ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library Brittle Books Project, 2014.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2014^BAYFIELD HALL LIBRARY^ THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY from the collection of j Julius Doerner, Chicago: Purchased, 1918. 4 sn.i T98 K 2EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY, Beautif ully printed in small 8vo, with appropriate Engravings by the most Eminent Artists.—Price of each Volume in Cloth Boards Five Shillings. The Publishers have felt regret at receiving from all quarters cofriplaints, that, in consequence 6f several of the Numbers having beetf out of print^ it was impossible to meet the constant call for complete Sets. This, they beg leave to state, arose inevitably from the rapid and increasing demand, which has been so much beyond expectation, that for some time they could not provide effectually against the inconvenience. But arrange- ments have now been made on a scale commensurate with the ample and flattering encouragement afforded by the Public : the Volumes.are all re- printed, and the Publishers trust that they will henceforth be able to ensure a regular supply of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library from its commence- ment. I. NARRATIVE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN THE POLAR SEAS AND REGIONS: With Illustrations of their Climate, Geology, and Natural History ; and an Account of the Whale-Fishery. By Sir John Leslie, K. R. G., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and Corresponding Member of the Royal Insti- tute of France; Robert Jameson, Esq., F.R.S.E. & L., F.L.S., M.W.S., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh; and Hugh Murray, Esq., F.R.S.E. 3d Edit. In one volume. Embellished with Charts of the Routes of Discovery, and Fifteen Engravings exhibiting Picturesque Views of the Arctic Regions, Groups of the Natives with their Occupations and Pursuits, Natural History, Whale-Fishery, &c. II. NARRATIVE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN AFRICA, from the earliest ages to the present time. With Illustrations of the Geology, Mineralogy, and Zoology. By Hugh Murray, Esq., F.R.S.E; Professor Jameson; and James Wilson, Esq., F. R. S. E., and M. W. S. 2d Edit. In one volume. With a Map, and Plans of the Routes of Park, and of Denham and Clap- perton, and Thirteen Engravings illustrative of the Sceneiy, Natural History, Costume of the Inhabitants, &c.2 EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY. « * III. VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT : With an Outline of its Natural History. By the Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D. 2d Edit. In one volume. Illustrated by a Map, a Portrait of Mohammed Ali, and Ten other Engravings representing the most Remarkable Temples, Pyramids, and other Monuments of Antiquity. IV. PALESTINE, OR THE HOLY LAND; from the earliest period to the present time. By the Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D., Author of " View of Ancient and Modern Egypt," &c. 3d Edit. In one volume. With a Map, and Nine Engravings representing its most striking Scenery, Temples, Remains of Antiquity, &c. V. LIVES AND VOYAGES OF DRAKE, CAVENDISH, AND DAMPIER: Including an Introductory View of the Earlier Discoveries in the South Sea ; aiid the History of the Buccaneers. In one volume. With Portraits engraved in Horsburgh's best line manner. VI. VII. VIII. HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF BRITISH INDIA, from the most remote period to the present time : Including a Narrative of the Early Portuguese and English Voyages, the Revolutions in the Mogul Empire, and the Origin, Progress, and Esta- blishment of the British Power : with Illustrations of the Zoology—Bo- tany—Climate, Geology, and Mineralogy :—also Medical Observations,— an Account of the Hindoo Astronomy—the Trigonometrical Surveys— and the Navigation of the Indian Seas. By Hugh Murray, Esq., F.R.S.E.; James Wilson, Esq., F.R.S.E. & M.W;S.; R. K. Greville, LL.D.; Professor Jameson; Whitelaw Ainslie, M.D., M.R.A.S., late of the Medical Staff of Southern India; William Rhind, Esq., M.R.C.S.; Professor Wallace ; and Captain Clarence Dalrymple, Hon. East India Company's Service. In 3 volumes. With a Map constructed for the Work, and Twenty-six Engravings by Branston. PRINTED FOR OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH $ AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON.CBurdj} t'Mimit fWhite] RTH c. FLs/itr JonoHH S" C.Walker .fiatmvelS. s It evils Thumb I , -__r I ^SQSiufarloar I. C Shoe (detail) V Bucluui / \Operniwirk NORTHERN COASTS —~-~rCJeoj>old Cioburg If. Ji .1 CJforsburi/b f^nrantpr I Sxumd ^ .j.ii erpo"1 BbmBULs. Puneira /t IJarroTrs Strait PaZterI}atfiwit C.Gmham Moore —.CJtou eri PohdsB'i Mf\CuUoch !j\Cof CJntrrf'1'* Cockbtrai I. R-Clyd*" ty X'Jfecla S't ' CJCaUr ft Inlet I'.Chidtei XorthBJi CBiasen ■ ^Melville S* lifter Qnarreft1'' l.llllOlX'11* Srppinys Midffruve llills >S' ■ '"jievuttion.Pealc Wmam Inlet ttrhseholtx K. LUfiTTi ii ifJt Jtrodie /! \ {,-f1 Merchants B >' M*Raleigh li E Ii 1- < V /> 'Crood-llope ,( n ~ds»ri " P'ftregri/i e jftfl itlou ii hb i/ 1r.liatvhe.iter ^yfestfx Smith*Ji. ''t-tlturt 1 .of Wales rlr^e/ibu/h jCfiactoole K. frSlephens /'.Shallow IfV it Pe.nbrolfA^ l-'ort Sonruui R.Iftdiatliiuiee Onemeti B I N D I A : tit law J. tike 11. *P°'i/,tf<'- tuagan JeUeisle dniaukS <1olTnril.il - ' —^ 130 l.ono-itudoWpill 1'iO ol* Qreejrwirfl . 1IOPROGRESS OF DISCOVERY OS THE MORE NORTHERN COASTS OF AMERICA. OLIVER & BOY J) 5 EDINBURGH.HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY ON THE MORE NORTHERN COASTS OF AMERICA, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY PATRICK FRASER TYTLER, ESQ., F.R.S. & F.S.A. WITH DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN REGIONS. BY JAMES WILSON, ESQ., F.It.S.E. & M.W. S. TO WHICH IS ADtfED AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING REMARKS ON A LATE MEMOIR OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, WITH A VINDICATION OF RICHARD HAKLUYT. ILLUSTRATED BY A MAP, AND NINE ENGRAVINGS BY JACKSON. SECOND EDITION. EDINBURGH: OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE-COURT; AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON. MDCCCXXXIII.[entered in stationers' hall.] Oliver & Boyd, Printers.«tn.i ^ PREFACE. _!_ Among the various Expeditions of Discovery by land and sea, none have been considered of greater importance, or regarded with a deeper interest, than those into the Arctic Regions. The navigator has no- where to contend with such formidable obstacles, nor does he elsewhere behold an aspect of nature so pe- culiar. The Edinburgh Cabinet Library com- menced with a volume descriptive of the Polar Seas and Countries; and the popularity of that work has afforded a gratifying proof, both of the interest felt by the public in the subject, and of its having been treated in a satisfactory manner. But there remained another branch of adventure equally arduous, which required to be completed be- fore we could be said to have obtained a full and connected view of the various efforts made to ex- plore the extreme north by the nations of Europe, and particularly by Britain. We allude to the ex- peditions undertaken, partly by land and partly by coast and river navigation, to trace the limits of America, where that continent borders on the Arctic Circle. The scenery, it is well known, is of the same grand and impressive character; and the suc- cessive adventurers were exposed to vicissitudes if possible still more striking than those experienced 4676478 preface, in the Polar Regions. The tracts, also, over which they passed,—being tenanted by animals of remark- able and varied form, adorned by nature with the richest and most beautiful furs,—yielded numerous objects not only of the highest interest to the zoolo- gical observer, but of great value as the materials of an extensive commerce. The present volume, therefore, which exhibits a view of all that is im- portant in our knowledge of the most remote ter- ritories of America, when studied in combination with the " Polar Seas and Regions," of which it may be regarded as the sequel, will be found to sup- ply a complete account of the whole series of North- ern Discoveries by land and water. Of this work the Historical and Critical depart- ments have been contributed by Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq., the distinguished Author of the History of Scotland, and the Natural History by James Wilson, Esq.,—two gentlemen whose names, the publishers are confident, will furnish a sufficient security that the task committed to them has been executed with care. In the Appendix it has been the object of Mr Tytler, not only to vindicate from a late attack the reputation of an excellent writer, but if possible to set at rest the disputed point regarding the discovery of North America. In this investi- gation he has endeavoured to unite the patient re- search, which is absolutely requisite for the discovery of truth on such a subject, with a popular mode of communicating it. The high qualifications of Mr Wilson our readers have already had ample oppor- tunities to appreciate; and we may add that, from his intimate acquaintance and correspondence with Dr Richardson, whose name stands so high amongpreface, 9 the explorers of the Northern Regions, he has enjoy- ed peculiar advantages in preparing the interesting Sketches now submitted to the public. The stu- dent of natural history who has perused the sum- maries of African and Indian Zoology which have appeared in the former volumes of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, will not fail to perceive their increased value when examined in connexion with that now given, inasmuch as they afford the mate- rials of a comparative view of the animal kingdom in three principal divisions of our globe, and thereby throw a valuable light on the subject of zoological geography, which has recently excited the attention of the scientific world. The Map has been constructed with the greatest care: it comprehends all the recent Discoveries on the northern boundary of America, and fully ex- hibits the routes of the different travellers and navigators whose adventures are recorded in the text. The Engravings by Jackson illustrate several striking specimens of natural history, drawn chiefly from nature, and other objects characteristic of that quarter of the globe. There is also a portrait of Cortes after Titian,—executed in the first style of the art. Edinburgh, August 1832.CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA—EARLY VOYAGES OF THE PORTUGUESE, FRENCH, AND SPANIARDS. First Discovery of North America by John Cabot—Voyages of Sebastian Cabot—Of the Cortereals—Discovery of Labrador —French Discoveries—Voyages of Verazzano—Of Jacques Cartier—Discovery of Canada—Spanish Voyages of Discover}' —Cortes—Ulloa—Alarchon—Viscaino,......................Page 17 CHAPTER II. RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH VOYAGES. Behring—Tchirikow—Cook and Clerke — Meares—Vancouver— Kotzebue,...................................................................80 CHAPTER III. HEARNE AND SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. Colonisation of Canada—French Fur Trade—Rise of Hudson's • Bay Company—Hearne's Three Journeys—North-west Fur12 CONTENTS. Company—First Journey of Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1789— His Second Expedition in 1792,..............................Page 135 CHAPTER IV. DISCOVERIES ALONG THE SHORES OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN. First and Second Expeditions of Franklin—Voyage of Captain Beechey,...................................................................208 CHAPTER V. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY. Amelioration in the Character of European Intercourse with uncivil- ized Nations—The Absence of Sandy Deserts, a grand Feature in the Physical Attributes of America—General Boundaries of the Districts afterwards treated of in Detail—Early Sources of Information regarding the Natural History of North America— General View of the Fur Countries—Passages across the Rocky Mountains—Plains and Valleys along the Pacific Shore,......293 CHAPTER VI. THE QUADRUPEDS OF THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF AMERICA. Inaccuracies of some Historical Writers—No Monkeys in North America—Bats—Shrew-mice—Genus Scalops, or Shrew-mole —Other Moles of America—The Star-nose—Various Bears— Different Digitated Quadrupeds—The Canada Otter—The Sea- otter—.The Dogs and Wolves of America—The Foxes—The Beaver-—The Musk-rat—Meadow Mice and Lemmings—The Rocky Mountain Neotoma—The American Field-mouse—TheCONTENTS. 13 Marmots—The Squirrel Tribe—The Canada Porcupine—The American Hare—The Polar Hare—The Prairie Hare—The Little Chief Hare—Genus Cervus—The Elk, or Moose-deer— The Rein-deer—The Woodland Caribou—The Rocky Moun- tain Sheep—The Rocky Mountain Goat—The Bison, or Ameri- can Buffalo—The Musk-ox,..................................Page 313 CHAPTER VII. THE BIRDS OP THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF AMERICA. Turkey Buzzard—Golden-eagle — Bald-eagle —Hawks—Owls— Butcher-birds^—King-bird—Northern Tyrant—American Water- ouzel—Red-breasted Thrush—Blue-bird—Arctic Blue-bird— Cedar-bird, or American Chatterer—Snow-bunting—Painted Bunting—Pine-grosbeak—Evening-grosbeak—Scarlet Tanager —Cuckoo-bunting Crows—Woodpeckers—Humming-birds — Swallows—Belted Kingfisher — Grouse—Passenger-pigeon— Grallatores—Natatores—Gulls—Rocky Mountain Golden-eye —Bewick's Swan—Trumpeter-swan —White Pelican—Great Northern Diver—Black-throated Diver—Guillemots,..........357 CHAPTER VIII. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE FISHES AND OTHER ZOOLOGICAL PRODUCTIONS OF THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF AMERICA. Sturgeon—Salmon—Trout— Char—Capelan—White Fish—Blue Fish—Herring—Pike—Burbot—Perch—Bull-head—Northern Insects^—Their Natural Preservation from Cold—More Northern Extension of Tropical Forms in America than in Europe—.Bees _Extension Westwards of the Honey-bee—Diptera—Melville Island Spider—Butterflies,.............................................38314 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES IN THE BOTANY OF THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF AMERICA. Mr Brown's Observations on the relative Proportions of the Two great Divisions of Phsenogamous Plants—Beautiful small Willow from East Greenland—Notices of the more remarkable Species collected by Dr Richardson—Galium Tinctorium—Cornus Alba —Phlox Hoodii—Viburnum Edule—Azalea Nudicaulis—Lilium Philadelphicum—Epilobium Angustifolium—Ledum Latifolium— L. Palustre—Prunus Virginiana—P}tus Ovalis—Crepis Nana— Cineraria Congesta—Pinus Nigra—P. Alba—P. Banksiana—P. Microcarpa—P. Lambertiana—Empetrum Nigrum—Myrica Gale —Populus Trepida—Populus Balsamifera—Juniperus Prostrata —Splachnum Mnioides—Dicranum Elongatum—Gyrophora pro- boscidea—Hyperborea Pennsylvania, Mecklenbergii, vellea— Cetraria Richardsonii—Fucus Ceranoides—Difficulties in the De- termination of Arctic Species—Plants recently introduced to the British Gardens—Lathyrus Decaphyllus—Eutoca Franklinii— Lupinus Littoralis—Clarkia Pulchella—Gerardia Capitata—New Dodecatheon—Andromeda Tetragona—Menziesia Empetrifolia —Azalea Lapponica—Dryas Drummondia,...............Page 390 CHAPTER X. SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SOME OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICTS OF AMERICA. Frozen Subsoil of Hudson's Bay—Primitive Rocks of Hayes Ri- ver—Hill River—Borders of Knee Lake—Remarkable Rock- island of Magnetic Iron Ore—Lake Winipeg—Limestone Dis- trict:—Fort Chipewyan—Carp Lake—-Gneiss Formation of theCONTENTS. 15 Barren Grounds—Transparent Waters of Great Bear Lake— Fort Franklin—Bear Lake River—Lignite Formation of Mac- kenzie River—Spontaneous Fire—Pipe-clay—Alluvial Islands at the Mouth of the Mackenzie—Copper Mountains—Copper- mine River—Islands of the Arctic Sea—Arctic Shore—Cape Barrow—Galena Point—Moore's Bay—Bankes' Peninsula—Bar- ry's Island—Cape Croker—Point Turnagain—General Occur- rence of the New Red Sandstone—Hood's River—Wilberforce Falls—Gneiss Formation—General Summary,............Page 404 APPENDIX. Remarks on a Late Memoir or Sebastian Cabot, with a Vindication of Richard Hakluyt,...........417ENGRAVINGS. Map of the Northern Coasts of America,... To face the Vignette. Vignette—Scene near Mount Coplestone, or Western Ter- mination of the Rocky Mountains. Portrait of Hernan Cortes,.......................................Page 68 Group of Esquimaux West of the Mackenzie River,..............269 Grizzly Bear,................................................................321 American Gray Wolf,.....................................................328 Hare Indian or Mackenzie River Dog-,...............................331 Head of the American Black Elk,......................................345 Rocky Mountain Goat, and Rocky Mountain Sheep,..............349 Sabine's Gull,...............................................................380PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY ON THE MORE NORTHERN COASTS or AMERICA. CHAPTER I. Discovery of North America—Early Voyages of the Portuguese, French, and Spaniards. First Discovery of North America by John Cabot—Voyages of Sebastian Cabot—Of the Cortereals—Discovery of Labrador —French Discoveries—Voyages of Verazzano—Of Jacques Cartier—Discovery of Canada—Spanish Voyages of Discovery —Cortes—Ulloa—Alarchon—Viscaino. When we peruse the lives of such men as De Gama and Columbus,, and consider the complicated dif- ficulties overcome by these early navigators, their imperfect means, and the dark and defective state of their knowledge, it is difficult to repress astonish- ment at the success which attended their exertions, and the magnitude and splendour of their discoveries. In reflecting, indeed, upon so great a theme as the revelation of a new world, it becomes us to raise our minds from the region of second causes to the awful contemplation of that Almighty Being, who con- a18 COLUMBUS. founds the calculations of man by bringing stupen- dous results out of the feeblest human preparations; and it is one of the finest features in the character of Columbus, that he invariably acted under the con- viction of being selected by God for the task which he at length accomplished; but the admiration with which we regard this great man, and that belongs, though in an inferior degree, to many of his contem- poraries in the field of discovery, is enhanced rather than diminished by this union of simple and primitive faith with ardent genius and undaunted resolution. A former volume has been devoted to the de- scription of the daring efforts which have been made to explore the Polar Seas; and we now proceed to direct our attention to another, and a no less interest- ing and important chapter in the history of human enterprise,—the discovery of North America, and the progress of maritime adventure on the more northern coasts of this vast continent. Without de- tracting in any degree from the fame of Columbus, it may be mentioned as a remarkable circumstance, that although the admiral landed in Hispaniola as early as the 4th of February 1493, he did not as- certain the existence of the continent of South America till the 30th of May 1498; whilst there is certain evidence that, almost a year before, an Eng- lish vessel had reached the shores of North America. As much obscurity hangs over the circumstances of this early voyage, and as I have arrived at a conclu- sion completely at variance with that adopted by a late acute writer/* it will be necessary to dwell with some minuteness on the history of this great event. * The author of the Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, pp. 50, 51, an anonymous work (London, 1831), which contains much ingeniousJOHN CABOT. 19 The attention paid to navigation by the commer- cial states of Italy, and especially by the republics of Genoa and Venice, is familiar to all acquainted with the history of Europe during the fifteenth century. Italian merchants and agents of opulent commercial houses were found settled in every Eu- ropean state; and the impetus communicated to the human mind by the discoveries of the Portu- guese and the Spaniards rendered the sciences of cosmography and navigation the most popular sub- jects of instruction which were taught in the schools. A devotion to them became fashionable among the noble and ardent youths, who associated with them all that was romantic and delightful; they were considered as the certain guides to daring and suc- cessful maritime adventure, and the handmaids to wealth and fame. It was about this momentous period, in the year 1494, that we find a Venetian, named John Cabot or Gabota, residing in the opu- lent city of Bristol. At what precise time he set- tled in England is not now discoverable; we only know that he left Italy for the purpose of devoting himself to the mercantile profession. He was one of those enthusiastic spirits upon whom the career of Columbus made a deep impression ; and about a year after the return of the great GenoeseVfrom his first voyage, the merchant of Bristol appears to have embraced the idea that new lands might be dis- covered in the north-west, and a passage in all pro- criticism and valuable research. It is, however, unhappily confused in its arrangement, and written throughout in a tone of asperity which, in the discussion of a subject of remote biography, is unplea- sant and uncalled for. The author has been unjustly severe in his animadversions on the labours of Hakluyt, of whom a brief Vindi- cation will be found at the end of this volume.20 JOHN CABOT AND HENRY VII. bability attained by this course to India.'"* Animated by such a project, Cabot addressed himself to Henry VII., and found immediate encouragement from that monarch, who, though of a cold and cautious disposition, was seldom slow to listen to any proposal which promised an increase of wealth to his exche- quer. On the 5 th of March 1495, the king granted his royal commission to John Cabot, citizen of Ve- nice, and his sons, Louis, Sebastian, and Sanchez, committing to him and them, and to their heirs and deputies, full authority to sail to all countries and seas of the East, West, and North, under the banner of England, with five ships of whatever burden and strength in mariners they might choose to employ. The equipment of this squadron was cautiously stipulated to be made " at their own proper costs and chargesand its object stated to be the discovery of the isles, regions, and provin- ces of the Heathen and Infidels, which hitherto had been unknown to all the nations of Christen- dom, in whatever part of the globe they might be placed. By the same deed the Cabots were em- powered to set up the banners and ensigns of Eng- land in the newly-discovered countries j to subdue and possess them as lieutenants of the king; and to enjoy the privilege of exclusive trade ;—the wary monarch, however, annexing to these privileges the condition, that he was to receive the fifth part of the capital gain upon every voyage, and binding their ships to return to the port of Bristol.f * Tiraboschij Storia della Letter. Ital., vol. vi. b. i. cap. 6. § 24. -j- I have nearly followed the words of this important document, which is still preserved. Rymer, Fcedera Angliae, vol. xii. p. 595.JOHN CABOT DISCOVERS NORTH AMERICA. 21 Two important facts are ascertained by this au- thentic document: It proves that John Cabot, a citizen of Venice, was the' principal author of, and adventurer in, the project; and that no voyage with a similar object had been undertaken prior to the 5th of March 1495. The expedition, however, did not sail till the spring of 1497* more than a twelvemonth subse- quent to the date of the original commission. What occasioned this delay it is now difficult to deter- mine ; but, as the fleet was to be equipped at the sole expense of the adventurers, it is not impro- bable that Cabot had required the interval to raise the necessary capital. It is much to be regretted that in no contemporary chronicle is there any de- tailed account of the voyage. We know, however, that it was conducted by John Cabot in person, who took with him his son Sebastian, then a very young man. Its result was undoubtedly the dis- covery of North America; and although the parti- culars of this great event are lost, its exact date has been recorded by an unexceptionable witness, not only to a day but even to an hour. On an ancient map, drawn by Sebastian Cabot, the son, whose name appears in the commission by the king, engraved by Clement Adams, a contemporary, and published, as there is reason to believe, under the eye of Sebastian was written in Latin the following brief but clear and satisfactory account of the discovery" In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and his son Sebastian, discovered that country, which no one before his time had ventured to approach, on the 24th of June, about five o'clock in the morning. He called the land Terra Primum Visa, because, as22 DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA I conjecture, this was the place that first met his eyes in, looking from the sea. On the contrary, the island which lies opposite the land he called the Island of St John,—-as I suppose, because it was discovered on the festival of St John the Baptist. The inhabitants wear beasts' skins and the intestines of animals for clothing, esteeming them as highly as we do our most precious garments. In war their weapons are the bow and arrow, spears, darts, slings, and wooden clubs. The country is steril and uncultivated, pro- ducing no fruit; from which circumstance it happens that it is crowded with white bears, and stags of an unusual height and size. It yields plenty of fish, and these very large ; such as seals and salmon: there are soles also above an ell in length; but especially great abundance of that kind of fish called in the vulgar tongue Baccalaos. In the same island, also, breed hawks, so black in their colour that they won- derfully resemble ravens ; besides which there are partridges and eagles of dark plumage."* Such is the notice of the discovery of North Ame- rica; and as some doubt has lately been thrown upon the subject, it may be remarked that the evi- dence of the fact contained in this inscription is perfectly unexceptionable. It conies from Clement Adams, the intimate friend of Richard Chancelor; and Chancelor lived, as is well known, in habits of daily intercourse with Sebastian Cabot, who accom- panied his father on the first voyage of discovery. Unfortunately, both the original map and the en- graving: are lost; but happily Purchas has preserved the information, that the engraved map by Adams bore the date of 1549 ;t at which time Sebastian "* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 6. Purchas' Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 807.BY JOHN CABOT. 23 Cabot was in such great reputation at the court of Edward VI., that for his services he had received a princely pension. This young monarch, as we learn from Burnet^ showed a peculiar fondness for mari- time affairs. He possessed a collection of charts, which were hung up in his cabinet, and amongst them was the engraving of Cabot's map. The in- scription, therefore, must have been seen there and elsewhere by Sebastian; and, when we consider that the date of the engraving corresponds with the time when he was in high favour with the king, it does not seem improbable that this navigator, to gratify his youthful and royal patron, employed Adams to engrave from his own chart the map of North Ame- rica, and that the facts stated in the inscription were furnished by himself. The singular minuteness of its terms seems to prove this; for who but he, or some one personally present, after the lapse of fifty- two years, could have communicated the informa- tion that the discovery was made about five o'clock in the morning of the 24th June? If, however, this is questioned as being conjectural, the fact that Se. bastian must have seen the inscription is sufficient to render the evidence perfectly conclusive upon the important point of John Cabot being the dis- coverer of North America. That he had along with him in his ship his son Sebastian, cannot, we think, in the opinion of any impartial person, detract from or infringe upon the merit of the father. But, to complete the proof, a late writer has availed himself of an imperfect extract from a record of the rolls, furnished by the industrious Hakluyt, to discover an original document which sets the matter altogether at rest. This is the second commission24 DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA. for discovery, granted by Henry VII. on the 3d of February, and in the thirteenth year of his reign, to the same individual who conducted the first expedi- tion. The letters are directed to John Kabotto, Ve- netian, and permit him to sail with six ships "to the land and isles of late found by the said John in our name and by our commandment."* It presents a sin- gular picture of the inability of an ingenious and otherwise acute mind to estimate the weight of his- torical evidence, when we find the biographer of Se- bastian Cabot insisting, in the face of such a proof as this, that the glory of the first discovery of North America is solely due to Sebastian, and that it may actually be doubted whether his father accompanied the expedition at all.t Immediately after the discovery the elder Cabot appears to have returned to England; and on the 10th of August we find, in the privy purse expenses of Henry VII., the sum of ten pounds awarded to him who found the New Isle, which was probably the name then given to Newfoundland. Although much engrossed at this moment with the troubles which arose in his kingdom in consequence of the Cornish rebellion, the war with Scotland, and the attempt upon the crown by Perkin Warbeck, the king deter- mined to pursue the enterprise, and to encourage a scheme for colonization under the conduct of the ori- ginal discoverer. To this enterprising navigator he, on the 3d of February 1497,$ granted those second letters-patent just alluded to, which conferred an ampler authority and more favourable terms than the first commission. He empowered John Kabotto, * Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 76. i* Ibid. p. 50. % Old style,—14.98, new style.JOHN CABOT KNIGHTED. 25 Venetian, to take at his pleasure six English ships, with their necessary apparel, and to lead them to the land and isles lately found by him according to the royal command. Cabot was also permitted to receive on board all such masters, mariners, pages, and other subjects, as chose to accompany him; and it seems pro- bable, from some entries in the privy purse expenses, that Launcelot Thirkill of London, Thomas Brad- ley, and John Carter, embarked in the adventure.* When about to set sail on his second voyage, John Cabot, who had previously received from Henry the honour of knighthood, appears, from some cause not now discoverable, to have been prevented from taking the command;+ and though the name of Sebastian was not included in the second royal commission, he was promoted to the situation left vacant by his father. He must still indeed have been a young man; but he had accompanied the first voyage, and at an early age developed that genius for naval enterprise which afterwards so remarkably distinguished him. We know from his account of himself that, at the time his parents carried him from Venice to London, he had attained some knowledge of the sphere; and when about this period the great discovery of Colum- bus began to be talked of in England as a thing almost more divine than human, the elfect of it upon his youthful imagination was to excite " a mighty long- ing," to use his own words, " and burning desire in his heart that he too should perform some illustrious * See Mr Nicholas' excellent collection entitled Excerpta His- torica, pp. 116,117. •f The cause might be his death; but this is conjecture,—of the fact there is no direct proof: of the knighthood it is not possible to doubt. See, in the Vindication of Hakluyt, the remarks on the er- rors of the biographer of Cabot in his chapter on this subject.26 SEBASTIAN CABOT : action."'* With such dispositions we may easily imagine how rapid must have been his progress in naval science, with the benefit of his father's ex- ample and instructions. It is not matter of sur- prise therefore, that, though probably not more than twenty-three years old, the conduct of the enter- prise was intrusted to him. He accordingly sailed from England with two ships in the summer of 1498, and directing his course by Iceland soon reach- ed Newfoundland, which he called Terra de Bacca- laos, from the great quantity of fish of that name. Of this remarkable voyage a short account is pre- served by Peter Martyr, the historian of the New World, a writer of high authority, and so intimate a friend of the navigator, that, at the time he wrote the passage which we now give, Sebastian was in the habit of paying him frequent visits at his house. " These northern seas," says this writer, " have been navigated and explored by Sebastian Cabot, a Vene- tian by birth, whom his parents, when they were set- ting out to settle in Britain, according to the common custom of the Venetians, who for the sake of com- mercial adventure become citizens of every country, carried along with them when he was little more than an infant.f He fitted out two ships in England at his own charges, and first with three hundred men directed his course so far towards the North Pole, that: even in the month of July he found great heaps of ice swimming in the sea, and almost con- tinual daylight. Yet he saw the land free from ice, * Ramusio, Viaggi, vol. i. p. 414. -J- Cabot was born in England, and carried by his father into Italy when four years old. He was afterwards brought back to England when a youth, u assai giovane."—Ramusio, yol. i. p. 414. Memoir of Cabot, p. 69.MARTYR'S ACCOUNT OF HIS VOYAGE. 27 which had been melted by the heat of the sun. Thus, observing such masses of ice before him, he was compelled to turn his sails and follow the west; and, coasting still by the shore, was brought so far into the south, by reason of the land bending much to the southward, that it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea called Fretum Her- culeum. He sailed to the west till he had the Island of Cuba on his left hand, almost in the same longi- tude. As he passed along those coasts, called by him Baccalaos, he affirmed that he found the same current of the waters towards the west which the Spaniards met with in the southern navigations, with the single difference that they flowed more gent- ly. From this circumstance it appears to me," says Martyr, " not only a probable, but an almost ne- cessary conclusion, that there must exist, between both the continents hitherto unknown, great gaps or open places, through which the waters continually pass from the east to the west. * * * Sebas- tian Cabot himself named these lands Baccalaos, because in the seas thereabout he found such an immense multitude of large fish like tunnies, called baccalaos by the natives, that they actually imped- ed the sailing of his ships. He found also the in- habitants of these regions covered with beasts' skins, yet not without the use of reason. He also relates that there are plenty of bears in these parts, which feed upon fish. It is the practice of these animals to throw themselves into the midst of the shoals of fish, and, each seizing his prey, to bury their claws in the scales, drag them to land, and there devour them. On this account he says, that these bears meddle little with men. * * * Cabot is my28 SEBASTIAN CABOT : intimate friend, and one whom it is my delight to have frequently under my roof; for, being called out of England by the command of the King of Castile after the death of Henry VII., he was made one of our council and assistants relating to the affairs of the new Indies; and he looks daily for ships to be fitted out for him that he may discover this hidden secret of nature. I expect," concludes Peter Martyr, " that he will be able to set out on his voyage during the course of the next year, 1516, and in the month of March."* When it is known that Sebastian Ca- bot's second voyaget from England to North Ame- rica did not take place till 1517., it becomes certain that the above passage, written in 1515, must relate to the expedition of 1498; and remembering that the author ^as personally intimate with this navi- gator, and wrote only seventeen years after the voy- age had taken place, we are inclined to set a high value on such an authority. It is deeply to be re- gretted that the original maps drawn by so eminent a discoverer, and the discourses with which he il- lustrated them, are now lost ;% but in this deficiency of original materials the work of Ramusio,—a collec- tor of voyages who was a contemporary of Cabot,— supplies some valuable information. In the first volume of his Voyages this amusing writer has introduced a discourse upon the different * Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, 3d decad. cap. 6. Edition by Hakluyt, p. 232.—Eden's Translation in Willes' Hist, of Travayle, p. 125.—The hidden secret, or natural phenomenon, of which Cabot was expected to penetrate the cause, is stated by Martyr at p. 231, —it was to resolve the question, " Why the seas in these parts run with so swift a current from the east to the west ?" •f Although the son accompanied the father, I consider the voy- age of 1497 as solely conducted by John Cabot. J Memoir of Cabot, p. 41.HIS VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 29 routes by which the spices of the East were con- veyed in ancient times to Europe; and towards the conclusion of the essay he brings in a subject which then deeply occupied the attention of learned men, —the project, namely, for discovering a passage to the kingdom of Cathay and the coasts of India, by the north-west. In the discussion of this point, Ramusio minutely describes a conversation, which took place at the villa of the celebrated Italian physi- cian and poet Fracastoro, between Ramusio himself, Fracostoro, an architect named St Michael, and a cer- tain philosopher and mathematician, who gave them an account of an interview which he once had with Sebastian Cabot in the city of Seville. The whole passage is interesting, whether we look to the in- formation regarding Cabot, or to the pleasing picture it brings before us of the great Fracastoro in his philosophic and classical retreat at Caphi. No apo- logy, therefore, need be made for presenting it to the reader. " Having thus given you," says the Italian writer, ee all that I could extract from ancient and modern authors upon this subject, it would be in- excusable in me if I did not relate a high and ad- mirable discourse, which some few months ago it was my good fortune to hear, in company with the excellent architect Michael de St Michael, in the sweet and romantic country-seat of Hieronymo Fracastoro, named Caphi, situated near Verona, whilst we sat on the top of a hill commanding a view of the whole of the Lago di Garda. * * * Being then, as I said, at Caphi, where we had gone to visit our excellent friend Hieronymo, we found him on our arrival sitting in company with a certain gentleman, whose name, from motives of delicacy 530 RAMUSIO : and respect, I conceal. He was, however; a pro- found philosopher and mathematician, and at that moment engaged in exhibiting to Fracastoro an in- strument lately constructed to show a new motion of the heavens. Having reasoned upon this point for a long time, they by way of recreation caused a large globe, upon which the world was minutely laid down, to be brought; and, having this before him, the gentleman I have mentioned began to speak to the following purpose." Ramusio, after this introduction, gives us, as proceeding from the stranger, a great mass of geographical information, after which he introduces him discussing with Fra- castoro the probability of a north-west passage to India. " At this point of his conversation/' says he, to lend him assistance, were of the same opinion. They thought, to use Verazza- 110's own words, that the natives were going to roast and eat him.* But their fears were soon turned into gratitude and astonishment ; for they only dried his clothes, warmed him, and showed him every mark of kindness, caressing and patting his white skin; and on observing that he still trembled and looked suspicious, they assisted him to dress, conducted him to the beach, tenderly embraced him, and, pointing * Rarausioj -vol. iii. p. 421,46 VERAZZANO. to the vessel,, removed to a little distance to show that he was at liberty to return to his friends. This he did by swimming to the ship's boat, which had been put out to receive him, followed by the kind gestures of the savages, who gazed after him till they saw him safe among his friends. The spot where Verazzano found this amiable people is con- jectured by Forster to have been somewhere between New Jersey and Staaten Island. From this the Florentine sailed onward, observing the coast trending to the northward, and after a run of fifty leagues came to anchor off a delightful coun- try covered with the finest forests. The trees, al- though equally luxuriant, did not emit the same per- fume as those before seen; but the region was rich, covered with grass, and thickly peopled, although £he natives appeared more timid than the last, and avoided all intercourse. The sailors, however, dis- covered and seized a family who had concealed themselves in the underwood, consisting of an old woman, a young girl of a tall and handsome figure, and six children. The two younger of the little ones were squatted on the shoulders of the old wo- man, and another child hung behind her back, whilst the girl was similarly loaded. On being approached both the females shrieked loudly; but, having succeeded in pacifying them, the sailors understood, by their signs, that all the men had escaped to the woods on the appearance of the ships. Much persuasion was now used to induce them to go on board; but although the elderly lady showed symptoms of acquiescence, and eagerly ate the food which was offered her, no entreaties could soften the obstinacy and rage of the younger. She uttered 2VERAZZANO. 47 piercing cries, cast the meat indignantly on the ground, and rendered the task of dragging her through the thick woods so tedious and distressing, that they were obliged to desist and leave her, only carrying with them a little boy, who could make no resistance.* The people of this country possessed fairer complexions than those whom they had just left, and were clad with large leaves sewed together with threads of wild hemp. Their common food was pulse, but they subsisted also by fishing, and were very expert in catching birds with gins. Their bows were made of hard wood, their arrows of canes headed with fish-bone, and their boats constructed of one large tree hollowed by fire, for they appeared to have no instruments of iron or other metal. Wild vines crept up the trunks of the trees, hanging in rich festoons from the branches, and the banks and mea- dows were covered with roses, lilies, violets, and many sorts of herbs different from those of Europe, yielding a fresh and delightful fragrance. Verazzano now proceeded 100 leagues farther, to a sheltered and beautiful bay surrounded by gent- ly rising hills, and discovered a large river, which from its depth seemed navigable to a considerable dis- tance. Fearful, however, of any accident, they as- cended it in boats; and the voyage conducted them through a country so full of sweetness and attraction that they left it with much regret.t Prosecuting their discoveries fifty leagues eastward, they reached an- other island of a triangular shape, covered with rich wood, and rising into gentle hills, which reminded them of Rhodes both in its form and general aspect. A contrary win4, however, rendered it impossible to Rarriusio,-vol. iii. p. 421. -f- Ibid.VERAZZANO. land, and pursuing their course about fifteen leagues farther along the coast, they found a port where there was an excellent anchorage. Here they were soon visited by the natives, who came in a squadron of twenty boats, and at first cautiously kept at the dis- tance of fifty paces. Observing, however, the friend- ly gestures of the strangers, they ventured nearer, and when the French threw them bells, mirrors, and other trinkets, they raised a loud and simultane- ous shout expressive of joy and security, no longer hesitating to row their boats to the ship's side and come aboard. They are described by Verazzano, in his account of the voyage sent to Francis I., as the finest and handsomest race, and the most civi- lized in their manners, of any he had yet met in America. Their colour was fairer than that of the more southern people, and in the symmetry of their forms, and the simplicity and gracefulness of their attitudes, they almost vied with the antique. They soon became exceedingly friendly and intimate, and conducted the French into the interior of the coun- try, which they found variegated with wood, and more delightful than can be easily described. Adapt- ed for every sort of cultivation, whether of corn, vines, or olives, it was interspersed with plains of twenty-five or thirty leagues in length, open and unencumbered with trees, and of such fertility, that whatever fruit might be sown, was certain to pro- duce a rich and abundant return. They afterwards entered the woods, which were of great size, and so thick that a large army might have been concealed in them. The trees consisted of oaks and cypresses, be- sides other species unknown to Europe. They found also apples, parsley, plums, and filberts, and many other kinds of fruit different from those of Italy.VERAZZANO* 49 They saw likewise many animals,, such as harts, roes, wolves, and stags, which the natives caught with* snares, and destroyed with bows and arrows^ their principal weapons of offence. The arrows were made with great neatness, and at the point instead of iron they inserted flints, jaspers, hard marble, and other kinds of cut stones. These they also made use of in felling trees, and in excavat- ing their boats, which, with great skill, were made of a single trunk, yet large enough to hold ten or twelve men commodious]y. Their oars were short and broad at the extremity, which they plied in the sea without any accident happening, trusting solely to their strength of arm and skilful management, and seeming able to go at almost any rate they pleased. Their houses were constructed in a circular shape, ten or twelve paces in circuit, built of boards, and separated from each other without any atten- tion paid to architectural arrangement, covered with tiles made of clay, of excellent workmanship, and effectually protected from the wind and rain.* On one subject alone they showed suspicion, being extremely jealous of the least intercourse between the French and their women. These they would on no persuasion allow to enter the ship, and on one occasion, while the king came on board, and spent some hours in curiously examining every part of the vessel, his royal consort was left with her female attendants in a boat at some distance, and strictly watched and guarded.f * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 422. t' This country, according- to Verazzano, was situated in 41 §° atitude (Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 422), which, if correct, would, point jit out as the present flourishing state of Massachusetts. C50 VERAZZANO. The French now bade adieu to this kind people, and pursued their discoveries for 150 leagues, ex- ploring a coast which extended first towards the east and afterwards to the north. The country still presented an agreeable and inviting aspect, although the climate became colder, and the regions along which they passed more hilly. A progress of other fifty leagues brought them to a more mountain- ous district than any yet seen, covered with dark and dense forests, and possessed by a people whose habits and temper seemed to partake of the severer nature of their country. On attempting to open an intercourse, Verazzano found them as fierce and sullen as those with whom he had lately dealt were agreeable and generous. Twenty-five of the crew who landed, were received with a shower of ar- rows ; and although the exhibition of articles of barter overcame their scruples, and tempted them to agree to an interchange of commodities, the man- ner in which this was effected evinced a striking mixture of avidity and suspicion. They came down to the beach, choosing the spot where the surf was breaking most violently, and insisted that the French boat should remain on the other side; a rope was then passed from it to the shore, and the different articles were swung along it. Strings of beads, toys, or mirrors, they utterly despised; but eagerly received knives, fishing-hooks, swords, saws, or any thing in the shape of cutting-metal to be used in war or in the chase, though such was their savage temper, that during the process of ex- change they expressed their aversion to the stran- gers by uncouth gestures of contempt and derision. It seems probable that the country, now for the firstVEBAZZANO. 51 time visited by Europeans, was the present pro- vince of Maine; as we are told by Verazzano, that a farther run of fifty leagues along the coast brought him to a cluster of thirty islands separated by nar- row channel^,—a description which points out, in precise terms, the Bay of Penobscot.* From this point he pursued his indefatigable course for 150 leagues farther, till he reached the land al- ready discovered, as he says, by the Britons, in the latitude of 50°, which is evidently Newfoundland* Here his provisions began to fail, and thinking it prudent to sail for France, he reached home in safety in the month of July 1524. Verazzano had thus completed the survey of a line of coast extending for 700 leagues, and em- bracing the whole of the United States, along with a large portion of British America. It was undoubtedly an enterprise of great magnitude and splendour, and deserves to be carefully recorded, not only as comprehending one of the widest ranges of early discovery, but as making us for the first time acquainted with that noble country whose history is so important, and whose destinies, even after a progress unrivalled in rapidity, appear at this moment only in their infancy. The Florentine gave to the whole region which he had discovered the name of New France; he then laid before the king a plan for completing his survey of the coast, pene- trating into the interior, and establishing a colony ; and he appears to have met with encouragement from Francis I., who embraced his proposals for co- ' * Murray's North America, vol. i. p. 79. The veracity of the Florentine navigator, in his description of the ferocious habits of the natives, is strikingly corroborated by the determined and rancor- ous hostility evinced afterwards by the Indians of this district in op- posing every attempt at settlement.52 VERAZZANO. Ionization. From this moment, however, his history is involved in obscurity. Hakluyt affirms that he performed three voyages to North America, and gave a map of the coast to Henry VIII. The bio- grapher of Cabot asserts, that he was the " Pied- montese pilot" who was slain on the coast of Ame- rica in 1527/ not aware that Verazzano was a Flo- rentine and alive in 1537; and Ramusio could not ascertain the particulars of his last expedition, or even discover in what year it took place. All that is cer- tainly known is, that it proved fatal to this great navigator. Having landed incautiously upon the American coast, he and his party were surrounded and cut to pieces by the savages; after which they barbarously devoured them in the sight of their com- panions, t The death of Verazzano appears to have thrown * Memoir of Cabot, p. 278. •f Such is the account of Ramusio in his Discourse upon New France, vol. iii. p. 417. But Cardenas, in a work entitled " Ensajo Cronologico para la Historia de la Florida," (p. 8), has committed an error similar to that of the writer of Cabot s life. He believes that Verazzano was the same as Juan the Florentine, a pirate m the service of France, who was taken by the Spaniards , in 1524, and hanged." The evidence which overturns the theories of both these authors is to be found in a letter of Aiinibal Caro, quoted by Tiraboschi, Storia della Letteratura Ital., vol. vii. part i. pp. 261,262, from which it appears that Verazzano was alive in 15oy. Lettere Familiari del. Comm. Annibal Caro, vol. i. p. 11. In his great work, Tiraboschi has collected all that is known regarding the life of this eminent discoverer; but this all is little or nothing-. He was born about the year 1485 ; his father was Pierandrea Verazzano, a noble Florentine, his mother Fiametta Capelli. Of his youth, and for what reasons he entered into the service of Francis L, nothing is known. The only published work of Verazzano is the narrative in Ramusio, addressed to Francis I., written with much simplicity and elegance. But in the Strozzi Library at Florence is preserved a manuscript, in which he is said to give, with great minuteness, a description of all the countries which he had visited during his voyage, and from which, says Tiraboschi, we derive the intelligence that he had formed the design of attempting a passage through these seas to the East Indies.. It is much to be desired that some Italian scholar would favour the world with the publication of this MS. of Verazzano,CARTIER* 53 a damp oter the farther prosecution of discovery by the court of France; but at length, after an inter- val of ten years, Jacques Car tier/ an enterprising and able mariner of St Malo, was chosen by the Sieur de Melleraye, Vice-Admiral of France, to conduct a voyage to Newfoundland, which, since its discovery by Cabot, had been seldom visited, and was imperfectly known. Cartier departed from St Malo on the 20th of April 1534, with two ships, each of 60 tons burden, and having on board a well-appointed crew of sixty-one men.* The voyage appears to have been limited to a survey of the northern coast of Newfoundland, of which he gives a minute description, dwelling particularly on the zoological features of the country. He found the land in most parts extremely wild and barren,* " in so much that he did not see a cartload of good earth; and the inhabitants were of stout make, but wild and unruly." They wore their hair tied on the top like a bunch of hay, fixed with a wooden bod- kin, and ornamented with birds' feathers. Like their companions whom Cabot had described, they were clothed in beasts'skins, and ornamented their bo- dies by painting them with roan-colours. They paddled about in boats made of the bark of birch- trees, in which they carried on a constant trade of fishing, and caught great numbers of seals. After having almost circumnavigated Newfoundland, Car- tier stood in towards the continent, and anchored in a bay which, from the extreme heat, was deno- minated Baye du Chaleur. The description of the inhabitants of this spot is striking and interesting* (e Taking our way," says he, " along the coast, we * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 435.54 CARTIER, came in sight of the savages, who stood on the borders of a lake in the low grounds, where they had lighted their fires, which raised a great smoke. We went towards them, and found that an arm of the sea ran into the lake, into which we pushed with our boats. Upon this the savages approached in one of their little barks, bringing along with them pieces of roast- ed seals, which they placed upon wooden boards, and afterwards retired, making signs that this was in- tended as a present for us. We immediately put two men ashore, with hatchets, knives, garlands for the head, and such like wares. On seeing these articles they appeared much delighted, and crowded to the bank where we were, paddling their barks, and bringing skins and other articles, which they meant to exchange for our merchandise. Their number, including men, women, and children, was upwards of 300. Some of the women, who would not ven- ture nearer, stood up to the knees in water, sing- ing and dancing. Others, who had passed over, came to us with great familiarity, rubbing our arms with their hands, which they afterwards lifted up to heaven, singing all the while and making signs of joy; such at last was their friendliness and security, that they bartered away every thing they had, and stood beside us quite naked; for they scrupled not to give us all that was on them, and indeed their whole wardrobe was not much to speak of. It was evident that this people might be without difficulty converted to our faith. They migrate from place to place, and subsist themselves by fishing. Their country is warmer than Spain, and as beautiful as can be imagined,—level, and covered even in the smallest spots with trees, and this although the soilCARTIER. 55 is sandy. It is full also of wild corn, which hath an ear similar to rye. We saw many beautiful meadows full of rich grass, and lakes where there were plenty of salmon. The savages called a hatchet cochi, and a knife bacon/'* All the navigators who had hither- to visited Newfoundland, on reaching its northern^ most point, appear to have sailed across the Straits of Belleisle to Cape Charles upon the coast of La- brador ; but the course of Cartier led him through the straits into the great Gulf of St Lawrence, now for the first time visited by any European. His pre- decessor, Verazzano, after reaching the shore of the Bay of Fundy, had probably sailed along the coast of Nova Scotia until he reached Cape Breton. Car- tier, on the contrary, saw before him a wide and ex- tensive field of discovery to the west, which he pur- sued for some time, directing his course along the coast of the Bay of St Lawrence; but, as the season was far advanced and the weather became precari- ous, he determined to reserve a more complete exa-r mination of this unknown country for a second voy- age, and returned safely to France, coming to an- chor in the port of St Malo upon the 5th of Sep- tember 1534.t Having been received with favour and distinc- tion, Cartier, after a short interval, embarked upon a second voyage. His squadron consisted of three ships,—the Great Hermina, of which Cartier him- self was master, being a vessel of about 120 tons, the Little Hermina of 60 tons, and the Hermiril- lon of 40 tons burden. The crews solemnly pre., pared themselves for their voyage by confession and Ramusioj vol. iii. p. 138. •j- Ibid. p. 440.56 cartier's second voyage. the reception of the sacrament; after which they en- tered in a body into the choir of the cathedral, and stood before the bishop,, who was clothed in his cano- nicals,, and devoutly gave them his benediction. Having fulfilled these rites, the fleet weighed anchor on the 15th of May 1535, and the admiral steered direct for Newfoundland. His ships, however, were soon after separated in a storm, and did not again join company till the 26th of June; after which they proceeded to explore the large gulf which he had al- ready entered. " It was," to use the words of the na- vigator himself, " a very fair gulf, full of islands, pass- ages, and entrances to what wind soever you pleased to bend, having a great island like a cape of land stretching somewhat farther forth than the others." This island is evidently that named by the English Anticosti, being merely a corruption of Natiscotec, the appellation at this day given it by the natives. To the channel between it and the opposite coast of Labrador, Cartier gave the name of St Lawrence, which has since been extended to the whole gulf. On reaching the eastern point of the island of Anticosti, the French, who had along with them two of the natives of the country, whom they had induced in their former voyage to accompany them to France, requested their advice as to their far- ther progress. The savages stated, that the gulf in which they now lay gradually contracted its dimensions till it terminated in the mouth of a mighty river named Hochelaga, flowing from a vast distance in the interior of a great continent. That two days' sail above Anticosti would bring them to the kingdom of Saguenay, beyond which, along the bank of the same river, was a populous territory, si-carrier's second voyage. 57 • tuated at its highest known point, where the stream was only navigable by small boats. Having receiv- ed this information, Cartier sailed onwards, explor- ing both sides of the river, and opening a communi- cation with the inhabitants by means of the natives whom he carried along with him. , The good effects of this arrangement were soon seen; for at first they fled in great alarm upon the approach of any of the ships' crews; but on hearing the interpreters cry out that they were Taignoagny and Domagaia, —.names which seemed to inspire immediate ideas of friendliness and confidence,—they suddenly turned back; after which they began to dance and rejoice, running away with great speed, and soon returning with eels, fishes, grain, and musk-melons, which they cast into the boats with gestures expressive of much kindness and courtesy.* This soon led to a more intimate and interesting intercourse ; and on the fol- lowing day the lord of the country, who was named Donnaconna, made a formal visit to the admiral's ship, accompanied by twelve boats, in which were a great multitude of his subjects. On approaching the vessel he ordered ten of these boats to ship their paddles and remain stationary, while he himself, with the other two boats, and attended by a suite of sixteen of his subjects, advanced over against the smallest of the French ships, and standing up, com- menced a long oration, throwing his body into a va- riety of strange and uncouth postures, which were afterwards discovered to be signs indicating glad- ness and security. Donnaconna now came aboard the admiral's ship, and an enthusiastic interview took place between him and the two savages who * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 441.58 cartier's second voyage. had been in France.* They recounted with much gesticulation the extraordinary things which they had seen in that country,, dwelling on the kind en- tertainment they had experienced, and after many expressive looks of wonder and gratitude, the king entreated the admiral to stretch out his arm, which he kissed with devotion, laying it fondly upon his neck, and showing, by gestures which could not be mistaken, that he wished to make much of him. Cartier, anxious to evince an equal confidence, en- tered Donnaconna's boat, carrying with him a col- lation of bread and wine, with which the monarch was much pleased, and the French, returning to their ships, ascended the river ten leagues, till they arrived at a village where this friendly potentate usually resided, and which was named Stadacona. "■ It was," according to the original account of Car- tier, " as goodly a plot of ground as possibly might be seen, very fruitful, and covered with noble trees similar to those of France, such as oaks, elms, ashes, walnut-trees, maple-trees, citrons, vines, and white thorns which brought forth fruit like dam- sons, and beneath these woods grew as good hemp as any in France, without its being either planted or cultivated by man's labour." t From this time the intercourse between the French and Donnaconna continued with every ex- pression of friendliness; but on hearing that the admiral had determined to go to Hochelaga, a sud- den jealousy appeared to seize him lest he and his people should be deprived of the advantages of an uninterrupted communication with the white * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 443. Seconda Relatione di Jacques Cartier. -f Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 216.cartier's second voyage. 