RAE'S LETTER TO THE TIMES. 475 



abandon his ship or boat anywhere, but more particu- 

 larly in the Arctic sea, knows how apt men are to en- 

 cumber themselves with articles far more useless and 

 bulky than a few forks and spoons. I suppose, by ' sil- 

 ver plates/ your correspondent -alludes to the silver 

 plate with Sir John Franklin's name engraved thereon, 

 and which may possibly weigh half an ounce, no great 

 addition to a man's load. 



" Again, your correspondent says, ' that the ships 

 have been abandoned, and pillaged by the Esquimaux.' 

 In this opinion I perfectly agree so far as regards the 

 abandonment of the ships, but not that these ships were 

 pillaged by the natives. Had this been the case, wood 

 would have been abundant among these poor people. 

 It was not so, and they were reduced to the necessity 

 of making their sledges of musk-ox skins folded up 

 and frozen together, an alternative to which the want 

 of wood alone could have reduced them. Another 

 proof that the natives had very little wood among them 

 may be adduced. Before leaving Repulse Bay, I col- 

 lected together some of the most respectable of the 

 old Esquimaux, and distributed among them all the 

 wood we could spare, amounting to two or three oars 

 and some broken poles. When these things were de- 

 livered to them, I bade the Esquimaux interpreter, who 

 ppeaks both his own and the English language fluently, 

 jo ask whether they or their acquaintances near Pelly 

 Bay had now most wood. They all immediately shouted 

 Diit holding up their hands, that they themselves had 

 most. I need scarcely add that, had the ships been 

 found by the Esquimaux, a stock of wood sufficient for 

 many years for all the natives within an extent of 

 several hundred miles would have been obtained." 



From all this it will be seen that the evidence of Dr. 

 Rae went to show that the fate of thirty-five men of the 



