The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-11-12 00:00:00

THE STATESM4N

pROGRASS OF THR LAND ARCTIC EXPR.:
DITION,
UNDER LIEUT. JOIIN FRANKLIN, R. N.

S3lO after the expedition under Lieut. Franklin had
arrived on the coast of Hudson's Bay, they proceeded
from York Factory, the grand depot of the Hudson's
Bay Company, towards their wintering ground at
Cumberland, the central post of the interior, a dis-
tance of Atom 900 miles from the coast'. Lieutenant
Franklin, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Back, and Mr. Hood,
ess-nded by the hardy Orkney men, who had been en-
gaged to man the boats in the rivers of the interior,
bad worked in the Company's service several years,
and understood the language oT many of the Indian
tribes, left the factory on the 7th of SepteMber,
1619, with a fair wind, under a salute from the de-
pot, and amidst the acclamations of the officers and
men of the Company. Of the immense quantity and
variety of provisions supplied by G verronent fur the use
of the expedition, the greater part was left at the fac-
tory ; those who knew the country, and the difficulty
of travelling through it, having represented the im-
possibility of conveying European food, which at the
bay receive' the name of luxuries, to any considerable.
distance. The hardships attending the progress of
• travellers were in fact shown to be so great, as would
reudee it absurd to calculate upon such a thing as the
slightest change of diet in the winter season; and
when it was mentioned. by Lieutenant Franklin, that
lie had brought with him preserved meats and soups in
portable case', to support the expedition in the cheer-
less regions through which they were to pass, there
was a general laugh amongst the officers of the com-
pany, at the idea of associating any thing like comfort
with the formidable character of the enterprise. Some
of those difficulties may he 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 com-
pany, which were proceeding to the various trading
posts in the interior, came up with the expedition in
the Steel River, distant about sixty miles from the
place at which they set out. Must of the rivers in
It that part of America abound with rapids and Gib.
The rapids are generally more navigable near the
banks, but they frequently extend across the streaw,
and then the labour of the boat's crew becomes ezces
sive, every man bring obliged to turn into the water
and assist in carrying the boat sometimes to the dis•
tante of half a mile before they gain the head of one
of those terrilie impediments. The Company's men,
upon turning one of the points of the river, observed
the officers of the expedition making desperate efforts
to set through the mud along the banks: some of
them were up to their knees, others up to their waist,
While the men were handing the boats over a most vio-
lent rapid, which, though bOt half a foot deep, ren-
dered it necessary that those who stood in the water
should hold fast by the boat, the impetuosity of the stream
being so extraordinary as not unfrequently to overturn
a man in an instant, and dash him to pieces against the
• rocks and stones which lie scattered along the
bed of the river. Indeed, before the Company's boats
hail read-lied those of Lieutenant Franklin, it was sus-
pected that the expedition had already met with more
hardships than they had any notion of encountering at
so early a 'period. Several of the tin cases n bleb bad
contained the preserved meats were seen at the different
tipvietli/tw places (the spots of ground on the banks
chosen for passing the nights upon,) and those miser-
age abodes were drenched with rain, and presented
an aprearence the most appalling. Two black bears
were soon prowling about, and devouring some of the
beauties which the travellers had ascertained it was
impossible to convey in any considerable quantities
fur:ber up the river and along the banks were seen
strong symptoms of the inexperience of those who bad
g.pne forward. The traders with the North American
I p.dians. in travelling to their posts, kindle fires of
immense magnitude upon landing to put up for the
night. Every man carries his fire bag, containing all
the necessary apparatus. They proceed to hew down
the trees, an office which they perform with wonder-
CO dexterity. The tires are lighted, the tents for the
°givers pitched, and the only regular meal taken dur-
ing the twenty-four hours, served up in as comfortable
a manner as possible under the circumstances. As the
travellers advanced, the mild season not having vet
begun to disappear, vast herds of grey deer were ob-
served passing the rivers towards the Esquituanx lands,
and the Indians who were accompanying the expedition
gave extraordinary proofs of their activity, by rushing