59 strangers, and every possible device was put in exe- cution to deter them from their purpose. One of these stratagems was so ludicrous that we may be permitted to give Carrier's account of it in an abridgment of the quaint translation of Hakluyt: ff The next day, being the 18th of September, these men still endeavoured to seek all means possible to hinder us from going to Hochelaga, and for this purpose devised a pretty guile: They went and dressed three men like devils, being wrapped in dogs' skins, white and black, with their faces besmeared as black as a coal, and horns upon their heads more than a yard long." These figures they caused to be secretly put into one of the boats, which they con- cealed within a winding of the wooded bay, waiting patiently for the tide. When the proper moment had arrived, a multitude of the boats, crowded with natives and conducted by Taignaogny, sud- denly emerged from the creek; on a signal given, the boat in which were the counterfeit devils came rushing out of its concealment, and the middle- most devil standing up made a long oration, ad- dressed to the French ships, of which of course every syllable was unintelligible. ec Then," to resume the words of Hakluyt, " did King Donnaconna with all his people pursue them, and lay hold on the boat and devils, who, so soon as the men were come to them, fell prostrate as if they had been dead, upon which they were taken up and carried into the wood, being but a stonecast off, at which time every one of the savages withdrew himself into the wood, and when there began to make a long discourse, so loud that it was easy for the French to hear them even in their ships. When this oration or debate,60 cartier's second voyage* which lasted for half an homy was ended, Cartier and his crew espied Taignaogny and Domagaia coming towards them, holding their hands joined together, carrying their hats under their upper gar- ment, showing a great admiration, and looking up to heaven. Upon this the captain hearing them, and seeing their gestures and ceremonies, asked them what they ailed, and what was happened or chanced anew, to which they answered that there were very ill tidings befallen, saying in their broken French, f Nenni est il bon/ that is to say, it was not good. Our captain asked them again what it was, and tjlen they answered that their god Cudraigny had spoken in Hochelaga, and that he had sent those three devils to show unto them that there was so much ice and snow in that country that whosoever went there should die; which words when the French heard they laughed and mocked them, say- ing that their god Cudraigny was but a fool and a noddie, for he knew not what he said or did. They bade them also carry their compliments to his mes- sengers, and inform them that the god whom they served would defend them from all cold if they would only believe in "him."* Having thus failed in the object intended to be gained by this extraordinary masquerade, the savages offered no farther opposition, and the French proceed- ed in their pinnace and two boats up the river St Law- rence towards Hochelaga. They found the country on both sides extremely rich and beautifully varied, covered with fine wood, and abounding in vines, though the grapes, from want of cultivation, were neither so large nor so sweet as those of France. The * Hakluyt, vol. iii- p. 218; and Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 444*CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE. 61 prevalent trees were the same as in Europe,—oaks, elms, walnut, cedar, fir, ash-box, and willow; and the natives on each side of the river, who appeared to ex- ercise principally the trade of fishermen, entered into an intercourse with the strangers as readily and kind- ly as if they had been their own countrymen. One of the lords of the. country did not scruple after a short acquaintance to make a present to Cartier of two of his children, one of whom, a little girl of seven or eight years old, he carried away with him, whilst he returned the other, a boy, who was con- sidered too young to travel. They saw great variety of birds, almost all of which were the same as those of Europe. Cranes, swans, geese, ducks, pheasants, partridges, thrushes, blackbirds, turtles, finches, red- breasts, nightingales, and sparrows of divers kinds, were observed, besides many other birds. By this time the river had become narrow, and in some places dangerous in its navigation owing to the rapids; and the French., who had still three days' sail-, ing before them, left their pinnace and took to their boats, in which, after a prosperous passage, they reached the city of Hochelaga. It consisted of about fifty houses, built in the midst of large and fair corn-fields near a great mountain, which the French called Mont Eoyale, corrupted by time into Mont- real, which name the place still retains; whilst the original American designation of Hochelaga has been long since forgotten. The city, according to Car tier's description, was round, compassed about with tim- ber, and with three courses of ramparts, one within another, framed like a sharp spire, but laid across above. The enclosure which surrounded the town was in height about two roods, having but one gate,62 TOWN OF HOCHELAGA. which was shut with piles,, stakes, and bars. Over it, and also in various parts of the wall, were places to run along, and ladders to get up, with maga- zines or heaps of stones for its defence. The houses were entirely of wood, with roofs of bark very arti- ficially joined together. Each house had a court in the midst of it, and consisted of many rooms, whilst the family lighted their fire in the centre of the court, and during the day all lived in common; at night the husbands, wives, and children, retired to their several chambers. At the top of the house were garners where they kept their corn, which was something like the millet of Brazil, and called by them carracony. They had also stores of pease and beans, with musk-melons and great cucumbers. Many large butts were observed in their houses, in which they preserved their dried fish ; but this, as well as all their other victuals, they dressed and ate without salt. They slept upon beds of bark spread on the ground, with coverings of skins similar to those of which their clothes were made.* The reception of the French by the inhabitants of Hochelaga was in a high degree friendly; and indeed such was the extent of their credulity and admiration, that they considered the strangers as possessed of miraculous power, and their com- mander a divine person. This was shown by their bringing their king, Agonhanna, an infirm para- lytic about fifty years of age, to be touched, and, as they trusted, cured by the admiral, earnestly im- portuning him by expressive gestures to rub his arms and legs; after which the savage monarch took the wreath or crown which he wore upon his head and * Ramusioj vol. iii. p. 445; and Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 220,221.cartier's second voyage. 63 gave it to Car tier. Soon after this they brought with them all the diseased and aged folks whom they could collect, and besought him to heal them; on which occasion his conduct appears to have been that of a man of sincere piety. He neither arro- gated to himself miraculous powers, nor did he al- together refuse their earnest request; but read, from the Gospel of St John, the passion of our Sa- viour, and praying that the Lord would be pleased to open the hearts of these forlorn pagans, and teach them to know the truth, he laid his hands upon them, and making the sign of the Cross, left the issue of their being healed or not in the hand of their Creator.* On inquiring into their religious tenets, he found that they were buried in the deepest ignorance and superstition, unacquainted with the existence of the only true God, and substituting in his place a capricious and horrid being of their own imaginations, named Cudraigny. They affirmed that he often spoke to them, and told them what kind of weather they were to have; but, if angry, would punish them by throwing dust in their eyes. They had a strange and confused idea regarding the immortality of the soul, believing that after death they went to the stars, and descended like these bright sparks by degrees to the horizon, where they wandered about in delicious green fields, which were full of the most precious trees, and profusely sown with fruits and flowers. Cartier explained as well as he could the folly of such a creed, persuaded them that Cudraigny was no god but a devil, and at his departure promised to return again, and bring * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 448.64 cartier's second voyage* some good and holy men,, who would instruct them in the knowledge of the true and only God,, and baptize them in the name of his Son, with which they declared themselves well pleased.* " There groweth here/' says Cartier, " a certain kind of herb, of which during the summer they collect a great quantity for winter consumption, esteeming it much, and only permitting men to use it, in the following manner: It is first dried in the sun; after which they wear it about their necks, wrapped in a little skin made in the shape of a bag, along with a hollow piece of stone or of wood formed like a pipe; after this they bruise it into a powder, which is put into one of the ends of the said cornet or pipe, and laying a coal of fire upon it at the other end, they suck so long that they fill their bodies full of smoke till it comes out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the tunnel of a chimney. They say that this keeps them warm and in health, and never go without some of it about them." It is not impos- sible that the reader, perplexed by this laboriously minute description, may have failed to recognise in it the first acquaintance made by the French with the salubrious and far-famed plant of tobacco.f Not long after this the ships' crews were seized with a loathsome and dreadful disease, caught, as they supposed, from the natives, which carried off twenty-five men, reducing the survivors to a state of pitiable weakness and suffering. The malady .was then new to Europeans; but the symptoms de- tailed by Cartier,—swollen legs, extreme debility, putrified gums, and discoloration of the skin and * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 449. t Ibid.cartier's second voyage. 65 blood, leave no doubt that this " strange, unknown/' and cruel pestilence, was the scurvy, since so fatally familiar to the European mariner. Providentially, however, they discovered from the savages a cure in the decoction of the leaves and bark of a species of tree called in their language hannida, and since well known as the North American white pine. " This medicine/' says Cartier, and cried aloud to his compa- nions on the shore, complaining of the treatment he had experienced. " Our men/' says Mr Steller in his journal, " thought the Americans had sailors' stomachs, and endeavoured to remove his disgust by presenting him with a lighted pipe of tobacco, which he accepted; but he was equally disgusted with his attempt to smoke. The most civilized European would be affected in the same manner if presented with toad-stool, or rotten fish and willow bark, which are delicacies with the Kamtschadales." It was evident he had never tasted ardent spirits or smoked tobacco till this moment; and although every effort was made to sooth him and restore his con- fidence, by offering him needles, glass beads, an iron kettle, and other gifts, he would accept of no- thing, and made the most eager and imploring signs to be set on shore. In this it was judged right to gratify him, and Waxel, at the same time, called out to the sailors who were on the beach to comeTHEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 93 Jback; the Americans made a violent attempt to de- tain them, hut two blunderbusses were fired over their heads, and had the effect of making them fall flat on the ground, whilst the Russians escaped and rejoined their companions. This adventure gave them an opportunity of ex- amining this new people, now for the first time visited by Europeans. "f The islanders, were of moderate stature, but tolerably well proportioned; their arms and legs very fleshy. Their hair was straight and of a glossy blackness; their faces brown and flat, but neither broad nor large; their eyes were black, and their lips thick and turned upwards; their necks were short, their shoulders broad, and their bodies thick but not corpulent. Their upper gar- ment was made of whales' intestines, their breeches of seals' skins, and their caps formed out of the hide of sea-lions, adorned with feathers of various birds, especially the hawk. Their nostrils were stopped with grassland their noses as flat asKalmucks'; their faces painted, some with red, others with different colours; and.some of them, instead of caps, wore hats of bark, coloured green and red, open at the top, and shaped like candle-screens, apparently for protecting the eyes against the rays of the sun. These hats, might lead us to suppose that the na- tives of this part of America are of Asiatic descent; for the Kamtschadales and Koriaks wear the like, of which several specimens may be seen in the Mu- seum at St Petersburg."* At this time Behring : being confined by severe sickness, the chief command fell on Waxel; who was * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 63.94 BEHRINGr AND TCHIHIKOW : preparing to sail, when seven Americans came in their boats to the ship's side^ and two of them catch- ing hold of the entrance-ladder, presented their bon- nets and a carved image of bone, bearing some re- semblance to a human figure. They likewise held up the calumet, and would have come aboard, but the sailors were taking up the anchor, and the breeze freshening, they were under the necessity of making towards the shore as quickly as possible. There was time, however, to give a few presents, and as the shij> passed by the point where they stood, she was sa- luted with loud and friendly shouts.* They had now to struggle against a tedious con- tinuance of westerly wind, accompanied with thick fogs, which rendered the navigation in these un- known seas perilous in the extreme. On the 24th of September the mist cleared away, and disclosed a high and desolate coast, which a strong south wind made it dangerous to approach. The majority of the crew were by this time disabled by the scuryy, and the rest so weak, that to manage the vessel during the tempestuous weather was almost impos- sible. A violent gale soon after began to blow from the west, which gradually increased, and drove the ship far to the south-east. The storm continued for seventeen days,—a fact to which there are few paral- lels in the history of shipwrecks; and the pilot, Andrew Hesselberg, who had served for fifty years in several parts of the world, declared he had never witnessed so long and terrible a gale. Meanwhile they carried as little sail as possible, and were driven for a fortnight at the mercy of the wind, under a sky * Burney's North-eastern Voyages of Discovery, p. 170.THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 95 as black as midnight, so that all the time they saw neither sun nor stars. When the storm abated, they found themselves, by the ship's reckoning, in 48° 18" north latitude. Steller, in his journal, draws a strik- ing picture of their extreme misery:—ec The general distress and mortality/' says he, "increased so fast, that not only the sick died, but those who still strug- gled to be numbered on the healthy list, when re. lieved from their posts, fainted and fell down dead, of which the scantiness of water, the want of bis- cuits and brandy, cold, wet, nakedness, vermin, fear and terror, were not the least causes."* In these cir- cumstances it became difficult to determine whether they should return to Kamtschatka or seek a harbour on the nearest American coast. At last, in a council of officers, they embraced the first of these alterna- tives, and again sailed north, after which they steered towards the west. On the 29th of October they approached two islands resembling the two first of the Kurilian group. The long-wished-for coast of Kamtschatka, however, did not appear, and the condition of the vessel and crew began to be deplorable. The men, notwithstanding their diseased state and want of proper food, were obliged to work in the cold; and as the continual rains had now changed into hail and snow, and the nights shortened and grew darker, their sufferings were extreme. The commodore him- self had been for some time totally disabled by dis- ease from taking an active command, his wonted en- ergy and strength of mind left him, and he became childishly suspicious and indolent. Amongst the seamen the sickness was so dreadful, that the two * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 65.96 BEHRINGr AND TCHIRIKOW : sailors whose berth used to be at the rudder, were led to it by others, who themselves could walk with difficulty. When one could steer no longer, another equally feeble was supported to his place. Many sails they durst not hoist, because no one was strong enough to lower them in case of need, whilst some of the sheets were so thin and rotten, that a violent wind would have torn them to pieces. The rest of this in- teresting but deeply affecting voyage may be given in the excellent abstract of Captain Burney. " On No- vember 4th, at eight in the morning, they once more saw land; but only the tops of the mountains at first appeared, and the shore was so distant, that, although they stood towards it the whole day, night came on before they could get near enough to look for anchor- age. At noon that day they made their latitude by observation to be 56° north. On the morning of the 5th, it was discovered that almost all the shrouds on the starboard side of the ship were broken, which hap- pened from contraction and tenseness caused by the frost; for, without other mention made of the wea- ther, it is complained that the cold was insupport- able. In this distress the commodore ordered the lieutenant to call all the officers together, to consult on their best mode of proceeding; and the increased numbers of the sick, with the want of fresh water, determined them at all hazards to seek relief at this land. The wind was northerly, and they had sound- ings at the depth of thirty-seven fathoms, with a sandy bottom.. They now steered in towards the land, west-south-west and south-west, and two hours after, at five in the evening, they anchored in twelve fathoms, the bottom sand, and veered out three quarters of a cable. The sea now began to run 7THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 97 high; and at six the cable gave way. Another anchor was let go, yet the ship struck twice, though they found, by the lead, five fathoms depth of water. The cable quickly parted; and it was fortunate a third anchor was not ready, for whilst they were preparing; it a high wave threw the ship over a bank of rocks, where all at once she was in still water. They now dropt their anchor in four fathoms and a half, about 600 yards from the land, and lay quiet during the rest of the night; but in the morning they found themselves surrounded with rocks and breakers. They were certain that the coast of Kamt- schatka was not far distant; but the condition of the ship and the crew, with the advanced season of the year, rendered it apparent that they must re- main upon this land all winter. Those who were able to work went on shore to prepare lodgings for the sick. This they accomplished by digging pits or . caverns between some sandhills near a brook which ran from a mountain to the sea, using their sails as a temporary covering. There was no appearance of inhabitants; nor were any trees seen, although drift- wood was found along the shore. No grass nor an- tiscorbutic herbs were discoverable; the island, in- deed, was so deeply covered with snow, that even if it produced any antiseptic plants, the patients had not strength to lay them open; and at this time the Russians were little acquainted with the proper remedies for this dreadful disease. On the 8th of November they began to transport the sick to the miserable habitations which had been prepared for them; and it was remarkable that some who seem- ed the least reduced, expired the moment they were F98 B EH RING AND TCHIRIKOW : exposed to the fresh air, and others in making an attempt to stand upon deck.* On the 9th of November, Behring himself was carried ashore by four men on a hand-barrow, care- fully secured from the air. The ship had been cast on the east side of the island, and the coast was examined both to the north and south; but no traces of inhabitants were found. Along the shores were many sea-otters, and the interior swarmed with blue and white foxes. ee We saw," says Steller in his jour- nal, " the most dismal and terrifying objects : the foxes mangled the dead before they could be buried, and were even not afraid to approach the living and helpless who lay scattered here and there, and smell to them like dogs. This man exclaimed that he was perishing of cold; the other complained of hunger and thirst; and their mouths were so much affected by scurvy, that their gums grew over their teeth like a sponge. The stone-foxes, which swarmed round our dwellings, became so bold and mischie- vous, that they carried away and destroyed differ- ent articles of provision and clothing. One took a shoe, another a boot, a third a glove, a fourth a coat; and they even stole the iron implements; whilst all attempts to drive them away were ineffec- tual/^ * " It must," says Captain Burney, " be within the memory of many, the great care with which the apartments of the sick were guarded against the admission of fresh air, and in few instances more than in what was called the sick-berth on board a ship of war, where it was customary to keep a number of diseased persons labouring under different maladies enclosed and crowded together; and fortunately, since the date of this expedition, the management iOf the sick with respect to air has undergone a very essential reform." -f- Coxe's Russian Discoveries, pp. 73, 74.THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 99 .. Lieutenant Waxel, on whom, since the illness of the commodore,, the command devolved, and Ky- trow, the ship-master, continued healthy at sea; and the necessity for exertion, in seeing everything sent on shore, had a favourable effect in repell- ing the attacks of the disease. At last, however, they too were laid up, and soon became so weak, that, on the 21st of November, they were carried ashore like the rest. During this dreadful residence on the island, the men lived chiefly on the flesh of the sea-otters, which was so hard and tough that it could scarcely be torn to pieces by the teeth. The intestines were mostly used for the sick ; and Steller, in his descriptions of the marine ani- mals of these regions, reckons the flesh of the sea- otter as a specific against the scurvy. When not wanted for food they were killed for their fine skins, 900 being collected on the island, and equal- ly divided among the crew. A dead whale, which was thrown upon the coast, they called their maga- zine, as it proved a resource when nothing better could be got. The flesh was cut into small pieces, which they boiled a long time to separate the oil from it as much as possible, and the remaining hard and sinewy parts they swallowed without chewing. In this miserable manner they continued to sup- port life; but some of the crew sunk daily under the disease, and on the 8th of December the commo- dore expired. Behring was an officer of extraordi- nary merit; and, until reduced by the disease of which he became the victim, endowed with unshaken perseverance and energy. His voyage set at rest the disputed point regarding the separation of the two100 DEATH OF BEHRINGr continents of Asia and America; and he has de- servedly bequeathed his name to the strait which he was the first to explore, and the desolate island on which he died. It is melancholy to think, that after the exertions he had made in the cause of na- val discovery, his life terminated so miserably; for it may almost be said that he was buried alive: The sand rolled down continually from the side of the cavern in which he lay, and at last covered his feet; nor would he suffer it to be removed, saying, he felt warmth from it, when he was cold in all other parts; it thus gradually increased upon him till his body was more than half concealed; so that, when he at last expired, it was found necessary to unearth him previously to his being interred. ec Beh- ring," says Steller, who was by no means disposed to exaggerate the good qualities of his commander, "dis- played in his illness the most affecting resignation to the will of the Supreme Being, and enjoyed his un- derstanding and speech to the last. He was con- vinced that the crew had been driven on an un- known land; yet he would not terrify others by de- claring his opinion, but cherished their hopes and encouraged their exertions. He was buried accord- ing to the Protestant ritual, and a cross was erected over his grave to mark the spot, and to serve also as an evidence that the Russians had taken possession of the country."* Soon after the death of the commodore the whole crew were sheltered from the severity of the winter in subterranean; dwellings contiguous to each other, and recovered so much strength by the use of sweet * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 79.STATE OF THE EXPEDITION. 101 and excellent water/and the flesh of the sea-animals killed in hunting, that their existence became com- paratively comfortable. Of the manner in which they passed their time during the dreary winter months, from December to iVIayy Steller has left us in his journal a minute and interesting account. In March the sea-otters disappeared, either from the instinct of changing their abode at particular seasons of the year, or banished by continual perse- cution; but their place was supplied by other ma- rine animals, which, in their turn, also left them. " To supply ourselves with fuel/' says Steller,was likewise a considerable labour: As the island pro- duced nothing but willow-bushes, and the drift- wood was often deeply buried in the snow till the end of March, we were compelled to bring it from a distance of even fifteen or sixteen versts; and our load , upon these expeditions amounted to from sixty to eighty pounds, besides our hatchets and kettles., with the necessary implements for mending our shoes and clothes. In April, however, we were re- lieved from this labour by the thaw and breaking up of the vessel." An anecdote of an escape made by them in hunting, as it is given by the same lively writer, presents us with a striking picture of their manner of life upon the island. " On the 5th of April," says he, " during a gleam of favourable weather, Steneser and myself, with my Cossack and a servant of Behring, went on a hunting expedk tion. Having killed as many sea-otters as we were able to carry, we made a fire in a cliff, where we proposed to pass the night. At midnight a violent hurricane arose, and the snow fell in such quantities that we should have been buried had we not run102 THEY BUILD A NEW VESSEL. continually backwards and forwards. In the morn- ings after a long and fruitless search for shelter, we resigned ourselves to our fate; but the Cossack for- tunately discovered a large cavern, which seemed to have been formed by an earthquake, where we entered with our provision and wood. It afforded a secure retreat from the weather, contained a ca- vity in which we could hide our provisions from the depredations of the stone-foxes, and was provid- ed with an aperture which served the purpose of a chimney. The cave and bay, which were named in compliment to me, were inhabited by numerous foxes, which retired on our approach through the chimney; but the smoke from our fire caused such a spitting and sneezing amongst them, as gave no small diversion to the party. At night, however, they occasionally returned into the cavern, and amused themselves with taking away our caps, and playing other similar gambols. On the 4th we re- turned to our abode with a rich booty, and were received with great delight by our companions, who thought us lost."* On the 6th of May, such of the crew as were able to work began to build from the relics of the wreck a vessel, which was intended to carry the survivors to Kamtschatka. Their number was now reduced to forty-five, thirty having died on the island, including the three carpenters; but a Si- berian Cossack named Starodubzow, who had for some time worked as a shipwright at Ochotzk, su- perintended the building of the new ship. At first they were put to great inconvenience from a defi- * We have availed ourselves of Coxe's translation of this pas- sage, as published in his Russian Discoveries, pp. 85, 86.RETURN TO KAMTSCHATKA. 103 cieiicy of tar; but by an ingenious contrivance it was extracted from the new cordage which they had to spare. After being cut and picked, they put it into a large copper kettle, having a cover fitting close, with a hole in the middle. They then took another vessel with a similar cover, which they fixed firm in the ground, and upon this set the copper kettle turned upside down, the apertures in the lids being placed exactly against each other. Part of this machinery was then buried in the earth, and a fire kindled round what was above ground, by which means the tar of the new cordage melted, and ran into the inferior vessel. This contrivance having removed their greatest difficulty, by the 10th of August the new vessel was launched, and on the 16th, Lieutenant Waxel set sail with the melancholy remnant of his crew; but, owing to contrary winds, they did not make the coast of Kamtschatka till the 25th, although from Behring's Island the distance was not more than thirty German miles. On the 27th they anchored in Awatchka Bay; and the Cos- sack, Starodubzow, to whose efforts in constructing the vessel, the preservation of the crew was mainly owing, received the rank of sinbojarski, a degree of Siberian nobility. Such is an account of the cele- brated and unfortunate expedition of Commodore Behring, of which the results were highly important to geographical science, although dearly bought by the death of so many brave men. Although Lord Mulgrave had failed in his at- tempt to discover, by a northerly course, a communi- cation between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans,'-" * Polar Seas and Regions, 3d edit. p. 327—335.104 COOK AND CLERKE'S VOYAGE. the British government did not abandon all hope; and in 177^ Captain James Cook, who had al- ready established his reputation as the greatest of modern navigators,, was selected by the Admiralty to conduct another expedition,, reversing only the plan, and endeavouring to sail from the Pacific into the Atlantic, instead of from the Atlantic into the Pacific. In prosecution of this plan, on the 12th of July 1776, Cook sailed from Plymouth Sound in the Resolution, leaving instructions for the Discovery, the command of which was intrusted to Captain Charles Clerke, to join him at the Cape. From that place the two ships proceeded, in a course marked by important discoveries, through the Southern He- misphere, by Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, Otaheite and the Sandwich Islands. They then steered north-eastward, and on the 7th of March, in latitude 4A\° north, came in sight of the Ameri- can continent at the coast of New Albion. Owing to unfavourable winds, which forced the ships to the south, it was the 29th before Cook anchored in Nootka Sound, where he was soon visited by thirty boats of the natives, carrying each from three to seven or eight persons, both men and women. At first none of the Americans would venture within either ship, and from the circumstance of their boats remaining at a short distance all night, as if on watch, it was evident they regarded the arrival of the strangers with much suspicion. A friendly intercourse, however, was soon established; and although theft, particularly of any iron utensil, was unscrupulously committed, they were pretty fair and honest in their mode of barter. " They were,"INTERCOURSE WITH THE NATIVES. 105 says Cooky " docile, courteous, and good-natured; but quick in resenting what they looked upon as an injury, and, like most other passionate people, as soon forgetting it. Their stature was rather below the common size of Europeans; and although at first, owing to the paint and grease which covered their skins, it was believed that they were of a cop- per complexion, it was afterwards discovered that they were in reality a white people. They were well armed with pikes, some headed with bone and many with iron; besides which they carried bows, slings, knives, and a short club, like the patow of the New Zealanders; their arrows were barbed at the point, and the inner end feathered." A dis- pute occurred after the arrival of the English, be- tween the inhabitants of the northern and southern coasts of the sound; but a pacific treaty was con- cluded, and the event celebrated by a species of music, in which they bore alternate parts. " Their songs," says Captain Burney, who was himself pre- sent, " were given in turn, the party singing having their pikes erected. When the first finished they laid down their pikes, and the other party reared theirs. What they sung was composed of few notes, and as wild as could have been expected; yet it was solemn and in unison, and what I thought most ex- traordinary, they were all well in tune with- each other. The words were at times given out by one man, as a parish-clerk gives out the first line of a psalm."* It appeared evident to Captain Cook, that previ- ous to this, the inhabitants had never entertained * Burney's North-eastern Voyages of Discovery, p. 213.106 COOK AT NOOTKA SOUND. any direct communication with Europeans. " They were not startled/' says he, "by the report of a musket, till one day, upon endeavouring to prove to us that arrows and spears would not penetrate their war-dresses, a gentleman of our company shot a musket-ball through one of them folded six times. At this they were so much staggered, that their ignorance of fire-arms was plainly seen. This was afterwards confirmed when we used them to shoot birds, the manner of which confounded them." On the ships leaving Nootka Sound, the natives accom- panied their farewell with a singular exhibition : When the anchor was heaving up," says Burney, " they assembled in their boats, which covered the cove, and began a song, in which they flourished the swords, saws, hatchets, and other things, which they had obtained from us. In the midst of this valedic- tory chorus, one man, mounted on a stage of loose boards, which was supported by the people in the nearest canoes or boats, danced with a wooden mask on, which he occasionally changed, making himself resemble sometimes a man, sometimes a bird, and sometimes an animal. Of these masks they have great variety, and they parted with them willing- ly, except those of the human face; if they sold any of these, it seemed to be with some repug- nance, as if they were parting with the image of a friend or a relation, and were ashamed to be seen so doing/'* From Nootka Sound Captain Cook made a survey of the coast by Mount Saint Elias, till he arrived at a cape which turned short to the north, to which he * Burney's North-eastern Voyages of Discovery, pp. 217? 218.SURVEY PROM NOOTKA TO NORTON SOUND. 107 gave the name of Cape Hinchinbroke; thence he pro- ceeded to Prince William's Sound; after which he pursued the coast to the west, which was found to take a southerly direction, as described by Behring and Tchirikow. These navigators, however, as we have seen, had not made a very particular exami- nation ; and although the tenor of Cook's instruc- tions did not permit him to devote much time to the exploring rivers or inlets, till he reached the latitude of 65°, still that eminent officer deemed himself at liberty to complete an accurate survey of this hitherto undiscovered coast, from the arm of the sea afterwards denominated Cook's Inlet round the great Peninsula of Alaska, terminating in Cape Oonamak. He thence proceeded along the shores of Bristol Bay, till he doubled Cape Newenham, from which he steered in a north-easterly direction and anchored in Norton Sound. Leaving this the ships entered Behring's Strait, and followed the coast to the north-west, till they doubled a pro- montory situated in 65° 45" north latitude, which they named Prince of Wales' Cape, regarding it as the western extremity of all America hitherto known. Soon after, in the evening they discerned the coast of Asia, and standing across the strait came to anchor in a bay of the Tschuktschi country, near a village from which the natives crowded to the shore. Observing this. Cook landed with three boats well armed, and was received by the Tschuktschi with cautious courtesy. About forty men, armed each with a spon toon, besides bow and arrows, stood drawn up on a rising ground close by the village, and as the English drew near, three of them came down to- wards the shore, politely taking off their caps and108 COOK CROSSES BEHRING's STRAIT TO ASIA. making low bows. On seeing some of the English leap from their boats they retired, and expressed by signs their desire that no more should land; but when Cook advanced alone, with some small pre- sents in his hand, their confidence was restored, and they exchanged for them two fox-skins and two seahorse-teeth. All this time they never laid down their weapons, but held them in constant readiness, except for a short time, when four or five persons disarmed themselves to give the English a song and a dance; even then, however, they placed them in such a manner that they could reach them in an instant, and evidently for greater security they de- sired their audience to sit down during the dance. This Asiatic people, although dwelling within fifty miles of the American coast, were evidently a dif- ferent race from the inhabitants of the shores of Behring's Strait. All the Americans whom the English had seen since their arrival on the coast were low of stature, with round chubby faces and high cheek-bones. The Tschuktschi, on the con- trary, had long visages, and were stout and well made. Several things which they had with them, and more particularly their clothing, showed a de- gree of ingenuity surpassing what one could ex- pect among so northern a people. Their dress con- sisted of a cap, frock, breeches, boots, and gloves, all made of leather or skins extremely well dressed, some with the fur on, some without it, and the quivers which contained their arrows were made of red leather neatly embroidered, and extremely beau- tiful.* * Cook's Voyages, vol. yi. pp. 409,. 410, 411.RETURNS TO AMERICA. 109 From this bay the ships again stood over to the north-east, and, continuing their examination of the American coast, Cook soon found himself surround- ed by the dreary features which mark the scenery of the Polar latitudes; a dark and gloomy sky, thick showers of snow and hail, and immense fields and mountains of ice, covered in some places by the huge forms of the walrus or seahorse, which lay in herds of many hundreds, huddling like swine one over the other. The flesh of these animals, when new killed, was preferred by the crew to their com- mon fare of salt meat, but within four and twenty hours it became rancid and fishy. From a point of land, which was denominated Cape Mulgrave, they now explored the coast to the latitude of 70° 29", where their progress was arrested by an unbroken wall of ice apparently stretching from continent to continent* At this time the nearest land was about a league distant, and the farthest eastern point seen a low headland much encumbered with ice, to which Cook gave the name of Icy Cape, and which, till the recent discoveries of Captain Beechey, constitut- ed the extreme limit of European discovery in that quarter of the globe. It was now the end of August; and as nothing farther could be attempted at that season on the American coast, the ships return- ed to the Sandwich Islands, with the intention of resuming in the succeeding summer the attempt for the discovery of a communication between the Pa- cific and the Atlantic,—an object which their great commander did not live to execute, having been killed in an unfortunate scuffle with the natives of * Cook's Voyages, vol. vi. pp. 415, 417*110 RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION. Owhyhee on the 11th of February 1779. The far- ther conduct of the expedition now fell to Gierke and King, and an attempt was made to penetrate beyond Icy Cape; but the continued fields of ice rendered it utterly abortive. The ships therefore having repassed Behring's Strait, came to anchor in the Bay of St Peter and St Paul in Kamtschatka. Here Captain Clerke, who had long been in a de- clining state, died; upon which, to the great satisfac- tion of the crews and officers of both ships, who were sick of the dreary navigation in these inhospitable latitudes, they returned home. Subsequent to the voyages of Cook and Clerke, the north-west coast of America was visited at dif- ferent periods by Meares, Vancouver, and Kotzebue; and though the limit of discovery was not extend- ed beyond Icy Cape, the shores were more minutely examined, and a beneficial commercial intercourse established with the natives. Of Captain Meares' voyages, the great object was to establish a trade between China and the north-west coast of Ame- rica. For this purpose an association of the leading mercantile men in Bengal fitted out two vessels,— the Nootka, commanded by Meares himself, and the Sea-otter by Lieutenant Walter Tipping. The Sea-otter in the first instance took a cargo of opium to Malacca, thence she proceeded to America, and is known to have made Prince William's Sound; but after leaving that harbour no accounts of her were ever received, and it appears certain that she and her crew perished at sea. The fate of Meares in the Nootka was scarcely more tolerable: After a te- dious and perilous navigation in the China Seas, they made their way through the straits betweenMEARES' FIRST VOYAGE. Ill Oonamak and Oonalaska against a current running seven knots an hour, from which they sailed across to America by the Schumagin Islands, and anchor- ed under Cape Douglas.* Thence they proceeded to Prince William's Sound to winter; and their residence here during October, November, and De- cember, though dreary and tedious, was not with- out its comforts. The natives were friendly, and brought them provisions; they caught plenty of ex- cellent salmon, and the large flocks of ducks and geese afforded constant sport to the officers, and a seasonable supply for the table. But the horrors of an Arctic winter began soon to gather round them: The ice closed in upon the ship; the snow fell so. thick that all exercise became impossible; the ducks and geese collected into flocks and passed away to the southward; the fish totally deserted the creeks; and the natives, a migratory race, imitating the instinct of these lower species, travelled off in a body with their temporary wigwams to a more ge- nial district. To add to these distresses the scur- vy made its appearance; whilst the sun described weekly a smaller circle, and shed a sickly and me- lancholy light. Even at noon, through an atmos- phere obscured by perpetual snows, " tremendous mountains forbade almost a sight of the sky, and cast their nocturnal shadows over the ship in the midst of day." The decks were incapable of re- sisting the intense freezing of the night, and the lower part of them was covered an inch thick with a hoar frost that had all the appearance of snow, notwithstanding fires were kept constantly burning * Meares' Voyages, vol. i. p. 19. Introductory Voyage.112 MEARES' FIRST VOYAGE. twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Between the months of January and May, twenty-three men died of the scurvyj and the rest of the crew were so disabled as to be incapable of any labour; but the sun's return and the commencement of more genial weather produced an instantaneous effect on the health and spirits of the crew. The natives returned, and assured the poor sufferers that the cold must soon be gone, making them understand by signs that the summer would commence about the middle of May; and the sun, which now began to make a larger circle over the hills, not only chased away the huge and gloomy shadows that like a funeral-pall had covered the ship, but brought back the fish to the rivers, and the migratory birds to the shore; so that they soon enjoyed an ample supply of fresh food. On the 17th of May, a general break- ing up of the ice took place throughout the cove, and the feeling that they were once more in clear water, with the prospect of soon leaving a scene of so much distress and horror, cheered the minds of the crew with inexpressible comfort * These happy antici- pations were soon realized by their sailing from Prince of Wales' Sound on the 21st June, and reach- ing the hospitable cluster of the Sandwich Isles, where such was the effect of the genial climate, that in ten days' residence every complaint had disap- peared. Gn the 2d of September they left the Sand- wich Islands, and arrived on the 20th October at Macao in China. It may easily be imagined, that during so disas- trous a sojourn on the American shore, little or no * Meares' Voyages, vol. i. Introductory Voyage, p. 47.NATIVES OF PRINCE WILLIAMS SOUND. 113 progress could be made in the survey of the coast, which was rugged; and at no great distance were mountains, covered with thick woods' for about two-thirds of their ascent, beyond which they ter- minated in immense masses of naked rock. The black-pine grew in great plenty, and a few black- currant bushes were noticed, but no other kind of fruit or vegetable. The number of savages seen by Meares did not exceed 500 or 600, and these had no fixed place of abode, but wandered up and down as fancy or necessity impelled them. They were strong and athletic, rather exceeding the common stature of Europeans, with prominent cheek-bones, round flat faces, eyes small and black, and hair, which they cut short round the head, of the same jetty colour. A slit in the under lip, parallel to the mouth, and a perforation in the septum of the nose^ in which was inserted a large quill or a piece of bark, gave them a hideous look ; whilst a sin- gular practice of powdering their hair with the down of birds, allowing the frostwork and icicles to hang from the beard, and painting the neck and face with red ochre, increased the savage sin- gularity of their appearance. Their clothing con- sisted of a single frock of the sea-otter skin reach- ing to their knees. When employed in their canoes, they used a dress made of the entrails of the whale, which covered the head, and was so dis- posed that it could be tied round the hole in which they sat, so as to prevent the water from getting into the canoe, whilst it l$ept the lower part of the body warm and dry. Their hardihood and capa- city of enduring pain astonished the English, and was remarkably evinced upon an occasion men- G114 NATIVES OF PRINCE WILLIAM^ SOUND. tioned by Meares:—" In the course of the winter/' says he, " among other rubbishy several broken glass bottles had been thrown out of the ship, and one of the natives, who was searching among them, eut his foot in a very severe manner. On seeing it bleed, we pointed out what had caused the wound* and applied a dressing to it, which he was made to understand was the remedy we ourselves applied on similar occasions; but he and his companions instantly turned the whole into ridicule, and at the same time taking some of the glass, they scarified their legs and arms in a most cruel and extraordi- nary manner, informing us that nothing of that kind could ever hurt them."* The disastrous result of this first expedition did not deter either Meares or his liberal employers from hazarding a second voyage to the same coast, which was attended with more important results. The Felice, of 230 tons burden, and the Iphigenia, of 200, were fitted out on this adventure; the com- mand being given to Captains Meares and Douglas. Both vessels were copper-bottomed and strongly built, and their crews consisted of Europeans and Chinese, among whom were some excellent smiths, shipwrights, and other artisans. The taking the Chinamen aboard was an experiment. Before this time they had never formed part of the crew of an English merchant-ship; and it is but justice to say that they proved hardy, good-humoured* and industrious. Two other very interesting pas- sengers were on board of Captain Meares' ship,—. Teanna, a prince of Atooi, one of the Sandwich * Meares' Voyages, vol. i. Introductory Voyage, p. 66.MEARES' SECOND VOYAGE. 115 Isles, who had volunteered to leave his native coun- try when Meares visited it during his former expe- dition; and Comekala, a native of King George's Sound, who had at the same time entreated to be carried to China. Of these two specimens of savage life Teanna was by far the finest, both in moral and in physical qualities. He was about thirty-two years old, near six feet five inches in stature, and in strength almost Herculean. His carriage was dignified, and, in consequence of the respect paid to his superior rank in his own country, possessed an air of distinction, to which his familiarity with European manners had not communicated any stiffs ness or embarrassment. Comekala, on the other hand, though cunning and sagacious, was a stranger to the generous qualities which distinguished the prince of the Sandwich Isles. He was kind and honest when it suited his own interest; but stole without scruple whatever he wished to have, and could not procure by fairer means. Brass and cop- per were metals which he might almost be said to- worship. Copper halfpence, buttons, saucepans,—> 3,11 possessed in his eyes, the highest charms. It was evident that he coveted the brass buttons of the cap- tain's uniform; and his mode of fixing his eyes on the object of his desire, and the pangs of un gratified avarice, as exhibited in the contortions of his coun- tenance, proved matter of much amusement to the crew. The cause of his insatiable thirst for copper became afterwards apparent. - In the mean time Captain Meares found it neces~. sary to separate from his consort, whose slow sail- ing threatened to impede his progress ; and, after a long, and hazardous passage, the ship anchored in116 KING GEORGE'S SOUND. Friendly Cove in King George's Sound, abreast of the village of Nootka, on the morning of the 13th of May. Comekala, who for several days had been in a state of high excitation, now enjoyed the ge- nuine delight of once more beholding his native shore; and when his intention of landing was made known, the whole inhabitants poured forth to give him welcome. The dress in which he chose to ap- pear for the first time after so long an absence was very extraordinary : On a former occasion, when visited by Hannapa, a brother chief, he contented himself with an ordinary European suit; but he now, says Meares, arrayed himself in all his glory : His scarlet coat was decorated with such quantities of brass buttons and copper appendages of one kind or other, that they could not fail to procure him profound respect from his countrymen, and render him an object of unbounded admiration to the Noot- ka damsels. At least half a sheet of copper formed his breastplate; from his ears copper ornaments were suspended; and he contrived to hang from his hair, which was dressed with a long pig-tail, so many handles of copper saucepans, that their weight kept his head in a stiff upright position, which very much heightened the oddity of his appearance. For several of the ornaments with which he was now so proudly decorated, Comekala had lived in a state of continual hostility with the cook, from whom he purloined them; but their last and principal strug- gle was for an enormous spit, which the Ameri- can prince had seized as a spear to swell the cir- cumstances of that splendour with which he was preparing to dazzle the eyes of his countrymen. In such a state of accoutrement, and feeling greater de-RECEPTION OF COMEKALA. 117 light than ever was experienced on the proudest Eu- ropean throne, the long boat rowed Comekala ashore> when a general and deafening shout from the crowd assured him of the universal joy felt on his return. The whole inhabitants moved to the beach, welcom- ed the traveller on shore, and afterwards conducted him to the king's house, which none but persons of rank were permitted to enter, and where a magnifi- cent feast of whale blubber and oil was prepared. On the whole, Comekala s reception, and the impression made by his extraordinary costume, evinced his in- timate knowledge of the character of his country- men; for though to the English the effect was ir- resistibly comic, the natives regarded him with a mixture of silent awe and wonder, which after a while broke forth into expressions of universal as- tonishment and delight. Not long after this exhibition, two Nootka princes, Maquilla and Callicum, paid a visit to the English. Their little squadron, consisting of twelve canoes with eighteen men each, moved with stately parade round the ship: The men wore dresses of beautiful sea- otter skins, covering them from head to heel; their hair was powdered with the white down of birds, and their faces bedaubed with red and black ochre, in the form of a shark's jaw and a kind of spiral line, which rendered their appearance extremely savage. Eight rowers sat on each side, and a single man at the bow; whilst the chiefs, distinguished by a high cap, pointed at the crown and ornamented with a small tuft of feathers, occupied a place in the middle. All this was very striking ; but the most remarkable accompaniment was the air which they chanted, the effect of which is described by Meares118 NOOTKA MUSIC. as uncommonly pleasing. "We listened/' says he, " to their song with an equal degree of surprise and pleasure. It was indeed impossible for any ear sus- ceptible of delight from musical sounds, or any mind not insensible to the power of melody, to remain unmoved by this solemn unexpected concert. The chorus was in unison, and strictly correct as to time and tune; nor did a dissonant note escape them. Sometimes they would make a sudden transition from the high to the low tones, with such melan- choly turns in their variations, that we could not reconcile to ourselves the manner in which they ac- quired or contrived this more than untaught melody of nature. There was also something for the eye as well as the ear, and the action that accompanied their voices added very much to the impression which the chanting made upon us all. Every one beat time with undeviating regularity against the gunwale of the boat with their paddles; and at the end of every verse they pointed with extended arms to the north and south, gradually sinking their voices in such a solemn manner as to produce an effect not often attained by the orchestras of European na- tions." 1 This account of the impressive music of the people of Nootka Sound is, the reader may remem- ber, corroborated by Captain Burney.* The cere- ftiony, however, did not end with the song; but after rowing twice round the ship, rising up each time as they passed the stern, and vociferating, " Wacush! Wacush I" (friends), they brought their canoes alongside, and the two chiefs came on board. Both were handsome men of the middle size, pos- sessing a mild but manly expression of countenance. * Supra, p. 105..MANNERS OF THE NATIVES. 119 They accepted a present of copper, iron, and other articles, with signs of great delight, and throwing off their sea-otter garments laid them gracefully at the feet of the English, and stood on the deck quite naked. Each of them was presented with a blanket, which they threw over their shoulders with marks of high satisfaction, and descending into their ca- noes, were paddled to the shore. A brisk trade in furs now commenced, which, though interrupted occasionally by the petty thefts of the savages, was highly favourable to the commer- cial interests of the expedition. Skins of the sea-otter, beaver, martin, sable, and river-otter, of the ermine, black-fox, gray, white, and red wolf, wolverine, mar- mot, racoon, bear, and mountain-sheep, and in addi- tion to all these, of the furred, speckled, and common seal, sea-cow, and sea-lion, were all procured, though some in greater abundance than others. Of these by far the most beautiful and valuable was the skin of the sea-otter. The taking of this animal is at- tended with considerable hazard; but constant prac- tice has taught the natives both skill and courage. f When it is determined to hunt the sea-otter," says Meares, " two very small canoes are prepared, in each of which are seated two expert hunters. The instruments they employ are bows and arrows, with a small harpoon which differs somewhat from the instrument of the same kind used in hunting the whale, the shaft being much the same; but the harpoon itself of greater length, and so notched and barbed that when it has once entered the flesh it is almost impossible to extricate it. It is attached to the shaft by several fathoms of sufficient strength to120 HUNTING THE SEA-OTTER. drag the otter to the boat. The arrows employed are small, and pointed with bone formed into a single barb. Thus equipped the hunters proceed among the rocks in search of their prey. Some- times they surprise the animal when sleeping on Jiis back on the surface of the water; and if they can approach without awakening him, which re- quires infinite caution and skill, he is easily har*. pooned and dragged to the boat, when a fierce bat- tle often ensues between the otter and the hunters, who are frequently severely wounded by his teeth and claws. The more usual manner of taking him, however, is by pursuit, and the chase is sometimes continued for hours. As the animal cannot remain long under water, the skill is here chiefly exerted to direct-the canoes in the same line which the ot- ter takes when under water, at which time he swims with a celerity that greatly exceeds that of his pursuers* The moment he dives, therefore, the canoes separate in order to have the better chance of wounding him with their arrows at the moment he rises, although it often happens that this wary and cunning animal escapes, and baffles the utmost skill of his persecutors. Should it hap- pen that the otters are overtaken with their young ones, the instinct of parental affection comes out in its most deep and interesting shape; all sense of danger and of self-preservation is instantly lost, and both male and female defend their cubs with the most furious courage, tearing out with their teeth the arrows and harpoons fixed in them, and often attacking the canoes themselves. On such occasions, however, their utmost efforts are una-HUNTING THE WHALE. 121 vailing, and they and their offspring never fail of yielding to the power of the hunters."* The hunting the whale, however, is a still nobler sport ; and nothing can exceed the skill and intrepi- dity with which the Americans of Nootka engage in it. When it is determined to proceed against this mighty creature, the chief prepares himself with great ceremony: He is clothed in the sea- otter's skin, his body besmeared with oil and paint- ed with red ochre; the canoes selected for the ser- vice are of a size between those used in war and the ordinary kind, and contain eighteen or twenty men, the bravest and most active that can be found. When the whale is discovered, the chief himself throws the first harpoon; but all the people in the various attendant canoes are armed with the same, instrument, to be employed as occasion may re- quire. As soon as the huge fish feels the smart of the first weapon, he dives, and carries the shaft with all its bladders along with him; on which the boats follow in his wake, and as he rises continue to fix their weapons till he finds it impossible to sink from the number of floating buoys attached to his body. The whale then drowns, and is towed on shore with great triumph and rejoicing.t He is immediately cut up, part being dedicated to the feast which concludes the day, and the remainder divided among those who shared the dangers and glory of the chase. The ingenuity of the Nootka savages in many mechanical arts was very remarkable. Their ma- nufacture of harpoons, lines, fish-hooks, bows and Mearesj vol; ii. p. 56. -j- Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 52, 55.122 NOOTKA MECHANICAL ARTS. arrows,, their skill in tanning and preparing furs., their ingenious manner of forging the metals pro- cured from the English into various ornaments for their wives or favourites, and above all their art in constructing canoes> astonished the European and Chinese artisans. Of the iron received in exchange for furs they made tools; and it was seldom they could he prevailed on to use European utensils in preference to their own, with the exception of the saw, the utility of which in abridging labour was immediately perceived and made available. They formed of the same metal a species of tool for hol- lowing out large trees, which purpose it served far better than any instrument the carpenters of the Felice could give them. In this operation a flat stone was employed in place of an anvil, whilst a round one served for a hammer; and with these rude implements they shaped the redhot iron into a tool resembling a cooper's adze, which they fas- tened to a wooden handle with cords made of si- news ; it was then sharpened, and proved admi- rably adapted for the purposes for which it was intended.* After the English had been for some time in King George's Sound, the Americans began to make use of sails formed of mats> in imitation of Captain Meares' ship. Hannapa got the sailors to rig one of his war-canoes in the English style, of which he was extremely proud, never omitting the ceremony of hoisting his pendant whenever he approached, to the great amusement of the crew. Not long after this the English were waited upon by Wicananish, * Meares, vol. ii. pp. 58? 