assist them; and the only hope which remained was to abandon their ship, and travel homewards in sledges and boats to Baffin's bay; in the hopes of meeting with an English whaler to carry them to their native shore. The plan which they adopted was to proceed to a certain distance with a stock of provisions and the boats, and there to deposit them for the purpose of advancing more easily afterwards. At Fury beach they expected not only to obtain supplies, but also the boats which were left there.

On this perilous journey Captain Ross and his party set out on the 23d of April, gradually advancing their provisions, their fuel, and their boats, and returning to their quarters of the preceding night. They slept in snow huts so small that it was impossible to change their position, and whose temperature was sometimes 47° below Zero. Their frozen meat required to be cut with a saw. Their snow huts were often blown up with drift; and they were frequently imprisoned whole days by the severity of the snow storms.

On the 21st of May, when they returned to the ship, they had travelled 329 miles to gain about 30 in a direct line; carrying the two boats with full allowance of provisions for five weeks, and expending in this labour a whole month. Having prepared for their final departure on the 29th of May, by securing every thing on shore in case of their return, they nailed their colours to the mast, drank a parting glass to their poor ship, and bade adieu to the Victory-the first vessel out of thirty-six which Captain Ross had been obliged to abandon during a period of forty-two years. On the 12th of June, an advanced party, consisting of Commander Ross, Abernethy, and Park were sent to Fury beach to ascertain the state of things at that place. They met Captain Ross on their return on the 25th June, with the agreeable intelligence, that though three of the boats had been carried northward by the tide, and one of them damaged, yet the bread and other provisions were abundant and good. Their journey was now continued with renewed confidence, and the party encamped on Fury beach on the 1st of July. On the following day they erected a canvas house, with the nickname of Somerset house, and regaled them. selves in the evening with a luxurious supper from the stores of the Fury. The three boats of the Fury were now prepared for their voyage to Baffin's bay, and were stored with provisions till the 1st of October. Each boat carried seven men and an officer, and they quitted the beach on the 1st of August, with every appearance in their favour. Their advance along the coast flattered them with the prospect of soon reaching the northern edge of the ice, and of effecting a passage across Prince Regent's inlet. A succession of hopes and disappointments, however, put their pa

tience to a severe trial. The ice obstructed their progress. The thermometer continued to fall. Snow storms and cold winds succeeded, and on the 26th of September all hope had perished; and our brave adventurers, resigning themselves to the inexorable decree of the climate and the elements, returned to Fury beach and Somerset house on the 3d of October.

The dreary winter of 1832 was spent like the three preceding ones, but with less variety, less comfort, and more anxiety for the future. Somerset house was surrounded with a snow wall, four feet thick, and it was soon covered with the same non-conducting material. The provisions, though not abundant, were still sufficient, and the crew were in tolerable spirits. January and February passed away without any occurrence of note, except the death of the carpenter; but the month of March, owing to the badness of the weather, and the necessary confinement of the men, proved an unfavourable one. The health of all had suffered, and their spirits began to flag. Captain Ross's old wounds became troublesome, Mr Thom was ill, and two of the seamen were far gone in the scurvy.

The active duties of April, however, relieved them from this anxious condition; and on the 23d they began to carry forward to the boats which had been left at Batty bay, the place which they occupied on the 3d October, sufficient provisions to last them from the 1st of July till the 1st of October,-a work of nearly a month's duration, as they had to travel the ground eight times over, so as to make the distance 256 miles. By the 1st of June every thing that could be spared was carried forward to the boats; and the party returned to Somerset house, enjoying, during the rest of the month, the rapid dissolution of the snow and the ice, which was effected by the power of the sun. On the 8th of July they took leave of Somerset house, encumbered with three sick men, who could not walk, while some of the rest could only walk, without giving any assistance in drawing the sledges. They reached the boats in Batty bay on the 12th of July; and till the 15th of August they were detained in this disagreeable position by the changes of the wind and the weather. On the 14th of August a lane of water was, for the first time, seen leading to the northward. At four in the morning all hands were busy in cutting the ice on the shore, and the tide having risen with a fine westerly breeze, the boats were launched, the stores and sick embarked, and at eight o'clock they were under weigh. The anxiety and delight of such a moment cannot be conceived. On the 16th they reached their former position at the north-eastern cape of America; and on the 17th, after passing Eardly point, they took shelter from a gale twelve miles W. of cape York,

The

having advanced seventy-two miles in that day. On the 19th they were within eighty miles of Possession bay; from the 20th till the 25th they were detained by a gale and heavy sea. abatement of the wind allowed them to launch their boats on the 25th, and rowing across Navy-board inlet they found a harbour, after a progress of ten miles.

At four in the morning, when all were asleep, David Wood, the look-out man, thought he discovered a sail in the offing; and Commander Ross soon saw that it was really a ship. The boats were instantly launched; signals were made by burning wet powder; but, unluckily, the ship made all sail to the southeast. About ten o'clock another sail was seen to the northward; but she soon bore up under all sail, and was fast leaving them. Fortunately, however, it fell calm, and they gained so fast upon the ship, that at eleven o'clock they saw her heave-to, with all sails a-back, and lower down a boat, which rowed immediately to their own. The account of the meeting must be given by Captain Ross himself.

