ages, still suffering from the want of provisions, which the skill and activity of their hunters could not obviate. At length they completed another stage of their expedition, at Winter Lake, where their Indian friend proposed to fix their station, till the ensuing spring, on the 22d of August. The length of their voyage from fort Chipewyan amounted to 553 miles, above 21 of which consisted of portages.

Preparations were immediately commenced for building a habitation, and collecting supplies of provisions, the Indians having failed in their engagements for this object, in consequence of the death of one of their chiefs, which occasioned the suspension of their usual business of hunting. Captain Franklin proposed to proceed immediately to the Copper Mine River; but this design, which was dictated rather by zeal than prudence, was at length relinquished, in consequence of the remonstrances of Akaitcho. It was, however, decided to dispatch a party for the purpose of exploring the country, and the task was assigned to Mr. Back, on the 29th of August. A few days after, Captain Franklin himself undertook a similar journey, leaving Mr. Wentzel to superintend the building. He found the lakes frozen, and every appearance of an early and severe winter, and returned after reaching a branch of Point Lake. The first party having penetrated to another part of the same sheet of water, were driven back on the 16th of September, by cold and storms.

In the interim, considerable pro-, gress had been made in the erection of a log house for the officers, and on the 6th of October it was so far completed, that they struck their tent and took up their residence within. It was about 50 feet long and 24 wide, and divided into a hall, three bed-rooms, and a kitchen. A similar habitation, of smaller dimensions, was afterwards constructed for the men; and a store-house was finally erected, the whole establishment occupying three sides of a square. No exertion was spared to collect supplies of provisions; and in the course of a short period, they had secured a sufficient stock of venison and other meat, to obviate all immediate fear of scarcity. Mr.

Back and Mr. Wentzel were also dispatched to Fort Providence, to expedite the conveyance of the remaining stores from Cumberland House.

Few incidents were likely to vary the monotonous course of a winter residence in these northern solitudes; but causes of care and anxiety were not wanting. By some misconduct or inattention on the part of the officers belonging to the trading companies, their stores were left behind, and reports to their discredit were spread from some of the trading establishments, which made a deep impression on the minds of the Indians. Explanations indeed took place, but the effect was perhaps never entirely obviated. On the 27th of January, 1821, Mr. Wentzel returned with a portion of their stores; others successively arrived, though still inadequate to their wants, and the demands of their Indian dependants; and in March Mr. Back arrived from Fort Chipewyan, after performing a journey of nearly 1000 miles on foot, amidst hardships and difficulties of a peculiar kind. They were now in latitude 65° 12' 40", and longitude 113° 8′ 25′′; and a few hints will suffice to show the nature of the climate. The month of October was sufficiently wintry, but in November the cold became much more severe, the mean temperature being 0·7°. In December its intensity increased; for at one period the thermometer sunk as low as 57o below zero; the trees were frozen to their very centres; and a, thermometer in the bed-room, only 16 feet from the fire, sunk as low as 15°, January was more mild than December, and in March the mean tem¬ perature rose to 11' 57". The employments of the officers, during this dreary interval, were chiefly sedentary, and consisted in the completion of their journals, drawings, and calculations; but they judiciously encouraged the amusements and occu pations of the men, and promoted such sports as were calculated to engage their attention, and beguile the tedious hours.

*

As the summer approached, every effort was used for the accomplishment of the final, and most important purpose of the expedition. Arrangements were made with the

Hook, another Indian chief, residing near West Martin Lake, who agreed to collect provisions for the party on their return; and Akaitcho, from a spirit of rivalry or other motives, began to manifest' renewed zeal in the cause. As the ice appeared to be dissolving on the rivers and lakes, in the commencement of June, one division moved on the 4th, under the command of Dr. Richardson, to Point Lake. On the 14th the party charged with the conveyance of the canoes followed, and finally Captain Frank lin himself, with three Canadians, the two Esquimeaux, and Hepburn, carrying the instruments, and a remnant of the stores. Though at first suffering from renewed exertion, and the heat of the weather, all proceeded with alacrity, traversed Point Lake, Red Rock Lake, and Rock Nest Lake on the remaining ice, and at length entered the Copper Mine River, which at this point was 200 yards wide, and ten feet deep, and flowed rapidly over a stony bed. In this early period of their journey, they found it necessary to abandon one of their canoes, in order to spare the strength both of their men and dog's.

