(lass. Pki;si-:NT):i) i!^' y^ JNli;w-iwxviv: HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFFST- 1 83 6. / I :northeiix KS TOASTS I or V.----^ I JU*<,^»/«,, r„r<.n(/«; tJi^4^T ^Fsfe A S 3 ?, ^.«. A- T) * "'■,"< I "^X ^ T s ( n ^ Z^" iCKr»%if",-:-.ia^ V^-#' Miss Alice H. Bushee Jan. 6,1932 CHAPTER X. SKETCH OF THE GKOtOGICAL FEATURES OF SOME OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICTS OF AMKRICA. Frozen Subsoil of Hudson's Bay — Primitive Rocks of Hayes River — Hill River — Borders of Knee Lake — Remarkable Rock-island of Mag- netic Iron Ore — Lake Winipcg — Limestone District — Fort Chijjewyan — Carp Lake — Gneiss Formation of the Barren Grounds — Trans{)are7it Waters of Great Bear Lake— Fort Franklin— Bear Lake River— Lig- nite Formation of Mackenzie River — Spontaneous Fire — Vipe Clay— Alluvial Islands at the Mouib of the Mackenzie — Copper Mountains — Coppermine River — Islands of the Arctic Sea — Arctic Shore — Cape Barrow — Galena Point— Moore's Bay— Bankes's Peninsula — Barry's Island — Cape Croker— Point Turnagain — General Occurrence of the New Red Sand Stone — Hood's River — Wiiberforce Falls — Gneiss For- mation—General Summary 320 APPENDIX. Remarks on a late Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, with a Vinpi- CATioN OF Richard Hakluyt 333 ENGRAVINGS. Map of tho Northern Coasts of America To fact the VignetU ViaNKTTE— Scene near Mount Coplestone, or Western Termination of the Rocky Mountains. Portrait of Hernan Cortes Page Sff Group of Esquimaux west of the Mackenzie River 192 Grizzly Bear 238 American Gray Wolf 24& Hare Indian or Mackenzie River Dog 249 Head of the American Black Elk 263 Rocky Mountain Goat, and Rocky Mountain Sheep 267 (Sabine's Gull ...297 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY ON THE MORE NORTHERN COASTS OF AMERICA. CHAPTER I. Discovery of North America — Early Voyages of the Portu* guese, French, and Spaniards. First Discovery of North America by John Cabot — Voyages of Sebastian Cabot— Of the Cortereals— Disrovery of Labrador— French Discov- eries—Voyages of Verazzano— Of Jacques Carrier— Discovery of Can- ada— Spanish Voyages of Discovery — Cortes — Ulloa— Alarchon — Vis- caiuo. When we peruse the lives of such men as De Gama and Columbus, and consider the complicated difficulties over- come by these early navigators, their imperfect means, and the dark and defective state of their knowledge, it is difficult to repress astonishment at the success- which attended their exertions, and the magnitude and splendour of their discov- eries. In reflecting, indeed, upon so great a theme as the revelation of a new world, it becomes us to raise our minds from the region of second causes to the awful contempla- tion of that Almighty Being who confounds the calcula- tions of man by bringing stupendous results out of the feeblest human preparations ; and it is one of the finest features in the character of Columbus, that he invariably acted under the conviction of being selected by God for the task which he at length accomplished ; but the admiration B 14 COLUMBUS. with which we regard this great man, and that belongs, though in an inferior degree, to many of his contempora- ries in the field of discovery, is enhanced rather than dimin- ished by this union of simple and primitive faith with ar- dent genius and undaunted resolution. A former volume has been devoted to the description of the daring efforts which have been made to explore the Polar Seas ; and we now proceed to direct our attention to another, and no less interesting and important chapter in the history of human enterprise, — the discovery of North America, and the progress of maritime adventure on the more northern coasts of this vast continent. Without detracting in any degree from the fame of Columbus, it may be mentioned as a remarkable circumstance, that although the admiral landed in Hispaniola as early as the 4ih of February, 1493, he did not ascertain the existence of the continent of South America till the 30th of May, 1498 ; while there is certain evidence that, almost a year before, an English vessel had reached the shores of North America. As much obscurity hangs over the circumstances of this early voyage, and as I have arrived at a conclusion completely at variance with that adopted by a late acute writer,* it will be necessary to dwell with some minuteness on the history of this great event. The attention paid to navigation by the commercial states of Italy, and especially by the republics of Genoa and Venice, is familiar to all acquainted with the history of Europe during the fifteenth century. Italian merchants and agents of opulent commercial houses were found settled in every European state ; and the impetus communicated to the human mind by the discoveries of the Portuguese and the Spaniards rendered the sciences of cosmography and navigation the most popular subjects of instruction which were taught in the schools. A devotion to them became fashionable among the noble and ardent youths, who asso- ciated with them all that was romantic and delightful ; * The author of the Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 50, 51, an anony- mous work, which contains much ingenious criticism and valuable research. It is, however, unhappily confused in its arrangement, and written throughout in a tone of asperity which, in the discussion of a subject of remote biography, is unpleasant and uncalled for. The author has been unjustly severe in his animadversions on the labours of Hak- luyt, of whom a brief Vindication will be found at the end of this volume JOHN CABOT. 