UETROSPECT. 375 



US ; right welcome was the addition of the comes- 

 tibles to om* hitherto villanous diet. On the 25th, 

 Fort Norman and my old friend Taylor, gave us 

 shelter, and we were rejoiced by the sight of Fort 

 Simpson, and the termination of this most disagreeable 

 trip, on the 5tli of October, by which time notable 

 tokens of winter were displayed ; and we had suf- 

 fered much from the inclemency of the season, the 

 thermometer having more than once fallen within a 

 few degrees of zero, — which, I need not remark, is 

 quite cold enough for boat travelling. 



This last expedition nmst be considered well-nigh 

 nugatory in every respect, with the almost unimportant 

 exception of the addition of two or three islands 

 to those already known about the Mackenzie. From 

 the tokens in the early part of the sununer previous 

 to our arrival in the Arctic Sea, we had hoped for a 

 fine and " open " season ; these expectations were 

 entirely void ; worse weather and a more encumbered 

 sea it would have been difficult to have encountered ; 

 and, as before remarked, no noteworthy consequences 

 resulted from the undertaking. Neither Banks' Land, 

 the grand aim of the voyage, nor Wollaston Land, 

 was reached ; nor did we examine the course of that 

 river which lies between the Mackenzie and the 

 Coppermine — its efflux being in Liverpool Bay, and 



