It may be well imagined that at this period there was but little to be met with in our walks on shore, which could either amuse or interest us. The necessity of not exceeding the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snow-drift, which often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which day after day presented itself. To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that in some parts a few hummocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground in some exposed situations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm and clear days which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce contemplation, which had perhaps more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object was seen on which the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where the ships lay, and where our little colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the prospect; and the sound of voices, which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us,—a silence far different from that peaceable composure which characterises the landscape of a cultivated country; it was the deathlike stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence. Such indeed was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size appearing above the snow, in the direction in which we were going, immediately became a mark on which our eyes were unconsciously fixed, and towards which we mechanically advanced. Dreary as such a scene must necessarily be, it could not, however, be said to be wholly wanting in interest, especially when associated in the mind with the peculiarity of our situation, the object which had brought us hither, and the hopes which the least sanguine among us sometimes entertained of spending a part of our next winter in the more genial climate of the South Sea Islands. Perhaps, too, though none of us then ventured to confess it, our thoughts would sometimes involuntarily wauder homewards, and institute a comparison between the rugged face of nature in this desolate region, and the livelier aspect of the happy land which we had left behind us.'-Parry's Journal, p. 124.

It is remarkable that the mean temperature of the four summer months, at Melville Island, is exactly the same as the mean temperature of the year formerly assigned to the North Pole itself! The greatest cold experienced by captain Parry was quite tolerable in calm weather, and we believe that less inconvenience was experienced from it by the party than has often been felt in Canada and Siberia. One of the crew of the VOL. XVII.

Griper, who had lost his way in a hunting excursion, returned with one of his hands much frost-bitten. It was at first as hard as a piece of marble, but, by successful treatment, it recovered so far, that he lost only a part of each of the four fingers of his left hand. Another sailor, who had his hands frost-bitten, came on board in such a state, that when his hands were immersed in a tub of cold water, for the purpose of being thawed, the cold communicated to the water created a film of ice on its surface. The skin and nails came off some of the fingers, and the rest were amputated. One of the most remarkable effects, however, of severe cold, was its influence on the mental as well as the corporeal faculties. On the 5th of October, two of the gentlemen of the expedition, who had exposed themselves to severe frost in the ardor of pursuing a wounded stag, were sent for by captain Parry. Upon arriving in his cabin, 'They looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a rational answer to any of our questions. After being on board for a short time, the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the returning circulation; and it was not till then that a looker-on could easily persuade himself that they had not been drinking too freely. To those who have been much accustomed to cold countries, this will be no new remark; but I cannot help thinking that many a man may have been punished for intoxication, who was only suffering from the benumbing effects of frost; for I have more than once seen our people in a state so exactly resembling that of the most stupid intoxication, that I should certainly have charged them with that offence, had I not been quite sure that no possible means were afforded them on Melville Island to procure any thing stronger than snow-water.'— Captain Parry's Journal, p. 108, 109.

The only other affliction which arose from the weather was what is called snow-blindness. It began by a sensation like that which is felt when sand or dust gets into the eyes. A solution of sugar of lead removed the complaint in two or three days, and the recurrence of the disease was prevented by the use of a piece of crape. The scurvy appeared in the months of March and April, but the invalids all recovered, in consequence of captain Parry's having been at much pains to raise some mustard and cress for them in his own cabin.

The reappearance of the sun on the 3d of February was, after an absence of ninety-two days, joyfully welcomed. The weather gradually improved. The shooting excursions were resumed; and, in order to break the monotony of the spring, an expedition was projected across Melville Island.

This expedition, consisting of captain Parry, captain Sabine, Mr. Fisher, and others, amounting in all to thirteen, set off on the 1st of June.

Shortly after we started,' says Mr. Fisher, we came to a small lake, about half a mile in length, and 200 yards in breadth; a considerable part of it was clear of ice, which led us to suppose that two eider ducks, that flew past us a little while before we came to it, had come from it. Soon after we passed this lake we saw several ptarmi

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1

gans; and, in the course of the night, shot seven of them as we went along. Between two and three o'clock in the morning we got to the northwest end of a range of hills, which terminate the view to the north from Winter Harbour. From the top of these hills we could see the ships' masts very plainly with the naked eye, the distance being, as nearly as we could judge, ten or eleven miles. From these hills also we had a very extensive view of an immense plain, extending to the north and west of us. It was completely covered with snow, and so level that, had we not been convinced that it was considerably higher than Winter Harbour, we should be apt to suppose that it was the sea; but, as this objection could not be started against its being a large lake, some were of opinion that it was so; on approaching the border of it, however, we were soon satisfied that it was only a level plain. Our route, from the time of our leaving the ships, until we came in sight of this plain, was over ground, generally speaking, pretty even, but gradually ascending. Its sur face, for most part of the way, was at least more than two-thirds covered with snow. Soon after we got to the confines of the plain, above mentioned, we saw a rein-deer and a fawn coming across it from the southward. The fawn appeared to be very young, and rather of a darker color than the doe. The latter did not differ in this respect from those that we killed in the beginning of last winter.'-Fisher's Journal, p. 199. The party arrived at the sea at Point Nias, in lat. 75° 34', on the 7th of June. From this they passed over to Bushnan's Cove on Liddon's Gulf, which they reached on the 11th. On the 12th they went to Hooper's Island, and returned

was

The greatest heat at Melville Island was The greatest cold at ditto Mean temp. of warmest month, July of coldest month, February of winter, Dec. Jan. Feb. of spring, March, April, May of summer, June, July, Aug. of autumn, Sept. Oct. Nov.

