he suffered the laurel to escape from his grasp, which | crew in safety; and we know by numerous narratives has deservedly crowned the better fortunes of Sir Edward that even the most dreary climes afford the means of Parry, yet his resumption of the scheme on his private preserving life for several years. The interesting narresources, when it had been laid aside by government, rative of the loss of the Albany and Discovery on Marble indicates a feeling which must engage the sympathy of Island, originally told by Hearne, and more recently by all who are capable of appreciating the courage and Mr. Barrow in his History of Arctic Voyages, has been high sense of honour which, it is to be hoped, will long lately so fully laid before the public that I need merely continue to characterize British seamen. allude to it. For the same reason I shall but just mention the four Russian seamen who being unexpectedly left on Spitzbergen, with only twelve charges of ammunition, managed to maintain themselves there for six years and three months. From these and similar narratives, we are warranted in supposing, that though Captain Ross's vessel may be lost or disabled, he and his crew may be still in existence. If the Victory has been forced ashore like the Fury by the pressure of the ice, the crew would naturally remain by her as long as the provision and stores lasted; and we may even picture the survivers, like those of the Albany-" daily ascending a rock during the summer-looking earnestly to the east and south in expectation of relief, and when nothing appeared, sitting down close together and weeping bitterly." "It is impossible," says Mr. Barrow, on a similar occasion, in the work alluded to," to contemplate their forlorn situation without the deepest emotion for the unhappy fate of so many wretched beings cut off from all human aid, and almost from all hope of being able to leave their dark and dismal abode." The progress of science enables us to overcome difficulties which could not be surmounted in a preceding age; and we ought therefore to hesitate in declaring any scheme impracticable until all the means in our power have been tried. We have no reason to conclude from the reports of arctic voyagers that the sea is permanently frozen beyond the 83d parallel. The prevalence of particular winds may no doubt impact drift ice in narrow straits, which may be thus closed up for several seasons; but the great obstacles to the navigation of the arctic seas are the fields of ice, in which, when a sailing vessel is enclosed, she is becalmed and powerless; and unless extricated by a concurrence of favourable circumstances may drift along a whole summer at the mercy of the currents, as has not unfrequently been experienced by whalers. Sir Edward Parry on his first voyage, with the determination of conscious talent, took the ice," as it is technically termed, and, boldly sawing his way through the field which annually obstructs the traverse of Baffin's Bay, found a free passage into Barrow's Straits. The power of steam is eminently calculated to do what Sir Edward performed by manual labour. Immense masses of ice, floating in a medium differing only about one-tenth part of density from themselves, may be moved by a very small force, where such a fulcrum as the paddle of a steam-vessel can be procured. Impressed with similar notions, most likely founded on more extensive information than I possess, Captain Ross embarked his fortunes and fame in his steam-vessel. Circumstances which he could not control deprived him of part of his equipment; and he sailed from England without the tender he had engaged to accompany him. In crossing the Atlantic the Victory was dismasted by a storm; but the damage being repaired from the wreck of a whaler, she wintered on the west coast of Greenland, and by the last accounts was seen, in the summer of 1830, standing across Baffin's Bay. Her crew were then in excellent health and high spirits; and the Victory, in her Captain's estimation, was in better trim than when she left the port of London. Captain Ross fixed the autumn of the present year as the period of his return, his provisions being calculated to last so long. That period is now past; and as he would not venture to prolong his stay another summer, through dependence upon casual supplies, there is but too much reason to fear that his vessel has proved unequal to the pressure she has had to sustain. But although the steam-ship may have foundered, we are not thence to conclude that the crew likewise perished. A ship is seldom, in these high latitudes, crushed so suddenly as to afford no time to launch the boats, with a supply of arms and provisions on the ice; and we learn, accordingly, that though several whalers are annually lost the crews are generally saved. Captain Ross had many resources in the