They commenced their descent of the Copper Mine River, on the 2d of July, and proceeded north-westward along its course, which is much broken by a succession of rapids, varying in breadth, and generally deep. On the 7th they encamped at the foot of a series of heights, the first they had yet seen in America which deserved the name of a moun tainous range. The next day they arrived at the station of the Hook, and obtained from him the renewal of his promise, to remain and collect supplies of food against their return. The succeeding days they found the channel of the river skirted by steep ranges of hills, which circumscribed its waters till they were pent up be tween walls of perpendicular rocks, and formed almost a continued rapid. It here forced its way through the barrier of mountains, and flowed N.N.E. On the 11th they diverged to examine the Copper Mountains,' described by Hearne, and collected a few trifling specimens of metal.

At this point the Indians left their canoes, to avoid the labour of navi

gating them down the rapids; but the ulterior purposes of the expedition could not be fulfilled without those belonging to the party. Their descent was marked by no other incident, than a meeting with some Esquimeaux, who frequent the lower course of the river, but no intercourse took place, except with an old man, who was not sufficiently active to make his escape. At length on the 18th of July they had the sa tisfaction of reaching the mouth of the river, which at its influx to the sea is about a mile wide, shallow, and nearly barred across by sand banks. To sea-ward appeared many lofty islands. The latitude was found to be 67° 47′ 50′′, and the longitude 115° 25′ 52"; the distance travelled from Fort Enterprise 334 miles, for 117 of which the canoes had been. dragged over snow and ice. Here Mr. Wentzel and the Indians left them, with renewed promises to provide supplies of food against their return in the autumn.

On the 21st of July, they commenced their voyage on the Hyperborean sea, and paddled eastward, along the coast. No ice appeared, though an ice blink was visible in the horizon, and the islands were found to be rocky, barren, and of columnar structure. In this direction they proceeded for five days, passing the nights on shore. On the 26th they weathered a cape, to which they have given the name of Barrow, in honour of the Secretary of the Admiralty, and turned into an extensive inlet, called George the Fourth's, or Coronation Gulf, which enters the land from lat. 68° to 67° 30%. They spent a considerable period, and encountered no small danger, in exploring its various recesses, from the slightness and dilapidated state of their canoes, which were formed of no stronger material than birch bark. The fur→ thest point to which they penetrated eastward, was Cape Turnagain, în lat. 68° 30′, and long. 109° 15′, from whence the coast appeared still to trend in the same direction.

One of the canoes being rendered unserviceable, and the other much injured, and their allowance of provisions extending only to a handful of pemmican, and a small portion of portable soup daily, they were neces

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sitated to desist from further attempts, and hasten their return. They drew towards the head of Coronation Gulf, and attempted to ascend the course of a river, which flows into it, on the south-west. They, however, found the stream so confined by precipitous rocks, and so obstructed by rapids, that they relinquished their purpose of proceeding by water; and from the materials of their damaged canoes formed two smaller ones, to cross any stream or lake which might intersect their line of march. Having arranged their baggage for as speedy a movement as possible, they proceeded in the direction of Point Lake, through a flat and uninteresting country, interspersed with small sheets of water. In this portion of their journey they experienced considerable obstruction from the snow, which already began to fall, and on the 5th of September they distributed their last morsel of pemmican. The sense of their privations was aggravated by the increasing severity of the weather, and they continued to toil onwards, amidst snow and ice, frequently unable to obtain even the comfort of a fire, and reduced to depend for subsistence on the skill and success of their hunters, in a season and situation alike unpromising. One of their canoes was first broken by a fall, and the other afterwards was rendered unserviceable, at the very time when it was most needed. Every step of their toilsome pilgrimage was marked by new difficulties-every hour by increasing sufferings and privations. Compelled to allay the cravings of hunger with an unpalatable weed, called Tripe de Roche, even this miserable resource frequently failed, and they were driven to devour the leather of their shoes, the putrid skins of animals, and even bones rendered friable by fire. Stopped at the most critical periods of their march, when existence itself seemed to depend on the loss of a single day, by lakes or streams, which they had not the means of passing, subordination ceased -despair succeeded-some sunk under their multiplied calamities; and even those, whose strength and spirits were yet equal to exertion, dragged their weary limbs along rather in fear than in hope. In this extremity, Mr. Hood, whose zeal and intelligence