in safety to Winter Harbour on the 15th, after a journey of 180 miles. The most remarkable event in this tour was the discovery of the remains of six Esquimaux huts, about 300 yards from the beach of Liddon's Gulf. These huts, situated in lat. 75° 2′ 37′′, and W. long. 111° 37′ 17", were exactly the same as those formerly described.

The state of the ice on the 1st of August permitted the expedition to leave Winter Harbour, and every thing seemed to predict a successful voyage west. These expectations, however, were soon disappointed. The situation of the ships among the masses of driving ice was often precarious, and, when they reached Cape Dundas, at the west end of Melville Island, on the 16th, the ice from the north compelled them to abandon all hopes of prosecuting their voyage, after obtaining a glimpse of three capes to the south, which they called Banks' Land. Captain Parry resolved therefore to advance, if possible, to the south; but, after waiting in vain for an opening in the ice, he renounced this plan also, and on the 30th August notified his intention of returning to England. No events of any great interest marked the return of the expedition, excepting a communication with the Esquimaux, who inhabit an inlet called the River Clyde, on the western shores of Baffin's Bay.

The Hecla arrived in Leith Roads on the 3d November, after an absence of eighteen months; and captain Parry had the high satisfaction of seeing every officer and man on board both ships (with only one exception, out of ninety-four persons) return to their native country in as robust health as when they left it.

Shade.

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The principal meteorological phenomena seen during the progress of the expedition were aurora boreales, paraselena and halos. Out of many which occur, we select the following as short and pleasing: - In the month of February, at half-past ten P. M., on the 19th, the aurora borealis was seen,' as described by lieutenant Beechey, in bright coruscations, shooting principally from the south by west quarter across the zenith to N. N. E., and partially in every part of the heavens. The light, when most vivid, was of a pale yellow, at other times white, excepting to the southward, in which direction a dull red tinge was now and then perceptible. The coruscations had a tremulous waving motion, and most of them were crooked towards the E. N. E. The fresh gale which blew at the time from the N. N. E. appeared to have no effect on the aurora, which, as before observed, streamed directly to windward, and this with great velocity. The brighter part of this meteor dimmed whatever stars it passed over, even those of the first magnitude and those of the second and third magnitude, so much as to render them scarcely visible.' (p. 147). The whole of the phenomenon disappeared in about three-quarters of an hour.'

With our present temperature, the breath of a person, at a little distance, looked exactly like the smoke of a musket just fired, and that of a party of men employed upon the ice to-day resembled a thick white cloud.'

Experiments with the pendulum.-A full detail of these experiments was published in the Philosophical Transactions. Captain Sabine has given the following brief statement of the results, which are as follows:

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+ 7.7

+ 4.5

air, during the continuance of intense cold; and, notwithstanding the frequency with which they had occasion to remark it, it always afforded them surprise. We have, for instance,' says he, often heard people distinctly conversing, in a common tone of voice, at the distance of a mile; and to-day I heard a man singing to himself as he walked along the beach, at even a greater distance than this."

From the experiments made at Winter Harbour to determine the variation in the magnetic force, it appears that the time of vibration of Mr. Brown's dipping-needle decreased between London and Winter Harbour in the ratio of 481 to 446; and consequently the force in the direction of the dipping-needle appeared to have increased in the ratio of 1:168 to 1. From the increase in the times of vibration of three horizontal needles, between Sheerness and Winter Harbour, the force acting upon them appeared to have diminished in the ratio of 12.93 to 1; 13-23 to 1; and 13-83 to 1; the mean of which is 13.33 to 1.

We have thus detailed at length the proceedings of this first expedition of captain Parry, because, in point of fact, it accomplished far more for geographical science than any of the subsequent ones; and will therefore be an ample specimen of the rest.

