PREFACE. xiii 



now know to have been of subsequent date, 1 as well as 

 Collinson, who, taking the 'Enterprise' along the north 

 coast of America, and afterwards bringing her home, reached 

 with sledges the western edge of the area recently laid open 

 by M'Clintock, will, I have no doubt, unite with their arctic 

 associates, Richardson, Sherard Osborn, and M'Clintock, 

 in affirming that "Franklin and his followers secured the 



O 



honour for which they died — that of being the first dis- 

 coverers of the North-West Passage." 2 



Again, when we turn from the discoveries of Franklin to 

 those of M'Clintock, as mapped in red colours on the 

 general map, on which is represented the amount of outline 

 laid down by all other arctic explorers from the days when 

 these modern researches originated with Sir John Barrow, 

 we perceive that, in addition to the discovery of the course 

 followed by the ' Erebus ' and ' Terror,' some most important 

 geographical data have been accumulated by the last ex- 

 pedition of Lady Franklin. 



Thus, M'Clintock has proved that the strait named by 

 Kennedy in an earlier private expedition of Lady Franklin 



1 In 1850. 



2 See a most heart-stirring sketch of the last voyage of Sir John 

 Franklin by Captain Sherard Osborn, in the periodical ' Once a Week,' 

 of the 22nd and 29th October and 5th November last. Possessing a 

 thorough acquaintance with the arctic regions, this distinguished sea- 

 man has shown more than his ordinary power of description, in placing 

 before the public his conception of what may have been the chief 

 occurrences in the voyage of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' and the last 

 days of Franklin, as founded upon an acquaintance with the character 

 of the chief and his associates, and the record and relics obtained by 

 M'Clintock. This sketch is prefaced by a spirited and graceful outline 

 of all previous geographical discoveries, from the day when they were 

 originated by the father of all modem arctic enterprise, Sir John 

 Barrow, to whom, and to many other eminent persons, from Sir Edward 

 Parry downwards, I have in various Geographical Addressess offered 

 the tribute of my admiration. 



