The Sun.
London, England, 1821-11-13 00:00:00

PTIOGRESS OE THE LIND ARCTIC EXPEDITION,

NDEU J C3IIN Flt.tN 1;-Lt u.ti.

Segswaftor the Expedition tinder Lieut. FRANK•
LIN lea -striza-al,on the coast•se Hudson's Bay, they proceeded
from Yolk Factory, the granddepot of the Hudson's Bay Corii-
patsy, towards their wintering, at Cumberland, the cen-
tral post of the interior, a distance of about 900 miles from the
coast. Lieut. Franklin, Dr. Itie.;hardson, Mr. Back, and Mr.
Hood, attended by the hardy Orkney men, who bad been en-
gaged to man the boats in the rivers of the interior, had worked
in the Company's service several years, and understood the lan-
guage of many tof the Indian 'tribes, left the factory on the 7th
of September, 1t29, with a fair wind, under a salute from the
depot, and amidst the aacclamations of the officers and men
of the Company. Of the immense quantity and variety of pro-
visions supplied by Government for the use of the expedition,
the greater part was left at the factory ; those who knew the
country, and the difficulty of travelling through it, having re-
presented the impossibility of conveying European food,
which at the bay receives the name of luxuries, to any con-
siderable distance. The hardships attending the progress of
travellers were in fact shewn to be so great, as would render
it ,absurd to calculate upon such a thing as the slightest
change of diet in the winter season ; and when it was mention.
ed by Lieutenant Franklin, that he had brought with him
preserved meats and soups in portable cases, to support the ex-
pedition in the cheerless regions through which they were to pass,
there was a general laugh amongst the officers of the company,
at the idea of associating any thing like comfort with the for-
midable character of the enterprise. Some of those difficulties
ntay be estimated from the account of the sufferings of the ad-
venturers, in their advance towards Cumberland, to which
place the writer of this article accompanied them. On the third
day after their departure from the factory, the boats of the coin-
pany, which were proceeding to the various trading posts in the
interior, came up with the expedition in the Steel River, dis-
tant about sixty miles from the place at which they sot out.—
Most of the rivers in that part of America abound with rapids
and falls. The rapids are generally mere navigable near the
banks, but they frequently extend across the stream, and
then the labour of the boat's crew becomes excessive, every
man being obliged to turn into the water and assist in carrying
the boat sometimes to the distance of half a mile before they
gain the head of ease of those terrible impediments. The Com-
pany's men, upon turning one of the points of the river, ob-
served the officers of the expedition making desperate efforts to
get through the mud along the banks : sonic of them were up
to their knees, others up to their waist, while the men were
handing the boats over amost violent rapid,which,though but half
a foot deep, rendered it necessary that those who stood in
the -water should lasild fast by the boat, the impetuosity
,of the'soreauilseing so extraordinary as not infrequently to over-
turn a man in an instant, and dash him to pieces against the
rocks and huge stones which lie scattered along the bed of
the river. Indeed, before the Company's boats had reached
those of Lieutenant Franklin, it was suspected that the expedi-
tion had already met with more hardships than they had any
notion of encountering at so early a period. Several of the tin
cases which had contained the preserved meats were seen at the
different up-putting places (the spots of ground on the banks
chosen for passing the nights upon), and those miserable
abodes were drenched with rain, and presented an appear-
ance the most appalling. Two black beats were soon prowl-
ing about, and devouring some of the luxuries which the
travellers had ascertained it was impossible to convey in any
considerable quantitie* further up the river ; and along the
banks were seen strong symptoms of the inexperience of
those who had guise forward. The traders with the North
American Indians, in travelling to their posts, kindle fires
immense 4.llagnitutle upon landing to put up for the
night. Every man carries his fire-hag, containing all the ne-
cessary apparatus. They proceed to hew down the trees, an
office which they. perform with wonderful dexterity. The fires
are lighted, the tents for the officers pitched, and the only
regular meal taken during the 24 hours, served up in as com-
fortable a manner as possible under the circumstances. As the
travellers advanced, the mild season not having yet begun to
disappear, vast herds of grey deer were observed passing the
rivers towards the Esquimaux lands, and the Indians who were
accompanying the expedition gave extraordinary proofs of their •
activity, by rushing upon the animals in the water, and strik-
ing long knives into their hearts. Lieutenant Franklin, on en-
tering the Hill-river, so called from a neighbouring eminence,
the only one that presented itself between York Factory and
Cumberland, had reason to express surprise that trading goods
could be transported to the interior in spite of such frightful ob-
