"We were in a miserable plight, from the fatigues of this day, and passed a comfortless night. To resume our hard and frozen dresses, was also a most difficult and painful operation; but the evening proved fine, and a little courage and exertion soon put us in motion once more.'

The next day the party made a journey of twenty miles. Setting forward again at eight, they found the land trending to the west-north-west. After crossing an extensive inlet, it trended more to the northward.

had but two of these animals in a serviceable state, and one of the poor creatures died at our present encampment.

"I here contrived to shoot two partridges, which not only gave us what was now rare, a warm meal, but enabled us to save our provisions; a most important matter, as we were now situated. No one will be surprised to hear how often during all these years we had formed the idle wish that men could live without food; a wish, idle and nonsensical as we felt it, that was ever intruding, since the necessity of eating was the ever-recurring obstacle to all our endeavours.

"The weather being fine, we could distinguish the coast, still trending to the north-west; and thence, as for other reasons, I was desirous to continue our journey for another day or two, in hopes that the sea-line would shortly take the direction of Point Turnagain, which, could we have attained it, would have been an object of first-rate importance; since we might thus have also completed this line of coast, and, here at least, have left nothing remaining for future investigators. Will it be believed that I was not anxious to complete the survey of the north coast of America, that with so important an object almost within my very reach, I was not desirous to attain this great triumph?

"I here began," says Commander Ross, "to doubt what our actual position might be, when I now considered all the indications of the coast that we had seen or passed. The question with me was, whether we were in reality skirting a continent, or whether all this irregular land might not be a chain of islands. Those unacquainted with frozen climates like the present, must recollect that when all is ice, and all one dazzling mass of white, when the surface of the sea itself is tossed up and fixed into rocks, while the land is, on the contrary, very often flat, if not level: when, in short, there is neither water nor land to be seen, or when both are equally undiscriminated, as well by shape as by colour, it is not always so easy a problem as it might seem on a superficial view, to determine a fact, which appears, in words, to be extremely simple. "At any rate, I could satisfy myself, in our present "But my men were no less so; and it would be position: and thence one disagreeable consequence, doing them great injustice, did I not here record their which, trifling as it may seem to a reader when com- spirit and ambition. For such an attempt, it was pared to an essential geographical fact, was of no necessary to make a still further reduction in the alsmall moment to us, and indeed to the progress and lowance of provisions; and whatever they who are success of the expedition itself. Had we been sure well fed and at ease may think, such sacrifices are that we were on the continent, we might have left in not small to him who is already under-fed and hardconcealment a large portion of our provision, and this worked, who must exert himself every hour beyond would have enabled us to proceed with much more his strength, who feels that food would enable him to ease and rapidity. But in case that it proved but a go through his task, and who, independently of this chain of islands, these would have been left behind, to reasoning, is actually suffering under the instinctive our unspeakable inconvenience, or rather perhaps to and irrepressible cravings of animal nature. Yet on our destruction, in case I should do what was really mentioning my wishes to the mate Abernethy, he inessential, in returning by the continental shore; while, formed me that the men had intended themselves to if not daring to atteinpt this for such a reason, a prin- make the same proposal to me, and were only waitcipal object of our journey would have been aban- ing for the proper opportunity of transmitting their doned. I was therefore at length determined to take wishes through him. It may be believed that I rethe safest resolution; and thus consent to be still en-joiced in this generous feeling on their parts; and the cumbered with the heavy load that so much augment- necessary reduction was therefore immediately aned our labours, and so disadvantageously contracted our time.

"And, indeed, diminished as the weight was by the consumption which our provisions had already undergone, that load was not only still a heavy one, but was relatively to our strength, even more troublesome than it had hitherto been. The dogs had become worse than useless, from the continued labour which they had exerted, and which we could not diminish by giving them an occasional rest for a day or two, since we could not afford to hazard the loss of that fine weather, of which the term was fast approaching. Lest readers may have forgotten it, I ought perhaps to say that the height of summer in these climates renders travelling as impracticable as does the depth of winter. It is not that the heat is more intolerable than the cold, though it is sufficiently tormenting and hurtful, but that the frozen surface becomes at first so loose and wet as to be nearly impassable; while, as the ground is laid bare on shore, and the water opens at sea, it becomes utterly impossible to travel either by land or water, or rather, as I might safely say, by that which is both or neither. Latterly, indeed, we

nounced.

