DBASE AND SIMPSON, 1839. 151 



the Kendall with the Coppermine on the 10th. Striking straight 

 out for the Kendall River they came upon it half a league below 

 their Spring Provision Station. On the 12th the Hare Indians 

 were met with, and on the 14th Fort Confidence was reached. 



Second Journey. — Leaving Fort Confidence on June 15th, 1839, the 

 Kendall River was reached on the 19th, and they learnt that the ice 

 had cleared out of the Coppermine River ten days earlier than last 

 year. On the 22nd the Bloody Fall was run in eleven hours ; hut 

 the sea-ice was still solid. Leaving the mouth of the Coppermine 

 on July 3rd, they did not reach Cape Barrow until the 18th ; and to 

 their great delight found Coronation Gulf open, and reached Boat- 

 haven on the 20th, and Cape Alexander on the 26th, where a rapid 

 tideway was experienced. It was high-Avater at noon. Full moon, 

 the flood came from the westward, and did not exceed 2 feet. The 

 temperature of the water 4 feet helow the surface was 35°, and the 

 air 56°. By attending to the tide Trap Cape was rounded; and on 

 the last day in July a river was discovered, which was named the 

 Ellice, and which is much larger than the Coppermine, and here no 

 drift-wood comes down. Detained by the ice until the 5th of 

 August, Point Seaforth was gained on the 11th, and upon the 13th 

 they reached Sir George Back's Point, Sir C. Ogle thus connecting 

 the Coppermine with Back River. On the 16th Montreal It-land 

 was visited. Having thus completed their instructions, these enter- 

 prising men, taking advantage of the open season, crossed over to 

 the land seen to the eastward, and reached their farthest point in 

 this direction on the 19th, in lat. 68° 28', and long. 94° 14'. Cross- 

 ing over on the 24th to what they conjectured to he part of Boothia, 

 but which now proves to be King William Island the coast, was 

 traced for nearly 60 miles, until it turned up north, in lat. 68 ' 41', 

 long. 98° 22', only 57 miles from Sir James Ross's Pillar. This 

 cape was named Ilerschel ; and as the remains of one of the cnw 

 of either the Erebus or Terror was found by Sir L. McClintock to 

 the southward and eastward of this cape, the first discovery of the 

 North-West Passage, that is to say, a continuous sea from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, rests with Messrs. Dease and Simpson, and 

 with the expedition under Sir John Franklin. 



Keeping to the northward, they crossed the Victoria Straits and 

 reached Cape Colborne on the 6th, and coasting along the shore, 

 discovered two bays, to which the names of Cambridge! and Welling 

 ton were given : they crossed over to the southern shore on the 

 10th, and reached Wentzcl River, where drift-wood was found, and 

 on the 16th of September reached the entrance of tin- Coppermine, 



