return from the Arctic Seas in the autumn of 1851, stated that the high northern latitude once reached, comparative open water would be found. The climate improved, and in proof of this he states, that within Victoria Channel, at Point Surprise, lat. 76° 2′, long. 95° 55', he found ducks on the 17th of May, full a month earlier than in the lower latitude; while the sea was even then so free from ice, that the water washed their very feet as they stood on the point. The quantity of drift-wood was comparatively large, and among this was found a piece of English elm. Walruses and seals were also seen and killed by Capt. Penny's party.

The Esquimaux, according to Dr. Richardson, assemble on the various headlands, from the Mackenzie eastward, to chase the black and white whales.

Whales are found in great numbers on all the coasts in the vicinity of Behring's Strait, and the whalers have captured them in high north latitudes.

On the Herald Islands and newly-discovered lands to the northward, innumerable black and white divers (common to this sea) deposit their eggs, and bring up their young.

Of the resources of the northern shores of Siberia, we have unfortunately very scanty materials for forming an accurate judgment. From the scattered notices occurring under this head, in the valuable work of Professor Bauer, of St. Petersburgh, drawn chiefly from official sources, sufficient information may, however, be gathered, to warrant us in inferring that they are little if at all inferior to those of the corresponding Arctic coast of America. This much at least, we know, that every summer sends forth parties of adventurous explorers from Siberia, maintaining themselves-as only they can maintain themselves in these latitudes-by hunting and fishing, for the purpose of working the rich mines of fossil ivory, found in such abundance in the neighbouring islands, which have been described as one vast deposit of the remains of the mammoth.

241

DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.

Captain M'Clure, in the search for Franklin, has been fortunate enough to achieve the discovery of the longsought "North-west passage ;" indeed, he discovered two passages, one between Melville Island and Banks' Land, and the other by the Prince of Wales' Strait, which communicates with that of Barrow, at the eastern extreme of the last named land. This was effected on the 26th of Oct., 1850, by a travelling party over the ice, the vessel being frozen in the pack, where she wintered, about seventy miles to the southward. Taking up the proceedings of the Investigator, from the date of the last information, given at page 211 (Aug. 5, 1850), I may state that, coasting along the edge of the ice, they found, on the 6th, an opening eastward of Wainwright's Inlet, and pushing through it succeeded in rounding Point Barrow at midnight.

On the 6th Sep. they discovered this first land, which has since been ascertained to be an island, whose north side forms Banks' Land. On the 9th, while standing to the N.E., they made another discovery, which Captain M'Clure called Albert's Land; it is continuous with Wollaston and Victoria Land, and appears indeed to form one large island. On the 14th July, 1851, the ice broke up, and for near a month the ship drifted helplessly about, in Prince of Wales' Strait. On the 14th Aug. they were within twenty-five miles of Barrow Strait, and anticipated being set into it, when in all probability they would have fallen in with Captain Austin's ships, and so got to England that year. A strong north-easter, however, set such quantities of ice upon them, and drove the ship so rapidly to the southward, that on the 16th Captain M'Clure determined to retrace his course down the Strait, and endeavour to worm his way through the polar ice, to the west of Baring Island, so as to come down, if possible, between Melville Island and Banks' Land, feeling convinced, from the report of a travelling party he had despatched to the westward in the spring, that a channel would be found in that direction.

On the 24th Sep., while running in a snow-storm, the Investigator grounded on a reef, and was thus frozen in in a secure harbour, named by the commander the Bay of Mercy, lat. 74° 6' N, long. 117° 15' W, where she remained at the last accounts, on the 15th of April, 1853.

It is strange to reflect how near Parry, in his first voyage, was to discovering the North-west passage. When off the

R

south-west point of Melville Island (see page 62) and looking westward he saw the land which is named in the charts Banks' Land. M'Clure, in 1850-1, was at the eastern end of the land, and from this point, looking eastward, he saw Melville Island. He thus discovered the North-west passage. Parry and M'Clure were looking apparently at each other, the one having got to his position from the North Sea or Atlantic Ocean, the other to his position from the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, the one by sailing 2,500 miles, and the other by sailing 1,800 miles. Parry, in 1820, four-and-thirty years ago, looked wistfully across the ice-bound strait, and thought, "Yonder are America and China!" M'Clure, in 1851, or three years ago, looked hopefully over the same ice-covered channel and said, "Yonder are Davis' Strait, and Scotland and England;" but neither could take his ship through, though within seventy miles of the same spot.

But if the passage could not be made by sea, the ice could be traversed in sledges. This was done. M'Clure and a travelling party crossed the strait, in April, 1852, reached Winter Harbour, deposited a despatch there, and returned to their ship.