"Under this alteration, which enabled us to advance for two days longer, we set out at eight in the evening, and, after passing over some small lakes, reached the sea at eleven. We then continued our course along the coast, in a north-westerly direction till midnight, much annoyed by thick fogs for a time, but finally reaching a point at two o'clock on the twenty-eighth of May, which formed one side of an extensive bay. This was named after Dr. Richardson; and as it was a convenient spot for a depot, since by it we should be obliged to return, we resolved here to disburden ourselves of part of our incumbrances.

"We therefore left behind everything which we could spare, and taking four days' provision in the sledges, set out at three in the morning, crossing Richardson's bay, and encamping at six. Departing again. at six in the evening, we found the land to trend towards the north-west till midnight, when we reached a point that was then named Cape Felix, after the founder of our expedition; at the back of which was an accumulation of hummocky ice. This point is the south-west cape of the gulf of Boothia, named after

the same singularly generous and spirited individual, whose fame and deeds will go down to posterity among the first of those whose characters and conduct have conferred honour on the very name of a British merchant.

"Here we found the land trend to the south-west, while the vast extent of ocean then before our eyes, assured us that we had at length reached the northern point of that portion of the continent which I had already ascertained with so much satisfaction to be trending towards Cape Turnagain.

"Continuing hence to the south-westward, till about two in the morning, we arrived at the north point of a bay, across which we passed, over much hummocky ice, gaining its southern point after two hours of hard labour. Hence the coast continued to trend about south-west by south, till we halted about six o'clock, after a journey of twenty miles, though with much fatigue to the whole party. The latitude here was 69° 46′ 19′′, and the longitude 98° 32′ 49′′.

rest, and left our station, with Abernethy, at eight in the evening. Being light, we now travelled quickly along the land, to the south-westward, till midnight, when, from a stranded mass of ice about forty feet high, we saw a point of land bearing southwest about fifteen miles distant, and could only trace its continuity with that on which we stood; the line forming an extensive bay occ ipied by very heavy packed ice. A little examination, however, led us to doubt whether the remote point might not be an island, as there was an intermediate one about eight miles off. But to make an actual examination was now impossible; since our time was nearly expended, and the ruggedness of the ice between these points would have demanded a very tedious and laborious journey.

We now therefore unfurled our flag for the usual ceremony, and took possession of what we saw as far as the distant point, while that on which we stood was named Victory Point; being the 'ne plus ultra' of our labour, as it afterwards proved, while it will remain a "The reflection that we had now rounded the north-standing record of the exertions of that ship's crew. ernmost point of this part of the continent, and that we had found the coast trending in the desired direction, could not fail to give us the greatest satisfaction. The great extent of sea also which was now seen from Cape Felix, free from all appearance of land, served to raise our expectations as to the further success of the ensuing season, when we might hope, now that we knew what was before us, to succeed entirely in completing the survey of the north shore of America, since we could now make our arrangements accurately to meet what was still to be done and endured. "Additionally desirous, therefore, to be quite sure of the facts as far as they could here be ascertained, and that I was not deceived by some large indentation of the coast, I devoted the day to a still more accurate examination of the circumstances. How extremely unwilling I was to return at all, from this point, with the main object of the expedition almost, it may be said, within our reach, may well be imagined; but others must be in the same situation before they can conceive the intensity of this regret and the severity of this disappointment. Our distance from Cape Turnagain was not greater than the space which we had already travelled: as many more spare days at our command would have enabled us to do all that was remaining, to return triumphant to the Victory, and to carry to England a truly worthy fruit of our long and hard labours.

"But these days were not in our power; for it was not days of time, but of the very means of existence that were wanting to us. We had brought twentyone days' provision from the ship; and much more than the half was already consumed, notwithstanding the reductions which had been made, without which we should have even stopped far short of our present point; to reach which had occupied thirteen days, when we had provided ourselves for no more than eleven outwards. There was nothing therefore left to us but to submit: and thus, however mortified at the necessity of such a resolution, I was compelled to settle finally for our return to the ship, after we had advanced one other day. By the shortest route back, our distance from her was computed at two hundred miles; and, even on a very scanty allowance, we could not reckon on provisions for more than ten days.

