This truly noble act was done at the suggestion of Henry Grinnell. He first conceived the idea; proposed it to the United States Government; afterward, at the urgent request of the Secretary of State, Mr. Marcy, cordially co-operating with it in the matter, and furnishing the most valuable assistance. His generous labours in behalf of this important project, already acknowledged in a highly flattering manner by England, are too well known to require from me more than this passing tribute.
II.
Sums paid on Account of the Arctic Research Expedition.—Page 16, Vol. i.
It is but justice to record here the fact that the following parties made out their bills, as below, for articles sold to the expedition at cost or less than cost price.
1860.
May 22.
James Green, of New York, 2 self-registering thermometers
Williams & Haven, of New London, Conn. passage out in the bark George Henry, and transport of expedition boat, stores, &c. Free passage home of myself, with a family of Esquimaux, consisting of man, wife, and child.
Hazard Powder Co. New York, 250 lbs. rifle powder.
Marshall Lefferts, New York, 800 lbs. shot.
J. N. Harris, New London, Conn. hardware, $22.
F. L. Kneeland, New York, keg of rifle powder.
Thomas H. Bates & Co. New York, fish-hooks, 9 m. needles, and 2 dozen sewing-cushions.
McAllister & Brother, Philadelphia, spy-glass.
J. & B. Bruce, Cincinnati, O. making sledge.
Roger, Simonton, & Co. Cincinnati, O. furnishing material for sledge.
George T. Jones & Thomas H. Newell, Cincinnati, O. 2 blank journal books made of bank-note paper.
Hamlen & Smith, Cincinnati, O. 1 dirk and a tooth extractor.
Dr. O. E. Newton and Allen & Sons, Cincinnati, O. chest of medicines.
C. F. Bradley, Cincinnati, O. gold pen.
J. L. Wayne, Cincinnati, O. half a dozen small butcher knives.
Lowell Fletcher, Cincinnati, O. 10 gallons alcohol, 95 per cent, proof.
Henry Ware, Cincinnati, O. pocket compass.
Robert Clarke & Co. Cincinnati, O. "Gillespie's Land Surveying."
Dr. D. N. Daniels, Cincinnati, O. 1 trunk.
Dr. Howe, Cincinnati, O. a valuable surgical work.
Charles G. Morris, Cincinnati, O. printing.
George S. Blanchard, Cincinnati, O. "Principles of Zoology."
David Christy, Cincinnati, O. Geological Chart of the Arctic Regions, by himself.
James Lupton, Cincinnati, O. 2 vols. "Scoresby's Arctic Regions," 1 fine pocket knife.
Benjamin Pike & Sons, New York, 3 thermometers, 1 azimuth compass.
Benjamin Kittredge & Co. Cincinnati, O. silver alarm-whistle and dirk-knife.
Z. B. Coffin, Cincinnati, O. 1 lb. tea.
Charles Lawrence, Cincinnati, O. 26 lbs. best powder.[1]
Mr. Robinson, Cincinnati, O. use of malt-kiln for desiccating meat for pemmican.
George H. Hill & Co. Cincinnati, O. putting up pemmican in cans.
John W. Ellis, Cincinnati, O. Labrador seal-boots.
Baker & Co. New York, 2 dozen pocket-knife blades, 1 glass flask, 3 dozen hand looking-glasses, 3,000 common percussion caps.
Amor Smith, Cincinnati, O. grinding pemmican.
American Express Company, free transportation of pemmican, sledge, and case of books, from Cincmnati, O. to New York City.
Adams & Co's. Express, transport of the same from New York to New London, Conn.
In addition to those in preceding list, the following are names of persons who rendered me service in forwarding the interests of the expedition:—
Salmon P. Chase, then Governor of Ohio.
George H. Pugh, then United States Senator from Ohio.
Richard H. Chapell, New London, Conn.
W. H. Clement, President Little Miami and Columbus and Xenia Railroad.
E. and G. W. Blunt, New York.
Frank Clark, Superintendent American Express Company, Cincinnati, O.
Charles G. Clark, Superintendent American Express Company, New York.