She was soon alongside, when the mate in command addressed us by presuming that we had met with some misfortune and lost our ship. This being answered in the affirmative, I requested to know the name of his vessel, and expressed our wish to be taken on board. I was answered that it was "the Isabella of Hull, once commanded by Captain Ross; on which I stated that I was the identical man in question, and my people the crew of the Victory. That the mate, who commanded this boat, was as much astonished at this information as he appeared to be, I do not doubt; while, with the usual blunderheadedness of men on such occasions, he assured me that I had been dead two years. I easily convinced him, however, that what ought to have been true, according to his estimate, was a somewhat premature conclusion; as the bear-like form of the whole set of us might have shown him, had he taken time to consider; that we were certainly not whaling gentlemen, and that we carried tolerable evidence of our being "true men, and no impostors," on our backs, and in our starved and unshaven countenances. A hearty congratulation followed of course, in the true seaman style, and, after a few natural enquiries, he added that the Isabella was commanded by Captain Humphreys; when he immediately went off in his boat to communicate his information on board; repeating that we had long been given up as lost, not by them alone, but by all England.

As we approached slowly after him, to the ship, he jumped up the side, and in a minute the rigging was manned; while we were saluted with three cheers as we came within cable's length, and were not long in getting on board of my old vessel, where we were all received by Captain Humphreys with a hearty seaman's welcome.

Though we had not been supported by our names and characters, we should not the less have claimed, from charity, the attentions that we received, for neyer was seen a more miserable-looking set of wretches;

while, that we were but a repulsive-looking people, none of us could doubt. If, to be poor, wretchedly poor, as far as all our present property was concerned, was to have a claim on charity, no one could well deserve it more; but if, to look so, be to frighten away the so called charitable, no beggar that wanders in Ireland could have outdone us in exciting the repugnance of those who have not known what poverty can be. Unshaven since I know not when, dirty, dressed in the rags of wild beasts instead of the tatters of civilisation, and starved to the very bones, our gaunt and grim looks, when contrasted with those of the well-dressed and well-fed men around us, made us all feel, I believe for the first time, what we really were, as well as what we seemed to others. Poverty is without half its mark, unless it be contrasted with wealth; and what we might have known to be true in the past days, we had forgotten to think of, till we were thus reminded of what we truly were, as well as seemed to be.

But the ludicrous soon took place of all other feelings; in such a crowd and such confusion, all serious thought was impossible, while the new buoyancy of our spirits made us abundantly willing to be amused by the scene which now opened. Every man was hungry and was to be fed, all were ragged and were to be clothed, there was not one to whom washing was not indispensable, nor one whom his beard did not deprive of all English semblance. All, every thing, too, was to be done at once; it was washing, dressing, shaving, eating, all intermingled; it was all the materials of each jumbled together; while, in the midst of all, there were interminable questions to be asked and answered on all sides; the adventures of the Victory, our own escapes, the politics of England, and the news which was now four years old. But all subsided into peace at last. The sick were accommodated, the seamen disposed of, and all was done, for all of us, which care and kindness could perform. Night at length brought quiet and serious thoughts; and I trust there was not one man among us who did not then express, where it was due, his gratitude for that interposition which had raised us all from a despair which none could now forget, and had brought us from the very borders of a not distant grave, to life and friends and civilisation.

• Long accustomed, however, to a cold bed on the hard snow or the bare rock, few could sleep amid the comfort of our new accommodations. I was myself compelled to leave the bed which had been kindly assigned me, and take my abode in a chair for the night, nor did it fare much bet ter with the rest. It was for time to reconcile us to this sudden and violent change, to break through what had become habit, and to inure us once more to the usages of our former days.'

On the 18th of October, Captain Ross reached Hull, where the freedom of the town, and a public entertainment, were given to him. He arrived in London on the 19th, and after reporting himself to the Admiralty, he was presented next day at Windsor to his Majesty, by whom he was graciously received, and at whose feet he had the honour of laying the British flag that had been hoisted on the Magnetic Pole.

Thus terminated one of the most remarkable

voyages

which

has been recorded in the annals of maritime discovery. The nation had despaired of Captain Ross's return, and with its characteristic generosity had sent out Captain Back in search of him and his gallant party. The same generous feeling was evinced on his return. The Admiralty advanced L.4580, 12s. 3d. as pay to the crew of the Victory, and L.5000 was voted to Captain Ross himself by the House of Commons. The order of the Bath, and the honour of knighthood, were conferred upon him by his Majesty; and we understand that several of the sovereigns of Europe have granted him, within their dominions, the sole privilege of publishing the Narrative of his Voyage.

Amidst these acts of justice to Captain Ross, the rest of his officers have not been forgotten. Commander Ross was, by a special minute of the Admiralty, raised to the rank of post-captain; Mr Thom has been made purser to the Canopus of eightyfour guns; Mr Macdiarmid has been advanced to the rank of surgeon of the navy; Mr Abernethy, the gunner, has been promoted, and appointed to the Seringapatam; and the crew have either been employed in eligible situations in the dock-yards, or placed in others that will lead to promotion.

The sovereign and the nation have thus done honour to themselves in doing justice to the patience, and skill, and courage of the officers and crew of the Victory. Other nations will, doubtless, add some token of their admiration; and posterity will embalm, in its lasting remembrance, the deeds and the names of heroes, whose laurels have neither been stained with blood, nor watered by the tears of the widow and the orphan.

ART. VIII-1. History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain, with a Notice of its Early History in the East, and in all Quarters of the Globe; a Description of the Great Mechanical Inventions which have caused its unexampled extension in Great Britain; and a View of the Present State of the Manufacture, and the Condition of the Classes engaged in its several departments. By EDWARD BAINES, Junr. Esq. 8vo. London: 1835. 2. The Philosophy of Manufactures; or an Exposition of the Scientific, Moral, and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great Britain. By ANDREW URE, M.D. 8vo. London: 1835.

T

HOUGH differing widely in many respects, these works are congenerous, and may be properly enough noticed in the