"As some of the party were now suffering in their fect, I took this opportunity of giving them a day's

"On Victory Point we erected a cairn of stones six feet high, and we enclosed in it a canister containing a brief account of the proceedings of the expedition since its departure from England. Such has been the custom, and to that it was our business to conform; though I must say, that we did not entertain the most remote hope that our little history would ever meet an European's eye, even had it escaped the accident of falling into the hands of the Esquimaux. Yet we should have gone about our work with something like hope, if not confidence, had we then known that we were reputed as lost men, if even still alive, and that our ancient and tried friend Back was about to seek for us, and to restore us once more to society and home. And if it is not impossible that the course of his present investigation from Cape Turnagain eastward may lead him to this very spot, that he may find the record and proof of our own 'turnagain,' we have known what it is for the wanderer in these solitudes to alight upon such traces of friends and of home, and can almost envy him the imagined happiness; while we shall rejoice to hear that he has done that in which we failed, and perhaps not less than if we had ourselves succeeded in completing this long pursued and perilous work.

"It was at one in the morning of the 30th of May, that we turned our backs on this last and furthest point of our journey."

DRUIDICAL TEMPLE, NEAR KESWICH,

IN CUMBERLAND.

Time-honour'd pile! by simple builders rear'd,
Mysterious round, through distant times rever'd,
Ordain'd with earth's revolving orb to last,
Thou bring'st to mind the present and the past.
Dr. OGILVIE's Fame of the Druids.

The Druidical Circle represented in the accompanying plate, is to be found on the summit of a bold and commanding eminence called Castle-Rigg, about a mile and a half on the old road, leading from Keswick, over the hills to Penrith,-a situation so wild, vast, and beautiful, that one cannot, perhaps, find. better terms to convey an idea of it than by adopting the language of a celebrated female writer, (Mrs. Radcliffe,) who travelling over the same ground

years ago, thus described the scene. "Whether our ' amongst the rest may be noticed more particularly; judgement," she says, "was influenced by the author- viz. Exodus xxiv. 4: "And Moses rose early in the ity of a Druid's choice, or that the place itself com- morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and manded the opinion, we thought this situation the most twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Isseverely grand of any hitherto passed. There is, rael." It appears also, that in patriarchal times, perhaps, not a single object in the scene that inter- they planted groves as temples for worship, and in rupts the solemn tone of feeling impressed by its gen- hot countries this was done, as well for convenience eral character of profound so' tude, greatness, and in summer season as also for magnificence. Abraawful wildness. Castle-Rigg is the centre point of ham we read dwelt long at Beersheba, where he three valleys that dart immediately under it from the planted a grove, and called upon the name of the eye, and whose mountains form part of an amphi- Lord," and in these groves were also erected temtheatre, which is completed by those of Borrowdale ples of stone. on the west, and by the precipices of Skiddaw and The patriarchal mode of worship passed over all Saddleback, close on the north. The hue which per- the western world, and is supposed to have been in vades all these mountains is that of dark heath or troduced into this country by the neighbouring Celta rock, they are thrown into every form and direction or Gauls, or by the Phoenicians, who traded hither that fancy would suggest, and are at that distance for tin. However this may be, when the Romans in which allows all their grandeur to prevail. Such se-vaded Britain, they found the Druids presiding over clusion and sublimity were indeed well suited to the and conducting the worship of the country; acting dark and wild mysteries of the Druids." also as judges and arbiters in all differences and disThese temples of the Druids, though all in a circu-putes, both publick and private. It is from Cæsar, lar form, (supposed to have been emblematick of the Deity,) present three varieties, which Dr. Stukeley classed as follows. The round temples, simply, he called temples, and such he considered to be the one at Rollrich, in Oxfordshire, and which also resembles this. Those with the form of a snake annexed, as that of Abury, in Wiltshire, he called serpentine temples, or Dracontia, by which they were denominated of old; and those with the form of wings annexed (as he supposed Stone-Henge to have been;) those he called Alte, or winged temples.

and other Roman writers, that most of the information we have respecting them is derived, for they had no written rules or regulations either as to their religion, their science, or their laws. The accounts therefore furnished by these historians of the religion and customs of the Druids, written principally from mere report, and under an hostile impression towards them, are not altogether to be relied upon; indeed, the barbarities ascribed to them, in the ceremonial of their religion, are so much at variance with their high and acknowledged character in learning and general science, that one cannot but imagine them to be highly exaggerated, if not altogether fabulous.

