490 Mr. R. King on the unexplored Coast of North America. 



be complete ; but if the former should prove to be as Sir John 

 Ross has described, it will be necessary to follow the land to 

 its northern limit, which will determine its connexion with or 

 separation from the land to the eastward. If separated from 

 that land, and the dividing sea proves of any extent, the grand 

 problem of a practicable passage from the Atlantic into the 

 Pacific is at once solved. 



" Then the trending of the coast-line of the gulf of Boothia 

 is but of minor importance ; nevertheless, if the season is 

 not too far spent, it will be desirable to add its boundaries to 

 our knowledge. It is very probable that the Fish river falls 

 into that gulf; if so it will be interesting to trace it to its 

 source, and thus make a shorter route to the winter quarters. 

 To render this practicable, it will be necessary that a party of 

 natives should be engaged prior to starting from winter quar- 

 ters in the spring, to wait at its mouth, in order to act as 

 (Tuides. There will be no difficulty in effecting this. The Ca- 

 marade de Mandeville, a Chipewyan Indian, through whose 

 hunting grounds the Fish river flows, offered to do so if Sir 

 George Back thought proper to return by that route, instead 

 of retracing his steps by the Great Fish river. It is impossible, 

 My Lord, that the plan which I have sketched can fail but 

 with the commander's life, and experience has proved that 

 such a service can now be undertaken without more than the 

 ordinary risk attendant on man's daily occupations. 

 " I have the honour to be, 

 " My Lord, 

 " Your Lordship's most obedient Servant, 

 " The Right Hon. Lord Stanley, " RiCHARD KiNG." 



Principal Secretary of State for 

 the Colonies, &c. &c. &c." 



To this I received the subjoined reply : — 



«SlRj «C.O.,Feb. 16, 1842. 



" I have been directed by Lord Stanley to acknowledge the 

 receipt of your letter of the 24'th ult., offering to conduct an 

 Expedition for the discovery of the N. W. Passage and of the 

 Northern configuration of America; and to inform you that 

 H. M* Government do not at present contemplate any such 

 undertaking. 



" I have the honour to be, 



" Your obedient Servant, 



" E. B. WiLBRAHAM, 



" Richard King, Esq," " Pr. Sec." 



That the whole of the unexplored coast may be surveyed 

 in one season is demonstrated from the fact, that the lands 

 between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine, and between the 