59.NOOTRA ARCHITECTUHE* 123 a prince of greater wealth and power than any they had yet seen, who invited them to visit his kingdom, which lay at some distance to the southward,, that a commercial intercourse might be established for the advantage of both parties. The invitation was accepted, and Wicananish himself met the Felice at some distance from the shore with a small fleet of canoes; and, coming on board, piloted them into the harbour. They found the capital to be at least three times the size of Nootka. The country round was covered with impenetrable woods of great ex- tent, in which were trees of enormous size. After the king and his chiefs had been entertained on board, the English were in return invited to a feast by Wica- nanish ; and it is not easy to conceive a more inte- resting picture of savage life than is given by Meares on this occasion. " On entering the house," says he, " we were absolutely astonished at the vast area it enclosed. It contained a large square, boarded up close on all sides to the height of twenty feet, with planks of an uncommon breadth and length. Three enormous trees, rudely carved and painted, formed the rafters, which were supported at the ends and in the middle by gigantic images, carved out of huge blocks of timber. The same kind of broad planks covered the whole to keep out the rain; but they were so placed as to be removable at plea- sure, either to receive the air and light or to let out the smoke. In the middle of this spacious room were several fires, and beside them large wooden vessels filled with fish-soup. Large slices of whale's flesh lay in a state of preparation, to be put into similar machines filled with water, into which the women, with a kind of tongs, conveyed hot stones124 PALACE OF WICANANISH. from very fierce fires, in order to make it boil. Heaps of fish were strewed about; and in this central part of the square, which might properly be called the kitchen, stood large seal-skins filled with oil, from whence the guests were served with that delicious beverage. The trees that supported the roof were of a size which would render the mast of a first rate man-of-war diminutive on a comparison with them; indeed our curiosity as well as our astonishment was at its utmost stretch, when we considered the strength which must have been required to raise these enormous beams to their present elevation, and how such strength could be commanded by a people wholly unacquainted, as we supposed, with the mechanic powers. The door by which we enter- ed this extraordinary fabric was" the mouth of one of these huge images, which, large as it may, from this circumstance, be supposed to have been, was not disproportioned to the other features of its co- lossal visage. We ascended by a few steps on the outside ; and, after passing the portal, descended down the chin into the house, where we found new, matter for wonder in the number of men, women, and children who composed the family of the chief, which consisted of at least 800 persons. #These were divided into groups according to their respective offices, which had distinct places assigned them. The whole of the interior of the building was sur- rounded by a bench, about two feet from the ground, on which the various inhabitants sat, ate, and slept. The chief appeared at the upper end of the room surrounded by natives of rank, on a small raised platform, round which were placed several large chests, over which hung bladders of oil, large slicesFEAST GIVEN TO THE ENGLISH. 125 of whales' flesh, and proportionable gobbets of blub- ber. Festoons of human skulls, arranged with some attention to uniformity, were disposed in almost every part where they could be placed ; and, however ghastly such ornaments appeared to European eyes, they were evidently considered by the courtiers and people of Wicananish as a very splendid and ap- propriate decoration of the royal apartment." When the English appeared the guests had made a con- siderable advance in their banquet. Before each person was placed a large slice of boiled whale, which, with small wooden dishes filled with oil and fish-soup, and a muscle-shell instead of a spoon, composed the economy of the table. The servants busily replenished the dishes as they were emptied, and the women picked and opened some bark, which served the purpose of towels. The guests despatch- ed their messes with astonishing rapidity and vo- racity, and even the children, some of them not above three years old, devoured the blubber and oil with a rapacity worthy of their fathers. Wica- nanish in the mean time did the honours with an air of hospitable yet dignified courtesy, which might have graced a more cultivated society. At the conclusion of the feast it was intimated to the English that the proper time had arrived to produce their presents. Upon this a great variety of articles were displayed ; among which were several blankets and two copper tea-kettles. On these last, considered to be almost inestimable, the eyes of the whole assem- bly were instantly riveted; and a guard was imme- diately mounted, who kept a jealous watch over them till curiosity was gratified; after which, they were deposited in large chests rudely carved and126 BRISK TRADE IN FURS. fancifully adorned with human teeth. About fifty men now advanced into the middle of the apart- ment, each holding up a sea-otter skin nearly six feet in length, and while they remained in that posi- tion the prince delivered a speech, during which he gave his hand in token of friendship to the captain, and informing him that these skins were the return he proposed to make for the present he had just re- ceived, concluded by ordering them to be immedi- ately conveyed on board. The English now opened a brisk trade, procur- ing the finest furs, whilst they were supplied with excellent provisions: Salmon, cod, halibut, rock- fish, and herrings, were brought to them fresh from the water; and the women and children sold them berries, wild onions, salads, and other esculent plants. Wicananish, however, was anxious to esta- blish a rigid monopoly, and evinced the utmost jea- lousy lest any neighbouring princes should be admit- ted to trade with the English. None were allowed to go on board without his license; and one unfor- tunate stranger was detected without a passport, hur- ried into the woods, and, as was strongly suspected, instantly put to death. At last two chiefs, who had already entered into some transactions with Captain Meares, remonstrated against such i] libe- rality; and Wicananish, rather than go to war, concluded a treaty, which had the effect of restor- ing a good understanding by mutual sacrifices. Hanna and Detootche agreed to resign to Wicana- nish all the otter skins in their possession on condi- tion^ of receiving the two copper tea-kettles already mentioned. These last articles, however ludicrous it may appear in the eyes of European diplomatists,NATURE OF THE COUNTRY. 127 formed the grand basis of the treaty, and the terms of exchange were not arranged without much diffi- culty. During these proceedings the English had little opportunity to examine the country; but every thing which they saw was inviting. An archipe- lago extended from King George's Sound to the harbour of Wicananish, most of the islands being covered with wood, with few clear spots. The soil was rich, producing berries and fruits in abundance, and the timber of uncommon size and beauty, con- sisting chiefly of red oak, large cedar, black and white spruce-fir. In their expeditions into the in- terior they met with frequent groves, where al- most every second tree was fit for masts of any di- mensions.* From Wicananish Captain Meares sailed south- ward along a coast not visited by Cook, of which the chart by Maurelle was so inaccurate, that it seem- ed almost, certain he had never surveyed it in per- son. During this voyage they were visited by a small fleet of canoes, filled with people far more sa- vage than those hitherto met with. The face of the chief was bedaubed with black ochre, and powdered with a glittering sand, which communicated a singu- lar fierceness of expression; whilst his manners were rude, and gave no encouragement to any more in- timate intercourse. Meares continued his survey of the coast as far north as latitude 49° 37'; after which he retraced his progress, and on reaching the Strait of Juan de Fu adding insult to injury, entered his tent, smoked a pipe which * Heame's Journey, p. 33. •f Ibid. p. 40.HEARNE MEETS MATONABBEE. 149 they filled with the white man's tobacco,, asked to see his luggage, arid without waiting for an answer turned the bag inside out, and spread every article on the ground. The work of appropriation was equally rapid, and the empty bag was flung to the owner; but a fit of compunction seizing them, they restored a knife, an awl, and a needle. On begging hard for his razors, they consented to give up one, and added enough of soap to shave him during the remainder of his journey, making him understand, that the surrender of these articles called for his warmest gratitude. As the cold weather approached, the party thus plundered suffered grievously from want of that warm deer-skin clothing used by the Indians at this season. A dress of this kind is rather costly, requiring the prime parts of from eight to eleven skins. These Hearne at last managed to collect; but as the In- dian women alone could prepare them, he was com- pelled to carry this load along with him from day to day, earnestly begging the natives at each successive resting-place to permit their wives to dress his skins. He met, however, with a surly and uniform refusal; and at last, after bearing the burden for several weeks, was forced to throw it off, and sustain the cold as he best could, without either skin-clothing or snow-shoes. When continuing their course in this forlorn condition to the south-east, they met with Captain Matonabbee, a powerful and intelligent chief, who was then on his way to Prince of Wales' Fort with furs and other articles of trade. It was this person who brought the accounts of the Copper- mine River, which induced the company to fit out the expedition, and he was naturally interested in its150 matonabbee's advice. success. He evinced the utmost activity in reliev- ing their wants, furnished them with a warm suit of otter and other skins; aaid, not being able to pro- vide them with snow-shoes,, directed them to a small range of woods, where they found materials for both shoes and sledges. Matonabbee then treated the, party to a feast, and took occasion in his conversa- tion with Hearne to explain the causes of his fai- lure/and: to .offer. his assistance in a third expedition. He attributed all their misfortunes to the miscon- duct of the guide, and to their having no women with them. et In an expedition of this kind/' said he, ec when all the men are so heavily laden that they can neither hunt nor travel to any considera- ble distance, in case they meet with success in hunt- ing, who is to carry the produce of their labour? Women were made for labour; one of them can carry or haul as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our cloth- ing, keep us warm at night; and in fact there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance, or for any length of time, in this country without them; and yet, though they do every thing, they are main- tained at a trifling expense ; for, as they always act the cook, the very licking of their fingers in scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence/'* Assisted by this friendly chief, the English traveller again set forward, and after experiencing an intense degree of cold, by which the favourite dog in his sledge was frozen to death, he reached the fort on 25th Novem- ber/ having been absent eight months and twenty- two days. .Matonabbee arrived a few days after. Hearne's Journey, p. 55.hearne's third journey. 151 Though twice compelled to return, Hearne, whose spirit was not to be overcome by fatigue or disappoint- ment, offered his services to proceed on a third jour- ney, which was ultimately crowned with success. For this he engaged Matonabbee as guide, and de- clined taking any Home-guard Indians. Their place, however, was occupied, according to the principles already laid down, by seven of Matonabbee's wives, who, by the assistance they afforded, did no dis- paragement to the singular picture of female acti- vity which he had drawn. They set out on the 7th of December, and notwithstanding frequent priva- tions, want of food, and intense cold, their suffer- ings were not so aggravated as in the former at- tempts. The country through which they passed towards the west was wild and barren, occasionally covered with thick shrubby woods of stunted pine and dwarf juniper, studded with frequent lakes and swamps whose sides were fringed with willows. Through this ground they travelled in high spirits, but rather,on short commons, owing to the scarcity of deer and the improvidence of the Indians, who consumed every thing in the store during the first days of their march, trusting to find a stock of provi- sions which they had hid in a certain spot on their way to the fort. On reaching the place, however, they discovered that the provisions had been carried off; and the equanimity with which the Indians bore the disappointment, and travelled forward un- der the conjoined miseries of hunger and fatigue, was very striking. At last they succeeded in kill- ing a few deer, and halted to take some refresh- ment. For a whole day they never ceased eating, and an additional repast on two large buck-deer,152 VORACITY OP THE GUIDES. which they killed a few days after, at last fairly overcame Captain Matonabbee, who, after devour- ing at one sitting as much as would have satisfied six moderate men, seemed somewhat unreasonably astonished to find himself indisposed. Having recovered from the effects of this surfeit, they proceeded from Island Lake towards the main branch of the Cathawhachaga, which they crossed, and directing their course by Partridge Lake and Snow Bird Lake, arrived on the 2d March at a large tent of Northern Indians, not far from the Doobaunt Whoie River. Although these people had remained in the same spot since the beginning of winter, they found a plentiful subsistence by catching deer in a pound. Their mode of accom- plishing this is to select a well-frequented deer- path, and enclose with a strong fence of twisted trees and brushwood a space about a mile in circum- ference, and sometimes more. The entrance of the pound is not larger than a common gate, and its inside is crowded with innumerable small hedges, in the openings of which are fixed snares of strong well-twisted thongs. One end is generally fastened to a growing tree; and as all the wood and jungle within the enclosure is left standing, its interior forms a complete labyrinth. On each side of the door, a line of small trees, stuck up in the snow fifteen or twenty yards apart, form two sides of an acute angle, widening gradually from the entrance, from which they sometimes extend two or three miles. Between these rows of brushwood runs the path frequented by the deer. When all things are prepared, the Indians take their station on some eminence commanding a prospect of this path, andCATCHING DEER IN A POUND 153 the moment any deer are seen going that way, the whole encampment,, men,, women, and children, steal under cover of the woods till they get behind them. They then show themselves in the open ground^ and, drawing up in the form of a crescent, advance with shouts. The deer finding themselves pursued, and at the same time imagining the rows of brushy poles to be people stationed to prevent their passing on either side, run straight forward till they get into the pound. The Indians instantly close in, block up the entrance, and whilst the wo- men and children run round the outside to prevent them from breaking or leaping the fence, the men enter with their spears and bows, and speedily de- spatch such as are caught in the snares or are run- ning loose.* On the 8th of April, they reached an island in a small lake named Thelewey-aza-weth, and pitch- ed their tent; and as the deer were numerous, and the party, which had been joined by various wan- dering Indians, now amounted to seventy persons, they determined to remain for some time, and make preparations for their enterprise in the ensuing sum- mer. They were busily employed during their in- tervals from hunting, in providing staves of birch about one and a quarter inch square and seven or eight feet long, which served for tent-poles all the summer, and were converted into snow-shoes in winter. Birch-rind, with timbers and other wood for canoes, formed also objects of attention; and as Clowey, the. place fixed upon for building their canoes, was still many miles distant, all the wood was reduced to its proper size to make it light for * Hearne's Journey? p. 78—80.154 NORTHERN INDIAN WOMEN carriage. At this place Matonabbee solaced himself by purchasing from some Northern Indians another wife, who for size and sinews might have shamed a grenadier. " Take them in a body/' says Hearne, te and the Indian women are as destitute of real beauty as those of any nation I ever saw, although there are some few of them when young who are tolerable; but the care of a family, added to their constant hard labour, soon make the most beautiful amongst them look old and wrinkled, even before they are thirty, and several of the more ordinary ones at that age are perfect antidotes to the tender passion. Ask a Northern Indian what is beauty? he will answer, a broad flat face, small eyes, high cheek- bones, three or four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead, a large broad chin, a hook nose, and a tawny hide. These beauties are greatly heightened, or at least rendered more valuable, if the possessor is capable of dressing all kinds of skins, and able to carry eight or ten stone in summer, and to haul a far greater weight in winter. Such and similar accomplishments are all that are sought after or expected in an Indian Northern woman. As to their temper, it is of little consequence; for the men have a wonderful facility in making the most stubborn comply with as much alacrity as could be expected from those of the mildest and most obliging turn of mind/'* Before starting from this station, Matonabbee took the precaution of sending in advance a small party with the wood and birch-rind; they were directed to press forward to Clowey, a lake near the barren ground, and there build the boat, to be ready * Hearne's Journey, pp. 89, 90.TREATED WITH CRUELTY. 155 upon their arrival. When the journey was about to be resumed, one of the women was taken in la- bour. The moment the poor creature was delivered, which/' says Hearne,was not till she had suf- fered a severe labour of fifty-two hours/' the signal was made for setting forward; the mother took her infant on her back, and walked with the rest; and though another person had the humanity to haul her sledge for one day only, she was obliged to carry a considerable load in addition to her little one, and was compelled frequently to wade knee- deep in water and wet snow. Amidst all this, her looks, pale and emaciated, and the moans which burst from her, sufficiently proved the intolerable pain she endured, but produced no effect upon the hard hearts of her husband and his companions. When an Indian woman is taken in labour, a small tent is erected for her, at such a distance from the encampment that her cries cannot be heard, and the other women are her attendants, no male except children in arms ever offering to approach; and even in the most critical cases no assistance is ever given,—a conduct arising from the opinion that nature is sufficient to perform all that is necessary. When Hearne informed them of the assistance de- rived by European women from the skill and at- tention of regular practitioners, their answer was ironical and characteristic. " No doubt/' said they, the many hump-backs, bandy legs, and other de- formities so common amongst you English, are owing to the great skill of the persons who assisted in bringing them into the world, and to the extra- ordinary care of their nurses afterwards."* * Hearne's Journey, p. 93.156 ARRIVAL AT CLOWEY. In eleven days they travelled a distance of eighty- five miles, and on 3d May arrived at Clowey, where they were joined by some strange Indians, and commenced the important business of building their canoes. The party sent ahead for this pur- pose arrived only two days before, and had made no progress in joining the timbers they had carried along with them. The whole tools used by an In- dian in this operation, in making snow-shoes and all other kinds of wood-work, are a hatchet, a knife, a file, and an awl; but in the use of these they are very dexterous. In shape, their canoes bear some resemblance to a weaver's shuttle, having flat-bot- toms, with straight upright sides, and sharp at each end. The stern is the widest part, being con- structed for the reception of the baggage; and occa- sionally it admits a second person, who lies at full length in the bottom of the little vessel, which sel- dom exceeds twelve or thirteen feet in length, and about twenty inches or two feet in breadth at the widest part. The forepart is unnecessarily long and narrow, and covered with birch-bark, which adds to the weight without contributing to the bur- den of the canoe. The Indians, for the most part, employ a single paddle; double ones like those of the Esquimaux are seldom used unless by hunters, who lie in ambush for the purpose of killing deer as they cross rivers and narrow lakes. Upon the whole, their vessels, though formed of the same materials as those of the Southern Indians, are much smaller and lighter; and, from the extreme simplicity of build, are the best that could be contrived for the necessities of these poor savages, who are frequently obliged to carry them upon their back 100 andJOINED BY MANY INDIANS. 157 sometimes 150 miles, without having occasion to launch them. At Clowey the expedition was joined by nearly 200 Indians from various quarters, most of whom built canoes there; and on the 23d May, Mr Hearne and Matonabbee, whose character and consequence effectually protected the white man from plunder^ proceeded northward. For some time they met with no distresses, except those occasioned by the intense cold, which had been preceded by thunder-storms and torrents of rain. Misfortune, however, now attacked Matonabbee on the tender side of his eight wives, the handsomest of whom eloped in the night, accompanied by another woman. Both having been carried off by force, it was suspected they had fled to the eastward with the plan of rejoining their former husbands. Scarce had the savage polyga- mist recovered from this blow, when he experi- enced a fresh mortification: An Indian of great strength, from whom Matonabbee a short time be- fore had purchased a stout, and therefore valuable wife, insisted on taking her back, unless he instantly surrendered a certain quantity of ammunition, a kettle, some pieces of iron, and other articles. The hardship of this case arose from an extraordinary custom, by which the men are permitted to wrestle •for any woman to whom they are attached, the vic- torious party carrying off the prize. It is for this reason that the greatest emulation prevails in all athletic exercises among the young Indians; and the children are perpetually seen trying their powers in wrestling, under the idea that this is the edu- cation which will chiefly benefit them when they grow up. A weak man seldom long retains a wife158 matonabbee's pride. whose services another wants ; for when the help- mates of an able-bodied savage are too heavily lader with furs or provisions,, he makes no scruple of seizing the spouse of his weaker neighbour, and transferring part of the burden to her back; whilst, if the injured party cannot challenge the aggressor to a wrestling-match, he must not otherwise com- plain. The distress, therefore, of Matonabbee upon this occasion may be easily accounted for, as he was wounded in his pride and in his property, if not in his affections. But a personal contest was out of the question, and he was obliged to purchase his favourite over again, by yielding up all that was de- manded by his antagonist. This affair had nearly proved a serious obstacle to the expedition; for so bitterly did the chief resent the affront, entertaining the highest ideas of his personal consequence, that he had resolved, like a Coriolanus of the New World, to renounce all farther alliance with his countrymen and join the Athabasca Indians, among whom he had formerly resided. But Hearne strenuously op- posed this project, and at last succeeded in dissuad- ing him from it.* Having agreed to proceed, Matonabbee, for the better prosecution of the enterprise, determined to make some new arrangements: He selected his two youngest wives, who were unencumbered with chil- dren, as alone worthy to accompany him, whilst the remainder, with all their luggage and a considerable number: of the men, were commanded to await the return of the party from the Coppermine River. This ehange of plan, however, was not carried through * Hearne's Journey, pp. Ill, 112.THE PARTY CROSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 159 without difficulty. When the hour of separation came, and Matonabbee and Hearne set out in the evening of 31st May, a low murmur of lamentation proceeded from the tents of the women who were left behind, which, running through all the notes of in- creasing grief, at last burst into a loud yell. This continued as long as the party were in sight; nor was it without much angry expostulation that some of them were prevented from following their hus- bands. The Indians, however, regarded all this, which deeply affected their European associate, with indifference, walking forward without casting be- hind them a single look or word of sympathy, and joyfully congratulating themselves on getting rid of the women, dogs, children, and other encumbrances, which added so greatly to the toil of the journey. One article they all carried, although to Hearne it appeared unnecessary, considering the expedition to be pacific.,—this was a target of thin boards two feet broad and about three feet long. On inquir- ing for what purpose these shields were to be used, he discovered that the main consideration which reconciled the Indians to this expedition was the hope of attacking and murdering the Esquimaux who frequented the Coppermine River, between whom and the other Indian tribes there had long existed a deadly enmity. All the arguments em- ployed by Hearne were insufficient to dissuade them from^ these hostile intentions. The party having crossed the arctic circle ar- rived at Cogead Lake, which they found frozen over; so that they traversed its creeks and bays with- out the aid of their canoes. Thence they directed their course due north till they met with a branch160 COPPER INDIANS. of the .Congecathawhachaga River, where some Copper Indians received them with great kindness, and readily sent all their canoes to their assistance, —a piece of courtesy particularly seasonable, as the ice had now broken up. To these Indians Hearne explained the object of his journey, and his guide being personally known to them they treated the party, which consisted of 150 persons, with distin- guished honour;-—a feast was given, the English traveller smoked with them his calumet of peace, and their chiefs expressed the greatest anxiety that a Eu- ropean settlement should be established in the neigh- bourhood of the Coppermine River. They acknow- ledged they had never found the sea at the mouth of the river free from ice; but with singular sim- plicity seemed to consider this a very trifling objec- tion, observing, that the water was always so smooth between the ice and the shore, that even small boats could setil there with great ease; and inferring, that what a canoe could do, a large ship must be sure to accomplish. As Hearne was the first white man they had seen, he was surrounded by numbers, who examined him with the utmost minuteness. The result, however, was satisfactory ; for they at last pronounced him to be a perfect human being, ex- cept in the colour of his hair and eyes: the first they insisted was like the stained hair of a buffalo's tail, and the last, being light, were compared to those of a gull. The whiteness of his skin also was a circumstance on which they demurred a little, ob- serving, that it looked like meat which had been sodden in water till all the blood was extracted. He continued, however, to be viewed with a mixture of curiosity and admiration, and at his toilet was gene- 5VARIATIONS IN THE CLIMATE. 161 rally attended by a body of the Indians,, who, when he used his comb, asked for the hairs which came off. These they carefully wrapped up, saying, f taking care not to cross any of the hills which concealed their approach. It was a miserable circum- stance that these poor creatures had taken up their abode in such ground that their enemies, without being observed, formed an ambuscade not 200 yards distant, and lay for some time watching the mo- tions of the Esquimaux, as if marking their victims. Here the last preparations for the attack were made: The Indians tied up their long black hair in a knot behind, lest it should be blown in their eyes; paint- ed their faces black and red, which gave them a hideous aspect ; deliberately tucked up the sleeves of their jackets close under the armpits, and pulled off their stockings; whilst some, still more eager to render themselves light for running, threw off their jackets, and stood with their weapons in their hands quite naked, except their breech-clothes and shoes* By the time all were ready it was near one o'clock in the morning; when, finding the Esquimaux quiet, they rushed from their concealment. In an instant, roused by the shouts of the savages, the unfortunate wretches, men, women, and children, ran naked out of the tents, and attempted to escape ; but the In- dians had surrounded them on the land side, and as none dared to leap into the river, all were mur- dered in cold blood; whilst Hearne, whom a regard for his personal safety had compelled to accompany the party, stood a short way off rooted to the ground in horror and agony.DREADFUL MASSACRE. 165 " The shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches/' says he, in his striking account of this dreadful episode in savage life, " were truly dis- tressing; and my horror was much increased at see- ing a young girl, about eighteen years of age, killed so near me that when the first spear was struck in- to her side she fell down at my feet and twisted round my legs, so that it was with difficulty that I could disengage myself from her dying grasps. As two Indian men pursued this unfortunate vic- tim, I solicited very hard for her life; but the mur- derers made no reply till they had stuck both their spears through her body and transfixed her to the ground. They then looked me sternly in the face, and began to ridicule me by asking if I wanted an Esquimaux wife, whilst they paid not the smallest regard to the shrieks and agony of the poor wretch, who was turning round their spears like an eel. Indeed, after receiving from them much abusive language on the occasion, I was at length- obliged to desire that they would be more expeditious in de- spatching their victim out of her misery, otherwise I should be obliged out of pity to assist in the friendly office of putting an end to the existence of a fellow- creature who was so cruelly wounded. On this re- quest being made, one of the Indians hastily drew his spear from the place where it was first lodged, and pierced it through her breast near the heart. The love of life, however, even in this most mise- rable state, was so predominant, that though this might be justly called the most merciful act which could be done for the poor creature, it seemed to be unwelcome; for, though much exhausted by pain and loss of blood, she made several efforts to ward166 COPPER-MINES. off the friendly blow. My situation and the terror of my mind at beholding this butchery cannot easily be conceived,, much less described: though I summed up all the fortitude I was master of on the occasion, it was with difficulty that I could refrain from tears; and I am confident that my features must have feel- ingly expressed how sincerely I was affected at the barbarous scene I then witnessed. Even at this hour I cannot reflect on the transactions of that horrid day without shedding tears."* After making an accurate survey of the river till its junction with the sea, Hearne proceeded to one of the copper-mines, which he found scarcely to deserve the name, it being nothing more than a chaotic mass of rocks and gravel, rent by an earth- quake, or some other convulsion, into numerous fis- sures, through one of which flowed a small river. Although the Indians had talked in magnificent terms of this mine, after a search of four hours a solitary piece of ore was all that could be discovered ; and instead of pointing out the hills entirely com- posed of copper, and the quantities of rich ore with which they had affirmed it would be easy to freight a large vessel, they now told a ridiculous story of some insults offered to the goddess of the mine, who in revenge declared that she would sit upon it till she and it sunk together into the earth. In conse- quence of this threat, they next year found her sunk up to the waist, and the quantity of copper much de- creased, whilst the following summer she had entire- ly disappeared, and the whole mine along with her. In reaching the sea, Hearne had accomplished the ■* Hearne's Journey, pp. 154, 155.ATHABASCA LAKE. 167 great object of his journey, and his homeward route did not vary materially from his course to the Arctic Ocean. On 31st July, they arrived at the place where the Indians had left their families, and on 9th August resumed their course to the south- west; travelling with frequent intervals of rest til], on 24th November, they reached the northern shore of the great Athabasca Lake. In this lati- tude^ at this season, the sun's course formed an ex- tremely small segment of a circle above the horizon, scarcely rising half way up the trees; but the bril- liancy of the stars, and the vivid and beautiful light emitted by the aurora borealis, even without the aid of the moon, amply compensated for the want of the sun, so that at midnight Hearne could see to read very small print. In the deep stillness of the night, also, these northern meteors were distinctly heard to make a rushing and crackling noise, like the waving of a large flag in a fresh gale of wind.* According to the information of the natives, the Athabasca Lake is nearly 120 leagues long from east to west, and twenty wide from north to south. It was beautifully studded with islands, covered with tall poplars, birch, and pines, which were plen- tifully stocked with deer, and abounded with pike, trout, and barbie, besides the species known by the Indians under the names of tittameg, methy, and shees. The country through which they had hitherto travelled had been extremely barren and hilly, co- vered with stunted firs and dwarf willows; but it now subsided into a fine plain, occasionally varied Hearne's Journey, p. 224168 EXTRAORDINARY STORY with tall woods, and well stocked with buffalo and moose-deer. The party spent some days with much pleasure in hunting; and as the flesh of the younger buffaloes was delicious,, their exhausted stock of provisions was seasonably supplied. In one of their excursions an incident occurred strikingly characteristic of savage life: The Indians came suddenly on the track of a strange snow-shoe, and following it to a wild part of the country, remote from any human habitation, they discovered a hut, in which a young Indian woman was sitting alone. She had lived for the last eight moons in absolute solitude, and recounted with affecting simplicity the circumstances by which she had been driven from her own people: She belonged, she said, to the tribe of the Dog-ribbed Indians, and in an inroad of the Athabasca nation, in the summer of 1770, had been taken prisoner. The savages, according to their in- variable practice, stole upon the tents in the night, and murdered before her face her father, mother, and husband, whilst she and three other young women were reserved from the slaughter, and made captive. Her child, four or five months old, she contrived to carry with her, concealed among some clothing; but on arriving at the place where the party had left their wives, her precious bundle was examined by the Athabasca women, one of whom tore the infant from its mother, and killed it on the spot. In Europe, an act so inhuman would, in all pro- bability, have been instantly followed by the in- sanity of the parent ; but in North America, though maternal affection is equally intense, the nerves are more sternly strung. So horrid a cruelty, however, determined her, though the man whose property sheOF AN INDIAN WOMAN. 169 had become was kind and careful of her, to take the first opportunity of escaping, with the intention of returning to her own nation ; but the great dis- tance, and the numerous winding rivers and creeks she had to pass, caused her to lose the way, and winter coming on, she had built a hut in this se- cluded spot. When discovered, she was in good health, well fed, and in the opinion of Hearne, one of the finest Indian women he had ever seen. Five or six inches of hoop made into a knife, and the iron shank of an arrow-head which served as an awl, were the only implements she possessed; and with these she made snow-shoes and other useful articles. For subsistence she snared par- tridges, rabbits, and squirrels, and had killed two or three beavers and some porcupines. After the few deer-sinews she had brought with her were ex- pended in making snares and sewing her clothing, she supplied their place with the sinews of rab- bits' legs, which she twisted together with great dexterity. Thus occupied, she not only became re- conciled to her desolate situation, but had found time to amuse herself by manufacturing little pieces of personal ornament. Her clothing was formed of rabbit-skins sewed together; the materials, though rude, being tastefully disposed, so as to make her garb assume a pleasing though desert-bred appear- ance. The singular circumstances under which she was found, her beauty and useful accomplishments, occasioned a contest among the Indians, as to who should have her for a wife; and the matter being decided, she accompanied them, in their journey. On 1st March, they left the level country of the Athabascas, and approached the stony hills bound-170 NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY. ing the territories of the Northern Indians, traversing which they arrived in safety at Prince of Wales' Fort on the 29th of June 1772, having been absent eighteen months and twenty-three days. The journey of Hearne must be regarded as form- ing an important era in the geography of America. For some time it had been supposed that this vast continent extended in an almost unbroken mass towards the Pole ; and we find it thus depicted in the maps of that period. The circumstance of Hearne having reached the shore of the great Arc- tic Ocean at once demonstrated the fallacy of all such ideas. It threw a new and clear light upon the structure of this portion of the globe, and resting upon the results thus distinctly ascertained, the hu- man mind, indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, started forward in a career of still more enlarged and interesting discovery.45" Whilst the Hudson's Bay Company, by the mission of Mr Hearne, vindicated their character from the charge of indifference to the cause of geo- graphical discovery, another institution had arisen under the title of the North-West Fur Company, which, though it did not rest on a royal charter, and had experienced in its earliest exertions many se- vere reverses, at last arrived, by the intelligence and perseverance of its partners and servants, at a de- gree of prosperity which surpassed the chartered companies of France and England. In the count- ing-house of Mr Gregory, a partner of this company, was bred a native of Inverness, named Alexander Mackenzie. In conducting the practical details of * Murray's Discoveries and Travels in North America, vol. ii. p. 149.SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. 171 the fur-trade, he had been settled at an early period of life in the country to the north-west of Lake Superior, and became animated with the ambition of penetrating across the continent: For this under- taking he was eminently qualified; possessing an in- quisitive and enterprising mind with a strong frame of body, and combining the fervid and excursive ge- nius which has been said to characterize the Scots in general, with that more cautious and enduring tem- perament which belongs to the northern Highlander. On 3d June 1789, Mackenzie set out from Fort Chepewyan, at the head of the Athabasca Lake, a station nearly central between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific. He had resided here for eight years, and was familiar with the difficulties of the journey as well as aware of the most likely methods of surmounting them. He took with him four canoes. In the first he embarked with a German and four Canadians, two of the latter being accompanied by their wives. A Northern Indian, called the English Chief, who had been a follower of Matonabbee the guide of Mr Hearne, occupied the second with his two wives. The third was paddled by two stout young Indians, who acted in the double capacity of hunters and in- terpreters ; whilst the fourth was laden with pro- visions, clothing, ammunition, and various articles intended as presents for the Indians. This last canoe was committed to the charge of Mr le Roux, one of the company's clerks. On 4th June, the party reached the Slave River, which connects the Athabasca and Slave Lakes, in a course of about 170 miles; and on the 9th of the same month they arrived at the Slave Lake, without experiencing any other inconveniences than172 Mackenzie's first journey. those arising from the attacks of the mosquitoes during the heat of the day/ and the extreme cold in the morning and evening. In the river were frequent rapids, which obliged them to land and transport their canoes and luggage over the car- rying-placeS;—a toilsome process, but attended with no danger, as the path had been cleared by the Indians trading with the company. The banks were covered with various kinds of trees; but, owing to its inferior level and its rich black soil, the western side was more thickly wooded than the other. On the eastern bank, composed of a yellow clay mixed with gravel, the trees were smaller, but in full leaf, though the ground was not thawed above fourteen inches in depth. At a little distance from the river were extensive plains fre- quented by herds of buffaloes; the woods bordering its sides were tenanted by moose and rein deer; and numerous colonies of beavers built their ha- bitations on the small streams which fed the lake. This large body of water was covered with ice, which had not given way except in a small strip round the shore, where the depth, nowhere exceeding three feet, was scarcely sufficient to float the canoes. Though now the 9th of June, there was every ap- pearance that the ice would detain the expedition for a considerable time; and it was thought neces- sary to pitch their tents. The nets were now set; the Indians went off in different directions to hunt ; the women gathered berries of various sorts, which abounded in the neighbouring woods; and their larder was soon supplied with plenty of geese, ducks, and beaver, excellent trout, carp, and white fish, and some dozens of swan and duck eggs, which wereRED KNIFE INDIANS. 173 picked up in an adjacent island. Their stay, there- fore, was far from unpleasant, combining the novelty of a residence in a strange country with the excita- tion and variety of a hunter's life; and on the 15th, after a rest of six days, as the ice had given way a little, they resumed their journey. Since leaving Athabasca, the twilight had been so bright, owing to the short disappearance of the sun below the horizon, that even at midnight not a star was to be seen ; but as they glided along the lake they were greeted by the moon, which rose beautifully above the woods, with her lower horn in a state of eclipse. The obscuration continued for about six minutes in a cloudless sky.* Coasting along the shore, they came to a lodge of Red Knife Indians, so denominated from their using copper knives. One of these men engaged to conduct them to the mouth of the river which was the object of their search; but such were the impediments en^ countered from drift-ice, contrary winds, and the ignorance of the guide, whom the English Chief threatened to murder for engaging in a service for which he was unfit, that it was the 29th of the month before they embarked upon the river since known by the name of the traveller who now first ascended it. On leaving the lake, the Mac- kenzie River was found to run to the westward^ becoming gradually narrower for twenty-four miles, till it diminished into a stream not more than half a mile wide, with a strong current, and a depth of three and a half fathoms, A stiff breeze from the eastward now drove them on at a great rate, and * Mackenzie's Travels, p. 11.174 MACKENZIE RIVER. after a rapid run of ten miles, the channel gradu- ally widened till it assumed the appearance of a small lake, which proved to be the utmost limit known to their guide. They now came in sight of the chain of the Horn Mountains, bearing north-west, and had some difficulty in recovering the channel of the river. Having resumed their course on 1st July, they met with no interruption for five days, when they observed several smokes on the northern bank. On landing they discovered an encampment of five fa- milies of Slave and Dog-ribbed Indians, who on the first appearance of the party fled into the woods in consternation. The entreaties of the English Chief, whose language they understood, at length dissipated their apprehensions ; and the distribution of a few beads, rings, and knives, with a supply of grog, re- conciled them entirely to the strangers. Their ac- count of the difficulties in the farther navigation of the river was not a little appalling: They asserted that it would require several winters to reach the sea, and that old age would inevitably overtake the party before their return. Monsters of horrid shapes and malignant disposition were represented as hav- ing their abodes in the rocky caves on the banks, ready to devour the presumptuous traveller who ap- proached; and the: more substantial impediment of two impassable falls was said to exist about thirty days' march from where they then were. Though such tales were treated with contempt by Mackenzie, the Indians, already tired of the voyage, drank them in with willing ears, and they could scarcely be persuaded to pursue their jour- ney. On consenting to proceed, one of the Dog-SLAVE AND DOG-RIBBED INDIANS. 175 ribbed Indians was induced, by the present of a kettle, an axe, and some other articles, to accom- pany them as a guide; but when the time of em- barkation arrived, his love of home came upon him with such violence, that he used every artifice to escape from his agreement, and at last was ac- tually forced on board. Previous to his departure, a singular ceremony took place: With great solem- nity he cut off a lock of his hair, and dividing it into three parts, fastened one to the upper part of his wife's head, blowing on it thrice with the ut- most violence, and uttering certain words as a charm. The other two locks he fixed with the same cere- monies to the heads of his two children. These Indians were in general a meagre, ugly, and ill- favoured race, particularly ill-made in the legs. Some of them wore their hair very long, others al- lowed a tress to fall behind/cutting the rest short round their ears. A few old men had beards, whilst the young and middle-aged appeared to have pulled out every hair on their chin. Each cheek was adorned by two double lines tattooed from the ear to the nose, of which the gristle was perforated so as to admit a goose-quill or a small piece of wood. Their clothing consisted of dressed deer-skins. For winter wear these were prepared with the fur, and the shirts made of them decorated with a neat em- broidery, composed of porcupine-quills and the hair of the moose-deer, coloured red, black, yellow, or white. Their shirts reached to the mid-thigh, whilst their upper garments covered the whole body, having a fringe round the bottom. Their leggins, which were embroidered round the ankle and sewed to their shoes, reached to mid-thigh. The dress of the wo-176 GREAT BEAR LAKE RIVER. men was nearly the same as that of the men. They wore gorgets of horn or wood,, and had bracelets of the same materials. On their head was placed a fillet or bandeau, formed of strips of leather, em- broidered richly with porcupine-quills, and stuck round with bear's claws or talons of wild fowl. Their belts and garters were neatly constructed of the sinews of wild animals and porcupine-quills. From these belts descended a long fringe composed of strings of leather, and worked round with hair of various co- lours, and their mittens hung from their neck in a position convenient for the reception of their hands.* Their arms and weapons for the chase were bows and arrows, spears, daggers, and a large club form- ed of the rein-deer horn, called a pogamagan. The bows were about five or six feet long, with strings of sinews; and flint, iron, or copper, supplied barbs to the arrows. Their spears, nearly six feet long, were pointed with bone, whilst their stone-axes were fastened with cords of green skin to a wooden handle. Their canoes were light, and so small as to carry only one person. On 5th July, the party re-embarked. Continuing their course west-south-west, they passed the Great Bear Lake River; and steering through numerous islands, came in sight of a ridge of snowy moun- tains., frequented, according to their guide, by herds of bears and small white buffaloes. The banks of the river appeared to be pretty thickly peopled ; and though at first the natives uniformly attempted to escape, the offer of presents generally brought them back, and procured a seasonable supply of * Mackenzie's Travels,, p. 35—37. 7AMERICAN MUSIC. 177 hares; partridges,, fish, or rein-deer. The same sto- ries of spirits or manitous which haunted the stream, and of fearful rapids that would dash the canoes to pieces, were repeated by these tribes; and the guide, upon whom such representations had a powerful ef- fect, decamped in the night during a storm of thun- der and lightning. His place, however, was soon sup- plied; and, after a short sail, they approached an en- campment of Indians, whose brawny figures, healthy appearance, and great cleanliness, showed them to be a superior race to those lately passed.' From them Mackenzie learnt that he must sleep ten nights be- fore arriving at the sea, and in three nights would meet the Esquimaux, with whom they had been formerly at war, but were now in a state of peace. One of these people, whose language was most in- telligible to the interpreter, agreed to accompany the party; but became dreadfully alarmed when some of the men discharged their fowling-pieces. It was evident none of this race had ever heard the report of fire-arms. To reconcile him to his de- parture, his two brothers followed in their canoes, and diverted him with native songs, and other airs said to be imitations of those of the Esquimaux. The triumph of music was never more strikingly exhibited ; from deep dejection the Indian at once passed into a state of the highest and most ludicrous excitement, keeping time to the songs by a variety of grotesque gesticulations, performed with such unceas- ing rapidity and so little regard to the slenderness of the bark, which quivered under his weight, that they expected every moment to see it upset. In one of his paroxysms, shooting his canoe alongside of Mackenzie's, he leaped into it, and commenced an L178 QUARRELLED, INDIANS. Esquimaux dance. At last he was restored to some degree of composure, which became complete on their passing a hill, where he informed them that three winters ago the Esquimaux had slain his grandfather.* Mackenzie soon after reached the tents of a tribe named Deguthee-Dinees, or Quarrellers, who justi- fied their name by the menacing gestures with which they received the strangers' approach. A few presents, however, reconciled them to the intrusion; and they communicated the gratifying intelligence that the distance overland to the sea, either by an easterly or westerly route, was inconsiderable. The party now pushed on with renewed hopes; and the river soon after separating into several streams, they chose the middle and largest, which ran north. This shortly brought in sight a range of snowy mountains, stretch- ing far to the northward; and, by an observation, Mackenzie found the latitude to be 67° 47^ which convinced him that the waters on which their frail barks were then gliding must flow into the great Hyperborean Ocean.f At this moment, when with- in a few days of accomplishing the great object of their journey, the Indians sunk into a fit of despon- dency, and hesitated to proceed. The guide plead- ed his ignorance of the country, as he had never be- fore penetrated to the shores of the Benahulla Toe, or White Man's Lake. Mackenzie assured them he would return if they did not reach it in seven days, and prevailed on them to continue their course. It was now the 11th of July, and the sun at mid- night was still considerably above the horizon, whilst * Mackenzie's Travels, p. 51. •f Ibid. p. 54.ESQUIMAUX HOUSES. 179 every thing denoted the proximity of the sea. On landing at a deserted encampment,, still marked by the ashes of some Esquimaux fires, they observed se- veral pieces of whalebone, and a place where train-oil had been spilt. Soon after they came to three houses recently left by the natives. The ground-plot of these habitations was oval, about fifteen feet long, ten feet wide in the middle, and eight feet at either end ; the whole was dug about twelve inches below the sur- face, one half being covered with willow-branches, and probably forming the bed of the whole family. In the middle of the other half, a space four feet wide, which had been hollowed to the depth of twelve inches, was the only spot where a grown person could stand upright. One side of it was covered with willow-branches, and the other formed the hearth. The door, in one end of the house, was about two feet and a half high by two feet wide, and was reached through a covered way about five feet long ; so that the only access to this curious dwelling was by creeping on all fours. On the top was an ori- fice about eighteen inches square, which served the triple purpose of a window, a chimney, and an oc- casional door. The under-ground part of the floor was lined with split wood, whilst cross pieces of timber, laid on six or eight upright stakes, supported an oblong square roof; the whole being formed of drift-wood, and covered with branches and dry grass, over which was spread earth a foot thick. On either side of these houses were a few square holes, about two feet deep, covered with split wood and earth, ex- cepting one small place in the middle, which appear- ed to be contrived for the preservation of the winter stock of provisions. In and about the houses lay180 DISAPPEARANCE OF VEGETATION. sledge-runners, and bones, pieces of whalebone, and poplar-bark cut in circles, used evidently to buoy the nets; and before each habitation a great number of stumps of trees were driven into the ground, upon which its late possessors had probably hung their nets and fish to dry in the sun. The signs of vegetation were by this time scarcely perceptible; the trees had dwindled into a few dwarf willows, not more than three feet high; and though the foot-marks on the sandy beach of some of the islands showed that the natives had recently been there, all attempts to obtain a sight of them proved unavailing. The discontent of the guide and of the Indian hunters was now renewed; but their asser- tion, that on the morrow they were to reach a large lake in which the Esquimaux killed a huge fish, and whose shores were inhabited by white bears, con- vinced Mackenzie that this description referred to the Arctic Sea, with its mighty denizen the whale. He accordingly pressed forward with fresh ardour, and the canoes were soon carried by the current to the entrance of the lake, which, from all the accom- panying circumstances, appears to have been an arm of the Arctic Ocean. It was quite open to the westward, and by an observation the latitude was found to be 69°. From the spot where this survey was taken they now continued their course to the westernmost point of a high island, which they reached after a run of fifteen miles, and around it the utmost depth of water was only five feet. The lake appeared to be covered with ice for about two leagues' distance, no land was seen ahead, and it was found impossible to proceed farther. Happily, when they had thus reached the farthest point ofMACKENZIE REACHES THE ARCTIC SEA. 181 their progress northward, and were about to return in great disappointment, two circumstances occurred which rendered it certain that they had penetrated to the sea: The first was the appearance of many large floating substances in the water, believed at first to be masses of ice, which, on being approached, turned out to be whales; and the second, the rise and fall of the tide, observed both at the eastern and western end of the island, which they named Whale Island.* Hav- ing in company with the English Chief ascended to its highest ground, Mackenzie saw the solid ice ex- tending to the eastward; and to the west, as far as the eye could reach, they dimly discerned a chain of mountains apparently about twenty leagues' distance stretching to the northward. Many islands were seen to the eastward j but though they came to a grave, on which lay a bow, a paddle, and a spear, they met no living human beings in these arctic solitudes. The red-fox and the rein-deer, flocks of beautiful plovers, some venerable white owls, and several large white gulls, were the only natives. Previous to setting out on their return, a post was erected close to the tents, upon which the traveller engraved the latitude of the place, his own name, the number of persons by whom he was accompanied, and the time they had spent on the island. It was now the 16th of July, and they re-embark- ed on their homeward voyage. On the 21st the sun, which for some time had never set, descended below the horizon, and the same day eleven of the natives joined them. They represented their tribe as numerous, and perpetually at war with the Esqui- * Mackenzie, pp. 64, 65.182 Mackenzie's return. maux, who had broken a treaty into which they had inveigled the Indians, and butchered many of them. Occasionally a strong body ascended the river in large canoes, in search of flints to point their spears and arrows. At present they were on the banks of a lake to the eastward, hunting rein-deer, and would soon begin to catch big fish (whales) for their winter stock. They had been informed that the same Esquimaux, eight or ten winters ago, saw to the westward, on White Man's Lake, several large canoes full of white men, who gave iron in exchange for leather. On landing at a lodge of natives farther down the river, the English Chief qbtained some other particulars from a Dog-ribbed Indian, who had been driven by some private quar- rel from his own nation, and lived among the Hare Indians. According to his information, there was a much larger river to the south-west of the mountains, which fell into White Man's Lake. The people on its banks were a gigantic and wicked race, who could kill common men with their eyes, and sailed in huge canoes. There was, he added, no known communication by water with this great ri- ver ; but those who had seen it went over the moun- tains, and it flowed towards the mid-day sun. This description proceeded, he acknowledged, not from personal observation, but was taken from the report of others who inhabited the opposite moun- tains. Mackenzie having fallen in with one of these strangers, by a bribe of some beads, prevailed upon him to delineate the circumjacent country and the course of the unknown river upon the sand. The map proved a very rude production. He traced out a long point of land between the rivers without payingNEW TRIBE OF INDIANS. 183 the least attention to their courses. This isthmus he represented as running into the great lake, at the extremity of which, as he had been told by Indians of other nations, there was built a Benahulla Couin, or White Man's Fort. " This/' says Mackenzie, First and Second Expeditions of Franklin—Voyage of Captain Beechey. The discoveries of Hearne and Mackenzie esta- blished the great fact that there is a northern coast in America, washed by the Arctic Ocean, which forms, in all probability, its continuous boundary; and they demonstrated the practicability of reach- ing this limit by passing over the vast plains which stretch northward from Canada and Hudson's Bay. The voyages of Captain Parry, also, which have been already detailed/ fully corroborated this opi- nion ; and it appeared evident that another expe- dition, properly conducted, might reach this shore, and more fully examine its whole extent. Such an expedition, accordingly, sailed from England on the 23d of May 1820, its command being intrusted to Lieutenant, now Sir John Franklin, assisted by Dr Richardson, an able mineralogist and natural historian. During the first portion of their journey, they followed the chain of the great lakes, instead of the more eastern track pursued by Hearne, and having descended the Coppermine River, arrived * Polar Seas and Regions, 3d edit. p. 263—323.VOYAGE ALONG THE ARCTIC SHORES. 209 on 21st July at the shore of the Arctic Ocean, where they commenced their career of discovery. Impor- tant as were the particulars of their survey, when considered in relation to the furtherance of geo- graphical science, a minute detail is here unneces- sary, and we shall attempt only a general sketch. Paddling along the coast to the eastward, on the inside of a crowded range of islands, they encamped on shore after a run of thirty-seven miles, in which they experienced little interruption, and saw only a small iceberg in the distance, though that beauti- ful luminous effulgence emitted from the congregat- ed ices, and distinguished by the name of the ice- blink, was distinctly visible to the northward. The coast was found of moderate height, easy of access, and covered with vegetation; but the islands were rocky and barren, presenting high cliffs of a colum- nar structure. In continuing their voyage, the dan- gers which beset a navigator in these dreadful polar solitudes thickened gloomily around them : The coast became broken and steril, and at length rose into a high and rugged promontory, against which some large masses of ice had drifted, threatening de- struction to their slender canoes. In attempting to round this cape the wind rose, an awful gloom involved the sky, and the thunder burst over their heads, compelling them to encamp till the storm subsided. They then, at the imminent risk of hav- ing the canoes crushed by the floating ice, doubled the dreary promontory, which they denominated Cape Barrow, and entered Detention Harbour, where they landed. Around them the land consisted of mountains of granite, rising abruptly from the wa- ter's edge, destitute of vegetation, and attaining an N210 CAPE KATER AND BANKES* PENINSULA. elevation of 1400 or 1500 feet; seals and small deer were the only animals seen, and the former were so shy that all attempts to approach within shot were unsuccessful. With the deer the hunters were more fortunate; but these were not numerous; and whilst the ice closed gradually around them, and their little stock of provisions, consisting of pemmican and cured beef, every day diminished, it was im- possible not to regard their situation with uneasi- ness. Rounding Cape Kater, they entered Arctic Sound, and sent a party to explore a river upon the banks of which they expected to find an Esquimaux encampment. All, however, was silent, desolate, and deserted: even these hardy natives, bred amidst the polar ices, had removed from so barren a spot, and the hunters returned with two small deer and a brown bear; the latter animal so lean and sickly looking that the men. declined eating it ; but the offi- cers boiled its paws and found them excellent. Proceeding along the eastern shore of Arctic Sound, to which they gave the name of Bankes' Peninsula, the expedition made its painful way along a coast indented by bays, and in many places studded with islands, till on 10th August they reached the open sea; and sailing, as they imagined, between the continent and a large island, found to their deep disappointment that, instead of an open channel, they were in the centre of a vast bay: The state of the expedition now called for the most serious consideration upon the part of their com- mander. So much time had already been spent in exploring the sounds and inlets, that all hope of reaching Repulse Bay was vain; both canoes had sustained material injury ; the fuel was expend-TERMINATION OF THE VOYAGE. 