118 MR. EAE'S EXPEDITION. May, 



party, you are to return with all speed to Fort Confi- 

 dence, and, embarking without delay the instruments and 

 stores remaining at that post, to proceed forthwith to Fort 

 Simpson. Such of the stores as are useful to the Com- 

 pany are to be valued and handed over to them, and the 

 instruments are to be forwarded to England, addressed to 

 the Secretary of the Admiralty. The men are to be sent 

 to winter at some fishing station sufficiently to the south- 

 ward to ensure their early arrival at Norway House next 

 spring ; and you are to direct them to be furnished with 

 nets, that they may provide for their own sustenance 

 during the winter, with as little expense to the Govern- 

 ment as possible. 



" Immediately on your return from the coast, you are 

 to communicate an account of your proceedings to the 

 Secretary of the Admiralty, for the information of their 

 Lordships ; and you are also to transmit to him a chart of 

 any hitherto unexplored coasts or straits you may discover, 

 as soon as you have had leisure to construct it. 



"Given under my hand, at Fort Confidence, 1st May, 

 1849. 



(Signed) " John Kichardson, 

 Commanding Arctic Searching Expedition. 

 "JohnRae, Esq." 



Copy of a Despatch from Mr. Rae to the Secretary of the 

 Admiralty, narrating the Proceedings of the Expedition 

 under his Command to the shores of the Arctic Sea, in 

 the Summer of 1849. 



" Fort Confidence, Great Bear Lake. 

 September 1. 1849. 

 " Sir, 



" I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information 

 of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the 



