ty shortly after landed at Portsmouth, with the exception of two individuals who had died, one by consumption, and the other by being drowned accidentally on the return from Bear lake.

Having thus given a rapid outline of this expedition, though indeed without being able to do sufficient justice, either to the skill and intelligence displayed in its conduct, or the information to be derived from it, we shall only detain our readers, while we note down a few observations that have occurred to us in perusing the narrative, not with an intention of forming any particular theory, but merely for the purpose of pointing out some circumstances which appear to us particularly deserving of notice.

Most of the views expressed in the former article, have been confirmed, we think, by the discoveries of captain Franklin. They render the existence of a north-west passage no longer a matter of doubt, and establish conclusively the practicability of its ultimate accomplishment. They have reduced the distance of coast not actually surveyed, and laid down from fifteen hundred to six hundred miles. They have proved the polar sea to be free from ice, for a very considerable length of time, indeed for a much longer season than could have been supposed, and far more than sufficient for a vessel to run from the Pacific to the bays of the Atlantic. They show that it is free from icebergs of the large size, which were so frequently met with by captain Parry, in the more eastern seas; that it is thickly inhabited by whales, at least for several months, which, it is known, can only exist in an open sea; that even where the shores run far to the north, as at cape Bathurst, the ocean beyond remains perfectly clear; and that in fact the sole obstacles to a passage, are found in the large masses of ice which are collected about the narrow straits at its extremities-these once passed, navigation is open, and apparently not dangerous. It is evident that a very slight change in the arrangements made for captain Franklin, would have enabled him to reach the Pacific. Had the Blossom been directed to winter at Icy cape, instead of returning to the south, he would without doubt have reached her, for the weather continued perfectly favourable for a time longer than was necessary for a voyage from cape Beechey to that cape; he saw nothing before him to impede his progress; and it was only the distance from Fort Franklin, and the uncertainty of meeting the Blossom, that obliged him to retrace his steps. We look upon this as a decided error in the arrangements of the British government.

We observe nothing in this narrative to confirm our observations relative to an easterly current, unless it is the fact of the much greater rapidity of captain Franklin's return from cape Beechey, than his voyage to that point, and that Dr. Richardson passed over a greater space in a time considerably less; there is

however nothing to oppose the strong arguments we have adduced; and the circumstance of its not being observed by the present expedition, may, and probably did arise, from their navigation being confined to the flats along shore.

The Esquimaux on this coast are intelligent, disposed to be friendly, and, after a slight intercourse, would be found serviceable in assisting and providing the expeditions along the coast, while the posts of the Hudson Bay company have approached so near, as to be capable of affording much aid; Fort Good Hope is only two hundred miles from the ocean, and Fort Enterprise still less. Indeed one cannot fail being struck with the singular fact, that, while the trading companies have approached so near, they have so long left this coast unexplored, and kept the world in such complete ignorance of all that region of country.

The whole beach is plentifully supplied with drift wood for fuel, and the erection of dwellings where necessary; there are numerous streams of fresh water pouring in all along; and in several bays, eastward of the Mackenzie, safe harbours may be found for wintering, or refitting the vessels.

These facts, we think, establish fully the possibility of navigating successfully the polar basin; the only question is as to the mode of doing it to most advantage. To do this, we think, that, in the first place, a party similar to that of captain Franklin should be sent out to Fort Churchill, where they might carry directly, in one of the vessels of the Hudson Bay company, complete equipments and stores, and arrive in season to winter at some convenient post, similar to Fort Franklin, perhaps at the head of Chesterfield inlet, or Wager river. From there, they might pursue their route the following summer, to the sea opposite Repulse bay, and coasting along the shore to cape Turnagain, return by Back's river, making a journey of less distance than that performed by Dr. Richardson; or still more easily by commencing from Back's river, and proceeding eastward, they might reach Melville peninsula, cross and embark in a vessel sent out to meet them, by the first of September, three weeks earlier than captain Parry found it necessary to leave the same seas. Or perhaps the whole survey might be accomplished in a single season, by sending out a party with boats and every thing prepared, who should reach Repulse bay by the 10th of July, ten days later than the ice broke up there in 1822, and proceed thence across the peninsula, which is not more than two days' journey; from this place to Coppermine river, is not so far as the voyage made by Dr. Richardson, and they might safely calculate on reaching it by the 20th of August, and, pursuing his route over land and across Bear lake, arrive at Fort Norman, or Fort Franklin, before winter set in. This survey being made and accurately laid down, a navigator would have full confidence

in entering Behring's straits, which he should be prepared to do by the middle of August, when captain Franklin not only found the ice broken up within the sphere of vision, but a heavy swell rolling from the northward, and indicating a sea unincumbered either by islands or ice. As there is some doubt as to the depth of water, his vessel should be one of small draught, though strongly built, (indeed we never could see the use of such large vessels and numerous crews as captain Parry had,) which, while it would have an advantage over captain Franklin's boats, in the comfort and security it afforded the men, as well as in its strength to resist the dangers of sea and ice, would not be stopped by narrow and shallow channels; perhaps the use of a steam vessel, with her wheels fixed in the stern, might not be found impracticable. Two or three weeks would probably bring this vessel to Melville peninsula, or cape Garry; but should any unforeseen obstacle arise, she might winter at the mouth of Coppermine river, being supplied from the contiguous posts of the Hudson Bay company.

The narrative of the Expedition is followed by an Appendix, containing some very well written and highly interesting scientific notices by Dr. Richardson, and a number of useful tables of observations by him, captain Franklin, and the other officers of the party. These are well worthy of a minute examination; we have room however here, for nothing more than one or two incidents which appear to us particularly striking.