211 ed ; their provisions were sufficient only for three days; the appearances of the setting in of the arctic winter were too unequivocal to be mistaken; the deer, which had hitherto supplied them with fresh meat, would it was well known soon disappear; the geese and other aquatic birds were already seen winging their way to the southward; while the men, who had up to this moment displayed the utmost courage, began to look disheartened, and to enter- tain serious apprehensions for their safety. Under these circumstances Franklin, with the concur- rence of his officers, determined not to endanger the lives of his people by a farther advance; and, after spending four days in a minute survey of the bay, it was resolved to return by Hood's River to Fort Enterprise.. Franklin's researches, as far as prosecuted at this time, favoured the opinion of those who contended for the practicability of a north-west passage. It appeared probable that the coast ran east and west in the latitude assigned to Macken- zie's River, and little doubt could, in his opinion, be entertained regarding the existence of a conti- nued sea in that direction. The portion over which they passed was navigable for vessels of any size ; and the ice met with after quitting Detention Har- bour would not have arrested a strong boat, whilst the chain of islands afforded shelter from all heavy seas, and there were good harbours at convenient distances. Having with much severe privation completed their course, from Point Turnagain in Melville Bay to the entrance of Hood's River, they ascended as high as the first rapid and encamped, ter- minating here their voyage on the Arctic Sea, during which they had gone over 650 geographical miles.212 LAND JOURNEY. On the prospect of commencing their land jour- ney the Canadians could not conceal their satisfac- tion; and the evening previous to their departure was passed in talking over their past adventures, and congratulating each other in having at length turned their hacks upon the sea,—little anticipating that the most painful and hazardous portion of the expedition was yet to come. Before setting off, an assortment of iron materials, beads, looking-glasses, and other articles, was put up in a conspicuous situation for the Esquimaux, and the English union was planted on the loftiest sand-hill, where it might "be seen by any ships passing in the offing. Here also was deposited in a tin box, a letter containing an outline of the proceedings of the expedition, the lati- tude and longitude of the principal places, and the course intended to be pursued towards Slave Lake. They now proceeded up the river in their canoes, and though upon a short allowance of provisions, the produce of their nets and fowling-pieces fur- nished for a few days enough to ward off absolute want, but they were often on the very brink of it. Their progress was much interrupted by shoals and rapids, and one evening they encamped at the lower end of. a narrow chasm, the walls of which were,upwards of 200.feet high, and in some places only a few yards apart. Into this the river preci- pitates itself, forming two magnificent cascades, to which they gave the name of Wilberforce Falls. On taking a survey of its farther course from a neigh- bouring hill, it was discovered to be so rapid and shallow, that all progress in the large canoes seemed impossible. Two smaller boats were therefore con- structed ; and on 1st September, they set off with theEXTREME COLD. 213 intention of proceeding in as direct a line as possible to the part of Point Lake opposite their spring en- campment,—a distance which appeared compara- tively trifling, being only 149 miles. Their luggage consisted of ammunition, nets, hatchets, ice-chisels, astronomical instruments, clothing-blankets, three kettles, and the two canoes, each so light as to be carried easily by a single man. But disaster attack- ed them in their very first stage. A storm of snow came on accompanied by a high wind, against which it was difficult to carry the canoes, that were da- maged by the falls of those who bore them. The ground was covered by small stones, and much pain was endured by the carriers, whose soft moose-skin- shoes were soon cut through. The cold was intense; and on encamping they looked in vain for wood; a fire of moss was all they could procure, which served them to cook their supper, but gave so little heat that they were glad to creep under their blankets.* Having ascended next morning one of the highest hills, they ascertained that the river took a westerly course, and Franklin, thinking that to follow it far- ther would lead to a more tedious journey than their exhausted strength could endure, determined to quit its banks and make directly for Point Lake. Emerg- ing, therefore, from the valley, they crossed a barren country, varied only by marshy levels and small lakes. The weather was fine, but unfortunately no berry-bearing plants were found, the surface being covered in the more humid spots with a few grasses, and in other places with some gray melan- choly lichens. On encamping, the last piece of * Franklin's Journey, p. 399.214 failure of provisions. pemmican, or pounded flesh, was distributed, with a little arrow-root, for supper. The evening was warm; but dark clouds overspread the sky, and they experienced those sudden alternations of climate which occur in the polar latitudes at this season. At midnight it rained in torrents; but towards morning a snow-storm arose accompanied by a vio- lent gale. During the whole day the storm coxitis nued, and not having the comfort of a fire the men remained in bed, but the tents were frozen; around them the snow had drifted to the depth of three feet, and even within lay several inches thick on their blankets. Though the storm had not abated any longer delay was impossible, for they knew every hour would increase the intensity of an arctic winter; and though faint from fasting, and with their clothes stiffened by frost, it was absolutely ne- cessary to push forward. They suffered much in packing the frozen tents and bedclothes, and could hardly keep their hands out of their fur mittens. On attempting to move, Franklin was seized with a fainting fit, occasioned by hunger and exhaustion, and on recovering refused to eat a morsel of portable soup, which was immediately prepared for him, as it had to be drawn from the only remaining meal of the party. The people, however, kindly crowded round, and overcame his reluctance. The effect of eating was his rapid recovery; and the expedition moved on. , Disaster now crowded on disaster. The wind rose so, high, that those who carried the canoes were frequently blown down, and one of the boats was sq much shattered as to be rendered unserviceable. The ground was covered with snow; and though thecracroft's river. 215 swamps were frozen, yet the ice was often not suf- ficiently strong ; so that they plunged in knee- deep. A fire, however, was made of the bark and timbers of the broken canoe; and after having fasted three days, their last meal of portable soup and ar- row-root was cooked. Each man's allowance at this melancholy dinner was exceedingly scanty; but it allayed the pangs of hunger, and encouraged them to press forward at a quicker rate. They had now reached a more hilly country, strewed with large stones, and covered with gray lichen, well known to the Canadians by its name tripe de roche. In cases of extremity, it is boiled and eaten; but its taste is nauseous, its quality purgative, and it sometimes produces an intolerable griping and loathing. The party not being aware of this, gathered a consider- able quantity. A few partridges also had been shot; and at night some willows were dug up from under the snow, with which they lighted a fire and cooked their supper. Next day they came to Cracroft's River, flowing to the westward over a channel of large stones, that rendered it impossible to cross in the canoe. No al- ternative was left but to attempt a precarious pass- age over some rocks at a rapid; and in effecting this some of the men losing their balance slipt into the water* They were instantly rescued by their com- panions ; but so intense was the frost, that their drenched clothes became caked with ice, and they suffered much during the remainder of the day's march. The hunters had fallen in with some par- tridges, which they shot, and they found enough of roots to make a fire; so that their supper, though scanty, was comparatively comfortable. Next morn-216 CONGECATHAWHACHAGA. ing they pushed forward with ardour,, and pass- ed the river Congecathawhachaga of Mr Hearne. The country which lay before them was hilly^ and covered with snow to a great depth. The sides of the hills were traversed by sharp angular rocks, where the drifted snow filling up the interstices, pre- sented a smooth but fallacious surface, which often gave way and precipitated them into the chasms with their heavy loads. In this painful and ardu- ous manner they struggled forward several days, feeding on the tripe de roche, which was so frozen to the rocks, that their hands were benumbed before a meal could be collected, and so destitute of nutri- tive juices, that it allayed hunger only for a very short time. At length reaching the summit of a hill, they, to their great delight, beheld a herd of musk- oxen feeding in the valley below; an instant halt was made, the best hunters were called out, and whilst they proceeded with extreme caution in a circuitous route, their companions watched their proceedings with intense anxiety. When near enough to open their fire, the report reverberated through the hills, and one of the largest cows was seen to fall. " This success," says Franklin, in that simple and beautiful account of his journey which any change of language would only weaken, "infused spirit into our starving party. The contents of its stomach were devoured upon the spot; and the raw intestines, which were next attacked, were pronounced by the most delicate of the party to be excellent. A few willows, whose tops were seen peeping through the snow in the bot- tom of the valley, were qui ckly grubbed, the tents pitched, and supper cooked and devoured with avi- dity, It was the sixth day since we had had a goodPROVIDENTIAL SUPPLY. 217 meal. I do not think that we witnessed, through the course of our journey, a more striking proof of the wise dispensation of the Almighty, and of the weakness of our own judgment, than on this day. We had considered the dense fog which prevailed throughout the morning as almost the greatest in- convenience which could have befallen us, since it rendered the air extremely cold, and prevented us from distinguishing any distant object towards which our course could be directed. Yet this very dark- ness enabled the party to get to the top of the hill, which bounded the valley wherein the musk oxen were grazing, without being perceived. Had the herd discovered us and taken alarm, our hunters, in their present state of debility, would in all proba^ bility have failed in approaching them."* On the following day a strong southerly wind blow- ing with a snow-drift, they took a day's rest, and as only enough remained of the musk ox to serve for two days, they contented themselves with a single meal. Next morning, though the gale had not diminished, they pushed forward, and notwithstanding their rest and recent supply of animal food, the whole party felt greater weakness than they had hitherto experienced. The weather was hazy, but after an hour's march the sky cleared, and they found themselves on the borders of a lake, of which they could not discern the termination in either direction. In these circum- stances they travelled along its banks to the west- ward, in search of a crossing-place. Credit, one of the Canadians, left the party in hopes of falling in with deer, but did not return; and on encamping * Franklin's Journey, vol. iv. p. 13, small edition of 1829.218 SUFFERINGS FROM FAMINE. in the evening, hungry and fatigued, they had to divide for supper a single partridge and some tripe de roche. This weed from the first had been un- palatable, but now became insupportably nauseous, and began inmany to produce severe pains and bowel- complaints, especially in Mr Hood, one of the young officers attached to the expedition. This solitary par- tridge was the last morsel of animal food that remain- ed ; and they turned with deep anxiety to the hope of catching some fish in the lake, but discovered that the persons intrusted with them had improvidently thrown away three of the nets and burnt the floats on leaving Hood's River. Things now began to look very gloomy; and as the men were daily getting weaker, it was judged expedient to lighten their burdens of every thing except ammunition, clothing, and the in- struments necessary to guide them on their way. The dipping-needle, the azimuth compass, the magnet, a large thermometer, and the few books they carried, were therefore deposited at this encampment, after they had torn out from these last the tables neces- sary for working the latitude and longitude. Re- wards also were promised by Franklin to such of the party as should kill any animals, and in the morn- ing they prepared to go forward. At this momenta fine trait of disinterestedness occurred: As the officers assembled round a small fire, enduring an intense degree of hunger which they had no means of satisfying, Perrault, one of the Canadians, presented each of them with a piece of meat out of a little store which he had saved from his allowance. ec Ah, que nous sommes maigres I" said the French Canadians; but it is probable that few of them would have presented so gaunt and attenuated an appearance as the brave and excellent man who hadACCUMULATED SUFFERINGS. 227 thus nearly fallen a sacrifice to his humanity, for it was discovered about this time that the hunters were in the practice of withholding the game which they shot, and devouring it in secret.* Soon after this the party were joined by Mr Back, who had traced the lake about fifteen miles farther up without discovering any place where it was possible to get across ; and towards evening Credit, who had been out hunting, returned without any game of his own killing; but brought the antlers and back- bone of a deer shot during the summer. These re- lics had been already picked clean by the wolves and birds of prey, but the marrow remained in the spine; and though completely putrid, and so acrid as to excoriate the lips, it was not the less accept- able. The bones were rendered friable by burning, and the whole eagerly devoured. St Germain, one of the voyagers, now suggested that a canoe might be niade of the painted canvass used to wrap up the bedding, and offered to construct it upon a frame- work of willows. For this purpose he and Adam removed to a clump of willows, whilst another party proceeded to the spot where they had en- camped on the 25th, to collect pitch amongst the small pines to pay over the seams. A snow* storm at this moment came on, and the sufferings of the men hourly increasing, a deep gloom settled upon their spirits. Mr Hood was by this time reduced to a perfect shadow; Mr Back requir- ed the support of a stick; Dr Richardson was lame; and Franklin so feeble, that, after a struggle of three hours, he found himself utterly unable to reach the spot where St Germain was at work, a * Franklin's Journey, pp. 423, 424.m THE RIVER CROSSED. distance of only three quarters of a mile,, and re- turned completely exhausted. The Canadian voy- agers had now fallen into a state of despondency which bordered on despair,, and, indifferent to their fate, refused to make the slightest exertion. The of- ficers were unable to undergo the labour of gathering the tripe de roche, and Samandre, the cook, sullenly declined continuing his labours. At this miserable crisis the conduct of John Hepburn, an English sailor, was especially admirable, presenting a striking con- trast to the gloomy selfishness of the Canadians. His firm reliance on the watchful goodness of God, and a cheerful resignation to his will, never for a moment forsook him; and, animated by this bless- ed principle, his strength appeared to be preserved the means of saving the party. He collected the tripe de roche for the officers' mess, cooked and served it out, and showed the most indefatigable zeal in his efforts to alleviate their sufferings. A gleam of hope at length arose, when St Germain completed the canoe. It was impossible not to feel that their last chance of escape seemed to hang upon this little bark;—would it prove sufficient for its purpose? or, constructed of such wretched materials^ would it not at once sink to the bottom ? Amid this conflict of contending emotions it was launched on the river, and every heart bounded with exultation when it floated and St Germain transported himself to the opposite side. It was drawn back, and, one by one, the whole party were ferried over, though, from the leaky state of the little bark, their gar- ments and bedding were completely drenched. Franklin immediately despatched Mr Back and three men to push on to Fort Enterprise in searchSLOW PROGRESS, 229 of the Indians, whilst he himself followed with the rest. Nothing could exceed the joy of the Canadian voyagers at this unlooked-for deliverance. Their spirits rose from the deepest despondency into tu- multuous exultation. They shook the officers by the hand, cried out that their worst difficulties were at an end, and expressed a confident hope of being able to reach Fort Enterprise in the course of a few days, —a boisterous and sudden confidence, to which the silent gratitude and quiet resolution of the pious Hepburn presented a striking contrast. Their tents and bedclothes were so much frozen> and the men, who had kindled a small fire, so weary, that it was eight in the morning before the bundles were packed, and the party set forward. They tra- velled in single files, each at a small distance from his neighbour. Mr Hood, who was now nearly exhausted, was obliged to walk at a gentle pace in the rear, Dr Richardson kindly keeping beside him ; whilst Franklin led the foremost men, that he might make them halt occasionally till the strag- glers came up. Credit^ hitherto one of their most active hunters, became lamentably weak from the effects of tripe de roche on his constitution, and Vail- lant, from the same cause, was getting daily more emaciated. They only advanced six miles during the day, and at night satisfied the cravings of hun- ger by a small quantity of tripe de roche mixed up with some scraps of roasted leather. During the night the wind increased to a strong gale, which continuing next day, besides being piercingly cold, filled the atmosphere with a thick snow-drift. Hav- ing boiled and eaten the remains of their old shoes.230 TWO MEN LEFT IN THE SNOW. and every shred of leather which could be picked up, they set forward at nine over bleak hills sepa- rated by equally barren valleys. In this manner they journeyed till noon, not without much straggling and frequent halts, at which time Samandre came up with the melancholy news that Credit and Vaillant had dropt down and were utterly unable to proceed. Dr Richardson went back, and discovering Vaillant about a mile and a half in the i*ear, assured him that a fire was kindled a little way on, and that he would recover if he could but reach it ; the poor fellow struggled up on his feet, and feebly tried to advance, but fell down every step in the deep snow. Leaving him, Dr Rich- ardson retraced his steps about a mile farther in a fruitless search for Credit. In returning he passed Vaillant, who had fallen down, utterly unable to renew his efforts to rejoin the party. Belanger went back to carry his burden and assist him to the fire; but the cold had produced such a numbness that he could not speak or make the slightest exertion. The stoutest of the party were now implored to make a last effort to transport him to the fire, but declared themselves utterly unable for the task. They eager- ly requested leave to throw down their loads, and proceed with the utmost speed to Fort Enterprise,— a scheme projected in the despair of the moment, and which must have brought destruction upon the whole. Matters had now reached a dreadful crisis; it was necessary/to come to an immediate decision regarding their ultimate measures, and a plan pro- posed by Mr Hood and Dr Richardson was adopted. These gentlemen consented to remain with a single attendant at the first spot where there were sufficientRICHARDSON AND HOOD REMAIN. 231 firewood and tripe de roche for ten days' consump- tion, whilst Franklin and the rest were to proceed with all expedition to Fort Enterprise, and send immediate assistance. This scheme promised to re- lieve them of a considerable portion of their burdens, <—for one of the tents and various other articles were to be left; and it gave poor Credit and Vaillant a fairer opportunity, should they revive, of regaining their companions. On the resolution being commu- nicated to the men, they were cheered with the pros- pect of an alleviation of their misery, and pressed forward in search of a convenient spot for the pro- posed separation. Near nightfall they encamped under the lee of a hill amongst some willows, which furnished a small fire, but not sufficiently strong to thaw their frozen clothes; and no tripe de roche having been found during the day, they lay down hungry, cold, and full of the gloomiest apprehensions, whilst sleep fled from their eyelids, and the images of their dying companions rose before their imagina- tion in colours which made them shudder for a fate that might so soon become their own.* Next morning the weather providentially was mild, and setting out at nine they arrived towards noon at a thicket of willows, in the neighbourhood of some rocks bearing a pretty full supply of tripe de roche. Here Dr Richardson and Mr Hood determined to remain. The tent was pitched, a barrel of ammu- nition and other articles were deposited, and Hep- burn, who volunteered the service, was appointed to continue with them. The rest of the party now had only to carry a single tent, the ammunition, and the officers' journals, in addition to their own clothes * Franklin's Journey, pp. 431, 432.232 FRANKLIN PUSHES FORWARD : and a single blanket for Captain Franklin. When all was ready, the whole party united in thanksgiv- ing and prayers to Almighty God for their mutual preservation, and separated with the melancholy re- flection, that it might in all probability be the last time they should ever again meet in this world. On leaving their friends Captain Franklin and his party descended into a more level country; but the snow lay so deep, and they were so little able to wade through it that they encamped, after a painful march of only four miles and a half, in which Be- langer, and Michel an Iroquois, were left far behind^ yet still struggling forward. In the evening they came in dreadfully exhausted, and Belanger, till now one of the strongest of the party, could not refrain from tears as he declared he was totally unable to proceed, and implored permission to return to Dr Richardson and Mr Hood. Michel made the same request, and it was agreed that they should do so. The cold of the night was excessive, and the men were so weak that they could not raise the tent; from its weight it was impossible to transport it from place to place, and it was cut up, the canvass serving them for a cover- ing; but, though they lay close together, the in- tense frost deprived them of sleep. Having no tripe de roche they had supped upon an infusion of the Labrador tea-plant, with a few morsels of burnt leather. Michel and Belanger, being apparently more exhausted in the morning than over night, were left, whilst the rest moved forward. After a very short progress Perrault was attacked with a fit of dizziness; but, on halting a little, again proposed to proceed. In ten minutes, however, he sunk down, and, weeping aloud, declared his total in-HIS PARTY REDUCED TO FIVE* 233 ability to go on* He was accordingly advised to rejoin Michel and Belanger,—a proposal in which he acquiesced. These examples of the total failure of the strongest in the party had a very unfavour- able effect on the spirits of the rest, and the exertion of wading through the snow and crossing a lake on the ice, where they were frequently blown down, was so severe, that Fontano, after having repeatedly fallen, piteously complained that he was utterly unable to go farther. Being not two miles from the others, it was thought best that he also should attempt to rejoin them and as he was much beloved, the parting was very distressing. They watched him for some time, and were comforted by seeing that, though his progress was very slow, he kept his feet better than before. The whole party was now reduced to five persons, Captain Franklin, Adam, Peltier, Benoit, and Sa- mandre, the interpreter Augustus having pressed forward by himself during the late frequent halts. They made that day only four miles and a half, and encamped for the night under a rock, supping again on an infusion of the Labrador tea-plant and some shreds of boiled leather. The evening was comparatively mild, the breeze light, and having the comfort of a fire they enjoyed some sleep. This was of infinite advantage; it gave them new spirits, which were farther invigorated by a breakfast of tripe de roche, this being the fourth day since they had a regular meal. On reaching Marten Lake they found it frozen over,—a circumstance which they knew would enable them to walk upon the ice straight to Fort Enterprise. * Franklin's Journey, pp. 436, 437-234 ARRIVAL AT FORT ENTERPRISE, It may be easily imagined what were the sensa- tions of the party in approaching the spot which they trusted Would be the end of all their toils and privations. From the arrangements previously made, it was judged certain that they would here find relief, and be able to send assistance to their unfortu- nate companions. It was a spot where they had en- joyed, at a former period of the expedition, the greatest comfort; but it was possible, though they scarcely permitted themselves to contemplate so dreadful an idea, that circumstances might have occurred to de- feat their present expectations. On approaching the house their minds were strongly agitated betwixt hope and fear, and, contrary to their usual custom, they advanced in silence. At length they reached it, and their worst apprehensions were realized. It was completely desolate. No provisions had been de- posited-—no trace of Indians could be discovered— no letter lay there from Mr Wentzel to inform them where the Indians might be found. On entering a mute despair seized the party. They gazed on the cold hearth, comfortless walls, and broken sashes, through which the wind and snow penetrated, and, awakening to a full sense of the horrors of their situation, burst into tears.* On recovering a little, and looking round with more attention, a note was found from Mr Back, stating that having two days before this reached the house, he had proceeded in search of the Indians ; but it described his party as so debilitated that it was doubtful whether they would be able to reach Fort Providence. The sufferings en- dured by this meritorious officer and his little party, one of whom was frozen to death, were equally • Franklin's Journey, pp.438,439.WHICH IS FOUND DESERTED. 235 dreadful with those which fell to the share of his excellent commander.* The poor sufferers, thus grievously disappointed, now examined the deserted habitation for the means of subsistence, and found several deer-skins thrown away during their'former residence at the fort. The heaps of ashes were carefully raked, and a consi- derable collection of bones discovered, which were hoarded up for the purpose of being pounded and manufactured into soup. The parchment originally employed instead of glass had been torn from the windows, and the place was exposed to all the in- clemency of an arctic winter; but they succeeded in filling the sashes with loose boards, and as the tem- perature of the outer air was now from 15° to 20° below zero, this precaution was especially necessary. To procure water they melted the frozen lumps of snow, and the flooring of the neighbouring apart- ment was broken up for fuel. Having completed these arrangements, they as- sembled round the fire, and were busy singeing the hair off a deer-skin, when they were cheered by the entrance of the interpreter, who had made his way to the fort by a different route, through a country he had never traversed before. Though by far the strongest of the party, he was now so enfeebled by famine that he could not follow two deer which he had seen on his way. Next morning there was a heavy gale from the south-east, and the snow drifted so thick that no one ventured abroad. On the evening of the succeeding day, a figure covered with ice, benumbed with cold, and almost speech- less, staggered into the house: It was one of the * See Mr Back's interesting Narrative, Franklin's Journey, p. 477*236 NOTE FROM MB BACK. Canadians who had been despatched with a note by Mr Back, and having fallen into a rapid narrowly escaped being drowned.* To change his dress, wrap him in warm blankets, and pour some soup over his throat, was their first care; and after a little he re- vived enough to answer the anxious questions with which he was assailed. From his replies but little comfort was derived. Mr Back had seen no trace of the Indians, and the messenger's recollection appear- ed confused with regard to the part of the country where he had left his officer, who, as he stated, in- tended to proceed to the spot where the Indian chief Akaitcho had encamped last summer,—a dis- tance of about thirty miles. Thither he proposed to follow when he was a little recruited • and, though dissuaded from the attempt, persisted that as the track was beaten he would be able to make it out, and to convey intelligence of the situation of Cap- tain Franklin's party. Accordingly, the fifth day after his arrival, he departed from the fort with a small supply of singed hide. Not long after, Adam, one of the five men who now remained with Captain Franklin, became so ill that he was utterly incapable of moving, and it was discovered that he had been for some time afflicted with (edematous swellings in various parts of his body, which he had hitherto generously con- cealed from a wish not to impede the movements of his companions. As it was impossible for this poor man to travel, it was necessary to abandon the ori- ginal intention of proceeding with the whole party to Fort Providence, and Peltier and Samandre, who were in almost as weak a state, having expressed a wish to * Franklin's Journey, pp. 4403 441.FRANKLIN ATTEMPTS TO PROCEED. 237 remain with Adam, Captain Franklin, along with Augustus and Benoit, determined to press on to Fort Providence, and to send relief to their companions by the first party of Indians they should meet. Having accordingly given directions regarding the journals and charts which were left in their custody, and the best mode of forwarding succour to Mr Hood and Dr Richardson, Franklin set forward with his two attendants; but so feeble had they become, that the distance accomplished in six hours was only four miles. They encamped on the borders of Round Rock Lake, and, unable to find any tripe de roche, made their supper upon fried deer-skin. The night proved intensely cold, and although they crept as close to each othef as possible, they shivered in every limb, and the wind pierced through their famished frames.* Next morning was mild, and they set out early, but had scarce proceeded a few yards, when Franklin fell between two rocks and broke his snow-shoes, an accident which incapacitated him from keeping up with Benoit and Augustus. In a very short time his attempt to press forward com- pletely exhausted him; and as the only hope of pre- serving the lives of the party appeared to rest on their speedily reaching Fort Providence, he determined, rather than retard them, to retrace his steps to the house whilst they proceeded for assistance. Call- ing a moment's halt, he addressed one note to Mr Back, requesting an immediate supply of meat from Rein Deer Lake, and another to the commandant at Fort Providence, with urgent in treaties for assist- ance. This done, Augustus and Benoit resumed their journey, and Franklin returned to the house, * Franklin's Journey, p. 444. 7238 FRANKLIN JOINED BY HIS FJtlENDS, On arriving he found Adam, Samandre, and Pel- tier still alive; but the two first, whose minds seem- ed quite enfeebled, could not be prevailed on to leave their bed, and their nervous weakness was so great that they scarcely ceased shedding tears all day. It was even with difficulty that they were prevailed on to take any nourishment; and the labour of cut- ting and carrying fuel, gathering the tripe de roche, and cooking, fell entirely upon Franklin and Peltier. The frost was now so severe that it was evident this lichen would soon be bound up in ice, and, as thefr strength daily declined, every exertion became irksome. When once seated, it required a painful effort to rise up, and not unfrequently they had to lift each other from their chairs. This miserable condition could not last long. Peltier soon became almost incapable of holding the hatchet; the bone- soup had grown so acrid as to corrode the inside of their mouths; the tripe de roche, covered with ice, defied all efforts to detach it from the rock; and though the rein-deer sported on the banks of the river, no one had strength to go after them, or to hold a gun so steadily as to secure an aim. Still the hopes and cheerfulness of Franklin did not desert him. From his knowledge of the places mostly frequented at that season by the Indians, he was sanguine as to the likelihood of their being found ; and their speedy arrival formed a constant subject of conversation. At length on the evening of the 29th, when talking of this long looked-for re- lief, and sitting round the fire, Peltier suddenly leapt up and uttered a joyful exclamation, imagining he heard the bustle of the Indians in the adjoining room. It was not the Indians, however, but DrPR RICHARDSON AND HEPBURN. 239 Richardson and Hepburn, who came in each car- rying his bundle. The meeting was one of mingled joy and sorrow. Poor Hood's absence was instantly perceived, and their saddest anticipations were con- firmed by Dr Richardson declaring that this young officer and Michel were dead, and that neither Per- rault nor Fontano had reached the tent, or been heard of. Such news could not fail to create despondency. All were shocked at the emaciated countenances and hollow voices of Dr Richardson and his com- panion, while Captain Franklin and his fellow- sufferers, having become gradually accustomed to the dreadful effects of famine upon each other, were not aware that, to the eyes of their friends who had just arrived, the alteration upon themselves was equally melancholy. e< The doctor/' says Frank- lin, " particularly remarked the sepulchral tone of our voices, which he requested us to make more cheerful if possible, not aware that his own partook of the same key."* The arrival of these friends, however, was soon at- tended with a favourable change. Though greatly reduced they were still in a better condition than their unfortunate companions, and it was not long till Hepburn shot a partridge. Dr Richardson speedily tore off the feathers, and having held it for a few mi- nutes at the fire divided it into six pieces : Franklin and his companions ravenously devoured their por- tions, "" being the first morsel of flesh that any of them had tasted for thirty-one days," and Dr Richardson cheered them with the prospect that Hepburn might possibly bring in a deer in his next expedition. The counsels and example of this pious and intelli- gent man produced the best effects on the spirits * Franklin's Journey, p. 447-240 HAPPY EFFECT OF HEPBURN'S COUNSELS* of the party. He had brought with him his Testa- ment and Prayer-book, and by reading portions of scripture appropriate to their situation, and en- couraging them to join in prayer and thanksgiving, he led them to the only source whence, under the awful circumstances in which they were placed, they could derive hope or consolation. He taught them the necessity of exertion, whatever pain it might at first cost; roused them to pay some atten- tion to the cleanliness of their apartment, and in- sisted particularly, that during the day they should roll up their blankets, which they had been in the practice of leaving beside the fire where they slept. Their several tasks were now allotted to each; Hepburn and Richardson went out in search of deer; while Franklin, being unable to walk far, remain- ed nearer the house, and digged under the snow for skins, which, during their former happy winter resi- dence at this station, when they killed and ate abundance of game, were thrown away as useless, but now in their almost putrid state formed their principal support. The cutting of firewood was intrusted to Peltier and Samandre; but both were so weak and dispirited that it was generally per- formed by Hepburn on his return from hunting; as for Adam, his legs were still so severely swollen that he kept his bed, though an operation perform- ed by Dr Richardson gave him some ease. In the midst of these necessary cares, all seemed for a while to dread approaching the subject of Hood and Michel's death j but at length one evening, on the return of the Doctor from hunting, and after having despatched their usual supper of singed skin and bone-soup, they requested him to relate the particu- lars, and a more afflicting, or in some respects aRICHARDSON'S NARRATIVE. 241 more terrific story, as it appears in his published narrative, could not well be conceived. He stated, that after being left by Captain Frank- lin they remained beside the fire as long as it lasted. Having no tripe de roche, they supped on an infusion of the country tea-plant, which was grateful from its warmth, but afforded no nourishment, and retired to rest. Next day proved stormy, and the snow being so deep that a, fire could not be kindled with the green willows, they lay in bed reading some religious books with which the party had been furnished before leav- ing England by the affectionate and pious care of a lady. "They proved," says Richardson, "of in- calculable benefit to us. We read portions of them to each other as we lay in bed, in addition to the morning and evening service, and found that they inspired us on each perusal with so strong a sense of the omnipresence of a beneficent God, that our si- tuation in these wilds appeared no longer destitute ; and we conversed not only with calmness but with cheerfulness, detailing with unrestrained confidence the past events of our lives, and dwelling with hope upon our future prospects."* The weather clearing up, Dr Richardson went out in search of tripe de roche, leaving Mr Hood in bed and Hepburn cutting willows for a fire; but the rocks were covered with ice and snow, and he was unsuc- cessful. On his return he found Michel the Iro- quois, who delivered the note from Franklin, t All were surprised to see him alone ,- but he stated that Belanger had separated from him, and, as he sup- posed, lost his way, he himself having wandered far * Franklin's Journey, p. 449. *f~ Ibid. p. 449. P242 MICHEL'S SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT. from the straight road. They had afterwards good reason to suspect the truth of this story,, but believed it at that moment, and were rejoiced to see him produce a hare and a partridge,—an unlooked-for supply, which they received with humble thankful- ness to the Giver of all good. Franklin's note ad- vised them to advance to a little wood of pines which would afford better fuel; and to this they re- moved under the guidance of Michel, who led them straight to the spot. As he had declared himself so little acquainted with the country as to lose his way, it seemed strange that he should at once conduct them to the thicket. This roused their attention, and made them feel rather uneasy as to his honesty; and va- rious circumstances occurred to increase their sus- picions. He requested the loan of a hatchet, when any other hunter would have taken only his knife. He remained abroad all day without any definite employment. He brought them some raw meat, saying it was part of the carcass of a wolf j but which they had afterwards reason to believe was a portion of the bodies of Belanger and Perrault, whom they suspected him to have murdered. He shunned the society of Dr Richardson and Mr Hood, refusing to sleep in the tent, and preferring to lie alone at the fire. On going out with the purpose of remaining a whole day, he often returned abruptly, and when questioned gave vague answers. In a few days he began to regret that he had left Cap- tain Franklin's party, refused to take any share in the labour of cutting wood, talked in a surly and insolent manner, and could scarcely be prevailed upon to go out and hunt at all. These symptomsMURDER OF MR HOOD. 243 of gloomy dissatisfaction increased; he resisted all entreaties, and when Mr Hood, who was now re- duced by famine to the last extremity, remonstrated with him, he flew into a violent passion, and ex- claimed, " It is of no use hunting; there are 110 ani- mals ; you had better kill and eat me/' He after- wards, however, consented to go out, but returned upon some frivolous pretence; and on the succeed- ing day that dreadful catastrophe took place, which will be best given in the words of Dr Richardson's Journal. " In the morning," says he, " being Sunday, Oc- tober 20th, we again urged Michel to go a-hunting, that he might, if possible, leave us some provision, to-morrow being the day appointed for his quitting us; but he showed great unwillingness to go out, and lingered about the fire under the pretence of cleaning his gun. After we had read the morning service I went about noon to gather some tripe de roche, leaving Mr Hood sitting before the tent at the fireside arguing with Michel. Hepburn was employed cutting down a tree at a small dis- tance from the tent, being desirous of accumulat- ing a quantity of firewood. A short time after I went out I heard the report of a gun, and about ten minutes afterwards Hepburn called to me in a voice of great alarm to come directly. When I arrived I found poor Hood lying lifeless at the fireside, a ball having apparently entered his fore- head. I was at first horror-struck with the idea that in a fit of despondency he had hurried him- self into the presence of his Almighty Judge by an act of his own hand; but the conduct of Michel soon gave rise to other thoughts, and excited suspi-244 MURDER OF MR HOOI) cions which were confirmed, when, upon examin- ing the body, I found that the shot had entered the back part of the head and had passed out at the fore- head, whilst the muzzle of the gun had been ap- plied so close as to set fire to the nightcap behind. The gun, which was of the longest kind supplied to the Indians, could not have been placed in the po- sition to inflict such a wound except by a second person. Upon inquiring of Michel how it hap- pened, he replied that Mr Hood had sent him into the tent for the short gun, and that during his ab- sence the long gun had gone off, he did not know whether by accident or not. He held the short gun in his, hand at the time he was speaking. Hepburn afterwards asserted, that previous to the report of the gun, Mr Hood and Michel were speaking to each other in, an elevated angry tone;—he added, that Mr Hood being seated at the fireside was hid from him, by intervening willows; but that on hearing the report he looked up, and saw Michel rising up from before the tent-door, or just behind where Mr Hood was seated, and then going into the tei^t. Thinking that the gun had been discharged for the purpose of cleaning it, he did not go to the fire at first; and when Michel called to him that Mr Hood was dead, a considerable time had elapsed. * * Bickersteth's Scripture Help was lying open beside the body, as if it had fallen from his hand, and it is probable he was reading it at the instant of his death "* Such was the melancholy fate of Mr Hood> a young officer of the highest promise, who by his Franklin's Journey, vol. iv. 12rao ed. p. 109—112.BY MICHEL THE IROQUOIS. 245 conduct had endeared himself to every member of the expedition, and whose sufferings, as they were more intense from the peculiarity of his constitution, were borne with a placid and unpretending forti- tude, which it was impossible to contemplate with- out emotion. Both Dr Richardson and Hepburn were convinced he had met his death from the hands of Michel; but to have accused him at that mo- ment would have been the extremity of rashness. They were so reduced by famine that he could easi- ly have overpowered both. His appearance showed that he possessed secret supplies of food; he was of great bodily strength, and was armed to the teeth, carrying, besides his gun, a brace of pistols, an Indian bayonet^ and a knife. To have hinted a suspicion, therefore, might have been instantly fatal, and they affected to consider the death of their com- panion entirely accidental. As his weakness had been the chief cause of delaying their journey, they now set out for the fort, having first paid the last rites to the dead in the only way which their situation would permit. The ground Was so hard and their strength so exhausted, that to dig a grave was impos- sible ; so they carried the body into the willow grove behind the tent, and returning to the fire read the funeral service in addition to their evening devotions. In the morning* having singed the hair off a por- tion of Mr Hood's buffalo robe, they boiled and ate it for breakfast. Meanwhile, the conduct of Michel was so extraordinary, that had they not been already convinced of his. guilt, no doubt of it could have remained. Though not a breath of their suspi- cions reached his ears, he repeatedly protested that he was incapable of committing such an act; he246 THREATS OF MICHEL : kept constantly on his guard; appeared fearful of leaving Dr Richardson and Hepburn alone even for the shortest time; and when Hepburn spoke he listened anxiously, though very imperfectly ac- quainted with the English language,, fixed his eyes keenly upon him, and asked fiercely if he accused him of the murder. He evinced great unwillingness to set out for the fort, and wished Dr Richardson to proceed to the Coppermine River, where he said the woods would supply plenty of deer. On finding this advice disregarded his conduct became more and more alarming; he muttered to himself, fell into sullen fits of abstraction, and used those convulsive and abrupt gestures often involuntarily exhibited by a person whose mind is full of some dreadful purpose. Suddenly awakening from this reverie, he again ex- pressed his unwillingness to return to the fort, and renewed his solicitations to Dr Richardson to repair to the southern woods, where they would find ample subsistence. On being requested to pursue his own plan alone and leave them to continue their journey, he broke into an ungovernable fury, accused Hepburn of having told stories against him, and assumed such airs of superiority as showed that he knew they were both in his power, at the same time giving vent to expressions of hatred against the white people, calling them deadly enemies, and affirming they had killed and eaten his uncle and two of his relations. None of these menaces were lost upon Richard- son and Hepburn; both felt they were not safe in this man's company; and these dreadful surmises rose into certainty when he threw out hints that he would free himself from all restraint on the morrow.HIS DEATH. 247 Being now convinced that, as he had cruelly mur- dered Hood, he was resolved also to sacrifice them, they ascribed his not having already done so to the circumstance of his not knowing the way to the fort, and requiring their guidance. They came to this conclusion without any communication with each other; for their fierce companion would not leave them a moment, watching them with a malignant look, and frequently muttering threats against Hep- burn. Towards evening, as they approached the spot where it would be necessary to stop for the night, Michel halted to gather tripe de roche, and to their surprise bade them walk on and he would soon over- take them. Hepburn and Dr Richardson, now left alone together for the first time since Mr Hood's death, rapidly opened their minds to each other. In addition to the facts already mentioned, others came to light, which left not the slightest doubt as to Michel's guilt; and so convinced was Hepburn of there being no safety for them but in his death, that, though a man of extreme benevolence and deep re- ligious principle, he offered to be the instrument of it himself. " Had my own life/' says Dr Richardson, " alone been threatened, I would not have purchas- ed it by such a measure ; but I considered myself as intrusted also with the protection of Hepburn's, a man who by his humane attentions and devoted- ness had so endeared himself to me, that I felt more anxiety for his safety than for my own." Animat- ed by such feelings, and convinced that Michel's death was necessary to self-preservation, he deter- mined that it ought to be by his own and not by Hep- burn's hand, and on his coming up shot him through the head with a pistol. It appeared that he had ga-248 ARRIVAL AT THE FORT. thered no tripe de roche, and had halted to put his gun in order, no doubt with the intention of attack- ing them when in the act of encamping.* Dr Richardson and Hepburn now pursued their way to the fort; but fatigue, and want of food and fuel, had nearly proved fatal to them. They remarked, however, that repeatedly when death seemed inevit- able an unexpected supply of provisions again restor- ed them ; and the confidence that, when no human help was nigh, they were supported by a merciful God, inspired them with renewed hope. At last they had the delight of beholding from an eminence the smoke issuing from the chimney of the fort, and immediately after embracing those friends for whose fate they had entertained so many melancholy fore- bodings. So ended this interesting narrative. The whole party were now once more united, but under circumstances of the most distressing pri- vation; all emaciated to such a degree as to look like living skeletons; their hands shook from weak- ness, so that to take an aim was impossible; and the rein-deer, partridges, and other game, flew or bounded past in joyousness and security, whilst the unhappy beings who beheld them were gaunt with hunger. The winter was closing in with all its horrors; it became daily more difficult to procure fuel, the labour of cutting and carrying the logs be- ing so grievous that only Dr Richardson and Hep- burn could undertake it; and to scrape the ground for bones, and to cook this miserable meal, was all Gaptain Franklin could accomplish. On 1st No- vember, the Doctor obtained some tripe de roche; and * Franklin's Journey, pp. 457, 458.DEATH OF PELTIER AND SAMANDRE. 249 as Peltier and Samandre were in the last stage of exhaustion, it was hoped a little of the soup might revive them. All was in vain; they tasted a few spoonfuls, but soon complained of a soreness in their throats, and both died in the course of the night, ap- parently without pain. To inter the bodies, or even carry them to the river, was a task for which the unit- ed strength of the survivors was inadequate; all they could do was to remove them into an opposite part of the house; and the living and the dead remained in awful contiguity under the same roof. The party was now reduced to four,—Frank- lin, Richardson, Hepburn, and Adam. The last had become dreadfully low since the death of his companions, and could not bear to be left alone for a moment. Their stock of bones was exhausted, and in a short time it was evident that the severity of the frost must render the gathering of the tripe de roche impossible. Under these circumstances, with death by famine approaching every hour, this little band of pious and brave men were supported by an un- wavering reliance on the mercy of God. "■ We read prayers/' says Captain Franklin, and a portion of the New Testament in the morning and evening, as had been our practice since Dr Kichardson's ar- rival; and I may remark, that the performance of these duties always afforded us the greatest conso- lation, serving to reanimate our hope in the mercy of the Omnipotent, who alone could save and deli- ver us/'* It seemed as if it were the mysterious design of the Almighty to permit them to be re- duced to the lowest depth of suffering, that his Franklin's Journey, p. 464.250 UNEXPECTED RELIEF. power might be magnified at the very moment when every human effort appeared utterly impo- tent. Hitherto Dr Richardson and Hepburn had been the healthiest of the party, but they had over- wrought themselves, and both sunk rapidly. Owing to their loss of flesh, the hardness of the floor, from which they were only protected by a single blanket, rendered the whole surface of their bodies sore; yet the labour of turning from one side to the other was too much for them. As their strength sunk, their mental faculties partook of the weakness of their frame; and, to employ the candid and simple ex- pressions of the excellent leader, " an unreason- able pettishness with each other began to manifest itself, each believing the other weaker in intel- lect than himself, and more in need of advice and assistance." During this gloomy period, after the first acute pains of hunger, which lasted but for three or four days, had subsided, they generally enjoyed the refreshment of sleep, accompanied by dreams which for the most part partook of a pleasant character, and very often related to the pleasures of feasting. "' Help, however, was now near at hand, and we shall not impair the affecting description of their deliverance by giving it in any other than Captain Franklin's own words:—" On November 7th, Adam had passed a restless night, being disquieted by gloomy apprehensions of approaching death, which they tried in vain to dispel. He was so low in the morning as scarcely to be able to speak, and Cap- tain Franklin remained by his bedside to cheer him as much as possible, whilst the Doctor and * Franklin's Journey, pp. 465, 466.ARRIVAL OF THE INDIANS. 251 Hepburn went out to cut wood. They had hardly begun their labour when they were amazed at hearing the report of a musket, and could scarcely believe that there was any one near till they heard a shout, and espied three Indians close to the house. Adam and Franklin heard the latter noise,, and were fearful that some part of the house had fallen upon one of their companions,—a disaster which had been thought not unlikely. The alarm was only momentary; for Dr Richardson came in to communicate the joyful intelligence that relief had arrived. He and Captain Franklin imme- diately addressed their thanksgivings to the Throne of Mercy for this deliverance; but poor Adam was in so low a state that he could scarcely comprehend the information. When the Indians entered he at- tempted to rise, but immediately sank down again. But for this seasonable interposition of Providence, his existence must have terminated in a few hours, and that of the rest probably in not many days/'* The Indians who had been despatched by Mr Back had travelled with great expedition, and brought a small supply of provisions. They imprudent- ly presented too much food at first; and though aware of the effects which might arise from a sur- feit, and warned by Dr Richardson to eat very spar- ingly, the sight of the venison was irresistible; and it was devoured by them all, not excluding the Doc- tor himself, with an avidity that soon produced the most acute pains, which during the night deprived them of rest. Adam, whose weakness rendered him unable to feed himself, was not subjected to the * Franklin's Journey, p. 467.252 GKEAT KINDNESS OP THE INDIANS. same inconvenience, and taking moderate meals revived hourly. All now was thankfulness and cheerful activity. Boudel-kell, the youngest In- dian, after an hour's rest, returned to the en- campment of Akaitcho, the Dog-rib chief, carry- ing a note from Captain Franklin, and a request for another supply of provisions. The two others, named in their familiar manner Crooked Foot and the Rat, remained to nurse the white men. Under their care the apartment lately so desolate, and something between a sepulchre and a lazar-house, assumed a gladdened look which had the best ef- fect. The dead bodies were removed, the room cleaned of its filth and fragments of pounded bones, and large cheerful fires produced a sensation of comfort to which they had long been strangers. The poor sufferers had often cast a wishful eye on a pile of dried wood near the river, but were utter- ly unable to carry it up the bank. When pointed out to the Indians, they fetched it home with a ra- pidity which astonished their feeble friends. " They set about every thing/' says Franklin, " with an activity which amazed us. Indeed, contrasted with our emaciated figures and extreme debility, their frames appeared to us gigantic, and their strength supernatural/' Under the care of the Indians, and the bless- ing of wholesome and regular meals, the strength of the party Was so far restored, that, although still feeble* on the 16th3 after having united in prayer and thanksgiving to God for their deliver- ance, they left Fort Enterprise,—a spot where, as they had formerly enjoyed much comfort if not happiness, they had latterly experienced a de-CONCLUSION OF THE EXPEDITION. 253 gree of misery scarcely to be paralleled.* The Indians treated them with unremitting kindness, gave them their own snow-shoes, and walked at their side to be ready to lift them up when they fell. In this manner- they pushed forward to the abode of Akaitcho, the Indian chief, who welcomed them with the utmost hospitality. Soon after they received letters from their friends at Fort Provi- dence, and the messenger also, brought two trains of dogs, a package of spirits and tobacco for the In- dians, and a supply of shirts and clothes for Cap- tain Franklin and his companions. The gratifica- tion of changing their linen, which had been unin* terruptedly worn ever since their departure from the seacoast, is described as conveying &n intensity of comfort to which no words can do justice. From this spot their progress to Fort Providence and thence to Montreal was prosperous and easy; and thus terminated their long, fatiguing, and disastrous tra- vels in North America, having journeyed by water and by land, including their navigation of the Po- lar Sea, 5550 miles. So disastrous had been the result of his first expe- dition, and so appalling the sufferings with which it was accompanied, that nothing assuredly can con- vey a more honourable testimony to the enthusias- tic zeal and unshaken perseverance of Captain Franklin, than the statement of the simple fact, that towards, the close of 1823, having learnt the determination of government to make another at- tempt, to; effect a northern passage by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, he, to use his own * Franklin's Journey, p. 470.254 franklin's second journey : words,, " ventured to lay before his Majesty's go- vernment a plan for an expedition overland to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and thence by sea to the north-western extremity of America, with the combined object also of surveying the coast be- tween the Mackenzie and the Coppermine Rivers." It was the opinion of this able officer that, in the course he now proposed to follow, reverses similar to those which had surrounded his first journey were scarcely to be apprehended; and his views hav- ing met the approbation of government, he received directions for the equipment of the expedition, and was nominated its commander. He had the satis- faction also of being once more accompanied by his valued friend Dr Richardson, who, unappalled by his former dreadful sufferings, again offered his services as naturalist and surgeon, and volunteered to un- dertake the survey of the coast between the Macken- zie and Coppermine Rivers, while Captain Franklin was occupied in an attempt to reach Icy Cape.* Pre- vious to the departure of the ships a correspondence was opened with the governor and directors of the Hudson's Bay Company; who transmitted injunc- tions to their officers in the fur-countries, to provide depots of provisions at the stations pointed out by Franklin. The building of proper boats for the navigation of the Arctic Sea, as well as the passage of the rapids between York Factory and Mackenzie River, formed the next object of attention. It was evident that the canoes of birch-bark employed by Sir A. Macken- zie, and by Captain Franklin in his first journey, * Franklin's Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea. Introductory Chapter, p. 10.HIS PREPARATIONS. 255 though excellently adapted for the American rivers, uniting lightness and facility of repair with speed, were yet, from the tenderness of the bark, little fit- ted to resist the force of the arctic waves, or the collision of the sharp-pointed masses of ice. Captain Franklin accordingly obtained the Admiralty's per- mission to have three boats constructed at Wool- wich under his own superintendence. " They were built/' says he, " of mahogany, with timbers of ash, both ends exactly alike, and fitted to be steered either with a ship-oar or a rudder. The largest, being twenty-six feet long and five feet four inches broad, was adapted for six rowers, a steersman, and an officer; it was found to be capable of carrying three tons weight in addition to the crew, and could be transported with ease on the shoulders of six men. The two other boats were twenty-four feet in length, four feet ten inches broad, and held a crew of five men, besides a steersman and an officer, with an extra weight of two and a half tons. In addition to these another little vessel was constructed at Woolwich, which reflected great credit upon its inventor, Lieutenant-Colonel Pasley of the Royal Engineers. Its shape was exactly that of one of the valves of a walnut-shell, and it was framed of well-seasoned planks of ash fastened together with thongs, and covered with Mackintosh's prepared can- vass. It weighed only eighty-five pounds, and when taken to pieces could be made up in five or six par- cels, and again put together in less than twenty mi- nutes, although it was nine feet long by four feet four inches in breadth."* Each person on board * Franklin's Second Journey, Intro. Chap. pp. 15, L8.256 DEPARTURE OP THE EXPEDITION. was provided with two suits of water-proof dresses* prepared by Mr Mackintosh of Glasgow; the guns, which were of the same bore as the fowling-pieces furnished by the Hudson's Bay Company to the In- dian hunters, had their locks tempered to resist the cold; each being, fitted with a broad Indian dagger similar to & bayonet, which, on being disjoined, could be used as a knife. Ammunition of the best quality, and a store of provisions sufficient for two years, were also supplied. The expedition sailed from Liverpool on 16th February 1825,, and after a favourable passage to New York proceeded to Albany, travelled through Utica, Rochester, and Geneva, crossed the Niagara and Lake Ontario,, coasted the northern shore of Lake Superior, and thence pushed forward through Rainy Lake, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Win ipeg, Saskatchawan River, and arrived at Cumberland House on 15th June. From this station, proceeding northward to Isle a la Crosse, and passing through Beep River and Clear and Buffalo Lakes, they overtook their boats in Methye River on the morn- ing of 29th June. The advanced period of the sea- son rendered it impossible to embark on, the Mac- kenzie before the middle of August, so that; it be- came necessary to postpone the great expedition till the ensuing summer. They accordingly esta- blished their winter-quarters on the banks, erecting a habitation and store, which they named Fort Franklin. The superintendence of these buildings was committed to Lieutenant Back, while Captain Franklin determined to descend the river, take a view of the state of the Polar Sea, and return to winter-quarters before the extreme cold should set in. 6arrival at whale island. 