472 Thirty Years 



on the ice close to the beach. There must have been a number of 

 watches, compasses, telescopes, guns (several double-barrelled), &c, 

 all of which appear to have been broken up, as I saw pieces of 

 those different articles with the Esquimaux, together with some sil- 

 ver spoons and forks. I purchased as many as I could get. A list 

 of the most important of these I enclose, with a rough sketch of 

 the crests and initials on the forks and spoons. The articles them- 

 selves shall be handed over to the Secretary of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company on my arrival in London. 



" None of the Esquimaux with whom I conversed had seen the 

 ' whites,' nor had they ever been at the place where the bodies were 

 found, but had their information from those who had been there, 

 and who had seen the party when traveling. 



" I offer no apology for taking the liberty of addressing you, as I 

 do so from a belief that their lordships would be desirous of being 

 put in possession, at as early a date as possible, of any tidings, 

 however meagre and unexpectedly obtained, regarding this painfully 

 interesting subject. 



" I may add that, by means of our guns and nets, we obtained an 

 ample supply of provisions last autumn, and my small party passed 

 the winter in snow-houses in comparative comfort, the skins of the 

 deer shot affording abundant warm clothing and bedding. My 

 spring journey was a failure, in consequence of an accumulation of 

 obstacles, several of which my former experience in arctic traveling 

 had not taught me to expect. — I have, <tc, 



• "JOHN RAE, C.F., 

 " Commanding Hudson's Bay Company's Arctic Expedition." 



To such a tragic detail as this nothing can be added. 



There is little from which to draw consolation, and 

 imagination requires no aid to portray the weary 



