FATE OF FRANKLIN. 295 



islands and ice. For, should they have been arrested 

 at some intermediate place, - - for instance, Cape Walker, 

 or at one of the northern chain of islands, - - they would, 

 undoubtedly, in the course of the three following years, 

 have contrived some method of sending notices of 

 their position to the shores of North Somerset or to 

 Barrow's Strait. 



"If they had reached much to the southward of 

 Banks's Land, they would surely have communicated with 

 the tribes on Mackenzie River ; and if, failing to get to the 

 westward or southward, they had returned with the 

 intention of penetrating through Wellington Channel, 

 they would have detached parties on the ice towards 

 Barrow's Strait, in order to have deposited statements 

 of their intentions. The general conclusion, therefore, 

 remains that they are still locked up in the archipelago 

 to the westward of Melville Island." 



Captain Sir George Back, in a letter to the Secretary 

 of "the Admiralty, December 1st, 1849, says: "You 

 will be pleased, sir, to impress on my Lords Commis- 

 sioners that I wholly reject all and every idea of any 

 attempts on the part of Sir John Franklin to send boats 

 or detachments over the ice to any point of the mainland 

 eastward of the Mackenzie River, because I can say, 

 from experience, that no toil-worn and exhausted party 

 could have the least chance of existence by going 

 there. On the other hand, from my knowledge of Sir 

 John Franklin, having been three times on discovery 

 together, I much doubt if he would quit his ship at 

 all, except in a boat ; for any attempt to cross the ice 

 a long distance on foot would be tempting death ; and 

 it is too laborious a task to sledge far over such an 

 uneven surface as those regions generally present. That 

 great mortality must have occurred, and that one ship 

 may be lost, are greatly to be feared ; and, as on all 



