Star.
London, England, 1821-11-14 00:00:00

DIVIDENDS to be made in the COUNTRY.

Dec. 7, J. Peet, Ashton, within Mackertield, Lancashire,
hinge• Manufacturer, at ten, at the Nag's Head Inn, Warring..
ton. Dec. 4, J. Sanders, Ivybridge, 'Deion, tanner, at eleven,
at the King's Arms Inn, Plymouth. Dec. 5, T. Bury, Emcee
factor, at eleven, at the Globe Inn, Exeter. Dec. 6, J. Alai-
shall, Gainsborough, druggist, at eleven, at the White Hart
Inn, GainsLorough. 'Dec. 6, J. Smith, late of Sudbury, Suf-
folk, upholsterer, at one, at the Rue and Crown Inn, Sudbury.
Dec. 4, J. Boyce, Bortiesley, near Birmingham, brass-founikr,
at twelw, at the White Hart, Birmingham. Dec. 14, H.
Iluntriss, Liverpool, merchant, at one, at the GeOrge Inn,.
Dale-street, Liverpool. Dec. 11, H. Smith, late of MIA:
burb, Lancashire, cotton-manufacturer, at twelve, at the New
Inn, Blackburn. Dec. It), J. %neigh, Bristol, brassi.founder,
at ten at the Commercial Rooms, Bristol. Dec. It, J. Woods,
juu.u,te
of portsea, baker, at twt:ve, at the Crown Nu, }k-
shop's Waltham. Dec. 13, B. Hobbs, Redbridge, Hams, coal
and timber-merchant, at one, at the Black Swan Lan, Winchebter.,
DISSOLUTIONS OF PARTNERSHIPS.
Baker and Siunderson, Lombard. street. Ilitebon and Co.
Wakefield, woolttaplers. Wells and Powell, Birmingham, inch
holders. Smithies and Hyde, Stayley-bridg-. G. and N. No. •
binton, Little Dc2D, Glouc,stershire, iron-masters. Eekotsiey
and Ambler, Wigan, calico-manuf:ctu:ers. Stmtierion and
Kemp, Park-street, Grosvenor-square, coal-merchante. Wen
and Co. Abchurch-lane, sugar-dealers. Jones and C Bl:C:jey,
Flintsbiee, smelters of lead ore. Weld a7,d Louttlin, New itteid-
stteet, vtilors. Gill and Bell, Norwich, cabinat-makers. W.
and W Withers, Holt. Norfoik, attorni,s. Calk and home_
wood, Steward-streei, 01d Artillery-groutd, silk-manufacturers,
Hillghton and Spittle, Chapel street, Grosvenor-square, horse.
dealers. 31‘Ltan and-Fruity, Liverpool, lace-dealers.