structions. His men were fatigued in the extreme' and he
found it indispensably necessary to request that the officers of ,
the Hudson's Bay Company would lighten his boat of the
greater part of the luxuries and instruments. This accommo-
dation was readily given, and after the most laborious efforts,
the expedition reached the Rock depot, one of the Company's 1
posts, having devoted seven days to the exhausting toil of work- 1
ing up 30 miles of their journey. Upon arriving at the depot,
the expedition were treated with great hospitality by 31r. Bunn,
the officer in charge, who entertained them with the Tittimeg, a
fish -which they admitted was the most delicious they had ever
tasted, and which was caught in God's Lake (an immense piece'
of water, so named from the abundance and excellence of its in-
habitants.) 31r. Hood, who is one of the draftsmen of the ex-
pedition, took a sketch of the Rock-fall and the post, which
presented one of the most beautiful objects in these desolate
regions, and introduced a distant view of a wigwam (an Indian
tent) with its inmates.—Five days after the expedition lett the
Rock depot they reached another port, having encountered mini-
berless difficulties similar to those which have been described.
There was, however, some relief to the painful sameness of the
journey in several beautiful lakes through which it had to pasts.
At Oxford-house post, which was reached four days subse-
quently, they were provided with pimmikin,' the celebrated
winter food of the country, made of dried deer or of buttido
flesh, pounded and mixed with a large quantity of the fat of
the animal. This food substitutes the luxuries in winter, is
the most portable of all victuals, anti satisfies the most erav-
Mg-hunger in a very short time. The officers of the expedi-
tion were not a little surprised at the difficulty of cutting their
meat, but they soon reconciled themselves to the long esta-
blished practice of chopping it with a hatchet. During the sum-
mer ducKs, geese, partridges, &c., are to be had in the great-
est abundance; but ;the frost soon drives all those delicacies
out of the reach of the active Indian, and pirnmikin becomes
the only resource of the traveller. The next post at which they
arrived was Norway-house, upon leaving which they entered
upon Lake Winnipie, at the further side of which they had to
encounter the grand rapid, extending nearly three miles, and
abounding in obstructions quite insurmountable. Here they
were obliged to drag their boats on shore, and carry them over
the land, or, to use the technical language, " launch them over
the portage." The woods along the banks were all in a blaze,
it being the custom of the natives, as well as of the traders, to
set fire to the trees mound the up-putting places, for the double
purpose of keeping off the cold and the wolves, whose howling
was increased in proportion, to the extent of the conflagration.
The expedition passed several other rapids and falls along a fiat,
woody, and swampy country, across five miles of which no eye
could see. At length they reached the White Fall, where an
accident took place, which had nearly deprived the expedition
of their commander. While the nice were employed in carry.
ing the goods and boats across the portage of the fall, Lieut.
Franklin walked down alone to view the rapid, the roaring of
which could be heard at the distance of several miles. He had
the boldness to venture along die bank with English shoes up-
on his feet, a most dangerous experiment, where the banks are
flint-stones and as smooth as glass. He was approaching the
spot from which he could have taken the most accurate observa-
twn, when he slipped from the bank into the water. Fortunately
the water into which lie was precipitated was still water. glad he
lost his footing ten yards lower down, he would have been hur-
tied into a current which ran with amazing impetuosity over a
precipice, presenting one of the most terrific objects his eyes
had yet fixed upon amidst all the horrors of the journey. Lieut.
'to and made vigorous
eiroas oltdo get up
Franklin is an excellent swimmer, but he had on hint a sailor's
very He wnain thea
heavy Flushing jacket and trowsers, heavy English shoes, and
a large neck handkerchief, the weather having begun to set in
smooth precipitous rock, and was just exhausted when 2 of the
Company's officers, who were at a short distance from the fall,
swam about
orbu sonic
litee contend against a
looked up and saw him struggling in the water. With the assist-
ance of their poles, they raised him out of his perilous situation, in
which he had been a quarter of: an hour. The moment lie reach-
ed land lie fell to the ground, and remained without motion for
some time. His powerful constitution, however, soon buffisted
the effects of the accident, and he had happily only to regret
the injury his chronometer, for which he had given 100 guineas,
received in the water. After a tedious journey of 41; days, the
dangers and distresses of which rather inereils,:d than diminished
as they advanced, the expedition arrived at Cumberland, a post
situate on the banks of a beautiful lake, anti stockiided against
the incursions of savages, the attacks of wolves and sears act
the more ferocious assaults ()trivia traders.