SIR J. C. ROSS'S EXPEDITION. 275 



In the month of March (1849) a sufficient supply of 

 pemmican, and other necessary stores, with the equip- 

 ments of the boat, were transported over the snow on 

 dog-sledges to a navigable part of the Kendall River, 

 and left there under the charge of two men. As soon 

 as the Dease broke up in June, Mr. Rae would follow, 

 with the boat, the rest of the crew, and a party of Indian 

 hunters, and would descend the Coppermine River about 

 the middle of July, at which time the sea generally 

 begins to break up. He would then, as soon as possi- 

 ble, cross from Cape Krusenstern to Wollaston Land, 

 and endeavor to penetrate to the northward, erecting 

 signal-columns, and making deposits on conspicuous 

 headlands, and especially on the north shore of Banks' 

 Land, should he be fortunate enough to attain that 

 coast. He was further instructed not to hazard the 

 safety of his party by remaining too long on the north 

 side of Dolphin and Union Strait, and to be guided in 

 his movements by the season, the state of the ice, and 

 such intelligence as he might obtain from the Esqui- 

 maux. He was also requested to engage one or more 

 families of Indian hunters to pass the summer of 1850 

 on the banks of the Coppermine River, to be ready to 

 assist any party that may direct their course that way/ 3 

 Mr. Rae repeated his elaborate and perilous mission in 

 the summer of 1850. 



The third and most important of the three searching 

 expeditions of 1848 was the marine one conducted by 

 Captain Sir James Clarke Ross. This comprised two 

 superb ships, - -the Enterprise, of four hundred and sev- 

 enty tons and seventy men, and the Investigator, of 

 four hundred and twenty tons and seventy men, both 

 as strong: as thev could be made, and furnished with 



o ^ 



every possible appliance. Each was provided with a 

 screw-propelled steam-launch, thirty-one and a half feet 



