Dr. John Rae. 487 
deterred by the hardships of his earlier campaigns, Rae left England 
early in 1853 to continue his work in the far north ; the Hudson Bay 
Company equipping an expedition on condition that he would lead it © 
personally. He completed the survey of King William’s Land on 
this occasion, proving it to be an island ; 1,100 miles of sledging were 
accompiished in the process, of which 400 miles were new discovery. 
But the really important result of this expedition was Dr. Rae’s 
meeting with the first evidence of Sir John’s Franklin’s fate, from 
the story of a party of wandering Eskimo. The tribe encountered 
were in possession of many personal relics of members of that ill- 
fated expedition, which Rae secured and brought home. When he 
returned to England with the news so long searched for and so 
anxiously awaited, the Admiralty, which had spent large sums in 
fitting out successive expeditions, concluded that the fate of Frank- 
lin was decided beyond a doubt, and accordingly awarded to Dr. 
Rae the sum of £10,000 offered by Government to the first who- 
brought back decisive information. The justice of this award was 
at the time strongly objected to by Lady Franklin, and, although no 
further action was taken by Government, she continued to organize 
private expeditions, which, while proving in effect the correctness 
of Dr. Rae’s information from the Eskimo, served in no small degree 
to advance the geographical survey of the polar area. 
In all his expeditions Dr. Rae made collections of characteristic 
plants and animals as well as physical and meteorological observa- 
tions. The material, described. by other workers, went to swell the 
sum of our knowledge of the general conditions of climate and life 
in the Arctic basin. 
In 1860 and subsequent years Dr. Rae made a series of intaresting 
journeys in Iceland, Greenland and North America with the object 
of exploring and arranging routes for telegraph lines. His later 
years were spent in this country, where he made himself conspicu- 
ous by his zeal in forwarding the volunteer movement, being him- 
seif an excellent shot. The feeling which grew upon him to a pain- 
ful extent as he became older, that his brilliant explorations were 
not adequately recognized and acknowledged on the Admiralty 
charts, unfortunately somewhat embittered his last years. But to 
the end he took the keenest interest in Arctic travel, and was ever 
ready to take part in discussions bearing on the region in which he 
lived so long and suffered so much. He was a regular attendant at 
meetings of the Royal Geographical Society and Colonial Institute, 
and for many years attended the gatherings of the British Associa- 
tion. 
