486 Canadian Record of Science. 
first directors of the Canada North-West Land Company, and as 
director of other commercial enterprises in Manitoba and British 
Columbia, he evinced his belief in the future of the new West, and 
that belief he was never slow to attest in his communications to the 
columns of this and other journals. 
Dr. Rae leaves no children. Mrs. Rae, to whom he was married in 
1860, nursed her husband with devoted care during his long illness. 
her watch being shared py her sister, Miss Skeffinton Thompson, 
and they will have the sympathy of many friends in Canada and this 
country and of all who came into association with the deceased in 
his many activities, 
The following, relating more especially to the scientfic 
value of his labours, is from Nature : 
In 1845 his true career as an Arctic explorer began in his under- 
taking the leadership of a small expedition to explore a considerable 
extent of the coast line ef the Arctic Sea. In June, 1846, he set oul 
on this expedition from York Factory, coasted along the west side 
of Hudson Bay, and wintered on the shore of Repulse Bay. Harly 
in 1847 he made an extensive land journey to the north and west, 
with the result that 700 miles of new coast were surveyed, almost 
filling the gap between Ross’s work in Boothia and Parry’s at Fury 
and Hecla Strait. In 1859 Dr. Rae published an account of this ex- 
pedition in the form of a book of 250 pages. This was, curiously 
enough, his only permanent contribution to geographical literature, 
his subsequent journeys being recorded merely in formal reports 
published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. After 
this journey Rae came to London, but was almost immediately in- 
duced to join the first land expedition sent to seek for Sir John 
Franklin, under the leadership of Sir John Richardson. The expe- 
dition was unsuccessful as to its primary purpose of finding traces 
of Franklin, but it effected a satisfactory survey of the whole coast 
between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers. In 1851 Rae re- 
ceived the command of another boat expedition for the Hudson Bay 
Company, in the course of which he thoroughly explored and mapped 
the south coast of Wollaston Land and Victoria Land, still search- 
ing vainly for traces of Franklin’s party. On his return from this 
arduous undertaking, which he conducted throughout with con- 
spicuous daring and sagacity, he had to travel on snowshoes, and 
himself dragging a sledge, across the whole breadth of Canada from 
the Arctic Sea, through Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) until he reached 
United States territory. His total walking on this expedition was 
5,000 miles, of which 700 miles were traversed for the first time. On 
returning to England in 1852 the gold medal of the Royal Geograph- 
ical Society was presented to him by Sir Roderick Murchison, in a 
speech the cordial terms of which showed how fully Dr. Rae’s genius 
for Arctic travel with the minimum of equipment and an infinitesi 
mal expense was appreciated by the highest authorities, In no wise 
