more expeditions in the following year. This time one of them was to be by land, and Franklin was selected as its commander. Except at the points where Hearne and Mackenzie had touched it, the whole of the Arctic coast-line of North America was unknown, and this it was that was selected for exploration. Franklin was to proceed to Hudson's Bay and make a running survey of the coast lying to the east of the mouth of the Coppermine river, but the choice of his route was left to his discretion. He selected that by the Great Slave Lake as most opened up by the Hudson Bay Company, and landing at York Factory in Hudson's Bay on the 30th August 1819, reached Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan on the 23d September. It was not till the 18th July following that they again started on their journey, and again they had to winter ere they were able to reach the sea. This time they were favoured by an early season, and were able to leave Fort Enterprise on the 4th June 1821.1 On the 21st of the following month they were afloat on the Arctic Ocean.

Their canoes, fitted only for river use, rendered the sea voyage a hazardous affair; they had already suffered from lack of provisions, and the time available for work was short. Franklin must already have foreseen difficulties ahead. He allowed himself a period of four weeks in which to carry out the survey, and then gave orders for the return. The voyageurs who were with him had in vain counselled an earlier retreat, and it would have been well had their advice been followed. It became evident that it would

make too great an inroad upon their fast-decreasing stock of time if they returned to their startingpoint on the coast, and on reaching the mouth of Hood's river on the 25th August they determined to leave their boats and hold a straight course across country to Fort Enterprise. Little more than 200 miles intervened between them and their destination, yet these two hundred miles were to afford an example of the most appalling suffering and the most determined bravery recorded in the annals of British explorations. There can be few of us-few at all events of the older of us-who have not read that terrible but fascinating story, the rapid onset of the cold, the failure of the provisions, the growing realisation by the explorers of the fate in store for them, the wellnigh hopeless struggle of the half-frozen and slowly perishing men for their lives, the summary execution of the murderer (and worse than murderer) Michel, and the arrival of the survivors at Fort Enterprise, only to find it deserted and foodless, and to experience before help reached them an almost more ghastly period of suffering than that they had already gone through. All this will be remembered by every one who has read the story; but as related by the practised pen of Mr Traill the facts have lost nothing in force and vividness. Of the original party of 18, 10 had died; but though Hood had come to so tragic an end, the rest of the English had escaped, and Richardson, Back, and Hepburn reached home with their gallant

leader after an absence of three years, to find all England ringing with their exploit.

Franklin, who during his absence

had been gazetted to the rank of commander, obtained immediate promotion on his return, his captain's commission being dated the 20th November 1822. The Royal Society, "in recognition of his invaluable exertions in the cause of geographical science, whilst conducting one of the most remarkable journeys ever achieved," offered him its Fellowship. On all hands he was welcomed and fêted as the hero of the day. Had he been other than he was he would have run no little risk of being spoilt. But he was of all men most simple-minded simple - minded and modest; more anxious to return to his cherished schemes of exploration along the Polar shore of the New World than to figure as the lion of the season in London drawing rooms. Moreover, an important event had occurred to lessen the claims of ordinary society life upon him, for a few months after his return to England he married Miss Eleanor Porden, with whose family he had been for some time acquainted.

Franklin's first marriage was, in one sense, destined to be little more than a passing episode of his life. Within eighteen months of the wedding-day he was left a widower with a little child, and with the remembrance of a more bitter trial than any he had till then been called upon to endure. For, once more, the call to active service had come, and inexorable duty necessitated the parting with one who was even then almost in the throes of death, and whose malady, a rapid consumption, precluded all hope of their meeting again in this world. Six days after her husband's ship had sailed for America Mrs Franklin died. Those were the days of rare and slow communication, and weeks elapsed before the news reached

