476 ANDERSON'S JOURNEY. 



expedition had been but too surely ascertained ; but 

 there were yet one hundred and three to be accounted 

 for. No one, familiar with the history of Arctic dis- 

 covery, could entertain much hope of ever seeing 1 the 

 gallant crews of the Erebus and Terror alive ; but there 

 was every reason to believe that the trail had been at 

 last struck,, and that in a short time we should have the 

 melancholy satisfaction of at least knowing how, when, 

 and where, they perished. For the purpose of ascer- 

 taining this, of obtaining the papers of the lost ships, 

 and of burying the remains of their crews, if they should 

 be found, the*British government resolved to send out 

 a land expedition to follow up the search of Dr. Rae. 



A party was accordingly organized in the summer of 

 1855, and placed under the command of Mr. James 

 Anderson, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company ; 

 Dr. Rae, to whom the command was first offered, hav- 

 ing declined it, on account of ill-health. Anderson's 

 expedition started from Fort Resolution on the 22d of 

 June, 1855, and commenced the descent of the Great 

 Fish River in three canoes. They were unaccompanied 

 by any interpreter. On the 30th of July, at the rapids 

 below Lake Franklin, three Esquimaux lodges were 

 seen, and numerous articles, belonging to a boat-equi- 

 page, were there found such as tent-poles, paddles, 

 copper and sheet-iron boilers, tin soup-tureens, chis- 

 els, and tools of various kinds. The occupants of the 

 lodges, all but one of whom were women, said (by 

 words and signs) that these things were obtained from 

 a boat, and that the white men belonging to it had 

 died of starvation. 



Pushing on again, the party reached Point Beaufort, 

 and at last Montreal Island. There they found some 

 chain-hooks, tools, rope, bunting, and a number of 

 eticks strung together, on one cf which was cut the 