15 mey were considered as the certain guides to daring and successful maritime adventure, and the handmaids to wealth and fame. It was about this momentous period, in the year 1494, that we find a Venetian, named John Ccbot, or Gabota, residing in the opulent city of Bristol. At what precise time he settled in England is not now discoverable ; we only know that he left Italy for the purpose of devoting himself to the mercantile profession. He was one of those enthusiastic spirits upon whom the career of Columbus made a deep impression ; and about a year after the return of the great Genoese from his first voyage, the merchant of Bristol appears to have embraced the idea that new lands might be discovered in the north-west, and a passage in all probability attained by this course to India.* Animated by such a project, Cabot addressed himself to Henry VII., and found immediate encouragement from that monarch, who, though of a cold and cautious disposition, was seldom slow to listen to any proposal which promised an increase of wealth to his exchequer. On the 5th of March, 1 495, the king granted his royal commission to John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and his sons, Louis, Sebastian, and Sanchez, committing to him and them, and to their heirs and deputies, full authority to sail to all countries and seas of the east, west, and north, under the banner of England, with five ships, of whatever burden and strength in mariners they might choose to em- ploy. The equipment of this squadron was cautiously stip- ulated to be made " at their own proper costs and charges ;" and its object stated to be the discovery of the isles, regions, and provinces of the heathen and infidels which hitherto had been unknown to all the nations of Christendom, in what- ever part of the globe thev might be placed. By the same deed the Cabots were emi >;wered to set up the banners and ensigns of England in the newly-discovered countries ; to subdue and possess them as lieutenants of the king ; and to enjoy the privilege of exclusive trade : the wary mon- arch, however, annexing to these privileges the condition, that he was to receive the fifth part of the capital gain upon every voyage, and binding their ships to return to the port of Bristol.! ♦ Tiraboschi, Storia della Letter. Ital., vol. vi. b. i. cap. 6. $ 24. t I have nearly followed the words of this important document, which is still preserved. Rymer, Fcedera Angliae, vol. xii. p. 595, 16 JOHN CABOT DISCOVERS NORTH AMERICA. Two important facts are ascertained by this authentic document : it proves that John Cabot, a citizen of Venice, was the principal author of, and adventurer ui, the project ; and that no voyage with a similar object had been undertaken prior to the 5th of March, 1495. The expedition, however, did not sail till the spring of 1497, more than a twelvemonth subsequent to the date of the original commission. What occasioned this delay it is now difficult to determine ; but as the fleet was to be equipped at the sole expense of the adventurers, it is not improbable that Cabot had required the interval to raise the necessary capital. It is much to be regretted that in no contemporary chronicle is there any detailed account of the voyage. We know, however, that it was conducted by John Cabot in person, who took with him hi? son Sebastian, then a very young man. Its result was undoubtedly the discovery of North America ; and although the particulars of this great event are lost, its exact date has been recorded by an unexceptionable witness, not only to a day, but even to an hour. On an ancient map, drawn by Sebastian Cabot, the son, whose name appears in the commission by the king, engraved by Clement Adams, a contemporary, and pub- lished, as there is reason to believe, under the eye of Sebas- tian, was written in Latin the following brief but clear and satisfactory account of the discovery : — "In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and his son Sebastian, discovered that country, which no one before his time had ventured to approach, on the 24th of June, about five o'clock in the morning. He called the land Terra Primum Visa, because, as I conjecture, this was the place that first met his eyes in looking from the sea. On the contrary, the island which lies opposite the land he called the Island of St. John, — as I suppose, because it was discovered on the festival of St. John the Baptist. The inhabitants wear beasts' skins and the intestines of animals for clothing, es- teeming them as highly as we do our most precious gar- ments. In war their weapons are the bow and arrow, spears, darts, slings, and wooden clubs. The country is Bteril and uncultivated, producing no fruit ; from which circumstance it happens that it is crowded with white bears, and stags of an unusual height and size. It yields plenty DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA. 17 of fish, and these very large ; such as seals and salmon ; there are soles also above an ell in length ; but especially great abundance of that kind of fish called in the vulgar tongue baccalaos. In the same island, also, breed hawks, so black in their colour that they wonderfully resemble ravens ; besides which there are partridges and eagles of dark plumage."