214 PIM ON ARCTIC SEARCH. [Nov. 24, 1856. 



racter of the Esquimaux, among whom some of our people might have lost 

 their lives, and some of our young men might be living, which was the opinion 

 of Dr. Kane, he. Sir Roderick, ho^^d that the Bishop of Eupert Land, who 

 was present, might afford them some information. 



The Bishop of Rupert Land said his knowledge of the Esquimaux was 

 very small. He had encountered them in two directions in his own territory ; 

 at one extremity near James' Bay, and at the other above York Fort. He 

 had seen and conversed with them from both these quarters, and he thought 

 if the Government should sanction an expedition such as Lieut. Pirn proposed, 

 some endeavour might be made at the same time to form the nucleus of a 

 settlement among them. That excellent body, the Moravians, would be 

 inclined to do anything in their power, in affording interpreters or anything 

 necessary, in order to secure intercourse with the Esquimaux. He was also 

 most anxious to do all that might be necessary with a view to planting a 

 missionary clergyman permanently amongst them. In intellectual power he 

 did not think they came up to the Indians, but they were superior, he thought, 

 in moral qualities. He was sorry he could not give more information respect- 

 ing these interesting j^eople : all that he knew of them was favourable as 

 regarded their dispositions. He hoped something would be done for them, in 

 a religious point of view, so that the present opportunity might not be lost. 

 Should such be the result of an expedition sent out by Government, he for 

 one would hail it, as conferring a lasting benefit on that neglected and inter- 

 esting people. 



Lieut. Pim would like to impress upon the Society, especially, the neces- 

 sity for having a ship at King William Land, because it would be most advan- 

 tageous to winter close to the Esquimaux, so as to obtain a moral influence 

 over them, and learn from them the precise whereabout of our countrymen. 

 If, for instance, a travelling party left a ship wintering at Batty Bay, where 

 the * Prince Albert' wintered, and travelled all the way down, by the time they 

 arrived at King William Land they would be exhausted, and the Esquimaux 

 could easily overpower them if they felt so inclined. At all events, as Cap- 

 tain Maguire said, time was essential to make the Esquimaux divulge all 

 they knew. Sir Edward Parry was a whole winter in the ice (1820), before 

 he obtained any geographical information from the tribes in his vicinity. 

 Therefore he (Lieut. Pim) was anxious that a ship should actually winter at 

 King William Land. Mr. Brown had said it was a very long way round by 

 Behring Strait. All he (Lieut. Pim) could say in reply was, that the 

 longest way round was often the shortest way there. After the vessel arrived 

 at King William Land, by way of Behring Strait, there would still be four 

 weeks' summer before them, to devote to securing the safety of the ship, and 

 explorations in boats ; whereas, by the eastern route, there would be only just 

 time to prepare for winter. Captain Collinson in his letter asserted that a 

 ship could go from England to Simpson Strait by the westerly route in ten 

 months. The passage was performed by the ' Investigator ' in 1850 ; and by 

 the ' Enterprise ' in 1851, 52, 63, 54. They might therefore take it for 

 granted that the channel was open all the season, and Captain Collinson even 

 went so far as to assert that if Government ordered him, he would take the 

 * Marlborough,' the largest ship in the service, safely up to Simpson Strait ; 

 therefore the Society need not feel any anxiety about the risk the explorers 

 would have to go through. The greatest risk would be with the Esquimaux, 

 and he thought they would be olDliged to go among them with caution in 

 endeavouring to ascertain from them all that they knew about Franklin. As 

 regarded the bodies having been washed off a low spit of land, he certainly 

 did not agree with Dr. Bae on that point, because the very liability of the 

 gi'ound to be washed by the rising of the river, must have been observed by 

 Franklin's people, and would have prevented them encamping there, and com- 