In the geological notice, Dr. Richardson remarks that the whole country north of the St. Lawrence is divided into three portions; by the Rocky mountains towards the western side of the continent, and by a range seven hundred miles east of them, in latitude 50°, but gradually approaching them as it runs north, until it terminates towards the shores of the Polar ocean, leaving the intermediate valley very narrow. These ridges are both primitive, and between them flows the Mackenzie, through a secondary formation. We are led to notice this particularly, because exactly the same general arrangement is pursued through the United States. The Eastern primitive range, crosses the St. Lawrence, and spreading to considerable width in New-England and the north part of New-York, diminishing in the middle states, but again enlarged as it proceeds southward, forms the eastern boundary of the vast secondary basin, corresponding to that of the Mackenzie, through which the Mississippi flows, and which again in like manner is bounded by the Rocky mountains on the west. This general similarity in the geological features of the continent, north and south of the St. Lawrence, has however led Dr. Richardson into an error, which it is well to correct; following the authority of Dr. Bigsby, he supposes that the eastern primitive range, after crossing the St. Lawrence,

"joins with the Alleghanies and their southern continuations." This is a mistake; the Alleghany mountains consist entirely of transition rocks; the primitive region lies considerably to the east, until it reaches the state of Virginia, and then only joins the Blue ridge, a low, and the most eastern range of them.

From a table of the duration and direction of the winds, kept at Fort Franklin from October to April 1825-6, and from October to January, 1826-7, it appears that north-westerly winds prevailed one third of the whole time, and that next to them, south-easterly winds were much the most frequent. During those eleven months, snow fell seventy-one days.

A register of the temperature and seasons, made at the same place, presents some curious phenomena. The mean heat in the shade during the summer was greater than would probably be supposed, being 50°.40; and a series of observations on solar radiation, may fix the additional heat at mid-day at 20° more'; the mean temperature of the spring was found to be 14°.43, of autumn 22°, and of winter 16°.81 below zero. At Carlton House, a post of the Hudson Bay company, in latitude 52° 51', or about 860 miles farther south, the mean temperature of the spring months was found to be 29°.86. At Fort Franklin, by the twentieth of October, the brown ducks, (anas fusca,) the last birds, had taken flight, the smaller trees were nearly frozen through, the Great Bear lake began to freeze, and the sun was less than nine hours above the horizon. On the 22d of December, the day had shortened to two hours and thirty-eight minutes; and the refraction of the atmosphere was occasionally so great, as to give many objects in the horizon an inverted position. On the 17th of March it began first to thaw; on the 31st the willows were observed to swell; on the 17th of April a house-fly was seen in the open air; on the 6th of May swans arrived; on the 17th the forests were enlivened by the notes of singing birds; and on the 20th the streams broke their icy fetters, and the days had become nineteen hours long. The intensity of cold was found to operate sensibly on the transmission of sound through the atmosphere, and after a variety of experiments, the retardation was fixed at 1.167 feet for every degree of decrease of Fahrenheit's thermometer when below the freezing point, and the mean velocity at that point, 1118.5 feet per second.

The magnetic variation is very minutely recorded; the least observed, along the northern coast, was at Return reef, where it was only 41° 20' E., and the greatest near Parry's point, where it amounted to 56° 33' E. It had increased 15° at the mouth of the Mackenzie, since it was observed there by Sir A. Mackenzie, in 1789, which is an average of 25' a year. Contrary to the observations of captains Parry and Foster, in Prince Regent's inlet, the needle was found to be strongly influenced by the Auro

ra Borealis, especially when it was very vivid, exhibiting the prismatic colours, and darting rapid streams of light; but it ought to be recollected, that the appearance of the Aurora at port Bowen was seldom or never thus accompanied, and that its corruscations and brilliancy are by no means increased in a very high northern latitude.

In concluding our remarks on the valuable scientific observations, made during this expedition, we cannot avoid recording two circumstances, which appear to possess some interest, the result of a perusal of the volume before us, and some reflections on the subjects of which it treats. So far as we can perceive, they have not occurred to the intelligent travellers themselves, nor do we recollect to have seen them noticed, in any work of science that has fallen under our observation.

The first of these relates to the shallowness of the ocean around the pole. The truth of this fact, as we have already mentioned, has been pretty fully ascertained in the previous voyages to the northern seas. The observations of captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson confirm it, as far as they went, and it is understood that captain Beechey noticed it, to the same extent that Cooke and Kotzebue had done before him. Now it appears to us, that this is a phenomenon, not confined merely to the shores and outlets, but one that will be found to pervade the whole polar basin, to a greater or less degree, and that it is evidently deducible from a great general cause. This cause we take to be the spheroidal figure of our globe; its increased velocity at the equator having had a greater influence on the fluid than the solid portion of the earth, and having thus deprived those regions of their proportion of water, and accumulated it upon the equatorial diameter; and in consequence, the polar regions, in very high latitudes, will probably be found, at all times, in some degree unfavourable to navigation.

The other observation which has occurred to us, is one connected with the astronomical situation of the planet we inhabit. A very extraordinary fact will be observed, in referring to a geographical view of the earth-that the discoveries of navigators have reached to latitudes so much higher in the northern than in the southern regions, while in both they have been only bounded by the same perpetual obstructions of polar ice. Thus in the former, they have extended to 83° N., while in the latter they have been limited by about 72° S., leaving a difference between them of eleven degrees, or nearly eight hundred miles; within the arctic zone, extensive countries have been explored, but beyond the antarctic circle lies a vast and unknown space. The cause of this is unquestionably to be found in the astronomical fact, that in the annual revolution of the earth round the sun, its northern surface is turned towards him during one hundred and eighty-seven days,