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delineating it in the full proportion of its beauty. Thus, seeing me look at her head, she immediately bent it down; stared portentously when I sketched her eyes; puffed out her cheeks when their turn arrived; and, finally, perceiving that I was touching in the mouth, opened it to the full extent of her jaws, and thrust out the whole length of her tongue. She had six tattooed lines drawn obliquely from the nostrils across each cheek; eighteen from her mouth across her chin and the lower part of the face; ten small ones, branching like a larch tree from the corner of each eye; and eight from the forehead to the centre of the nose between the eyebrows. But what was most remarkable in her appearance was the oblique position of the eyes; the inner portion of which was considerably depressed, whilst the other was proportionately elevated. The nostrils were a good deal expanded, and the mouth large. Her hair was jet black, and simply parted in front into two large curls, or rather festoons, which were secured in their places by a fillet of white deer skin twined round the head, whilst the remainder hung loose behind the ears, or flowed not ungracefully over her neck and shoulders. She was the most conspicuous, though they were all of the same family: they were singularly clean in their persons and garments; and, notwithstanding the linear embellishments of their faces, in whose mysterious figures a mathematician might perhaps have found something to solve or perplex, they possessed a sprightliness which gave them favour in the eyes of my crew, who declared 'they were a set of bonnie-looking creatures.""

Our Captain was now informed that the crew were unable to convey the boat over the portage; so taking advantage of the good humour of the Indians, he asked them to give him a helping hand. They cheerfully complied, and the boat was launched below the fall. Our party proceeded down the river to Cockburn's Bay, and thence to Victoria headland. Small islands were seen to the left, after which they entered a large bay. As they rounded Point Beaufort, the drift ice came down so rapidly that they were forced to land, in order to secure the boat from being staved in. They were detained here by the ice until August 1st. When the boat was again launched, they were again stopped by the ice. August 3d-Parties were sent out in different directions, to ascertain if it was possible to creep along shore among the grounded pieces; but they reported unfavourably. The evening of this day was spent in the performance of divine service.

On the 5th, our traveller reconnoitred from a hill, and discovered a large space of open water before him. When the wind abated they got under way, passed the open space, again were stopped by ice, and landed. An exploring party was sent ahead, who at night returned wearied and exhausted. They described the land as low and swampy, and some miles off there was an appearance of open water.

August 7th-Under the force of the wind the ice separated, and our party proceeded under sail, at the rate of five knots an hour. After a delightful sail they were again stopped. During the night the rain was incessant, and the light of the morning

disclosed a mass of ice closely packed along the shore. The raw and chilly atmosphere, together with the want of warm food, had excited the fears of Captain Back for the health of his crew-the more so, as M'Kenzie had for some days been so bloated and swollen, as to be unable to attend to his duty. The rest of the men, however, remained in good health.

The people were now despatched in search of fuel; but though they went a distance of ten miles, were unsuccessful. They continued here for some hours, suffering much from the weather.

"The place where we encamped, and, indeed, every foot of this sandy soil, was covered with small shells resembling cockles and bivalves. Innumerable rills of fresh water ran in opposite directions from the central ridge. About 8 P. M. the rain began to fall again, though without at all clearing the fog, and the wind from the north-west increased to a strong breeze. A shout of 'What have you got there?' announced the return of the men: the jocular answer of 'A piece of the North Pole' immediately brought Mr. King and myself from out the tent; and we found that they had really picked up a piece of drift-wood nine feet long and nine inches in diameter, together with a few sticks of smaller drift-wood and a part of a kieyack. When the large trunk was sawed, I was rather surprised to see it very little sodden with water; a proof that it could not have been exposed for any considerable length of time to its action. From the peculiar character of the wood, which was pine, of that kind which is remarkable for its freedom from knots, I had no doubt that it had originally grown somewhere in the upper part of the country, about the M'Kenzie, and of this I was the more competent to judge from my recollection of the drift-wood west of that large river, which it exactly resembled. Though we had strong reasons to be grateful for this unlooked-for treasure, as affording us the means of enjoying a hot meal-the first for several days,-yet there were other considerations which gave it in my eyes a far greater importance. In it I saw what I thought an incontrovertible proof of the set of a current from the westward along the coast to our left, and that consequently we had arrived at the main line of the land; for it is a fact well known to the officers of both Sir John Franklin's expeditions, that the absence of drift-wood was always regarded as an infallible sign that we had gone astray from the main, either among islands or in some such opening as Bathurst's Inlet, where, by reason of the set of the current, not a piece of any size was found."

The 13th of August set in with rain; but a narrow lake of water was seen between the grounded ice and the main body: preparations were made to get under way, when the wind chopped round and prevented it. On the 14th, the boat was lifted over various impediments, and launched in open water. On the 15th, the weather became calm, and the ice again set in to the southward. Our author reconnoitred from a hill, and saw a closely packed mass of ice, extending to the horizon. The appearance and marks of the surrounding region are here minutely described by Captain Back; we omit them, as also the reasons which induced him, at this point, to turn his face southwardly, on his return to Fort Reliance. We have, of

course, been under the necessity of omitting many interesting circumstances, for which we must refer the reader to the journal itself. Suffice it to say, that our Captain assembled his men, and informed them that the period fixed by his majesty's government for the return of the expedition had arrived; and that now it only remained to unfurl the British flag, and salute it with three cheers, whilst this portion of America should receive the name of William the Fourth's Land. This information was received by the crew with great joy, and the service was performed with befitting loyalty.

Our party were now on their way to their old winter quarters; on the morning of the 17th they reached Point Beaufort; the gale set in with great violence, and a heavy snow fell, so that they were forced to seek refuge on the shore. On the 19th, the wind abated and they proceeded towards the river; and in the afternoon, the gale again arising, they sought shelter under Victoria Headland. On the 21st, they reached the lower fall, where they had seen the Esquimaux: they were no longer there. Four miles farther, the tents they had before seen, were discovered, pitched on the bank of a strong rapid. It was impossible for the boat to cross this rapid, and the natives could not be induced to approach.