John Hoey, Superintendent Adams Express Company, New York.
Dudley Field, attorney at law, New York.
William M. Grinnell, attorney at law, New York.
Sidney O. Budington, Groton, Conn.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, New York.
William M. Edwards, New York.
A. Brewster, Norwich, Conn.
B. S. Osbon, New York.
William O. H. Waddell, New York.
American Geographical and Statistical Society of New York.
Samuel Robinson, Cincinnati, O.
William A. Brooks, Cincinnati, O.
Associated Press of Cincinnati, O.
Young Men's Mercantile Association, Cincinnati.
Associated Press of New York.
William S. Campbell, Philadelphia, Pa.
George W. Childs, Philadelphia, Pa.
Little Miami and Columbus and Xenia Railroad Company.
Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Company.
Central Ohio Railroad Company.
Steubenville and Indiana Railroad Company.
Telegraph Company between Cincinnati and New York.
Telegraph Company between New York and Philadelphia.
Telegraph Company between New York and New London.
Governor Bannerman, St. John's, Newfoundland.
Converse O. Leach, United States Consul, St. John's, Newfoundland.
A. M. Mackay, Superintendent New York and Newfoundland Telegraph Company, St. John's, Newfoundland.
Robert Winton, editor and proprietor "Daily News," St. John's, Newfoundland.
Francis Winton, editor and proprietor "Day Book," St. John's, Newfoundland.
Mrs. S.! Knight, of the Knight House, St. John's, Newfoundland.
Mrs. Warrington, of the Union Hotel, St. John's, Newfoundland.
J. C. Toussaint, of the Hotel de Paris, St. John's, Newfoundland.
Kenneth McLea, merchant, St. John's, Newfoundland.
"Pim-ma-in," a term used in former times among the Innuits for the principal man (or chief) among them. It is now obsolete, as there are no chiefs or rulers among them. Every man is now on an equality one with another.
V.
Frobisher's "Gold."—Page 135, Vol. i.
The matter of the Frobisher "gold" or iron is sufficiently treated of in the body of the work, on page 161, vol ii.
VI.
The Wreck of the "George Henry."—Page 150, Vol. i.
The following account of the wreck of the George Henry appeared in a New London journal, shortly after the occurrence of the disaster to which it relates:—
"Captain Christopher B. Chapell, of Norwich Town, has arrived in the bark Monticello, from Hudson's Bay, together with the mate and part of the crew of the bark George Henry, of New London, which has been wrecked upon the Lower Savage Islands. She was forced upon the rocks the 16th of July, by strong tides in calm weather, heavily beset by large floes of ice, which, for the lack of wind, rendered the vessel unmanageable, and she became a total wreck. After saving a great quantity of provisions, stores, and other valuable property, Captain Chapell left the island, with his whole crew and officers, in five boats, to make the best of their way toward St. John's, Newfoundland. Leaving the island on the 26th of July, they crossed down to Resolution Island 28th, when a stress of weather, and much ice, caused them to land on the rocks, where they were detained for four days, at the end of which time they launched toward Button Island, on the opposite side of the Straits, distant fifty miles ; but, owing to calms and head-winds, were thrown back near Resolution Island, and surrounded by a pack of ice. This closed together so quick upon their boats that they had but just time enough to haul them up on the ice, and save them from being crushed to pieces. Three of them were slightly stove. They remained on the ice three hours, before it got so still that they could launch with safety, and make for the shore, which the last two boats reached in time to shun a gale that came on suddenly. Here the boats were detained for ten days, both ice and wind bound, and the rain scarcely ceased during the time, making their situation very uncomfortable. On the 10th of August they launched again, and proceeded on the voyage. Owing to lack of wind, they had to toil with oars for twelve hours, when with a breeze came fog and rain, that soon wet and chilled all hands. They then sailed among ice, making a course as well as they could toward Button Island, which they were unable to reach for ice. On the night of the 11th two of the boats got separated in thick, dark weather, and on the morning of the 12th a gale of wind came on, which, together with a high sea, discomfited the boats not a little. Consulting one another how best to proceed for safety, it was decided to run for land, which was distant twenty-five miles. On running toward the land, they came to a heavy pack of ice, through which it was necessary to go, if possible, to reach the land, it being their only way of safety. They sailed on, and fortunately found the ice so slack that the boats could run among it—still heading for the land, which now appeared only about six miles, though it was much farther off, and presented nothing but perpendicular cliffs, up which it would be impossible for man to climb, and no prospect of saving the boats, without which there would be no chance of escape from the barren island, where they might have been delivered from the jaws of the ocean only to starve. So they held another consultation. In all eyes their hope seemed forlorn, and their hearts sank within them as the gale increased and the sea arose. Then all were ready to give up in despair, when, lo! a sail appeared—a tiny sail—and they rejoiced that the lost boats were still afloat. With the aid of a glass they made out a schooner, for which they steered with joyful hearts, and, after a long time, were discovered by her captain and kindly received. It was then found that, two hours before, she had picked up the missing boats. Thus all were providentially drawn together, and delivered out of much danger."
