CHAPTER XI. 



LAIf D EXPEDITION. SHORES OP HUDSON'S BAT. ESQUIMAUX 



CANOES. REPULSE BAY. GAME IN PLENTY. SLEDGE TRAVELLING. 



SNOW-HOUSES. RETURN. RENEWED INTEREST IN THE DISCOVERY 



OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE, THE EREBUS AND TERROR. SIR JOHN 



FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. MYSTERY OF HIS FATE. 



THE supposed great bay, extending from the furthest 

 point reached by Messrs. Dease and Simpson, eastward 

 to the Fury and Heel a Strait, now became an object of 

 intense interest. The mystery which overhung the 

 north-east corner of the American mainland seemed, at 

 last, to be almost revealed. Let but the coast-line from 

 the mouth of the Castor and Pollux to the eastern ex- 

 tremity of the Gulf of Akkolee be examined, so as to 

 connect the discoveries of Messrs. Dease and Simpson 

 with those of the second voyage of Parry, and those of 

 the second voyage of John Ross, and all would become 

 plain. 



In 1846, accordingly, the Hudson's Bay Company 

 fitted out an expedition to effect this object ; and Dr. 

 John Rae was appointed to the command. He was 

 just the man for it : he was surgeon, astronomer, steers- 

 man, and leader to the party ; had spent several years 

 in the service of the company ; and added to his other 

 attainments the not unimportant accomplishments of a 

 first-rate snow-shoe walker and a dead shot. 



On the 8th of October, Rae landed at York Factory, 

 after a canoe journey of about two months' duration 