257 In this voyage there occurred nothing worthy of particular notice till the arrival at Whale Island, where, though Mackenzie had the strongest reasons to conclude that he had reached the sea, he appears not to have been completely satisfied on that point. Probably his doubts arose from the fresh taste of the water. Franklin, however, proceeded beyond Whale Island, and reached the shore of the great Arctic Ocean. " Embarking," says he, " at eleven a.m., we continued our course along the shore of Ellice Island, until we found its coast trending south- ward of east. There we landed, and were rejoiced at the sea-like appearance to the northward. An island was now discovered to the north-east, looking blue from its distance, towards which the boat was immediately directed. The water, which for the last eight miles had been very shallow, became gradu- ally deeper, and of a more green colour, though still fresh, even when we had entirely lost sight of the eastern land. In the middle of the traverse we were caught by a strong contrary wind, against which our crews cheerfully contended for five hours. Unwilling to return without attaining the object of our search, when the strength of the rowers was nearly exhausted the sails were set double-reefed, and our excellent boat mounted over the waves in a most buoyant manner, whilst an opportune alter- ation of the wind enabled us in the course of another hour to fetch into smoother water under the shelter of the island. We then pulled across a line of strong ripple, which marked the termination of the fresh water, that on the seaward side being brackish; and in the farther progress of three miles to the island, we had the indescribable pleasure of finding the wa- Q258 ACCURACY OF MACKENZIE. ter decidedly salt. The sun was setting as the boat touched the "beach; we hastened to the most elevated part of the island, about 250 feet high, to look around; and never was a prospect more gratifying than that which lay open to us. The Rocky Mountains were seen from S. W. to W.-|N., and from the latter point, round by the north, the sea appeared in all its majesty, entirely free from ice, and without any visible obstruction to its navi- gation. Many seals and black and white whales were seen sporting on its waves, and the whole scene was calculated to excite in our minds the most flat- tering expectations of our own success and that of our friends in the Hecla and the Fury/'* Frank- lin pronounces a high encomium on the accuracy of Mackenzie, and considers him as completely en- titled to the praise of having reached the Arctic Sea, although, owing to the frail construction of the In- dian canoes, it was impossible for him to sail to the point where the water became salt. Having accomplished his design in this prelimi- nary journey, Franklin returned on 5th Septem- ber to his winter-quarters on Great Bear Lake. About the same time Dr Richardson arrived from his excursion to the north-eastern shores of the same extensive sheet of water, having completed his sur- vey as far as the influx of Dease's River, and as- certained that the first rapid was the best point to which the eastern detachment of the expedition should direct its course on their return from the Coppermine in the following season. Meantime the people were so busily employed that time never * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 34—36.WINTER EMPLOYMENTS. 259 hung heavy on their hands, and the shortest day- came almost unexpectedly upon them. The Ca- nadians and Indians were engaged in fishing and hunting for the support of the whole party, and during the autumn the nets yielded daily eight hundred fish of the kind called herring-salmon. Four Dog-rib Indians, along with the two interpre- ters, Augustus and Ooligbuck, were employed in hunting rein-deer, and the sailors were divided into different parties, to whom separate duties were al- lotted ; such as attending on the nets, bringing home the venison killed by the hunters, felling, carrying, and splitting wood, and exercising themselves in running as letter-carriers on snow-shoes between Fort Franklin and two other small posts established on the Mackenzie and Slave Lake. A school also was opened, in which, during the long winter even- ings, the officers instructed the sailors in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and during the hours of relaxation the hall was given up to the men to di- vert themselves with any game they chose; on which occasions they were always joined by the officers. Sunday was invariably a day of rest, and the whole party attended divine service morning and evening. Besides this, the officers had ample employment in noting down .the thermometrical, magnetical, and atmospherical observations, in writ- ing their journals, finishing their charts and draw- ings, and arranging the objects of natural history which had been collected.* They were amused by occasional visits of the Dog-rib Indians and various other tribes; and Christmas-day falling on a Sun- * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 54—56.260 APPROACH OF SPRING. day, they on the succeeding evening gave a dance and supper, which was attended by sixty persons including savages. " Seldom/' says Franklin, in such a confined space as our hall, or amongst the same number of persons, was there a greater variety of character or greater confusion of tongues. The party consisted of Englishmen, Highlanders (who mostly conversed with each other in Gaelic), Cana- dians (who spoke French), Esquimaux, Chipewy- ans, Dog-ribs, Hare Indians, Cree women and chil- dren, all mingled together in perfect harmony, whilst the amusements were varied by English, Gaelic, and French songs."* The spring now approached, and the migratory animals, which observe with beautiful exactness their periods of departure and arrival, began to ap- pear, gladdening the yet wintry face of nature. On 5th October the last swan had passed to the southward, and on the 11th the last brown duck was noticed. On 6th May the first swan was seen, and on the 8th the brown ducks reappeared on the lake. The mosses began to sprout, and various singing birds and orioles, along with some swifts and white geese, arrived soon after. It is remarked by Dr Richardson, that the singing birds, which were silent on the banks of the Bear Lake during the day, serenaded their mates at midnight; at which time, however, it was quite light. On 20th May the little stream which flowed past the fort burst its icy chains, and the laughing geese arrived to give renewed cheerfulness to the lake. Soon after this the winter green began to push forth its flowers; * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 67.EMBARKATION ON THE MACKENZIE. 261 and under the increasing warmth of the sun's rays the whole face of nature underwent a delightful change. The snow gradually melted, the ice broke up from the shores of the lake, the northern sky became red and luminous at midnight, the dwarf- birch arid willows expanded their leaves, and by the 3d June the anemones, the tussilago, the Lap- land rose, and other early plants, were in full flower.* Admonished by these pleasing changes Captain Franklin prepared to set out, and on 15th June the equipments for the boats were completed. Four- teen irien, including Augustus the Esquimaux in- terpreter, accompanied the commander-in-chief and Lieutenant Back in the two larger boats, the Lion and the Reliance; whilst nine men, and Oolig- buck another interpreter, attended Dr Richard- son and Mr Kendall in the Dolphin and the Union. Spare blankets, and all that could be useful for the voyage, or as presents to the Esquimaux, were divided between the eastern and western parties. On the Sunday before their departure, the offi- cers and men assembled at divine worship, and, in addition to the usual service, the special protection of the Almighty was implored for the enterprise upon which they were about to be engaged. All was now ready, and on Tuesday, 28th June, they embarked upon the Mackenzie, with the navigation of which the reader is already familiar. On the 4th July they reached that part where the river divides into various channels, and the two parties had determined to pursue different directions. The expe- dition which was to follow the western branch, Richardson's Meteorological Tables,262 MOUTH OF THE MACKENZIE. commanded by Captain Franklin, embarked first at Dr Richardson's desire, with a salute of three hearty cheers from their companions, and as they dropt down the river and passed round a point of land they perceived their friends who were to fol- low the eastern branch employed in the bustle of embarkation. All were in high spirits, and it was impossible not to contrast their present complete state of equipment with the circumstances of their first disastrous journey. On reaching the mouth of the Mackenzie, the western expedition came almost immediately into contact with the Esquimaux. Captain Franklin ob- served an encampment upon a neighbouring island, -and instantly proceeded to open a communication. A selection of presents was made, and at the same time every man was directed to have his gun ready for use. Having adopted these precautions, they steered direct for the island with their ensigns flying. The boats touched ground when about a mile from the beach. Signs were made to the Esquimaux to come off, and the English pulled back a little to await their arrival in deeper water. Three canoes, each carrying only a single person, pushed off, and these were followed rapidly by others; so that in a few minutes the whole space between the boats and the shore was alive with those little vessels which they name kayaks. An attempt was at first made to count them, and the sailors got the length of seventy; but they increased in such quick succession^ to baffle their farther efforts. At first every thing proceeded in a friendly man- ner. Augustus, after delivering a present, informed them* that .if the English succeeded in finding a na-ESQUIMAUX. 263 vigable channel for large ships, an advantageous trade would be opened. This intimation was received with a deafening shout, and the sight of the presents which had been carried away by the three foremost kayaks inflamed the cupidity of their companions; so that the boats were in a moment surrounded by nearly 300 persons, offering for sale their bows, ar- rows, and spears, with a violence and perseverance which became at last exceedingly troublesome, and Captain Franklin directed the boats to be put to seaward. At this moment a kayak was upset by one of the oars of the Lion, and its unhappy pos- sessor was stuck by the accident with his head in the mud, and his heels in the air. He was in- stantly extricated, wrapt in a warm great-coat, and placed in the boat, where, although at first exces- sively frightened and angry, he soon became recon- ciled to his situation, and looking about, discovered many bales and other articles which had hitherto been carefully concealed. His first impulse was to ask for every thing he saw, his next to be indignant that his requests were not granted; and on join- ing his companions, as they afterwards learned, he harangued on the inexhaustible riches of the Lion, and proposed a plan for a general attack and pillage of both the boats. This scheme was immediately carried into execution; and although the plunderers at first affected to be partly in sport, matters soon assumed a serious complexion. Two of the most powerful men, leaping on board, seized Captain Franklin, forced him to sit between them, and when he shook them off, a third took his station in front to catch his arm whenever he attempted to raise his gun or lay his hand on the broad dagger264 VIOLENT CONDUCT OP THE ESQUIMAUX. which hung by his side. During this assault the two boats were violently dragged to the shore, and a numerous party, stripping to the waist and bran- dishing their long sharp knives, ran to the Reliance, and commenced a regular pillage, handing the ar- ticles to the women, who, ranged in a row behind, quickly conveyed them out of sight. No sooner was the bow cleared of one set of marauders than another party commenced their operations at the stern. The Lion was beset by smaller numbers, and her crew, by firmly keeping their seats on the canvass cover spread over the cargo, and beating off the natives with the butt-end of their muskets, succeeded in preventing any article of importance from being carried away. Irritated, at length, by their frequent failure, the Esquimaux made a si- multaneous charge, and, leaping on board, began to wrest the daggers and shot-belts from the sailors, and to strike with their knives. In the midst of this attack, when the crew in the Lion were nearly overpowered and their commander disarmed, all at once the natives took to their heels, and concealed themselves behind the drift-timber and canoes on the beach. This sudden panic was occasioned by Captain Back, whose boat at this time had been got afloat, commanding his crew to level their muskets, —a proceeding which was immediately observed by the Esquimaux, though not noticed by Captain Franklin's men, who were wholly occupied in de- fending themselves. The Lion happily floated soon after; and as both boats pulled off, Captain Frank- lin desired Augustus to inform some of the Esqui- maux, who manifested a disposition to follow and renew the attack, that he would shoot the firstSPEECH OF AUGUSTUS. 265 man who ventured to approach within musket, range.* In the evening, Augustus anxiously entreated permission to attend a conference of his countrymen on the shore, to which he had been formally invited. The courage and fidelity of this person had much endeared him to the English, and it was not with- out hesitation that Captain Franklin agreed to his request, as he stated his determination to reprove the natives for their disgraceful conduct. He was at length allowed to go, and by the time he reached the shore the number of Esquimaux amounted to forty, all of them armed. On landing, he walk- ed undauntedly into the middle of the assembly, and addressed them in the following animated speech, which he afterwards repeated to his English friendsYour conduct," said he, " has been very bad, and unlike all other Esquimaux. Some of you even stole from me, your countryman—but that I do not mind. I only regret that you should have treated in this violent manner the white people, who came solely to do you kindness. My tribe were in the same unhappy state in which you now are before the white people came to Churchill; but at present they are supplied with every thing they need; and you see that I am well clothed, I get every thing I want, and am very comfortable. You cannot expect, after the transactions of this day, that these people will ever bring any articles to your country again, unless you show your contrition by returning the stolen goods. The white people love the Esquimaux, and wish to show them the same Franklin's Second Journey, p. 101—107»266 PEACE RESTORED. kindness that they bestow upon the Indians. Do not deceive yourselves and suppose that they are afraid of you; I tell you they are not, and that it is entirely owing to their humanity that many of you were not killed to-day, for they have all guns with which they can destroy you either near or at a distance. I also have a gun, and can assure you that if a white man had fallen, I would have been the first to have revenged his death/' During this speech, which was delivered, as they perceived from the boats, with much energy and spirited gesticu- lation, the Esquimaux expressed their approbation by frequent shouts, and on its conclusion made a very penitent, though somewhat singular apology: (c They had never seen white men before/' they said, " and really all the things in the boats were so beautiful and desirable that it was impossible not to steal them. As they were very anxious, however, for the friendship and trade of the white men, they solemnly promised never to repeat such conduct, and, at the request of Augustus, sent back the large kettle, the tent, and some pairs of shoes which they had carried off."* The interpreter was afterwards invited to a dance, and a friendly un- derstanding seemed to be established; but Captain Franklin soon discovered that the professions of the natives were hollow and treacherous; and nothing but his jealous precautions saved him and his com- panions from massacre, in which it had been resolved to include the faithful Augustus. Their voyage along the coast in the direction of west-north-west, after a progress of twelve miles, was * Franklin's Second Journey, pp. 108, 109.CONTINUANCE OP THE VOYAGE, 267 impeded by the ice stretching from the shore far to seaward. The boats were in consequence hauled up; and as the frozen masses were piled round to the height of thirty feet, it became necessary to await the breaking up of this formidable barrier. Having gone to sleep, the officers were startled at midnight by the guard calling to arms : Three Es- quimaux, belonging to a larger party encamped at some distance, had stolen forward, and been only discovered when close at hand. Alarmed at the ap- pearance of the men, who stood to their arms, the strangers were on the point of discharging their ar- rows, when they were arrested by the loud voice of Augustus, who explained the object of the expedi- tion, and dilated upon the advantages which they would derive from it. A present confirmed his statement, and an amicable intercourse was opened, -—a line, however, being first drawn at a certain distance from the tents, across which no Esquimaux was to pass under the penalty of being instantly shot. Against this they made no remonstrance, only remarking, when informed of the treacherous conduct of the natives at the mouth of Mackenzie River, that " these were bad men, altogether dif- ferent from them, and never failed either to steal or quarrel whenever an opportunity was offered/* The delight exhibited by these people, including the most elderly among them, on receiving any little present, was exactly similar to that of children when they get hold of toys. They ran from one thing to another ; examined with restless curiosity every part of Augustus' dress, who, to gratify his vanity, had put on his gayest apparel; and, ignorant of the uses of the articles presented to them, they walk-268 FRIENDLY ESQUIMAUX: ed about with cod-fish hooks and awls dangling from the nose, and copper thimbles strung to their trousers or rein-deer jackets. The men were ro- bust, and taller than those seen on the east coast by Captain Parry, though their manner of life appear- ed to be nearly the same. With the broad nose and small eyes, which peculiarly distinguish the whole Esquimaux tribes, they had the cheekbones less projecting than those of the eastern coast. From a constant exposure to the glare of the ice and snow, the whole party were afflicted with sore eyes, and two of the old men seemed nearly blind. They wore the hair on the upper lip and chin, and every man had pieces of bone or shells thrust through the septum of the nose, whilst holes were pierced on each side of the under lip, in which were placed circular pieces of ivory with a large blue bead in the centre,—ornaments which they valued highly, and declined selling. Their clothes consisted of a jacket of rein-deer skin, with a skirt behind and before, and a small hood; breeches of the same material, and large seal-skin boots. The dress of the females differed from that of the men only in their wearing wide trousers, and in the size of their hoods, which did not fit close to the head, but were made large for the purpose of receiving their chil- dren : these were ornamented with stripes of dif- ferent coloured skins, and round the top was fas- tened a band of wolf's hair, made to stand erect. The women were from four feet and a half to four feet three quarters high, and some of the younger, though too corpulent, were pretty; their black hair was tastefully turned up from behind to the top of the head, and braided with strings of white andTHEIR DRESS AND MANNERS blue beads and cords of white deer-skin. Both men and women were much pleased by having their portraits sketched by Captain Back; and one young lady, who sat for a full-length and chose the extra- ordinary attitude of stuffing both hands into her breeches-pockets, interrupted the labours of the draughtsman by repeatedly jumping into the air, and smiling in a very ludicrous and irresistible manner. The men were armed with bows and ar- rows, long knives, which they concealed in the shirt- sleeve, and spears tipped with bone.* * Franklin's Second Journey, pp. 118, 119.270 POINTS SABINE AND KAY. The Esquimaux had predicted,, that as soon as a strong wind began to blow from the land it would loosen the ice; and on 12th July a heavy rain with a pretty high gale set in, and opened up a passage. The boats accordingly were launched; and, passing a wide bay named by the commander after his friends Captains Sabine and King, they were suddenly ar- rested by a compact body of ice, and enveloped at the same time in a dense fog. On attempting to pull back for the purpose of landing, they discover- ed that the ice had closed between them and the shore. In this situation only one alternative was left, which was to pull to seaward and trace the outer border of the ice. This they at last effected ; though a sudden change of wind brought on a heavy swell, and surrounded them with floating masses of ice, which threatened to crush the boats to pieces. They succeeded, however, after five hours employed in pulling in and out between these floating icebergs, in reaching the shore and landing a little to the west of Point Sabine. After a detention of two days they proceeded as far as Point Kay; but being here again impeded by a compact body of ice, which extended to seaward as far as the eye could reach, they were obliged to encamp and wait patiently for the first strong breeze from the land. The time of their sojourn in these arctic solitudes was pleasantly occupied in making astronomical ob- servations, collecting specimens of the plants in flower, sketching scenery, and completing charts of the coast. Augustus went in search of his country- men, and returned at night with a young Esqui- maux and his wife, who, after a few presents, became loquacious, and informed them that the ice wouldHERSCHEL ISLAND. 271 soon break up* Symptoms of this desirable change were accordingly observed next day, and with great labour they reached Herschel Island. At the mo- ment they made the shore a herd of rein-deer came bounding down to the beach, pursued by three Esquimaux hunters, and immediately took the water, whilst the natives, startled at sight of the strangers, gazed for a moment, consulted amongst themselves, changed the heads of their arrows, and prepared their bows. Their hostile intentions, how- ever, were laid aside when they were addressed by Augustus; and in the evening a large party arrived, bringing dried meat, fish, and game, for which they received presents in exchange, which set them sing- ing and dancing round the encampment for the greater part of the night. From these people was collected some curious in- formation. They stated that they procured beads, knives, and iron, principally from Esquimaux re- siding far away to the west, and also from Indians who came annually from the interior by a river di- rectly opposite the encampment, to which Captain Franklin gave the name of Mountain Indian River.* Whence the Indians or the Esquimaux obtained these goods they could not tell, but supposed it was from Kabloonacht or white men, at a great distance to the west. The articles were not of British manufacture, from which Captain Franklin concluded that the Kabloonacht must be the Russian fur-traders. It was with great difficulty that the boats made even a short distance from Herschel Island. The ice repeatedly closed in upon them, leaving only a nar- Franklin's Second Journey, pp. 130,131.272 DENSE FOGS. row channel, often too shallow to float the boats, and dense fogs now became frequent, rendering their na- vigation peculiarly hazardous. These dreary curtains hanging over the ice gave it the appearance of water, and exposed them to the danger of being shut in by an impenetrable barrier when they expected an open sea. They continued their course, however, till they came abreast of Mount Conybeare, when they encamped, and crossing a swampy level ascended to the summit, from which they enjoyed a striking view into the interior. Three noble ranges of moun- tains were seen parallel to the Buckland chain, but of less altitude, whilst the prospect was bounded by a fourth range, mingling their pyramidal summits with the clouds, and covered with snow. From this last encampment their advance was extremely slow. The boats were pushed forward through small lanes, the utmost vigilance being necessary to prevent their being entirely shut in, as a few hours often made essential changes, and their frail craft could only be saved by being frequently hauled upon the beach. The calm weather also re- tarded them, and they earnestly longed for a strong gale to break up the compacted fields of ice, and permit them to continue their voyage. After a detention of some days their wishes seem- ed about to be gratified: At midnight, on the 25th July, a strong south-westerly breeze sprung up, accompanied by thunder and lightning; but in the morning an impenetrable fog hung over the sea. On the land side the prospect was equally dreary; an extensive swamp, in which they sunk ankle-deep at eveiy step, prevented any excursions into the in- terior, and the clouds of musquitoes which for ever 2CLARENCE RIVER. 273 buzzed around them kept them in a perpetual irrita- tion. At length, however, the fog dispersed, disclos- ing an open lane of water about half a mile from shore; following its course for eight miles they came to the mouth of a wide river, which had its rise in the British range of mountains. Its course approached near the line of demarcation between the American dominions of Great Britain and Russia, and Cap- tain Franklin named it the Clarence River after his present Majesty, then Lord High Admiral. On the most elevated part of the coast near its mouth they erected a pile of drift wood, under which was deposited a tin box, containing a royal silver medal, and an account of the proceedings of the expedition; after which the Union flag was hoist- ed with three hearty cheers. They now continued their voyage, though often beset by ice and interrupted by fogs, and passing the boundary between Russian and British America des- cried an encampment of natives on a low island, sur- rounded by many oomiaks and kayaks guarded by Esquimaux dogs, whilst their masters were fast asleep in the tents. The interpreter being despatched to rouse them, a singular scene took place. At his first call a little squabby woman rushed out in a state of perfect nudity, uttered a loud yell, and instantly ran back again to rouse her husband, who, shouting out that strangers were at hand, awoke the whole band. In a moment all seized their arms, and without wait- ing to put on their deer-skin breeches or jackets, swarmed out upon the beach, which in an instant was covered with fifty-four grown-up persons com- pletely naked, very outrageous, dirty, and ugly. A short parley quieted their fears, an interchange of R274 MOUNT COPLESTON. presents took place, and the boats crossed Camden Bay, haying in view the noble range of the Roman- zofE Mountains, whose peaks were covered with snow. Soon after: they arrived at the mouth of a river, which discharged into the sea so great a volume of water, that even three miles from land the taste was perfectly fresh; and having reached lati- tude 70° T) farther progress was prevented by ice closely packed on the outer border of a reef, and they discovered that the great chain of the Rocky Mountains either terminated abreast of their pre- sent situation, or receded so far to the southward as to fade away in the distance. During their detention Captain Back, to whose pencil we are indebted for many admirable drawings of arctic scenery, made a sketch of the most western moun- tain, which they named Mount Copleston.* Various circumstances now warned them that much farther progress along this inhospitable coast, was impracti- cable. The fogs became more frequent and perilous, the water was often so shallow that even at two miles from shore the boats grounded, and on getting into deeper soundings, the repeated shocks received from masses of, floating ice severely injured their timbers, especially those of the Lion, which was very leaky. Still they struggled on from Flaxman Island along a low desolate shore, rendered more dreary by the stormy weather, till on the 10th a gale brought along with it a thick fog, and they hauled up the boats, encamping on a low spot, which they named Foggy Island. Here they kindled fires, dried their clothes, which were completely wet with the mois- * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 150. See the Vignette to this Volume.ILLUSIONS OF THE FOG. 275 ture of the atmosphere, and amused themselves in their murky prison by proceeding in search of rein- deer. The fog caused frequent and sometimes ludi- crous mistakes ; and on one occasion, after the men had spent a long time in stealing upon some deer, and were congratulating themselves on coming within shot, to their amazement the animals took wing and disappeared in the fog, with a scream and cackle which at once declared their genus, and seemed to deride the credulity of their pursuers. "We wit- nessed with regret," says Captain Franklin, "in these short rambles, the havock which this dreary weather made among the flowers. Many which had been blooming upon our arrival were now lying prostrate and withered, and these symptoms of de- cay could not fail painfully to remind us that the term of our operations was fast approaching. Often at this time did every one express a wish that we had some decked vessel, in which the provisions could be secured from the injury of salt water, and the crew sheltered when they required rest, that we might quit this shallow coast and steer at once to- wards Icy Cape/'* So frequently did they attempt to fulfil this desire, and so perpetually were they driven back by the fog closing in upon them, that the sail- ors declared the island was enchanted. Indeed, to a superstitious mind, the appearances furnished some ground for believing it. The fog would often dis- perse, and permit a short glimpse of a point about three miles distant, bearing north-west by west ; in a moment every hand was at work, the boats were launched, the crews embarked; but before they Franklin's Second Journey, p. 154.276 DIFFICULTIES. could be dragged into deep water the spirit of the mist once more drew his impenetrable curtain round them,, and after resting a while on their oars, they were compelled to pull back to their old quarters. Scarcely had they kindled a fire and begun to dry their clothes, soaked with wading over the flats, when the fog again opened, the boats were launched, and the desired point almost gained; but their tor- mentor once more enveloped earth and ocean in a thicker gloom than before. " Fog is, of all others," says Captain Franklin, " the most hazardous state of the atmosphere for navigation in an icy sea, es- pecially where it is accompanied by strong breezes; but particularly so for boats where the shore is un- approachable. If caught by a gale, a heavy swell, or drifting ice, the result must be their wreck, or the throwing their provisions overboard, to lighten them so as to proceed in shoal-water. Many large pieces of ice were seen on the border of the shallow water, and from the lowness of the temperature we conclud- ed that the main body was at no great distance."* The nights were now lengthening; the grasses and the whole aspect of the vegetation was autumnal; their stores of drift-wood had been so much drawn upon, that though the tents were wet through, and they were for warmth obliged to wrap their feet in blankets, no fire was allowed except to cook the victuals. The provisions were barely sufficient for the support of the party on their return, whilst the frequency of the fogs, the shallowness which prevented the boats from floating, the heavy swell that, as the wind freshened, rose upon the flats, Franklin's Second Journey, p. 156.APPROACH OP WINTER. 277 compelled them to haul farther from land, and the danger which in doing so they necessarily incurred from the drift-ice.,—formed an accumulation of difficulties which rendered their progress from Point Anxiety across Prudhoe Bay to Return Reef the most discouraging and painful part of the whole voyage. It was now the 16th of August, and the boats, though the exertions of the crews had been unwearied, were only half-way between the mouth of Mackenzie River and Icy Cape. The young ice had already begun to form at night on the pools of fresh water, and the mind of the commander re- curred naturally and wisely to his former experience. He recollected that only one day later, and in a la- titude two degrees more southerly, he had in his first voyage encountered severe storms of wind and snow, and that in another fortnight the winter would set in with all its horrors. Already the sun began to sink below the horizon, and with this change the mean temperature of the atmosphere rapidly de- creased ; the deer were hastening from the coast; the Esquimaux had ceased to appear; no winter houses gave indications that this remote coast was inhabit- ed ; and the autumnal parties of geese hourly wing- ing their flight to the westward, indicated that win- ter had already surprised them in their polar soli- tudes. It had been Franklin's great object to double Icy Cape, and meet the expedition under Captain Beechey in Kotzebue's Inlet; but from the distance and the advanced season this was now impracticable. On the other hand, his instructions directed him, " if, in consequence of slow progress, or other un- foreseen accident, it should remain'doubtful whether the expedition should be able to reach Kotzebue's278 THE EXPEDITION COMPELLED TO RETURN. Inlet-the- same season, to commence their return on the 15th or 20th of August/' To relinquish the great object of his ambition, and to disappoint the confidence reposed in his exertions, was a sacrifice which cost him no ordinary pain; and had he been then aware of the fact (with which the reader will be immediately acquainted) that the barge of the Blossom was at that moment only 146 miles dis- tant, we have his own authority for stating that no difficulties or dangers would have prevailed on him to return; but, under the circumstances in which he was placed, to make any farther effort in advance was incompatible with the higher duties which he owed to his officers and crew. After a mature considera- tion of every thing, he formed the reluctant conclu- sion that they had reached the point where perse- verance would have been rashness, and their best efforts inust have only led to a more calamitous fail- ure.* It was resolved therefore to return; and on the morning of the 18th August they began their retreat to the Mackenzie River, which, without any material danger, with the exception of a severe gale encountered off Point Kay, they regained on the 4th of September., Thence they proceeded to Fort Franklin, where they met Dr Richardson, Mr Kendall, and their friends of the eastern expedition, who, after a prosperous and interesting voyage to the mouth of the Coppermine, had returned to the Fort on the 1st September. Of this interesting journey our limits will only permit a very cursory glance. Fortunately for the eastern expedition, the coast between the mouths '* Franklin's Second Journey, pp. 161, 162, 165.EASTERN EXPEDITION. 279 of the Mackenzie and the Coppermine Rivers pre- sented none of those serious obstacles which at every step were starting up in the dreary and protracted route of the western party ; and they consequently accomplished a voyage of about 500 miles/between the 4th of July and 8th of August. It was emi- nently successful in the accurate survey of this hitherto unexplored coast, but unvaried by any re- markable incidents. The Esquimaux on various parts of the coast were more numerous, pacific, com- fortable, and wealthy, than the western tribes; but their civilisation had not eradicated the propensities for thieving. On one occasion the boats were sur- rounded by a fleet of about fifty kayaks, and an attack was made exactly similar to that upon Frank- lin ; but though the object was the same it was pursued with less vigour^ and the moment the sailors levelled their muskets the whole party dispersed with precipitation. On arriving at Atkinson Island they discovered, under shelter of a chain of sand-hills drifted by the wind to the height of thirty feet, a small Esquimaux town, consisting of seventeen winter houses, besides a larger building, which Dr Richardson at first conjec- tured to be a house of assembly for the tribe. Oolig- buck the interpreter, however, whose ideas were more gross and commonplace, pronounced it to be a gene- ral eating-room. " This large building/' says Dr Richardson,ee was in the interior a square of twenty- seven feet, having the log roof supported on two strong ridge-poles two feet apart, and resting on four up- right posts. The floor in the centre formed of split logs, drest and laid with great care, was surrounded by a raised border about three feet wide, which was280 ESQUIMAUX TOWN. no doubt meant for seats. The walls three feet high were inclined outwards, for the convenience of lean- ing the back against them, and the ascent to the door, which was on the south side, was formed of logs. The outside, which was covered with earth, had nearly a hemispherical form, and round its base were ranged the skulls of twenty-one whales. There was a square hole in the roof, and the central log of the floor had a basin-shaped cavity one foot in diameter, which was perhaps intended for a lamp. The general attention to comfort in the construction of the village, and the erection of a building of such magnitude, requiring a union of purpose in a con- siderable number of people, were evidences of a more advanced progress towards civilisation than had yet been found amongst the Esquimaux. Whale-skulls were confined to the large building, and to one of the dwelling-houses, which had three or four placed round it. Many wooden trays and hand-barrows for carrying whale-blubber were lying on the ground, most of them in a state of decay."* On making the traverse of Harrowby Bay, land was seen round the bottom; and on nearing shore twelve tents were distinguished on an adjoining eminence. When the boats appeared, a woman who was walking along the beach, gave the alarm and the men rushed out, brandishing their knives, and employing the most furious expressions. In vain Goligbuck endeavoured to calm their apprehensions, explaining that the strangers were friends; they only replied by shouts, leaps, or hideous grimaces, intended to inspire terror, and displayed great agi- Franklin's Second Journey, p. 217.DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIVES. 281 lity, frequently standing on one foot and throwing the other nearly as high as their head. Dr Richard- son^ nothing intimidated by these gesticulations, be- thought himself of enouncing, at the highest key he could reach, the word " Noowcerlawgo," meaning, " I wish to barter," and the sound operated like a spell. The savages instantly became quiet; one of them ran to his kayak, paddled off to the boats, and was followed by crowds, who fearlessly came alongside, readily exchanging bows, arrows, spears, and dressed seal-skins, for bits of old iron-hoop, files, and beads. " The females," says Richardson, ec un- like those of the Indian tribes, had much handsomer features than the men; and one young woman of the party would have been deemed pretty even in Europe. Our presents seemed to render them per- fectly happy, and they danced with such ecstasy in their slender boats as to incur more than once great hazard of being overset. A bundle of strings of beads being thrown into an oomiak, it was caught by an old woman, who hugged the treasure to her breast with the strongest expression of rapture; while another elderly dame, who had stretched out her arms in vain, became the very picture of de- spair. On its being explained, however, that the present was intended for the whole party, an ami- cable division took place; and to show their grati- tude, they sang a song to a pleasing air, keeping time with their oars. They gave us many pressing invitations to pass the night at their tents, in which they were joined by the men; and to excite our li- berality the mothers drew their children out of their wide boots, where they are accustomed to carry them naked, and holding them up, begged282 THE COPPERMINE RIVER. beads for them. For a time their entreaties were successful; but being desirous of getting clear of our visiters before breakfast-time, we at length told them the stock was exhausted, and they took leave."* The voyage, owing to the clear atmosphere, the unencumbered state of the coast, and the abundant supply of provisions, was pursued with ease and com- fort ; and on 8th August having made a bold cape, rising precipitously from the sea to the height of 350 feet, Dr Richardson and Mr Kendall climbed the promontory, and descried in the distance the gap in the hills at Bloody Fall, through which the Copper- mine holds its course. Delighted with the prospect of so near a termination of their labours, they com- municated the intelligence to the crew, who received it with expressions of profound gratitude to the Di- vine Being for his protection during the voyage. On reaching the river the men were in excellent con- dition, fresh and vigorous for the march across the barren grounds on their return to Fort Franklin, which, as already mentioned, they reached in safety on the 1st of September. On approach- ing within a few days' journey of the fort, a plea- sant adventure occurred, characteristic of Indian gratitude and friendship. The party had supped, and most of the men were retired to rest, when Mr Kendall, in sweeping the horizon with his telescope, descried three Indians coming down a hill towards the encampment. More moss was thrown on the fire, and the St George's ensign hoisted on the end of a musket, to show the comers that they were ap- proaching friends; but they hid the youngest of * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 226.RETURN TO FORT FRANKLIN. 283 their number in a ravine, and approached slowly arid with suspicion. Mr Kendall and Dr Richard- son immediately went unarmed to meet them, and as they came up one held his bow and arrows ready in his hand, and the other cocked his gun; but as soon as they recognised the Doctor's dress,'—the same he had worn the preceding autumn in his voyage round Bear Lake, and which was familiar to most of the Hare Indians,—they shouted in an ecstasy of joy, shook hands most cordially, and called loudly for the young lad whom they had hid to come up. "The meeting," says Dr Richardson, " was highly gratifying to ourselves as well as to the kind natives; for they seemed to be friends come to rejoice with us on the happy termination of our voyage."* It had naturally occurred to government, that if the expeditions under Captains Parry and Frank- lin should be successful, their stores would be ex- hausted by the time they reached Behring's Strait. It was certain also that Franklin would be destitute of any means of conveyance to Europe;%and to supply these wants government resolved that a ves- sel should be sent out to await their arrival in Beh- ring's Strait. For this purpose, accordingly, Cap- tain F. W. Beechey sailed in the Blossom from Spithead on the 19th May 1825. The vessel was a twenty-six-gun ship; but on this occasion mount- ed only sixteen. She was partially strengthened, and adapted to this peculiar service by increasing her stowage. A boat was also supplied to be used as a tender, built as large as the space on deck would * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 274.284 beechey's voyage. allow, schooner-rigged^ decked, and fitted up in the most complete manner. Cloth, beads, cutlery, and various other articles of traffic, were put on hoard, and a variety of antiscorbutics were added to the usual allowance of provision. Aware that he must tra- verse a large portion of the globe hitherto little ex- plored, and that a considerable period would elapse before his presence was required on the coast of America, Captain Beechey was instructed to survey the parts of the Pacific within his reach, of which it was important to navigators that a more correct de- lineation should be laid down. These observations were not, however, to retard his arrival at the ap- pointed rendezvous later than the 10th of July 1826; and he was directed to remain at Behring's Strait to the end of October, or to as late a period as the season would admit, without incurring the risk of spending the winter there. During this interval he was to navigate from Kotzebue's Sound northward, and afterwards to continue in an easterly course along the main shore as far as the ice would allow. Captain Beechey's survey of various portions of the Pacific does not fall within the plan of this work. On the 2d of June, having left the Sandwich Isles, he shaped his course for Kamtschatka, and on the 27th was becalmed within six miles of Petro- palauski. The best guides to this harbour are a range of high mountains, on one of which, upwards of 11,000 feet in height, a volcano is in constant action. It was a serene and beautiful evening when they approached this remote quarter of the world, and all were struck with the magnificence of the mountains capped with perennial snow, and rising in solemn grandeur one above the other. At inter-STILL NIGHT IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 285 vals the volcano emitted dark columns of smoke; and from a sprinkling of black spots upon the snow to the leeward it was conjectured there had been a recent eruption. From Petropalauski Captain Beechey sailed on the 1st of July for Kotzebue's Sound. "We approached/' says he, "the strait which separates the two great continents of Asia and America, on one of those beautiful still nights well known to all who have visited the arctic re- gions, when the sky is without a cloud, and when the midnight sun, scarcely his own diameter below the horizon, tinges with a bright hue all the north- ern circle. Our ship, propelled by an increasing breeze, glided rapidly along a smooth sea, startling from her path flocks of aquatic birds, whose flight, in the deep silence of the scene, could be traced by the ear to a great distance." Having closed in with the American shore some miles northward of Cape Prince of Wales, they were visited by a little Esqui- maux squadron belonging to a village situated on a low sandy island. The natives readily sold every thing they possessed, and were cheerful and good- humoured, though exceedingly noisy and energetic. Their bows were more slender than those of the islanders to the southward, but made on the same principle, with drift-pine, assisted with thongs of hide or pieces of whalebone placed at the back, and neatly bound with small cord. The points of their arrows were of bone, flint, or iron, and their spears headed with the same materials. Their dress was similar to that of the other tribes on the coast. It consisted of a shirt which reached half-way down the thigh, with long sleeves and a hood of rein-deer skin, and edged with gray or white fox fur. Be-286 LUDICROUS APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES. sides this they had a jacket of eider-drake skins sewed together, which, when engaged in war, they wore below their other dress, reckoning it a toler- ably efficient protection against an arrow or a spear- thrust. In wet weather they threw over the fur dress a shirt made of the entrails of the whale, which, being well saturated with oil and grease, was water tight; and they also used breeches of deer's hide and seal-skin boots, to the upper end of which were fixed strings of sea-horse hide. It was their fashion to tie one of these strings round the waist, and attach to it a long tuft of hair, the wing of a bird, or sometimes a fox's tail, which, dangling be- hind: as they walked, gave them a ridiculous ap- pearance, and may probably have occasioned the report of the Tschuktschi recorded in Muller that the people of this country have tails like dogs.* On the 22d July, the ship anchored in Kotzebue's Sound, and after exploring a deep inlet on its nor- thern shore, which they named Hotham Inlet, pro- ceeded to Chamisso Island, where the Blossom was to await Captain Franklin. A discretionary power had, however, been permitted to Captain Beechey, of employing the period of his stay in surveying the coast, provided this could be done without the risk of missing Captain Franklin. Having accordingly directed the barge to keep in-shore on the look-out for the land-party, he sailed to the northward, and doubling Cape Krusenstern, completed an examina- tion of the coast by Cape Thomson, Point Hope, Cape Lisburn, Cape Beaufort, and Icy Cape, the farthest point reached by Captain Cook. As there Beechey's Voyage, vol. i. p. 341.AURORA BOREALIS* 287 were here strong indications of the ice closing in, and his instructions were positive to keep in open water if possible, he determined to return to Kotze- bue's Sound, whilst he despatched the barge under Mr Elson and Mr Smyth to trace the coast to the north-eastward, as far as they could navigate. On this interesting service the barge set out on 17th August, whilst Beechey returned towards Kotzebue's Sound. On the night of the 25th they beheld, for the first time in these northern latitudes, a brilliant display of the Aurora Borealis. ce It first appeared," says Captain Beechey, " in an arch ex- tending from west by north to north-east; but the arch shortly after its first appearance broke up and entirely disappeared. Soon after this, however, a new display began in the direction of the western foot of the first arch, preceded by a bright flame from which emanated coruscations of a pale straw colour. An almost simultaneous movement occur- red at both extremities of the arch, until a complete segment was formed of wavering perpendicular radii, As soon as the arch was complete, the light became greatly increased, and the prismatic colours, which had before been faint, now shone forth in a very brilliant manner. The strongest colours, which were also the outside ones, were pink and green, on the green side purple and pink, all of which were as imperceptibly blended as in the rainbow. The green was the,colour nearest the zenith. This mag- nificent display lasted a few minutes; and the light had nearly vanished, when the north-east quarter sent forth a vigorous display, and nearly at the same time a corresponding coruscation emanated from the opposite extremity. The western foot of 5288 ESQUIMAUX CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS. the arch then disengaged itself from the horizon, crooked to the northward, and the whole retired to the north-east quarter, where a bright spot blazed for a moment, and all was darkness. There was no noise audible during any part of our observa- tions, nor were the compasses perceptibly affected/'* During the voyage back to Chamisso Island, where they arrived on 27th August, they had repeated in- terviews with the Esquimaux, whose habits and disposition were in no respect different from those of the natives already described. They found them uniformly friendly, sociable, devotedly fond of to- bacco, eager to engage in traffic, and upon the whole honest, though disposed to drive a hard bargain. On some occasions they attempted to impose upon their customers, by skins artfully put together so as to represent an entire fish; but it was difficult to determine whether they intended a serious fraud or only a piece of humour, for they laughed heartily when detected, and appeared to consider it a good joke. Their persons, houses, and cookery, were all exceedingly dirty, and their mode of salutation was by a mutual contact of noses; sometimes licking their hands and stroking first their own faces, and afterwards those of the strangers.t The rapidity with which these people migrated from place to place was remarkable. On one occasion the motions of two baidars under sail were watched by the crew of the Blossom. The people landed at a spot near Choris Peninsula, drew up the boats on the beach, turning them bottom upwards, pitched tents, and in an incredibly short time transferred to them the * Beechey's Voyage, vol. i. p. 387. 1* ^id. pp. 345, 391.elson's expedition. 289 whole contents of their little vessels. On visiting the encampment an hour after, every thing was found in as complete order as if they had been do- miciliated on the spot for months ; and the surprise of the sailors was raised to the highest by the va- riety of articles which, in almost endless succession, they produced from their little boats. " From the two baidars they landed fourteen persons, eight tent- poles, forty deer-skins, two kayaks, many hundred- weight of fish, numerous skins of oil, earthen jars for cooking, two living foxes, ten large dogs, bundles of lances, harpoons, bows and arrows, a quantity of whalebone, skins full of clothing, some immense nets made of hide for taking small whales and porpoises, eight broad planks, masts, sails, paddles, &c., be- sides sea-horse hides and teeth, and a variety of nameless articles always to be found among the Esquimaux."* In the mean time, Mr Elson in the barge proceed- ed along the shore for seventy miles, as far as a pro- montory, denominated by Beechey Cape Barrow, which was afterwards discovered to be only distant 146 miles from the extreme point of Franklin's dis- coveries. Upon this new line of coast posts were erected at various distances, with directions for Captain Franklin, should he succeed in pushing so far to the westward. A frequent communication was opened with the inhabitants, who were found to resemble the other Esquimaux, with the unpleasant difference that their manners were more rude and boisterous, and their conduct in some instances decid- edly hostile. Point Barrow, the most northerly * Beechey's Voyage, vol. i. p. 405. s290 elson's discoveries. part of America yet discovered, formed the termi- nation to a spit of land jutting out several miles from the more regular coast-line. The width of the neck did not exceed a mile and a half; on the ex- tremity were several small lakes, and on its eastern side a village. The danger of being shut in by the ice was now great,, and Mr Elson determined to land; obtain the necessary observations, erect a post, and deposite instructions for Franklin. This plan, however, was frustrated by the violent conduct of the natives, who assembled in formidable numbers, and threatened to attack the crew of the barge, which consisted only of eight men. It was there- fore judged prudent to proceed as speedily as possi- ble to the rendezvous at Chamisso Island, which they reached on the 9th of September, not without considerable difficulty, having been obliged to track the barge round Cape Smyth, through a sea thick- ly beset with ice, that threatened every moment to close with its impenetrable walls and cut off their return. The result of Captain Beechey's voyage, and of the expedition undertaken under his orders by Mr Elson and Mr Smyth, was the addition of a new and extensive line of coast to the geography of the polar regions. The actual distance between the extreme points reached by Captain Franklin and Mr Elson being so small, there is every rea- son to believe that the navigation of this remain- ing portion will not be attended with any very for- midable or insurmountable obstacles. In the following year Beechey, in obedience to his instructions, returned to Kotzebue's Sound, and recommenced his examination of the coast in the hope of extending his survey beyond Cape Barrow,RETURN OF BEECHEY. 291 and either joining Franklin or collecting some cer- tain intelligence regarding his enterprise. In both objects he had the mortification to fail: He found the posts erected the preceding year and the buried bottles remaining untouched, and the state of the weather rendered it necessary to put about be- fore reaching Icy Cape. It had been previously arranged, that the signal to be used by Franklin, if he arrived on an unknown coast during the night, should be a beacon kindled on the cliffs; and, on passing Cape Krusenstern after dark, their attention was arrested by a large fire blazing on an eminence. Every eye on board was fixed on the welcome light, and every bosom beat with the delightful expec- tation of soon seeing their friends. The ship was brought to, and hope almost passed into certainty, as a boat was seen pulling from the shore. On ex- amining her through the telescope by the light of the Aurora Borealis, some sanguine spirits declared they could discern that she was propelled by oars instead of paddles, and it needed only a slight ad- ditional exertion of the fancy to be assured that the dress of the crew was European. In the midst of these excited and enthusiastic feelings, the harsh and boisterous voices of the natives suddenly broke on their ear, and the pleasing picture which their imagination had been so busy in constructing faded away in a moment, leaving nothing before them but two sorry Esquimaux baidars and their unlovely occupants. From this point Captain Beechey's voyage pre- sented few features of new or striking interest. In Behring's Strait they were visited by a splendid exhibition of the Aurora Borealis, and under its292 ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. coruscations of pink., purple,, and green rays, which shot up to the zenith in the shape of a gigantic cone/ they, anchored off Chamisso Island. After the discovery of two capacious harbours, which they named Port Clarence and Grantley Harbour, they took their final departure from the Polar Sea on the 6th October 1827. On the 29th, a flight of large white pelicans apprized them of their approach to the coast of California; and after touching at Monterey and San Bias, they arrived at Valparaiso on the 29th April 1828. On the 30th June, they passed the meridian of Cape Horn in a gloomy snow-storm, and made Rio on the 21st July. Their voyage from Rio to England was completed in forty- nine days, and they arrived at Spithead on the 12th October 1828. He found that the expedition of Franklin had preceded him in his return by more than a year, having reached Liverpool on the 26th September 1827; its transactions occupied two years and nearly eight months, whilst Beechey had been absent on his voyage three years and a half.the NATURAL HISTORY of the NORTHERN REGIONS OF AMERICA. CHAPTER V. Introductory Observations„ Amelioration in the Character of European Intercourse with uncivil- ized Nations—The Absence of Sandy Deserts, a grand Feature in the Physical Attributes of America—General Boundaries of the Districts afterwards treated of in Detail—Early Sources of Information regarding- the Natural History of North America- General View of the Fur-countries—^Passages across the Rocky Mountains—Plains and Valleys along the Pacific Shore. The preceding historical narrative will have rendered our readers familiar with the progress of navigation and discovery along the shores of North America; while the sketches which have been presented of the journeys of Hearne and Mackenzie, as well as of the more recent expeditions of Franklin and Richardson, will have exhi- bited an accurate and interesting picture of whatever is most worthy of record in the history and habits of the more central tribes. The unextinguishable boldness and persevering bravery of the human race are strikingly manifested by these achievements in maritime and inland ad.venture; and while we are too often shocked by the recital of deeds of violence and bloodshed,—by unprovoked and unpardonable aggression on the part of the invaders, and by unsparing revenge, in retaliation, by the darker savage,—we cannot but admire the energy and reckless daring exhibited on either side, though we may too often294 NATURAL HISTORY. regret the want of a gentler and more humanizing spirit. In regard^ however, to the later expeditions,, especially those from the British shores, the philanthropist and phi- losopher must have been alike delighted by the ameliora- tion which has taken place in our mode of intercourse with the " painted men/' who are no longer massacred as the beasts that perish, but, even when sought after origi- nally from motives not entirely disinterested, are yet re- garded as beings in whom the great Creator has implanted the germ of an immortal life* But by what a catalogue of crimes was the name of Christian first made known to many nations of the Western World; and by what cruel tyranny and the sword of an exterminating war, were not the insidious pretences of peace so often followed up by the civilized nations of Europe! The cross was indeed but a vain and hollow symbol in the hands of those blood- stained and avaricious men, who sought to plant upon a false foundation that glorious banner to which God alone giveth the increase. The last entry in the following sumptuous enumeration was probably omitted in the books of those proud traders:—" The merchandise of gold; and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thy- ine wood; and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood; and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon; and odours; and ointments; and frankincense; and wine; and oil, and fine flour; and wheat; and beasts, and sheep; and horses; and chariots; and slaves, and—souls of men We have now to describe the characteristic features of the Natural History of the Northern Parts of America, a task rendered comparatively easy; in many important par- ticulars; by the labours of those intrepid men; the recital of whose adventurous expeditions by land and sea has already engaged the attention of the reader. Indeed we know of no better or more conclusive argument against those who venture to doubt the propriety of scientific ex- ploration; on account of the uncertain fulfilment of some of our most sanguine expectations; than the great advance- ment which has recently been effected in our natural know- ledge of far countries. It is true that the north-west pas- sage has not yet been achieved; and it may be true that it * Revelations, xviii. 