* Such is the notice of the discovery of North America ; and as some doubt has lately been thrown upon the subject, it may be remarked that the evidence of the fact contained in this inscription is perfectly unexceptionable. It comes from Clement Adams, the intimate friend of Richard Chancelor ; and Chancelor lived, as is well known, in habits of daily inter- course with Sebastian Cabot, who accompanied his father on the first voyage of discovery. Unfortunately, both the original map and the engraving are lost ; but happily Purchas has presei-ved the information that the engraved map by Adams bore the date of 1549 ;t at which time Sebastian Cabot was in such great reputation at the court of Edward VI., that for his services he had received a princely pension. This young monarch, as we learn from Burnet, showed a peculiar fondness for maritime aflfairs. He possessed a collection of charts, which were hung up in his cabinet, and among them was the engraving of Cabot's map. The inscription, therefore, must have been seen there and elsewhere by Sebastian ; and, when we consider that the date of the en- graving corresponds with the time when he was in high favour with the king, it does not seem improbable that this navigator, to gratify his youthful and royal patron, employed Adams to engrave from his own chart the map of North America, and that the facts stated in the inscription were furnished by himself The singular minuteness of its terms seems to prove this ; for who but he, or some one personally present, after the lapse of fifty-two years, could have com- municated the information that the discovery was made about five o'clock in the morning of the 24th June ? If, however, this is questioned as being conjectural, the fact that Sebastian must have seen the inscription is sufficient to render the evidence perfectly conclusive upon the important point of John Cabot being the discoverer of North America * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 6. t Purchas's Pilgrims, vol. iii p. 807, B2 18 DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA. That he had along with him in his ship his son Sebastian cannot, we think, in the opinion of any impartial person, detract from or infringe upon the merit of the father. But, to complete the proof, a late writer has availed himself of an imperfect extract from a record of the rolls, furnished by the industrious Hakluyt, to discover an original document which sets the matter altogether at rest. This is the second commission for discovery, granted by Henry VII. on the 3d of February, and in the thirteenth year of his reign, to the same individual who conducted the first expedition. The letters are directed to John Kabotto, Venetian, and permit him to sail with six ships " to the land and' isles of late found by the said John in our name and by our command- ment."* It presents a singular picture of the inability of an ingenious and otherwise acute mind to estimate the weight of historical evidence, when we find the biographer of Sebastian Cabot insisting, in the face of such a proof as this, that the glory of the first discovery of North America is solely due to Sebastian, and that it may actually be doubted whether his father accompanied the expedition at all.f Immediately after the discovery the elder Cabot appears to have returned to England ; and on the 10th of August we find, in the privy purse expenses of Henry VII., the sum of ten pounds awarded to him who found the New Isle, which was probably the name then given to Newfoundland. Although much engrossed at this moment with the troubles which arose in his kingdom in consequence of the Cornish rebellion, the war with Scotland, and the attempt upon the crown by Perkin Warbeck, the king determined to pursue the enterprise, and to encourage a scheme for colonization under the conduct of the original discoverer. To this enter- prising navigator he, on the 3d of February, 1497,t granted those second letters-patent just alluded to, which conferred an ampler authority and more favourable terms than the first commission. He empowered John Kabotto, Venetian, to take at his pleasure six English ships, with their necessary- apparel, and to lead them to the land and isles lately found by him according to the royal command. Cabot was also permitted to receive on board all such masters, mariners, * Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 76. f Ibid. p. 50. i Old style,— 1498, new style. SEBASTIAN CABOT. 19 pages, and other subjects, as chose to accompany him ; and it seems probable, from some entries in the privy purse expenses, that Launcelot Thirkill of London, Thomas Brad- ley, and John Carter, embarked in the adventure.* When about to set sail on his second voyage, John Cabot, who had previously received from Henry the honour of knighthood, appears, from some cause not now discoverable, to have been prevented frum taking the command ;t and though the name of Sebastian was not included in the second royal commission, he was promoted to the situation left vacant by his father. He must still indeed have been a young man ; but he had accompanied the first voyage, and at an early age developed that genius for naval enterprise which afterward so remarkably distinguished him. We know from his account of himself that, at the time his parents carried him from Venice to London, he had attained some knowledge of the sphere ; and when about this period the great discovery of Columbus began to be talked of in England as a thing almost more divine than human, the effect of it upon his youthful imagination was to excite " a mighty longing," to use his own words, " and burning desire in his heart that he too should perform some illustrious action."t With such dispositions we may easily imagine how rapid must have been his progress in naval science, with the benefit of his father's example and instructions. It is not matter of surprise, therefore, that, though probably not more than twenty-three years old, the conduct of the enterprise was intrusted to him. He accordingly sailed from England with two ships in the summer of 1498, and directing his course by Iceland soon reached Newfoundland, which he called Terra de Baccalaos, from the great quantity of fish of ih-At name. Of this remarkable voyage a short account is preserved by Peter Martyr, the historian of the New World, a writer of high authority, and so intimate a friend of the navigator, * See Mr. Nicholas's excellent collection entitled Excerpta Historica, p. 116, 117. T The cause might be his death ; but this is conjecture,— of the fact there is no direct proof; of (he knighthood ii is not possible to doubt. See, in the Vindication of Hakluyt, the remarks on the errors of the biog« rapher of Cabot in his chapter on this subject. I Ra[nusio,Viaggi, vol. i. p. 414. 