444 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
Markham thinks that the Eskimos, passing in small parties to the 
north of Barrow Straits in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, 
may have divided into two main bodies; the one going northward 
and originating the Arctic Highlanders, discovered by Ross ; the 
other descending southward, and driving out the Norsemen from 
Greenland. 
The theory of Dr. Rink supposes the Eskimos to have come 
from an entirely different quarter. He conjectures them "to have 
been the last wave of an aboriginal American race, which has 
spread over the continent from more genial regions, following 
principally the rivers and watercourses, and continually yielding 
to the pressure of tribes behind them, until they have at last 
peopled the sea coast." 
On the subject of climate, it may be interesting to note the 
variable latitude of the boundary of the Treeless Zone, ranging 
from 57° N. in Labrador to 71° N. at the Lena river. The mean 
temperature of the country of the Arctic Highlanders, in latitude 
76° to 79°, is placed at an average of +38° in the warmest, and 
— 38° in the coldest month of the year. 
The names of Davis, Baffin, and Hudson recall the discoveries 
which led to the establishment of the whale trade, and of the 
great Hudson's Bay Company. Parry's two expeditions with the 
Hecla and Griper, and with the Fury and Hecla in 1821, 1822, 
and 1823; and those of Ross in 1818, and in 1829 to 1833, must 
hardly be passed over in silence. During the latter period of five 
years Ross's expedition was supposed to be lost, but was eventually 
rescued by the Isabella, bringing back the intelligence of the dis- 
covery of the Magnetic Pole in Boothia Felix, in 1831, about hit. 
70° 5', long. 96° 46'. 
The narrative of the search for Sir John Franklin's expedition 
may be gone into at somewhat greater length. After passing their 
first winter at Beechey Island, the voyagers proceeded southward 
down Peel Sound in search of the North- west Passage. No tidings 
of them having reached England, great anxiety was felt, and some 
fifteen expeditions of search were organized from England and 
America by land or sea. After the discovery of the position of their 
winter quarters (1845 to 1846), and of various relics in the hands 
of Eskimos, near the mouth of the Great Fish River, or of the dis- 
tricts about Boothia Felix, the area of search seemed very much 
concentrated to the icy seas and coasts round King William Island. 