12,13.INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 295 never will be achieved, consistently with the strictly utili- tarian views of merely commercial enterprise; but even although we should never have it in our power to substi- tute bad muskets for the arrows and harpoons of the skin- clad Esquimaux, and should be for ever doomed to a con- tinuance of our present lengthened navigation to the east- ern shores of Asia,—still it is something to say tha;t we have almost completed our geographical knowledge of the circumference of the northern parallels of the earth; and that if the merchant cannot exchange his commodities by a more rapid route, a stock of intellectual food, and a rich library both of useful and entertaining knowledge, has been already provided, and will doubtless increase for the benefit of future generations. It is to the two expe- ditions under Sir John Franklin that we owe the better part of our information regarding the natural history of the interior districts of the fur-countries of North Ame- rica ; and although the collecting of specimens did cer- tainly form but a secondary object in comparison with those great geographical problems, the solution of which was looked forward to as the principal and more important result, yet it is gratifying to know that in the performance of higher duties of difficult and dangerous achievement, these resolute men neglected nothing which could in any way conduce to the completion of our knowledge of the countries they explored. Before entering into, any zoological details, we shall de- vote a brief space to the consideration of one of the most peculiar and influential features in the physical character of the New World, viz. the absence of sandy deserts. It has been well observed that the physical conformation of North America precludes the possibility of those arid wastes. They result from a want of moisture, and attach to such extended plains, in the more immediate vicinity of the tropics, as are too vast and disproportioned in relation to the quantity of rain which nature has assigned them ; for there— "No cloud of morning dew Doth travel through the waste air's pathless blue, To nourish those far deserts.1' They drink and are for ever dry; for the castellated glo- ries of cloud-land float over them in vain; and even when rent by thunderbolts, or illuminated by the blinding glare of the red lightning, they never hear the refreshing music296 NATURAL HISTORY. of the voice " of many waters." Geographical observa- tion points out that whenever a continent or country is expanded for more than a few hundred miles beneath an equatorial sky,, with a surface comparatively low and flat, it will become a desert. This is nothing more than the natural result of its inability to be supplied with moisture. A great proportion of Africa, the central regions of Asia, Arabia, and even those parts of Indostan where moun- tains do not prevail, have become steril and deserted. Vast chasms are thus created in which neither animal nor vege- table life can flourish. New Holland probably owes its moisture to its insular situation; and the peninsular form is no doubt highly advantageous in that respect to the regions of Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, while the mountain-ridges of In- dostan render it essential service. It is chiefly owing either to the vicinage of the sea, or of some Alpine tract of terri- tory, that those parts of Asia and Africa which the great deserts do not reach, have become the fit abodes of the human race. Over a great extent of Central Africa, and some parts of Asia, along the coasts of the Red Sea and of the Indian Ocean, there does not seem to exist a suffi- ciency of mountain-ranges to collect from the atmosphere such stores of moisture as are necessary to fertilize those thirsty plains, and clothe their arid wastes with verdure. No commanding Cordilleras overlook those burning de- serts,—no upland vales, nor cool and cloud-capped sum- mits, each with its huge recess, " That keeps till June December's snow," serve as the perennial fountains of refreshing water. Let us briefly consider a few of the leading physical characters of America, with a view to ascertain the cause of its exemption from desert regions.* Within and in the vicinity of the tropic, North America is composed of what may, comparatively, be regarded as a narrow slip. It enjoys all the advantages of an insular position, and is re- freshed on either side by the vapours of the translucent sea. Besides, the Cordilleras traverse the whole space, rising upon the Mexican table-land to an elevation of * See a short paper entitled " The United States are exempt from Deserts, and all the Evils consequent thereon," published m Mr Featherstonhaugh's Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science. Philadelphia, August 1831.INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 29 7 11,000 feet. All the winds of heaven,, and especially the deeply-saturated trades, pour forth their never-ceasing vapours on this well-disposed region, and clothe its lengthened slopes and undulating plains with all the rich luxuriance of a life-sustaining vegetation. " These friend- ly mountains, after upheaving the tropical parts of our continent to the regions of eternal verdure, bear aloft their wide-spread arms (the Chipewyan and Alleghany ranges) as far as it is necessary to counteract the heats of a southern sun, and impart fertility to the great valley of the Mississippi, which seems especially confined to their fostering care. But when elevations become no longer essential to the certainty of moisture and vegetation, they sink into the great plains of Canada, and disappear. How wise is this arrangement! For, if these mountains had carried their characteristic elevation far north, they would have chilled, with their eternal snows, all the northern portion of our country, and rendered it barren,—not from drought and deserts, but, what is equally to be deprecated, the blights of intolerable cold. These friendly ranges of mountains are thus the everlasting guarantee of our coun- try's fertility. The Alleghany range derives its moisture from the Atlantic, and waters not only all the states that intervene between it and that ocean, but the states and districts that rest upon its western base, and contributes its full part to the great plains of Mississippi and Missouri The Rocky, or Chepewyan range, draws heavily from the Pacific Ocean, and abundantly waters, not only that slope, but the extended plains which meet its eastern base. The narrow slopes of the two ranges of mountains which border the two oceans, are easily and very naturally ir- rigated from those oceans; and their slopes, pointing in- wards from the oceans and the plains immediately in contact with them, draw moisture from the numerous founts and reservoirs of the mountains themselves. The great valley of the Mississippi, however, is too extensive, and too important to the rising generation of this coun- try, to be left to any uncertain supply of moisture. The sources of the mountains with which it is enfiladed might prove to be inadequate, and certainly would, if all de- pended on them. Other guarantees are found, and pow- erful aids provided in the case. That great valley opens itself without barrier, on the southern end, to the trade- winds, which become deflected by the Mexican coast,298 NATURAL HISTORY. enter it fraught with all the moisture of the gulf, and deposite on this region a supply literally inexhaustible, because those winds themselves are perpetual/'* But even should the vast masses of vapour which gather over these majestic mountains, and are carried thither by the trade-winds, be insufficient to supply with moisture the almost boundless plains of the Western World, Providence has there collected the mightiest reservoirs of fresh water which exist on the surface of the known earth. The vast lakes of Canada, over which the winds are perpetually sweeping, and from which arise innumerable clouds of vapour, insure a never-failing supply of water to the con- tiguous portions of the plain. Thus, table-lands and rocky mountains, a circumambient ocean, and the most magnificent internal reservoirs, all co-operate to insure, especially to the territory of the United States, a perpetual supply of moisture. The natural fertility of the soil is therefore great, and yields abundantly and with certainty to the wants of man. This humidity is moreover well- tempered, and is rarely poured forth in superabundance. In some northern European countries, and even in Great Britain and Ireland, our own familiar homes, the crops more frequently fail from excess than deficiency of mois- ture. In the former case, the grain is either blighted in the field, or it moulds and rots in the granary, or ac- quires a musty smell and flavour which render it unfit for the production of the finer breads. Wherever deserts prevail to a great extent, they not only prevent vegetation, and, consequently, preclude the pos- sibility of a numerous population, but they also exercise a prejudicial influence over all the habitable neighbour- ing regions. They draw from them their moisture, and thus render their vegetation precarious. The heats that steam from deserts enfeeble the vegetable life of the ad- joining districts, and the sirocco-winds, collecting delete- rious matters from their fevered surface, carry languor, disease, and death, in their course, and convert the ver- dant freshness of nature into an arid wilderness. When the seasons and the climate of a country are uncertain, when no human effort can control them, and no art or foresight render the results of labour available, the human creature himself partakes of the wildness and ir- * Ibid.INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 299 regularity of outward nature, and is either a victim of the wrathful elements, or a fierce and relentless devastator in his turn. Even the very form of man, in connexion with deserts, is deprived of much of its natural symmetry; it is thin, dry, emaciated, and of a black or swarthy hue. He seems there formed, as it were, to drift with the sands, to move his limber and elastic frame with all the quick- ness that uncertainty may require; but he possesses not the muscular powers requisite to continuous and effective labour. " In such countries population is sparse, and the few who draw a scanty support from the stinted and un- certain vegetation are unfixed in their habits, and wan, derers. They realize nothing—improve not their condi- tion—are actuated by the sudden impulses of want, or the emergency occasioned by the irregularities of the elements around them. If industry exists not, and human labour be unavailable, none of those improvements which change the condition of our race, and give to us character and comfort, have any existence. Without surplus produc- tion there can be no commercial exchanges; a limit is thus placed to social improvement, and a barrier erected against civilisation. Man, under such a state of things, cannot multiply his race, because his supply of food is limited,—nor create wealth, because his labour is unpro- ductive and without stimulus,—nor make valuable im- provements in the arts, comforts, and intercourse of society, because he has neither the means nor the necessary num- bers,—nor can Jie polish and refine himself, because his state of society is essentially wild and violent."* In America the natural condition and consequent tendency of all things is widely different, for the human race is there exempted from deserts and their concomitant evils. Hence a mighty power of fertility is slumbering even among the most unpeopled wastes ; and nothing is wanting but the skill and persever- ance of man to make the " desert blossom as the rose." " Pure element of waters ! wheresoe'er Thou dost forsake tliy subterranean haunts, Green herbs, bright flowers, and berry-bearing plants, Rise into life, and in thy train appear; And, through the sunny portion of the year, Swift insects shine, thy hovering pursuivants. , But, if thy bounty fail, the forest pants, And hart, and hind, and hunter with his spear, Languish and droop together." * Featherstonhaugh's Monthly American Journal, vol. i. p. 80-300 natural history. The portion of North America with the natural his- tory of which we are now about to he engaged, is exclusive of the southern parts of the Canadas, and of the whole of the United States. But it comprehends the entire of those vast territories which lie to the northward of the 48th parallel/ from the northern shore of Lake Superior to Melville Island, in relation to latitude; and from New- foundland and the eastern cape of Labrador to the Pe- ninsula of Alaska,, the western termination of the Rus- sian dominions in America, in regard to longitude.* These districts are very generally known under the name of the American fur-countries, and it is indeed to the employes of the Hudson's Bay Company and other commercial travellers that we are largely indebted for information re- garding the zoological productions of several extensive tracts. For example; the earliest collections of the birds of Hudson's Bay were formed about 90 years ago by Mr Alexander Light, who was sent out by the Company in consequence of his knowledge of natural history. It has been also recorded that Mr Isham, for a long time a resi- dent governor of various forts in the fur-countries, oc- cupied his leisure in preparing the skins of beasts, birds, and fishes. These two gentlemen, we are informed by Dr Richardson, returned to England about the year 1745, and, fortunately for the advancement of science, intrusted their specimens to Mr George Edwards, the ingenious author of the " Natural History of Birds, and other rare imdescribed Animals,"—a publication which has been * In speaking of the boundaries of the almost boundless territo- ries of the Russian dominion, we feel inclined to qualify the expres- sion by the words used in the spirited inscription engraved on the piece of plate presented to Colonel Behm. That gentleman was commandant or the province of Kamtschatka in the time of Captain Cook, and had entertained the great navigator and his crews in a humane and generous spirit. The inscription, of which the compo- sition is graceful, runs as follows :—■ ViRO egregio magno de Behm; qui Imperatricis Augus- tissimae Catherinae auspiciis, summaque animi benignitate, saeva, qui- bus praeerat, Kamtschatkse littora, navibus nautisque Britannicis hospita praebuit; eosque in terminis, si qui essent Imperio Russico, frustra explorandis, mala multa perpessos iterata vice excepit, re- fecit, recreavit, et commeatu omni cumulate auctos dimisit; Rei xavalis Britannic.® septemvim in aliquam benevolentise tam insignis memoriam, amicissimo gratissimoque animo, suo, patri- aeque nomine, D. D. D. MDCCLXXXI.INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 301 characterized as the most original and valuable work of the kind in the English language. In the course of the year 1749, Ellis* and Drage,f the latter of whom was clerk to the California, published the respective narratives of their voyage, both of which tend to the illustration of natural history. Little information appears to have been received regard- ing these northern regions for about twenty years suc- ceeding the last-mentioned period. Mr William Wailes went to Hudson's Bay in 1768 for the purpose of making observations on the transit of Venus, and was intrusted on his return by Mr Graham, governor of the Company's fort at Severn River, with a collection of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, for presentation to the Royal Society. These specimens were described by John Reinhold For- ster,J and appear to have excited so much attention that the Royal Society requested that directions should be given by the governor and committee of the Hudson s Bay Company, with a view to the more frequent and ex- tensive collection and transmission of objects of natural history. Accordingly several hundred specimens of ani- mals and plants, collected at Fort Albany, were trans- mitted by Mr Humphrey Martin. His successor, Mr Hutchins, was still more industrious; for he not only prepared numerous specimens, but drew up minute de- scriptions of whatever quadrupeds and birds he could procure. It was in fact from his observations (preserved in a folio volume in the Library of the Hudson's Bay Company||) that Pennant and Latham chiefly derived whatever was valuable in their works§ regarding the feathered tribes of Hudson's Bay. Cook's third voyage threw some light, from circumstances not now very effi- cient, on the species of the north-west of America and Behring's Straits.Pennant's " Arctic Zoology" was published in 1785, and contains the most ample descrip- tive catalogue of Arctic American quadrupeds and birds * Voyage to Hudson's Ba}T in the Dobbs and California, -j- Voyage by Hudson's Straights. X Phil* Trans. 1772. || For this information we are indebted to Dr Richardson. Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. ii., Introduction, p. xi. § Arctic Zoology, and General Synopsis of Birds. From the want of engraved representations, and the subsequent destruction or dispersion of the specimens collected, it is now diffi- cult to identify the species with precision.302 NATURAL HISTORY. which had appeared prior to Dr Richardson's recent volumes. These may be regarded as among the more accu- rate sources of information up to the commencement of our own scientific expeditions by land and sea,—for although Umfraville and Hearne no doubt illustrate the habits of some of the more common species, and the well- known voyages of Vancouver, Portlock, Meares, and Langsdorff, to the north-west,—and the journeys of Lewis and Clarke to the banks of the Columbia, contri- bute to our stock of knowledge, yet no very important results were thereby obtained. The naturalists attached to Kotzebue's expedition also acquired some information regarding the zoology of the north-west coasts; and the Appendix to Captain Beechey's Voyage, now in prepara- tion, will probably throw considerable light on those for- lorn regions of the world.* The most exact and systematic information which we possess regarding the zoology of the extreme northern shores and insular groups of America is contained in the Appendices to the voyages of Captains Ross and Parry, in Mr Joseph Sabine's Appendix to the Narrative of Sir John * We should gladly have availed ourselves of the information contained in the Zoological Appendix to Captain Beechey's pub- lished voyage, which we understand has been for some time printed. It has not yet, however, made its appearance. Few specimens of quadrupeds were brought by that expedition from North America; and we are informed that the only new one was a squirrel from Ca- lifornia. Dr Richardson has supplied a list of all the mammalia known to inhabit the Pacific Coast to the north of California. It includes 70 species, of which the following are not in the Fauna Boreali- Americana: viz. Cams ochropus, lischscholtz, Zoologisch. Atl. pi. 2; Felis concolor; F. onca ; six species of seal; Tri- chechus rosmarus; Didelphis Viroiniana; Arvieola rubrica- tus (Rich.), described from Mr Collie's notes—(this animal was obtained in Behring's Straits, but no specimen was brought home; it is allied to Arvicola ceconomus of Pallas); Arctomys caliaata, Eschsch. pi. 6, a species resembling Arctomys pruinosus of Pen- nant; ana Sciurus CoIUcbi (Rich.), from San Bias, California. We are further informed that in this forthcoming Appendix, Mr Vigors enumerates nearly 100 species of birds; but as the localities at which they were procured were not originally noted with preci- sion, it will be the more difficult to define the ranges of those which characterize the northern regions. Few northern fishes were obtained; but Mr Bennet has furnished an account of such as were procured at Kamtschatka.INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 303 Franklin's first Journey, and in Dr Richardson's " Fauna Boreali-Americana,"—a work lately characterized as an " admirable volume, which, while it conveys more sub- stantial information on the subject of Arctic zoology than any publication that has appeared since the time of Pen- nant, is also highly valuable as correcting the occasional er- rors of that excellent work, and adding all the most useful and interesting information which has been more recently acquired/'* The best account which we yet possess of the zoology of Greenland is that of Otho Fabricius.t The ornithology of that country has likewise been ably illustrated by Captain Sabine. J We shall now proceed to give a concise general view of the nature of the different tracts of country of which we are afterwards to describe the zoological productions. This we shall do in conformity with the views so lucidly presented by Dr Richardson. || The Rocky Mountains form the most interesting and prominent feature in the physical geography of North America. Though much nearer the western than the eastern shore of that great continent, they appear to form, in relation to the distribution both of plants and animals, a strongly-marked line of demarcation, which presents a barrier to the progress or migration of many species. No doubt, the direction of this vast chain being from south to north, it lies in the line of, rather than at right angles to, the usual course of migration, %nd therefore opposes a less formidable barricade than if it were stretched across the continent. As it is, however, the natural produc- tions which occur on the plains on different sides of this lengthened range exhibit a considerable dissimilarity, 'Nature, under the regulation of the laws of Providence, has no doubt made many exceptions to this rule in favour of species which occur on both sides of the chain; but the distribution both of plants and animals, if not regu- lated, is at least modified by the intervention of these mountains. This continuous chain, of which the loftiest peak at- tains to an elevation of 15,000 feet, stretches from Mexico in a north-west direction, and, pursuing a course nearly * Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 346. *|- Fauna Grcenlandica. X Memoir on the Birds of Greenland. Linn. Trans, vol. xii. |j Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i., Introduction, pp. xix. xxiv.304 NATURAL HISTORY. parallel with the shores of the Pacific Ocean, terminates about the 7 Oth degree of north latitude, to the westward of the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and within sight of the Arctic Sea. Though much inferior in height to the Andes of the southern continent, of which, however, in a general sense, they may be regarded as the northern continuation, they greatly exceed in elevation the other mountain-chains of North America. This, indeed, be- comes apparent from a consideration of the courses of the great rivers of the country, all of which, with the excep- tion of the lake-born St Lawrence, derive their sources and primary streams from the Rocky Mountains, how- ever different may be the direction in which their waters flow. The Columbia, for example, which falls into the Northern Pacific Ocean in the 46th parallel, derives its primary streams from the western slopes of the same rocky chain, the eastern sides of which give rise to the waters of the Missouri, which, following a south-easterly and southern direction, terminate their long-continued course of 4500 miles in the Gulf of Mexico. The Saskatchawan, in both its great branches, likewise flows from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and, uniting its streams a short way below Carlton House, it flows through Lake Winipeg, and then, assuming the name of Nelson River, it empties itself, in the vicinity of Cape Tatnam, into Hudson's Bay. In like manner, the Mackenzie, which, in respect of size, may be regarded as the third river in North America (being inferior to the Missouri and St Lawrence alone), derives its two main branches, the Elk and Peace Rivers, from these mountains; and ere long, flowing northwards and in a north-westerly direction, it opens its numerous mouths into the Polar Sea, after a course of nearly 2000 miles. It may be mentioned as a singular fact, that the Peace River actually rises on the western side of the Rocky Mountain ridge, within 300 yards of the source of the Tacootchesse, or Fraser's River, which flows into the Strait of Georgia, on the western shore.* At a considerable distance below its issue from Great Slave Lake, and where the Mackenzie makes its first near approach to the Rocky Mountains, it is joined by a large stream which runs a little to the northward of the Peace River, and flows along the eastern base of the * Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 352. 7INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 305 mountains. It was called the River of the Mountains by Sir Alexander Mackenzie; but it has since, on account of its great magnitude, become more generally recognised by the traders under the name of the South Branch of the Mackenzie. The Mackenzie also receives several other large streams in the course of its seaward journey, and among others Great Bear Lake River, whose head- waters draw their source from the banks of the Copper- mine River, and Peel's River, which issues from the Rocky Mountains in latitude 67°. "" Immediately after the junction of Peel's River/' Dr Richardson observes, " the Mackenzie separates into numerous branches, which flow to the sea through a great delta composed of alluvial mud. Here, from the richness of the soil, and from the river bursting its icy chains comparatively very early in the season, and irrigating the low delta with the warmer waters brought from countries ten or twelve degrees farther to the southward, trees flourish, and a more lux- uriant vegetation exists than in any place in the same parallel on the North American continent."* In latitude 68°, there are many groves of handsome white spruce- firs, and in latitude 69°, on the desolate shores of the Polar Sea, dense and well-grown willow-thickets cover the flat islands; while currants and gooseberries grow on the drier hummocks,, accompanied by showy epilobiums and perennial lupins. The moose-deer, the beaver, and the American hare, follow this extension of a life-sus- taining vegetation, and the existence of these herbivorous animals induces a corresponding increase in the localities of wolves, foxes, and other predaceous kinds. The above mentioned are the principal rivers which traverse the fur-countries of America. There are, how- ever, a few others of smaller size, the banks of which yielded their share of the natural history collections, and may therefore be briefly noticed. Hayes River takes its origin from the neighbourhood of Lake Winipeg, and, after running a course almost parallel to that of Nelson's River, it falls into the same quarter of Hudson's Bay. York Factory, so frequently mentioned in the narratives of our northern expeditions, stands on the low alluvial point that separates the mouths of these two rivers. The Missinnippi, or, as it is sometimes called, the English * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i., Introduction, p. xxii. T306 NATURAL HISTORY. River, falls into Hudson's Bay at Churchill. Its upper stream is denominated the Beaver River, and takes its rise from a small ridge of hills, intermediate between a bend of the Elk River and the northern branch of the Saskatchawan. Lastly, the Coppermine River derives its origin not far from the east end of Great Slave Lake, and pursuing a northerly course, already made familiar to our readers, it flows through the Barren Grounds into the Arctic Sea. It is inferior in size to several branches of the Mackenzie; and as there are few alluvial deposites along its banks, it is deficient in that comparative luxu- riance of vegetation which, along the banks of the Mac- kenzie, induces several species of herbivorous quadrupeds to seek a higher latitude than they elsewhere attain. Did our limits permit we could dwell with pleasure on this example of the interconnexion or mutual dependence of the links of a lengthened chain of facts in natural history. There are various practicable passages across the Rocky Mountains. Sir Alexander Mackenzie crossed them in the year 1793, at the head of the Peace River, between latitudes 55° and 56°. The same route was followed in 1806 by a party of the North-west Company, who went to form a set- tlement in New Caledonia. It is still occasionally used by the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the year 1805, Lewis and Clarke effected a passage at the head of the Missouri, in latitude 47°, on their way to the mouth of the Columbia. Dr Richardson informs us, that for several years subsequent to that period, the North-west Company were in the habit of crossing in latitude 52^°, at the head of the north branch of the Saskatchawan, between which and one of the feeding streams of the Columbia there is a short portage; but of late years, owing to the hostility of the Indians, that route has been deserted, and the Hudson's Bay Company, who now engross the whole of the fur-trade of that country, make use of a more length- ened portage between the northern branch of the Colum- bia and the Red Deer River, one of the branches of the Elk or Mackenzie. We are likewise informed that at- tempts have been recently made to effect a passage in the 62d parallel of latitude; but although several ridges of the mountains were crossed, it does not appear that any stream flowing towards the Pacific was attained. The latest journeys across the Rocky Mountains with which we happen to be acquainted, are those of MessrsINTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 307 Drummond and Douglas, two skilful and enterprising botanists, both belonging professionally to that high class of practical horticulturists for which Scotland has been long famous, and of which she is so justly proud. Mr Drummond acted in the capacity of assistant-natu- ralist to Sir John Franklin's second overland expedition, and it was to his unrivalled skill in collecting, and inde- fatigable zeal, that Dr Richardson was indebted for a large proportion both of the botanical and zoological collections. He continued at Cumberland House in 1825, and occupied himself collecting plants during the month of July, after the main body of the expedition had departed northwards. He then ascended the Saskatchawan for 660 miles, to Edmonton House, performing much of the journey on foot, and amassing objects of natural history by the way. He left Edmonton House on the 22d of September, and crossing a thickly-wooded swampy country to Red Deer River, a branch of the Elk or Athabasca, he travelled along its banks until he reached the Rocky Mountains, the ground being by this time covered with snow. Hav- ing explored the portage-road for fifty miles across the mountains towards the Columbia River, he hired an Indian hunter, with whom he returned to the head of the Elk River, on which he passed the winter making col- lections, under privations which, Dr Richardson observes, " would have effectually quenched the zeal of a less hardy naturalist." He revisited the Columbia portage-road dur- ing the month of April 1826, and continued in that vi- cinity until the 10th of August, after which he made a journey to the head-waters of the Peace River, during which he suffered severely from famine. But nothing daunted, our enduring countryman, as soon as he had obtained a supply of provisions, hastened back to the Columbia portage, with the view of crossing to that river, and botanising for a season on its banks. However, when he had reached the west end of the portage, he was over- taken by letters from Sir John Franklin, informing him that it was necessary to be at York Factory in 1827. He was therefore obliged to commence his return, greatly to his own regret; for a transient view of the Columbia had stimulated his desire to investigate its natural treasures. " The snow," he observes, " covered the ground too deeply to permit me to add much to my collections in this hasty trip over the mountains; but it was impossible to avoid308 NATURAL HISTORY. noticing the great superiority of the climate on the west- ern side of that lofty range. From the instant the descent towards the Pacific commences, there is a visible improve^ ment in the growth of timber, and the variety of forest- trees greatly increases. The few mosses that I gleaned in the excursion were so fine that I could not but deeply regret that I was unable to pass a season or two in that interesting region." He now reluctantly turned his back upon the mountains, and, returning by Edmonton House, where he spent some time, he joined Dr Richardson at Carlton House, on his homeward journey. Mr Drum- mond's collections on the mountains and plains of the Saskatchawan amounted to about 1500 species of plants, 150 birds, 50 quadrupeds, and a considerable number of insects. He remained at Carlton House for six weeks after Dr Richardson had left that place, and, descending to Cumberland House, he there met Captain Back, whom he accompanied to York Factory. He had previously, however, had the pleasure of being joined by a country- man and kindred spirit, Mr David Douglas, the other indefatigable collector to whom we have already alluded. Mr Douglas had been engaged in gathering plants for three years for the Horticultural Society, in North Cali- fornia and on the banks of the Columbia River. He had crossed the Rocky Mountains from the westward, at the head of the Elk River, by the same portage-road pre- viously traversed by Mr Drummond, and having spent a short time in visiting the Red River of Lake Winipeg, he returned to England along with Mr Drummond by the way of Hudson's Bay.* " Thus, a zone of at least two degrees of latitude in width, and reaching entirely across the continent, from the mouth of the Columbia to that of the Nelson River of Hudson's Bay, has been explored by two of the ablest and most zealous collectors that England has ever sent forth; while a zone of similar width, extending at right angles with the other from Canada to the Polar Sea, has been more cursorily ex- amined by the expeditions/'f * These enterprising men have been for a considerable period respectively engaged in a second journey of great extent, through various regions or North America. The different departments of natural history are expected to gain a rich harvest by their zealous and discriminating labours. "t Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i., Introduction, p. xviii.INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 309 That widely-extended tract of territory which lies to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains, and to the north of the Missouri and the Great Lakes, is now well known to the Hudson's Bay traders, with exception of the shores of the Polar Sea, and a corner, bounded to the westward by the Coppermine River, Great Slave, Athabasca, Wollaston, and Deer Lakes, to the southward by the Churchill or Missinnippi, and to the northward and east- ward by the sea. When viewed under a zoological aspect, we find that this north-eastern corner, more particularly known under the name of the " Barren Grounds," carries its purely Arctic character farther to the south than any of the other meridians. This very bare and desolate por- tion of America is almost entirely destitute of wood, ex- cept along the banks of its larger rivers. The rocks of this district are primitive, and rarely rise to such an ele- vation as to deserve the name of mountain-ridges, being rather an assemblage of low hills with rounded summits, and more or less precipitous sides. The soil of the nar- row valleys which separate these hills is either an imper- fect peat-earth, affording nourishment to dwarf birches, stunted willows, larches, and black spruce trees,—or, more generally, it is composed of a rocky debris, consist- ing of dry, coarse, quartzose sand, unadapted to other ve- getation than that of lichens. The centres of the larger valleys are filled with lakes of limpid, water, which are stored with fish, even though frequently completely land- locked. More generally, however, one of these lakes dis- charges its waters into another, through a narrow gorge, by a turbulent and rapid stream; and, indeed, most of the rivers which irrigate these barren grounds may al- most be viewed as a chain of narrow and connected lakes. The rein-deer or caribou, and the musk-ox, are the pre- vailing quadrupeds of these unproductive wastes, where the absence of fur-bearing species has prevented any set- tlement by the traders. The only human inhabitants are the caribou-eaters,—a people composed of a few forlorn families of the Chipewyans. From the district above described, a belt of low primi- tive rocks extends to the northern shores of Lake Supe- rior. Dr Richardson calculates its width at about 200 miles; and he states that, as it becomes more southerly, it recedes from the Rocky Mountains, and differs from310 NATURAL HISTORY. the Barren Grounds in being well wooded. It is bounded to the eastward by a narrow strip of limestone, beyond which there is a flat, swampy, and partly alluvial district, forming the western shores of Hudson's Bay. This tract; from the western border of the low primitive tract just mentioned to the coast of Hudson's Bay, has been named the Eastern Distinct, and presents us with several ani- mals unknown to the higher latitudes. The Eastern District is bounded to the westward by a flat limestone deposite; and a remarkable chain of lakes and rivers, such as the Lake of the Woods, Lake Wini- peg, Beaver Lake, and the central portion of Churchill or Missinnippi, all of which he to the southward of the Methye Portage, marks the line of junction of the two formations. This district, which 13r Richardson has named the Limestone Tract, is well wooded, and pro- duces the fur-bearing animals in great abundance. The white or Polar bear, the Arctic fox, the Hudson's Bay lemming, and several other species disappear, while their places are filled up by bisons, bats, and squirrels, unknown to the other regions. Intermediate between the limestone tract and the foot of the Rocky Mountains, there occurs a wide expanse of what is called in America prairie land. So slight are the inequalities of its surface, that the traveller, while cross- ing it, is obliged to regulate his course either by the com- pass or the observation of the heavenly bodies. The soil is tolerably fertile, though for the greater proportion dry and rather sandy. It supports, however, a thick grassy sward, which yields an abundant pasture to innumerable herds of bison, and many species of deer; and the grizzly bear, the fiercest and most powerful of all the North American land-animals, properly so called, inhabits vari- ous portions of this wide-spread plain. Prairies of a si- milar aspect, and still greater extent, are known to bor- der the Arkansa and Missouri rivers. They are said to become gradually narrower to the northward, and in the southern portion of the fur-countries they extend for about fifteen degrees of longitude, from Maneetobaw, or Maneetowoopoo, and Winipegoos Lakes, to the base of the Rocky Mountains. These magnificent plains are par- tially intersected by ridges of low hills, and also by seve-INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 311 ral streams, of which the banks are wooded; and towards the skirts of the plains many detached masses of finely- formed timber, and pieces of still water, are disposed in so pleasing and picturesque a manner, as to convey the idea rather of a cultivated English park than of an Ame- rican wilderness. There is, however, so great a deficiency of wood in the central parts of these plains, that " the hunters," says Dr Richardson, " are under the necessity of taking fuel with them on their journeys, or in dry weather of making their fires of the dung of the bison. To the northward of the Saskatchawan, the country is more broken, and intersected by woody hills; and on the banks of the Peace River the plains are of comparatively small extent, and are detached from each other by woody tracts: they terminate altogether in the angle between the River of the Mountains and Great Slave Lake. The abundance of pasture renders these plains the favourite resort of various ruminating animals/'* The preceding summary brings us to the base of that vast and continuous chain already so often mentioned under the name of the Rocky Mountains. It is inhabited by many singular animals, some of which do not occur among the lower grounds on either side of the range. We have already stated our opinion regarding the character and physical influence of this extended group, and as we shall ere long describe the most remarkable of its zoolo- gical productions, we shall in the mean time request the reader to descend with us towards the western or Pacific shores. There we find several interesting tracts of coun- try, with the natural history of which we are, however, more imperfectly acquainted than we should desire. The countries between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific are in general of a more hilly nature than those already described to the eastward; but the upper branches of the Columbia are skirted by extensive plains, which present the same general character as those of the Mis- souri and Saskatchawan. New Caledonia extends from north to south about 500 miles, and from east to west about 350 or 400. Its central post at Stewart's Lake is placed in north latitude 54^, and west longitude 125 de- grees. According to Mr Harmon, it contains so many * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i.? Introduction, p. 29.312 NATURAL HISTORY. lakes that about one-sixth of its entire surface is under water. The weather here is much milder than on the eastern side of the mountains,—an amelioration which is no doubt owing to the comparatively narrow extent of land which intervenes between the mountains and the sea.* However, for a few days during the depth of win- ter it must be " pretty considerably" cold, as the thermo- meter is said to descend for a time to about thirty-two degrees below zero of Fahrenheit. Snow generally falls about the 15 th of November, and disappears by the 15 th of May from which the winter may be fairly inferred to be of shorter duration by about one-third than it is in some places situated under the same latitude on the other side. The only remaining district of North America to which we need here allude, as falling within the scope of the present volume, is that forlorn region in the north-west corner of the continent, which forms the terminating por- tion of the vast Russian dominions. Its shores have been coasted by Cook, Kotzebue, and Beechey; but of its in- terior nature and productions we are more sparingly in- formed. Dr Richardson, indeed, reports, from informa- tion given by the few Indians of Mackenzie's River who have ever crossed the range of the Rocky Mountains in that northern quarter, that on their western side there is a tract of barren ground frequented by rein-deer and musk-oxen; and it may also be inferred, from the quan- tity of furs procured by the Russian Company, that woody regions, similar to such as exist to the eastward of the mountains, also occur in this north-west corner of Ame- rica. * Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 355. •j* Journal of Voyages and Travels in the Interior of North America, between the forty-seventh and fifty-eighth degrees of lati- tude, by Daniel William Harmon, a partner in the North-West Company. Andover, 1820.quadrupeds. 313 CHAPTER VI. The Quadrupeds of the Northern Regions of America. Inaccuracies of some Historical Writers—No Monkeys in North America—Bats—Shrewmice—Genus Scalops, or Shrewmole —Other Moles of America—The Star-nose—Various Bears— Different Digitated Quadrupeds—The Canada Otter—The Sea- otter—The Dogs and Wolves of America—The Foxes—The Beaver—The Musk-rat—Meadow Mice and Lemmings—The Rocky Mountain Neotoma—The American Fieldmouse—The Marmots—The Squirrel Tribe—The Canada Porcupine—The American Hare—The Polar Hare—The Prairie Hare—The Little Chief Hare—Genus Cervus—The Elk, or Moose-deer— The Rein-deer—The Woodland Caribou—The Rocky Moun- tain Sheep—The Rocky Mountain Goat—The Bison, or Ameri- can Buffalo—The Musk-ox. Having in the preceding chapter exhibited a general sketch of some of the prevailing features in the physical geography of the northern countries of America,, we shall now proceed to a more detailed and systematic account of their natural history. But, in the first place, we may notice a slight inaccuracy which prevails in regard to the comparative size of the ferine inhabitants of the Old and New World. " Nature/' says Dr Robertson,* " was not only less prolific in the New World, but she appears likewise to have been less vigorous in her productions. The animals originally belonging to this quarter of the globe appear to be of an inferior race, neither so robust nor so fierce as those of the other continent. America gives birth to no creature of such bulk as to be compared with the elephant or rhinoceros, or that equals the lion and tiger in strength and ferocity. The tapir of Brazil, the largest quadruped of the ravenous tribe in the New World, is not larger than a calf of six months old. The puma and jaguar, the fiercest beasts of prey, which Eu- In his History of America.314 NATURAL HISTORY. ropeans have inaccurately denominated lions and tigers, possess neither the undaunted courage of the former, nor the ravenous cruelty of the latter.* They are inactive and timid, hardly formidable to man, and often turn their backs upon the least appearance of resistance.t The same qualities in the climate of America which stinted the growth and enfeebled the spirit of its native animals, have proved pernicious to such as have migrated into if voluntarily from the other continent, or have been trans^ ported thither by the Europeans. J The bears, the wolves, the deer of America, are not equal in size to those of the Old World." 11 Now this idea, that the quadrupeds of the New World are smaller than those of the Old, is correct, only in relation to the southern regions of each. The elephant and rhinoceros of India are of much more vast dimensions than the tapir and lama of South America j but " the bears, wolves, and deer" of North America are much larger than those of Europe, and the reptiles of that same quarter of the globe are infinitely larger than any which occur in corresponding latitudes of the ancient continent. Even in regard to the feline tribes which the great Scotch historian considered as so inferior in the New World, perhaps there is less disparity than is usually supposed. Buffon's observations on the " cowardly tigers' of the new continent are known to be applicable to the small species called the ocelot; and it is ascertained that the real jaguar of the Orinoco sometimes leaps into the water and seizes the Indians in their canoes,—a practice not entirely consistent with the idea of its fearing the face of man. Let us peruse the following passages from the writings of Humboldt:—" The night was gloomy; the Devil's Wall and its denticulated rocks appeared from time to time at a distance, illumined by the burn- ing of the savannahs, or wrapped in ruddy smoke. At the spot where the bushes were the thickest, our horses * Buffon, Hist. Nat. torn. ix. p. 87. Margravii Hist. Nat. Bra- zil, p. 229. -J- Ibid. ix. 13, 203. Acosta, Hist. lib. iv. c. 34. Pisonis Hist, p, 6. Herrera, dec. 4, lib. iv. c. 1, lib. x. c. 13. ' t Churchill, v. p. 691. Ovalle, Relat. of Chili. Churchill, iii. p, 10. Sommario de Oviedo, c. 14—22. Voyage du Des Mar- ches, iii. 299. U Buffon, Hist. Nat. ix. 103. Kalm's Travels, i, 102. Biet. Voy. de France Equinox, p. 339.QUADRUPEDS. 315 were frightened by the yell of an animal that seemed to follow us closely. It was a large jaguar that had roamed for three years among these mountains. He had con- stantly escaped the pursuit of the boldest hunters, and had carried off horses and mules from the midst of en- closures ; but, having no want of food, had not yet attacked men. The negro who conducted us uttered wild cries. He thought he should frighten the jaguar; but these means were of course without effect. The jaguar, like the wolf of Europe, follows travellers even when he will not attack them: the wolf in the open fields and in un- sheltered places, the jaguar skirting the road, and ap- pearing only at intervals between the bushes."* The same illustrious observer also remarks,—" Near the Joval nature assumes an awful and savage aspect. We there saw the largest jaguar we had ever met with. The na- tives themselves were astonished at its prodigious length, which surpassed that of all the tigers of India I had seen in the collections of Europe."+ The first fact to which we shall here allude is one of a negative character, viz. the entire absence,, of the monkey tribe, commonly called the Quadrumanous order, from the countries of our present disquisition. The climate is too rigorous and variable for that " pigmy people/' Of the next order, the Cheiroptera or bats, there are several North American species, of which we shall here name only the Vespertilio subulatus of Say, a small- bodied species, common near the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, on the upper branches of the Peace River and Saskatchawan. The slender and delicately-formed tribe of shrewmice are well known in America. Forster's shrew (Soreoc For- steriy Rich.) is widely spread over the whole of the fur- countries as far as the sixty-seventh degree of north lati- tude ; and wherever the snow is sufficiently firm to retain the impression, its little footmarks are seen throughout the. dreary winter. Dr Richardson often traced its paths to the top of a stalk of grass, by which it appeared to descend from the surface of the deep snow; but he always sought in vain for its habitation beneath. This is the smallest quadruped with which the Indians are acquaint- * Personal Narrative, vol. iv. p. 17®. *j* Ibid. p. 427.316 NATURAL HISTORY. ed, and they carefully preserve its skin in their conjuring- bags. It has been a source of wonder and admiration how the vital power should preserve its delicate limbs from freezing in a country where the winter temperature sinks to fifty degrees below zero. Of this species the tail is of a square form, and of the same length with the head and bodyj which together measure rather more than a couple of inches. The ears are short and furry, the back is of a clove-brown colour, and the under parts are pale yellowish-brown. A singular animal (classed under the genus Scalops of Cuvier) is known to the American naturalists by the name of shrewmole. It has a thick cylindrical body, resem- bling that of the common mole, without any distinct neck. Its limbs are very short, and appear remarkably so in consequence of their being enveloped in the skin of the body as far as the wrists and ankle-joints. The snout is linear and moveable, and projects above the third of an inch beyond the incisive teeth. The eyes are concealed by the fur, and are so exceedingly small, according to Dr Godman, that the aperture of the skin is just large enough to admit the entrance of an ordinary-sized human hair. The paws closely resemble those of the European mole, and the fur has the same rich velvety appearance. It is of a brownish-black colour, with a slight chestnut tinge upon the forehead, and somewhat paler on the throat. Considerable confusion exists in the history of the Ame- rican moles, and it is still a matter of doubt whether any true mole (of the genus Talpa) inhabits the New World. cc Before the sun rose," says Sir Alexander Mackenzie, ff our guides summoned us to proceed, when we de- scended into a beautiful valley, watered by a small river. At eight we came to the termination of it, when we saw a great number of moles."* Now, in this country, though mole-hills are abundant, it seldom happens that we see of the creatures themselves more than one at a time, and even that but rarely. From this it may perhaps be in- ferred that the species are distinct. However, the one which we have described above is frequent on the banks of the Columbia and the neighbouring coasts of the Pa- * Voyages from Montreal, on the river St Lawrence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, p. 314.QUADRUPEDS. 317 eific. According to Lewis and Clarke, " it differs in no respect from the species so common in the United States/'* The northern range of the shrewmole is still unknown. It is supposed not to advance beyond the fiftieth degree of latitude,, because its favourite food consists of earth- worms, which are unknown in the countries of Hudson's Bay, although it may probably reach a somewhat higher latitude along the milder Pacific shores. Its general ha- bits resemble those of our own kind. It is a subterranean dweller, excavates galleries, throws up mounds, and feeds on insects. This species is said to have the singular cus- tom of coming to the surface exactly at noon. A domes- ticated individual kept by Mr Titian Peale was lively, playful, and familiar;—it would follow the hand of its feeder by the scent, and then, after burrowing for a short distance in the loose earth, and making a small circuit, would return again for a supply of food. It fed on fresh meat, either cooked or raw, and was observed to drink freely.t Another singular subterranean species is the long-tailed mole of Pennant (Condylura longicaudata, Harlan). The length of this animal, exclusive of the tail, is nearly five inches. It is covered with a brownish-black velvety coat of fur, and the extremity of its snout is furnished with a cartilaginous fringe of eighteen rays, with two short bifid ones beneath the nostrils. It is from these appendages that it has obtained the name of star-nose. Specimens were transmitted to the Zoological Society from Moose Factory, Hudson's Bay. It is called naspass-kasic by the Salteur Indians. We come now to the group of bears (genus Ursus), which includes the largest and most powerful of the Ame- rican beasts of prey. It is natural to suppose that ani- mals of almost gigantic size, of great strength, and fero- cious habits, would be too formidable and dangerous to the human race to remain unknown in any of their distin- guishing characteristics. Yet the specific differences of the black and brown bears of Europe and America are still insufficiently illustrated. Both continents produce a black bear and a brown one,—the white or Polar bear is * Travels to the Source of the Missouri River, vol. iii. p. 42. + American Natural History, by John D. Godman, M.D., vol. i. p. 84.318 NATURAL HISTORY. common to the northern latitudes of each, while America alone is inhabited by the grizzly hear, Ursus ferooo. The black bear of the New World (Ursus America- nus) has a more arched forehead than the analogous spe- cies of Europe. Its nose is continued on the same line with the forehead, and is also somewhat arched, which produces one of its most striking physiognomical charac- ters. Its ears are high, oval, rounded at the tips, and are placed wide apart from each other. Its fur is long, straight, black, and shining, with the exception of a large pale yellowish-brown spot on each side of the muzzle. The bare extremity of the nose is more obliquely truncat- ed than that of the brown bear, and the palms and soles of the feet are comparatively shorter than in that species. This is the least of the American bears, and seldom ex- ceeds five feet in length. Its disposition is also milder, and its diet consists of a greater proportion of vegetable substances. It feeds on various kinds of roots and wild berries, as well as on insects, eggs, birds, quadrupeds, and fish. In short, it may be said to be omnivorous, like the rest of its congeners, with this difference, that when it happens to be amply supplied with a favourite vegetable food, it will pass the carcass of a deer or other quadruped untouched. It may be characterized as rather a timid animal, and seldom ventures to face a human foe, unless when hemmed into a corner, or emboldened by the strength of parental affection. Its speed is generally said not to be very great; but Dr Richardson states that he has seen a black bear make off with a rapidity that would have baffled the fleetest runner, and ascend a nearly perpendi- cular cliff with a facility " that a cat might envy." This species, when resident in the fur-countries, sleeps throughout the winter, generally under a fallen tree, after having scraped away a portion of the soil. The first heavy fall of snow covers it up, and secures it from an undue intensity of cold. In regard to distribution, it is widely spread over all the wooded districts of America, from Carolina to the Arctic Sea, and across the whole of the continent from east to west. It is, however, less abundant near the seacoasts than in the interior coun- tries. " The skin of a black bear, with the fur in prime order, and the claws appended, was at one period worth from twenty to forty guineas, and even more; but at present the demand for them is so small, from their be-QUADRUPEDS. 319 ing little used either for muffs or hammercloths, that the best, I believe, sell for less than forty shillings/'* As both the black and grizzly bears vary greatly in the colour of their coats, according to age and season, the supposed brown bear of America is alleged by some to have arisen from one or other of these variations. From inquiries made by Dr Richardson throughout an extent of ten degrees of latitude, from Lake Superior to Great Slave Lake, he could not ascertain that the natives of these districts were acquainted with more than two spe- cies of land bear, viz. the one above described, and the grizzly species. He found, however, that the barren lands which lie to the north and east of Great Slave Lake, and stretch thence to the Polar Sea, are frequent- ed by a bear which differs from those species, and pre- sents a nearer affinity to the brown bear of the Scan- dinavian peninsula. Its general colour is dusky (some- times yellowish) brown, and the shoulders and flanks are frequently covered during the summer season with long pale-tipped hairs. This is no doubt the grizzly bear of Hearne, though quite distinct from the kind now more familiarly known under that appellation. The Indians greatly dread the Barren Ground bear, and avoid burning bones, lest the smell should attract so unwelcome a visiter. It is narrated, that as Keskarrah, an old Indian, was one day seated at the door of his tent near Fort Enterprise, a large bear suddenly made its appearance on the opposite bank of a small stream, and remained stationary for some time, curiously eyeing the old gentleman, and apparently deliberating whether to eat him up at that moment or wait till supper-time. Keskarrah, thinking himself in great jeopardy, and having no one to assist him but a wife as old as himself, immediately gave utterance to the following oration:—cc Oh, bear! I never did you any harm; I have always had the highest respect for you and your relations, and never killed any of them except through necessity: go away, good bear, and let me alone, and I promise not to molest you." Bruin instantly took his departure; and the orator, never doubting that he owed his safety to his eloquence, on his arrival at the fort frequently favoured the company with his speech at full length. In the stomach of one of these animals which * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 20. 6320 NATURAL HISTORY. Dr Richardson dissected, he found the remains of a seal, a marmot, a large quantity of the long sweet roots of some Astragali and Hedysara, with some wild berries and a little grass. The third American species of this genus which we re- quire to notice is the true grizzly bear, or Ursus ferooc. He does not present a very amiable aspect. This is the most formidable animal of the North Ame- rican continent. When full grown it equals the size of the larger Polar bears, and is not only more active, but of a fiercer and more vindictive disposition. Its strength is so great that it will drag the carcass of a buffalo weigh- ing a thousand pounds. The following story of its prowess is well authenticated:—A party of voyagers had been oc- cupied all day in tracking a canoe up the Saskatchawan, and had seated themselves around a fire during the even- ing twilight. They were engaged in the agreeable task of preparing their supper, when a huge grizzly bear sprung over the canoe which they had tilted behind them, and seizing one of the party by the shoulder, car- ried him off. The remainder fled in terror, with the sole exception of a metif, named Bourasso, who, grasping his gun, followed the bear as it was deliberately retreating with the man in its mouth. He called out to his unfor- tunate comrade that he was afraid of hitting him if he fired at the bear; but the latter entreated him to fire instantly, because the animal was squeezing him to death. On this he took a steady aim, and lodged his ball in the body of the brute, which immediately dropped its original prey, that it might revenge itself upon Bourasso. He, how- ever, escaped, though with difficulty, and the monster soon after retreated into a thicket, where it was supposed to have died. But fear prevailed over every other feeling, and no one thought it necessary too curiously to inquire. The rescued man was found to have had his arm fractur- ed, and to have been otherwise severely bitten; however, he afterwards recovered. We are informed by Dr Rich- ardson, that a man is now living in the vicinity of Ed- monton House who was attacked by a grizzly bear, which suddenly sprung out of a thicket and scalped him by a single scratch of its tremendous claws, laying bare the skull, and pulling down the skin of the forehead quite over the eyes. Assistance being at hand, the bear was driven off without effecting farther injury; but the indi-Grizfly Bear.QUADRUPEDS. 323 vidual attacked was left in a most unfortunate and pain- ful predicament, for the scalp not being properly replaced in time, he lost his sight (although his eyes remained un- injured), owing to the fixing and hardening of that skinny veil. Mr Drummond, whose botanical trip to the Rocky Mountains we have already narrated, frequently met with these disagreeable companions. When he happened un- intentionally to come suddenly upon them, they would rear themselves upright on their hind legs, and utter a loud, harsh, and rapid breathing. From what is known of the habits of these animals, it is certain that, had he lost his presence of mind and attempted to flee, he would have been pursued, overtaken, and torn to pieces. But the bold Forfar-man stood his ground to an inch, and beating a huge botanical box, made of tin, his discordant music so astounded the grizzly monsters, that, after eyeing the Scottish Orpheus for a few minutes, they generally wheeled to the right about and galloped away. He was, however, once attacked by a female who was attended by her cubs. On this occasion his gun unfortunately missed fire; but he kept her at bay with the butt-end till some gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company, with whom he was at that time travelling, came up to his assistance, and they succeeded in driving her off. On another occa- sion he observed a male caressing a female, and soon after the loving couple came towards him, but whether by ac- cident or design he was uncertain. However, he thought there was no great harm in climbing a tree, and as the female drew near, he very ungallantly fired at and mor- tally wounded her. As usual in sueh cases, she uttered some loud screams, which threw the male into a most fu- rious rage, and he, reared himself up against the trunk of the tree on which Mr Drummond was perched, no doubt wishing himself, if not, like the Scotch baronet's bird, in two places at one time, at any rate in some other quarter of the world than that which he then occupied. How- ever, it is fortunately So ordained that grizzly bears either won't, or can't climb, and the female in the mean while having retired to a short distance, lay down, and the male proceeding to condole with her, Mr Drummond shot him too. All things considered, this was probably his most prudent course. The geographical distribution of this species is exten-324 NATURAL HISTORY. sive. According to Lieutenant Pike, it extends south- ward as far as Mexico,* and it is known to inhabit the Rocky Mountains and their eastern plains, at least as far as the sixty-first degree of north latitude, and in the last- named districts it occurs most frequently in such woody: regions as are interspersed with open prairies and grassy hills.t Although unwilling to detain our readers much longer in such uncouth company, we cannot close our account of American bears without a short record of the white or Polar species,—the Ursus maritimus of naturalists. This great prowler of the Arctic snows attains to a higher latitude than any other known quadruped, and dwells, indeed by preference " In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice." Its southern limit appears to be somewhere about the fifty- fifth parallel. It is well known at York Factory, on the southern shore of Hudson's Bay, more especially during the autumn season, to which it is liable to be drifted dur- ing summer from the northward on the ice. It is a truly ice-haunting and maritime species, and occurs along a vast extent of shore over the Arctic regions, never entering into wooded countries except by accident during the pre- valence of great mists, nor showing itself at more than a hundred miles' distance from the sea. Indeed it rarely travels inland more than a few miles, because it is a strong and persevering swimmer, and probably feels conscious that when removed from its accustomed element it loses! the advantage of its own peculiar and most powerful locomotive energies. The Polar bear is well known in Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Nova Zembla, and was met with by Captain parry among the North Georgian Islands. It seems, however, to decrease in numbers to the west- ward of Melville Island. In proof of this it may be men- tioned that Dr Richardson met with none between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers; and * Travels on tlxe Missouri and Arkansaw, edited by Mr Rees.. London, 1811. -J-The specimen in the Edinburgh Museum (of which I have published a coloured representation on the twenty-first plate of the first volume of my " Illustrations of Zoology") was killed on the ?lains at Carlton House in its second year. Its claws are black, n a mature condition these weapons are white, and necklaces made of them are much prized by the Indian warriors as proofs of prowess.QUADRUPEDS. 