12 DISCOVERIES BY THE LATE EXPEDITION [Nov. 14, 1859. 



misfortune up to that date. He was prepared to go through the whole of the 

 evidence to show that it was next to imjx)ssible that these 105 gallant spirits 

 had j)erished in the way that had been suggested. Remember they were not 

 helpless savages, but gallant Englishmen," who would not succumb while a 

 chance remained. Such men as Captains Crozier, Fitzjames, Fairholme, Ice- 

 master Read, Blanky, and others, were not at all likely to have died in the 

 manner described. He could fancy such men before him now, struggling on 

 amidst all difficulties, perhaps living and hoping for years, and often looking 

 for assistance from that country for whose fame and glory they had gone forth. 

 Viewing them as individuals — considering their especial character as picked 

 officers and men — he could not and would not believe them to have all passed 

 awa^ until something more certain was known than the meagre information 

 already obtained. He recommended another expedition overland to search the 

 whole of the locality in the direction in which he supposed the survivors of the 

 Franklin expedition to have gone. He reminded the meeting that one great 

 object of that expedition was to make magnetic and scientific observations. He 

 could not suppose they were so long in the neighbourhood of the Magnetic 

 Pole without carrying on frequent observations which would, undoubtedly, be 

 most valuable to science. He ventured to ask, had the Magnetic Pole been 

 minutely searched for those signs and traces which might reasonably be sup- 

 posed to exist there ? At all events, until some record of the results was dis- 

 covered, he would not abandon all hope. He was but a humble individual, 

 without fortune and without name ; but if his health was spared he would 

 endeavour to go out next spring, whether alone or in company with others, and 

 would explore the whole locality, and, if need be, ally himself to the Esquimaux 

 until the riddle was solved. 



Mr. Kennedy concurred with Mr. Snow. He had heard a rumour in 

 the Red River colony that some time ago Europeans had been seen in the 

 direction of the M'Kenzie River. He imagined these were some of the 105, 

 and that there was a likelihood that some of them were yet alive. He did not 

 fall in with the view that Britons could not live where Esquimaux existed. On 

 the contrary, he believed Europeans could adapt themselves to native habits, 

 for he remembered a volunteer in his expedition, named Hepburn, who accom- 

 panied Sir John Franklin in his first overland expedition, telling him that when 

 they were put to the greatest straits he should have considered it a great privi- 

 lege to have been allowed to settle down among the natives for life. Had he 

 been permitted, he would have considered his chances of life greater by adopting 

 their habits than by remaining with his party. Again, in Dr. Kane's narra- 

 tive, they had instances of men desirous of passing the remainder of their days 

 among the natives. The fur-traders of Hudson Bay underwent infinitely 

 greater hardships than were undergone by Arctic explorers. Nothing less than 

 another expedition would satisfy the public. He recalled attention to the diffi- 

 culties which Lady Franklin had encountered in sending out the last expedition 

 against opposition from all quarters, and after the results which that expedition 

 had attained, it would be discreditable in the nation to let the matter drop 

 where it was. 



Captain M'Clintock, in reply observed, that long experience proved that all 

 the food the expedition could have carried with them was forty days' short pro- 

 visions. The wonder therefore was how, being encumbered with large boats, they 

 got so far, and there was no possibility (the provisions being exhausted) that 

 they could have made their way from the mouth of the Back River, or Montreal 

 Island, to any inhabited part of the Hudson Bay territory. Any gentleman 

 with chart and compasses might assure himself of this fact. Mr. Kennedy was 

 mistaken in supposing that the natives, among whom John Hepburn would 

 gladly have sought refuge, were Esquimavac — they were North- American 

 Indians^ inhabiting a wooded country abounding with fish and game : and 



