"He was acquitted, but the soules were prohibited for some years afterwards.” This anecdote has made us grave, but it is in a serious not sad mood that we ought to close our memoranda. Let it not be thought to be in a sour spirit of asceticism that we rejoice to find the sports of the people replaced by the cheap pleasures of the country, supplied by nature, and turned to account by intelligence. Poetry forbid that we should be numbered among those who would blight the May garland by the vulgar sneer of Fashion, who cry "Fie!" if their upturned eyes detect the misletoe dangling from the black oak roof-beams of the yeoman's hall-who would surrender Punch and Judy (their historical feuds merged in a common sorrow) to the harsh discipline of the tread-mill. On the contrary, it is with pain that we shake hands and part with these relics of old time. But, however quaint and innocent in themselves, if these pastimes for the gentle have a common origin and date with the brutal and barbarous orgies for the athletic of which we have spoken-let them die. All the curious and beautiful legendary Breton poetry M. Souvestre has collected is dear at the price of one soule, such as he has described it. As concerns England, it is with a cheerful hope that we note the appearance and success of books like William Howitt's, as proving the increase of humanizing pursuits, which must spread downwards, from the hall of the squire to the cottage of the hind. And we are well assured that such quiet pleasures as the care of animals-the tending of gardensthe practice of mechanical arts at odd moments to add to the comforts of the careful wife, or to amuse the child "that never had a toy;" to say nothing of the strength and joy derived from BOOKS, though less showily evidencing mirth than the popular pastimes of our grandsires, make up a happiness in which far more is concerned than the enjoyment of the hour, a happiness calculated to help on our national progress towards a future of prosperity and moral and intellectual beauty. H. F. 273 ART. VI.—The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Volume the Eighth. 1838. Part II. London. John Murray. THE completion of the survey of the north-east coast of America, whatever may be its importance to civilization and commerce, had, just prior to its accomplishment, become an object sufficiently interesting to excite the emulation of the two most powerful nations in the world, the British and the Russians. The series of expeditions, which have of late years sailed from this country with this object, and the adventures and hardships, the partial failures and partial successes of the brave and distinguished men engaged in them, excited the curiosity and interest of all Europe;-a curiosity which has, of late, from the news of expeditions fitted out by the cabinet of St Petersburgh, become concentred on one point, whether a Russian or a British flag would be the first to wave on the newly discovered coast. At this moment it was that the English Government determined to give up the attempt and fit out no more expeditions, and at the same time the Hudson's Bay Company (who had been known in the business formerly only by the zealous and cordial assistance they had afforded to all the Government expeditions) resolved, at their own expense, not aided as even the Government had been by public subscriptions-to send out an exploring party of their own officers: and so silent and efficient was their manner of doing the thing, that the first intimation the public had of their intention was the news of the achievement of this honour for their country. The projector of this expedition was Mr J. H. Pelly, the chairman of the Hudson's Bay Company, who adopted and supported with much zeal and ability the suggestion of his friend Mr George Simpson, resident governor at Norway House, the gentleman from whom Captain Back and others have received so much friendly assistance. The choice of the leaders of the expedition rested with Governor Simpson, and, as the event proves, was made with the care and judgment and knowledge which a matter of such supreme importance demanded. Mr Dease, by his experience of the dangers to be encountered, his acquaintance with the language and manners of the natives, and the prudence which years impart, was well fitted to render the most valuable assistance to the expedition. On his associate also, Mr Thomas Simpson, the nephew of the governor, a young man twentyseven years of age, who was educated at Aberdeen for the Scotch Church, and (like the governor himself and Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the discoverer of Mackenzie river) a native of Rossshire, great reliance was placed his laudable ambition to distinguish himself it was foreseen would make him encounter every peril that could lead to success, while his literary and scientific attainments fitted him to make the most of it when obtained. Of both the leaders, however, and of all the brave men who accompanied them,-the élite of the company's service-it was felt that, in the words of Governor Simpson to us, "they were men who would succeed or perish." The next important point, after the choice of the men, was also intrusted to Governor Simpson; he drew up the instructions for the enterprise. It may seem, at first sight, that in an affair of this sort, in the execution of which personal hardihood and boldness must play so conspicuous a part, the mere plan of operations was a subordinate matter in point of importance; but doubtless here, as well as elsewhere, the controversy which Jacob Faithful and his companion held as to whether in a race the head or the hands would win, must be decided in favour of the head in the long run. The highest praise that can be bestowed on the instructions is contained in the fact that the narrative of the attainment of their object is, mutatis mutandis, almost a transcript of them. Mr Thomas Simpson by embodying them in his obedience transmuted them into success. They are not the instructions of men who never encountered any ice, except the ices of Grosvenor square. Nothing struck us more in perusing them than their superiority over all the instructions we have seen, in precision of knowledge both of the country, of the means of exploring it, and of what the expedition could do-except perhaps another quality, which they exhibit in even a still higher degree, the union of a latitude of action which left the expedition completely untrammelled, with a degree of firm reliance on the courage of the adventurers which must