325 the Esquimaux informed Captain Franklin that white bears very rarely visited the coast to the westward of the Mackenzie. Along the Asiatic shores, on the other hand, they are not recorded as occurring to the eastward of the Tgchukotzkoi Noss.* Neither were they seen by Cap- tain Beechey during his recent voyage to the Icy Cape;, although their skins appear to have been procured amongst other peltry from the natives on the coast of Hotham's Inlet, Kotzebue's Sound.t It thus appears that this great maritime species occurs very generally along all the frozen shores within the Arctic Circle, with the exception of about thirty-five degrees of longitude on either side of Point Beechey, in which it is comparatively rare; and that in Hudson's Bay, and along the northern coast of Labrador and the nearer portions of East and West Greenland, it occurs not unfrequently six or eight degrees to the south of the Arctic Circle.^ We deem it unnecessary to describe the external cha- racters or appearance of this familiarly-known animal. || Passing over the racoon (Procyon lotor), the American badger (Meles Labradoria), the wolverene (Gulo luscus), the common weasel {Mustela vulgaris), the ermine or stoat (M.erminea), the vison-weasel (M. vison), the pine- martin (M. martes), the pekan or fisher (M. Canadensis), and the Hudson's Bay skunk (.Mephitis Americana), we shall devote a page to the history of the American otters. The Canada otter \Lutra Canadensis of Sabine§) fre- quents the neighbourhood of falls and rapids during the winter season; and, when its accustomed haunts are frozen up, it will travel a great way over the snow in search of open water. In its food and habits it bears a close re- * Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 62. •)• Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits, to co-operate with the Polar Expeditions. London, 1831. $ Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 344. II One of the finest specimens in Europe is preserved in the Edinburgh College Museum. It was shot during one of Sir Ed- ward Parry's expeditions, and was transmitted to Professor Jame- son by order of the Lords of the Admiralty.—For anecdotes illus- trating the history and habits of the Polar bear, we beg to refer the reader to the First Volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, entitled " Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Re- giofis." § Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 653.326 NATURAL HISTORY. semblance to the European species, but it may be dis- tinguished by the fur on the belly being of the same shin- ing brown colour as that on the back. It is also a much larger animal, and has a proportionately shorter tail. The sea-otter marina) belongs to the subgenus Enhydra of Dr Fleming.* It exhibits the manners rather of a seal than of a land animal. It resides chiefly in the water; and, according to Pennant, has been sometimes, met with more than a hundred leagues from shore. It is distinguished from the fresh-water species, among other characters, by the larger size and greater strength of its fore paws. The fur varies in beauty according to the age and condition of the animal. Those in highest estimation have the belly and throat interspersed with brilliant silver hairs, while the other parts consist of a thick black coat, with a silky gloss of extreme fineness. We have now to notice the wolves and dogs of America. The former may be called wild-dogs, and some of the; latter are little better than semi-domesticated wolves. We shall not here enter into the question of the specific iden- tity or distinction of the European and American species. The large brown wolf, described by Lewis and Clarke as inhabiting not only the Atlantic countries but the borders of the Pacific and the mountains in the vicinity of the Columbia River, appears to form the closest ap- proximation to the wolf of the Scandinavian Alps and the Pyrenees. It is not found on the Missouri to the westward of the Platte. Wolves were extremely nume- rous in some of the countries traversed by our. overland expeditions. They varied greatly in colour; some being pure white, others totally black, but the greater propor- tion were characterized by a mixture of gray, white, and brown. Dr Richardson is of opinion that, however colour- ed, they possess certain characters in common in which they differ from the European race. " On the Barren Grounds, through which the Coppermine River flows, I had more than once an opportunity of seeing a single wolf in close pursuit of a rein-deer; and I witnessed a chase on Point Lake when covered with ice, which terminated in a fine buck rein-deer being overtaken by a large white wolf, and disabled by a bite in the flank. An Indian, * Philosophy of Zoology, vol. ii. p. 187.ft m m-mAmerican Gray Wolf.QUADRUPEDS* 329 who was concealed on the borders of the lake, ran in and cut the deer's throat with his knife, the wolf at once re- linquishing his prey and sneaking off. In the chase the poor deer urged its flight by great bounds, which for a time exceeded the speed of the wolf; but it stopped so frequently to gaze on its relentless enemy, that the latter, toiling on at a f long gallop/ with its tongue lolling out of its mouth, gradually came up. After each hasty look, the poor deer redoubled its efforts to escape; but, either exhausted by fatigue, or enervated by fear, it became, just before it was overtaken, scarcely able to keep its feet/'® A wolf seldom fails to attack, and can easily run down a fox, if it perceives it at any considerable distance from its cover, and it bears it off in its mouth without any ap- parent diminution of its speed, if it be at that time per- ceived and pursued by the hunters. Though cruel and bloodthirsty, and even at times bold in search of food when severely pressed by famine, the wolf is on the whole a timid and fearful animal. A handkerchief tied to a tree, or a distended bladder dangling in the air, is sufficient to keep a whole herd at a respectful distance. However, during Dr Richardson's residence at Cumberland House in 1820, a wolf which had been for some time prowling about the fort, and was supposed to have been driven off by a wound of a musket-ball, returned after nightfall and carried off a dog from among about fifty of his companions, all of whom howled most lamentably, but wanted courage to rescue their unfortunate comrade. In the northern countries of America many wolves suffer dreadfully from famine, and not unfrequently perish of hunger during severe seasons. The individual here figured from the fine specimen in the Edinburgh Museum, was found lying dead on the snow near Fort Franklin. It had been observed prowling about the Indian huts in the vicinity of the fort a few days preceding; and its extreme emaciation and the emptiness of its interior showed clearly that it had died from hunger. Captain Lyon describes the wolves of Melville Peninsula as comparatively fearless. One after- noon a fine dog strayed a short way ahead of its master^ when five wolves made a sudden and unexpected rush„ and devoured it in so incredibly short a time, that before * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 63*330 NATURAL HISTORY. Mr Elderj who witnessed the attack, could reach the scene of action, the dog had disappeared, with the excep- tion of the lower part of a leg. They frequently came alongside the frost-bound ship, and one night broke into a snow-hut, and carried away a brace of Esquimaux dogs, which appeared to have made a considerable resistance, as the ceiling was sprinkled with blood and hair. The alarm was not given till the mortal strife had terminated, and when they were fired at, one of the wolves was ob- served to take up a dead dog in his mouth, and to set off with it at an easy canter, although its weight was sup- posed to be equal to his own.* The dusky wolf described in Godman's Natural His- tory is regarded as a distinct species by Mr Say ;t and the black variety is also considered by some authors as entitled to specific separation. The not unfrequent oci currence of black individuals in the litter of the gray and brown wolves, seems, however, rather to point out the probability of this difference of colour being merely an accidental variation. JBut the prairie wolf (Cams latrans) is undoubtedly a distinct and well-defined species. It hunts in packs, and is an animal of great swiftness. It occurs on both sides of the Rocky Mountains; but is less numerous on the banks of the Columbia than in the plains of the Missouri and Saskatchawan. When the hunters on the banks of the latter river discharge their muskets at any kind of game, great numbers of the prairie wolf are sometimes seen to start from holes in the earth, and keep a look-out with a view to secure the offals of the slaughtered animal. With the exception of the prong-horned antelope there is probably no swifter quadruped in America than the prairie wolf. These fierce and unreclaimed animals conduct us na- turally to the domesticated tribes of the canine race, of which there are several remarkable varieties in the north- ern regions of America. We can here afford space only for a few lines regarding the Hare Indian, or Mackenzie River dog (Cants familiaris, var. lagopus). The front figure of the annexed cut represents his external aspect. This domestic variety, as far as Dr Richardson could * Lyon's Private Journal. •j- Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains.I Hare Indian or Mackenzie River Dog.„,f*m. - \i'-"QUADRUPEDS. 333 learn., appeared to be cultivated only by the Hare Indians, and other tribes frequenting the borders of the Great Slave Lake, and the banks of the Mackenzie. It is too small and slight to serve as a beast of draught or other burden, and is consequently used solely in the chase. It is an animal of a playful and affectionate disposition, easily conciliated by kindness. It has a mild, counte-. nance, a demure expression, a small head, slender muzzle,, erect ears, and eyes somewhat oblique. Its legs are rather slender, the feet broad and hairy, the tail bushy, and for, the most part curled over the right hip. It may be cha- racterized as bearing the same near relation to the prairie wolf as the Esquimaux dog does to the great gray wolf of America. Indeed the whole of the canine republic in these parts of America are of very wolfish habits.. For example, the larger dogs which our expedition purchased at Fort Franklin for the purposes of draught, were in the habit of pursuing the Hare Indian dogs in order to de- vour them; but the latter fortunately far outstripped the others in speed. A young puppy, which Dr Richardson; purchased from the Hare Indians, became greatly at- tached to him, and when about seven months old, ran on the snow, by the side of his sledge, for 900 miles, without; suffering from fatigue. " During this march it frequent- ly, of its own accord, carried a small twig or one of my mittens for a mile or two; but although very gentle in manners, it showed little aptitude in learning any of the arts which the Newfoundland dogs so speedily acquire of fetching and carrying when ordered. This dog was kill- ed and eaten by an Indian on the Saskatchawan, who pretended that he mistook it for a fox/' The flesh of dogs is much esteemed by the Canadian voyagers, and by several of the Indian tribes. The Chi- pewyans, however, who deem themselves descended from a dog, hold the practice of using it as an article of food in great abhorrence. There are many species of fox in North America. The American red fox (Canis fulvus) inhabits the woody districts of the fur-countries, and from thence about 8000 of the skins are annually imported into England. Pennant, and many other authors of last century, regarded the spe- cies as identical with the common European kind ; from which, however, it was shown by M. Palisot. de Beauvois334 NATURAL HISTORY. to be quite distinct. The American species is distin- guished by its longer and finer fur, and more brilliant colouring. Its cheeks are rounder—its nose thicker, shorter, and more truncated—its eyes are nearer to each other, and its feet are in general much more woolly be- neath. The red fox has a finer brush, and is altogether a larger animal than the European; yet it does not pos- sess the continuous speed of the latter; it seems to ex- haust its strength almost at the first burst, and is then overtaken without much difficulty, either by a mounted huntsman or a wolf. The cross fox (C. decussatus), and the blackor silver fox (C. argentatiis), are considered by some as distinct species, while others, probably with greater correctness^ view them in the light of local or ac- cidental varieties. Besides these we may name as Ameri- can species, the kit-fox (C. cinefeo-argentatus), and the Arctic fox, commonly so called (C. lagopus). The latter occurs also in the Old World. Several kinds of lynx inhabit North America; but we shall not here enter on their history. We cannot, however, so slightly pass the beaver of these northern regions (Castor fiber, Americanus), one of the most valuable and noted of quadrupeds. Its description is contained in almost every book of natural history; and We shall therefore confine ourselves in this place to such particulars as illustrate its general habits. As the history of this animal given by Hearne has been characterized by competent authority as the most accurate which has yet been presented to the public, we shall here abridge it for the benefit of our readers. As the beaver not only furnishes an excellent food, but is highly valuable for the sake of its skin, it naturally at- tracted the particular attention of the last-named traveller. The situation of beaver-houses was found to be various. When the animals are numerous, they inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as those narrow creeks which connect the lakes together. Generally, however, they prefer flowing- waters, probably on account of the advantages presented by the current in transporting the materials of their dwell- ings. They also prefer deepish water, no doubt because it affords a better protection from the frost. It is when they build in small creeks or rivers, the waters of which are liable to dry or be drained off, that they manifest that 5QUADRUPEDS. 335 beautiful instinct with which Providence has gifted them, —the formation of dams. These differ in shape according to their particular localities. When the water has little mo- tion the dam is almost straight; when the current is con- siderable it is curved, with its convexity towards the strearfi. The materials made use of are drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplars; also mud and stones intermixed in such a manner as must evidently contribute to the strength of the dam; but there is no particular method observed, ex- cept that the work is carried on with a regular sweep, and all the parts are made of equal strength. " In places which have been long frequented by beavers undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force both of ice and water; and as the willow, poplar, and birch, generally take root and shoot up, they by degrees form' a kind of regular planted hedge, which I have seen in some places so tall, that birds have built their nests among the branches."* The beaver-houses are built of the same materials as the dams; and seldom contain more than four old, and six or eight young ones. There is little order or regula- rity in their structure. It frequently happens that some of the larger houses are found to have one or more parti- tions, but these are only parts of the main building left by the sagacity of the beavers to support the roof; and the apartments, as some are pleased to consider them, have usually no communication with each other, except by water. Those travellers who assert that the beavers have two doors to their dwellings, one on the land side, and the other next the water, manifest, according to Hearne, even a greater ignorance of the habits of these animals, than those who assign to them an elegant suite of apartments,—for such a construction would render their houses of little use, either as a protection from their enemies, or as a covering from the winters cold. It is not true that beavers drive stakes into the ground when building their houses; they lay the pieces cross- wise and horizontal; neither is it true that the wood- work is first finished and then plastered; for both houses and dams consist from the foundation of a mingled mass of mud and wood, mixed with stones when these can be procured. They carry the mud and stones between their * Heame's Journey to the Northern Ocean,336 NATURAL HISTORY. fore paws, and the wood in their mouths. They always work in the night and with great expedition. They cover their houses late every autumn with fresh mud, which freezes when the frosts set in, and becomes almost as hard and solid as stone; and thus neither wolves nor wolverenes can disturb their repose. When walking over their work, and especially when about to plunge into the water, they sometimes give a peculiar flap with their tails, which has no doubt occasioned the erroneous belief that they use these organs exactly as a mason uses his trowel. Now a tame beaver will flap by the fireside where there is nothing but dust and ashes; and it therefore only uses the trowel in common with the water-wagtail,—in other words, the quadruped as well as the bird is characterized by a pecu- liar motion of its caudal extremity. The food of this animal consists chiefly of the root of the plant called Nuphar luteuffl, which bears a resem- blance to a cabbage-stalk, and grows at the bottom of lakes and rivers. It also gnaws the bark of birch, pop- lar, and willow trees. In summer, however, a more va- ried herbage, with the addition of berries, is consumed. When the ice breaks up in the spring, the beavers always leave their houses and rove about until a little before the fall of the leaf, when they return again to their old habita- tions, and lay in their winter stock of wood. Hearne gives the following account of some tame beavers which be- longed to him:—ce In cold weather they were kept in my own sitting-room, where they were the constant com- panions of the Indian women and children, and were so fond of their company, that when the Indians were ab- sent for any considerable time, the beavers discovered great signs of uneasiness, and on their return showed equal marks of pleasure, by fondling on them, crawling into their laps, lying on their backs, sitting erect like a squirrel, and behaving like children who see their parents but sel- dom. In general, during the winter, they lived on the same food as the women did, and were remarkably fond of rice and plumpudding; they would eat partridges and fresh venison very freely, but I never tried them with fish, though I have heard they will at times prey on them. In fact there are few graminivorous animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous."* According to Kalm, * Ibid.QUADRUPEDS. 337 Major Roderfert of New York had a tame beaver above half a year in his house., where it went about quite loose like a dog. The major gave him bread, and sometimes fish, of which he was said to have been greedy. He got as much water in a bowl as he wanted, and all the rags and soft things he could meet with he dragged into a cor- ner, where he was accustomed to sleep, and made a bed of them. The house cat on one occasion, happening to produce kittens, took possession of the beaver's bed with- out his offering her any opposition. When the cat went out the beaver often took a kitten between his paws, and held it to his breast, as if for the purpose of keeping it warm; but as soon as the proper parent returned he de- livered up the offspring.* Another well-known amphibious quadruped of America is the musk-rat, or musquash (Fiber Zibethicus). Its fur resembles that of the beaver, but is shorter; the down is coarser and less valuable, and the more lengthened part of the coat is weaker and not so shining. It is easily wetted after death, although it resists the water well when the animal is alive. The musk-rat measures about fourteen inches, exclusive of the tail, which is eight or ten inches long. It has a strong smell of musk, especially in the spring. Its flesh, however, is eaten by the Indians ; it resembles flabby pork. This species extends from the thirtieth to about the seventieth degree of north lati- tude. " Their favourite abodes are small grassy lakes or swamps, or the grassy borders of slow-flowing streams, where there is a muddy bottom. They feed chiefly on vegetable matters, and in northern districts principally on the roots and tender shoots of the bulrush and reed mace, and on the leaves of various carices and aquatic grasses. The sweet flag (Acorus calamus), of whose roots, according to Pennant, they are very fond, does not grow to the northward of Lake Winipeg. In the sum- mer they frequent rivers, for the purpose, it is said, of feeding upon the fresh-water muscles. We often saw small collections of muscle-shells on the banks of the larger rivers, which we were told had been left by them/'t Before the frosts set in, the musquash builds a house * Kalm's Travels in North America. *|" Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 117* x338 NATURAL HISTORY. of mud, of a conical form, with a sufficient base to elevate the chamber above the level of the water. It generally chooses a spot covered with long grass, which it incorpo- rates with the mud. It uses no kind of composition with which to agglutinate these materials; but there is usually a dry bed of grass deposited within the chamber. The entrance is under water. Dr Richardson informs us that when ice forms over the surface of the swamp, the mus- quash makes breathing-holes through it, and protects them from the frost by a covering of mud. During se- vere winters, however, these holes are frequently frozen up, and many die. Hats are manufactured from the skins of these animals; and for that purpose between four and five hundred thousand are imported into Great Bri- tain every year. Several species of meadow mice and lemmings (Gen. Arvicola and Georychus) inhabit the northern regions. Our restricted limits, however, do not admit of our par- ticularizing these tribes. An animal equalling the Norway rat in size, and men- tioned by Lewis and Clarke under the name of rat of the Rocky Mountains, was described in the Zoological Jour- nal/ and is now known as the Rocky Mountain neotoma (iV. Drummondii, Rich.). It is of a yellowish-brown colour above, white beneath, with a tail exceeding the length of the body, and bushy at the extremity. Accord- ing to Mr Drummond, it makes its nest in the crevices of rocks, seldom appearing in the daytime. It is a very destructive animal in stores and encampments. It gnaws furs and blankets to pieces, and Mr Drummond having placed a pair of stout English shoes on a shelving rock, found on his return that they had been minced into frag- ments as fine as sawdust. . Though neither the black nor brown rat, nor the com- mon mouse of Europe, are native to America, they now occur by importation in many parts of the New World. The American fieldmouse (Mus leucopus) becomes an inmate of the dwelling-houses as soon as they are erected at any trading port. In the northern districts it extends across the whole country from the shores of Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Columbia. " The gait and pry- • No. 12, March 1828, p. 517.QUADRUPEDS. 339 ing actions of this little creature." says Dr Richardson, " when it ventures from its hole in the dusk of the even- ings are so much like those of the English domestic mouse, that most of the European residents at Hudson's Bay have considered it to he the same animal, altogether overlooking the obvious differences of their tails and other peculiarities. The American fieldmouse, however, has a habit of making hoards of grain or little pieces of fat, which I believe is unknown of the European domestic mouse; and what is most singular, these hoards are not formed in the animal's retreats, but generally in a shoe left at the bedside, the pocket of a coat, a nightcap, a bag hung against a wall, or some similar place."* This spe- cies may be regarded as the representative of the Mus sylvaticus of Europe. Its most inveterate foe is the ermine or stoat, which pursues it even into the sleeping- apartments. Many marmots inhabit North America, t Of these, however, we shall here make mention of only a single species, the wistonwish or prairie marmot (Arctomys Lu- dovicianus). This animal is called prairie dog by Ser- geant GassJ and Lieutenant Pike, 11 and it is also the barking-squirrel of Lewis and Clarke.§ The entrance to the burrows of this species descends at first vertically, and then continues downwards in an oblique direction. They occur at intervals of twenty feet, and when nume- rous they are called prairie dog milages. The animals delight to sport about their own doors in pleasant wea- ther. On the approach of danger, they either retreat to their holes or sit for a time barking and flourishing their tails, or sitting in an erect position, as if to reconnoitre. When shot by the hunter, they generally tumble into their burrows, and are thus not easily laid hold of, either dead or alive. They pass the winter in a state of torpidity, and lay up no provisions. The sleeping-apartments consist of * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 142. tFor a detailed account of these animals see Mr Sabine's paper inn. Trans, vol. xiii.; the Appendix to Franklin's First Jour- ney; Dr Harlan's Fauna Americana; Dr Godman's American Na- tural History; Griffith's Animal Kingdom; Pallas's Novae Species Quadrupedium e Glirium Ordine; Pennant's Arctic Zoology; and Dr Richardson's work so frequently above referred to. $ Journal of the Travels of a Corps of Discovery, &c. |j Travels on the Missouri and Arkansaw. § Travels to the Pacific Ocean.340 NATURAL HISTORY. neat globular cells of fine dry grass,, with a small aper- ture at the top;—the whole so compactly formed that it may almost be rolled over the floor without being da- maged. The warning cry of this animal bears some re- semblance to the hurried barking of a small dog.* The squirrel-tribe are also very numerous in the coun- tries now under consideration. The chickaree or Hud- son's Bay squirrel (Sciurus Hudsonius, Pennant) inha- bits the forests of white spruce-trees which cover so vast a portion of the fur-countries. It extends as far to the south as the middle states of America, and spreads north- wards to the utmost regions of the spruce-forests which cast their sombre shade as high as the sixty-ninth paral- lel. It burrows at the root of the largest trees, and sel- dom stirs abroad during cold or stormy weather; but even in the depth of winter it may be seen sporting among the branches whenever the snow is brightened by a gleam of sunshine. When pursued it makes great leaps for a time from tree to tree, but ere long seeks a favourable op- portunity of descending into a burrow. However, it sel- dom voluntarily quits its own particular tree. During the winter season it collects the spruce-cones, and carry- ing them to the outskirts of its burrow, it picks out the seeds beneath the snow. Of the flying-squirrels of America we may mention the species (or variety?) discovered by Mr Drummond on the Rocky Mountains (Pteromys Sabrinus, var. B. alpi- nus). It inhabits dense pine-forests, and rarely ventures from its retreats except during the night. Passing over the sand-rats (genus Geomys, Raflnesquet), and the genus Aplodontia of Richardson, J we shall give a short account of the Canada porcupine {Hystrix pilosus of Catesby, H. dor sat a, Linn.). This singular animal is distributed over a considerable extent of Ame- rica, from the thirty-seventh to the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude. Dr Harlan informs us that it makes its dwelling-place beneath the roots of hollow trees. It dis- likes water, is cleanly in its habits, sleeps much, and * Say's Notes to Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. •f American Monthly Mag. for 1817? p. 45. X Zoological Journal, January 1819.QUADRUPEDS. 341 feeds principally on the bark and leaves of Pinus Cana- densis and Lilia glabra. It has been known to strip a tree entirely of its leaves, and is also fond of sweet apples and Indian corn. When discovered on the ground this animal does not strive to get out of the way; but, on be- ing approached, it immediately spreads the spines near the tail over the whole of the back. The female brings forth annually three or four young at a birth, after a ges- tation of forty days. In the fur-countries the porcupine is most numerous in sandy districts covered with Pinus Banksiana, on the bark of which it delights to feed, as well as on that of the larch and spruce-fir, and the buds of the various kinds of willows. The Indian dogs do not decline to attack this " fretful" creature, and they soon kill it, though not with- out injury to themselves; for its quills, which it never fails to erect when attacked, are dangerous from the mi- nute teeth, directed backwards, with which they are fur- nished. The points are extremely sharp, and are no sooner lodged beneath the skin of an assailant than they begin to bury themselves, and finally produce death by transfixing some vital organ. These spines are detachable by the slightest touch, or, as some say, by the will of the ani- mal, and soon fill the mouths of the dogs by which it is attacked, and seldom fail to kill them, unless carefully picked out by the Indian women. Wolves also some- times die from the same cause.* Its flesh tastes like flabby pork, and though by no means agreeable to European pa- lates, is much relished by the Indians. The quills are variously dyed, and are used in the working of different ornaments and articles of hunting-apparel. There are four species of hare in North America. We shall give a short history and description of each. 1st, The American hare, commonly so called {Lepus Americanus, Erxleben). This species bears a great re- semblance to the European rabbit. It seldom weighs more than four pounds. In winter it is covered with a thick coat of fine long fur, externally of a pure white co- lour, except a narrow border on the posterior margins of the ears, arid round their tips, and about one-third down their anterior margins, which are blackish-brown, on ac- * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 215.342 NATURAL HISTORY. count of the dark roots of the hair being visible. In summer the fur of the upper parts is shining blackish- gray at the roots,, but tinged towards the tips with yel- lowish-brown and black. There is a large proportion of black on the back, and the resulting colour of the surface is a dark umber-brown, mixed with yellowish-brown. A white circle surrounds the eye. The white colour com- mences between the fore-legs, and extending over the un- der parts, predominates on the extremities. The sides are of a dull, pale, yellowish-brown. The ears are nearly naked during this season. The tail is white below, mixed above with gray and brown. This species is common in woody districts all over the continent of North America. It abounds on Mackenzie River as high as the sixty-eighth parallel; but it appears to be replaced by the larger spe- cies both on the ee Barren Grounds" to the eastward, and on the extensive plains through which the Missouri and Saskatchawan take their far-flowing courses. In summer it eats grass and other vegetables, and in winter willow- bark forms a principal part of its sustenance. It never bur- rows, and is much preyed on both by man and beast. The furs of this species are imported into Britain under the name of rabbit-skins. Twenty-five thousand have been taken at a trading-post in Hudson's Bay in a single season. 2d, The Polar hare (Lepus glacialis, Leach). Dr Leach appears to have first discriminated this species from the varying hare. It inhabits both sides of Baffin's Bay, and is common over the north-eastern districts of America. It is not known to advance southwards beyond the fifty- eighth parallel, and does not occur in wooded countries. However, it is often seen in the vicinity of thin clumps of spruce-fir. It digs no burrow, but seeks the natural shelter of large stones. The winter-fur of this species is of a snow-white hue, even to the roots. It is denser and of a finer quality than that of the preceding. Summer specimens killed in Melville Island (lat. 75°) had the hair of the back and sides of a grayish-brown colour towards the points. The weight of this species varies from seven to fourteen pounds. The flesh is whitish and excellent, being much superior in flavour to that of the American hare, and more juicy than the Alpine hare of Scotland. 3d, The prairie hare {Lepus Virginianus, Harlan). The fur of this species is intermediate in fineness andQUADRUPEDS. 343 density between that of the two species just noticed. It is common on the north and south branches of the Sas- katchawan, and on the plains of the Missouri, as well as on those of the Columbia River. It frequents open dis- tricts and clumps of wood, and its general habits resemble those of the European hare. This hare is pure white in winter, with the exception of the borders of the ears, which are of a wood-brown or fawn-colour. In summer, the head, neck, back, shoulders, and outer parts of the legs and thighs, are of a lead-colour. The lower parts are white, with a tinge of lead-colour. In the month of March the summer-fur appears in combination with the spotless garb of winter, and is characteristic from the middle of April to the middle of November, after which the snowy dress again prevails. This species can leap twenty-one feet at a single spring. It weighs from seven to eleven pounds. 4th, The little chief hare (Lepus (Lagomys) princeps, Rich.). This is a small animal of a blackish-brown colour above, and gray beneath. Its head is short and thick, and its ears are rounded. It inhabits the Rocky Moun- tains between the fiftieth and sixtieth degrees, and was killed by Mr Drummond near the sources of the Elk River. The favourite localities of this species are heaps of loose stones, through the interstices of which it makes its way with great facility. It is often observed, towards sunset, mounted on a stone, and calling to its mates in a shrill whistle. It does not appear to excavate burrows, but when approached by the hunter it utters a feeble cry, resembling that of a rabbit in distress, and instantly dis- appears among the stones. This cry of fear is repeated by its neighbours, if it has any, and is so deceptive as to appear at a great distance, while in fact the creatures are close at hand. The little chief hare (so called, we under- stand, from its expressive Indian appellation, buckathrce Jcah-yawzce) bears a resemblance to the Alpine pika de- scribed by Pallas and Pennant as inhabiting Kamtschatka and the Aleoutian Islands. It is a diminutive animal, not measuring more than six or seven inches in length, and differs from the true hares in the number of its teeth. It also wants a tail. The next group to which we have to call the attention of the reader is one of great interest^ from the size, value,344 NATURAL HISTORY. and general importance in the economy of nature, of the species by which it is constituted,—we mean the deer- tribe of America. Of these about half-a-dozen different kinds inhabit the fur-countries. As in the other nume- rous groups, we must here restrict ourselves to the his- tory of a very few species. The genus Cervus includes all those ruminating ani- mals which are furnished with antlers. Two species are common to the northern parts of both continents; five or six belong to North America; four to America south of the equator; and above a dozen to India, China, and the archipelagoes of the south-east of Asia.* Of these some inhabit marshy forests, others the wooded shores of rivers or the sea, while others again prefer the bleak sides and barren valleys of mountain-districts. The species vary occasionally in colour, and are subject to those changes of constitution to which all animals are more or less liable, and which physiologists have distinguished by the names of albinism and melanism,—the first applied to the white, the second to the black varieties of colour. It has also been remarked as rather a singular circumstance, that the white varieties occur more frequently in the equatorial re- gions than in the colder countries of the north,—a proof, perhaps, that the intensity of light and heat are but se- condary causes in the production of animal colours.t The elk or moose-deer (Cervus alces) is a gigantic ani- mal, of a heavy and rather disagreeable aspect. It is easily recognised by the great height of its limbs, the shortness of its neck, its lengthened head, projecting muz- zle, and short upright mane. When full grown it mea- sures above six feet in height. The fur is long, thick, and very coarse, of a hoary-brown colour, varying ac- cording to age and the season of the year. The antlers are very broad and solid, plain on the inner edge, but armed externally with numerous sharp points or shoots, which sometimes amount to twenty-eight. A single ant- ler has been known to weigh fifty-six pounds. The neck of the elk is much shorter than its head, * For the natural history and description of many of the most remarkable of the Asiatic species, see " Historical and Descriptive Account of British India," (being- Nos. VI., VII., and VIII., of Edinburgh Cabinet Library) vol. lii. ■f- Desmoulins.QUADRUPEDS. 345 which gives it almost a deformed appearance, though such a formation is in fact rendered necessary by the great weight of its antlers, which could not be so easily supported upon a neck of greater length. Notwithstand- ing the length of its muzzle, it collects its food with diffi- culty from the ground, being obliged either greatly to spread out or to bend its limbs. From this results its propensity to browse upon the tender twigs and leaves of trees,—a mode of feeding which the keepers of the French menagerie found it very difficult to alter in the individual under their charge. The upper part of the mouth is pro- longed almost in the form of a small trunk, and furnished with muscles, which give it great flexibility of move- ment, and enable it rapidly to collect its food. In sum- mer, during the prevalence of the gadflies in the Scan- dinavian peninsula, it plunges into marshes, where it often lies day and night, with nothing above water but its head. It is even said to browse upon the aquatic plants346 NATURAL HISTORY. beneath the surface, making at the same time a loud blowing sound through its nostrils. The American elks live in small troops in swampy places. Their gait, according to Dr Harlan, is generally a trot, and they are less active than most other deer. The old individuals lose their horns in January and Fe- bruary, and the young in April and May. In regard to their geographical distribution, they appear to have been formerly found as far south as the Ohio. At present they occur only in the more northern parts of the United States, and beyond the Great Lakes. Captain Franklin met with several during his last expedition feeding on willows at the mouth of the Mackenzie, in lat. 69°. Although they are said to form small herds in Canada, yet»in the more northern parts they are very solitary, more than one being seldom seen, except during the rut- ting-season, or when the female is accompanied by her fawns. The sense of hearing is remarkably acute in this species, and it is described as the shyest and most wary of the deer-tribe. It is an inoffensive animal, un- less when irritated by a wound, when its great strength renders it formidable, or during rutting-time, when it will kill a dog or a wolf by a single blow of its fore-foot. It is much sought after by the American Indians, both on account of the flesh, which is palatable, and the hides, with which they in part manufacture their canoes, and several articles of dress. The grain of the flesh is coarse, and it is tougher than that of any other kind of venison. In its flavour it rather resembles beef. The nose is excellent, and so is the tongue, although the latter is by no means so fat and delicate as that of the rein- deer. The male elk sometimes weighs from a thousand to twelve hundred pounds. The rein-deer (Cervus tarandus) is widely distributed over the northern parts of both the Old and New World. It has long been domesticated in Scandinavia, and is an animal of incalculable importance to the Laplander. We are less acquainted with the nature and attributes of the American species; but we shall here follow the prevail- ing opinion, and consider it identical with that of the north of Europe and of Asia. There appear to be two varieties of rein-deer in the fur-countries. One of these is confined to the woody and more southern districts, the other retires to the woods only during the winter season,QUADRUPEDS. 347 and passes the summer either in the Barren Grounds or along the shores of the Arctic Sea. Hearne's description applies to the latter kind, while the accounts given by the earlier French writers on Canada relate to the former. The rein-deer of the Barren Grounds is of small sta- ture, and so light of weight that a man may carry a full- grown doe across his shoulder. The bucks are of larger dimensions, and weigh, exclusive of the offal, from 90 to 130 pounds. The skin of the rein-deer is light, and being closely covered with hair, it forms a suitable and highly-prized article of winter-apparel. ec The skins of the young deer make the best dresses, and they should be killed for that purpose in the months of August or Sep- tember, as after the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. The prime parts of eight or ten deer-skins make a complete suit of clothing for a grown person, which is so impervious to the cold, that with the addition of a blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may bivouac on the snow with safety, and even with com- fort, in the most intense cold of an Arctic winter's night."* Dr Richardson is of opinion that the flavour of the rein- deer flesh is superior to that of the finest English mutton. However, the animal must be in prime condition, as its lean state is comparatively worse than that of other crea- tures. Pemmican is formed by pouring one-third part of melted fat over the flesh of the rein-deer after it is dried and pounded. Of all the deer-tribe of America this spe- cies is the most easily approached, and immense numbers are slaughtered for the use of the Indian families. The other variety of rein-deer to which we have alluded above is called the woodland caribou. It is much larger than that of the Barren Grounds, has smaller horns, and is greatly inferior as an article of diet. The most re- markable peculiarity in the habits of this animal is, that it travels to the southward in the spring. It crosses the Nelson and the Severn Rivers in vast herds during the month of May, and spends the summer on the low marshy shores of James' Bay, returning inland, and in a north- erly direction, in September.t * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 242. -J- For the history of the wapiti (C. strongyloceros)y the black- tailed deer (C. macrotis, Say), and the long-tailed deer (C. leucu- rus, Douglas), we must refer to the writings of the various travel- lers and systematic authors named in the course of these chapters.348 NATURAL HISTORY. Passing over the prong-horned antelope (J. furcifer, Smith); an inhabitant of the plains of the Missouri and 8as- katchawan, remarkable for its extreme swiftness, we shall devote a few pages to the natural history of the wild sheep and goat of the Rocky Mountains, two of the most re- markable and'important of the native quadrupeds of North America. See the annexed Plate. The Rocky Mountain sheep (Ovis montana, Desm. and Rich.) inhabits the range from which it derives its name, from its northern termination, or at least from latitude 68°, to the fortieth degree of north latitude. It also dwells among many of the elevated and craggy ridges which intersect the country lying to the westward, be- tween the principal range and the shores of the Pacific Ocean; but it does not appear to have advanced beyond the eastern declivities of the Rocky Mountains, and it consequently does not occur in any of the hilly tracts nearer to Hudson's Bay. The favourite feeding-places of this species are grassy knolls, skirted by craggy rocks, to which they can retreat, when pursued by dogs or wolves." Its flesh, when in season, is stated by Mr Drummond to be quite delicious,—-as being far superior to that of any of the deer-species, and even as exceeding in flavour the finest English mutton. This showy animal exceeds the Asiatic argaii in size, and is much larger than the largest varieties of the domestic breeds. The horns of the male are very large. The ears are of moderate size. The facial line is straight, and the general form of the animal, being, as it were, intermediate betwixt that of the sheep and stag, is not devoid of elegance. The hair is like that of the rein-deer, short, fine, and flexible, in its autumn growth ; but as the winter advances, it becomes coarse, dry, and brittle, though still soft to the touch : it is ne- cessarily erect at this season, from its extreme closeness. The limbs are covered with shorter hairs. In regard to colours, the head, buttock, and posterior part of the ab- domen, are white; the rest of the body, and the neck, are of a pale or dusky wood-brown. A deeper and more lustrous brown prevails on the fore-part of the legs. The tail is dark-brown, and a narrow brown line, extending from its base, divides the buttock, and unites with the brown colour of the back. The colours reside in the ends of the hair, and as these are rubbed off during the pro- gress of winter, the tints become paler.Rocky Mountain Goat. Rocky Mountain Sheep.Tvl-c y?^«s . « M pendix, No. II. p. 410. •f In connexion with the last-named work the reader may also consult a Catalogue of Plants collected by William Jameson, Esq., surgeon, on the west coast of Greenland, drawn up by Dr Gxe- ville, and published in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society* vol. iii. p. 426.394 NATURAL HISTORY. the addenda by Mr Brown) above 660 species. These are referable to various classes in the following numerical proportions :<— Amount of Species. Monandria,...................... 3 Diandria,......................... 5 Triandria,........................ 31 Tetrandria,...................... 9 Pentandria,...................... 51 Hexandria,...................... 25 Heptandria,..................... 1 Octandria,........................ 11 Decandria,....................... 38 Dodecandria,.................... 1 Icosandria,.......,,............... 26 Polyandria,...................... 24 Dydynamia,..................... 15 Tetradynamia,.................. 23 Monodelphia,......................................1 Diadelphia,............................................23 Syngenesia,............................................52 Gynandria,..............................................8 Monaecia,................................................39 Disecia,......................................................24 Cryptogamia, Filices,..........................................ID Musci,............................................73 Hepaticae,.................................16 Lichenes,...................121 Fungi,..............................................19 Algae,,...................... 5 We shall briefly notice a few species, remarkable for their economic or other uses. The juice of the Galium tinctorium is used indiscriminately with that of G. bore- ale, by the women of the Cree nation, for the purpose of dying their porcupine quills. The lead-coloured fruit of Cornus alba are called bear-berries (musqua-meena) by the Crees, because the bear is known to feed and fatten on them. A new species of phlox was discovered by the expedition, and named Phlox Hoodii, "as a small tribute," Dr Richardson informs us, " to the memory of my la- mented friend and companion, whose genius, had his life been spared, would have raised him to a conspicuous station in his profession, and rendered him an ornament to any science to which he might have chosen to direct his attention." This beautiful plant is a striking or- nament to the plains in the neighbourhood of Carlton House, where it forms large patches, conspicuous from a distance. The red berries of the Viburnum edule, named winter-berries by the Crees, were observed to be high- ly ornamental to the woods. The bruised bark of the root of Azalea nudicaulis is applied by the Indians to recent wounds. The Lilium Pfiiladelpkicum is called mouse-root by the Crees, because the common mouse of their country (a species of campagnol) is known to feed upon its scaly bulbs. The Canadian voyagers use the. young shoots.of Epilobium angustifolium as a pot-herb, under the name of L'herbe fret. The Ledum latifolium,PLANTS. 395 sometimes used as tea, is named kawkee-kee-pucquaw (evergreen, or always leaves), and also maskseg or me- dicine, because the natives think that the white residents drink its infusion as a medicine. The Ledum palusire, according to Dr Richardson, forms a better substitute for tea than the plant just named. The Prunus Firginiana grows to be a handsome small tree, rising on the sandy plains of the Saskatchawan to the height of 20 feet, and extending as far north as Great Slave Lake, where, however, it attains the height of only five feet. Its fruit, known under the name of choke- cherry, is not very edible in the recent state, but forms a desirable addition to pemmican when dried and bruised. The Pyrus ovalis of Pursh is a common plant as far north as lat. 62°, and abounds in the plains of the Saskatchawan. Its wood is greatly esteemed by the Crees, for the forma- tion of arrows and pipe-stems; it is hence called bois de fieche by the Canadian voyagers. Its berries, about the size of a pea, are the finest fruit in the country, and are used by the Crees under the name of Messasscootoom- meena, both fresh and dried. They make excellent pud- dings. Among the Syngenesious plants we shall signalize only two examples. The Crepis nana, a singular species, ap- pears to have been noticed by the land-expedition only on the banks of the Coppermine River. The polar voy- agers collected it in Repulse Bay, Five Hawser Bay, and Lyon Inlet. The Cineraria congesta, described by Mr Brown,* varies from three to seven inches in height. The leaves are sometimes merely undulated, at other times furnished with long, spreading, sharp, unequal, tooth-like process- es. Generally the flowers are collected into a remark- ably compact head; but in two specimens examined by Dr Hooker,t several of the flower-stalks spring singly from the axils of the leaves up the whole length of the stem; in which case they are mostly single-flowered, truncated, and leafy; but always clothed, in common with the involucre, by a beautiful long and dense silky wool, by which character this species appears to be prin- cipally distinguished from C. palustris. Specimens of this plant were gathered by Dr Richardson in Bathurst * App; to Parry's First Voyage, p. 279. "f Ibid. p. 397*396 NATURAL HISTORY. Inlet, on the shore of the Arctic Sea., on the 25th of July. According to Mr Edwards, the individuals in Captain Parry's collection, which have elongated flower-stalks, were drawn out by having been made to grow on board ship ; at least he has seen such treatment produce pre- cisely that effect; and he adds that in its native place of growth he never observed the plant otherwise than re- markably dense and crowded in its inflorescence. Theblack American spruce {Pinus nigra, Lamb.) is found in swampy situations as far north as lat. 65°, where it ter- minates along with the Betulapapyracea. The white Ame- rican spruce (P. alba, Lamb.)'is mentioned by Dr Richard- son as the most northern tree which came under his obser- vation. " On the Coppermine River, within 20 miles of the Arctic Sea, it attains the height of 20 feet or more. Its timber is'in common use throughout the country, and its slender roots, denominated Watapeh, are indispensable to canoe-makers for sewing the slips of birch-bark together. The resin which it exudes is used for paying over the seams of the canoes; and canoes for temporary purposes are frequently formed of its own bark. It is the only tree that the Esquimaux of the Arctic Sea have access to while growing, and they contrive to make pretty strong bows by j oining pieces of its wood together."* The Scrub or gray pine (Pinus Banksiana, Lamb.), in dry sandy soils, prevails to the exclusion of all others. It is a hand- some tree with long, spreading, flexible branches, gene- rally furnished with whorled curved cones of many years' growth. It attains the height of 40 feet and upwards in favourable situations ; but the diameter of its trunk is greater in proportion to its height than that of the other pines of the country. It exudes less resin than P. alba, The Canada porcupine feeds upon its bark; and its wood, from its lightness and the straightness and toughness of its fibres, is highly prized as canoe timbers. It was ob- served on the route of the overland expedition as far north as lat. 64°; but on the sandy banks of the Macken- zie it is said to attain to a still higher latitude.f The * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey^ p. 752. -f* Ibid.—This is the only American species that makes any approach in habit and appearance to the Pinus sylvestris, com« monly called the Scotch fir, A distinguished writer in the Quar«PLANTS. 397 American larch (P. microcarpa, Lamb.) was observed in swampy situations from York Factory to Point Lake, in lat. 65°. It was however of dwarfish growth in the last- named locality, seldom exceeding the height of six or eight feet. One of the most magnificent of the newly-discovered forest-trees of North America is Lambert's pine (Pinus Lambertiana, Douglas). Its principal localities are pro- bably to the south of the districts with which we are here more especially interested; but as its northern boundaries are not yet known, and as it forms in itself so fine a fea- ture in this department of botany, we cannot leave it alto- gether unnoticed. It covers large districts in Northern California, about a hundred miles from the ocean, in lat. 43° north, and extends as far south as 4°. It grows spar- ingly upon low hills, and the undulating country east of a range of mountains, running in a south-western direc- tion from the Rocky Mountains towards the sea, where the soil consists entirely of pure sand. It forms no dense forests like most of the other pines of North America, but is seen scattered singly over the plains, more after the manner of Pinus resinosa. The trunk of this gigantic tree attains a height of from 150 to upwards of 250 feet, varying from 20 to nearly 60 feet in circumference;—thus far exceeding " The tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast Of some great ammiral," The stem is remarkably straight, and is destitute of branches for about two-thirds of its height. The bark is uncommonly smooth for such large timber; of a light- brown colour on the south, and bleached on the north side. The branches are rather pendulous, and form an open pyramidal head, with that appearance which is peculiar to the abies tribe. The leaves are rigid, from four to five inches long, of a bright green colour, and grow in fives. The cones are pendulous from the extremities of the branches, and when ripe measure about 11 inches in cir- terly Review ascribed the deterioration of our plantations of the last-named tree, to the circumstance of our nurserymen finding it cheaper to import cones from Canada, than to pay for gathering them in Braemar,—a charge, however, from which the trade must be fully and freely acquitted, as the Pinus sylvestris does not in fact exist in America.398 NATURAL HISTORY. cumference at the thickest part, and from 12 to 16 inches in length. The scales are lax, rounded, and destitute of spines. The seeds are large, eight lines long and four broad, of an oval form. Their kernel is sweet and of a pleasant taste. The timber is white, soft, and light. It abounds in turpentine reservoirs; its specific gravity is 0*463; and the whole tree produces an abundance of am- ber-coloured resin. That which exudes from the tree when it is partly burned loses its usual flavour, and acquires a sweet taste, in which state it is used by the natives as sugar, being mixed with their food.* The seeds also are eaten when roasted, and they are likewise pounded into coarse cakes and stored for winter use.t Numerous species of willow occur in the Northern Re- gions of America,—they are not yet well defined. The plant which yields the whortleberry (Empetrum nigrum) is valuable in these inhospitable regions. Its fruit, after the first frosts, is juicy and very pleasant; it is much sought after and carefully hoarded by the different kinds of marmot, and forms the autumnal food of that species of duck called Anas hyperborea. The Indian women use the buds of Myrica gale to dye their porcupine quills. The American trembling poplar (Populus trepidd) occurs from Hudson's Bay as far to the northward of Great Slave Lake as lat. 64°. It is found to burn better in a green state than any other tree of the country. The form of * Mr David Douglas, in Linn. Trans., vol. xv., and Edin. New Phil. Jour., vol. v. p. 401. We trust that our accomplished correspondent, Dr Traill of Liverpool, will excuse our mating the following extract from one of his private letters. " Have you seen Douglas ? I was greats- pleased with his intelligence and modesty. He gave me a most interesting sketch of his travels beyond the Rocky Mountains, and a simple but appalling account of the privations of a traveller in that part of the New World. The contrast between the vege- tation of* the western and eastern sides of the chain is striking. The variety of oaks, juglandes, and elms, interspersed with magnolias and rhododendrons, form the striking peculiarities of the eastern,— but beyond the mountains only one species of oak is found, while neither elms, juglandes, nor magnolias occur, and only a single rhododendron. It is, however, the favourite haunt of the giant pine. He had measured several more than 250 feet high,—he saw some still taller, and took the circumference of a stem denuded of its bark, which was 48 feet in circumference, and at 190 feet from its base still bore a circumference of 4^ feet. The annual rings on one stem were ascertained to be nine hundred 7PLANTS. 399 the leaf-stalk in this species is highly curious, and beau- tifully accords with, and accounts for, its continual mo- tion,—the upper part being rounded, and suddenly, at its junction with the leaf, becoming so thin and flat as to have scarcely sufficient strength to support it. The bal- sam poplar (P. balsamifera) may be said to grow to a greater circumference than any other species in these northern regions. Although it burns badly when green, and gives little heat, its ashes yield a great quantity of potash. It was traced as far north as Great Slave Lake, and the south branch of the Mackenzie has been named Riviere aux Liards from its frequent prevalence in that quarter. Great part of the drift-timber observed on the shores of the Arctic Sea belongs to this species of tree. It is called ugly poplar (matheh-meetoos) by the Crees. The fruit of the common juniper is known under the appellation of crowberry to the last-named nation; and another species of that plant, of almost equal frequency {Juniperus prostrata), grows close to the ground, and sends out flagelliform branches two yards long. Of the Musci we shall here mention the Splachnum mnioides which is very common on the Barren Grounds, where it forms little tufts, the roots of which are found always to include the bones of some small animaL Di- cranum elongatum likewise occurs on those desolate dis- tricts, where, with other species of the genus, it forms dense tufts very troublesome to pedestrians. These are called " women's heads" by the Indians, " because," say the latter, " when you kick them, they do not get out of the way;"—a fine commentary on a life of unsophisticated nature, and a beautiful illustration of the refined ideas which prevail in countries u Where wild in woods the noble savage runs." Of the Lichenes, of which there are many species in these northern countries, we shall name a few examples. Gyrophora proboscidea is found on rocks on the Barren Grounds, and is more abundant towards the Arctic Sea than 6r. hyperborea. These two species, in common with G. Penmylvanica and MecMeribergii, were found in greater or less abundance in almost all rocky places throughout the northern portions of the overland journey. They were all four used as food; but as our travellers had not the means of extracting the bitter principle from them, they400 NATURAL HISTORY. proved injurious to several of the party by inducing se- vere bowel-complaints. The Indians reject them all ex- cept G, Meckleribergii, which, when boiled along with fish-roe or other animal matter, is agreeable and nutri- tious. The last-named lichen is, however, rather scarce on the Barren Grounds; and Dr Richardson and his com- panions were obliged to resort to the other three, which, though they served the purpose of allaying the appetite, were found to be very inefficient in.restoring or recruiting strength. The G. vellea is characteristic of moist and shady rocks, and is consequently most luxuriant in woods. It forms a pleasanter food than any of the species we have named j but it unfortunately occurs but sparingly on the Barren Grounds, where its presence would be most desirable. A new plfint named Cetraria Richardsonii by Dr Hooker, was found on these grounds generally in the tracks of the rein-deer. It did not appear to occur to the southward of the Great Slave Lake. About a score of fungi were picked up by our scientific travellers. Ex- clusive of a conferva, and the fragment of a floridea, the Fucus ceranoides was the only alga observed in the Arctic Seas.