event of such an accident. He was provided with boats peculiarly light and manageable, being those used by Sir John Franklin in his last expedition; his crew were practised in the navigation of an icy sea; and his nephew, Commander James Ross, must be known to many members of the Geographical Society, as an officer of the greatest promise, the companion of Parry on all his expeditions, and his second in command on the last and the most adventurous one that has been recorded in the annals of naval enterprise. So seconded, it is not likely that Captain Ross supinely yielded to despair on the destruction of his vessel, without using every effort to place his It formed part of Captain Ross's plan to visit the wreck of the Fury in the first instance, that he might supply himself with coals and such provisions and stores as were available; and to return and winter beside it, if in the course of the summer he was unable to penetrate to the westward. It is, therefore, in Regent's Inlet, that the search for him is most likely to be successful; and an expedition which shall reach the wreck of the Fury, by ascertaining whether he has been there or not (and he could scarcely fail to leave some memorial of his intentions), will be directed as to the ulterior steps it may be necessary to take. The By a reference to the map, then, it will be seen that Regent's Inlet trends towards a portion of the main coast lying between the 90th and 100th meridian; and, in all probability, it fortunately happens that the Thloo-ee-choh, or Great Fish River, must fall into the Arctic Sea within the same limits; being, from the unanimous report of the Indians, not only a larger stream than the Coppermine, and more navigable for boats, but flowing through a better wooded country, frequented by vast herds of deer. It is in fact to its banks that the Indians of Slave Lake resort for their principal supplies of provisions; and Hearne, who crossed it near its source, says, “We were here joined by upwards of two hundred Indians from different quarters ;" and "the deer were so plentiful that our party killed great numbers merely for their fat, marrow, and tongues." He also mentions that numerous lakes in the neighbourhood abound with fish. access to its banks from Great Slave Lake is likewise easy by a chain of lakes and portages, so that it affords, on every account, excellent situations for a winter residence, whence, during the summer, the sea-coast may be explored in every direction. From the general agreement of the maps drawn by the Indians, with one long ago obtained from the Esquimaux who visit Fort Churchill, we may further conclude that the Great Fish River falls into an extensive bay, whose west side is bounded by a promontory running far to the north and separating this recess from Coronation Gulf and its east side by Melville peninsula. The Indians also describe three islands as lying off the mouth of the river, and its Indian name implies that its estuary is frequented by whales. As both the Indians and Fort Churchill Esquimaux cross these peninsulæ in journeying from bay to bay, their extent northwards is unknown to them, but it is possible, and even not very improbable, that the western peninsula may be either continuous with North Somerset on which the Fury was wrecked, or at least separated from it only by a chain of islands and narrow straits; and if such be the case, the progress of a boat from Fish River to the wreck of the Fury will be greatly facilitated. It is also evident that in pursuing this main object of the expedition in boats, much light will necessarily be thrown on the existence of a north-west passage, Sir John Franklin and Dr. Richardson, in their several surveys, found the sea washing the shores of the main land between the 107th and 150th meridians every where open towards the end of August; so that a steam-vessel having once attained Coronation Gulf would meet with little obstruction on its way to Behring's Straits. The great difficulty lies to the eastward, where, from the vicinity of a number of large islands, straits are formed, in which currents and prevalent winds pack the drift ice, so that it may remain there for years unless detached by a concurrence of favourable circumstances. The researches that have hitherto been made do not, however, disprove the existence of a navigable passage; but on the contrary the expedition which terminated in consequence of the loss of the Fury, strengthened the hopes of finding one, the sea being particularly clear of ice at the time Sir Edward Parry bore up for England. And there appears then to be no more certain way of discovering the passage, if it exist, than that of coasting the main shore in a boat; and there is certainly no plan so economical or so safe. It has been asked, would not Captain Ross endeavour to make his way to