come to be seen, less obscured by the spirit of cotemporary party, none will stand higher than the noble and ardent zeal, with which he endeavoured to open new sources of knowledge, and to promote the advance of science. The subsequent expeditions to the west, have indeed been conducted with skill; they do credit, however, not to the legislature, but to the intelligent officer of the government who contrived to bring within the scope of his official duties, what should have been effected with openhanded liberality, by the representatives of the nation. The appropriation of last winter, for an expedition to the southern ocean, limited as it was in amount, and confined as its objects seem to be, we would gladly hail as the harbinger of a new spirit in congress, and we trust it is only the first step towards a just regard, not merely to commercial advantages, but to the promotion of all branches of science. Such a course, while honourable to them, would be in full unison with the wishes and interests of their constituents. The enterprise and a 'venture of the American people are not exceeded by any upon earth. We have men who would devote themselves as intensely as Herschel or Laplace to the useful investigations of science, could they be aided by the patronage of their country; we have officers in our army and navy as prudent, intelligent, and skilful as Parry, and as bold, energetic, and undaunted as Franklin; many of them are now wasting their time in dock-yards or distant stations, who would deeply feel the honour of being intrusted with a scientific enterprise, and bring back information, that would prove that the people of America think of something more than eternal conflicts about elections, and the mere promotion of her individual interests. We would impress, if we could, on our statesmen, that the fame of a successful politician is transient, that of a benefactor of mankind eternal-that the names of ministers and courtiers, as skilful and famous in their own day as any can now hope to be, are scarcely remembered, while beings more obscure are familiar to us as benefactors of all future time-that in general, the noblest reputation they can acquire, is connected only with the transitory events of a particular country and age, while he who devotes his influence and talents to the extension of science, becomes an actor, whose theatre is the world, and whose fame is the grateful tribute of unborn generations, equally as of those among whom he has chanced to live.

In the article in our last number, to which we have already referred, our readers have found a brief notice, taken from private letters, of the results of the voyage we are now about to consider more at large. It will appear too, from that article, that the expeditions sent out by the British government to discover a north-west passage, were twofold; by sea, and by land. Of the former, those of captain Parry had for their object

to proceed along the shores and coasts already known, from the eastward; those of captain Beechey in like manner from the westward; but as it was wisely and truly conjectured, that ignorance of the channels, obstructions by ice, and the shortness of the seasons, might prevent these expeditions from reaching the same central point, it was deemed proper to make a third and intermediate exploration over land to that point, and thence along the coast in both directions, towards each of the navigators. The conduct of this enterprise was committed to captain Franklin, who has zealously pursued it in two successive voyages, and though he has not yet attained the main end of arriving at the surveys made by his fellow labourers, he has advanced so far towards it, and with so much success, as to hold out very strong probability of its ultimate accomplishment. The naval expedition of captain Beechey traced the sea-coast from the Pacific as far as 156° 21' of west longitude. Captain Parry, in his third voyage, penetrated from the Atlantic to cape Garry, in longitude 92° 9′ W. and latitude 72° 32′ N. In his second voyage, he laid down, with the aid of the Esquimaux, the regular coast of the continent to the south-west shore of Melville peninsula, in latitude 66° N. and longitude 89° W.; he had indeed, in his first voyage, reached as far as 113° W., but it was under a latitude so far to the north, that it is most probable the coast will be found rather to connect with the shores along which he passed in his two subsequent voyages. Fixing, therefore, the extreme points of the naval expeditions at 92° and 156°, it left a line of coast to be discovered, stretching nearly along the seventieth degree of north latitude, for a distance of sixty degrees of longitude, or less than fifteen hundred miles. This coast was entirely unexplored and unknown, before the examinations of captain Franklin, with the exception of two points, the one in longitude 115° 36' W., near the mouth of Coppermine river, where Hearne thought he saw the sea, in 1771; and the other in longitude 134° W., where Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in July 1779, reached the tide water of the Polar ocean, though he never entirely left the banks of the river, which he had descended.