20 SEBASTIAN CABOT. that, at the time he wrote the passage which we now give, Sebastian was in the habit of paying him frequent visits at his house. " These northern seas," says this writer, " have been navigated and explored by Sebastian Cabot, a Vene- tian by birth, whom his parents, when they were setting out to settle in Britain, according to the common custom of the Venetians, who for the sake of commercial adventure be- come citizens of every country, carried along with them when he was little more than an infant.* He fitted out two ships in England at his own charges, and first with three hundred men directed his course so far towards the North Pole, that even in the month of July he found great heaps of ice swimming in the sea, and almost continual daylight. Yet he saw the land free from ice, which had been melted by the heat of the sun. Thus, observing such masses of ice before him, he was compelled to turn his sails and follow the west ; and, coasting still by the shore, was brought so far into the south, by reason of the land bending much to the southward, that it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea called Fretum Herculeum. He sailed to the west till he had the Island of Cuba on his left-hand, almost in the same longitude. As he passed along those coasts, called by him Baccalaos, he affirmed that he found the same current of the waters towards the west which the Spaniards met with in the southern navigations, with the single differ- ence that they flowed more gently. From this circum- stance it appears to me," says Martyr, " not only a probable, but an almost necessary conclusion, that there must exist, between both the continents, hitherto unknown, great gaps or open places, through which the waters continually pass from the east to the west. * * * Sebastian Cabot him- self named these lands Baccalaos, because in the seas thereabout he found such an immense multitude of large fish like tunnies, called baccalaos by the natives, that they actually impeded the sailing of his ships. He found also the inhabitants of these regions covered with beasts' skins, yet not without the use of reason. He also relates that there are plenty of bears in these parts, which feed upon * Cabot was born in England, and carried by his father into Italy when 'our years old. He was afterward brought back to England when a youth, " assai glovane."— Ramusio, vol. i. p. 414. Memoir of Cabot, p. 69 martyr's account of his voyage. 21 fish. It. is the practice of these animals to throw themselves into the midst of the shoals of fish, and each seizing his prey, to bury their claws in the scales, drag them to land, and there devour them. On this account, he says, that these bears meddle little with men. * * * Cabot is my inti- mate friend, and one whom it is my delight to have frequently under my roof; for, being called out of England by the command of the King of Castile after the death of Henry VII., he was made one of our council and assistants relating to the affairs of the new Indies ; and he looks daily for ships to be fitted out for him that he may discover this hidden secret of nature. I expect," concludes Peter Martyr, " that he will be able to set out on his voyage during the course of the next year, 1516, and in the month of March."* When it is known that Sebastian Cabot's second voyagef from England to North America did not take place till 1517, it becomes certain that the above passage, written in 1515, must relate to the expedition of 1498 ; and remembering that the author was personally intimate with this navigator, •and wrote only seventeen years after the voyage had taken place, we are inclined to set a high value on such an authority. It is deeply to be regretted that the original maps drawn by so eminent a discoverer, and the discourses with which he illustrated them, are now lost ;t but in this deficiency of original materials the work of Ramusio, — a collector of voyages who was a contemporary of Cabot, — supplies some valuable information. In the first volume of his Voyages this amusing writer has introduced a discourse upon the different routes by which the spices of the East were conveyed in ancient times to Europe ; and towards the conclusion of the essay he brings in a subject which then deeply occupied the attention of learned men, — the project, namely, for discovering a passage to the kingdom of Cathay and the coasts of India, by the * Peter Martvr, De Orbe Novo, 3d decad. cap. 6. Edition by Hakluyt p. 232.— Eden's Translation in Willes's Hist, of Travayle, p. 125.— The hidden secret, or natural phenomenon, of which Cabot was expected to penetrate the cause, is stated by iVIartyr at p. 231,— it was to resolve the question, " Why the seas in these parts run with so swift a current from the east to the west ?" t Although the son accompanied the father, I consider the voyage at 1497 as solely conducted by John Cabot. X Memoir of Cabot, p. 41. 