On the 30th, they ascended the long and hazardous rapids, leading to Lake Garry, the 31st, they came upon a large encampment of Esquimaux. Our author approached, with demonstrations of friendship, but the Indians retreated, and our party proceeded on their way. September the 6th, they passed Baillie's River, and, ascending a long rapid, came to Lake Beechy. On the 19th, they crossed Musk Ox Lake, and found themselves abreast of Icy River. The next day they got to the first portage on the Thlew-ee-choh, and on the 17th, met Mr. M'Leod, with six men, who had been waiting several days already at Sand Hill Bay.

For two days the weather was very tempestuous, and our party could not move. On the 20th our author set out, leaving M'Leod, to follow at his leisure, that he might hunt along the shores of the lake: they then crossed Lake Aylmer, and got into Clinton Colden Lake,-passing the rapids of Little River they encamped on the western shore of Artillery Lake. About noon, on the 24th, they got to the Ah-hel-dessy. They proceeded, over rapids, falls, and portages, along this troublesome stream. Our traveller thus describes a cascade on the river:

"From the only point at which the greater part of it was visible, we could distinguish the river coming sharp round a rock, and falling into an upper basin almost concealed by intervening rocks; whence it broke in one vast sheet into a chasm between four and five hundred feet deep, yet in appearance so narrow that we fancied we could almost step

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across it. Out of this the spray rose in misty columns several hundred feet above our heads; but as it was impossible to see the main fall from the side on which we were, in the following spring I paid a second visit to it, approaching from the western bank. The road to it, which I then traversed in snow shoes, was fatiguing in the extreme, and scarcely less dangerous; for, to say nothing of the steep ascents, fissures in the rocks, and deep snow in the valleys, we had sometimes to creep along the narrow shelves of precipices, slippery with the frozen mist that fell on them. But it was a sight which well repaid any risk. My first impression was of a strong resemblance to an iceberg, in Smeerenberg Harbour, Spitzbergen. The whole face of the rocks forming the chasm was entirely coated with blue, green, and white ice, in thousands of pendent icicles: and there were, moreover, caverns, fissures, and overhanging ledges in all imaginable varieties of form, so curious and beautiful as to surpass any thing of which I had ever heard or read."

On the 27th the journey was resumed, and at noon our party arrived at their old winter quarters, after an absence of nearly four months. It now remained to make arrangements for passing the winter comfortably; and to that end all necessary means were adopted for obtaining supplies of provisions. M'Leod, with all the men except six, went to the fisheries, and our captain remained at the fort.

The manner in which the winter passed, and some few incidents of little interest, are briefly related in the narrative.

On the 21st of March Captain Back took leave of Mr. M'Leod; and soon after, reached Fort Resolution. On the 10th of April he arrived at Fort Chippewyan. After detentions at several places, he got to Norway House, in Jack River, and soon after set out for Montreal, with a crew of Iroquois, and Canadians; having, at their desire, discharged his own men.

At Sault Ste-Marie our Captain was received by the commandant of the American garrison, with a salute of guns. On the 6th of August, he arrived at La Chine; having, since he left it, travelled over a distance of seven thousand five hundred miles.

Captain Back reached New York on the 17th of August, and embarked for Liverpool, where he arrived on the 8th of September, after an absence of two years and seven months. Mr. King, with eight men, reached England, in the company's ship in October.

The reader will perceive, from the abstract we have given, that the primary object of the expedition had ceased to be of importance at an early stage of it. Its secondary object seems to have been but partially accomplished.

The hope, so strongly cherished by our author, of discovering the wanderers, was the great impulse to all his exertions-his support under much privation and suffering; and the enthusiasm with which he had undertaken, and for some time prose

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cuted the enterprise, was doubtless greatly diminished by the intelligence of Ross's return to England.

The journey was continued to the point we have indicated, with a comparatively flagging spirit; when, discouraged by the obstacles which Nature opposed to him, our traveller began his homeward voyage. The important object of ascertaining the existence of a passage along the coast to Point Turnagain, was not effected; nor can we perceive from our examination of the journal, that the secondary instructions of the committee, in many other particulars, were satisfactorily accomplished.

Our author draws an inference, from circumstances which he details, in favour of the existence of a southern channel to Regent's Inlet; but whether or not his inference is a correct one, must be ascertained by the researches of future discoverers.

Referring the learned reader to a copious appendix to the Journal, for much valuable scientific information, we close our notice of this interesting narrative.

ART. VII.-Works of Chateaubriand. 22 vols. Pourrat, frères. Paris: 1832.

The Vicomte de Chateaubriand, during all the term of the Consulate, the Empire, and the Restoration, and even until now, has been in possession of one of the most distinguished literary reputations of his time--second for its brilliancy certainly only to that of Madame de Stäel, far inferior as he is to her and to many others in substantial merit and real genius. The Vicomte is an extraordinary study; he is multifarious and amusing as an individual, and valuable as a specimen of a Frenchman; and after you have sufficiently considered what he really is, it is curious enough to compare your conclusions, with respect to him, with his own ideas of himself. He is the most plausible of human beings; you can never take him without his reasons; no matter how incongruous, jarring, or inconsequent any given collection of his sayings or doings may seem to you, he will put them all into a story which, like a kaleidoscope, will show them in beautiful symmetry. He is approaching the end of a pretty long life, from the events of which he has it at his choice to produce a thread of any given colour, and to prove to you that he has always consistently guided himself by that. He chooses legitimacy and piety and real civil and religious liberty, and certainly

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