distance we had to travel before we could gain a place of shelter for the winter, I trust it will be judged that we prosecuted the enterprise as far us was prudent, and abandoned it only under a well-founded conviction that a further advance would endanger the lives of the whole party, and prevent the knowledge of what had been done from reaching England. The active assistance I received from the officers, in contending with the fears of the men, demands my warmest gratitude. Our researches, as far as they have gone, seem to favor the opinion of those who contend for the practicability of a North-West Passage. The general line of coast probably runs east and west, nearly in the latitude assigned to Mackenzie’s River, the Sound into which Kotzebue entered, and Repulse Bay; and very little doubt can, in my opinion, be entertained of the existence of a continued sea, in or about that line of direction. The portion of the sea over which we passed is navigable for vessels of any size; the ice we met, particularly after quitting Detention Harbour, would not have arrested a strong boat. The chain of islands,” fringing the whole line of coast between the mouth of the Copper-mine river and Point Turnagain, and now named the Duke of York’s Archipelago, “affords shelter from all heavy seas; and there are good harbours at convenient distances.”
Captain Franklin’s original intention, in the event of his being compelled to relinquish the survey of the coast, was to return bv the Copper-mine river, and to travel to Great Slave Lake through the line of woods extending thither by the Great Bear and Marten Lakes; but his scanty stock of provisions, and the length of the voyage back from his present encampment, near Cape Flinders, obliged him to make for a nearer place. His voyage on the Arctic Sea, during which he had gone over 650 geographical miles, terminated on the 25th of August, at the mouth of a river named after Lieutenant Hood, the first rapid of which is situated in lat. 67° 19' 23" N., long. 109° 44' 30" W. Here he left an assortment of iron materials, beads, &c. in a conspicuous situation, for the Esquimaux; and planted the union-jack on a sandy eminence, where it might be seen by any ships passing in the offing. He also deposited in a tin box, for the information of Captain Parry, who was then employed in exploring the Arctic Sea from the eastward, a letter containing an outline of his proceedings, the latitudes and longitudes of the principal places he had visited, and the course he intended to pursue towards Slave Lake.
