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



It is, therefore, evidently an error to suppose that where an 

 Esquimaux can live, a civilized man can live there also. Esqui- 

 maux habits are so entirely different from those of all-©ther people, 

 that I believe there is no instance on record of either a white man 

 or an Indian becoming domesticated amongst them, or acquiring 

 tolerable expertness in the management of a kayak. 



With regard to the probability of procuring the means of sub- 

 sistence independently of the Esquimaux, I will just state what was 

 shot by my own sledge party — and we never lost a chance of shooting 

 any thing — during the journey along the lands in question, that 

 occupied us for 79 days, and covered nearly 1000 geographical miles 

 of distance. The sum total amounted to 2 reindeer, 1 hare, 17 

 willow grouse, and 3 gulls. 



The second question is — Why have the remains of so few of our 

 lost countrymen been found ? 



It is indeed true that only 3 of the 105 were discovered ; 

 but we must bear in mind that from the time they left their ships 

 they were drawing sledges and boats, and, therefore, they must 

 have travelled almost constantly upon the ice — not upon the land 

 — consequently all traces or remains there vanished with the sum- 

 mer thaw of 1848. 



There is no doubt that many relics still remain strewed along 

 the uninhabited shore of King William Island, beneath the snow, 

 but as it was most carefully examined three times over, I cannot think 

 that any conspicuous object, such as would be put up to indicate 

 where records were deposited, could possibly have escaped us. 



The summer at Port Kennedy proved a warm one, yet the ice 

 did not permit us to move until the 9th of August, and the object 

 of the expedition having been attained, we commenced our home- 

 ward voyage. 



On the 21st of September I arrived in London, having landed at 

 Portsmouth, and on the 23rd the dock-gates at Blackwall closed 

 behind the Fox.'' 



The Chairman said, that it was with no slight emotion that he rose to 

 say a few words on this subject. When his illustrious friend Sir John 

 Franklin, who was then a Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 sailed in 1845 on his last expedition, he (Sir R. Murchison) looked forward 

 with hope to his return to fill the place of President, which he then occupied. 



The Government of the United States, and individual citizens of that 

 country, Mr. Grinnell, Mr. Peabody, and others had supported the search 

 for our countrymen, but sought in vain. The most distinguished of our 

 Arctic explorers (several of whom he now saw around him), including 

 Admiral Austin, Sir Edward Belcher, Captain CoUinson, Captain Sherard 

 Osbom, Captain Kellett, and many more eminent seamen had also sought 

 in vain for that record which had been so happily discovered by the last 



