THE expedition which, at this time, took full precedence in the public mind of every other, was that of Captain Parry to the northern seas of America. In the autumn of 1823, a considerable gloom involved the public mind as to its fate. Two years and a half had now elapsed since they had entered the northern regions of ice, out of which not even the faintest rumour had come as to their progress; and the time was fast approaching, beyond which there was no provision, or even hope, that they could continue with safety. The dreadful evils which had beset another expedition, which had only narrowly and partially escaped entire destruction, gave a still more formidable impression of the peril of those regions. It was therefore a jubilee to the whole nation, when it was announced, that the ships had been seen off the coast of Shetland; and this general joy was scarcely damp. ed by the intelligence which soon followed, that the voyage, as to its main object, had been a failure; though it had made discoveries, which, under circumstances of humbler expectation,

would have been considered of no mean importance.

The expedition sailed on the 7th of May, and about the middle of that month passed through the Pentland Firth, between the north of Scotland and the Orkneys. Soon after they encoun tered a long series of contrary winds, which rendered it impossible to begin their voyage across the Atlantic, till the 7th or 8th of June. A month being consumed in this passage, July was somewhat advanced, before they entered Hudson's Bay, and August had begun when they reached the north-eastern part of Southampton Island, where their career of discovery was to open.

In determining upon the informa tion by which he was now to be gui ded, Captain Parry was a good deal embarrassed. Middleton had been sent to this quarter, on a voyage of discovery, in 1742, and had published a narrative of his observations; but Mr Dobbs had afterwards written a large book, to prove that there was not a word of truth in anything that Middleton had said. The fact, however,

proved to be, that, notwithstanding a few partial slips, Middleton was right in the main. Captain Parry was not yet fully aware of this, and was much at a loss whether to take the Frozen Strait of Middleton, which Dobbs had spent half a volume in proving to have no existence, or whether to make the great circuit around Southampton Island, and by Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome. He preferred the authority of Middleton to that of his speculative commentator, and found him. self right. A fine opening, however, appearing on the left, they entered, but soon found themselves completely embayed the mere circumstance of the absence of "old ice" being sufficient to prove, that these shores could have no communication with the great northern ocean. They formed, how ever, a very fine bay, to which was given the name of the Duke of York. The expedition now made their way with tolerable ease through Frozen Strait, and entered the Repulse Bay of Middleton. This had been a subject of great controversy, Dobbs maintaining that it was no bay, but the entrance into the ocean. A very short inspection, however, satisfied Captain Parry, that here too Middleton had been perfectly correct. He now made it his business to proceed northward along the coast, beating at every point for a passage. Commodious anchorage was found in Duckett's Cove; and near it were three small islands, called Bushnan, Rouse, and Georgiana, and one large island named Vansittart, between which and the land was Hurd Channel, through which they passed. A very deep and most promising inlet now appeared, stretching far to the north-west; and Captain Parry went to explore it in boats; but, after spending nearly a month in examining it, and a smaller one called Hoppner's Inlet, everything was found closed in by land.

When this examination terminated, October was begun, and all the phenomena of polar winter appearingthe sea covered with masses of old ice, a thin cake of new ice forming on its surface; the thermometer 30 degrees below the freezing point, and twelve hours of darkness. All these were fea. tures warning them to look out for winter quarters; and they found them very conveniently at an island which they called Winter Island, though they had to saw through 700 or 800 feet of ice before they were properly lodged.

During the long and tedious confinement of nine months, Captain Parry made every exertion to keep up the spirits of the crew. Variety was afforded by musical parties, and little dramatic pieces, in which the officers appeared as amateur performers. Out of their stores of fresh meat, occasional festivals were afforded. As a still more laudable occupation, the sailors who could not read were put to their alphabet; and before they returned to England, there was not one of them who could not read his Bible. A good deal of friendly and social intercourse was carried on with an Esquimaux village, established in their close vicinity, and whose tenants sometimes favoured them with more of their company than was exactly desired. From them, however, and especially from a "wise woman" called Iliglick, they obtained information deeply inte resting, and calculated to inspire them with sanguine hopes. The natives not only gave descriptions of the coast, but after a little training, embodied them into rude sketches. These exhibited, after a considerable extent of northerly coast, a strait running westward; at the opposite end of which appeared a boundless expanse of sea. This sea could be only the great ocean, of which the expedition were in search.

Notwithstanding the cager wish of

the navigators to depart, they could not extricate themselves from the ice till the beginning of July. By the middle of that month, they had sailed nearly three degrees along the eastern coast of a large tract of land, which they called Melville Peninsula. They then came to the mouth of the expected strait, which they named the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. Before, however, they had fully ascertained it to be a strait, they were arrested by a fixed and impassable barrier of ice. Against this they continued beating for the rest of the short summer; and though they found a channel through which they worked a little way, they never could make the least approach to getting beyond the barrier. Their only farther information was obtained by a land journey along the south shore of the strait. Lieutenant Reid, who was at the head of this party, completely ascertained the opening of this strait into the Polar sea, though his

narrative of this discovery does nd give all the details that could be wish ed of this most interesting point of the expedition.

The expedition soon after found, that it was high time to go into wi ter quarters; and they were again very comfortably accommodated in the island of Igloolik. Next year, Captain Parry seriously contemplated to take all the stores and provisions out of the Fury into the Hecla, send the former home and prosecute discovery with the lat ter. On a careful examination of cir cumstances, however, he found very good reasons for giving up such a idea, and for seeking his next winter quarters within the limits of his na tive country.