the southward? But it may be replied, that if driven ashore any where near the Fury, he would be induced to remain there as long as he found means of subsistence, that being the point to which assistance would be most likely directed; and I may here take occasion to remark that, though occupied with the objects and interests of civilized life, the public may for a season overlook such an enterprise as Captain Ross's, and forget that it has been undertaken, such an idea finds no place in the minds of the adventurers themselves, their undertaking is of first-rate importance in their own eyes, they look for their reward in the approbation of their countrymen, and for aid when in distress to their sympathy. The hope, therefore, of active exertions being made in their favour, will cling to them to the last moment of their existence, and detain them near the spot where they expect to be sought for. It has also been said that we should ere this, if Captain Ross survived, have heard of him through the medium of the Esquimaux and the Hudson's Bay Company. But I may state that the Esquimaux tribes residing on the shores of the continent between Melville peninsula and Behring's Straits have no intercourse whatever with the Hudson's Bay Company; and with the exception of the hordes that frequent Mackenzie's River, none communicate even with the Indians. Since the Chepewyans gave up their war excursions against the Esquimaux, upwards of twenty years ago, no Indian has visited the coast to the eastward of the Coppermine; and the Churchill Esquimaux who formerly, though not of late years, have had occasional traffic with their countrymen residing at the embouchure of the Fish River, did not visit the Fort last year. Supposing the latter channel of communication then to remain open, intelligence of the wreck of a vessel in Regent's Inlet would not reach Churchill till the second winter at the very earliest, but more probably not till the third, nor consequently England till the succeeding autumn; so that had the Victory even been seen by the Esquimaux in 1830, there has been no opportunity as yet of learning the fact. Having mentioned these facts and opinions as the ground-work for originating the expedition, I proceed to state that it is intended that it shall consist of two officers and eighteen men; part of them, including two good boat carpenters, to be engaged in this country, and part in Canada-all of them inured to fatigue, and well accustomed to the duties they will have to perform; and it is not a little gratifying to me, that several of my late companions on Sir John Franklin's last journey have already volunteered to embark on the present enterprise. We must leave Liverpool early in February, so as to reach Montreal by way of New York by the 10th of April. Some days will be spent in engaging Canadian voyageurs as steersmen and guides, and in preparing the usual equipment. The route to be pursued is the ordinary one for the fur traders, by the Outaway, French River, the Great Lakes, Lake Winepeg, &c., to Great Slave Lake, being a distance from Montreal of about 2500 miles, which we may hope to accomplish early in July. The mode of travelling on the lakes is in a large birch-rind canoe, termed " canot de maitre," which at Fort William is changed for smaller canoes, named "canots de nord," adapted for river navigation. At Cumberland-house the party will embark in batteaux, which are better calculated for conveying the pemmican*, which is to be taken in there. At Slave Lake Indian guides and hunters will be obtained to accompany the party to the banks of the Great Fish River. The most eligible spot for a winter residence having been selected, a certain number of the people will be appointed to erect the necessary buildings, and the hunters and fishermen employed to store up provisions, while I proceed myself without loss of time down the river in a light canoe, with a crew of eight men well armed. As the river flows through the barren lands of nearly equal elevation with those north of Fort Enterprise, we may expect its course, like that of the Coppermine, to be interrupted by rapids or cascades. This canoe excursion will enable me to survey these, so that on my return to the winter establishment we may construct boats combining the qualities requisite for the river and sea navigation. As far also as the season will permit, my visit to the sea may give me an opportunity of communicating with the Esquimaux, and of obtaining, if not intelligence of Captain Ross, at least much information for the direction of my course the following summer. Having passed the first winter, we shall start for the sea the moment the ice breaks up; and if an opinion, which I have been led to entertain from an inspection of the maps traced by the Indians, of the mouth of the river being between the 