In his second expedition he was directed to keep close to the coast of America, or to attempt to find his way to Behring's Straits by Hudson's Bay. Middleton's facts had by no means disproved the possibility of finding an outlet here; and their weight was diminished by the cloud which hung over his testimony. It was determined, then, to revive on this side the often repeated attempt. All the measures taken in former voyages for strengthening the ships, and storing them with ample supplies, were repeated, with such improvements as experience had suggested; and, in the spring of 1821, the new expedition, composed of the Fury, under captain Parry, and the Hecla, under captain Lyon, was ready to start. On the 8th of May it set sail from the Nore; but, being detained by adverse winds, it was not till the 14th of June that they reached Davis's Straits, and saw there the first iceberg. They were soon in Hudson's Straits, where mountains of ice were still tossing, and allowed only a perilous passage. They considered themselves even fortunate in being inserted into a corner of one of these masses, and being for a week driven about along with it. August

for his specific object the survey of the coast eastward from Mackenzie to Copper Mine River. As we have noticed the equipments of some other of our northern expeditions, we may here insert a brief description of those of captain Franklin's-1. He superintended at home the building of three mahogany boats, having timbers of ash, both ends alike, and fitted to be steered either with a sweep oar or a rudder. The largest was twenty-six feet long, five feet four inches broad, and adapted for six rowers, a steersman, and officer; it could be carried on the shoulders of six men, and was capable of carrying three tons weight beside the crew. The two others were each twenty-four feet long, and four feet ten inches broad, adapted for five men, a steersman, and officer. These were particularly designed for the navigation of the rivers of North-West America, and the ascent and descent of the rapids. 2. Colonel Pasley, of the Royal Engineers, suggested in addition, an admirable little vessel called the Walnut Shell, nine feet only in length, four feet four inches broad, framed of ash, and fastened with thongs, the whole being covered with a prepared canvas, and shaped exactly like one valve of a walnut shell. It weighed only eighty-five lbs., and could be taken into five or six portable pieces, and put together again in twenty minutes. Scientific instruments of the most accurate and portable kind were of course among the most important articles of outfit; together with the newly invented pemmican or prepared meat of the metropolis, which captain Franklin calls the principal article of provision."

The officers embarked from Liverpool on the 16th of February, 1825, and passed through the state of New York to Upper Canada and Fort William, on the northern shore of Lake Superior. This point they reached on the 10th of May and now proceeded by Rainy Lake, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Winipeg, and the Saskatchawan River to Cumberland House, where they arrived on the 15th of June. Their course was now by Pine Island, Beaver and the English River, Deep River, and Clear and Buffalo Lakes, where they overtook the boats of the expedition on the 29th of June.

In the instructions of captain Franklin he was told to expect to find his majesty's ship, Blossom, under the command of captain Beechey, in the rendezvous of Kotzebue's Inlet, in the summer of 1826.

We cannot do justice to the able and valuable information of captain Franklin's published Narrative of his Second Expedition, now before us. It must here suffice to say that he so far accomplished its objects as to reach the coast of North America, and lay down the bearing of Fort Norman, at the mouth of Mackenzie's River (in July, 1826), as in W. long. 124° 44' 47, N. lat. 64° 40′ 38′′; variation 39° 57′ 52" E. Here the eastern detachment parted company with captain Franklin, and completed a survey of the coast between what they have called Point Separation and the Copper Mine River, the result of which is seen in our map NORTH POLAR REGIONS.

Captain Franklin pursued his western track

along the coast, as also seen in our map, to Re turn Reef, about half way between Mackenzie's River and Icy Cape, having been detained about a week by fogs. This circumstance, the advanced state of the season, and his uncertainty as to the actual point to which captain Beechey might have arrived, induced him here to pause-he could not calculate on accomplishing the rest of his proposed journey in less than a month, and if this calculation were interfered with by any unforeseen accident the safety of his crew he felt might be compromised. The utmost point west he reached was in lat. 70° 24′ N., and long. 149° 37′ W.

A party in the barge of the Blossom had at that period reached beyond the inlet of Kotzebue to within about 160 miles of the Return Reef, or ultimate point of Franklin. Captain Beechey's narrative we believe has not yet (May 1828) been given to the public.

Captain Parry's third expedition, in 1824-5, took the direction of Barrow's Strait and Prince Regent's Inlet, but the ice in Baffin's Bay retarded him so long that he did not reach Port Bowen, on the eastern shore of the inlet, until all further navigation was for the year precluded. Here, therefore, his first winter was passed pretty nearly in the same manner as former winters in the polar seas, while the ships were shut up in 'thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice.' Perhaps, indeed, this third winter was somewhat more dreary than former ones; there was a total absence of all human creatures besides themselves, and almost of every object of animated nature. In other respects,' as captain Parry observes, 'a description of the aspect of nature would suit alike each winter they had passed in the ice.' Their comforts and conveniences, however, were considerably improved this voyage, and with these the general health of the seamen. This circumstance captain Parry mainly attributes to his being able to keep up a uniform and moderate temperature throughout every part of the ships, varying only from 56° to 63°, with a perfectly dry atmosphere, by means of Silvester's warming apparatus,' a contrivance,' he says, of which I scarcely know how to express my admiration in adequate terms.'

Neither the occupation of the seamen, nor the occasional diversion of their minds, were objects likely to be neglected by our navigator. Instead of their former recreations, which might now be supposed to have lost the charm of novelty, captain Hoppner (of the Fury), suggested and planned a masquerade, in which both officers and men should be able to take a share. It is impossible that any idea could have proved more happy, or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably dressed characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and many of these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine humor which would not have disgraced a more refined assembly; while the latter might not have disdained, and would not have been disgraced by, copying the good order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and good sense of our men, that, though all the offi