xxii FreUminary Chapter. 



As lur pay I slioiiltl ask nothing-. IMy faitliful Frank LaDer, I kuow, would 



Ih' i.'la(l to aiconiiiany us. llo Avill go wlicrever I desiie, and certainly I will feel 



•rlad to have him Avith nie whenever J may go to tlie Arctic Eegions. Joe and 



Hannah, my Esquimaux Interpreters, I tliink, would accompany us also. They 



M'\\(\ hiM' to you &: family. 



Yours ever 



C. F. HALL. 



I '. S. ^VIlether I go or not on the proposed English Expedition to King W"^'s 

 Land, 1 feel to do all T ran in facilitating its jairposes ; and will, therefore, communi- 

 cate such important matter as 1 have acquired in the North, so soon as I can be 

 relieved from the pressure upon ray time. 



'J'Ir- i»roniise involved in the last of the j^receding lines was ful- 

 filled at as early a date as was found practicable. On the lOtli of 

 January, 1871, he forwarded to Lady Franklin two MSS., titled "Sir 

 Julm Franklin, with notes of my voyage of 1864 to '69." The extracts 

 AN hich foHuw from letters accompanying this packet, will confirm what 

 has heen said as to his desire to go out even a third time for the 

 Records: 



• * • My special respects to Miss Cracroft. I trust I shall be able to send 

 yf)U other matter relating to my King William's Land Sledge Journey, and sucli 

 information as will be of use to any one who may make a Journey to King W. 

 Land. • ♦ • AVhy is it that I am not still following up that subject? Is it 

 linished ? Can more be done in gaining intelligence of that most important of all 

 Arctic r:.\peditions? To the first question the answer cannot be satisfactory, for 

 I hardly know, myself, why I was led ott* from that almost holy mission to which I 

 have devote<l about twelve years of my life, and well on to eight of these in the 

 icy regions of the North. What burned within my soul like a living fire all the 

 time, was tlie full laiih that I should Ihid some survivors of Sir John's memorable 

 Kxiiodition living among the natives, and that I would be the instrument in the 

 liand of heaven, ..11 heir salvation. 15ut Avhen I heard the sad tale from living wit- 

 nt'sses in the sining (.f I.s(i!>, l„,w wickedly many survivors in the fall of 1848 had 

 been abandon. mI au.l siitVeiv.l 1.. die, my faith, till then so strong, was shaken, and 

 ultimately \va.s extinguish..!. As to the Uecords, I believed they had been care- 

 fidly buri.'d on King William's Land before the Erebus and Terror Averc aban- 

 doned: ami, that if no survivor was f..un.l, at least those Kecords might be recov- 

 ered. 



• • • (;...! willing. 1 will make t\v.) m.ne voyages to the :North,— one for 