68th and 69th parallels of latitude be correct, we shall then be less than 300 miles distant from the wreck of the Fury, and, under favourable circumstances, little or no doubt can be entertained of our being able to reach it. If, contrary to our hope, no traces of Captain Ross should be discovered on arriving at the wreck of the Fury, and the season should be far advanced, it will be necessary for us to retrace our way to our winter quarters; and in so doing we should embrace every opportunity of erecting landmarks and signal-posts on peaks and capes to arrest the attention of the wanderers to the notes deposited beneath, detailing the position of our fort, and the means adopted for their relief. But on the disruption of the ice in the following spring, the expedition would again be on the shores of the Polar Sea, and its researches would be resumed in a different direction from that previously taken. Every Esquimaux hut would be minutely inspected in the hope of finding some token of the fate of our countrymen; and the gratification which the promoters of the expedition will experience, should even a single British seaman be rescued from his melancholy Pemmican is flesh of buffalo, moose, or rein deer, dried and pounded with a proportionate quantity of fat; and, when well presubstantial and best adapted food for the nature of the country and served, will keep good for several years, being decidedly the most service. NOTICES. THE purchasers of the 'Penny Magazine' are aware that, according to the original plan of the work, it was intended only to publish 64 Numbers in each year;-so that the purchasers of 12 Sixpenny Parts would be charged Eightpence for the Wrappers of those Parts. The portion of the sale, however, in Parts, has become so considerable, amounting to eighty thousand copies Monthly, that the Committee have determined in future to make no charge whatever for the Wrappers, so that each Part will contain Six Numbers. To effect this, it will be necessary to publish Eight double Supplements, at Twopence each, during the year, by which arrangement 72 Penny Numbers will be annually published, making an annual cost, both to the purchasers of Numbers and of Parts, of Six Shillings. These double Supplements will, in 1833, appear on the following dates: The FIRST VOLUME of the PENNY MAGAZINE, neatly bound in cloth, lettered, price SIX SHILLINGS, will be ready for delivery in the first week in January. 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Edinburgh, OLIVER and BOYD, Glasgow, ATKINSON and Co, 8) CO ADAM Smith, notice of, page 93. Advertisements, quackery of some, 199. African justice, instance of, 383. Age of sheep, means of ascertaining, 128. Air balloon, 8. Alban's Abbey, St., account of, 129. All-fool's day, 5. Alexander Selkirk, notice of, 334. Comfort and good temper, 24. Constantinople, description of, 193, 201. Corneille, Peter, notice of, 94. Americans, domestic manners of, by Mrs. Cotton, account of, 136. Trollope, 83. American Almanac for 1832, 34. America, population of, 34. Ancient geometry, on the study of, 217. Ancient India, notice of, 354. paintings, description of 200. Angelo, anecdote of Michael, 8. Animal sagacity, 3. Courier, Paul Louis, adventure of, 229. Crocodile, method of killing, 89. Crosby Hall, account of, 385. Animals, domestication of, 44; concord of, Crows, their courts of justice, 183. Antipodes, seasons of the, 18. Antwerp, account of, 369. Ants, fecundity and use of in Brazil, 288. Ardent spirits, a popular poison, 72. Astronomy, on the study of, 167. BANANA, account of the, 252. Banian tree, description of the, 184, Banks of Ayr, Burns's song on the, 232. Bastille, De Latude's escape from, 230, 233. Beauties of nature, on a taste for, 150. Beneficence, pleasures of, 219. Bread-fruit tree, account of, 333. British Essayists, facts relative to, 31. British India, account of, 214. Birds, Slaney's outline of, 258. Bryant's (W. C.) Poems, notice of, 134. Bushman, Wild, song of, 248. CALABRIAS, notice of letters on the, 134. Camden, the antiquary, notice of, 37. Camsin, remarks on the, 138. Cassini, J. D., notice of, 94. Catacombs of Paris, account of the, 317. Chatham, Earl of, notice of, 319. Christ Church Hospital, account of, 204; Cuckoo, lines to the, by Wordsworth, 55. DAISY, Wordsworth's poem on a, 15. Debtor and creditor, Arab account of, 144. Decisions in courts of justice, importance Detection of fraud, curious instance of, 96. Deity, dependence of the Turks on, 120. Dog, sagacity of a, 107. Felix Neff, memoir of, reviewed, 174. Fidelity, remarkable proof of, in a dog, 320. Flattery, 8. Flaxman, John, notice of, 126. Flemish language, notice of the, 273, 282. Foals, Bedouin treatment of new-born, 128. Forks, account of, 79; on the use of, 139. Franklin, Benjamin, memoirs of his life and Gallery of Portraits, No. 