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Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. By JOHN FRANKLIN, Captain R.N., F.R.S., and Commander of the Expedition. With an APPENDIX on various subjects relating to Science and Natural History. Illustrated by numerous Plates and Maps. Published by Authority of the Right Hon. The Earl Bathurst. 1 vol. 4to. London, Murray. 1823.

It is impossible to rise from reading this volume, without being impressed with the highest respect (almost amounting, we might say, to veneration) for the character of Captain Franklin, and of all the officers composing the expedition. Their courage, their fortitude, their endurance, under circumstances almost unparalleled in the history of human suffering-their neglect and denial of self-their beautiful sympathy and anxiety for each other-all combine to the highest honour of the individuals, to the credit of our national character, and even of human nature itself.

We had not conceived it possible for men to survive such privations, aggravated as they were by severe, and almost unremitting, toil. From the time they quitted the sea, at the end of August, to the 7th of November, they existed, with very slight, and latterly no exception, on pounded bones, old leather, and a weed called tripe de roche, which seems almost to have contributed more to the attenuation than the sustenance of the body;and for two months of this period they suffered under fatigue and exposure which would, it might be thought, have, of themselves, been almost too much for men of the strongest frames, supported by the amplest nourishment.

During the whole of this terrible journey, so far from there being any of those displays of selfishness into which intense suffering so frequently hardens naturally kind dispositions, the only slight ebullitions of that peevishness which at last excess of weakness brought on, were occasioned by contests of which should do and suffer the most. Above all, that horrible resource to which men in such extremities have been so frequently driven, never once seems to have occurred to their minds. "The longings of the cannibal" never did "arise”— they never

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spoke of lots for flesh and blood,

And who should die to be his fellow's food."

Even when some of the Canadian voyagers were left behind, from exhaustion, to almost certain destructionnay, when some of them actually died,-the dreadful benefit they might have been to them seems never to have been thought of. They awaited death calmly. The Canadians themselves, selfish and even brutal as they were in many instances, seem never to have hinted at or devised any thing of the kind. One horrible exception to this is believed to have occurred, but we shall advert to the circumstances of that tragic story in its place.

But we are beginning at the end;-for the deep and terrible interest of the latter occurrences engrosses the mind, to the exclusion of what has gone before. We must, however, recur to the commencement,and shall lay before our readers a précis of the very voluminous Narrative of this extraordinary Expedition. The Narrative is, indeed, too voluminous, as is every book of the kind we ever met with. The minuteness of a daily detail is advantageous, and even necessary, in the official record of proceedings of this nature; but they ought,

in our judgment, to be compressed into a more condensed form for general publication. With this drawback, however, (which, as we have stated, we believe to be universal in similar works,) the Narrative is very ably drawn up ;-simple and clear in its style, and totally free from the slightest affectation or pretension. Its distinguishing characteristic, indeed, is the author's desire to do justice and honour to his companions,— treating of his own conduct with the most extreme and truest modesty. He notices as trivial and natural matters, the highest instances of hardship and self-denial on his part ;-not with that sort of bravado lightness which seems to say, "See what things I consider as nothing!"—but with that reserve which a man of real delicacy feels in speaking of his own exploits.

The Expedition under Captain Franklin's command consisted of Dr. Richardson, a surgeon in the NavyMr. Back and Mr. Hood, Midshipmen, (promoted, while in America, as was Mr. Franklin from the rank of Lieutenant,) and an English seaman, of the name of Hepburn, whose conduct, truly, and in the best sense, heroic, contributed essentially to the preservation of the lives of some of his officers, and will ever reflect honour upon his own name. After a voyage attended with many delays, and some dangers, the Expedition arrived at York Factory, the principal establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the 30th of August, 1819;—and on the 9th of September they set forward on their travels into the interior. This part of their progress, being in boats up a river, is not peculiarly interesting. They arrived at Cumberland House, 690 miles from York Factory, on the 22d of October. Here, in consequence of the advance of the season, they determined to remain for the winter. Subsequently, however, Mr. Franklin

resolved on proceeding onward with Mr. Back, to concert measures for the furtherance of their ulterior objects, leaving Messrs. Richardson and Hood at Cumberland House, to devote the remainder of the winter weather to the more exclusively scientific pursuits of the Expedition.