had been honourably conspicuous, appears to have been shot by Michel, the Iroquois Indian, who is supposed to have been impelled by hunger to murder two of his companions for the sake of feeding on their flesh. At length, on the evening of the 29th of October, Captain Franklin, with some of the party, drew near their once cheerful abode of Fort Enterprise; but, instead of the supplies, on which they had calculated, from the Indians, it was found empty and desolate, and they had yet to struggle with famine and misery, till Mr. Back, who had proceeded in advance, could obtain aid from the Indians or the nearest trading settlement. In the mean time, the rest of the party, who were not entirely exhausted, reached the same place of refuge, only to undergo an aggravation of suffering; and the energies of nature were nearly subdued when, on the 7th of November, they were rescued from a lingering, and seemingly inevitable, fate, by the arrival of Indians with a small supply of provisions. In justice to the chief, Akaitcho, it is proper to add, that although with that indolence and thoughtlessness which are prominent features in the character of the savage, he had neglected to fulfil his promises, he no sooner heard of their distress, than he hastened to relieve it; and both he and his tribe manifested towards the unfortunate travellers, a degree of kindness and sympathy which would have done honour to the most civilised country. In a comparatively short period of time, they were enabled to travel; and, retracing their former course, finally terminated their journey, on the 14th of July, at York Factory, after traversing the distance of not less than 5550 miles.

We have now only to add, that the appearance of the coast traced by Captain Franklin, justifies the opinion of those who maintain the practicability of a North-west passage. A rise of the tide, perceptible in Coronation Gulf, proves its communication with the ocean, and the outline of the shore rums nearly east and west, in the latitude assigned to Mackenzie's River, to the Sound entered by Kotzebue on the side of Behring's Straits, and to Repulse Bay, at the northern extremity of Hudson's Bay. The

portion of sea explored by our voy agers' was also navigable for vessels of any size, and the obstruction from ice too trifling to detain even a small boat.

Our limits will not permit us to advert to many important and curious details, in various branches of science

and natural history. We shall therefore conclude with observing, that this volume is illustrated with charts, and accompanied with a series of engravings, equally creditable to the unfortunate artist, Mr. Hood, and to the engraver, Mr. Finden.

It is often a matter of some difficulty to determine whether the encouragement given to art is absolutely declining, or whether it takes new directions less visible to the

common observer. Music appears lately to have presented a problem of this nature. Never was the science so generally cultivated, never was the art so universally practised. Yet the public performances fall away, so that it should seem the examples of the finest models fail to be attractive, in proportion to the diffusion of enjoyment amongst individuals. The Vocal Concerts, so long a favourite resort of the real lovers of music, were this year given up for want of support. The City Amateur Concerts have been suspended, if not wholly abandoned. The British Concerts (only three nights) have not engaged that attention which their intrinsic merits, and the nationality of their design, might be well imagined to have justly claimed; even the Oratorios are said to have entailed a loss upon the proprietor; while the Opera has lacked its customary attendance, malgré the impulsive influence of the Board of Management of Earls, Counts, and Barons. Amongst the causes, perhaps, may be some that are political; for even operas, concerts, and oratorios, cannot go on without participating in that pervading complaint," the agricultural distress," and acknowledging that they have a sympathetic interest in the common source of subsistence. But we are rather inclined, like the superior authorities in the agricultural case, to attribute the evils of the musical world to superabundance to that excess by which appetite sickens, and so dies. There is shrewd reason to suspect that the private cultivation of music does not neces

sarily tend to its frequent enjoyment in public. On the contrary, perhaps, after so much at home, we are content with the less abroad; performers do not always make the most "comfortable hearers;" amateurs, like poets, will sometimes feel a little impatiently the semper ego auditor tantum, and hear their own imperfect execution with more complacency, than the expression of a Camporese, or the polish of a Vaughan. O! we are all marvellous approvers of our own style! Horace never made so great a mistake, nor ever so truly showed himself the companion of the ill-bred, as when he made his famous declaration, ommibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, &c., for the remark applies to the untaught, and, perhaps, might have more resemblance to fact before the invention of pianofortes. In our boyish days, we do, indeed, remember misses that had perpetual colds, or that "really could not sing;" but now-a-days, amongst the instructed, (and who is not instructed?) it is far otherwise. There are few singers or players, who, if they would speak the sole truth, ever hear enough of themselves, and certainly never too much. From Madame Catalani, down to little Miss Strumansquall, the rule prevails; there is no singing, no playing, so agreeable as our own.

