in some particulars, but a clew had been found to the fate of the lost expedition. According to these stories, while some Eskimos were killing seals, in the winter of 1850, near King William's Land, they saw a large party of white men travelling south, and dragging a boat and sledges with them. Subsequently they saw dead bodies and graves on the main land, and dead bodies on an island easily identified as Montreal Island, near the mouth of Back's Great Fish River. Unfortunately Rae could not make an immediate investigation of the truth of these stories on the spot ; but a subsequent expedition, undertaken in the summer of 1855 by Mr. James Anderson, under orders from the Hudson Bay Company, obtained confirmation of the more important part of the story told to Rae, and left no doubt as to the fate of the lost crews. This expedition, however, was equally unable to examine the shores of King William's Land.

The last, and in several respects the most remarkable, of the voyages undertaken in the search for Sir John Franklin was that of the "Fox,” under the command of Captain F. L. McClintock. This vessel was a steam yacht of only one hundred and seventy-seven tons, purchased for the purpose by Lady Franklin, and equipped partly at her own cost and partly by a public subscription, on the refusal of the British government to prosecute the search any longer. The “Fox” began her voyage on the ist of July, 1857, and before the end of August was beset with ice in Melville Bay. Then began one of the most remarkable drifts in the long history of Arctic navigation. For eight months the vessel was firmly fixed in the ice, and during that period she drifted nearly twelve hundred miles, carrying her toward the southern coast of Greenland through twelve degrees of latitude. At the end of April, 1858, she was released by the breaking up of the pack, and at once proceeded to one of the Greenland ports to refit. Early in May she again set sail, and after encountering numerous perils arrived at Beechey Island early in August.

It was already known that Sir John Franklin had passed his first winter here, and here his countrymen now erected a marble tablet to his memory and to the memory of his companions, prepared under the direction of Lady Franklin, and left in Greenland several years before. Failing to pass through Barrow Strait, Captain McClintock turned his course southward into Prince Regent's Inlet, and after several unsuccessful attempts to force his way through Bellot Strait, he determined to winter near its eastern opening. On the 28th of September he began his preparations for wintering, having already made his plans for a systematic search, in the spring, of the western coast of Boothia, of King William's Land, and of that part of Prince of Wales Land which had not been previously examined. The winter was passed in the same dreary routine which has characterized almost every Arctic winter, but McClintock was able to begin his sledge journeys a month earlier than he had anticipated. On the 17th of February he set out on a preliminary exploration toward King William's Land, with a tenperature ranging between 31 and 42} degrees below zero, falling the next

day to 48 degrees below zero. On this journey he was absent twenty-five days, and from conversations with the Eskimos some important information was obtained. From their reports it appeared probable that one of Franklin's vessels had been crushed in the ice west of King William's Land, and that the crew landed in safety; and this story derived some confirmation from the possession by the natives of not a few relics of the lost expedition. After obtaining this clew, McClintock returned to the “Fox." On the 2d of April he started again for a further search ; and at or about

a the same time two other parties, commanded by his two chief officers, were dispatched on the same errand. Two of the expeditions were successful, the expedition commanded by McClintock in person, and that under Lieutenant Hobson. The former prosecuted his search as far as Montreal Is

. land and the Great Fish River, and then carefully examined the whole southern and western coasts of King William's Land. At various points traces of Sir John Franklin and his companions were found, all tending to confirm the stories told by the natives. On Montreal Island very little, if any, positive evidence remained that Europeans had been there; but on King William's Land the evidence was abundant and conclusive. On the 24th of May McClintock came upon the skeleton of a young man, apparently a steward or an officer's servant, lying face down, just where he had fallen in his weary walk; and a few days later he encamped by the side of a large boat, mounted on a sledge, and “evidently equipped with the utmost care for the ascent of the Great Fish River." The boat contained two skeletons and numerous relics, and had already been examined by Lieutenant Hobson. This officer had previously discovered an account of the lost expedition, written by three of its officers, and giving the most important facts in its history down to April 26, 1848. From this it appears that after Franklin was last seen, while crossing Baffin's Bay, he had pursued a western course, and ascended Wellington Channel to latitude 77°, returning by the west side of Cornwallis Island. His next course is not stated in the record, and has been matter of dispute ; but he probably went into Peel Sound, and we know that he was beset in the ice September 12, 1846. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June, 1847 ; and, after having been frozen in for more than a year and a half, the ships were deserted on the 22d of April, 1848, five leagues from Point Victory, on the northwest coast of King William's Land. The survivors, to the number of one hundred and five souls, - so the record stated, — intended to proceed to the Great Fish River. Their ultimate fate is involved in obscurity ; but it seems probable that the story told by an old Eskimo woman, that "they fell down and died as they walked along,” is true, and that, already weakened by disease and the want of food, they perished from starvation. Having thus settled the question of the fate of Franklin and his companions beyond reasonable doubt, McClintock started on his homeward voyage as soon as the ice would allow, and on the 21st of September, 1859, landed at Plymouth, England.

With the definite solution of the problem as to the existence of a north

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WHOEVER finds this paper is requested to forward it to the Secretary of

the Admiralty, London, with a note of the time and place at which it was
found: or, if more convenient, to deliver it for that purpose to the British
Consul at the nearest Port.

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QUINCONQUE trouvera ce papier est prié d'y marquer le tems et lieu ou il l'aura trouve, et de le faire parvenir au plutot au Secretaire de l'Amirauté Britannique à Londres.

CUALQUIERA que hallare este Papel, se le suplica de enviarlo al Secretario del Almirantazgo, en Londrés, con una nota del tiempo y del lugar en donde se halló.

EEN ieder die dit Papier mogt vinden, wordt hiermede verzogt, om het zelve, ten spoedigste, te willen zenden aan den Heer Minister van de Marine der Nederlanden in 's Gravenhage, of wel aan den Secretaris der S Britsche Admiraliteit, te London, eu daar by te voegen eene Nota, inhoudende de tyd en de plaats alwaar dit Papier is gevonden geworden.

FINDEREN af dette Papiir ombedes, naar Leilighed gives, at sende samme til Admiralitets Secretairen i London, eller nærmeste Embedsmand i Danmark, Norge, eller Sverrig. Tiden og Stædit hvor dette er fundet önskes venskabeligt paategnet.

WER diesen Zettel findet, wird hier-durch ersucht denselben an den Secretair des Admiralitets in London einzusenden, mit gefälliger angabe an welchen ort und zu welcher zeit er gefundet worden ist.

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west passage, and with the discovery of the fate of Sir John Franklin, this chapter naturally ends; but the thirst for knowledge and the spirit of adventure suffered only a slight abatement by these triumphs of untiring energy and perseverance. To the further exploration of the polar seas and of the adjacent lands Americans have largely contributed; and Hayes, by his perilous voyage, Hall, by his long residence among the Eskimos, and more recently De Long, by the calmness with which he met a terrible death, to name no others, exhibited a heroism unsurpassed by any of the remarkable men who preceded them. The shapeless America, which was all that Columbus and his immediate followers knew, has put on a clearly defined form, and we can now trace on the map all the northern line of the continent, with its intricate windings, and the size and shape of many of the islands. Much, it is true, remains to be learned ; but it has been often doubted -- and the doubt has been a steadily growing one ---- whether any increase of our geographical or other scientific knowledge can equal in value the costly sacrifices by which alone it can be gained. So long as the present climatic conditions exist, the unvisited north may well remain a closed book.