On the 18th of January, 1820, Messrs. Franklin and Hood set forward on their journey ;—

But previously to detailing the events of the journey, it may be proper to describe the necessary equipments of a winter-traveller in this region, which I cannot do better than by extracting the following brief, but accurate, account of it from Mr. Hood's journal :

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"A snow-shoe is made of two light bars of wood, fastened together at their extremities, and projected into curves by transverse bars. The side-bars have been so shaped by a frame, and dried before a fire, that the front part of the shoe turns up like the prow of a boat, and the part behind terminates in an acute angle; the spaces between the bars are filled up with a fine netting of leathern thongs, except that part behind the main bar, which is occupied by the feet; the netting is there close and strong, and the foot is attached to the main bar by straps passing round the heel, but only fixing the toes, so that the heel rises after each step, and the tail of the shoe is dragged on the snow. tween the main bar and another in front of it, a small space is left, permitting the toes to descend a little in the act of raising the heel to make the step forward, which prevents their extremities from chafing. The length of a snow-shoe is from four to six feet, and the breadth one foot and a half, or one foot and three quarters, being adapted to the size of the wearer. The motion of walking in them is perfectly natural, for one shoe is level with the snow, when the edge of the other is passing over it. It is not easy to use them among bushes, without frequent overthrows, nor to rise afterwards without help. Each shoe weighs about two pounds, when unclogged with snow. The northern Indian snow-shoes differ a little from those of the southern Indians, having a greater curvature on the outside of each shoe; one advantage of which is, that when the foot rises, the over-balanced side descends and throws off the snow. All the superiority of European art has been unable to improve the native contrivance of this useful machine.

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Sledges are made of two or three flat boards, curving upwards in front, and fastened together by transverse pieces of wood above. They are so thin, that, if heavily laden, they bend with the inequalities of the surface over which they pass. The ordinary dog-sledges are eight or ten feet long, and very narrow, but the lading is secured to a lacing

round the edges. The cariole used by the traders is merely a covering of leather for the lower part of the body, affixed to the common sledge, which is painted and ornamented according to the taste of the proprietor. Besides snow-shoes, each individual carries his blanket, hatchet, steel, flint, and tinder, and generally fire-arms."

The general dress of the winter-traveller is a capot, having a hood to put up under the fur cap in windy weather, or in the woods, to keep the snow from his neck; leathern trowsers and Indian stockings, which are closed at the ankles, round the upper part of his mocassins, or Indian shoes, to prevent the snow from getting into them. Over these he wears a blanket, or leathern coat, which is secured by a belt round his waist, to which his fire-bag, knife, and hatchet are suspended.-P. 94, 95.

The exposure in this journey seems to have been sufficiently severe; for it appears that the preparations for an encampment at night "consist only in clearing away the snow from the ground, and covering that space with pine-branches, over which the party spread their blankets and coats, and sleep in warmth and comfort, by keeping a good fire at their feet, without any other canopy than the heaven, even though the thermometer should be far below zero :"-and Captain Franklin talks of a heavy fall of snow during the night having been of advantage to them, from "its affording an additional covering to their blankets." Even already, want of food was experienced,—from which such terrible effects subsequently ensued. Nothing, indeed, is more strongly illustrative of the inhospitable character of those regions, than the almost constant scarcity of sustenance which is felt there. The following seems to be by no

means an uncommon case :

Mr. Isbester, and an Orkney man, joined us from Cumberland House, and brought some pemmican which we had left behind; a supply which was very seasonable after our recent loss. The general occupation of Mr. Isbester during the winter, is to follow or find out the Indians, and collect their furs; and his present journey will appear adventurous, to persons accustomed to the certainty of travelling on a well-known road. He is going in search of a band of Indians, of whom no information had been received since last October, and his only

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