The one here represented is of the first, or simple class, and consists, at present, of about forty stones of different sizes, all, or most of them, of dark granite,- The best authorities on the subject of the Druids the highest about seven feet, several about four, and seem to agree in the following description of them. others considerably less; the few fir-trees in the cen- They were the first and most distinguished order tre are, of course, of very modern growth. The amongst both the Gauls and Britons; they were form may, with more propriety, be called an oval, chosen from the best families, and the honours of being thirty-five yards in one direction, and thirty- their birth, joined with those of their function, prothree yards in another, in which respect, it assimilates cured them the highest veneration amongst the peoexactly to that of Rollrich; but what distinguishes ple. They were versed in astrology, geometry, natthis from all other druidical remains of a similar na-ural philosophy, politicks, and geography; they were ture, is the rectangular enclosure on the eastward the interpreters of religion, and the judges of all afside of the circle, including a space of about eight fairs indifferently; they were the instructers of the feet by four. The object of this is a matter of con- youth, and taught by memory, as they never allowed jecture-by some it is supposed to have been a sort their instructions to be written. of Holy of Holies where the Druids met, separated from the vulgar, to perform their rites, their divinations, or sit in council to determine controversies; others consider it to have been for the purposes of burial, probably it might have been intended for both. That the Druids also performed their worship in the seclusion of groves is a fact generally stated in history. The Isle of Anglesey, formerly covered They believed in the immortality of the soul, and with wood, was a celebrated sanctuary for them; and worshipped one Supreme Being. They attached a it is more than probable that these circular stone degree of sanctity to the oak, and wore chaplets of temples, in the midst of elevated moors or plains, it in their religious ceremonies. They were deeply were places at which the people from the surround-versed in astronomy, and computed their time by ing districts were at stated times assembled either for nights and not by days, and all their great solemnithe purposes of justice, or for determining upon af- ties, both sacred and civil, were regulated by the age fairs affecting the welfare of the community, and and aspect of the Moon. Their most august cerewhich meetings were also accompanied with the per-mony of cutting the mistleto from the oak was alformance of religious ceremonies. ways performed on the sixth day of the Moon. In That the earliest temples and altars were formed medicine also, they were great proficients, and posof stones, rough and unhewn, is we believe admitted by all writers. Numerous passages may be quoted from the Old Testament in allusion to it, but one

Their garments were remarkably long, and when employed in religious ceremonies they always wore a white surplice. They generally carried a wand in their hand, and wore a kind of ornament enchased in gold about their necks, called the Druid's egg; they are also represented with a hatchet in their girdle, used for the cutting of the mistleto.

sessed, in fact, great store of knowledge in all sciences; so much so, that Pliny speaks of them as practising magick, and being so great proficients

the last few months, a book of great research and reflection has been published on this subject; and as it seems, notwithstanding its exceeding great interest, to be exciting little attention, we shall endeavour, as far as in our power, to obtain, both for the volume, and its subject, the notice which they so eminently deserve.

Animal magnetism-an incorrect but convenient phrase-refers to a power which a stronger is supposed to be able to exert over a weaker person, or a healthy over a diseased, whereby, through a mere exertion of the will in some cases, but more generally by this means accompanied by stroking with the hands, the former throws the latter into a state of sleep, during which there are experienced certain peculiar sensations, arising from nervous excitement, and which may have the best effects upon the health of the patient. The operations and results of animal magnetism altogether resemble what we conceive of magick; and they are still a subject of general doubt and suspicion, but rather from want of knowledge than from any other cause, seeing that the French Academy, the most respected body of scientifick men in the world, have satisfied themselves, by experiments, that, startling as the discovery is, it is quite true and free from imposture, and have here testified that such is their belief to the whole world.

