242 ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



an expedition in search of the gallant and enterprizing Captain Ross 

 and his brave companions. And if in the exercise of our duty to the 

 public, we think it expedient to point out the inefficiency of the 

 plans proposed, assuredly it arises from no want of sympathy and 

 deep interest in the fate of our enterprizing countrymen, now per- 

 haps pining in the agonies of famine, and " hope deferred." 



The principal members of the land expedition have, we believe, al- 

 ready embarked at Liverpool for New York ; and it is presumed that 

 they will arrive at Montreal, the real starting-point, on the 10th of April. 

 The route to be then pursued, is the usual one for the fur-traders in 

 the employment of the Hudson's Bay Company, by the Autaway, 

 French River, the Great Lakes, and Lake Winnepeg, to the Great 

 Slave Lake, which comprizes a distance of two thousand five hun- 

 dred miles from Montreal. This point is expected to be reached in 

 the middle of July; and at the Great Slave Lake, Indian guides and 

 hunters will be engaged to accompany the party to the Great Fish 

 River, which falls into the Polar Sea, and is about three hundred 

 miles, at that point, from the wreck of the Fury. The mode of tra- 

 velling upon the Lakes, is by canoes of birch-bark ; but at Cumber- 

 land-House, one of the four stations of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 the party will embark in battaux, which are better adapted for con- 

 veying the provisions, tents, ammunition, and stores. The chief de- 

 pendence for food, will consist of pemmekan, or the dried flesh of 

 buffaloes or rein-deer, with such game as may be procured upon 

 the way. 



The expedition will winter at the Great Fish River ; and previously 

 to retiring to quarters, Captain Back proposes to proceed, for a limited 

 distance down the river, in a light canoe, with eight well-armed com- 

 panions, in the hope of obtaining some information respecting Captain 

 Ross and his companions, from the Esquimaux. 



In the ensuing spring, the whole party will proceed down the river 

 to the wreck of the Fury, which is supposed to lie about three hun- 

 dred miles from the spot : though it appears that the course of this 

 river has never yet been explored, and insuperable obstacles may 

 perhaps intervene, to defeat the entire purpose of the project. Should 

 the party, however, succeed in reaching the wreck of the Fury, and 

 no trace of Captain Ross be there discoverable, it will then be neces- 

 sary for Captain Back and his companions to retrace their steps to 

 the winter- quarters at the Great Fish River; and in returning, it is 

 intended to erect land-marks and signal-posts on peaks and capes, to 

 arrest the attention of Captain Ross and his comrades, should they 

 happily be endeavouring to return by land. 



In the second spring, the expedition will again emerge from 

 winter-quarters at the Great Fish River, to the shores of the Polar 

 Sea; and after due search in various directions, in the summer 

 of 1835, if it should fail in discovering any satisfactory tidings of 

 Captain Ross and his party, it will set out on its return to England. 



Our readers will observe, that the expedition first traverses on foot 

 a distance of three thousand miles of country, from Montreal to the 

 Great Fish River ; and this without horses, bread, or conveniences 

 of any description whatsoever their sole subsistence, during their 



