Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1854-11-08

the corpses. and tile contents of rho tet
I ties, it is evident that our miserable con,,
trymen had been driven 10 In, II, / :,
Fsource-ca ba lisui-ass a means Of ,,ro
longing life
! There appears to have been en- aban
/ dant stock of ammunition. as the noatie
Was emptIed In heap on the ground b.
the natives. out Of the kegs or cases con
! tanning It, aud auantitv of bail and sho
was found below highwater mark hayin.
! been left on the ice close to the beach :
There must have been number of watch
es. telescopes, compaseeS, guns. (severa
doubled barrelled sc. all of which ap
pear to have been broken up as | saw
pieces of these different articles with thC
Esquimaux. ah1. together with some sill
yer spoons and forks, purchased as many
as L could obtain \ list of the most i'm
portant of these [ enclose with a rough
pen and lux sketch of the crests and ini
tials on the forks and spoons The arti
cies themselves shall be handed over t,
the Secretary of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, on my arrival in London
None Of the Esquimaux with whom l
conversed, had seen the :. whites, nor had
they ever been at the place where the
dead were found but had their informa-
ton from those who had been there and
those who had seen the party when alive
From the head Of Pelley Bav-which
is a bay spite of Sir FL Beaufurt's opin-
ion to the contrary-I crossed 60 miles
of land IN a westerly direction. traced the
west shore from Castor and Pollux river
to Cape Porter of Sir James Ross. and
could have got within so or DO miles oi
Bellot Strait, but | thought it useless to
proceed further, as [ could not complete
the whole
Never in my former Arctic journey
had | met with such an accumulation OF
obstacles. Fogs. storms, rough ice. and
deep snow we had to fight against On
one occasion we were J days unablcd TO
get glimpse of the sun. or even to make
out lis position in the heavens. This on
level coast, where the compass was OF
little or 10 use, was perplexing in the ex-
treme
The weather was much finer on our re.
turn journey than when outward bound,
and our loads being lighter, our day 5
marches were nearly double the distance,
aud we arrived at Repulse Bay on the
26th May without accident except in one
instance, in which one of the party lost q
toe from frost bite
The commencement of spring was very
fine. but June and July were colder =
We were unable to get out Of the bay un-
til the 9th August
Our progress along the coasts as far as
Cape Fullerton. was much impeded by
ice; bat on getting to the southwark OF
the cape we had clear water, and saw nc
ice afterwards
The conduct Of the men, I am happy
to say was generally speaking. good anc
we bad not single case of sickness al
the time of our absence
Being anxious to send this to Red Rv
or By the first boats write in haste and
briefly but shall have the pleasure Of send
ing more detailed account by some ia
tHre opportunity.
With the utmost respect, l have the
honor to be,
Your very ob't servant.
JOHN RAE
LIST ENCLOSED IN DR.. EAE's LETTER.
No Head OF (apparenrly) walrus sea-
horse. with dragons wings
No. "a griffin, with wings. iorked tongue an,
tai
No 3-A griiFin's head. with wings
No "A dove with olive branch in its bill
surrounded by a scroll, with tue motto
>pero meliora
No. 5-A fshs head, with (apparentIy) cora
branches either side
List of articles purchased from the ] squimaux
said to have been found To the west, or ra,he
\. " of Backs river. al the place where th'
party of men starved to death, IN the spring o