The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-23 00:00:00

• .—.--_
!ilia JOHN RICHARDSON'S REPORT TO THE
lIZORZTARY OF THE ADMIRALTY.
• • Sier•-•I Wore the halo= to acquaint you, for the
of ley Lords Commaimioners of the Admiralty,
ritn,tarlietera *4reet AamMea to the royal mail steamer
7Etegt
es egusehosities awed, sent yen from time to seetuits of the of the Arstic search.
miler my I beg now to submit,
tee the onifleenles mite* , a connected summary
of the whole pere elf the pert, up to this Moe, and
also to report-the eilillos of a detachment under charge
et Mr. Rae, is nom the esmpletioa of the satire minute of
search meapreheaded in their lordship' Melamine to me.
Oa the 4th ef Seas, 1849, fireissamen, fittest. uppers and
miners, with her beats, 16,800 lbs. of pemicen, and other
provides. and Mons, were embarked at Gravesend on board
she Hudson's Bay Company ships Prince Rupert sad West-
minster. The (arrival of these ships at York Factory was
later than usual, and some of the expedition stores still re.
assined on hoard on the 10th of September; but chief trader
Bell, of the Hudson's Bay Company, who now took charge
of the party, censidered it imprudent to wait longer for their
landing. At this date, therefore, he commenced his voyage
into the interior, taking with him, is addition to the Reg-
lin boats and their crews, a large henget:a, with 16 Cana-
dna regagettre,.and the sioneneeemery for building a winter
ruiden.o , providing for the fisheries, and equipping and
pa leg Indian hunters.
Owing to the extreme dryness of the summer, the rivers
were uncommonly low, and the boats being, therefore, un-
able to carry more than two-thirds of !heir ordinary load, it
was neesseary to leave a considerable quantity of pemican
at York Factory to he forwarded inland, with the additional
supplies next amain. The diSculties which Mr. Bell
encountered, as well from the lowness of the waters as
front the very early setting in of winter, were groat, his pro-
gram consequently was slow, and he was finally arrested by
the freezing of the lakes, six days' march short of his in-
tended winter quarters at Cumberland House.
He immediately housed the boats, constructed a store-
beeee he the reception of the provisions and other packages,l
eatablished fisheries, and as soon as sledges could be made,
essibmpanied the bulk of the party on snow shoes through
the woods to Cumberland House.
At that place, and at Beaver Lake, abon sixty miles fur-
ther to the northward, the men wan supported through the
winter by the fisheries bat at Ceder Lake, where the boats
were laid up, the fishing was unproductive, and there was,
sonsequently, an unforeseen consumption of pemican by the
boat keepers, and the wives aid children of three of the
who could not travel over the snow to Comber-
hod ease. Thiedeficit of penricaa was fu,ly made up during
the mimes. by tte exertions of the Hudson's Bay Company's
Moen on the upper portion of Saskatchewan. Mr. Bell
made winter journeys to Cedar Lake, arid early in the spring
seat carpenters down to put the boats in repair, so that
eve thing was ready for the resumption of the voyage an
the breaking up of the rivers, which took place in the begin-
ning of June, 1848.
On the 25th of March, 1848, Mr. Rae and I left Liverpool
in the North American mail steamer Hibernia, landed a
fortnight afterwards at New York, and proceeded, by way
of the Hudson and Lake Champlain, to Idientreai, where we
found waiting fur us 16 Canadian voyageurs, forming the
crews of two canoes provided by Sir George Simpson,
governor of the Hudson's Bay Company's terntories. Our
route lay through Lakes Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, and
Huron, tt Batik Bt. Marie, where we were detained some
days waiting ler the breaking up of the ice cn Lake Su-
perior. When the lake opened we resumed our voyage to
Fort William, and from thence to Rainy Lake, the Lake
of the Woods, and Leke Winipeg, where we were again
stepped for some days by ice, but having at length
lueseedel in breaking our way through, we entered the
Sr
katehewan River on the 9th of June, and on the 15th
masked Cumberland House. Here we learned that Mr.
Bell bad set out a fortnight previously, but had been detained
by tee in Be Lake for four days. We followed him with
diligence through Beaver Lake, Churchill River, Isle it la
Crosse, Buffalo and Methy Lakes, to Meth' Portage, where
we overtook him on the 20th June, 1848.
With the assistance of the voyageurs from Montreal, the
boats and stores were transported on the men's shoulders
across the portage in eight dap, this laborious proceeding
having been rendered netemary by the death of the whole
of the horses usually employed there. The two canoes, with
their crews, were sent back to Canada.
On the 15th of July, having reached the last postage on
Slave River, three boats were arranged for the sea voyage,
with full loads of pemican and able crews, consisting in the
aggregate of eighteen men. Mr. Rae anal I embarked isl
them to proceed with all speed to the mouth of the Mack-'I
enzie, leaving Mr. Bell with the remainder of the party
and two boats containing the stores for winter use, with di-
rections to make the best of his way to Great Bear Lake,
to establish a fishery at its west end, near the site of Fort
Franklio, for the convenience of the sea party, in the
event of its having to return up the Mackenzie ; and,
lacly, having traversed the Isks to its northern extremity,
to erect dwelling-houses and storehouses near the influx of
Deese river, and to carry on fisheries at such
sal able placesi as he should discover in the neigh-
bourhood. He was also instructed to despatch James
Hops (a Cree Indian, belonging to his party, who had been
formerly employed in the expedition, under Messy,. Dean
and Simpson, and knew the country well), together with a
native hunter of the district, to the banks of the Coppermine
in the beginning of September, there to hunt till the 20th of
the month, and look out diligently for the arrival of the
boats.