22 RAMUsio : north-west. In the discussion of this point, Ramusio mi- nutely describes a conversation which took place at the villa of the celebrated Italian physician and poet Fracastoro, between Ramusio himself, Fracastoro, an architect named St. Michael, and a certain philosopher and mathematician, who gave them an account of an interview which he once had with Sebastian Cabot in the city of Seville. The whole passage is interesting, whether we look to the infor- mation regarding Cabot, or to the pleasing picture it brings before us of the great Fracastoro in his philosophic and classical retreat at Caphi. No apology, therefore, need be made for presenting it to the reader. " Having thus given you," says the Italian writer, " all that I could extract from ancient and modern authors upon this subject, it would be inexcusable in me if I did not relate a high and admirable discourse which some few months ago it was my good fortune to hear, in company with the excellent architect Michael de St. Michael, in the sweet and romantic country- seat of Hieronymo Fracastoro, named Caphi, situated near Verona, while we sat on the top of a hill commanding a view of the whole of the Lago di Garda. * * * Being then, as I said, at Caphi, where we had gone to visit our excellent friend Hieronymo, we found him on our arrival sitting in company with a certain gentleman, whose name, from mo- tives of delicacy and respect, I conceal. He was, however, a profound philosopher and mathematician, and at that moment engaged in exhibiting to Fracastoro an instrument lately constructed to show a new motion of the heavens. Having reasoned upon this point for a long time, they by way of recreation caused a large globe, upon which the world was minutely laid down, to be brought ; and, having this before him, the gentleman I have mentioned began to speak to the following purpose." Ramusio, after this intro- duction, gives us, as proceeding from the stranger, a great mass of geographical information, after which he introduces him discussing with Fracastoro the probability of a north- west passage to India. " At this point of his conversation," says he, " after the stranger had made a pause for a few mo- jnents, he turned to us and said, ' Do you not know, regarding this project of going to India by the north-west, what was formerly achieved by your fellow-citizen the Vene- tian, a most extraordinary man, and so deeply conversant in HIS ACCOUNT OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 23 every thing connected with navigation and the science of cosmography, that in these days he hath not his equal in Spain, insomuch that for his ability he is preferred above all other pilots that sail to the West Indies, who may not pass thither without his license, on which account he is denom- inated Piloto Mayor, or Grand Pilot ]' When to this ques- tion we replied that we knew him not, the stranger proceeded to tell us, that being some years ago in the city of Seville he was desirous to gain an acquaintance with the navigations of the Spaniards, when he learned that there was in the city a valiant man, a Venetian born, named Sebastian Cabot, who had the charge of those things, being an expert man in the science of navigation, and one who could make charts for the sea with his own hand. ' Upon this report of him,* continued he, ' I sought his acquaintance, and found him a pleasant and courteous person, who loaded me with kind- ness, and showed me many things ; among the rest a large map of the world, with the navigations of the Portuguese and the Spaniards minutely laid down upon it ; and in ex- hibiting this to me, he informed me that his father, many years ago, having left Venice and gone to settle as a mer- chant in England, had taken him to London when he was still a youth, yet not so backward but he had then ac- quired the knowledge of the Latin tongue, and some ac- quaintance with the sphere. It so happened, he said, that his father died at that time when the news arrived that Don Christopher Columbus had discovered the coast of the Indies, of which there was much talk at the court of Henry VII., who then reigned in England.' " The effect of this discov- ery upon Cabot's youthful ambition, which we have already alluded to, is next described by Ramusio from the report of the stranger, and he then proceeds in these remarkable words : — " ' Being aware,' said Cabot to me, ' that if I sailed with the wind bearing me in a north-westerly course, I should come to India by a shorter route, I suddenly imparted my ideas to the king, who was much pleased with them, and fitted out for me three caravels with all necessary stores and equipments This,' he added, ' was in the beginning of the summer of the year 1496, and I began to sail towards the north-west with the idea that the first land I should make would be Cathay, from which I intended afterward to direct my course to the Indies ; but after the lapse of several 24 sfcBAariAN cabot. jays, having discovered it, I found that the coast ran towards the north to my great disappointment. From thence sailing along it, to ascertaifi if I could find any gulf to run into, I could discover none, and thus having proceeded as far as 56° under the Pole, and seeing that here the coast trended towards the east, I despaired of discovering any passage, and after this turned back to examine the same coast in its direction towards the equinoctial, — always with the same object of finding a passage to the Indies, and thus at last I reached the country at present named Florida, where, since my provisions began to fail me, I took the reso- lution of returning to England. On arriving in that coun- try I found great tumults, occasioned by the rising of the common people and the war in Scotland ; nor was there any more talk of a voyage to these parts. For this reason I departed into Spain to their most Catholic majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, who, having learned what I had ac- complished, received me into their service, provided for me handsomely, and despatched me on a voyage of discovery to the coast of Brazil, where I found an exceeding deep and mighty river, called at present La Plata, into which I sailed and explored its course into the continent more than six- score leagues. * * * This,' continued the stranger gentle- man, addressing himself to us, ' is the substance of all that I learned from the Signor Sebastian Cabot.'"