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PROGRESS OF THE LAND ARCTIC EXPEDITION, UNDER LIEUTENANT JOHN FRANKLIN, R. N. ene after the expedition under Lieutenant Frank in had arrived on the coast of Hudson’s Bay, they proceeded from York Factory, the grand depot of the Hudson's Bay Company towards their, wintering ground at Cumberland, the ventral post of the interior, a distance of about 900 miles from the coast. Lieu tenant Franklin, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Back, and a set attended by the hardy Orkney men, who ad been engaged to man‘the boats in the rivers ‘of the interior, had worked in the Company’s service se veral years, and understood the language of many of the Indian tribes, left the factory on the 7th of Sep tember, 1819, with a fair wind, under a salute from the depot, and amidst the acclamations of the officers and men of the company. Of the immense quantity and variety of the provisions supplied by Government for the use of the expedition, the greater part was left at the factory , those who knew the country, and the ey ‘of travelling through it, having represented si Pcossibility of conveying European food, which 4 ~ oay receives the name of luxuries, to any const erable distance. The hardships attending the pro- BT? ss of travellers were in fact shown to be so great, #’s would render it absurd to calculate upon such a thing as the slightest change of diet in the winter sea son; and when it was’ mentioned by Lieutenant Franklin that he had brought with him preserved meats and soups in portable cases, to support the expe dition in the cheerless regions through which they were to pass, there was a general laugh amongst the officers of the company, at the idea of associating any thing like comfort with the formidable character of the enterprize. Some of those difficulties may be es timated from the account of the sufferings of the ad venturers, in their advance towards Cumberland, to which place the writer of this article accompanied them.. On the third day after their departure from the factory, the boats of the Company, which were proceedings to the various trading posts in the interior, came up with the expedition in the Steel River, dis tant about 60 miles from the place at which they set out. Most of the rivers in that part of America abound with rapids and falls. The rapids are gene ally more navigable near the banks, but they fre quently extend across the stream, and then the labour of the boat’s crew becomes excessive, every man being obliged to turn into the water and assist in carrying ‘the boat sometimes to the distance of half a mile be fore they gain the head of one of those terrible impe diments. The Company's men, upon turning one of the points of the river, observed the officers of the ex pedition making desperate efforts to get through the mud along the banks: some of them were up to their knees, others up to their waist, while the men were handing the boats over a most violent rapid, which, though but half a foot deep, rendered it necessary that those who stood in the water should hold fast by the boat, the impetuosity of the stream being so extra ordinary as not infrequently to overturn a man in an instant, and dash him to pieces against the rocks and huge stones which he scattered along the bed of the river. Indeed, before the Company’s boats had reach ed those of Lieutenant Franklin, it was suspected that the expedition had already met with more hardships than they had any notion of encountering at so early a period. Several of the tin cases which had prepared the preserved meats were seen at the different up-put ting places (the spots of pround in the banks chosen for passing the nights upon), and those miserable abodes were drenched with rain, and presented an appearance the most appalling. Two black bears were seen prowling about and devouring some of the luxuries which the travellers had ascertained it was impossible to convey in any considerable quantities fur ther up the river, and along the banks were seen strong symptoms of the inexperience of those who had gone forward. The traders with the North American Indians, in travelling to their posts, kindle fires of im mense magnitude upon landing to put up for the night. Every man carries his fire-bag, containing all the necessary apparatus. They proceed to chew down the trees, an office which they perform with wonderful dexterity. The fires are lighted, the tents for the of ficers pitched, and the only regular meal taken during the 24 hours, served up in as comfortable a manner as possible under the circumstances. As the travellers advanced, the mild season not having yet begun to disappear, vast herds of pray deer were observed pass ing the rivers towards the Esquimaux lands, and the Indians who were accompanying the expedition gave extraordinary proofs of their activity, by rushing upon the animals in the water, and striking long knives in to their hearts. Lieutenannt Franklin, on entering the Hill-river, so called from a set were the only one that presented itself between York Fac tory and Cumberland, had reason to express surprise that trading goods could be transported to the interior in spite of such frightful obstructions. His men were fatigued in the extreme, and he found it indispensabl necessary to request that the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company