most flattering expectations as to our own success, and that of our friends in the Hecla and the Fury. I wrote, for Captain Parry, an account of our progress, with such information as he might require in case he wished to communicate with Fort Good Hope, or our party, and deposited my letter, with many others that I had in charge for him and his officers, under a pole erected for the purpose, on which we left a blue and red flag flying to attract his attention.”
It will be seen, by reference to Suppl. Part IV. p. 363, that Captain Parry was then in lat. 72° 42' 30" N., long. 91° 50' 05" W. Captain Franklin’s place of encampment on this newly discovered island, which he named after Nicholas Garry, Esq. (the Deputy Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company), was in lat. 69° 29' N., long. 136° 41' W.; and he there displayed, for the first time, a silk union-jack, which was sewed by his “deeply-lamented wife,” and presented to him, “as a parting gift, under the express injunction that it was not to be unfurled before the expedition reached the sea.” “I will not,” says he, “attempt to describe my emotions as it expanded to the breeze – however natural, and, for the moment, irresistible, I felt that it was my duty to suppress them, and that I had no right, by an indulgence of my own sorrows, to cloud the animated countenances of my companions. Joining, therefore, with the best grace that I could command, in the general excitement, I endeavoured to return, with corresponding cheerfulness, their warm congratulations on having thus planted the British flag on this remote island of the Polar Sea.”
On his return from Garry’s Island to the terra firma (Aug, 17th), Captain Franklin observed some deer and wildfowl feeding quietly near the water; and he therefore concluded, that in the open season, there could be no lack of food for the skilful hunter. Next day, a strong gale of wind came on from N.W., followed by violent squalls, which, from the appearance of the clouds, and the rapid descent of the thermometer, seemed likely to be of some continuance: – the crane, the goose, and the swan, warned by this sudden change in the weather, took advantage of the fair wind, and hastened away to the southward.
On the 1st of September, Captain Franklin quitted the