It was under these circumstances that captain Franklin made his journey, in the year 1819, from York Factory, at the south end of Hudson's bay, to the Polar sea, at the mouth of Hearne's or Coppermine river. Of this expedition we have already given a sufficient sketch, and it will here be necessary merely to repeat, that it resulted in the complete survey of the coast from that point eastward to cape Turnagain, which is in longitude 109° 25' W., and only about four hundred and fifty miles from the Atlantic survey of captain Parry. The return of the party was attended with some heart-rending incidents, and with scenes of almost unparalleled suffering; but these arose from peculiar

causes, which it was not difficult to obviate on another occasion, while the main object of the expedition was, so far as it went, successfully performed, and the practicability and propriety of its further prosecution fully established.

The year after his return, therefore, the British government determined to send captain Franklin a second time to the shores of the Polar sea, for the purpose of prosecuting the survey of the coast westwardly from the mouth of Coppermine river to Icy cape, or the spot eastward of it, where he should unite his survey with that made from the Pacific by captain Beechey in the sloop of war Blossom, and thus complete the examination of the whole coast, with the exception of that portion which lies between cape Turnagain, and cape Garry or Melville peninsula. He commenced his preparations forthwith, and having learnt by terrible experience, the necessity of having supplies of provisions, and all other arrangements carefully made beforehand, he employed the year 1824 in sending stores to places which he selected as depots; in having useful and fit men collected at such of the factories of the fur companies, as would enable them to advance as far as possible on their way in the following spring, before they should be overtaken by himself; and in making the necessary equipments for the expedition by water, as well as land. These consisted of boats, provisions, scientific instruments, clothing, arms, and necessary baggage, all of which were of a nature to unite compactness, small weight and bulk, strength, and convenience, with the greatest possible utility. The boats were four in number, and constructed under captain Franklin's own superintendence; he was aware that though the birch bark canoes, uniting lightness and facility of repair, with speed, were well adapted for navigating the rivers of this country, they were much too light to bear the concussion of waves in a rough sea, and still less fitted, from the tenderness of the bark, for coming in contact with ice. He therefore had three boats built, as much like northern canoes as was consistent with the stability and capacity required for their voyage at sea.

"They were built of ash, both ends exactly alike, and fitted to be steered either with a sweep or a rudder. The largest, twenty-six feet long, and five feet four inches broad, was adapted for six rowers, a steersman, and an officer; it could be borne on the shoulders of six men, and was found, on trial, to be capable of carrying three tons weight, in addition to the crew. The two others were each twenty-four feet long, four feet ten inches broad, and capable of receiving a crew of five men, a steersman, and an officer, with an additional weight of two and a half tons."

The fourth boat was a little vessel named the Walnut-shell, invented and constructed by colonel Patley :

"Its length was nine feet, its breath four feet four inches, and it was framed of well seasoned ash, fastened with thongs, covered with Mr. Mackintosh's prepared canvass, and shaped like one valve of a walnut-shell, whence its appella

tion. It weighed only eighty-five pounds, could, when taken to pieces, be made up in five or six parcels, and was capable of being put together in less than twenty minutes.”

Every thing being thus satisfactorily prepared, captain Franklin embarked at Liverpool, with the other officers, among whom were the tried companions of his previous voyage, Dr. Richardson and lieutenant Back, on board the American packet ship Columbia, for New-York. They sailed on the 16th of February 1825, and reached the United States on the 15th of March :

"Our baggage and stores," says Captain Franklin, "were instantly passed through the custom-house, without inspection; cards of admission to the public scientific institutions, were forwarded to us the same evening; and, during our stay, every other mark of attention was shown by the civil and naval authorities, as well as by private individuals, indicating the lively interest which they took in our enterprise. At Albany, we experienced similar civilities. Every body seemed to desire our success, and a fervent prayer for our preservation and welfare, was offered up by the reverend Dr. Christie, the minister of the church that we attended. The honourable De Witt Clinton, the governor of the state, assured me, that had we not been accompanied by a gentleman so conversant in the different routes and modes of travelling, as Mr. Buchanan, (the British consul at New-York,) he would have sent his son with us, or would himself have conducted us to the confines of the state."

