INTRODUCTION. 



The discovery of a north-west passage to the 

 Pacific had. for some years occupied the attention 

 of the British government and of the public at large, 

 and several brilliant attempts had been made both 

 by sea and by land to ascertain the practicability of 

 its navigation, which, though conducted with a zeal 

 and perseverance that will transmit them to the 

 latest posterity, had, from insurmountable difficul- 

 ties, failed of success. 



In 1824, His late Majesty having commanded that 

 another attempt should be made by way of Prince 

 Regent's Inlet, an expedition was equipped — the 

 last that sailed upon this interesting service — and 

 the command again conferred upon Captain Parry, 

 whose exploits have so deservedly earned him the 

 approbation of his country. At the same time 

 Captain Franklin, undaunted by his former perilous 

 expedition, and by the magnitude of the contem- 

 plated undertaking, having, with the promptness 

 and perseverance peculiar to his character, proposed 

 to connect his brilliant discoveries at the mouth of 

 the Coppermine River with the furthest known 

 point on the western side of America, by descending 

 the Mackenzie River, and, with the assistance of his 



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