Mr. R. King on the unexplored Coast of No7-th America. 493 



to the sea was Sir George Back, and there has been none 

 since his time. 



3rcl. That the long hst of travellers, but which I have 

 shown to contain but one, have not thought it prudent to 

 follow the course which would lead to it, on account of the ac- 

 knowledged difficulties in traversing the barren grounds for 

 near 300 miles. Now it unfortunately happens for Sir John 

 Franklin, that the whole route is well-wooded, and this he 

 might have known if he had paid ordinary attention to Sir 

 George Back's Narrative. At page 152 it is stated that the 

 woods extend to 63;^°. 



ith. As to the easterly trending of the river to the Chester- 

 field or Wager inlets, I know not of a single opinion in favour 

 of it, but I know that at pages 80, 81, 84, 131, 197 of Sir 

 George Back's Narrative, the river is stated to have the 

 course I have assigned to it, which is N.E. 



5th. As to the supposition that I was aware of that fact by 

 my proposal to follow Back's river instead of the Fish river, 

 it is very evident that Sir John Franklin had paid as little 

 attention to my plan as he had to Sir George Back's Narrative, 

 which before he undertook to report upon the subject, the 

 Council of the Royal Geographical Society most undoubtedly 

 had a right to expect of him. I should be mad indeed to fol- 

 low the Fish river to the sea, when the whole course of the 

 Great Fish river is not only known to me, but falls into the 

 sea most conveniently for tracing the coast to the land of 

 Boothia Felix ; while on the contrary it is my opinion that 

 the Fish river fails into the gulf of Boothia, and consequently 

 if the isthmus of Boothia exists, I should have a barrier of 

 land to the eastward to cut me off from the survey of the 

 west coast of the land of Boothia Felix, where I imagine the 

 passage lies. 



6th. As to the ultimate object being merely to ascertain 

 whether the isthmus of Boothia exists or not, I would reply, 

 and (juite enough when the problem of the north-west passage, 

 which lias been a favourite object with the British nation for 

 more than three centuries, would by that means be solved. 



7th. With regard to the country about the proposed win- 

 tering being destitute of wood, the very contrary is asserted to 

 be the case at pages 81-86 of Sir George Back's Narrative; 

 besides, the known confines of the woods place the fact of 

 its being well-wooded beyond a doubt. 



8th. I quite fall in with Sir John Franklin's doubts as to 

 the success of a fishery in any river in tlie neighbourhood of 

 my proposed wintering; but 1 cannot consent that he has a 

 right to draw an inference that 1 should make so fruitless a 

 search. 