But neither poverty, nor self-complacency, nor both of them put together, probably produce half the ill effects that arise out of the costliness of musical amusements. The common rate of admission is half a guinea for each person, to a concert. The subscription to the Ancient Music is eight guineas for the twelve concerts; and to the Philharmonic, four-the two realizing a receipt of near nine thousand pounds per annum!! Such terms must exclude all

families of moderate income; for who, under such circumstances, would think of repeating an expense of from two to three guineas for one evening's pleasure for four persons? The purchase is far too costly-the thing is impossible. The Oratorios thus become the only general vehicles of musical pleasure. The Hanover Square, and the Argyll Rooms, are visited by certain classes alone, and they soon find out that the satisfaction does not compensate the expense.

We are quite aware that the point of primary importance in such assemblies is the almost exclusive privileges allotted to Caste. The Ancient Music is sought, principally, because it is what is called " select." The Philharmonic, on the contrary, unquestionably the first concert in the metropolis for instrumental music, and as pre-eminent in the comparatively small portion of vocal it admits, does not number in the list of subscribers above half a dozen persons of title-the bulk of the audience consists of professors and their families, and amateurs, who seek good music at the fountainhead. The Vocal Concerts afforded a place of entertainment for the richer class of the inhabitants of the metropolis, but these are now extinct. They probably surfeited for lack of variety in the music; yet it should seem that there is some unacknowledged cause why the public --the mass of the public-is not found to encourage concerts, and this cause we conceive to be the costliness of the entertainment. If it is asked why it is necessary that such charges for admission should be made, it is replied at once, the enormous sums paid to the singers (principally females) is the visible reason. Four of them, Madame Camporese, Mrs. Salmon, Miss Stephens, and Miss Travis, do not receive less probably than 1007. nightly, for their attendance at the Ancient Concert; and, on Oratorio nights, they generally contrive to appear both at Hanover-square and at the Theatre. It is a question, whether the whole instrumental band, consisting of from forty to fifty performers, is paid more than double what these ladies obtain. This is really monstrous! But the evil will correct itself. Conductors must now

be satisfied of the impossibility of obtaining any profit adequate to their a risk and labour. Means of distribu ting more tickets for the same sum, thus increasing the numbers of the audience without diminishing the receipts, will probably be devised. Without some such expedient, public music in the metropolis will sink away to nothing. The very diffusion of science, which ought to prepare the mind (and which does it in point of fact) to seek for, and to re- « lish, the finest models in art, will, operate a contrary effect. The family concert will be the substitute. : for public music, and people will be content with pleasures of a less exalted description, simply because they are attained with little expense. To this end, the gratification of dis- it playing talent will also contribute, and a more studious cultivation of t individual ability will follow. Even now, indeed, these can hardly be esteemed anticipations, they are merely observations upon what is actually passing. It is only a matter of surprise, that amateur concerts in private houses, like the academias in 1 Italy, are not more frequent in this country; the moment amateur attainment reaches a certain height, to which it appears to be rapidly advancing, such will probably be the consequence, and it is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Talent and accomplishment will have its best reward in its extended exercise,. ' while the whole circle of intimate connections will participate in the rational and social exhibition.

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The King's Theatre has at length: launched a New Opera, Elisa e Claudio, a demi caractère, with character at all." Accustomed, as we are, to look in the Italian musi cal dramas for such incidents "as are just possible to happen, but which never did, nor ever will happen,” › we have seldom, if ever, fallen upon a more wretched thing than this. The scene is laid in Florence, where Elisa, a female of humble birth has been secretly married to Claudio, the son of Count Arnaldo, by whom she has two children. The Count has r imprisoned his son for a year, when the Marquis of Tricotazio arrives with his daughter Silvia, to consum- ' mate a marriage between her and Claudio. At this point of time the