VII.
Bob's Measurement.—Page 299, Vol. i.
Kingwatcheung's (Bob's) measurement was as follows:—
38
inches around his body, over the breast.
42
inches around his shoulders, over his arms.
15
inches around his neck.
22
inches around his head.
5
feet 2 inches in height.
5
feet 3 inches from finger tip to finger tip.
He was probably from 40 to 45 years of age.
VIII.
Frobisher's Expeditions.—Page 303, Vol. i.
Frobisher left England on the 15th of June, 1576, with three vessels—the Gabriel, a bark of twenty-five tons; the Michael, a bark of twenty tons;and a pinnace, of ten tons. On the 11th of July "he had sight of an high and ragged land," which was the southern part of Greenland; but he was kept from landing by ice and fogs. Not far from that point his pinnace, with four men, was lost. "Also the other barke, named the Michael, mistrusting the matter, conveyed themselves privily away from him, and returned home, with great report that he was cast away." Frobisher, nevertheless, went on alone with the Gabriel, and after encountering much severe weather, entered the water which he called "Frobisher Strait," now to be known by the name of Frobisher Bay. He shortly after had interviews with the natives, several of whom came on board his vessel. The mariners, trusting them, began to hold open intercourse with the people, and a party of five went on shore in a boat; these were captured by the natives, and the captain could get no intelligence of them during the remainder of the time he spent there. Frobisher then turned his attention to obtaining some tokens of his voyage to carry back with him to England. He lured one of the native men on board, and took him off with him. "Whereupon," says Hakluyt, "when he found himself in captivity, for very choler and disdaine he bit his tongue in twaine within his mouth; notwithstanding, he died not thereof, but lived till he came in England, and then he died of cold which he had taken at sea."
Frobisher reached England, on his return, early in October of that year. Among the relics and tokens he brought home with him was one piece of black stone, of great weight, "much like to a sea cole in colour." This, being accidentally put in the fire, presented an appearance something like gold. Certain refiners of London expressed the opinion that the specimen submitted to them contained gold, and a second expedition was quickly set on foot. This expedition was, as Hakluyt says, "for the searching more of this golde ore than for the searching any further discovery of the passage."
On the 31st of May, 1577, Frobisher set sail on his second voyage, having three vessels—the Hyde, of two hundred tons; the Gabriel and the Michael—and in due time again entered Frobisher Bay. On the 19th of July he went ashore with a large company of his officers and men, and ascended a high hill, which, with much ceremony, he named Mount Warwick. Two of the Englishmen then had an interview with two of the natives, a great crowd of whom had collected to view the strange spectacle exhibited before them. This interview resulted in trading to a considerable extent Shortly afterward, Frobisher went with the master of his vessel to hold an interview with two others of the natives, meaning to seize them and carry them on board his vessel, intending to dismiss one with many presents, find to retain the other as an interpreter. They made the attempt at capture as agreed upon, but their feet slipped on the snow, and the natives escaped from their grasp; thereupon turning and attacking the two Englishmen, slightly wounding Frobisher. Some of the ship's company, coming to the others' assistance, captured one of the natives and carried him on board.
