Southern shield., 1854-11-11
Sir John Franklin's Party.
 Letter of Dr. Rae.

the following letter rom Dr. Rae which will be found extremely interesting, ard embrace, 4bo f1ll particulars of the information obtain. od bv him in relation to the fate of Sir Johr FronlIin's party. Dr. Rae has been engaged in expeditions of discovery in the Arctic re. irons since l847, principally with view O
 obtaining information upon this subject:
 We are indebted to Sir George Simpson covernorof the Hudson's Bay Territory fol tbc privilege of first publishing to the worll
 tbe at length ascertained fate of the noble but iIl-starred Sir John Franklin and his cal Iant company. Alas! that their fate should have been so sad, and that the problem whicl has so long occupied the thoughts and engaged the energies of the great navigator's counties: friends and admirers in Europe and America, should be solved by so painful, so distressing narrative as Is contained in the following letter, which was forwarded from York Fac. tory, via Red River. Our own hopes of Sil John Franklin's restoration to the world haC long ceased; but who could have been pre- pared for the fearful reality-a miserable anC lingering death, from literal starvation-pos- slbly, as Dr. Rae conjectures, worse thar starvatlOn-on the frozen and desolate shores of the Arctic Ocean. But we will not detair the reader by any reflections of ours. from the perusal of Dr. Rae's intensely interesting narrative. York Factory is situated at the mouth of Hayes River, in Hudson's Bav in about 56 N lat
 DR. RAE s LETTER TO SIR GEORGE SAMPSON.
 YORK FACTORY, Aug. 4, 1854.
 My Dear Sir George-Yo our several letters public and prlvate, of dates 18th June and lst December, 1853, and 18th ard l6th June. 1854, were handed me on the 28th ut. on my reaching Churchill, and I was reioiced to learn that your health had benefited so much by your visit to the North.
 Letme now allude' to the expedition affairs arrived here on the 3lst ult., with my small party, in excellent health, but I am sorry to say without having effected our object. At the same time, information has been obtained and articles purchased from the natives. which places the fate of a portion if not all. the then survivors of Sir John Franklin's miserable party beyond a doubt-a fate the most denlo- rable-death from starvation, after having had recourse to cannballsm as means of prolOng- ing life.
 reached my old quarters at Repulse Bay. on the 25th of August, and preparations were immediately commenced for wintering. On Una lei %n1atnr1bpr | oN-,,lo..,o,T 1 l-
 position, the stock of provisions we had on hand, (not more than three months rations. ! and the prospects We had of getting more, etc. etc, pointing ont all the danger and difficulty of our position. All readily volunteered to remam, and our eXertiOns to collect food and fuel went on with unabated energy. By the end Of September, l42 deer, musk OK, g braces of ptarmigaE and l seal had been shot. and the nets produced l90 salmon.
 Of the larger animals above enumerated 49 deer and the musk OK were shot bvmvself: 49 deer by Mistegan (the hunter); A by ore of the men, 9 by Ouligbuck, and I6 by the other four men. The migration of the deer terminated about the middle of October, and p more animals were added to the stock.
 On the 28th of October, the snow being sufficiently hard to commence building. wei were happy to exchange our cold tents for the more comfortable shelter of the snow-house. The winter was very severe, but the tempera- ture in our snow-huts was never so low as in my winter quarters of 1846-47. Up to the l2th of January we had set nets under theI ice in the lakes; the nets were taken up onI that date as they procured nothing.
 On the 3lst of March my spring journey commenced, but in consequence of gales of wind, deep and dsoft snow, and foggy weather, we made but very little progress. We did not enter Peily Bay until the 17th. At this place we met with Esqaimaux, one of whom, on being asked if he ever saw white people, replied in the negative, but said that large party fat least forty persons. had perished for want of food about ten or twelve days jour- ney to the westward. The substance of the information, obtained at various times and from various sources, was as follows:
 In the spring four winters past Spring 1850) party of white men, amounting to about forty, were seen travelling westward over the ice, and dragging boats with them by Esqui- nlauX Who were killing seals on the north Shore of King Williams Land, which is a large island named Kei-ik-tak by the Esqui- mauX. None of the party could speak the native language inteligibly but by signs the natives were made to understand that their Shps or ship had been crushed by ice, and that the ''whites' were now going to where they expected to find deer to shoot From the appearance of the men, all of whom, ex- cept one officer, (chief,) looked thin, they were then supposed to be getting short of pro- ylslons, and they purchased a small seal from the natives.
 At later date the same season, but previ- ous to the disruption of the ice. the bodies of about thirty white persons were discovered on the continent, and five on an island near it, about long days journey (say thirtv-fve to forty miles, to the north west of a large stream which can be no other than Backs Great Fish River, (named by the Esquimaux Out-koo- hi-ca-ik,) as its description and that of the low shore in the neighborhOod of Point Ogle and Montreal Island agree exactly with that of Sir Geo. Back. Some of the bodies had been buried (probably those of the first vic ums ot famine some were in a tent or tents. others under boat had been turned over to form a shelter, and several lay scattered about Tn different directions. Of those found on the island. one was supposed to have been an of- ilcer, as he had telescope strapped over his shoulder, and his double -barreled gun lay un- derneath him.
 From the mutilated state of many of the corpses and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our miserable countrvmen had l,,,ro +, q, l., .4 +.