ART. I.—THE ARCTIC REGIONS AND SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.*

Ir is now more than three and a half centuries since the first efforts were made to discover a north-west passage to India. These efforts have been renewed by various European nations; but the English were the first to engage in them, and have ever been the most ardent and persevering. While others have long since completely abandoned the idea of a north-west passage to India, through Behring's Straits, the English have never given it up. In spite of the immense sums that they have lost in repeated expeditions to the north-west, the many valuable lives that have been sacrificed, and the disasters of more than three hundred years, still we have seen them, in 1845, again renewing their efforts, by sending another costly expedition under Sir John Franklin.

We cannot but express our high admiration of the energy and perseverance with which the English have redoubled, from time to time, their exertions to make out the long-wished-for passage; though at the same time, we must say, that we have ever been skeptical in regard to the practical utility of such a north-west passage to India, should it ever be discovered. The extreme high latitude in which it will be found, if found at all, will render it quite unavailable for commercial, and still more so for traveling purposes. Such a passage would not be open for navigation more than two months in a year; and, judging from all past experience of navigators in those seas, the imminent dangers of a voyage by that route would prevent any attempts to make it a medium for commerce. What good, then, is to result to the world from the discovery of a north-west passage to India?

These Arctic expeditions, it is true, have enriched science by the

ARCTIC SEARCHING EXPEDITION.-A Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert's Land and the Arctic Sea, in search of the Discovery Ships, under the command of Sir John Franklin. By Sir John Richardson, C. B., F. R. S., &c. Harper & Brothers.

1852.

contribution of many curious and valuable facts and discoveries, and have well nigh solved the greatest geographical problem of the age; but this is all that can be said of them.

Seven years have now elapsed since Sir John Franklin, the commander of the last expedition to discover the supposed north-west passage, left England with two small ships, the Erebus and Terror. The expedition sailed from England on the 19th of May, 1845, and early in the July following it reached the Whalefish Islands, near Disco, on the western coast of Greenland. From this point Sir John Franklin, and others of the expedition, sent letters to England, which are the last that have been received from them. Several expeditions have been sent out in search of Sir John Franklin, but all in vain. In 1848, the British government fitted out a triple expedition to explore the Arctic regions in three directions. One under Sir James C. Ross, with two ships, was to proceed to Barrow's Straits, and search in that direction; another was to enter the Arctic seas through Behring's Straits, and explore eastward; while a third, under Sir John Richardson, was to proceed over land to the mouth of Mackenzie's River, and explore the whole coast from the mouth of that river eastward. The results of this last expedition are embodied in the work, whose title we have given on the first page of this paper.

Sir John Richardson left England on the 25th of March, 1848, having sent out his stores, boats, &c., for the journey, in ships bound for Hudson's Bay. These arrived at the mouth of Nelson's River, their place of destination, on the 8th of September, 1847, and the stores, &c., were conveyed to Cumberland House, the place of rendezvous of the expedition, on the Saskatchewan River, there to await the arrival of Sir John Richardson, who was to leave England in the following spring. The boats in which he was to descend Mackenzie's River to the Arctic Ocean, and survey the coast eastward, were four in number, built in England, and capable of carrying eight men each, and a cargo of two tons.

Sir John Richardson arrived in New-York on the 10th of April, 1848, and immediately proceeded for Cumberland House, his place of rendezvous, by the way of Montreal, the river St. Lawrence, and the lakes. He arrived at Fort William, on the western shore of Lake Superior, on the 12th of May, and at Cumberland House on the 13th of June, after suffering much delay on account of the ice in Lake Winipeg. Cumberland House is 2,880 miles from New-York.

At Cumberland House he learned that Mr. Bell, who had charge of the boats and stores destined for the mouth of the Mackenzie's River, had left a fortnight before, with all the boats, for the Arctic Ocean. Sir John Richardson, therefore, had nothing to do but to follow him, which he did the next day, the 14th of June, in canoes, his company of Canadian voyageurs consisting of fifteen persons. The route lay along the chain of small rivers and lakes which stretches from Lake Superior to the great Methy Portage, in lat. 56° 36′ N., and long. 109° 51' w. This portage is the dividing ridge which separates the waters that flow to the N. E. into Hudson's Bay

from those flowing N. w. into Mackenzie's River, and thence into the Arctic Ocean. The journey from Cumberland House, at Lake Winipeg, to the Methy Portage, in canoes, is tedious, the rivers being shallow and the portages frequent, though not long. At each portage, the canoes and baggage are carried across to the next water on the shoulders of men.