On the 26th of July, what was thought to be a very rich mine of ore was discovered in the Countess of Warwick's Sound, and twenty tons of it were got together. On one of the islands in Bear Sound a tomb was found with a white man's bones in it. The captive native, being interrogated by signs, declared that the man had not been killed by the Innuits, but by wolves. In the latter part of July, various portions of the clothing of the missing five men of the first expedition were found in York Sound. The finding of the clothes gave hope that the men were yet alive, and a note was written and left where the relics were discovered. These things having been reported to the others, an expedition was made to the point indicated. When the place was reached, however, all vestiges had disappeared, having clearly been taken away by the natives. The expedition penetrated farther from the shore, and soon came upon a village of tents, the inhabitants of which, to the number of sixteen or eighteen, put to sea in a boat. Being then hardly pressed, the natives went again ashore on a point in York Sound, where they were attacked by the English. In the fight which ensued five or six of the natives were killed, most of the rest escaping. The party thereupon returned to the ships, carrying with them one of their own men dangerously hurt by an arrow, and a native woman who had been captured.
Then all the vessels returned to the Countess of Warwick's Sound. Not long after, the natives came to treat for the return of the captive woman. Frobisher intimated to them that he demanded first the release and delivery of his five men. The captive man, who acted as interpreter, was at first so much affected at sight once more of his people, that he "fell so out into tears that he could not speake a word in a great space." Then he conferred with them, and afterward assured Frobisher that the men were alive, and should be delivered up; calling on him, moreover, to send them a letter. Therefore a letter was written, and on the 7th of August the natives took it, signifying that in three days they would return. At the appointed time they indeed returned, and showed themselves in small numbers, but yet brought no letter or word from the missing men. Moreover, it was observed that many of them were concealed behind the rocks, and it seemed clear that some treachery was meditated; whereupon the English prudently kept away from the trap. By the 21st of August, the work of loading the ships with two hundred tons of the ore was finished, and on the 23d sail was made for England.
The show of ore which Frobisher took back to England excited so much enthusiasm for another expedition, that a fleet of fifteen vessels was ready to sail in May, 1578. It was proposed to establish a colony of one hundred persons, who should live through the year on an island in the Countess of Warwick's Sound. This colony was to consist of miners, mariners, soldiers, gold-refiners, bakers, carpenters, &c. A "strong fort or house of timber, artificially framed and cunningly devised by a notable learned man," was to be carried out in the ships, and put up on the island. On the way out, however, one of the barks was sunk, and part of the house was lost.
On the 1st of August the order was given from Frobisher, who had reached the Countess of Warwick's Sound, to disembark from the vessels all the men and stores, and land them on the Countess of Warwick's Island, and to prepare at once for mining. "Then," says Hakluyt, "whilst
the Mariners plyed their worke, the Captaines sought out new mynes, the goldfiners made tryall of the Ore," &c. On the 9th, a consultation on the house was held. It was discovered that only the east side and the south side of the building had come safely to hand, the other parts having been either lost or used in repairing the ships, which had been much beaten by storms in the passage. It was then thought, seeing there was not timber enough for a house to accommodate one hundred people, that a house for sixty should be set up. The carpenters, being consulted, declared that they should want five or six weeks to do the work, whereas there remained but twenty-three days before the ships must leave the country; consequently it was determined not to put up the house that year.
On the 30th of August, as Hakluyt says, "the Masons finished a house which Captaine Fenton caused to be made of lyme and stone upon the Countess of Warwick's Island, to the end we might prove, against the next yeere, whether the snow could overwhelme it, the frost break it up, or the people dismember the same." Again: "We buried the timber of our pretended [intended] fort."
The fact that this expedition carried a large quantity of coal is shown by the following extract from Hakluyt, concerning the leakage of water on board the fleet: "The great cause of this leakage and wasting was for that the great timber and sea cole, which lay so weighty upon the barrels, brake, bruised, and rotted the hoopes asunder."
On the last day of August the fleet set sail on its return to England.