u?on the animals in the water,and striking long knives
into their hearts. Lieutenant Franklin, oft entering
the Hill-river, so called from a neighbouring emi
nenre, the only one that presented itself between York
Factory and Cumberland, had reason to express sur-
prise
that trailing goods could be transported to the
interior in spite of such frightful obstruction.. His
Dan were fatigued in the extreme, and be found it in-
dispensably 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. nis
accommodation was readily given, and after the most
laboriuttsefforts, the expedition reached the Rock depot.
one of the Company's posts, having devoted seven days
to the exhausting toil of wor!..ing op 30 miles of their
journey. Upou arriving at the tivot, the expedition
were treated with great hospitality by Mr. Blinn, the
officer in charge, who entertained them with the Titti-
meg, a fish which they admitted was the most delici-
ous they had ever tasted, and which wits caught in
God's Lake (au immense piece of water, ail named
fronethe abundance anti excellence of its inhabitants.]'l
Mr. Hood, who is one of the draftsmen of the expedi-
tion, took a sketch of the Rock fall and the post.
which presented one of the most beautiful objects in
t hese desolate regions, and introduced a distant view of
a wigws-n (an Indian tent)with its inmates.
Five days after the expedition left the Rock depot
they reached another port, having encountered nom.'
brrless difficulties similar to those which have been
described. There was, however some relief to the pain-;
fnl sameness of the journey in several beautiful lakes
through which they had to pass. At Oxford.l se
post, which was reached four days subsequently, they
were provided with perrurrikim, 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 animal. This food substitutes the luxuries in
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 re-
cor.ciled themselves to the lung established practice of
Chopping it with a hatchet. During the summer, ducks,
geese, partridges, /cc., are to be had in the greatest
abundance; but the frost soon drives all those Mica' I
cies out of the reach of the active Indian, and pitntni-
kin becomes the only resource of the traveller. The
next post at which they arrived was Norway-house,
upon leaving which they entered upon Lake Winnipic
at the further side of which they had to encounter the
grand rapid, extending nearly three miles, and abound-
ing 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,
Haunch them over the portage." The woods
1 along the banks were all in a blaze, it being the
I custom of the natives, as well as 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 pro-
portion 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. M 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 carrying the goods
and heats across the portage of the fall, Lieutenant
Franklin walked down alone to view the rapid, the
roaring of which could be heard several miles. He
had the boldness to venture along the bank with Eng-
lish shoes upon his feet, a most dangerous experiment,
where the hanks are flint-stones and as smooth as glass.
—He was approaching the spot from which he could
have taken the most accurate observation, when be
slipped from the bank into the water. Fortunately the
water into which he was precipitated was mill water.
Had lie lost his footing ten yards lower down, he would
have been hurried into a current which ran with
amazing impetuosity over a precipice, presenting one
of the most terrific objects his eyes bad yet fixed upon
amidst all the horrors of the journey. Lieut. Frank-
lin is an excellent swimmer, bat be had on him a sai-
lor's heavy Flushing jacket and trowsere, heavy Eng-
lish shoes, and a large neck handkerchief, the weather
having begun to set in very cold. Ha swam about
for some time, and made vigorous efforts to get upon
the hank, but he had to contend against a smooth pre-
cipitous 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 struxgling in the
water. With the assistance of their poles, they raised
him out of his perilous situation, in which he had
been nearly a qnarter of an hour. The moment he
reached land he fell to the ground, and remained
without motion for some time. His powerful consti-
tution, however, soon buffeted the effects of the ac-
cident, and he happily had only to regret the injury
his chronometer, for which he bad given lOU guineas,
' received in the water. After a tedious journey of -16
days, the dangers and distresses of which rather est-
creased than diminished as they advanced, the expedi-
tion arrived at Cumberland, a post situate . sit .tare
banks of a beautiful lake, and stockaded against the
incursions of savages, the attacks of wolves and bears,
and the more ferocious assaults of rival traders.

THE LATE GALES.