SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN, 247 



five days, 420 miles, in a temperature the mean of which 

 was 62 below freezing. 



On the 2nd of April all was ready for the start. 

 Lieutenant Hobson, the second in command, was en- 

 trusted with the examination of the western coast of 

 King William's Island, M'Clintock following the bend of 

 Boothia to the east, exploring the eastern shore of the 

 island, and, after a visit to Montreal Island, returning in 

 the track of Hobson. The two parties proceeded in 

 company to the spot where the natives had been met 

 with, and gained from them, on this second visit, addi- 

 tional information. 



" The young man who sold the knife told us that the 

 body of a man was found on board the ship ; that he must 

 have been a very large man, and had long teeth ; this ia 

 all he recollected having been told, for he was quite a 

 child at the time. 



" They both told us it was in the fall of the year that 

 is, August or September when the ships were destroyed ; 

 that all the white people went away to the ' large river,' 

 taking a boat or boats with them, and that in the following 

 winter their bones were found there." 