The following, upon the same subject, is from the Gentleman's Magazine for 1754, vol. xxiv. p. 46:—
"Philadelphia, Nov. 15.—Sunday last arrived here the schooner Argo, Captain Charles Swaine, who sailed from this port last spring on the discovery of the N.W. passage. She fell in with the ice off Farewell; left the eastern ice, and fell in with the western ice, in lat. 58, and cruized to the northward to lat. 63 to clear it, but could not, it then extending to the eastward. On her return to the southward she met with two Danish ships bound to Bull river and Disco, up Davis's streights, who had been in the ice fourteen days, off Farewell, and had then stood to westward; and assured the commander that the ice was fast to the shore all above Hudson's streights to the distance of 40 leagues out; and that there had not been such a severe winter as the last these 24 years that they had used that trade: they had been nine weeks from Copenhagen. The Argo, finding she could not get round the ice, pressed through it, and got into the streight's mouth the 26th of June [sic], and made the island Resolution; but was forced out by vast quantities of driving ice, and got into a clear sea the 1st of July [sic]. On the 14th, cruizing the ice for an opening to get in again, she met four sail of Hudson's Bay ships endeavouring to get in, and continued with them 'till the 19th, when they parted in thick weather, in lat. 62 and a half, which thick weather continued to the 7th of August; the Hudson's Bay men supposed themselves 40 leagues from the western land. The Argo ran down the ice from 63 to 57.30, and after repeated attempts to enter the streights in vain, as the season for discovery on the western side of the Bay was over, she went in with the Labrador coast, and discover'd it perfectly from 56 to 65; finding no less than six inlets, to the heads of all which they went, and of which they have made a very good chart, and have a better account of the country, its soil, produce, &c. than has hitherto been publish'd. The captain says 'tis much like Norway; and that there is no communication with Hudson's Bay through Labrador, where one has been imagined ; a high ridge of mountains running N. and S. about 51 leagues within the coast. In one of the harbours they found a deserted wooden house with a brick chimney, which had been built by some English, as appeared by sundry things they left behind; and afterwards, in another harbour, they met with captain Goff, in a snow from London, who inform'd [sic] that the same snow had been there last year, and landed some of the Moravian brethren, who had built that house; but the natives having decoyed the then captain of the snow, and five or six of his hands, in their boat, round a point of land at a distance from the snow, under pretence of trade, carried them all off (they having gone imprudently without arms); the snow, after waiting sixteen days without hearing of them, went home, and was obliged to take the Moravians to help to work the vessel. Part of her business this year was to inquire after those men. Captain Swaine discovered a fine fishing bank, which lies but six leagues off the coast, and extends from lat. 57 to 54, supposed to be the same hinted at in Captain Davis's second voyage."
P. 577, [under date] "Tuesday, 31st Dec. 1754. * * * The schooner Argo Captain Swaine, is arrived at Philadelphia, after a second unsuccessful attempt to discover a northwest passage. (See an account of the first voyage, p. 46. See also p. 542.)"
[On that page, 542, there is merely a list of all voyages to discover a north-west passage, &c. previous to that of the Argo.—Hall.]
Macpherson ("The Annals of Commerce, Manufactures, Fisheries, and Navigation," in 4 vols. London, 1805, vol. iii.) says:—
"This summer [Sept. 1772.—H.] some gentlemen in Virginia subscribed for the equipment of a vessel to be sent upon an attempt for a north-west passage. Under their auspices. Captain Wilder sailed in the brig Diligence to the lat. 69° 11′, in a large bay which he supposed hitherto unknown. He reported that, from the course of the tides, he thought it very probable
that there is a passage, but that it is seldom free of ice, and therefore impassable.[2] But an impassable passage (if such language may be allowed) is no passage for ships. But the impossibility of finding such a passage, in any navigable sea, was, at the same time, further demonstrated by the return in this summer of Mr. Heame, a naval officer then in the service of the Hudson Bay Company," &c. &c.
[Following this is matter that refers to the information the Indians gave Hearne.—Hall.]
IX.
The Loss of the Bark "Kitty."—Page 322, Vol. i.