The process of animal magnetism is generally performed in the following manner:-the patient is placed in a sitting posture, in a convenient elbow-chair, or on a couch-sometimes even in a common chair. The magnetizer seated on a chair a little more elevated and at the distance of about a foot from the pa tient, collects himself for some moments, during which he takes the thumbs of the patient between his two fingers, so that the interior parts of the thumbs are in contact with each other. He fixes his eyes upon the patient, and remains in this position till he feels that an equal degree of heat is established between the thumbs of both parties. He then withdraws his hands, turning them outward, places them on the shoulders, where he allows them to remain about a minute, and then conducts them slowly, with a very slight friction, along the arms to the extremity of the fingers. This operation he performs five or six times, which the magnetizers call a pass; he then places his hands above the head, holds them there a moment, draws them downwards in front of the face at the distance of one or two inches to the pit of the stomach, resting his fingers upon this part of the body; and lastly, descends slowly along the body to the feet. These passes are repeated during the greater part of the sitting; and when he wishes to terminate it, he prolongs them beyond the extremity of the hands and feet, shaking his fingers each time. Finally, he makes transverse passes before the face and breast, at the distance of three or four inches, presenting his hands approximated to each other, and separating them abruptly.

There are variations upon this process, but it is unnecessary to notice them here. The result, where there is no obstacle or deranging cause, is that the patient falls involuntarily into a kind of trance, the progressive sensations of which are thus classified by a German philosopher, named Kluge:

"The first degree presents no remarkable phenoThe intellect and the senses still retain their

mena.

usual susceptibilities. For this reason, this first degree has been denominated the degree of waking

"In the second degree, most of the senses still remain in a state of activity. That of vision only is impaired; the eye withdrawing itself gradually from the power of the will. This second degree, in which the sensibility is partially disturbed, is by some magnetizers called the half-sleep, or the imperfect crisis.

"In the third degree, the whole of the organs through the medium of which our correspondence with the external world is carried on (the senses) refuse to perform their respective functions, and the patient is placed in that unconscious state of existence which is called the magnetick sleep.

"In the fourth degree, the patient awakes, as it were within himself, and his consciousness returns. He is in a state which can neither be properly called sleeping nor waking, but which appears to be something between the two. When in this state, he is again placed in a very peculiar connexion with the external world. This fourth degree has been distinguished in the writings of the animal magnetizers, by the name of the perfect crisis, or simple somnambulism.

"In the fifth degree, the patient is placed in what is called the state of self-intuition; when in this situation he is said to obtain a clear knowledge of his own internal mental and bodily state, is enabled to calculate with accuracy, the phenomena of disease which will naturally and inevitably occur, and to determine what are their most appropriate and effectual remedies. He is also said to possess the same power of internal inspection with regard to other persons who have been placed in magnetick connexion with him. From this fifth degree all the subsequent magnetick states are comprehended under the denomination of lucidity, or lucid vision (Fr. Clairvoyance; Germ. Hellsehen.)

In the sixth degree, the lucid vision, which the patient possessed in the former degree, extends to all objects, near and at a distance, in space and time: hence it has been called the degree of universal lucidity."

The source of the phenomenon is by some supposed to be in a circulating fluid, analogous to the blood, but imperceptible, and residing in the nerves, and which has a power of expanding beyond the sphere of the body, and affecting near or distant cojects. This fluid, if it be the seat of the magnetick power, is probably obedient to the volition or will, for persons more than usually susceptible of the magnetick influence have been operated upon involuntarily and unexpectedly to themselves, by a magnetizer who took his position in another room, and only exerted an energetick and intense desire to produce the effect. This is no doubt mysterious, and very like superstition; but is there any better explanation at the present day for mineral magnetism-for the cause and nature of disease-for the simple phenomenon of mortal life?

Animal magnetism, in fact, appears to and it would certainly have been long ago received, us as not more unintelligible than any of these things, like them, into the sphere of acknowledged truths, if it had not been so very wonderful as to excite suspicion even where the senses were satisfied of its ex

istence.

It is obvious from the experiments reported by the French Academy, that there is an intimate connex