* Such is the passage from Ramusio ; and from it we have another proof that of this second voyage, which probably took place after the death of the original discoverer, Sebas- tian Cabot had the sole command ; that its object was to find a north-west passage to India, and that the highest latitude which he reached was 56°. I am quite aware some of the statements in this extract are erroneous, and that Gomara, an author of good authority, carries Sebastian as far as 58° north ;t but, considering the particular cir- cumstances under v/hich the information is conveyed, there is no reason to doubt that the general sketch of the voyage is correct ; and it establishes the important fact, that as early as 1498, the coast of North America, from the latitude of 56° or 58° north to the coast of Florida, had been dis- covered by the English. The domestic affairs of Henry, * Viaggi del Ramusio, torn. i. p, 413, 414 t Memoir of Cabot, p. 87. CORTEREAL. 25 however, and the involved political negotiations with France and the continent, undoubtedly prevented *he king from holding out to Sebastian that encouragement with which so great a discovery ought to have been rewarded ; and after an interval of fourteen years, of which we have no certain account, this great navigator left England and entered into the service of Spain. The Portuguese, a nation to whose genius and perse- verance the sister sciences of geography and navigation owe some of their highest triumphs, were at this period in the zenith of their fame, animated with an enthusiastic spirit of enterprise, and ready to consider every discovery not conducted by themselves as an encroachment upon their monopoly of maritime glory. Inspired with this jealousy, Gaspar de Cortereal, of whose expedition notice has already been taken in this Library,* determined to pursue the track of discovery opened by Cabot in the north-west, and in 1500 sailed with two ships from Lisbon, animated by the desire of exploring this supposed new route to Lidia.t Cortereal touched at the Azores, where he completed his crews, and took in provisions. He then steered a course never, as far as he knew, traced by any former navigator, and came upon a country to which he gave the name of Terra Verde, but which is carefully to be distinguished from that called Greenland. This was in truth the coast of Labrador, denominated in an old map published at Rome, in 1508, Terra Corterealis. It lay between the west and north-west ; and, after having explored it for upwards of 600 miles without reaching any termination, Cortereal con- cluded that it must form part of the mainland, which was connected with another region discovered in the preceding * Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas, Family Library, No. XIV. ; and Lives and Voyages of Drake, Cavendisli, and Dampier, Ibid. No. XXX. t Cortereal had been educated in the household of the King of Por- tugal before he came to the throne, and when he still bore the title of Duke de Beja. — Damiano Goes, Chronica del Rey Dom. Manuel, c. 66, cap. 66, p. 187. His character, as given by this ancient and contemporary chronicler, is brief and forcible. " Gaspar de Cortereal, son of John Vaz Cortereal, was a man of an enterprising and determined character, ardently thirsting after glory; for which reason he proposed to set out on a voyage of discovery, seeking countries in northern latitudes, we (the Portuguese) having at this time discovered many in southern parts." C 26 CORTEREAL. year in the north, — evidently alluding to the voyage of Se- bastian Cabot in 1498.* The most ciirious and authentic account of this remarkable expedition of the Portuguese Navigator is to be found in a letter, written by Pietro Pas- quiligi, the Venetian ambassador at the court of Portugal, to his brothers in Italy, only eleven days after the return of Cortereal from his first voyage. " On the 8th of Octo- ber," says he, " there arrived in this port one of the two caravels which were last year despatched by the King of Portugal for the discovery of lands lying in the north, un- der the command of Gaspar Cortereal. He relates that he has discovered a country situated between the west and north-west, distant from this about 2000 miles, and which before the present time was utterly unknown. They ran along the coast between 600 and 700 miles without arriving at its termination, on which account they concluded it to be the same continent that is connected with another land dis- covered last year in the north, which, hov^ever, the caravels could not reach, the sea being frozen, and a vast quantity of snow having fallen. They were confirmed in the same opinion by finding so many mighty rivers, which certainly were too numerous and too large to have proceeded from an island. They report that this land is thickly peopled, and that the houses are built of very long beams of timber, and covered with the furs of the skins of fishes. They have brought hither along with