1S49. ASCENDS THE DEASE. 119 



expedition under my command, which descended the Cop- 

 permine this summer to the Arctic Sea, for the purpose of 

 examining the shores of Wollaston and Victoria Lands, in 

 search of Sir John Franklin and party, returned to this 

 place to-day, having been quite unsuccessful in its object, 

 and with the loss of Albert, the Eskimo interpreter, who 

 was drowned at the Bloody Fall, the particulars of which 

 unfortunate accident I shall mention hereafter. 



" Having made every requisite arrangement at Fort Con- 

 fidence for facilitating our progress across land to the 

 Coppermine, I waited impatiently for the disruption of the 

 ice on Dease River, to which our boat was hauled on the 

 7 th of June. Next day we learned that the upper parts 

 of the river were clear of ice ; and on the following mornins; 

 I started in company with four men and two Indians, and 

 ' a couple of sledges on which our baggage and provisions 

 were stowed. The Dease was still covered with strong 

 and solid ice for two miles up its course, over which we 

 hauled the boat before getting to open water. 



" Our ascent of the stream was extremely slow, owing to 

 the many barriers of ice (some of them six or eight miles 

 long) over which we had to launch the boat, and it was 

 the 15th before we arrived at the forks of the river, where 

 it was my intention to diverge from the route of Dease 

 and Simpson. They followed the north branch, whilst we 

 ascended the south-east one. This stream was also much 

 obstructed by ice, and so very shallow, consequent on the 

 coldness of the weather, which prevented the snow on the 

 high grounds from thawing, that the whole party were 

 almost continually up to their knees among water and 

 snow engaged in launching the boat. In ordinary seasons 

 it was evident, by marks along the banks, that there is 

 sufficient water for a boat drawing some inches more than 



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