The interview between the officers of the Resolute and Investigator was a remarkable one. Commander M'Clure and Captain Kellet had last parted three years previous in Behring's Straits, and now they met on the other side of the pole. A travelling party from the Resolute had fortunately visited Winter Bay, Melville Island, and there found the despatches lodged by the Investigator's party, in which Captain M'Clure had intimated his progress and future intentions; immediately on the discovery of this, a relief party was sent off in quest of the ship, and found her in the Bay of Mercy. Lieutenant Pim was in advance of his party, and his reception is thus stated:-

"M Clure and his First Lieutenant were walking on the floe. Seeing a person coming very fast towards them, they supposed he was chased by a bear, or had seen a bear. Walked towards him: on getting onwards a hundred yards, they could see from his proportions that he was not one of them. Pim began to screech and throw up his hands (his face as black as my hat); this brought the captain and lieutenant to a stand, as they could not hear sufficiently to make out his language.

66

At length Pim reached the party, quite beside himself, and stammered out, on M'Clure asking him, 'Who are you, and where are you come from,'-Lieutenant Pim, Herald, Captain Kellet.' This was more inexplicable

to M'Clure, as I was the last person he shook hands with in Behring's Straits. He at length found that this solitary stranger was a true Englishman-an angel of light; he says 'He soon was seen from the ship-they had only one hatchway open, and the crew were fairly jammed there, in their endeavour to get up. The sick jumped out of their hammocks, and the crew forgot their despondency; in fact, all was changed on board the Investigator.'

I may state here that the despatches of Captain M'Clure point out two important facts; first, that his vessel was icelocked in the route of the North-west passage, for three winters, within 160 miles of places previously discovered, and that without any communication between his vessel and others until 1853; and, secondly, that food in great abundance was easily procured, and that the health of officers and crew was maintained without difficulty.

The return of game killed by the officers and a portion of the crew of the Investigator between October 1, 1850, and the 8th April, 1853, comprised the following, although the larger portion was killed during the spring of 1853:Average weight each. Total weight.

Number killed.

Musk-ox.
Deer
Hares
Grouse

110

169

6lbs.

1,014lbs.

486

not weighed.

The size of the musk-ox varied considerably, but the deer that were killed did not vary in size so much. The deer were found to be very fat, although their principal food merely consisted of the herbage which was obtained from a small tree called the dwarf willow. As the crew only kept, as it were, on the ridges of the sea, no other food was observable, but there is no doubt the deer found an abundance of food further up the country. They were very wild, and the gunners had to display great precaution in shooting them. The manner in which the crew got within gun-shot was this: they secreted themselves in various parts of the ravines, or behind the sand-hills, and listened with breathless silence until they heard the deer tap the snow off the willow with their feet in order to eat the herbage. When the air was frosty, and the weather calm, this tapping could be heard at a distance of about

200 yards, and by listening and observing minutely, the gunner easily detected the position in which his prey was located. As soon as this was correctly ascertained, a person was sent a considerable distance round the deer, and a slight noise having been made at their back they immediately run off-probably past the gunner. It was in such instances that the chances of a "kill" occurred. One hundred and ten deer were thus killed.

The grouse were not so wild as might have been expected; but the wild-fowl were somewhat wilder than those usually found in Ireland and Scotland.

The musk-ox was found to be a very ferocious animal, and great danger necessarily attended the attacks. They were easily approached, and when wounded they ran headlong at the gunner. One of the crew had a very narrow escape from being torn to pieces. He had fired one charge without its taking effect, and having no more ammunition with him, he luckily fired his iron ramrod at the infuriated beast, and dropped him lifeless just as the animal was about to make the attack.

If the expedition had had an opportunity of going further up the country, away from the sea, there is no doubt but thousands of game would have been killed.

The pleasing intelligence of the safety of the officers and crew of the Investigator did not come without alloy. News was brought home of the melancholy death of Lieutenant Bellot, the French officer, who had already, on a previous occasion, visited the Polar Seas in search of our missing countrymen. The intelligence was received by Commander Inglefield, in an official letter from Captain Pullen. It appears that this noble seaman was blown away from the shore, in company with two seamen, upon a floe of ice. He had mounted to the top of a hummuck in order to reconnoitre the position, and to see what could be done for the safety of his two companions. At this moment he was taken by the wind, thrown into a crack in the ice, and unfortunately drowned. The two men were saved, after driving about for thirty hours, without food or hope. The records of Arctic heroism can show no brighter name than that of Bellot. He was endeared to all his English shipmates by every social quality, as well as by his unflinching valour and daring. Our countrymen have done justice to the memory of his virtues by a subscription for his family and a monument to be erected to him in Greenwich Hospital.

The indifference with which the announced discovery of the North-west passage was generally received, both in