them seven of the inhabitants, including men, women, and children ; and in the other caravel, which is looked for every hour, they are bringing fifty more. These people, in colour, figure, stature, and expression, greatly resemble gipsies : they are clothed with the skins of different beasts, but chiefly of the otter, wear- ing the hair outside in summer, and next to the skin in winter. These skins, too, are not sewed together, nor shaped to the body in any fashion, but wrapped around their arms and shoulders exactly as taken from the animals ; while they conceal the parts which nature forbids us to ex- pose with strong cords made of the sinews or entrails of fishes. On this account their appearance is completely savage ; yet they are very sensible to shame, gentle in their manners, and better made in their arms, legs, and * Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 241. CORTEREAL. 27 shoulders than can be expressed. Their faces are punc- tured in the same manner as the Indians ; some have six marks, some eight, some fewer : they use a language of their own, but it is understood by no one. Moreover, I be- lieve that every possible language has been addressed to them. They have no iron in their country, but manufac- ture knives out of certain kinds of stones, with which they point their arrows. They have also brought from this island a piece of a broken sword inlaid with gold, which we can pronounce undoubtedly to have been made in Italy ; and one of the children had in his ears two pieces (todini) of silver, which as .certainly appear to have been made in Venice, — a circumstance inducing me to believe that their country belongs to the continent, since it is evident that if it had been an island where any vessel had touched before this time, we should have heard of it. They have great plenty of salmon, herring, stockfish, and similar kinds of fish. They have also abundance of timber, and principally of the pine, fitted for the masts and yards of ships ; on which account his serene majesty anticipates the greatest advantage from this country, both in furnishing timber for his shipping, of which he at present stands in great need, and also from the men who inhabit it, who appear admira- bly fitted to endure labour, and will probably turn out the best slaves which have been discovered up to this time. This arrival appeared to me an event of which it was right to inform you ; and if on the arrival of the other caravel I receive any additional information, it shall be transmitted to you in like manner."* Nothing could be more cruel and impolitic than the con- duct of Cortereal in seizing and carrying into captivity these unfortunate natives ; and it is difficult to repress our indignation at the heartless and calculating spirit with which the Portuguese monarch entered into the adventure, contemplating the rich supplies of slaves that were to be imported from this new country.! It is an ingenious con- * Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 239, 240. t I observe that in the History of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas, Mr. Murray has questioned the accuracy of the opinion stated by the biographer of Cabot, "that the objects of Cortereal's second voyage were timber and slaves." The letter, however, of Pas- quiligi seems to me decisive that, if not the sole, they were at least very principal objects in the second voyage 28 CORTEREAL. jecture of the biographer of Cabot, to whose research we owe our acquaintance with this letter, that the name Terra de Laborador was given to the coast by the Portuguese slave-merchants in consequence of the admirable qualities of the natives as labourers, and in anticipation of the profits to be derived from a monopoly of this unchristian traffic. But distress and disaster pursued the speculation. On the 15th May, 1501, Cortereal departed on a second voy- age, with a determination to pursue his discovery, and, as we may plausibly conjecture, to return with a new cargo of slaves and timber ; but he was never again heard of. A similar dark and unhappy fate befell his brother, Michael de Cortereal, who sailed with two ships in search of his lost relative, but of whom no accounts ever again reached Portugal. The most probable conjecture seems to be that they both fell victims to the just indignation of the natives, whose wives, children, and fathers had been stolen away during their first visit to the coast. "The king," says Goes, " felt deeply the loss of these two brothers, so much the more as they had been educated by him ; and on this account, moved by royal and gracious tenderness, in the following year, 1503, he sent at his own expense two armed ships in search of them ; but it could never be discovered where or in what manner either the one or the other was lost, on which account this province of Terra Verde, where it was supposed the two brothers perished, was called the Land of the Cortereals."* The description of the inhabit- ants, as given by this contemporary chronicler, contains a few additional particulars to those mentioned by Pasquiligi. " The people of the country," says he, " are very barbarous and uncivilized, almost equally so with the natives of Santa Cruz, except that they are white, and so tanned by the cold that the white colour is lost as they grow older, and they become blackish. They are of the middle size, very lightly made, and great archers. Instead of javelins, they employ sticks burnt in the end, which they use as missiles to as good purpose as if they were pointed with fine steel. They clothe themselves in the skins of beasts, of which there are great plenty in the country. They live in caverns of rocks, and in houses shaped like nests (choupanas). * Damiano Goes, Chronica del Rey Dom. Manuel, part i. c. 66. tiNFOUNDED CLAIM OF THE PORTUGUESE. 