have nerved them to brave every peril. The instructions being, as we have said, embodied in the narrative of Mr Thomas Simpson, which we now quote, it is unnecessary to print them here-though it is right to observe that, for a copy of them, as well as of the narrative, we are indebted to the courtesy of the Hudson's Bay Company. The route described in the narrative, we have illustrated by a map of the country through which it lies, taken from one of the admirable maps published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. On it the now discovered coast is marked "undiscovered;" while a pretty accurate idea of the discoveries themselves may be formed from the sketch survey made by Mr Arrowsmith from the narrative, at the request of the Hudson's Bay Company, of which we have been politely enabled to supply our readers with a reduced copy. "Fort Norman, 5th September, 1837. "HONOURABLE SIRS,-We have now the honour to report the complete success of the expedition this summer to the westward of Mackenzie's River. "Our arrangements up to the departure of the expedition from Fort Chipewyan were stated in full to Governor Simpson and the Northern Council, who, no doubt, communicated them to your Honours; we shall, therefore, present a brief detail of our subsequent operations. "On the 1st June we quitted Fort Chipewyan, with two small sea-boats, accompanied by a luggage-boat and a party of hunters, for Great Bear Lake; visited the salt plains, and arrived at Great Slave Lake on the 10th, where we were detained by ice until the 21st. The same cause prolonged our passage across that inland sea, and, having been for two days stopped by a strong contrary wind at the head of Mackenzie's River, it was the 1st July when we reached Fort Norman. Our Indians cast up on the following day, and the crews and cargoes were finally divided and arranged. Our boat-builder, John Ritch, received his instructions to proceed immediately, with a fisherman, two other labourers, and the hunters, to Great Bear Lake, and at its north-eastern extremity to erect our winter-quarters, and lay in a stock of provisions against our return from the coast. We then took our departure, and on the 4th reached Fort Good Hope. There we found an assemblage of Hare Indians and Loucheux. The latter informed us that three of their tribe had been killed and a fourth severely wounded by the Esquimaux in the preceding month, which at once put an end to our intention of procuring an intepreter from among them, although several volunteered to accompany us in that capacity. They at the same time earnestly cautioned us to beware of the treacherous arts of their enemies. On the 9th July we reached the ocean by the most westerly mouth of the Mackenzie, which Sir John Franklin sought for in vain. It is situated in lat. 68° 49' N., long. 136° 37′ W., and perfectly answers the description which the Esquimaux messengers gave of it to that officer when they came to apprise him of the intended attack by the Mountain Indians. We "We had proceeded but a short distance to seaward, when a party of nineteen men came off to us from Tent Island. gave each of them a small present, a practice which we continued throughout the voyage, and employed our vocabularies to the best of our ability, and to their great surprise, to explain the friendly feeling of the whites toward their tribe. Being a lively and communicative people, we in the course of the season acquired some facility in our intercourse with them, and when words failed, signs supplied their place, so that we seldom experienced much diffi culty in making ourselves understood, or in comprehending their meaning. When indulged, however, they always became daring and excessively troublesome, and they were ever on the look-out for plunder. On this first meeting they made several unsuc cessful attempts in that way, and it was no easy matterto induce them to return to their camp, after we had finished our business with them. They said they wished to accompany us to our encampment, where they would have soon been joined by fresh parties, and we had a shoal and dangerous navigation before us that night. We therefore peremptorily ordered them back; but it was not until we fired a ball over their heads that they put about and paddled off. A storm soon after arose, but we made the land in safety the following morning at Shingle Point, in lat. 69°, where we were detained until the 11th. The thermometer had already fallen to 48° (Fahr.) being 30° lower than on the evening we left the Mackenzie River, and, instead of the bright and beautiful weather we enjoyed in our descent of that noble stream, we were now doomed to travel in cold dense fogs, which enveloped us during nearly the whole of our progress along the coast. But although they perplexed and retarded us, we never allowed them to arrest our course, nor did we ever throughout the voyage encamp but when compelled to do so by ice or contrary winds, to which line of conduct may, under Providence, be ascribed the early and successful accomplishment of our undertaking. In the afternoon of the 11th July we reached Point Key, where we were detained by a compact body of ice occupying Phillip's Bay until the 14th. There we were visited by another party of Esquimaux, whose tents were pitched at no great distance from us. They live in the country bordering on Babbage River, and informed, us that, except when flooded by the melting of the mountain snows, it is an insignificant stream, not fifty yards in breadth of this we had ocular proof in a clear day on our return. A handsome flora was collected in this neighbourhood. Having found a passage through the ice in Phillip's Bay, we reached Herschel Island the same evening (14th July), and had intercourse with other parties of the natives, who were pretty numerous along this part of the coast. We found on the island the skull of a whale eight feet in breadth; and whalebone is everywhere an article in extensive use among the natives, especially for the making of their nets and the fastenings of their sledges. We continued our route before an easterly wind, along and through the ice, with very little interruption till two A.M. of the 17th, when an unbroken pack, e tending to seaward, made us seek the shore in Camden Bay, near a considerable camp of Esquimaux. As soon as the fears of the latter were removed, an amicable meeting took place, and, having made them the usual presents, we purchased a good many of their mouth ornaments, weapons, and other articles, which will be for : ex |