The Bark Kitty, of Newcastle, England, sailed from London for Hudson's Bay on the 21st of June, 1859, and was wrecked on the ice September 5th in the same year. The wife of the captain, writing to an arctic voyager with the hope that he might procure some tidings of her husband, thus states the material facts, as reported by survivors who had returned to England. After mentioning the date of the shipwreck, she continues as follows:—
"The crew, having sufficient time to provide themselves with every necessary they thought prudent to take into their boats, landed on Saddleback Island, and remained there four days, during which time they met several natives. They agreed to separate themselves into two boats, and to proceed up the straits in hope of meeting the Company's ships coming down. My husband, Captain Ellis, with ten men in the long-boat, and Mr. Armstrong, chief mate, with four in the skiff, left Saddleback Island on the morning of September 10th, and at night, either from a snow-storm or in the dark, the boats lost sight, of each other. The skiff, inshore the next morning, could see nothing of the long-boat. They then proceeded down the straits again, and sailed for the coast of Labrador. After sailing sixty-one days, they were picked up by the Esquimaux and taken to a Moravian missionary settlement. Finally, they arrived at North Shields on the 28th of August, 1860, and since then there has never been any tidings of the missing long-boat and her crew."
The following, on the same subject, is from the London Times of Nov. 17th, 1862:—
"Murder of British Seamen.—In September, 1859, the Kitty, of Newcastle, was lost in Hudson's Straits by being nipped in the ice. Five of her crew, who got into a small boat, after enduring great suffering by exposure to the cold, succeeded in reaching a Moravian missionary station, where they were hospitably entertained, and three of them sent to their homes in England next summer. But of the fate of the master of this vessel, Mr. Ellis, and the remainder of the crew, who left the ship in a long-boat, nothing has been heard until the arrival of the vessels from the Hudson's Bay stations this autumn, when the sad intelligence has been brought that the eleven poor fellows fell into the hands of unfriendly Esquimaux, and were murdered for the sake of their blankets. The missionaries at Okak, writing to the widow of the master of the vessel in August last, say, 'It is with grief, madam, we must inform you that it is, alas! only too true that the long-boat, with her master and crew, arrived at Ungava Bay, but that none of the men survive. Last winter, Esquimaux from Ungava Bay visited our northernmost settlement, Hebron, who related that in the winter of 1859-60, several Europeans in a boat landed at the island called Akpatok, in Ungava Bay. They lived with the Esquimaux until about January, upon what the latter could provide for them; but then, most likely when their provisions became short, the Esquimaux attacked them when they were asleep and killed them, stabbing them with their knives. There is no doubt of these really being the men from the Kitty, because the Esquimaux knew there had been another boat, with five men belonging to them, whom they deemed lost. They said one man of the murdered company had very frostbitten feet, and him the Esquimaux would not kill by stabbing, but showed him a kind of heathen mercy, as they put him into the open air until he was dead by severe cold.' It seems that these unfortunate men had been murdered for the sake of the blankets they had with them. It would appear that one of the Esquimaux wanted to save the three Europeans who lodged with him, but they met the same fate as their companions. The tribe who have committed this murder do not appear to have been brought in contact with the European missions; and the friendly tribe who brought the information into Hebron further informed the Moravian missionaries at that place that a little farther north from Ungava Bay, a whole crew, consisting in all of about forty men, were enticed on shore and then killed by the Esquimaux."
X.
Mineralogical and Geological Specimens.—Page 123, Vol. ii.
The following is from Silliman's Journal of March, 1863:—
"Reposrt on the Geological and Mineralogical Specimens collected byMr. C. F. Hallin Frobisher Bay.
"To the New York Lyceum of Natural History:—
"One of your Committee, appointed to examine the collection of minerals and fossils made by Mr. Charles F. Hall in his late Arctic Exploring Expedition, begs leave to report that he found the collection of fossils small in number of individual specimens, and limited in the range of its species, but possessing great interest to the student of arctic geology.
"The specimens are as follows:—
"Maclurea magna (Lesueur).
No. of specimens
7
Casts of lower surface.
„„
3
Endoceras proteiforme?