As the stations on this voyage were considerably lower in latitude than Melville Island, where Captain Parry formerly wintered, the cold was by no means quite so intense, as will appear by the following table :

+12.79

-19.37

snow with it. On ascending the sloping ground, we found the sledge too much for us, and it was with great difficulty dragged through the soft show, in which we waded knee deep. The wind had now increased to a heavy gale; our utmost view was bounded to twenty yards; and, every time of resting to take breath, we all received severe frost bites. [Having come to a small bay, they pitched their tent there

"When the tent had been pitched an hour, and the party were all smoking to promote warmth, the temperature at our feet was lo below zero, and overhead, amongst the smoke, +7; in the outer air, it was -5°, which was rendered doubly piercing by the strength of the wind. John Lee was soon seized with a fit of shivering, and severe pains in the loins; to check which, we put him into his blanket, and covered him with clothes, which could ill be spared. A deep hole being dug in the snow, a fire was made with the greatest difficulty, and we were made comfortable for a time by a warm mess of soup. I afterwards found it would be possible, by extending the excavation, to make a cavern in which we might pass the night; for it would have been next to impossible to continue in the tent. At two P.M. the outer air was -15°, and zero was the temperature of the tent, when Arnold's pocket chronometer stopped from the effects of the cold. By four P. M. the cavern was fiDished, and of sufficient size to contain us all in a sitting posture. After taking some hot soup, Lee was removed to the warmest place we could select, and, making a fire, we managed by its smoke, which had no vent, to carry the temperature as high as +20%, while outside it had fallen to

25o. We crept into our blanket bags, and huddled close together, to endeavour to procure a little sleep. Our roof

being two feet thick, and not of the most secure description, there was no small probability of its breaking down on us; in which case, confined as we were in our bags, and lying almost upon each other, we should have had but little chance of extricating ourselves.

"At nine A. M. the gale was unabated, and the drift as severe as ever. The tent was half buried in snow, and I set all hands to work in digging out the sledge; but it was so deeply sunk, that our efforts were unsuccessful, and in the attempt our faces and extremities were most painfully frost-bitten. We consulted together, whether it might be most prudent to endeavour to pass another night in our present situation; or, while we were yet able to walk, to make an attempt to reach the ships, which we supposed about six miles from us. We could not see a yard of our way, yet to remain appeared worse than to go on, which last we determined on. Having placed all our baggage in the tent, and erected a small flag over it, we set out, carrying a few pounds of bread, a little rum, and a spade. After walking several miles, we came to grounded ice, and saw the tracks of Esquimaux, but these were so confused, that we knew not which to follow. We now wandered among the heavy hummocks of ice, and suffering from cold, fatigue, and anxiety, were soon completely bewildered. Several of our party began to exhibit symptoms of that horrid kind of insensibility, which is the prelude to sleep. They all professed extreme willingness to do what they were bid, in order to keep in exercise; but none obeyed-on the contrary, they reeled about like drunken men. The faces of several were considerably frostbitten, and some had for a considerable time lost sensation in their fingers and toes; yet they made not the slightest exertion to rub the parts affected. My

attention was particularly drawn to Serjeant Spackman, who, having been repeatedly warned that his nose was frozen, had paid no attention to it, owing to the state of stupefaction into which he had fallen. The frost-bite had now extended over one side of his face, which was frozen as hard as a mask; the eye-lids were stiff, and one corner of the upper lip so drawn up, as to expose the teeth and gums. My hands being still warm, I was enabled to restore the circulation; after which I used all my endeavours to keep him in motion; but he complained sadly of giddiness and dimness of sight, and was so weak as to be unable to walk of himself. His case was indeed so alarming, that I expected every moment he would be down, never to rise again. Our prospect now became every moment more gloomy, and it was but too evident that four of our party could not survive another hour. In this state, while Mr Palmer was running round us to warm himself, he suddenly pitched on a new beaten track; and as exercise was indispensable, we determined on following wherever it might lead us. Having taken the serjeant under my coat, he recovered a little, and we moved onwards, when only those who have been in a similar state of distress can imagine our joy at finding the path led to the ships, at which we arrived in about ten minutes."

In the winter and spring, parhelia and imperfect halos were frequent; but the Aurora Borealis was remarkably rare, and by no means brilliant. The setting sun often displayed colours remarkably vivid and peculiar.

As this party, in both their winter quarters, had a pretty considerable village of Esquimaux close to them, they enjoyed a better opportunity of observing this class of men than has been enjoyed by almost any navigator. They appear to have been by no means

deficient in energy and intelligence. Being accustomed to take long jour neys, to guard against the rigours of the climate, to attack the seal, the walrus, and even the whale, on float ing ice, and with very rude instru ments, they have acquired no small share of courage and ingenuity. They were acquainted with, and could even rudely delineate, territory extending nearly five hundred miles in one direc tion. They are totally destitute, indeed, of all abstract ideas. They cannot count above ten, having only one general word to express any higher number. They were not supposed to have any distinct idea of a supreme Deity, but believe largely in spirits, with whom their Angekoks are supposed to have intercourse. They are certainly harmless savages. They appear strangers to war, and have not even any serious fighting among themselves. The English found them honester than they left them. Indeed, those in Hudson's Bay, who had been accustomed to English ships, were not observed to be behind the most expert thieves in St Giles's. Those on the newly discovered shores were at first very strictly honest; but a great portion of this quality melted away before continued acquaintance of the English, and sight of their treasures. These are a merry people, and as well inclined to a laugh at their neighbours' expense as the most fashionable coterie. The females, however, seem often to give ground for pretty severe strictures on their conduct. The English complain much of their ingratitude, though perhaps they themselves had formed too high expectations, and some instances are given very much to the contrary. There appears, however, to be no small degree of selfishness in their character.

The old and infirm are considerably neglected; and even a young woman, on account of being