the boats with much labour and some hazard. The ice attains a great thickness in that sea, some of the floes being aground in nine fathoms water, but under the powerful radiation of a sun constantly above the horizon, in the summer months, it decays with an almost incredible rapidity. As the boats drew only 20 inches of water, the party were on several occasions enabled to sail through shallow canals, worn on the surface of these floes by the action of the waves, when, from the ice being closely packed on the shore, they could find no passage betwixt the masses of which it was composed. They had fortunately clear weather for these attempts. Had they experienced the fogs which captain Franklin met with to the westward, they must of necessity have remained on shore. Notwithstanding the quantity of ice they encountered thus early in the season, they were convinced that towards the end of August there is a free passage for a ship along the northern coast of America, from the 100th to the 150th degree of W. long.; and to the eastward of the Mackenzie there are some commodious harbours, although there are none on the part of the coast surveyed by captain Franklin to the westward. The whole difficulty in performing the north-west passage in a ship seems to be in attaining the coast of the continent through the intricate straits which lead from Baffin's or Hudson's bays. The flood-tide was found setting every where along the coast from the eastward. The rapids which obstructed the navigation of the Copper-mine, prevented them from bringing their boats above eight miles from the sea, and they therefore abandoned them there with the remainder of their stores, tents, &c. a present to the Esquimaux, and set out over-land to Fort Franklin, carrying (exclusive of instruments, arms, and ammunition, and a few specimens of plants and minerals) merely a blanket and ten days' provisions for each person. They arrived on the eastern arm of Bear Lake on the 18th of August, and at the fort on the 1st of Sept., after an absence of 71 days, in excellent health and condition.

The two branches of this expedition have thus surveyed the coast through upwards of 36 degrees of longitude, from nearly 114° to 150° W. long. which, together with captain Franklin's former discoveries, and those of captain Parry, render the Arctic sea pretty well known as far as the 150th degree of W. long. There remain only 11 degrees of unknown coast betwixt that and Icy Cape, and only 200 miles of the whole coast remains to be explored from the western point of captain Beechy's tract to the most eastern point reached by Franklin.

The Aleutian Islands.] The Aleutian islands are a chain extending from the S.W. point of the peninsula of Alaska, between the parallels of 51° 40′ and 55° N. lat., and dividing the sea of Behring, as it is sometimes called,—from the great Northern ocean. These islands are divided into three groups: the Aleutians, properly so called,-the Andreanof islands, —and the Lisii, or Fox islands, sometimes also called Kawalang. Malte Brun says, (6 they constitute one single and unique chain; and might be compared to the piles of an immense bridge which has formerly been thrown across from continent to continent." They describe between Kamtschatka in Asia, and the promontory of Alaska in America, an arc of a circle which almost joins the two lands together. They belong to Russia; and were partly discovered by Behring in 1741, partly by Tehirikof in 1742, and explored in the latest instance by Billings and Saritchef in 1793 and 1795. They are in general mountainous and rocky, and rise to a considerable elevation towards their centre. Their coasts are of dangerous navigation. The mountains are porphyritic and schistose; and in some

instances of a volcanic nature. A species of jasper, in general of a yellow tint, is very common. The soil is in many places fertile, and the islands nearest to America produce pines, larches, and oaks. The only quadrupeds are foxes and mice; sea-birds and fish are very numerous and varied. The population has been recently estimated at 5,600; and it is affirmed that it was much more considerable in former times, but that the cupidity of the Russian American company, which has establishments on the islands of Kadiak and Ounalashka, has tended to keep down their numbers, by compelling the more robust and active portion of the population to become their fox-hunters and fishers. The Aleutians are of a moderate stature, and brown complexion; their face is round, nose small, and eye black. The custom of inserting a piece of carved bone, or glass-beads, into their lower lips and nostrils, is common amongst them. Their religion is a species of Shamanism; and their language appears to have some analogy to that of the Kurilians.