1, notice of the, 87. Domestic peace, lines on, by Coleridge, 288. Giraffe, account of the, 125, 187; at Paris, prevented, 115 Dryden, notice of, 181. Dunbarton, account of the castle of, 268. EAGLE, white-headed, account of the, 245. Earthquakes, signs of, in Calabria, 128. Eclipse of the sun, 158. Economy, benefits of the practice, 207. Elephants, account of the capture of, 159; Elgin Marbles, account of the, 228; opinions Epicurism of Quin the actor, 203. FAHRENHEIT (D. G.), notice of, 60 Falls of the Clyde, description of, 253. Fear, agreeable instance of, 195, Good old times, remarks on, 144. Grande Chartreuse, account of, 65. workers, the secret of, 8. HABIT, force of, 16. Habits and duties, 20. Hall (Capt. B.), review of his Fragments of Harcourt, patent of Lord Chancellor, 84. Health and Longevity, C. Thackrah's Re- Hector and Andromache, the parting of, 306. Home Colonies, remarks upon, 47. John, notice of, 141. ICELAND, account of a volcano in, 288; Idleness, its danger, 168. Ignorance, degradation of, 80 Inattention, means of overcoming, 272. Invention and Discovery, distinction be- Patents, average annual grant of, 72. tween, 267. Inventions, neglect of authors of, 19. Italian dog, account of an, 363: JEFFERSON's ten rules for practical use, 203. LABOURERS of Europe, Italy, 142, 196, 290; Labouring man's dwelling, choice of, 15. Largest flower and largest bird, 104. St. Paul's Cathedral, account of, 57. Penn, William, notice of, 279. Petersburgh, St., description of, 314. Petty, Sir W., notice of, 61. Silk trade, introduction and progress of, 374. Sociable Grosbeak, account of, 100. Soldiers, pay of, time of Edward III., 326. Song, by Herbert, 195; ascribed to Sir Ed- Song of David, Christopher Smart's, 363, Sportsman, awkward situation of a, 267. Sterne, Lawrence, notice of, 327. Pewter spoon, emotions produced by a, 267. Stratford-on-Avon, account of, 220. Philosophy, the uses of, 232, Lawyers, disturbed times unfavourable to, 91. Picture, recovery of an antique, 357. Lesson to rulers, 80. Library, on the choice of books for, 22. Life assurance in Germany, 168. buoy, account of the, 66. Lightning conductors, remarks on, 115. Locke, some thoughts of, 19; his mode of London Bridge, account of the New, 41. Lycidas, extract from Milton's, 152. M'CULLOCH'S Dictionary of Commerce, re- Machiavelli, notice of, 37. Mahogany tree, account of the, 107. Pietro della Valle, anecdote of, 115. Poesie, by George Wither, with notice, 15. Sugar, account of, 25. Surgery, modern improvements in, 56. Swift, Dean, notice of, 335. TARANTULA, dance of the, 139. Tartary, Kham of, ostentation of, 56. Tea, account of, 33. Temper, example of an even, 200, Thames Tunnel, account of, 257, 340. Thebes, in Egypt, account of, 113. Thomson, James, notice of, 231. Threat, singular meaning of a, 199. Pompeii, observations on, by a visitor, 9; Teazle, account of, 161. Tillotson, Archbishop, notice of, 256. overboard, fragments from Capt. B. Proportion, effects of, 312. Mark's, St., day, 30. Martin in the Fields, St., account of the church of, 244. Maternal education, advice on, 185. May-fly, a poem, 64. Meanings of words, 155, 178, 186, 195, 202, Megatherium, account of, 180. Mercury, notice of the transit of, 46, 82. Mind, on the cultivation of, 80; its bias re- Mirabeau, proof of his popularity, 56; ac- Mob, nature of a, 112. Mole, account of the, 20. Monk, George, notice of, 350. Moose Deer, account of the, 36. Motion, on the principles of, 346, 358. Mount Vesuvius, account of, 345, 355. Music, effect of, 274; ancient Egyptian, 310. Proverbs, remarks on the use of, 378. QUADRATURE of the circle, notice of, 250. Quoits, their use in India, 115. Time, the true test, 80. Tivoli, description of, 273. Tobacco, use of by the Hottentots, 120; ac. Torture, ancient use of, 53. Trade, protection of, 23; and manufactures, Tristram Shandy, mistake respecting, 120. UNITED STATES, notice of Ouseley's work RAFFAELLE, notice of, 13; account of the VAN DIEMEN'S LAND, progress of the colony Rats, conquest made by, 219. Real heroism, anecdote exemplifying, 103. Ross, Dr. James, his struggles as an emigrant - Captain, proposed expedition to ascer Rouen Cathedral, notice of, 308. Rubens, P. P., notice of, 117; pictures of, SAINT SWITHIN, notice of, 149. NAPLES, description of, 265, 284. prejudices, remarks on, 352. Magic, Sir D. Brewster's Letters on, Opinion, folly of attempting to force, 40. Scottish husbandmen, of the last century, Scurvy, effects of, on board, 326. Shepherd boy, poem on the, 187. at, 2; geography, products, and commerce Venomous serpents, in South Africa, 235. WALKER, Robert, history of, 166. Weaver's Song, by Barry Cornwall, 139. Woodman's Memorial, a tale, 22. Writing, surprise of savages, at the use of, YOUTH and Age, lines on, by Southey, 55. ZRUXIS, description of a painting by, 207. |