542 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE, UNDER THE IN- 

 STRUCTIONS OF THE Hudson's bay company, by messrs. 



DEASE AND SIMPSON. 



In 1826 Sir J. Franklin and Capt. Back followed Sir A. Mackenzie's 

 course to the mouth of the river which bears his name, and coasted 

 370 miles of the Polar Sea to the westward, tracing the northern 

 shores of America till within 160 miles of Point Barrow, which was 

 reached by Mr. Elson, the master of the vessel under the command 

 of Captain Beechy, only four days after Franklin had been obliged 

 to return. The intermediate portion has hitherto remained a blank 

 on our maps ; but the unexplored country between Franklin's Re- 

 turn Reef, in lat. 70° 26' N., long. 148° 52' W., and Point Barrow, 

 in lat. 71*^ 23' 33" N., long. 156° 20' W., has been, as the public 

 have recently learned, successfully traced by Messrs. P. M. Dease 

 and Thomas Simpson, acting under the instructions of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, issued by their resident Governor Mr, George 

 Simpson, to whom the formation and equipment of the expedi- 

 tion had been intrusted. The party started from Fort Chipe- 

 weyan on the 1st of June 1837, reached the ocean by the most 

 westerly mouth of the Mackenzie on the 9th of July, and Franklin's 

 Return Reef on the 23rd, where their survey commenced. They 

 proceeded by sea to explore the coast, until they arrived, on July 

 31st, at a point which they subsequently named Boat Extreme, in 

 lat. 71° 3' 24" N., and long. 154« 26' 30" W. There now appearing 

 little prospect of their being able to reach Point Barrow by water, 

 Mr. T. Simpson undertook to complete the journey on foot, and 

 acccordingly started on the 1st of August with five men, Mr. Dease 

 and the other five men remaining in charge of the boats. On 

 August 4th (apparently) Mr. Simpson reached Point Barrow. The 

 party arrived at the western mouth of the Mackenzie, on their re- 

 turn, on the 17th of August, and at Port Norman, on the 4th of 

 September, whence their report is dated on the following day. 



The expected further results of the expedition in the ensuing 

 summer, will be undertood by the following extract from Mr. G. 

 Simpson's instructions to the explorers : — " The object is to trace 

 the coast from Franklin's Point Turnagain eastward to the entrance 

 of Back's Great Fish River. To that end you will haul your boat 

 across, from the north-eastern extremity of Great Bear Lal^e to 

 the Coppermine River, before the winter breaks up, and at the 

 opening of the navigation proceed to the sea, and make as ac- 

 curate a survey of the coast as possible, touching at Point Turn- 

 again, and proceeding to Back's Great Fish River, if the strait or 

 passage exists which that oflficer represents as separating the main 

 land from Ross's Boothia Felix ; but should it turn out on exami- 

 nation that no such strait exists, and that Captain Ross is correct 

 in his statement, that it is a peninsula, not an island, you will in 

 that case leave your boat and cross the isthmus on foot,taking with 

 you materials for building two small canoes, by which you may fol- 

 low the coast to Point Richardson, Point Maconochie, or some other 

 given spot, that can be ascertained as having been reached by Capt. 

 Back. And you will be regulated in deteraiining whether you will 



