16 NORTHERN REGION. 



those of other more fortunate successors, especially of Captains 

 M'Clure and Collinson of the British navy, to the first of 

 whom is due the honour of leading an expedition from west 

 to east along that icy shore ; while Captain Collinson took 

 his ship, the Enterprise, up to Cambridge Bay, Victoria Land, 

 further east than any ship had before reached from the west 

 — namely, 105° west- — and succeeded in extricating her from 

 amid the ice and bringing her home in safety. Captain 

 M'Clure, not so fortunate in one respect, was compelled to 

 leave his ship frozen up. The two expeditions, while proving 

 the existence of a channel, at the same time showed its 

 uselessness as a means of passing from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, as, except in most extraordinary seasons, it remains 

 blocked up all the year by ice. 



The northern end of the American continent is a region of 

 mountains, lakes, and rivers. Several expeditions have been 

 undertaken through it, — the first to ascertain the coast-line, 

 by Mackenzie, Franklin, Richardson, Back, and others, and 

 latterly by Dr. Rae ; and also by Sir John Richardson, who 

 left the comforts of England to convey assistance to his 

 long-missing former companions, though unhappily without 

 avail. These journeys, through vast barren districts, among 

 rugged hills, marshes, lakes, and rivers, in the severest of 

 climates, exhibit in the explorers an amount of courage, 

 endurance, and perseverance never surpassed. In the course 

 of the rivers occur many dangerous falls, rapids, and cataracts, 

 amid rocks and huge boulders, between which the voyagers' 

 frail barks make their way, running a fearful risk every 

 instant of being dashed to pieces. Not a tree rears its head 

 in the wild and savage landscape, the vegetation consisting 

 chiefly of lichens and mosses. Among the former the tripe 