would lighten his boat of the greater part of the luxuries and instruments. This accommo dation was readily given, and after the most laborious efforts, the expedition reached the rack depot, open of the Company’s posts, having devoted seven days to the exhausting toil of working up 30 miles of their journey. Upon arriving at the depot, the expedition were treated with great hospitality by Mr. Buan, the officer in charge, who entertained them with the’ Tit timeg, a fish which they admitted was the most deli cious they had ever tasted, and which was caught in God’s Lake (an immense piece of water, so named from the abundance and excellence of its inhabitants). Mr. Hood, who is one of the draftsmen of the expedi tion, took a sketch of the Rock-fall and the posts, which presented one of the most beautiful objects in these desolate regions, and introduced a distant view of a wigwam (an Indiant tent) with its inmates. Five days after the expedition left the Rock depot they reached another port, having encountered num berless difficulties, similar to those which have been described. There was, however, some relief to the painful sameness of the journey in several beautiful lakes through which they had to pass. At Oxford house post, which was reached four days subsequently, they were provided with pimmikin, the celebrated win ter food of the country, made of dried deer or buffalo flesh, pounded and mixed with a large quantity of the fat of the animal. This food substitutes the luxuries in winter, is the most portable of all victuals, and satis fies the most craving hunger in a very short time. The officers of the expedition were not a little sur prised at the difficulty of cutting their meat, but they soon reconciled themselves to the long established practice of chopping it with a hatchet. During the summer, ducks, geese, partridges, c., are to be had in the greatest abundance; but the frost soon drives all those delicacies out of the reach of the active In dian, and pimmikin becomes the only resource of the traveller. The next post at which they arrived was Norway-house, upon leaving which ‘they entered upon Lake Winnipie, or the further side’of which they had to encounter:the pland rapid, extending nearly three miles, and abounding in obstructions quite insurmount able. Here they were obliged to drag their boats on shore, and carry them over the land, or, to use the technical language, “ launch them over the portage.” The woods along the banks were all in a blaze, it being the custom of the natives, as well as of the traders, to set fire to the trees around the vip-putting places, for the double purpose of keeping off the cold and the wolves, whose howling was increased in pro portion to the extent of the conflagration. The expe dition passed several other rapids and falls along a flat, woody, and swampy country, across five miles of which no eye could see. At length they reached the White Fall, where an accident took place which had nearly deprived the expedition of their commander. While the men were employed in carrying the goods and boats across the portage of the fall, Lieutenant Franke lin walked down alone to view the rapid, the rodking of which could be heard at the distance of several miles. He had the boldness to venture along the bank with English shoes upon his feet, a most danger ous experiment, where the banks are flint-stones and as smooth as glass. He was approaching the spot from which he could have taken the most accurate obser vation, when he slipped, from the bank into the water. Fortunately'the water into which he was’ precipitated was still water.. Had he lost his footing 10 yards lower down, ‘she would have been hurried into a current which Fat f with amazing impetuosity over a precipice, presenting one of the most terrific objects his eyes had yet fixad upon amidst all the horrors of the journey. Lieute nant Franklin is an excellent swimmer, but he had on him a sailor's heavy flashing jacket and trousers, heavy English shoes, and a large neck-handkerchief, the weather having begun to set in very cold. He swam about for some time, and made vigorous efforts to get upon the bank, but he had to contend against a smooth precipitous rock, and was just exhausted: when two of the Company’s officers, who were at a short distance from the fall, looked up and saw him struggling in the water. With the assistance of their poles, they raised him out of his perilous situation, in which he had been nearly a quarter of an hour. The moment he reached land he fell to the ground, and remained without mo tio for some time. His powerful constitution, however, soot buffeted the effects of the accident,and he had hap pily only to regret the injury his chronometer, for which he had given 100 guineas, received in the water. After a tedious journey of 46 days, the dangers and dis tresses of which rather increased than diminished as they advanced, the expedition arrived at Cumberland, a post situate on the banks of a beautiful lake, and stockaded against the incursions of savages, the at tacks of wolves and bears, and the more ferocious as saults of rival traders.
Newspaper Details
London St James Chronicle and Evening Post
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Nov 10, 1821
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CA 14 Jul 2026
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