him. The letters that he wrote to cheer and comfort her in her mortal sickness-written, some of them, when she had been lying for nearly two months in her grave― are among the most touching extracts that we find in Mr Traill's volume. It was good for him that work, and that of the most active kind, lay before him. Once more, despite the terrible experiences of his former journey, he was to undertake the exploration of the northern coast-line of America, and once more it was decided by the authorities to co-operate by sea. From Icy Cape, near Bering's Strait, where Cook had left off his discoveries, to the mouth of the Coppermine river, where his own had begun, the map was a blank, and this blank it was determined to fill in. The expedition was to be on a very different scale from the former one: the voyageurs were to be in part replaced by British sailors, and English-made boats were to supplant the Indian canoes. His companions were all that he could desire. First to volunteer were his old comrades Richardson and Back. Lieutenant Kendall joined as survey officer and Mr Drummond as naturalist, while in Mr Dease, a Hudson's Bay Company's official who ten years later was to make himself celebrated by his wonderful journeys, they found an indefatigable assistant whose local knowledge and experience of the natives were invaluable. The plan of the expedition, as on the first occasion, was left very much to Franklin's own judgment.

As far as Fort Resolution on Great Slave Lake the route followed was the same as that taken on his first journey. But instead of proceeding thence northward in the direction of the Coppermine river, his boats were headed for

more expeditions in the following year. This time one of them was to be by land, and Franklin was selected as its commander. Except at the points where Hearne and Mackenzie had touched it, the whole of the Arctic coast-line of North America was unknown, and this it was that was selected for exploration. Franklin was to proceed to Hudson's Bay and make a running survey of the coast lying to the east of the mouth of the Coppermine river, but the choice of his route was left to his discretion. He selected that by the Great Slave Lake as most opened up by the Hudson Bay Company, and landing at York Factory in Hudson's Bay on the 30th August 1819, reached Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan on the 23d September. It was not till the 18th July following that they again started on their journey, and again they had to winter ere they were able to reach the sea. This time they were favoured by an early season, and were able to leave Fort Enterprise on the 4th June 1821.1 On the 21st of the following month they were afloat on the Arctic Ocean.

Their canoes, fitted only for river use, rendered the sea voyage a hazardous affair; they had already suffered from lack of provisions, and the time available for work was short. Franklin must already have foreseen difficulties ahead. He allowed himself a period of four weeks in which to carry out the survey, and then gave orders for the return. The voyageurs who were with him had in vain counselled an earlier retreat, and it would have been well had their advice been followed. It became evident that it would

make too great an inroad upon their fast-decreasing stock of time if they returned to their startingpoint on the coast, and on reaching the mouth of Hood's river on the 25th August they determined to leave their boats and hold a straight course across country to Fort Enterprise. Little more than 200 miles intervened between them and their destination, yet these two hundred miles were to afford an example of the most appalling suffering and the most determined bravery recorded in the annals of British explorations. There can be few of us-few at all events of the older of us-who have not read that terrible but fascinating story,—the rapid onset of the cold, the failure of the provisions, the growing realisation by the explorers of the fate in store for them, the wellnigh hopeless struggle of the half-frozen and slowly perishing men for their lives, the summary execution of the murderer (and worse than murderer) Michel, and the arrival of the survivors at Fort Enterprise, only to find it deserted and foodless, and to experience before help reached them an almost more ghastly period of suffering than that they had already gone through. All this will be remembered by every one who has read the story; but as related by the practised pen of Mr Traill the facts have lost nothing in force and vividness. Of the original party of 18, 10 had died; but though Hood had come to so tragic an end, the rest of the English had escaped, and Richardson, Back, and Hepburn reached home with their gallant leader after an absence of three years, to find all England ringing with their exploit.

Franklin, who during his absence

had been gazetted to the rank of commander, obtained immediate promotion on his return, his captain's commission being dated the 20th November 1822. The Royal Society, "in recognition of his invaluable exertions in the cause of geographical science, whilst conducting one of the most remarkable journeys ever achieved," offered him its Fellowship. On all hands he was welcomed and fêted as the hero of the day. Had he been other than he was he would have run no little risk of being spoilt. But he was of all men most simple-minded and modest; more anxious to return to his cherished schemes of exploration along the Polar shore of the New World than to figure as the lion of the season in London drawing rooms. Moreover, an important event had occurred to lessen the claims of ordinary society life upon him, for a few months after his return to England he married Miss Eleanor Porden, with whose family he had been for some time acquainted.