.r

PROPRESS..OF THE ARCTIC LAND EX-
. NPODITION,
lINDRR LIEUT. JOHN FRANKLIN, A.M.
\frSiOOTI eepedition under Lieutenant Frank-
•
had arrd on the coast of Hudson's Bay, they
proceeded from York Factory, the grand depot of
the Hudson's Bay Company, towards their wintering
strand at Cumberland, the central pott of the inte-
rior, a distance of about 900 miles from the coast.—
Lieutenant Franklin, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Back, and
Mr. Hood, attended by the hardy Orkneymen, who
had been engaged to man the boats in the rivers of
the interior, had worked in the Company's service
several years, and understood the language of many
of the Indian tribes, left the factory on the 7th of
September, 1819, with a fair wind, under a salute
from the depot, and amidst the acclamations of the
Officers and men of the Company. Of the immense
quantity and variety of provisions supplied by Go-
vernment for the use of the expedition, the greater
part was left at the factory ; those who knew the
qountry, and the "difficulty of travelling through it,
having represented the impossibility ofconveying Eu-
ropean food, which, at the Bay, receives the name of
luxuries, to any considerable 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 men-
tioned by Lieutenant Franklin, that he had brought
with him preserved meats and soups in portable cases,
to support the expedition in the cheerless regions
through which they were to pass, there was a gene-
ral laugh amongst the Officers of the Company, at
the idea. of associating anything like comfort with
the formidable character of the enterprise. Some of
these difficulties may be estimated from the account
of the sufferings of the adventurers, 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 Company, which were proceeding to the various
trading posts in the interior, came up with the expe-
dition in the Steel River, distant about sixty miles
from the place at which they set out. Most of the
rivers in that part of America abound with rapids
and falls. The rapids are generally more navigable
near the banks, but they frequently extend across the
stream, and then the labour of the boat's crew be-
comes excessive, every man being obliged to turn
into the water and assist in carrying the boat some-
times to the distance of half a mile before they gain
the head of one of those terrible impediments. The
Company's men, upon turning one of the points of
the river, observed the Officers of the expedition
making desperate efforts to get through the mud
along the banks; some of them were up to their
knees, others up to their waists, while the men were
handing the boats over a most violent rapid, which,
though but half a foot deep, rendered it necessary
that those who stood in the water should hold fast by
the boat, the impetuosity of the stream being so ex-
traordinary as not unfrequently to overturn 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 expedition had already met with more hard-
ships than they had any notion of encountering at
so early a period. &vela' of the tin cases which
had contained the preserved meats were seen at the
different rippulting places (the spots of ground on the
banks chosen for passing the nights upon), and those
miserable abodes were drenched with rain, and pre-
sented an appearance the most appalling. Two black
bears were seen prowling about, and devouring sonic
of the luxuries which the travellers had ascertained
it was impossible to convey, in any considerable quan-
tities, farther up the river ; and along the banks were
seen strong symptoms of the inexperience of those
who had gone forward. The traders with the North
American Indians, in travelling to their posts, kindle
fires of immense magnitude upon landing to put up
for the night. Every man carries his fire-bag, con-
taining all the necessary apparatus. They proceed
to hew down the trees, an office which they per form
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 accom-
panying the expedition gave extraordinary proofs of
their activity, by rushing upon the animals in the
water, and striking long knives into their hearts.—
Lieutenant Franklin, on entering the Hill River, so
called from a neighbouring eminence, the only one
that presented itself between York Factory and Cum-
berland, had reason to express surprise that trading
goods could be transported to the interior in spite of
such frightful obstructions. His men were fatigued
in-the extreme, and be found it indispensably neces-
sary 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 accommoda-
tion was readily given, and, after the most laborious
efforts, the expedition reached the Rock depot, one
of the Company's posts, having devoted seven days
to the exhausting toil of working up thirty miles of
their journey. Upon arriving at the depot, the expe-
dition were treated with great hospitality by Mr.
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 iA.
habitants). Mr. Hood, who is one of the draftsmen
of the expedition, 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 left the Rock
depot, they reached another post, having encoun-
tered numberless difficulties similar to those which
have been described. There was, however, some re-
lief to the painful sameness of the journey in several
beautiful lakes through which they had to pass. At
Oxford House post, which was reached four days
subsequently, they were provided with pinentikin, the
celebrated winter food of the country, made of dried
deer or buffalo flesh, pounded and mixed with a large
quantity of the fat of the aatimaL This food it sub.

. - 4i..

stituted for the !armies, ht winter, is the most portable
of all victuals, and satisfies the most craving hunger
in a very short time. The Officers of the expedition
were not a little surprised at the difficulty of cutting
their meat, but they soon reconciled themselves to
the long established practice of chopping it with a
hatchet. During the summer,, ducks, geese, par-
tridges, &c. are to be had in the greatest abundance;
but the frost soon drives all those delicacies out of the
reach of the active Indian,*andpintatikin becomes the
only resource of the traveller. The next pest at
which they arrived was Norway House; upon leaving
which they entered upon Lake Winnipic, at the fur-
ther 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 around 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 flat, 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 men were employed in car-
rying the goods and boats across the portage bf the''
fall, Lieutenant 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 the banks with English shoes upon
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 observation, when he slipped
from the bank into the water. Fortunately the water
into which he was precipitated was still water. Had
he lost his footing ten yards lower down, he would
have been hurried into a current which ran with

amazing impetuosity ovei a precipice, presenting one
of the most terrific objects his eyes had yet fixed
upon amidst all the horrors of the journey. Lieut.
Franklin is an excellent swimmer, but he had on him
a sailor's heavy Flushing jacket and trowsers, heavy
English shoes, and a large neck-handkerchief, the
weather having begun to set in very cold. He swam
about for some time, and made vigorous efforts to
-get upon the bank, but he had to contend against a
smooth precipitous rock, and was just exhausted when
two of the Company's Officers, who were at a short
distance from the fall, looked up and saw him strug-
gling in the water. With the assistance of their poles
they raised him out of his pet ilous situation, in which
he had been. nearly a quarter of an hour. The
moment he reached land he fell to the ground, and
remained without motion for some time. Ills power-
ful constitution, however, soon buffeted 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 forty-six days, the dangers and distresses
of which rather increated than diminished as they
advanced, the expedition arrived at Cumbeiland, a
post situate on• the banks of a beautiful lake, and
stockaded against the incursions of savages, the at-
tacks of wolves and bears, and the more ferocious
assaults of rival traders.