ICE IMPASSABLE. lol 



28th, with an ample supply of nets and twine, so as to 

 enable them to procure sufficient fish for their winter 

 provisions, without being any additional expense to Go- 

 vernment. 



(Signed) " J. Rae." 



Mr. Rae's failure in crossing to AYollaston Land 

 is to be attributed solely to the strait being filled 

 with impracticable ice. I know from his private 

 letters that the mortification he experienced in the 

 result is much more severe than he has thought 

 proper to express in his official despatch. The 

 presence of ice in Dolphin and Union Straits and in 

 Coronation Gulf for two or more successive seasons, 

 where the experience of former years had led us to 

 expect a comparatively open sea, is suggestive of 

 the manner in which a party may be shut up in 

 these regions, and leads to many melancholy re- 

 flections. 



Every reader of my narrative of the proceedings 

 of the expedition will be aware of how much I was 

 indebted to Mr. Rae's activity and intelligence 

 throughout its progress ; and this seems to be the 

 appropriate place for me to express formally my 

 sense of obligation to him for his sound advice and 

 co-operation on every emergency. His society 

 cheered the long hours of an arctic winter's 

 absence from my wife and family, and it was in 

 a great measure owing to his skill and assiduity 



K 2 



