418 DR JOHN BAE'S EXPLORATIONS— 1^A^A7. 



Rae's rifle, there was generally something good in the kettle when the day's 

 journey was over. On the 6th June the party arrived at Cape Simpson, and 

 were deUghted to find the cache of provisions which they had made there 

 all safe as it had been left. All hands immediately set to work clearing 

 away the stones beneath which the provisions had been buried, not so much 

 for the purpose of getting at something to eat as to reach a package of tobacco 

 which had been there placed among the other stores. The men were 

 inveterate smokers, but all their pipes had been " out " for want of tobacco 

 for several days. Meantime a fine hare had been shot, and as soon as 

 sufficient fuel had been gathered, a feast was prepared such as the half- 

 famished men had not enjoyed for many days. On this day such was the 

 power of the siunmer sun that the mercury rose in the thermometer to 82°. 

 At nine p.m. on the 6th, Rae and his men started to recross the isthmus to 

 Repulse Bay, where they arrived at eight on the morning of the 9th all well, 

 and in good spirits, but exceedingly thin. 



Thus terminated an important and a completely successful expedition. 

 Dr Rae had been commissioned to explore the unknown shores around the 

 southern arm of Boothia Gulf, as far north on the east and west sides as the 

 most southern points visited by the Rosses, and this he accomplished in the 

 most creditable and satisfactory manner. His discoveries proved that there 

 was no outlet from the south of Boothia Gulf to the Arctic Sea, and he thus 

 so far practically circumscribed the area in which a '* North- West Passage " 

 might be sought for with hope of success. 



From the 9th June, the date of the return to Fort Hope, to the 12th 

 August, the expedition was detained by ice on the shores of Repulse Bay. 

 On the latter date, however, the ice having broken up, Rae set sail from the 

 bay, after distributing presents of axes, files, knives, etc., among his Eskimo 

 allies, and arrived safely at York Factory on the 6th September, 



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