General Description of Russian America.] That part of the American continent, comprehended under the name of Russian America, is generally of a very alpine and sterile character. The celebrated mountain of St Elias, which is probably a volcanic peak, is calculated to have an elevation of 2,775 toises; and La Perouse estimated the range of mountains which terminates at Croso sound to be upwards of 10,000 feet in elevation. The primitive mountains of granite, or slate, in some places rise immediately from the sea, and have their summits constantly covered with snow. Malte Brun thus vividly describes the general appearance of this region:-" Above a range of hills covered with pines and birch, rise naked mountains, crowned with enormous masses of ice, which often detach themselves, and roll down with a dreadful noise into the valleys below, which they entirely fill up, or into the rivers and bays, where, remaining without melting, they rise in banks of crystal. When such a mass falls, the crashing forests are torn up by the roots, and scattered to a distance, the echoes resound along the shores with the noise of thunder, the sea rises up in foam, ships experience a violent concussion, and the affrighted navigator witnesses, almost in the middle of the sea, a renewal of those terrific scenes which sometimes spread such devastation in alpine regions. Between the foot of these mountains and the sea there extends a stripe of low land, the soil of which is almost every where a black and marshy earth. This ground is only calculated for producing coarse though numerous mosses, very short grass, vaccinias, and some other little plants. Some of these marshes, hanging on the side of the hills, retain the water like a sponge, while their verdure makes them appear like solid ground; but, in attempting to pass them, the traveller sinks up to the mid-leg. Nevertheless, the pine-tree acquires a great size upon these gloomy rocks. Next to the fir, the most common species is that of the alder. In many places nothing is to be seen but dwarf trees and shrubs. Upon no coast with which we are acquainted, have there been remarked such rapid encroachments of the sea upon the land. The trunks of trees that had been cut down by European navigators, have been found, and recognized, after a lapse of 10 years. These trunks are found sunk in the water, with the earth which supported them." The inhabitants of the districts towards the N. seem to be Esquimaux. Mackenzie describes some of the native tribes as of a low stature, with round faces, high cheek-bones, and black eyes and hair. Nearer the Pacific, they are distinguished by grey eyes. Continuation of North-West Region.] The countries extending from

the frontiers of Russian America, as far as the confines of California, appear to form a succession of plateaus, or elevated terraces, which are bounded on the E. and W. by two chains of mountains. That towards the E. is denominated the Rocky mountains. The other runs parallel to the coast, at the distance of about 100 leagues from the shore of the Pacific, from Cook's inlet to New Albion, a distance of more than 1000 leagues. Malte Brun regards the peninsula of California as the extremity of this great chain. The same geographer thinks that in the idioms, manners, and belief, of the Indian tribes scattered over this region, some similitude to those of the Aztecs or Mexicans may be traced.

CHAP. II.-INDIAN TRIBES.

A FEW general remarks may here be made on the manners and customs of the North American Indians, reserving particular observations for those places where they may appear necessary.

About three-fourths of North America are still in possession of the aboriginal tribes. If we begin on the coast of the Pacific ocean, in lat. 30o N., and draw a line along that parallel till it strikes the meridian of 94° W., and then due N. along that meridian to the parallel of 47° N., and thence due E. along that parallel to the Atlantic ocean,-nearly all the continent S. and E. of this line is in the possession of the whites; while the Indians possess nearly all to the N. and W. of this line. That is to say, the Indians still own all the northern part of what has been termed Spanish America, the western part of the United States, and nearly the whole of British America. From the eastern division of the United States they are fast disappearing. Dr Morse states, as the result of his inquiries, that there were, in 1822, only 8,387 Indians in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; 120,283 in the country E. of the Mississippi; and about 470,000 altogether in the whole territory of the United States. Within the British American dominions, it has been estimated, that the Indians number 9,500 warriors, or 34,550 souls. In New Mexico and New California, where the population is only in the proportion of 7 inhabitants to a square league; and in the mountainous territory of Mapi-, mi, occupied by the Appaches, the Indians may amount to between 60,000 and 70,000 souls. Their total numbers, therefore, may be roughly estimated at rather more than half a million, or less than 600,000 souls. To the W. of the Mississippi, the population of the United States is only 8 persons to the square league. Of the western tribes, the most numerous are the Osages and Pawnees.

Persons and Dress.] All the Indian tribes have a remarkable similarity in external appearance. They are "in general," says Malte Brun, "of a large size, of a robust frame, a well proportioned figure, and free from defects of organization. Their complexion is of a bronze, or reddish copper hue-rusty-coloured as it were, and not unlike cinnamon or tannin. Their hair is black, long, coarse, and shining, but not thickly set on the head. Their beard is thin, and grows in tufts. Their forehead is low, and their eyes are lengthened out, with the outer angles turned up towards the temples; the eye-brows are high, the cheek-bones prominent, the nose a little flattened, but well marked, the lips extended, and the teeth closely set and pointed. In their mouth, there is an expression of sweetness

