248 DR. RAE'S INFORMATION. 



that since my return to this country I have had the 

 satisfaction of learning that I did all that was expected 

 of me by those whose written opinions are as orders; 

 and further, by letters from the highest ranks in both 

 professions, which satisfy my mind that the cold of 

 the Arctic regions has not influenced their estimate of 

 my character for clear judgment in the performance of 

 my duty. 



It now remains, as a matter of record, to observe on 

 the termination of the naval Arctic Search by this 

 country. I anticipated the return of Dr. Rae, with in- 

 telligence of Captain Collinson, and after that, of the es- 

 cape of Captain Collinson by the way he came. Both 

 have been safely restored to this country. The accounts 

 are before the world, but I may be pardoned for intro- 

 ducing a few remarks on their operations, as the conclu- 

 sion of the Government search. 



Dr. Rae, in his journey, with the intent of completing 

 the survey of the west coast of Boothia, met with some 

 natives in Felly Bay, from one of whom he learned that 

 a party of white men had perished for want of food some 

 distance to the westward, and not far beyond a large 

 river, containing many falls and rapids. The record of 

 Dr. Rae runs : 



" In the spring of 1850 a party of white men, amount- 

 ing to about forty, were seen by some Esquimaux, killing 

 seals near the north shore of King William's Land (1), 

 travelling southward over the ice, and dragging a boat 

 with them (2). None of the party could speak the Es- 

 quimaux language intelligibly, but by signs the natives 

 understood that their vessels had been crushed by the 