Crossing into Canada, at the Falls of Niagara, the party rapidly pursued their way by Lake Simcoe, Lake Huron, the Sault de St. Marie, Lake Superior, and the Lake of the Woods, to Cumberland House, a post of considerable importance, belonging to the Hudson Bay company. Leaving this place on the 17th of June, they resumed their voyage, and, proceeding along English river and Deep river, overtook the boats, which, as we have mentioned, had been put forward early in the spring, in Methye river, at sunrise on the 29th of June. Here, then, the journey may be said properly to commence. The men were in high spirits on being joined by their officers, the boats and stores were found in good order, and the whole party proceeded gaily forward towards Slave lake. After passing the Methye portage, their course was changed from an ascending to a descending one; and with the current of the streams in their favour, though having several difficult and even dangerous rapids to pass, they reached Fort Resolution, an establishment of the Hudson Bay company, on the south shore of Slave lake, exactly one month after they had joined the boats.

All the portages being now passed, and the rest of the passage to the Polar sea, being practicable for boats, the Canadian voyagers by whom captain Franklin was attended, gave an instance. of that gaiety and vivacity of character, which no one who has ever visited Canada, can have failed to remark; they requested that they might be allowed to commemorate their arrival by a dance; and, though they had been paddling for thirty-six out of the thirty-nine preceding hours, they kept up their favourite

amusement until daylight, to the music of bagpipes, relieved occasionally by the Jew's harp. These men, indeed, seem to retain all the vivacity of their French ancestors, unchilled by the cold regions in which they dwell, unabated by the life of excessive labour which they lead. No sight is more pleasing, than to behold them, clad in their gray cloaks, with pointed hoods hanging down the back, singing gaily as they guide their canoes down the rapids, or collect on the shores at evening, to eat their simple and frugal meal. They are fond of amusement, being always ready for a dance, and generally carrying in their pockets a pack of soiled cards, with which they will sit, and play together in little groups, whenever accident permits. They are however active, enterprising, and laborious to a remarkable degree, while engaged in the arduous duties of their voyages, which are attended with uncommon hardships. At Fort Resolution, also, captain Franklin met two Copper Indian chiefs, whom he had known on his previous journey, and who, having heard of his coming, had been waiting two months, for the express purpose of seeing him. They displayed their delight at again meeting him and his companions, by repeatedly seizing their hands, pressing them against their hearts, and exclaiming, "How much we regret that we cannot tell what we feel for you here!" They assured him, that, though they had been at war with the tribe of Dog-Ribs, for the last three years, they had consented to make peace, from a desire that no impediment might be placed in the way of his expedition; and when asked whether they would go to hunt for the party, when they should arrive at winter-quarters on Bear lake, which lay near the hunting-grounds of their enemies, they replied, "Our hearts will be with them, but we will not go to those parts where the bones of our murdered brethren lie, for fear our bad passions might be aroused at the sight of their graves, and we should be tempted to renew the war, by the recollection of their death. Let the DogRibs who live in the neighbourhood of Bear lake, furnish them with meat, though they are our enemies."

On Sunday the 31st of July, they left Fort Resolution, and crossing Slave lake, entered Mackenzie, or Grand river, as it is called by the hunters, which flows from its north-western extremity. Sailing down this river, they reached on the 7th of August, Fort Norman, another post of the Hudson Bay company, five hundred and seventy-four miles from Fort Resolution. The arrival of the party had been so rapid, that, although they were now within four days' journey of Bear lake, where they had proposed stopping until the succeeding spring, they had yet five or six weeks of open season, and every prospect of favourable weather. Captain Franklin resolved, under these circumstances, on pushing forward at once, towards the sea, to collect,