Ape. 1857. ASSISTANCE FKOM PUBLIC DErARTMENTS. 9 



Roderick Murchison and the electric telegraph 

 for securing his valuable services. 



Like the Paris omnibuses we were at length 

 tout complet, and quite as anxious to make a 

 start. 



Ample provisions for twenty-eight months 

 were embarked, including preserved vegetables, 

 lemon-juice, and pickles, for daily consumption, 

 and preserved meats for every third day : also 

 as much of Messrs. Allsopp's stoutest ale as we 

 could find room for. The Government, although 

 declining to send out an expedition, yet now con- 

 tributed liberally to our supplies. All our arms, 

 powder, shot, powder for ice-blasting, rockets, 

 maroons, and signal-mortar, were furnished by 

 the Board of Ordnance. The Admiralty caused 

 6682 lbs. of pemmican to be prepared for our 

 use. Not less than 85,000 lbs. of this invaluable 

 food have been prepared since 1845 at the Royal 

 Clarence Victualling Yard, Gosport, for the use 

 of the Arctic Expeditions. It is composed of 

 prime beef cut into thin slices and dried over 

 a wood fire ; then pounded up and mixed with 

 about an equal weight of melted beef fat. The 

 pemmican is then pressed into cases capable of 

 containing 42 lbs. each. The Admiralty sup- 

 plied: us also with all the requisite ice-gear, 

 such as saws from ten to eighteen feet in length. 



