ARCTIC VOYAGES, FROM BAFFIN TO M'CLINTOCK. 



355 



public subscription to defray expenses. While deep in the American wilds, 

 Back was gratified with the intelligence that the object of his search had safely 

 arrived in England ; but, instead of returning home, the indefatigable explorer 

 resolved to trace the unknown course of the Thlu-it-scho, or Great Fish River, 

 down to the distant outlet where it pours its waters into the Polar Seas. 



It would take a volume to relate his adventures in this expedition, the num- 

 berless falls, cascades, and rapids that obstructed his progress ; the storms and 

 snow-drifts, the horrors of the deserts through which he forced his way, until he 

 finally (July 28) reached the mouth of the Thlu-it-scho, or, rather, the broad estu- 

 ary through which it disembogues itself into the Polar Sea. His intention 

 was to proceed to Point Turnagain, but the obstacles were insurmountable, even 

 by him. For ten days the exploring party had a continuation of wet, chilly, 

 foggy weather, and the only vegetation (fern and moss) was so damp that it 

 would not burn ; being thus without fuel, they had only during this time one 

 hot meal. Almost without water, without any means of warmth, and sinking 

 knee-deep as they proceeded on land, in the soft slush and snow, no wonder 

 that some of the best men, benumbed in their limbs, and dispirited by the pros- 

 pect before them, broke out for a moment in murmuring at the hardness of their 

 duty. 



On August 15, seeing the impossibility of proceeding even a single mile far- 

 ther. Back assembled the men around him, and unfurling the British flag, which 

 was saluted with three cheers, he announced to them his determination to re- 

 turn. The difficulties of the river were of course doubled in the ascent, from 

 having to go against the stream. All the obstacles of rocks, rapids, sand-banks, 

 and long portages had to be faced. They found, as they went on, that many 

 of the deposits of provisions, on which they relied, had been destroyed by 

 wolves. After thus toiling on for six weeks, they were ultimately stopped by 

 one most formidable perpendicular fall, which obliged them to abandon their 

 boat ; and proceeding on foot — each laden with a pack of about 75 lbs. weight 

 — they ultimately arrived at their old habitation. Fort Reliance, after an ab- 

 sence of nearly four months, exhausted and worn out, but justly proud of hav- 

 ing accomplished so difficult and dangerous a voyage. 



The Fish River has since been named Back's River, in honor of its discover- 

 er; and surely no geographical distinction has ever been more justly merited. 



This indefatigable explorer had scarcely returned to England (Sept. 8, 1835), 

 when he once more set out on his way to the Arctic regions ; but his ship, the 

 " Terror," was so disabled by the ice that she was scarcely able to accomplish 

 the return voyage across the Atlantic, without allowing her to make any new 

 discoveries. 



The land expedition sent out by the Hudson's Bay Company (1837-39), under 

 the direction of Peter Warren Dease, one of their chief factors, and Mr. Thomas 

 Simpson, proved far more successful. Descending the Mackenzie to the sea, 

 they surveyed, in July, 1837, that part of the northern coast of America which 

 had been left unexamined by Franklin and Elson in 1825, from Return Reef to 

 Cape Barrow. 



Although it was the height of summer, the ground was found frozen several 