At Methy Portage Sir John Richardson overtook Mr. Bell with his four boats, after a fourteen days' journey from Cumberland House. The country along the route is hilly. In the eastern part of the route the prevailing rock is limestone, (silurian,) with frequent granite boulders. As they advanced, they found granite, gneiss, chlorite slate, like that on the north side of Lake Superior, and a hornblende slate occupying the beds of the rivers, and rising on each bank into rounded knolls and low cliffs. Granite was found on all the portages, with greenstone, hornblende, and, in some places, black basalt. At the three portages of Woody Lake, a micaceous gneiss, or micaslate rock, prevails. As they approached the Great Methy Portage, lofty granite precipices, 150 feet high, were common, and the general. aspect of the country became like that of the north shore of Lake Superior. A few miles on each side of the route the country rose into eminences four or five hundred feet above the streams. The islands in some of the lakes consisted of conical heaps of granite boulders.

Methy Portage extends from Methy Lake to the Clear Water River, a branch of the Athabosca. The length of the portage is 10.7 miles. There being no horses, the four boats and their cargoes were taken over this long distance on the backs of the men, the whole route being divided into nine stages. The portage is nearly level, and the uppermost stratum is alluvial sand lying upon sandstone, which in its turn rests on limestone, which forms the entire bed of the Clear Water River. The portage is about 900 feet above the level of the sea. Nine days were consumed in transporting the boats and stores across it.

On the 6th of July the party embarked on the Clear Water River, the valley of which " is not excelled, or, indeed, equaled by anything,' says Sir John Richardson," that I have seen in America for beauty." The banks are of limestone, and on the portage, about ten miles below the Methy, and "on the neighboring islands and flats, the limestone stands up in mural precipices and thin partitions, like the walls of a ruined city; and the beholder cannot help believing that the rock once formed a barrier at this strait, when the upper part of the river must have been one long lake."

The whole tract of country, between the Clear Water River and Athabosca Lake, is said to be a wooded, sandy plain, abounding in bison and other game.

On the 7th of July the party passed three portages. The weather was extremely hot, and mosquitoes very annoying, notwithstanding that they were in about lat. 56° N. The mosquito is an inhabitant of all climes, for it has been found in all countries. M. Erman found it in Northern Siberia, at Obdorsk, near the polar circle. On the

same day the party gathered ripe strawberries on the banks of the Clear Water, also dwarf cherries, and a species of cranberry.

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Two of the boats having been broken at the last portage, they were detained to repair them. On the 9th, the party entered the Elk, or Athabosca River, a majestic stream, between a quarter and half a mile wide, with a considerable current, but without rapids."* Limestone strata, covered by a thick deposit of bituminous shale, form the banks of the Athabosca for 36 miles downward from the Clear Water to the site of Beren's Foot, now abandoned. The cliffs are shelving, and in many places 150 feet high. About 30 miles below the mouth of the Clear Water, the limestone strata were found covered by a bituminous deposit upwards of 100 feet thick. This deposit disappears in the neighborhood of Beren's House. Farther down, about three miles below Red River, where there was once a trading establishment called La vieux Fort de la Riviére Rouge, is a copious spring of mineral pitch issuing from a crevice in a cliff composed of sand and bitumen. It is a few hundred yards back from the river, in a thick wood. Several small birds were found, by Sir John Richardson, suffocated in the pitch.

The whole country along the river, as the party descended, exhibited bituminous cliffs, lying above a cream-colored and white limestone. The lower layers of the bituminous strata were so full of bitumen as to soften in the hand, while the upper layers were hard with iron. "The whole country for many miles is so full of bitumen that it flows readily into a pit dug a few feet below the surface." The limestone does not alternate with the bituminous beds, but in many places is itself highly bituminous, and contains shells filled with bitu

men.

