INTRODUCTION. 
His Majesty’s Government having deter- 
mined upon sending an Expedition from the 
Shores of Hudson’s Bay by land, to explore 
the Northern Coast of America, from the 
Mouth of the Copper-Mine River to the 
eastward, I had the honour to be appointed 
to this service by Earl Bathurst, on the 
recommendation of the Lords Commis- 
sioners of the Admiralty ; who, at the same 
time, nominated Doctor John Richardson, a 
Surgeon in the Royal Navy, Mr. George 
Back, and Mr. Robert Hood, two Admiralty 
Midshipmen, to be joined with me in the 
Expedition. My instructions, in substance, 
informed me that the main object of the 
Expedition was that of determining the 
_ latitudes and longitudes of the Northern 