„„
1
Orthoceras (badly worn specimens.)
„„
3
Heliolites (new species)
„„
2
Heliopora„„
„„
1
Halysites catenulata (Fischer)
„„
1
Receptaculites (new species)
„„
1
"This collection was made at the head of Frobisher Bay, lat. 63° 44′ N. and long. 68° 56′ W. from Greenwich, at a point which, Mr. Hall says, is 'a mountain of fossils,' similar to the limestone bluff at Cincinnati, with which he is familiar. This limestone rests upon mica schist, specimens of which he also brought from the same locality. Whether the limestone was conformable to the schist or not, Mr. Hall did not determine. It is much to be regretted that this interesting point was not examined by him, as it is doubtful whether this locality may ever be visited by any future explorer.
"The fossils, without doubt, are all Lower Silurian. The Maclurea magna would place the limestone containing it on the horizon of the Chazy limestone of New York. The Halysites catenulata has been found in Canada in the Trenton beds, but in New York not lower than the Niagara limestone. The Endoceras proteiforme belongs to the Trenton limestone. The Receptaculites is unlike the several species of the Galena limestone of the West, or the R. occidentalis of Canada. Mr. Salter speaks of one found in the northern part of the American continent. This may be that species, or it may be a new one; which it was we have no means of determining. The Orthocerata were but fragments, and so badly water-worn that the species could not be identified.
"The specimens of corals were very perfect and beautiful, and unlike any figured by Professor Hall in the Palæontology of New York. The Heliolites and Heliopora belong to the Niagara group in New York, but in Canada they have been found in the Lower Silurian. For the identification of strata, corals are not always reliable. Whether these species are similar or identical with any in the Canadian collection, it was out of my power to determine. They are unlike any figured by Mr. I. W. Salter.
"R. P. Stevens.
"One of the Committee appointed to examine the mineral specimens brought from Frobisher Bay by Mr. Hall, reports that the specimens, though quite numerous, were mostly of the same general character. The rocks were nearly all mica schist. Some of the specimens were taken from boulders; some from the ruins of houses, and had the mortar still attached; and some were from the rock in its natural position. There was nothing peculiar in the rock, it presenting the usual variations in composition. The other specimens were an argillaceous limestone, determined by its fossils to be Lower Silurian; a single specimen of quartz, crystallized, and presenting, besides the usual six-sided termination, another pyramid whose angle was much more obtuse; magnetic iron, some of which was found in situ, and other specimens which were evidently boulders, and had undergone for some time the action of salt-water; a few pieces of iron pyrites, bituminous coal, and nodules of flint or jasper. ...
"[The part of this report omitted gives reasons for believing the coal and siliceous nodules to have been brought from England by Frobisher, who, it is well known, took out large supplies and many miners, expecting to mine and smelt ores. Some 'blooms' of iron which Mr. Hall found may have been the result of their operations with the magnetic iron.—Eds.]
"... This theory is supported by the tradition of the natives, who say that the coal was brought there by the foreigners,[3] as well as by the entire absence of any indications of geological strata so high up in the series as the Carboniferous formation. The siliceous pebbles seem to have served as gravel for the mortar used in building the houses for carrying on the various objects for which the expedition was sent out. No trace of any mineral containing silver existed in the collections. The sands supposed by Mr. Hall to be those in which Frobisher found gold have not yet been assayed. A small bead detached from an ornament worn by the natives was found to be lead.
"Thos. Egleston."
XI.
Arctic Sledge.—Page 228, Vol. ii.
The sledge which I had made in Cincinnati, and took with me on my expedition to the North, was made after the sledge "Faith," the favourite sledge of Dr. Kane on his last expedition. The only difference between his and my sledge was as follows:—Dr. Kane's was 3 feet 8 inches wide, while mine was only 2 feet 6 inches. The shoeing of Dr. Kane's was three-sixteenths-inch steel, while the shoeing of mine, on arriving at the North, was slabs of the jawbone of the whale (the article used by the natives), 1 inch thick and 31/2 inches wide.
The dimensions of the "Faith" (of Dr. Kane's) were as follows:—