The Athabosca rises in the Rocky Mountains, in lat. 47° N. It flows at the rate of about six miles an hour below the Clear Water River. Its source at the foot of Mount Brown is about 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. It flows through prairie lands abounding in moose deer. All the tributaries flow at the bottom of deep ravines.

On the 10th of July the party arrived at the head of the delta which the Athabosca forms on entering the Athabosca Lake. The river here divides into four or five branches. On the morning of the 11th they entered the lake, and after firing a salute to a squadron of Mackenzie River boats, just in from the north, they proceeded to Fort Chepewyan, a little to the east of the mouth of the river. This fort is in lat. 58° 42′ N., and long. 111° 18' w. Lake Athabosca is 200 miles long and about 15 miles wide. Its north shore is very high, whence it is sometimes called the Lake of the Hills. It is about 600 feet above the level of the sea. The country about Fort Chepewyan is composed of rounded knolls of granite, nearly destitute of soil. The north shores of the lake, and also the numerous islands of the west end, are of granite. It is a curious fact that Lake Wollaston, a little to the south-east of Athabosca, discharges its waters by two outlets, one of which flows into Lake Athabosca and the other into

*Arctic Exp., p. 80. Idem P. 83.

Hudson's Bay, the waters thus flowing in opposite directions, and proving Lake Wollaston to be on the dividing ridge. The great Peace River, also, which rises west of and flows through the Rocky Mountains into Slave River, the outlet of, Lake Athabosca, discharges its waters in two directions, a part flowing into the Athabosca Lake and a part north along Slave River. These are not very common phenomena in hydrography. Plumbago, of an excellent quality, is found on the shores of Lake Athabosca.

The whole country west of Lake Athabosca, through which the Peace River flows, is "much of the character of a plain country," having a gradual and regular ascent westward. The bed of the Peace River, at the distance of 250 miles from its mouth, is 600 feet below the level of the country, which has no appearance of being elevated. No mountains or hills are to be seen. The bed of the river, however, in that distance, has risen 300 feet. The elevation of the country is about 1,600 feet above the sea, 300 miles west of the Athabosca Lake; and the gap in the Rocky Mountains, through which the Peace River passes, is about 6,000 feet above the sea.

On the 13th of July they proceeded on their journey down Slave River, and arrived at the Great Slave Lake in four days. Granite is the prevailing rock on this river, and spruce, pine, birch and poplar are the chief trees of the forest. The undergrowth consists of willow, dwarf birch, alders, roses, brambles, gooseberries, white cornel and mooseberry. The oaks, elms, ash, pitch pine and balsam fir that had prevailed between Lake Superior and the Athabosca Lake, had disappeared. The current of the Slave River is not very rapid, but it is full of islands, rapids and cascades, formed by ledges of granite extending across the river. The islands are all well wooded and picturesque. The portages are frequent, but short. The river is, in some places, from one to two miles wide. Some of the cascades are 20 feet in perpendicular height.

The travelers were much annoyed, while descending the Slave River, by the heat of the sun and mosquitoes and other formidable insects. The power of the sun on the 14th of July," says Sir John Richardson, " was so great, in a cloudless sky, that I was glad to take shelter in the water while the crews were engaged" in carrying the boats over the portages. He adds: "I have never felt the sun's direct rays so oppressive within the tropics as I have experienced them to be on some occasions in the high latitudes." Bathing in the Slave River was found to be a luxury almost out of the question, owing to the immense swarms of mosquitoes; and what was still worse, a most blood-thirsty insect, the tabanus, a large fly that draws blood at every bite, was also on hand, to complete the work which the mosquitoes were unable to finish. But this is not all; "leeches," says Sir John Richardson, "also infest the still waters, and are prompt in their aggressions."

The Slave River enters the Great Slave Lake through a delta of low, well-wooded, alluvial islands, by many channels, having a spread of more than 20 miles. At the mouth of the most eastern branch is Stony Island, a naked mass of granite, rising fifty or sixty feet above.