On my way to the sea I landed three bags of pemican at
Fort Good Hope, the lowest of the company's posts on the
Mackenzie, for the use of any party from Sir James Ross's
ships or from the Plover, which might reach that establish-
ment, and I likewise deposited one case of the same article,
with several memoranda and letters, at Point Separation,
which forms the apex of the delta of the Mackenzie, marking
the locality in the manner agreed upon.
We reached the sea on the 4th of August, and had an in-
terview with about 300 Eiquimaux, who were collected to
meet us, having been apprised of our coming by signal fires
lighted by their hunting parties on the bills skirting the
river. The distance from Point Encounter, where we met
this party, to the mouth of the Coppennine river, including
the larger inflexions of the coast line, is upwards of 800
miles; and as we had almost constantly head winds, we
rowed along near the shore, landing at least twice a day to
cook, occasionally to hunt, for the most part at night to
sleep on shore, and often to look out from the high capes.
Our cummunrcatione with parties of Esquimau: assembled
on the headlands to hunt whales, or scattered in par-
ties of two or three along the coast in pursuit of rein
deer and waterfowl, were frequent. They came off to us
with confidence, and through the medium of our excellent
Esqulmeux Albert, who spoke good English, we were able
to converse with them readily. They invariably told us that
no ships bad passed, and were rejoiced to learn tw our inqui-
ries that there was a prospect of their seeing more white
men on their shores. Up to Cape Bathurst, or for about
one third of the distance between the Mackenzie and Cop-
permine, the Regnante informed us that for six weeks of
summer, or,. as they expressed it, fur the greater part of two
moons, during which they were chiefly occupied in the pur-
suit of whales, they_never saw any ice.
We found an Fuquimaux family encamped on the ex-
tremity of Cape Bathurst, but as near to that plate as we
could effect a landing without observation, we erected a
signal post and buried a ease of pent= • and we made a
similar deposit, marked by a pile of painted stones, on the
extremity of Caps Parry.
After rounding the latter Cape we observed, for the first
time on the voyage, flows of drift ice, which became more
numerous as we approached Dolphin and Union S:ralt, and
in this part of the coast we saw no Erquireaux, though we
found a few recent trace of their hunting parties.
On the 22d of August we had a strong gale of westerly
wind, before which we ran under sail for some hours, bat U
speedily augmented to a violent storm, and we were come
pelted to provide for the safety of the boats by running
among the ice, loosely packed on Point Cockburn. Denier
the sight much ice drifted pasr,and in the morning we found
ourselves hennaed in by dense puke, extending as far u the
eye could reach. Up to this time the weather had
been of the usual summer temperature of that region;
but it now became very cold, and we had continual frosts,
with frequent snow-storms, during the remainder of our stay
on the coast. By keeping close to the beach in places where
the shallowness of the water kept off the larger ;geese et
ice, by cutting passages for the boats where the pecks
abutted against the rocks, by dragging the boats over the
smoother flail, and by making portages along the shore, au.
cording to circumstances, with the aid of occasional spaces of
open water, we sueoeeded, with much labour, in tasking our
way to a bay between Capes Hearne and Kendall by the and
of the month. I bad previously thought it advisable to
abridge the labours et the crews, by leaving one boat, with
its cargo of penitent, on the north aide of Cape Krusentern,
and by the time that we came near Cape Kendall the two
remaining boat, were scarcely seaworthy, having been
much cut by the young ice which now bound the floes toge-
ther. The ground was covered with snow, no open water
was visible front the highest capes, and the winter appeared
to have set in with rigour. I found myself, therefore, reluc-
tantly compelled to abandon the boats, and toprosecute the
lourney to our winter residence on Great B.or Lake, by
and. The pakten and ammunition were carefully con-
cealed for future use, the boats were hauled up on the
beach, and the party directed to prepare for the march.
The baggage, consisting of thirteen days' provisions, cooking
utensils, hatchets, astron:mical instruments, a few books,
the ammunition, two nets with several setting lines,
Hal-
kett's portable beat, a package of dried plants, my bedding,
and a few unties of clothing, were distributed by lot. Each
man carried, in addition to his assigned load, his own blanket,
enocassins, and rush articles of clothing as he chose. All were
furnished with now shoes. Mr. Rae carried the greatest
daPanyWintsehtile out
oorisielaisiics3inmrgdpannofednflsteppamotef September, and thTehfooyllearlsig
fully ferried us across the mouth of a wide river, which I
named the Ras. We afterwards crossed the Richardson in
Lieut. Heiken's host, and following the line of the Copper.
mine, and of its tributary, the Kendall, we gained a branch
destined quarters at Fort Confidence.paan
of Damn River; and on the thirteenth day readied our
ihtettegl
yOcurne til:kght
half-frozen swamp., or over hills covered with now, yes
asottrarily toilsome ; but, by keeping m mach possible
in the river valleys, we had to without
firing, for the purposes of cookery. In a thick fog, dudes
which we were able to proceed in the proper direction by
compass, James Reps and his Indian companion, who lei
been despatched by Yr. Bell to meet us, lost their way, and
so mimed us • but, ea coming to our trail on the Headell,
they perceived that we had passed, and returned to Fort
Confides.* two days eller ear wheal them.
In
°irefully thair l the yaw between Copp ermine Xeduseale and Copnnine I
og~ laslntstions with respell.
to the essatheetin of the NMI Ike, sod hues folly ma-

EXPEDITION.