Franklin's first marriage was, in one sense, destined to be little more than a passing episode of his life. Within eighteen months of the wedding-day he was left a widower with a little child, and with the remembrance of a more bitter trial than any he had till then been called upon to endure. For, once more, the call to active service had come, and inexorable duty necessitated the parting with one who was even then almost in the throes of death, and whose malady, a rapid consumption, precluded all hope of their meeting again in this world. Six days after her husband's ship had sailed for America Mrs Franklin died. Those were the days of rare and slow communication, and weeks elapsed before the news reached

him. The letters that he wrote to cheer and comfort her in her mortal sickness-written, some of them, when she had been lying for nearly two months in her grave — are among the most touching extracts that we find in Mr Traill's volume.

It was good for him that work, and that of the most active kind, lay before him. Once more, despite the terrible experiences of his former journey, he was to undertake the exploration of the northern coast-line of America, and once more it was decided by the authorities to co-operate by sea. From Icy Cape, near Bering's Strait, where Cook had left off his discoveries, to the mouth of the Coppermine river, where his own had begun, the map was a blank, and this blank it was determined to fill in. The expedition was to be on a very different scale from the former one: the voyageurs were to be in part replaced by British sailors, and English-made boats were to supplant the Indian canoes. His companions were all that he could desire. First to volunteer were his old comrades Richardson and Back. Lieutenant Kendall joined as survey officer and Mr Drummond naturalist, while in Mr Dease, a Hudson's Bay Company's official who ten years later was to make himself celebrated by his wonderful journeys, they found an indefatigable assistant whose local knowledge and experience of the natives were invaluable. The plan of the expedition, as on the first occasion, was left very much to Franklin's own judgment.

as

more expeditions in the following year. This time one of them was to be by land, and Franklin was selected as its commander. Except at the points where Hearne and Mackenzie had touched it, the whole of the Arctic coast-line of North America was unknown, and this it was that was selected for exploration. Franklin was to proceed to Hudson's Bay and make a running survey of the coast lying to the east of the mouth of the Coppermine river, but the choice of his route was left to his discretion. He selected that by the Great Slave Lake as most opened up by the Hudson Bay Company, and landing at York Factory in Hudson's Bay on the 30th August 1819, reached Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan on the 23d September. It was not till the 18th July following that they again started on their journey, and again they had to winter ere they were able to reach the sea. This time they were favoured by an early season, and were able to leave Fort Enterprise on the 4th June 1821.1 On the 21st of the following month they were afloat on the Arctic Ocean.

Their canoes, fitted only for river use, rendered the sea voyage a hazardous affair; they had already suffered from lack of provisions, and the time available for work was short. Franklin must already have foreseen difficulties ahead. He allowed himself a period of four weeks in which to carry out the survey, and then gave orders for the return. The voyageurs who were with him had in vain counselled an earlier retreat, and it would have been well had their advice been followed. It became evident that it would

make too great an inroad upon their fast-decreasing stock of time if they returned to their startingpoint on the coast, and on reaching the mouth of Hood's river on the 25th August they determined to leave their boats and hold a straight course across country to Fort Enterprise. Little more than 200 miles intervened between them and their destination, yet these two hundred miles were to afford an example of the most appalling suffering and the most determined bravery recorded in the annals of British explorations. There can be few of us-few at all events of the older of us-who have not read that terrible but fascinating story, the rapid onset of the cold, the failure of the provisions, the growing realisation by the explorers of the fate in store for them, the wellnigh hopeless struggle of the half-frozen and slowly perishing men for their lives, the summary execution of the murderer (and worse than murderer) Michel, and the arrival of the survivors at Fort Enterprise, only to find it deserted and foodless, and to experience before help reached them an almost more ghastly period of suffering than that they had already gone through. All this will be remembered by every one who has read the story; but as related by the practised pen of Mr Traill the facts have lost nothing in force and vividness. Of the original party of 18, 10 had died; but though Hood had come to so tragic an end, the rest of the English had escaped, and Richardson, Back, and Hepburn reached home with their gallant leader after an absence of three years, to find all England ringing with their exploit.

Franklin, who during his absence