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which forms a striking contrast with the gloomy, harsh, and even stern character of their countenance. Their head is of a square shape, and their face is broad, without being flat, and tapers towards the chin. Their features, viewed in profile, are prominent, and deeply sculptured. They have a high chest, massy thighs, and arched legs, their foot is large, and their whole body squat and thick set. Anatomy likewise enables us to ascertain that in the cranium, the superciliary arches are more strongly marked; the orbits of the eye deeper; the cheek-bones more rounded, and better defined; the temporal bones more level; the branches of the lower jaw less diverging; the occipital bone not so convex; and the facial line more inclined than among the Mongol race, with whom it has been sometimes attempted to confound them. The shape of the forehead and of the vertex most frequently depends on the employment of artificial means; but, independently of the custom of disfiguring the heads of infants, there is no other people in the world in whom the frontal bone is so much flattened above; generally speaking, the skull is light." "In no race of mankind," says Dr Scouler, "is more anxiety displayed to impose some artificial deformity on their bodies, than among the aborigines of the American continent and islands. There may be seen within the circuit of a few hundred miles almost every variety of artificial deformity that a wild imagination could suggest. The custom of tatooing is not uncommon. septum of the nose is so perforated as to admit of shells and feathers. Queen Charlotte's island the women make a large incision into the lower lip, so as to contain an oval piece of wood, two inches in length, and from six to eight lines in breadth; but the most interesting process in respect to natural history is the compression of the children's heads. The existence of this practice has long been known, and the effects produced by it on the form of the cranium have been noticed by various anatomists; yet the following observations will not prove unacceptable, furnished as they are by one whose repeated and personal inquiries, during a residence among the Indians, have rendered the subject familiar to him. All the tribes on the North-west coast, whether insular or continental, from the banks of the Columbia river to the northern extremity of Quadra and Vancouver's island, flatten the heads of their children. These tribes have a great similarity in their habits, language, and appearance; and their method of flattening the head is extremely simple, and does not appear to be attended with any disagreeable circumstances to the health of the child. As soon as the infant is born, the head is frequently and gently compressed with the hand, and this is continued for three or four days. The child is then placed in a box or cradle, which is rendered comfortable by spreading moss, or a kind of tow, made from the bark of the cypress, over it. The occiput of the child rests on a board at the upper end of the box, and is supported by tow or moss; another board is then brought over the forehead, and tied firmly down on the head of the infant. The child is seldom taken from the cradle; and the compression is continued till it is able to walk. A child about three years old presents a most hideous appearance. The compression, operating chiefly on the forehead and occiput, reverses the natural proportion of the head, and causes it to assume the form of a wedge. The eye-balls project very much, and the individual ever after has the eyes directed upwards. Nature, however, alarmed at such an attempt to deface her works, attempts to repair the injury; hence the skulls of adults are less flat than when they were infants, although still sufficiently deformed. From the pressure being applied to the forehead and occiput,

the two parietal bones bulge out very much; and, from the inequality of the pressure, the symmetry of the head is destroyed. The capacity of skull, however, is little altered; and the distortion does not seem to have any effect on their intellectual powers."-All the various tribes have a close resemblance in their dress, which consists entirely of furs and bides; one piece being fastened round the waist, and reaching to the middle of the thigh, and another larger piece thrown over the shoulders. Their legs are protected by skins fitted to the shape of the leg, and ornamented with porcupine quills; their shoes or sandals are made of the skin of the deer, elk, or buffalo, dressed with the hair on, and made to fasten about the ankles. The women have their bodies covered from the knees upwards. Their shifts cover the body, but not the arms, and their under-garments reach from the waist to the knees. Their shoes and stockings are not different from those of the men. Those men who wish to appear very gay, pluck all the hair from their heads, leaving only a round spot of about two inches diameter on the crown of the head, on which are fastened plumes of feathers, with quills of ivory or silver. The peculiar ornaments of this part, are the distinguishing marks of the different nations. They sometimes paint their faces black, but oftener red; they bore their noses and slit their ears; and in both they wear various ornaments. The higher ranks of women dress their hair with silver ornaments in a peculiar manner; and sometimes paint it. They have generally a large spot of paint near the ear, on each side of the head; and, not unfrequently, a small spot on the brow.

Habitations.] Their tents or huts are composed of poles meeting in a point at the top: these are covered sometimes with skins, sometimes with bark, and sometimes with mats made of rushes. They are without windows, and have for chimnies a small opening left at the top. The same skins which by day serve them for seats, supply them with beds by night, when they are spread on the ground, round the fire which is in the centre of the apartment. As their habitations are thus rude, their domestic utensils are few in number, and plain in their formation. They have pots of black stone or clay, in which they boil their meat; and bowls made of the knotty parts of a tree; their spoons are made of a wood resembling boxwood, and they roast their meat on wooden spits.

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Marriage.] None of the North American tribes, however rude, are unacquainted with the institution of marriage. They generally are contented with one wife; sometimes they take two, but seldom more than three. The women are under the direction of their fathers in the choice of husbands, and very seldom express a predilection for any particular perTheir courtship is short and simple. The lover makes a present, generally of game, to the head of the family to which the woman he fancies belongs. Her guardian's approbation obtained, he next makes a present to the woman; and her acceptance of this signifies her consent. The contract is immediately made, and the match concluded. this is transacted without ceremony, without even a feast. The husband generally carries his wife among his own relations, where he either returns to the tent which he formerly inhabited, or constructs a new one for their own use. They sometimes, but seldom, remain among the wife's relations. These contracts are binding no longer than during the will of both parties. If they do not agree, the woman returns to her relations, and, if they have any children, she takes them along with her; but after they have children, a separation very seldom takes place. If a woman be guilty of adultery,

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