Demoine courier., 1854-11-16

TO form a shelter, and several lay scatter
ed about in different directious. o.
those found on The Island, one was sup
posed TO have teen an officer, rs he had
a telescope over his shoulder, and his
double barreled gun lay underneath him.
From the mulilaled state Of many oil
the corpses, and the contents Of the ket.
ties, il is evident thai our miserable
countrymen had been driven to the las,
Observation-Disclosures a means OF
~proloneing life.
There appears 10 have been an abund-
ant stock of ammunition, as the powder
was elnptied in a heap on the ground BY
The motives, out of the kegs or cases con.
tanning il, and a quantity of ball and
shot was found below high water mark,
having been lef, on the ice close to tho
beach. There must have been a num-
Der OF watches. telescopes, compasses,
guns, Several double barreled,) &c. all
OF which appear 10 have been broken up,
as | saw pieces Of different articles with
the Esquimaux, and, together with some
silver spoons and forks. purchased as
we could obtain. A list Of the most i'm
portant of these | enclose, with a rough
pen and ink sketch of the cresfs and in
@'tials on the forks and spoons. The ar
ticles themselves shall be handed over 10
the Secretary Of The Hon. II. d. Co..
on my arrival in London.
Nule Of the Esquimaux with whom
! eouversed had seen The "whi,es," nor
had they e,er been a, The place where
the dead were found. but had their mfor-
nation from Ihose. who had been there,
and those who had seen The party when
alive. [
From the head of Pclly Bay-which
is Q bay, spite of Sir II. Beulor,'s opin.
ion 10 he contrary-l crossed 60 miles
Of land in a westerly direction, traced
the west shore from Castor and Poliux
river 10 Cape Porter of Sir James Ross,
and | could have got within thirty or forty
miles of Beloit strait, bat | thought, il
useless proceeding further, as | could no,
complete The whole.
Never, in my former Arctic journeys,
had met with such an accumulation oil
obstacles. Fegs, storms, rough ice, and
deep SHOWS we had to fgh, against
% one occasion we were Tour and a hall
days unable to get a glimpse of HE sun
or even to make out his position in the
heavens. This, on a level coast, where
the compass was of lille or no use, was
perrIexing in the extreme.
The weather was much finer on gu,
return Journey than when outward bound
aud our loads being lighter. our days
marches were nearly double The distance
and we arrived at Repulse Bay on the
26ih May, without accident except ia
one instance. in which one of the party
lost a tee from 4 frost bite.
The commencement of spring wa:
very fine but June and July were colder.
We we're unable to ge, out of the bay
until the 9Th Of August. n1E {
Our progress along the coast as far as
Cape FulIe ton was much impeded by
ice, but on getting to the southwark o
The cape we had clear water, and saw
10 ice afterwards. sa 81 Z. "asis# ia# ~
The conduc.tof the men, I am happy
to say, was, generally speaking, good
aud we had nota single case of sickness.
during our absence.
Being anxious TO send this 10 Red riv
er by the first boats, | write in haste aut
briefly, but shall have pleasure in send
ing a more detailed accoun. by some iu
iure opportunity.
With the uimos, respect, | have The
honor 10 he our obi %serv't.
Fa1aaassa8 5a..gBE JOHN RAE.