* The Appendix to Captain Parry's second voyage was published in 1825, and contains, among other highly- prized contributions, a botanical Appendix by Dr Hooker. When the extent of the collections examined by that ac- complished botanist is considered, a greater accession of new species might have been expected than actually oc- curred ; but this is perhaps to be explained by the cir- cumstance of the countries explored during the second voyage being as it were intermediate between those pre- viously examined,—Melville Island being to the north, and the continental portion of America, bordering the Arctic Sea, lying to the south of the districts to which we at present more immediately refer. This, in the opi- nion of Dr Hooker, diminished the probability of the oc- currence of many new species. In point of mere num- ber, however, the second collections very considerably exceeded those of the preceding voyage,—and this may be explained partly by the more southern latitude in which the plants were gathered, and partly by the length of time spent in those districts. Dr Hooker conceives Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 7^3.PLANTS. 401 that, as an illustration of the botanical productions of a region extending from between lat. 62° to 70° north, his catalogue may be regarded as tolerably complete. The variety of cryptogamia is particularly great, and the her- baria were in such admirable order as to reflect the high- est credit on the skill and assiduity of the gentlemen by whom they were collected and preserved. •"'It: may not be amiss/' Dr Hooker observes, " to no- tice here the extreme difficulty which attends the deter- mination of what ought and what ought not to be consi- dered as good species among Arctic plants. Vegetables of our own more southern latitudes often assume, in those frigid regions, an aspect quite different from what we are accustomed to see them wear; and which, without refer- ring to a very extensive series of specimens, might well be supposed to afford decided marks of specific distinc- tion. Mr Brown seems to be fully aware of this, and he speaks with caution of the identity of several of his new species. In more than one instance, after having drawn out a description of a supposed , new individual, I have found cause to alter my opinion concerning it, and finally to consider it only as a variety of a well-known kind; nor shall I be surprised if future observations should show that my Saocifraga plantaginifolia must be united to S. nivalis, and my Chrysanthemum grandiflorum to C. ino- dorum, though at first sight nothing can appear more dis- tinct/-* We shall conclude this branch of the subject by a few miscellaneous notices of recently-discovered species. The ten-leaved everlasting pea (Lathyrus decaphyllus) was found on the banks of the Saskatchawan by Dr Richardson and Mr Drummond. It is adorned by fine heads of flowers, of a bright red colour before expan- sion, but which become purple as they open. This is an exceedingly ornamental plant, measuring about three feet in height., It was first raised in this country by Mr Pa- trick Neill of Canonmills, a gentleman well known for his encouragement of horticulture, and for his general attainments in many branches of natural science. Franklin s eutoca (Eutoca FranJdinii).f This inte^ * Appendix to Parry's Second Voyage to the Arctic Regions, p. 382. : *j- Botanical Magazine, t. 2985. 2 B402 NATURAL HISTORY. resting annual was discovered by Dr Richardson during the first overland expedition. It was found growing in abundance amongst trees that had been destroyed by fire, on the banks of the Missinnippi, and was named by Mr Brown in honour of the leader of the gallant1 band.* It has now become well known in our gardens, the seeds collected during the second expedition having been pretty generally distributed. It is a hardy plant, which recom- mends itself to notice by the profusion of its bright blue- coloured blossoms.t The seashore lupin (Lupinus littoralis).% This or- namental and hardy perennial was discovered by Mr Douglas, who found it " growing abundantly on the sea- shore of North-west America, from Gape Mendocino to Puget's Sound. Its tough branching roots are service- able in binding together the loose sand, and they are also used by the natives of the river Columbia as winter food, being prepared by the simple process of drawing them through the fire until all their moisture is dissipated. The roots are then tied up in small bundles, and will keep for several months; when eaten, they are roasted on the embers, and become farinaceous. The vernacular name of this plant is Somnuchtan; and it is the liquorice spoken of by Lewis and Clarke, and by the navigators who have visited the north-west coast of America/' We may add that Mr Douglas has enriched our gar- dens by upwards of ten new species of this fine genus. Beautiful Clarkia (Clarkia pulchella). || Tins hardy annual deserves its specific name, as it is really one of the most beautiful which has been recently introduced to our gardens. It was first discovered by Mr Lewis on the Koos- koosky and Clarke Rivers, but was afterwards found by Mr Douglas extending from the great falls of the Colum- bia to the Rocky Mountains, and seeds were forwarded by him to the London Horticultural Society; The flowers are generally of a fine lilac colour, but a pure white variety is also known. Mr Douglas discovered in the northern parts of Ame^. rica, and introduced into the British gardens, about fif- teen new species of Pentstemon, all of which are orna- Addenda to Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 764, and -f Dr Hooker, in Bot. Mag. $ Ibid. t. 2952. |j Ibid. t> 2918.PLANTS. 403 mental, and many exceedingly beautiful herbaceous plants. To the same intelligent and indefatigable collector we are also indebted for several fine species of (Enothera or tree- primrose. We owe to Dr Richardson and Mr Drum- mond the introduction to our gardens of the following species:—viz. Gerardia capitata, a handsome perennial; an apparently new species of Dodecatheon, which has flowered this summer in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden; Andromeda tetragona, Menziesia empetrifolia, Azalea Lapponiea (three very beautiful small shrubby plants), and Dry as JDrummondii. The last-named plant bears yellow flowers. Of the other two known species of the genus, one of which is a native of the mountains of Scotland, the flowers are white.404 natural history. CHAPTER X. Sketch of the Geological Features of some of the Northern Districts of America. Frozen Subsoil of Hudson's Bay—Primitive Rocks of Hayes Ri- ver—Hill River—Borders of Knee Lake—Remarkable Rock- island of Magnetic Iron Ore—Lake Winipeg—Limestone Dis- trict—Fort Chipewyan—Carp Lake—Gneiss Formation of the Barren Grounds—Transparent Waters of Great Bear Lake— Fort Franklin—Bear Lake River—Lignite Formation of Mac- kenzie River—Spontaneous Fire—Pipe-clay—Alluvial Islands at the Mouth of the Mackenzie—Copper Mountains—Copper- mine River—Islands of the Arctic Sea—Arctic Shore—(Tape Barrow—Galena Point—Moore's Bay—Bankes' Peninsula—Bar- ry's Island—Cape Croker—Point Turnagain—General Occur- rence of the New Red Sandstone—Hood's River—Wilberforce Falls—Gneiss Formation—General Summary. The great extent of country traversed by our overland adventurers, the dreary continuance of that universal snow, which so long rendered the surface of the earth in many places almost inaccessible, the frequent journeys in canoes, and the difficulties which almost perpetually prevailed in the way of transporting weighty articles, prevented a complete or very satisfactory knowledge being obtained of the geological structure of the Northern Regions of America.* For the reasons stated below, we shall here * In the first volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, en- titled, u Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions," the reader will find a chapter on Arctic Geology by Professor Jameson, in which the characteristic formations of Che- rie Island, Jan Mayen's Island, Spitzbergen, Old Greenland, and the various insular and continental shores explored by the expedi- tions under Captains Ross and Parry, are described and commented on. So far, therefore, as regards many of the great North-eastern Regions of America, we beg to refer the reader to Professor Jame- son's skilful summary. See also Observations on the Rock Speci- mens collected during the First Polar Voyage, by Charles Konig, Esq. Supplement to the Appendix, p. 247.GEOLOGY. 405 confine our observations to certain restricted districts of those regions. : Between the fifty-sixth and fifty-eighth parallels the western shores of Hudson's Bay are extremely flat, and the depth of water decreases very gradually on approach- ing them. Dr Richardson states that in seven fathoms of water the tops of the trees are just visible from a ship's deck. Large boulder-stones are scattered over the beach, and sometimes form shoals as far as five miles from shore. These are, of course, troublesome and dangerous to boats. Hayes and Nelson Rivers enter Hudson s Bay about the central portion of this quarter. They are separated on reaching the coast merely by a low alluvial point of land, on which York Factory is stationed. A low and uni- formly swampy aspect. characterizes the surrounding country, and the banks of Hayes River at least for fifty miles inland. The upper soil presents a thin stratum of half-decayed mosses,, immediately under which we find a thick bed of tenacious and somewhat slaty bluish clay containing boulder-stones. Forests, consisting chiefly of spruces, larches, and poplars, occur, but the individual trees, except under local circumstances of a favourable nature, are of small size. The subsoil is generally frozen, and as it consequently retains a great deal of the surface-water, swamps of sphagna and other mosses are always being formed; but the bright summer days, though long, are few, and as vegetation thus decays but slowly, little peat occurs. During a favourable season the ground thaws to the depth of about four feet; but there still remains, it is said, a frozen bed of ten or eleven feet, beneath which we find loose sand. As the earth is not thus permanently frozen in the interior countries of North America, the ungenial condition of the soil about York Factory ought probably to be attributed to the neighbourhood of the sea, which is too much encumbered with ice during winter to mitigate the severity of those naturally frost-bound regions, and being laden along shore with numerous icebergs and other insulated masses, even to the middle of August, must of course diminish the intensity of the summer heat.* The boulder-stones just mentioned show that there . * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey to the Shores of the Polar bea, p. 499.406 NATURAL HISTORY. occur in the district of Hayes River several primitive rocks, such as red granite, hornblende rock, gneiss, and syenite; of the transition class, graywacke; and of the secondary class, red sandstone,—belonging probably to the new red sandstone formation, in which is included the rothegende and variegated sandstone. Two kinds of lime- stone likewise occur in this district. The banks of Steel River, the principal branch of the Hayes, present the same general characters as those of the stream into which it flows. The same may be said of Fox and Hill Rivers, the union of which forms the Steel River. However, on the lower parts of Hill River the banks are more varied in their outlines, and rising more precipitately and from a narrow channel, they attain to an elevation of nearly 200 feet. About a mile below the Rock Portage, that is, about 100 miles from the sea, rocks first occur in situ. They consist of gneiss, and rise in the channel of the river from beneath lofty banks of clay. This gneiss formation seems to extend to Lake Winipeg, and contains subordinate beds and veins of granite, and beds of hornblende rock, and mica-slate. At the Swampy Portage a bed of red felspar occurs. It contains small grains of epidote, and at the Upper Portage hornblende-slate was observed, alternating with gray gneiss, slightly intermingled with hornblende, together with beds of quartz rock containing precious garnets. At the Lower Portage on Jack River (the name of Hill River after crossing Swampy Lake) a red granite occurs. The rocks on Jack River are low, with a very spare covering of soil; the woods are thin, and the surrounding country flat. The borders of Knee Lake present similar characters; but in one spot which was examined on account of its ex- hibiting a more luxuriant growth of trees, the soil was still thin, but the subjacent rock consisted of primitive greenstone, with disseminated iron pyrites* "About half a mile from the bend or knee of the lake," says Sir John Franklin, " there is a small rocky island, composed of magnetic iron ore, which affects the magnetic needle at a considerable distance. Having received previous infor- mation respecting this circumstance, we watched our com- passes carefully, and perceived that they were affected at the distance of three hundred yards, both on the ap- proach to and departure from the rock: on decreasing the .distance they became gradually more and more un-GEOLOGY* 407 steady, and on landing they were rendered useless ; and it was evident that the general magnetic influence was totally overpowered by the local attraction of the ore. When Kater's compass was held near to the ground, on the north-west side of the island, the needle dipped so much that the card could not be made to traverse by any adjustment of the hand; but on moving the same com- pass about thirty yards to the west part of the islet, the needle became horizontal, traversed freely, and pointed to the magnetic north."* We are indebted to Sir Alexander Mackenzie for the valuable observation, that the principal lakes in these northern quarters are interposed between the primitive rocks and the secondary strata which lie to the westward of them. Of this Lake Winipeg affords a good example. It is a long narrow sheet of water, bounded on its eastern side by primitive rocks, which are mostly granitic, whilst horizontal limestone strata form its more indented western shore. The north shore of Lake Winipeg is formed into a peninsula by Play-Green Lake and Limestone Bay. Steep cliffs of clay are here prevalent, similar to those which preceded the gneiss in Hill River, but containing rather more calcareous matter. The beach is composed of calcareous sand, and fragments of water-worn lime- stone, of which there are two kinds,—the one yellowish- white, dull, with conchoidal fracture and translucent edges; the other bluish and yellowish-gray, dull, with an earthy fracture and opaque. Dr Richardson did not ob- serve any rocks of the former kind in situ in this neigh- bourhood, although cliffs of the latter were apparent on the west side of Limestone Bay, and continued to bound the lake as far as the mouth of the Saskatchawan, and were reported to spread down the whole of its western shore. The extension of the limestone deposite of Lake Wini- peg, in a westerly direction, has not been ascertained, but it has been traced as far up the Saskatchawan as Carlton House, where it is at least 280 miles in breadth. This limestone extends over a vast tract of country, and may in general be characterized as compact, splinty, and yellowish-gray. It is very testaceous, and large por- tions of it are entirely composed of bivalve shells. In * Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, p. 36.408 NATURAL HISTORY. the journey up the Saskatchawan it was traced to the Neepewan,—a distance of 300 miles,—-where it is either succeeded or covered by cliffs of calcareous clay. It is probable that the limestone formation not only extends over a vast portion of the plains, but also runs parallel to the Rocky Mountains as far as Mackenzie River. Be- tween it and the Rocky Mountains, rocks of the coal for- mation occur; and beds of burning coal have been known for many years on the upper parts of the Saskatchawan, as well as on the last-named river. One of the most marked characteristics of the limestone formation is the entire exclusion of foreign beds. It was never observed in association with any other rock, except, perhaps, on Elk River, where it appeared in contact with compact earthy marl and slaggy mineral-pitch, or bituminous sandstone; and on Coppermine River, where rolled frag- ments of a similar stone were found connected with layers of , dark flinty slate. Salt springs and lakes exist from twelve to twenty miles to the northward of Carlton House. In Athabasca Lake Sir John Franklin's party came again upon the edge of the primitive formation. Fort Chipewyan seemed to stand upon a granite rock, and a little to the eastward a reddish granite is associated with gray gneiss. Granite is the most abundant rock on Slave River; but it disappears about a mile and a half below the Portage des Noyes, and the banks from thence to Slave Lake are alluvial. At the mouth of the Yellow Knife River, and in Lake Prosperous, mica-slate pre- vailed ; and between Rocky and Carp Lakes the granite contains many beds of mica-slate, often passing into clay- date. Here the country is tolerably wooded, and white spruce occupy the rocky situations, Pinus Banksiana the sandy spots, and aspen the low moist places.* At Carp Lake the hills are of lower altitude, the valleys are less fertile and have fewer trees, and these features seem to characterize the commencement of the gneiss formation, which extends over the great district to the eastward of the Coppermine River, termed by the Indians the Barren Grounds., The soil is inimical to almost every species of vegetation. The summits of the hills about Fort Enterprise are composed of a durable red * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea? p. 520.GEOLOGY. 409 granite, and large masses of the same substance are scat- tered over their surface. On an arm of Point Lake, forty-five miles due north of Fort Enterprise, the rocks belong to the transition class. The light blue coloured waters of Great Bear Lake are very transparent, more especially in the vicinity of the primitive mountains of MTavish Bay. A piece of white rag, when sunk, did not disappear till it had descended to the depth of fifteen fathoms. The surface of Bear Lake is not supposed to be 200 feet above the Arctic Sea, and as its depth is much greater than that amount of feet, its bottom must consequently be below the level of the sea.* At the mouth of Dease's River, the hills are five or six hundred feet high, and are composed principally, if not entirely, of dolomite, in. horizontal strata. The northern shores of Bear Lake are low, and skirted by numerous shoals of limestone boulders. At the foot of the Scented Grass Hill, a rivulet has made a section to the depth of 100 feet, and there shaly beds are seen interstratified with thin layers of blackish-brown earthy-looking limestone, con- taining selenite and pyrites. Globular concretions of that stone, and of a poor clay ironstone, also occur in beds in the shale. The surfaces of the slate-clay were covered by an efflorescence of alum and sulphur, and many crystals of sulphate of iron lie at the bottom of the cliff, and several layers of plumose alum, half an inch in thickness, occur in the strata. At the base of Great Bear Mountain, the bituminous shale is interstratified with slate-clay, and Dr Richardson found embedded in the former a single piece of brown coal, in which the fibrous structure of wood is apparent.f . On the northern shore of Keith Bay, about four miles from Bear Lake River, stands Fort Franklin, upon a small terrace, which is elevated about thirty feet above the lake. The bottom of the bay, wherever distinguishable, was ob- served to be sandy, and thickly strewed with rounded pri- mitive boulders of great size, which were particularly abun- dant near the river,—and the waters of the cape formed by Scented Grass Hill were also strewed with large square * In M'Tavish Bay, near the shore of Great Slave Lake, forty- five fathoms of line did not reach the bottom. ^ Some of the great lakes of Canada are supposed to descend 300 feet below the " ocean's brim." rf- Appendix to Franklin's Second Journey, p. 6.410 NATURAL HISTORY. blocks of limestone. All these boulders must have been earned from the parent rocks by a current flowing from the east. Two varieties of granite which occur among them, were recognised as forming abundant rocks at Fort Enterprise, which lies about 170 miles south-east from MTavish Bay. The soil in the vicinity of Fort Franklin is sandy or gravelly, and covers to the depth of one or two feet a bed of clay of unknown thickness. This clay continues firmly frozen during the greater portion of the year, and the thaw seldom penetrates more than a couple of feet into the surface of the earth. Bear Lake River is about seventy miles long, from its origin in the lake till it falls into the Mackenzie, and its breadth is never less than ISO yards, except at the rapid. Sections made by the river generally present sand or clay, —the former probably proceeding from the disintegration of a friable gray sandstone, which occasionally shows itself in the more solid form. The walls of the rapid are about three miles long, and 120 feet high. They are composed of horizontal beds, the lower of which consist of an earthy-looking stone, intermediate between slate-clay and sandstone, having interiorly a dull yellowish-gray colour; These beds are separated by thin slaty layers, of a sub- stance similar in appearance, but harder, which contain impressions of ferns, and from the debris at the bottom of the cliff Dr Richardson gathered impressions of the bark of a tree (lepidodendron) and some ammonites in a brown iron-shot sandstone. These are regarded by Mr Sowerby as of a new species. They contain sulphate of barytes, and are supposed to be referable to some of the oolites near the Oxford clay. We may here notice the remarkable lignite formation of Mackenzie River. The formation which constitutes its banks consists of wood-coal in various states, alternat- ing with beds of pipe-clay, potters clay (occasionallybi- tuminous), slate-clay, gravel, sand, and friable sandstones, and occasionally with porcelain-earth. These strata are usually horizontal, and as many as four beds of lignite are exposed in some places, of which the upper are above the highest river floods of present times. The lignite itself is pretty compact when recently detached; but it soon splits into rhomboidal pieces, separable into more or less delicate slaty portions. When burnt, it produces little smoke or flame, and leaves a brownish-red residuum,%■ GEOLOGY* 411 not one-tenth of the original bulk. But the smell is very fetid, resembling that of phosphorus, It was found unfit for welding iron when used alone, but it sufficed when mixed with charcoal. However, the smell was still most annoying. A frequent form of this lignite is that of slate, of a dull brownish-black colour, with a shining streak. These remarkable beds seem to take fire spontaneously when exposed to the action of the air. They were found burning by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, when he passed downwards in 1789, and are supposed to have been on fire ever since. Large slips of the banks take place in consequence of the destruction of the coal, and it is only when the debris has been washed away by the river that good sections become visible. ee The beds were on fire when we visited them; and the burnt clay, vitrified sand, agglutinated gravel, &c. gave many spots the appearance of an old brick-field."* The pipe-clay is also sufficiently singular to deserve a special notice. It occurs in beds from six inches to a foot in thickness, and chiefly in contact with the lignite. Its colour is yellowish-white; in some places, however, it is light lake-red. It is used by the natives as an article of food in times of scarcity, and is said to be capable of sustaining life for a considerable time. It is known to the traders under the name of white mud. They wash their houses with it. The alluvial islands at the mouth of the Mackenzie separate the various branches of that great river. These islands are either partially or entirely flooded in the spring; their centres are depressed, and are either marshy or oc- cupied by a lake. Their borders, however, are more ele- vated, and are well clothed by white spruce-trees. These, and whatever other trees are produced in the islands, suddenly cease to grow about latitude 68° 40'. The famous Copper Mountains, so called, consist prin- cipally of trap rocks, which seemed to Dr Richardson to be imposed upon the new red sandstone, or the flcetz limestone which covers it. They rise to a height of eight or nine hundred feet above the level of the river, and pre- sent a softish outline at a distance; but on a nearer view they seem composed of ridges, many of which have pre- cipitous sides. The summits are stony and uneven. * Ibid. p. 18.412 •* NATURAL HISTORY. The largest pieces of copper are found associated with prehnite, and the Indians are careful to search for ore wherever they observe pieces of the last-named mineral lying on the surface. The original repository or vein of copper ore does not appear to have been hitherto observed; but judging from specimens picked up by our overland expeditions, it most probably traverses felspathose trap. Ice-chisels have been observed in the possession of the Esquimaux measuring twelve or fourteen inches long, and half an inch in diameter, formed of pure copper. Another range of trap hills occurs at the distance of ten miles to the northward of the Copper Mountains* This range is about twenty miles from the Arctic Sea, and beyond it the country is very level, with a subsoil of light brownish-red sandstone. These desolate plains nourish only a coarse short grass, and the trees which had previously dwindled to scraggy clumps entirely dis- appear. At the mouth of the Coppermine River there occurs a low ridge of greenstone; and from thence to Bloody Fall, which is a distance of about ten miles, the country is very level, with the exception of some ridges of trap, by which it is traversed. The channel of the river is sunk nearly 150 feet below the level of the surrounding country, and is bounded by cliffs of yellowish-white sand, and some- times of clay, beneath which beds of greenstone occasion- ally crop out. The islands in this quarter of the Arctic Sea are in- variably rocky. They present a remarkable uniformity of appearance, and are very generally bounded by mural precipices of trap-rock clinkstone or clay stone. But the main shore presents a greater diversity. For sixty miles eastward of Coppermine River, the beach is low and gravelly, but towards Tree River the trap rocks reappear and form a steril and rocky coast. At Port Epworth the valleys were stony, and almost entirely destitute of herbage. The rocks observed were liver-brown clinkstone porphyry, with a few beds of earthy greenstone, and the same formation extends to the mouth of Wentzel's River, to the eastward of which a projection of the coast forms Cape Barrow. When Dr Richardson rounded this cape the weather was extremely foggy, but the rocks examined consisted of a beautiful admixture of red and gray granite, forming steep and craggy peaks which rose abruptly fromGEOLOGY. 413 the water to the height of 1500 feet. At Detention Har- bour the granite hills terminate abruptly, or recede from the coas^ giving place to less elevated strata of gneiss, in which beds of red granite are enclosed. A vein of galena was observed running through the gneiss for two hun- dred yards at the spot named in consequence Galena Point.* A mass of indurated iron-shot slaty clay occurs on the western point of Moore's Bay, and the promontory which forms the eastern side of that bay is composed of trap rocks and claystone porphyry, whose mural precipi- ces constitute the sides of narrow valleys, opening at either end towards the sea. An iron-shot clinkstone porphyry, with a columnar aspect, prevails from Moore's Bay to the entrance of Arctic Sound. The eastern shore of that- sound is covered with grass, and scarcely exhibits any naked rock; but the clinkstone porphyry reappears on Bankes' Peninsula, along with an earthy-looking green- stone, and forms as usual parallel ranges of mural precipice. On Barry's Island the trap rocks form cliffs from 50 to 160 feet high, superimposed on thick beds of indurated clay or marl. A red amygdaloidal rock, containing beautiful pebbles of carnelian, chalcedony, and embedded jaspers, was observed on the north side of the island. Trap rocks, for the most part greenstone, and sand- stone of the new red formation, characterize Sir James Gordon's Bay ; but to the north of Fowler's Bay the gneiss reappears, with beds of granite and hornblende gneiss. Hexagonal crystals of hornblende, above a foot long, were observed embedded in the gneiss near Point Evritt, and the islands in the offing consisted as usual of floetz trap or porphyry. Cape Croker is composed of red sandstone, of which the debris forms a shelving and ut- terly barren shore. Grayish-white sandstone, associated with or passing into slaty clay, was visible on the north- ern shore of Melville Sound, wherever the barren clayey soil was washed away. Cliffs of greenstone, or of clay- stone porphyry, superimposed on the flat strata, present- ed the appearance of islands, when seen from the opposite coast, as our exploring party entered the sound, and had the low connecting land been then visible, a tedious and unnecessary circumnavigation of the sound itself would have been saved. The coast exhibited the same appear- * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 531. 5NATURAL HISTORY. ance as far as Point Turnagain, the most easterii point attained by the overland expeditions. On a general view it appears that the new red sand- stone formation prevails along those portions of the North American Arctic shores. " All the islands visited/' says Dr Richardson,, " were formed of trap or porphyry be- longing to that formation; and, judging from similarity of form, the rocks of the other islands belong to the same class. The gneiss formation is next in extent; and, in- deed, it appears to run nearly parallel to the coast within the red sandstone from Cape Barrow, across Hood's River above Wilberforce Falls to the bottom of Bathurst's In- let, and from thence to Hope's Bay, on the western side of Melville Sound. The only foreign beds we observed in the gneiss were granite, perhaps quartz-rock and hornblendic gneiss or syenite. We saw no clay or mica- slate, nor did we observe any formations intermediate between the gneiss and new red sandstone; nor, except at Cape Barrow,- where granite predominates, any other formation than the two just mentioned. Our opportu- nities for observation, however, were not extensive; the necessity of proceeding without delay limiting our botanical and geognostical excursions to the short period that was required to prepare breakfast or supper/'* From Point Turnagain the party proceeded to Hood's River, which they traced to some distance. Near its mouth that river is from 100 to 300 yards in width, and is bounded by steep high banks of clay, reposing on floetz rocks. At Wilberforce Falls, which are six or seven miles above the second rapid, the river makes a striking descent of about 250 feet into a chasm, the walls of which consist of light-red felspathose sandstone, belonging, as Dr Rich- ardson supposes, to the old red sandstone formation, or that which lies under coal, and occasionally alternates with transition rocks.f A short distance above these falls the gneiss formation appears, and produces hills precisely similar to those about Fort Enterprise. On quitting Hood's River our exploring party ascended from the valley through which it flows, and entered upon an even, clayey, and very barren district, partially covered by shallow lakes. This plain country continued nearly as far as Cracroft's River, where the gneiss reappeared, * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 533. -f Ibid. p. 534.GEOLOGY. 415 and presented those bleak hills and precipices so charac- teristic of the Barren Grounds. The gneiss formation was observed to continue without essential change to Ob- struction Rapid, between Providence and Point Lakes, where it united with the Fort Enterprise district formerly alluded to. The preceding geognostical details, and others into the consideration of which we cannot here enter, render it apparent that the general distribution and connexion of the hills and mountain-masses of these northern regions are nearly the same as geologists have observed to cha- racterize similar materials in other portions of the earth. The primitive rocks occur in their usual relations; and gneiss, attended by an extremely scanty vegetation, ap- pears to be the most extensively distributed. Granite was the next in frequency; after which may be placed mica- slate. Clay-slate and protogine were the least abundant. The granite of Cape Barrow was intersected by veins of augite greenstone of the same description as those which occur in the granite districts of Great Britain, and the pri- mitive rocks in general were found to be traversed by veins of felspar, quartz, and granite. The transition rocks, consisting principally of clay-slate and graywacke, bore a strong resemblance to those in Dumfries-shire,—a fact which did not fail to attract the attention of Dr Richardson, himself a native of that dis- trict* In regard to the secondary formations, the facts ob- served by Dr Richardson show the existence—First, Of the old red sandstone, or that which lies under coal, and occasionally alternates with transition rocks: Second, Of the coal formation, which was ascertained to occur in certain districts of Mackenzie River, and towards the Rocky Mountains: Third, Of the new red or variegated sandstone, an important formation of considerable extent, which contained, as it is known to do in the Old World, gypsum and beds of salt, or of muriatiferous clay, afford- ing saline materials for the impregnations of the salt springs which issue from it: Fourth, Of the secondary limestone belonging to that vast deposite which lies above the new red sandstone, and beneath chalk, and which oc- cupies extensive tracts in Britain and other parts of Eu- rope : Fifth, Of the secondary trap and porphyry rocks,416 natural history. in the composition and character of which one of the most interesting features is undoubtedly the frequent oc- currence of native copper, both among the Copper Moun- tains themselves, and along the Arctic shore. The alluvial deposites consist, as usual, of sand, gravel, rolled blocks, boulder-stones, and the debris of various rocks. We may conclude by observing in the words of Dr Richardson, to whom we are deeply indebted for the information presented in this volume, that the foregoing details make it manifest " that in the regions we traversed the rocks of the primitive, transition, secondary, and allu- vial classes, have the same general composition, structure, position, and distribution, as in other parts of America which have been examined; and as these agree in all re- spects with the rock formations in Europe and Asia, they may with propriety be considered as universal formations— parts of a grand and harmonious whole—the production of infinite wisdom." " Stand still and behold the wondrous works of God,_the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge." a Remember that thou magnify his work which men behold. Every man may see it ; men may behold it afar off." " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches." " Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."APPENDIX. REMARKS on A LATE MEMOIR OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, with a VINDICATION OF RICHARD HAKLUYT. " Floreat Historia Britannica, recordis authenticisque expromatur. Scribatur lente, mature, ordinate, sincere, dilucide, sine partium studio, sine pravo consilio, sine omni vili aff'ectu viris literatis indigno." Madox, Disceptatio JEpistolaris De Magno Rotulo Scaccarii. The reader is already aware that in the present volume, the Discovery of North America, in the reign of Henry VIL, has been exclusively ascribed to John Cabot, a Venetian, who had settled as a merchant at Bristol. The author of a late work* has attributed this noted extension of geogra- phical knowledge solely to the subject of his biography, Se- bastian Cabot, the son of John. According to him, it was Sebastian who projected the expedition in which the disco- very was made,—it was Sebastian who conducted the expe- dition,—it is doubtful whether John Cabot accompanied the voyage at all,—and it is certain, if he did, it was simply as a merchant who traded on his capital. The biogra- pher has brought forward his arguments in support of this theory, in the fifth chapter of his work, entitled * Memoir of Sebastian Cabot. 2 c448 APPENDIX. Comparative Agency of John and Sebastian Cabot; and it is in the course of these arguments that he has made an attack upon the integrity and honesty of Richard Hakluyt, a writer to whom the history of maritime dis- covery is under the deepest obligations. These two points,, therefore,—the discovery of North America and the credit due to the evidence of Hakluyt,—must necessarily be con- sidered in conjunction; and we trust we shall convince every impartial reader of the accuracy of our assertion, that John Cabot was the discoverer, and that the attack upon Hakluyt is perfectly unfounded. Before, however, proceeding to the more immediate sub- ject of inquiry, we may be permitted to say, that, although it becomes our duty to point out repeated and material errors, and in some instances considerable injustice com- mitted by the biographer of Cabot, we are anxious to avoid that peculiar asperity which he has unnecessarily ming- led with a subject so remote that it may surely be ap- proached in a spirit of great calmness and impartiality. We wish to employ no expression which may give a mo- ment's unnecessary pain to the biographer. His Memoir of Cabot, as may be seen from the references to it in the course of this volume, has been frequently of use to us. Although rather a piece of biographical and historical criticism than a pure biography, it is a meritorious work; it points out to the reader some recondite sources of in- formation,—its deductions and arguments are often acute and ingenious,—and, confused and deficient as it is in its arrangement, it contains occasional passages which are elo- quently written. But it is impossible not to regret that there is infused into the whole book a more than ordinary propor- tion of that bitter and querulous spirit which, in a greater or less degree, seems inseparable from the lucubrations of theantiquary,—that the author has poured abuse, contempt, and ridicule upon those who have fallen into errors, which he sometimes has, and at other times imagines he has detect- ed,—and that he is unscrupulous in imputing unfair and ungenerous motives to those who little deserve such an ac- cusation. Robertson, Forster, Henry, Campbell, Southey, Barrow, and other able writers, are attacked in unmea- sured terms, as the arch propagators of all that is errone- ous and superficial on the subject of maritime discovery; and our excellent friend Richard Hakluyt, who has slept invindication of hakluyt. 419 an honoured grave for upwards of two centuries, is resusci- tated to be treated only with more unsparing severity. We proceed now to the discussion of the point in question,— Who Discovered North America?—The fact, then, that it was John Cabot who projected, fitted out, and con- ducted the expedition by which this discovery was made rests on evidence so conclusive, that it is difficult to ima- gine how any impartial inquirer can resist its force. First, There is the original commission or letters-pa- tent in Rymer, vol. xii. p. 595, in which John Cabot is evidently the principal person intrusted with the under- taking. His three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanchez, are indeed included with him in the patent; but it is allowed on all hands, that neither Lewis nor Sanchez accompa- nied the voyage, and Sebastian, although he undoubtedly went along with his father, could not then have been more than twenty,—an age excluding the idea of his either originating or conducting the enterprise. Secondly, We have the language of the second patent, dated the 3d February 1498, in which the letters are di- rected to John Cabot alone, and he is empowered to sail with his ships to the land and isles of late found by the said John, in the king's name and commandment,—a piece of evidence which, even if it stood single and un- supported, appears to be decisive of the question. Thirdly, We have the inscription under the contem- porary portrait of Sebastian Cabot, painted by Holbein, in which he is described as the son of the Venetian, Sir John Cabot, who was the first discoverer of the New Land, ce Primi Inventoris Terrae Novae sub Henrico VII. Angliae Regeand in the Fourth place, A proof of the same fact is to be found in the inscription by Clement Adams upon the Map of America, which he engraved after a drawing of Sebastian Cabot's, and in the lifetime of this navigator. In this inscription, as already more minutely pointed out/the principal place is given to the father, John Cabot, and the son is mentioned, as it appears to us, not as command- ing the ships or having originated the voyage, but simply as accompanying the expedition. Having gone thus far, we are now ready to enter upon * Supra, pp. 21, 22.420 APPENDIX. the investigation of the arguments urged by the biographer in favour of the claim which he has set up for Sebastian as the sole discoverer; and here we may remark, that in the classification of his evidence he has followed a method which is certainly not the best calculated for the manifesta- tion of truth. He first arranges what he denominates the proofs in support of the father; but those which he enu- merates first, and which alone he discusses with minute attention, are the weakest that could be selected, and such as no one who carefully weighs them would place much reliance on; whilst the unanswerable evidence is brought in last with extreme brevity, and dismissed with scarce any observation. " The various items of evidence," says he,which are supposed to establish the prevailing personal agency of John Cabot, may be ranked thus:— ee 1. The alleged statement of Robert Fabyan. "" 2. The language of more recent writers as to the character of the father. " 3. The appearance of his name in the map cut by Clement Adams, and also in the patents. " As to the first," he continues, " the authority usually referred to is found in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 9,•—f A note of Sebastian Cabot's first discoverie of part of the Indies, taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, not hitherto printed, which is in the custodie of M. John Stow, a diligent preserver of antiquities. In the IS yeere of K. Henry the 7 (by meanes of one John Ca- bot, a Venetian, which made himselfe very expert and cunning in the knowledge of the circuit of the world, and islands of the same, as by a sea-card and other demon- strations reasonable he shewed), the king caused to man and victuall a ship at Bristow, to search for an island which he said he knew well was rich, and replenished with great commodities; which shippe, thus manned and victualled, at the king's costs, divers merchants of London ventured in her small stocks, being in her, as chief patron, the said Venetian. And in the company of the said ship, sailed also out of Bristow, three or foure small ships, fraught with sleight and grosse marchandises, as course cloth, caps, laces, points, and other trifles, and so departed from Bris- tow in the beginning of May, of whom, in this maior's time, returned no tidings/ "VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 421 This is the passage which the author of the Memoir has accused Hakluyt of perverting; and, instead of giving it simply as it was furnished by Stow,—of interpolating the name of John Cahot. Nor is it difficult to see how he was led to make this accusation. It was necessary, in support of his views, to show that this alleged statement of Fabyan contained no allusion to John, but actually supported the claim of Sebastian Cabot: but this could not be done if Hakluyt has given it fairly; and in this way the biogra- pher, animated with zeal for his theory, was imperceptibly drawn on to attack the integrity of this writer. Now., be- fore considering so grave an accusation against Hakluyt, we have one introductory remark to make upon this quo- tation from Fabyan. It is certain that it alludes to the second voyage made to North America by Sebastian Cabot, in the year 1498, and not to the first, in which that country was discovered. Of this the passage con- tains internal evidence which is perfectly conclusive. The first voyage took place in the twelfth year of Henry VII. This in the thirteenth. The first voyage was at the sole expense of the adventurers. Of this the king bore the expense. The first voyage could allude to no former discovery. This alludes to an island which had been already discovered. To quote the passage, there- fore, as evidence in favour of John Cabot's discovery, which has certainly been done by some modern writers, argues a rapid and superficial examination of its contents. Certainly Hakluyt does not cite it with this view; but includes it, on the contrary, amongst those portions of evidence, those testimonies, as he calls them, in which the sole glory of the earliest voyage to North America is given to Sebastian Cabot.* All this may be true, says the memorialist, but it does not exculpate Hakluyt. I do not accuse him of citing the passage as a proof in favour of John Cabot—but of altering it so as to mislead other authors: He has " perverted" the passage, and has suf- fered the evidence of his " guilty deed" to lie about, so as to furnish the means of his own conviction. Such is the charge advanced against Hakluyt; and never, we will venture to say, was thkre a more unfounded ac- cusation, as will appear when it comes to be examined, and * Hakluyt's Voyages, edition 1600, vol. iii. p. 4—9, inclusive.422 appendix. yet the argument of the biographer is ingenious, and it requires some attention to detect its fallacy. The object in the whole matter, it will be observed, was twofold; first, to show that Robert Fabyan, a contem- porary author, ascribes the discovery of North America to Sebastian, and not to John Cabot; and, secondly, to prove that Hakluyt has been guilty of dishonestly per- verting the passage from Fabyan communicated to him by Stow the antiquary. How then does he accomplish this? In the first place, he goes to the earliest work of Hakluyt, published in 1582, where this writer gives for the first time the following note as to the discovery, which we quote verbatim from the work itself, now lying on our table:— " A Note of Sebastian Gabotf/s Voyage of Discoveries taken out of an old Chronicle written by Robert Fabian, some time Alderman of London, which is in the custodie of John Stow, citizen, a diligent searcher and preserver of antiquities. in the 15 This yeere the king (by means of a Venetian Kin^Henrie ma^e himselfe very expert and cunning the vn?nne in knowledge of the circuite of the worlde, and 1498* islands of the same, as by a carde and other demonstrations reasonable hee shewed) caused to man and victuall a shippe at Bristowe, to searche for an ilande, whiche hee saide hee knewe well was riche, and replenish- ed with riche commodities. Which ship, thus manned and victualled at the kinges costs, divers merchants of Lon- don ventured in her small stockes, being in her, as cheife patrone, the said Venetian, and in the companie of the Bristow shippe, sayled also out of Bristowe three or foure small ships fraught with sleight and grosse merchandizes, as course cloth, caps, laces, points, Win, Pur- and other trifles, and so departed from Bristowe chas, Maior in the beginning of May, of whom, in this o ondon. jy|aior'g time, returned no tidings." Having given this quotation from Hakluy t's publication of 1582, the writer of the life next turns to the larger work of the same author, published in 1589, and he discovers that he has added to the sentence, as it stood in 1582, the words " one John Cabot." The passageVINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 423 in the narrative of 1589 standing thus:—" In the 13 yeere of King Henrie the VII. by means of one John Cabot, a Venetian, which made himself very expert/' &c., the rest of the sentence being the same as in 1582. Here then, says he, is manifest interpolation and dishonesty; the original passage from Fabyan has been altered; Hakluyt, in 1589, does not give it in the same terms as in 1582. Before, however arriving at so strong and uncharitable a conclusion, it must strike every reader that the original passage, either as it stands in Fabyan, or as it stood in the extract furnished by Stow from Fa- byan, ought to be carefully examined. Till the passage, as it is given by Hakluyt, is compared with one or other of these, it is perfectly evident that no charge of alteration or interpolation can be made good against him. Now, the original chronicle of Fabyan, from which Stow took the passage, is lost—and the biographer does not pretend that he has discovered in the manuscripts of Hakluyt the original passage, as extracted by Stow, and sent to this writer—but he endeavours to supply it in a very singular manner. In speaking of Hakluyt's alleged per- version of the passage, as sent by Stow, he observes:— (C Fortunately, we are not left to mere conjecture. In 1605 appeared Stow's own f Annals/ The simplicity and good faith of this writer are so well known, as well as his intense reverence for whatever bore the stamp of antiquity, that we have no fear of his having committed what in his eyes would have been sacrilege, by changing one syllable of the original. Let it be remembered then, that Hakluyt relies exclusively on what he obtained from Stow; and in reading the following passage from the An- nals, we find what doubtless passed into Hakluyt's hands before it was submitted to his perilous correction. It occurs at p. 804 of the edition of 1605, and at p. 483 of that of 1631. f This year one Sebastian Gaboto, a Genoa's sonne borne in Bristol, professing himself to be expert in the knowledge of the circuit of the world, and islands of the same, as by his charts and other reasonable demonstrations he shewed, caused the king to man and victual a ship/ &c. The rest corresponds with the pas- sage in Hakluyt. * * * Thus," continues the biogra- pher, " we have the best evidence that the contemporary writer, whoever he may have been, made not the slightest424 APPENDIX. allusion to the father. Bacon, SpeecL, Thuanus, &c., all furnish the same statement/'*' Such is the passage from the Memoir of Cabot; and thus it appears that the whole of this attack upon Hakluyt rests upon a fact which the biographer imagines he has proved, but which in truth is nothing else than a piece of the merest and the most vague presumption—namely, that Stow furnished Hakluyt, in 1582, with an extract from Fabyan, which, when he himself proceeded, about eighteen years after, to compile his Annals from a long list of writers, whose names he has given us in his prefatory pages, he so scrupulously copied, that we are entitled to take it as it stands in the said Annals, and argue upon it as the identi- cal passage contained in the lost chronicle of Fabyan. But this is not merely gratuitous assumption. There is, we think, strong evidence to show that Stow, in compo- sing his various works, did not, upon the point in question, —the discovery of America,—consult the manuscript of Fabyan, although he affirms it to be in his possession, but in the multiplicity of his authorities had overlooked it altogether. The first Summary of Chronicles was pub- lished by this industrious antiquary in 1565. A new edition was given in 1573, and again another edition in 1598. His excellent work entitled a Survey of London and Westminster was also published in 1598; and it is a remarkable circumstance, and one which militates strongly against the hypothesis of the biographer, that although in the list of his authorities prefixed to the edition of his Chronicles in 1573, and to the Survey of London, there is express mention of the manuscript by Fabyan, still, in neither of these works is there any allusion made, which we can discover, to the voyages of the Cabots, or the dis- covery of America. His work entitled Flores Historiarum, or Annals of England, was published in 1600, and here, for the first time, is the passage regarding the voyage to America introduced; in which, as we have already seen, Sebastian Cabot is called ee a Genoa's son" But it is to be recollected that Robert Fabyan was a contem- porary of Sebastian Cabot; that he was a rich merchant and alderman of London; and the probability is, that he was either personally acquainted with so illustrious * Memoir of Cabot, p. 44.VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 425 a navigator, or at least enjoyed the best opportunities of rendering himself master of his history. It appears to us, therefore, exceedingly improbable that Fabyan should have fallen into the error of describing Sebastian Cabot as a Genoese's son, instead of the son of a Venetian. Now, it is a singular circumstance, that in the Chronicle of Thomas Lanquette, a work which Stow also mentions as in his possession, Sebastian is described as the son of a Genoese, and the discoverer of a part of the West Indies/ and this induces us,to. conjecture that the passage in ques- tion was taken by Stow, not from Fabyan s Chronicle, but from that work. Down to 1598, he does not appear to have examined Fabyan s treatise upon the subject of Ame- rica, or Cabot; and becoming old (he was now in his seventy-sixth year), and failing in his memory, it appears extremely probable that he had contented himself with a reference to the volume of Lanquette. So far, therefore, from admitting the fact which has been hastily, and without any sufficient ground, assumed by the biographer, that the passage in Stow's Annals regarding Sebastian Cabot may be considered the very extract from Fabyan communicated to Hakluyt, we con- tend that a minute examination of Stow's historical labours proves that, in composing his Annals, he had omitted to consult the Chronicle of Fabyan, and had copied some less authentic writer—probably the Chronicle of Lan- quette. What follows from this?—First, the whole elaborate accusation of guilty perversion of the extract from Fabyan, so unceremoniously advanced against Hak- luyt, falls completely to the ground. Secondly, the bio- grapher's supposed passage from Fabyan, a contemporary, turns out to be nothing more than a quotation from Stow, and consequently, the assertion that the former has de- scribed Sebastian Cabot as the sole projector and executor of the voyage in which North America was discovered, is perfectly unwarrantable. The original manuscript of Fab- yan, as we have already stated, is lost; the origiaal extract from it furnished by Stow to Hakluyt is also lost; and without a minute examination of these two documents, * Barrett's Bristol, pp. 185, 173. I take it for granted that this author must have seen the passage which he quotes ; but in the only edition of Lanquette's Chronicle which I have had an opportunity of examining there is no such passage.426 APPENDIX. the biographer was not entitled to wound the fair reputa- tion of this excellent writer, to whom the history of naval discovery is under so many obligations, by charges without proof, and innuendoes arising mainly out of the errors which he himself has committed. But the biographer will perhaps contend that he has at least made out one fact against Hakluyt—namely, that in 1589 he altered the passage from the form in which he gave it in 1582; and is not this, says he, a dis- honest and guilty deed ? To this we answer,—and we think it impossible for him to controvert the assertion,— that, admitting the fact, there is no guilt or dishonesty in the case. The vitiation of the text imputed here to Hak- luyt may be considered either as a perversion of the real truth, historically considered, or of the individual passage, or of both. First then, it is to be remarked, that Hakluyt cannot be accused of dishonesty, historically speaking, because, in the passages in question, he has stated nothing but the truth. It has been already proved that the extract com- municated by Stow relates solely to the second voyage of 1498, planned and fitted out by John Cabot the Vene- tian, and conducted afterwards by his son Sebastian; and the alteration of the note, from the words " a Vene- tian/' used in 1582, to the words, ee one John Cabot, a Venetian," used in 1589, only makes it speak with more clearness and accuracy. But, in the second place, Hak- luyt, says the biographer, has perverted and altered a quotation. There might be some appearance of plausi- bility in this accusation, if Hakluyt had given the pas- sage in dispute as a quotation, and had thus bound him- self down to the common usage which compels an author in such a case to insert it word for word. But he does not do so. He warns the reader that he is perusing not a quotation, but a " note made up by him from an extract communicated by Stow, and taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, not hitherto printed/' and hav- ing done so, he considered himself at liberty to correct that note, by inserting in it any additional information which he had acquired. In 1582, he thought that the words, " a Genoa's son, born in Bristol," could not apply to Sebastian Cabot, with whom they were coupled, and he inserts the words, " a Venetian/' dropping the name altogether. InVINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 427 1589; he had probably become acquainted with the second patent^ which ascribed the plan of the expedition solely to John Cabot; and he, therefore, added to his note the words, " John Cabot, a Venetian," where he speaks of the person who had caused the king to man and victual a ship. Even, therefore, if we were to admit, which we do not, that a discrepancy had been made out between the passages in Hakluyt and the real extract from the Chronicle of Robert Fabyan, we should be entitled to repel any accu- sations against his honesty, founded upon a basis so ex- tremely erroneous. The memorialist now comes to the consideration of the proof as to the " personal agency of the father in the dis- covery of North America, derived from the inscription on the map cut by Clement Adams, which Hakluyt states is to be seen in her Majesty's Privy Gallery at Westminster, and in many other ancient merchants' houses."* And here he commences his examination by another unfair innuendo against this writer. "We approach the statement of Hakluyt," says he, c< with a conviction that he would not hesitate for a moment to interpolate the name of John Cabot, if he thought that thereby was secured a better correspondence with the original patent." I have con- victed him (it is thus he argues) of interpolating the quotation furnished by Stow from Fabyan, and there is a strong presumption he would not hesitate to alter the in- scription also. ef It would, certainly," he remarks, ee require Jess audacity to associate here the name of the father, as it is found in the patent, than to do that of which Hak- luyt has already been convicted." t To this indirect insi- nuation it may be calmly replied, that, as the first at- tempt to affix guilt upon Hakluyt has been shown to be a total failure, the inscription ought to be received from his hands with perfect confidence that we read it in his work exactly as it was copied by him from the original map of Sebastian Cabot, cut by Clement Adams. From the man- ner in which it is given, first in the original Latin, and then translated, it professes to be an exact quotation; and even were Hakluyt as guilty a person as the biographer represents him, it might be contended that he would have paused before he committed an act of interpolation, of * See the proof stated. Supra, p. 21. *J- Memoir of Cabot, p. 48.428 APPENDIX. which the original in the Queen's Gallery, and in many ancient merchants' houses, must have instantly convicted him. But to proceed. Having thus prepared us to expect an audacious alteration, the biographer endeavours to show that those persons who had seen Sebastian Cabot's charts and maps,, introduce no allusion to the father, and he leaves the reader to make the inevitable inference against Hakluyt's honesty. This writer has quoted an inscription on Sebastian Cabot's map, which attributes the discovery to John Cabot. But Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who had seen Sebastian's charts, makes no allusion to the father; and Richard Willes, who speaks familiarly of the map of this navigator, does not mention John; therefore., it is left to the reader silently to infer that Hakluyt may have interpolated the name of the father. A plain statement of the fact will put all this down in an instant: —Hakluyt has narrated in the clearest terms that the map to which he alludes, and from which he copies the inscrip- tion, was engraved by Clement Adams; and the terms of the inscription show that it (the inscription) was added by the artist. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on the contrary, just as clearly states, that the documents to which he alludes, are " charts of Sebastian Cabot, which are to be seen in the Queen Majesty's Privy Gallery at Whitehall,"—evi- dently meaning the original charts drawn by this sea- man, and presented to the queen ;* and Willes does not mention the engraved map at all, but speaks of a table of Sebastian Cabot, which the father of Lady Warwick had at Cheynies.t The argument, therefore, or rather the unfavourable inference created in the mind of the reader by the biographer, which derives its force from the supposition, that Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Richard Willes refer to the same document as Hakluyt, namely, the engraved map by Clement Adams, falls completely to the ground. If there had been any account of the first discovery on the charts alluded to by Gilbert, and the ee table" mentioned by Willes, and in this account the father's name had not appeared, there might be some presumption against the elder Cabot; but the writer of * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 16. -J* History of Travel in the West and East Indies, p. 232, Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 25, 26.VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 429 the Memoir does not pretend there was any such account or inscription on the charts and the table ; and to infer, from the silence of Gilbert and Willes, either that Hakluyt had altered the inscription, or that John Cabot could not have been the original discoverer, is a remarkable instance of vague and inconclusive reasoning. This is the proper place to notice an extraordinary error, or rather series of errors, fallen into by the bio- grapher, regarding this same " extract." It is described by Hakluyt as an " extract taken out of the map of Sebastian Cabot, cut by Clement Adams, concerning his discovery of the West Indies, which is to be seen in her Majestie's Privy Gallery at Westminster, and in many other ancient merchants' houses/' Clearer words^ one would think, could scarcely be employed to ex- press the fact that a map engraved by Adams hung in the Privy Gallery at Westminster, from which Hakluyt, who was much about court, copied the extract or inscrip- tion which he has given at p. 6. Yet the biographer has committed the singular blunder of supposing that it was the extract from the map, and not the map itself, which was hung up in the Privy Gallery at Westminster, and that it may be inferred that Hakluyt had never seen the original map.