256 EXTRACT FROM OFFICIAL LETTER. 



ward of the meridian of Beecliey Island, and that the 

 traces found at Cape Riley were those of one division of 

 the distressed crews. 



"2. That I never doubted the truth of the reports of 

 the Esquimaux of Pond's Bay, in 1849, that two ships 

 were seen on the eastern side of Prince Regent's Inlet, 

 and that those two vessels were the ' Erebus' and ' Ter- 

 ror. 5 At that period I myself examined the master of 

 the vessel which brought the report. 



" That the tribes which then visited Pond's Bay find 

 their way by inland navigation through Cockburu Island 

 we now have almost indisputable evidence, by the rob- 

 bery of the depot at Navy Board Inlet ; and their cross- 

 ing to Port Dundas, on the north side of Lancaster Strait, 

 is particularly suspicious. 



"If the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' were blown out of 

 Beechey Island Bay (as the only mode of clearing the 

 ice), they might have got within the current, and been 

 driven down Prince Regent's Inlet, and on the eastern 

 side. 



" And being wrecked well down this inlet, they would 

 divide into three parties, one for Beechey Island, one for 

 Pond's Bay, and the last, headed probably by Sir J. 

 Franklin, for the Hudson's Bay posts. I reserve the 

 small number for Sir John, because his experience would 

 teach him the impossibility of subsisting any large num- 

 ber of men, even if they reached a post safely. 



" The sails cut up, leaving the bolt-ropes at Cape Riley, 

 are, to my mind, having been twice wrecked, undeniable 

 proofs of the substitution of canvas for shoes ; and the 

 rake as clearly indicates its employment in collecting 



