22 NOTES BY THE EDITOE. 



articles known to have belonged to the expedition, were obtained from 

 the Esquimaux, and brought by the party for deposit with the British 

 government. 



The report of the Esquimaux was, that one man died on Montreal 

 Island, and that the balance of the party wandered on the beach of 

 the mainland opposite, until worn out by fatigue and starvation, they, 

 one by one, laid themselves down and died too. No papers or books, 

 and no human remains, were found; nor was it likely, as four years 

 had elapsed since this tragedy was enacted upon a low sandy beach, 

 exposed to the storms of four Arctic winters; and there is little doubt 

 that either the sea has washed off, or the sand has buried deep, the 

 unfortunates who perished on this spot. 



A measure has recently been put in operation by the English Ad- 

 miralty, which could also be adopted with profit in the United States. 

 The Crimean Avar, having shown by a painful and costly experience, the 

 necessity of employing better educated men for government offices 

 of trust and responsibility, it has been ordered that no person shall 

 be appointed to any post in the civil department of the British Ad- 

 miralty without previously passing a strict examination in all the 

 branches of a good English education, and in Latin or some modern 

 language. It is also understood that similar regulations will also be 

 adopted in all the other departments of government service. 



We present to our readers for the present year, the portrait of Col. 

 R. M. Hoe, of New York, distinguished for his many and important 

 improvements of the printing-press. 



In order to illustrate the progress of Discovery and Improvement 

 in the various Departments of Science pertaining to Agriculture 

 and Rural Economy, more fully than the limits of the "Annual of 

 Scientific Discovery" will allow, the Editor has recently published n, 

 separate volume arranged upon a similar plan, entitled the Year 

 BooJc of Agriculture, or the Annual of Agricultural Discovery and 

 Improvement for 1855-6. To those of our readers who are de- 

 sirous of a more complete report of scientific progress for the past 

 year, in these special departments, we would refer to the above- 

 noticed publication. 



All communications intended for the Editor of "Annual of Scientific 

 "Discovery," or the "Year Book of Agriculture," should be addressed to the 

 care of G. P. PUTNAM & Co., 321 Broadway, New York. 