29 They have no laws, believe much in auguries, live in mat- rimony, and are very jealous of their wives, — in which things they much resemble the Laplanders, who also in- habit a northern latitude under 70° to 85°, subject to the kings of Norway and Sweden.'*"*" Upon these voyages of the Cortereals the Portuguese attempted to establish a claim to the discovery of Newfound- land and the adjacent coasts of North America, though there is ample historical evidence that both had been visited by the two Cabots three years prior to the departure of Cor- tereal from Lisbon. Maps appear to have been forged to support this unfair assumption ; and in a volume published by Madrignanon at Milan in 1508, which represents itself to be a translation of the Italian work entitled " Paesi Nuovamente Ritrovati," the original letter of Pasquiligi, describing the arrival of Gaspar Cortereal, is disgracefully garbled and corrupted, — for the purpose, as it would seem, of keeping the prior discoveries of the Cabots in the back- ground, and advancing a fabricated claim for the Portuguese.f It is unfortunate that this disingenuous process of poisoning the sources of historic truth has succeeded, and that many authors, not aware of its apocryphal character, which has been acutely exposed by the biographer of Cabot, have given a pernicious currency to the fable of Madrignanon. About fourteen years after his return from the voyage of 1498, we have seen that Sebastian Cabot was induced to enter the service of Spain ; but, though highly esteemed for his eminent abilities, appointed one of the Council of the Indies by Ferdinand, and nominated to the command of an expedition to the north in search of a north-west passage, he appears to have been baffled and thwarted in his plans by the jealousy of the Spaniards, and was at last compelled to abandon them on the death of Ferdinand. He then returned to England ; and, indefatigable in the prosecution of that great object which formed the prominent pursuit of his life, induced Henry VIII. to fit out a small squadron for the dis- covery of the north-west passage to India. Unfortunately, however, for the success of the voyage, Sir Thomas Pert, at this time vice-admiral of England, was intrusted with the * Damiano Goes, Chronica del Rey Dom. Manuel, part i. c. 66, p. 87. t Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 251, 252. C2 30 SEBASTIAN CABOT ENTERS HTJDSON's BAY. supreme command, whose want of courage and resolution was the cause of its ultimate failure. The object of Cabot was to proceed by Iceland towards the American coast, which he had already explored as far as 56°, according to Ramusio, or, if we follow Gomara, 58° north. This would lead him, to use the expression of Thorne,* by the back of Newfoundland, and from this point, pursuing his voyage far- ther to the northward, he expected to find a passage to the kingdom of Cathay. The ships accordingly set sail, and on the 11th of June they had reached the 67^° of northern latitude. They here found the sea open, and Cabot enter- tained a confident hope of sailing through a bay or " fret," which they had then entered, to the shores of the Eastern Cathay, when a mutiny of the mariners, and the faint- heartedness of Sir Thomas Pert, compelled him, much against his inclination, to desist from the further prosecution of the voyage, and return home.f From the high latitude * Letter of Robert Thome.— Hakluyt, edition of 1589, p. 250.— ''And if they will take their course, after they be past the Pole, towards the Occident, they shall goe in the back side of the Newfoundland, which of late was discovered by your grace's subjects, until they come to tho back side and south seas of the Indies Occidental : and so, continuing their voyage, they may return thorow the Straight of Magellan to this country, and so they compass also the world by that way ; and if they goe this third way, and after they be past the Pole, goe right toward the Pole Antarticke, and then decline towards the lands and islands situated between the tropicks and under the equinoctial, without doubt they shall find there the richest lands and islands of the world, of gold, precious stones, balmis, spices, and other thinpes that we here esteem most, which come out of strange countries, and may return the same way." See also Gomara, as quoted in the Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 21. t It is evidently to this third voyage that the passage in Ramusio, vol. iil. p. 4. of the " Discorso sopra U terzo volume," applies. Memoir of Cabot, p. 117. It is valuable, as this author, though he appears by mis- take to have put the name of Henry VII. for that of Henry VIIT., quotes in it a letter which many years before he had received from Sebastian Cabot himself. He (Ramusio) in speaking of the discoveries subsequently made by Verazzano, and of the country of New-France, remarks, that of this land it is not certain as yet whether it is joined to the continent of Florida and New-Spain, or wh«ther it is separated into islands, and may thus admit of a passage to the kingdom of Cathay. " Come," he pro- ceeds, " come mi fii scritto gia molti anni sono, dal Signor Sebastian Gabotto nostro Vinitiano huomo di grande esperienza et raro nell'arte del navigare, e nella scienza di cosmografia : il quale avea na\^ato dis- opra di questa terra della Nuova-Francia a spese del Re Henrico VII. d'Inghilterra e me diciva, come essendoegli andato lungamenteallavolta de poiiente e quarta di Maestro dietro queste Isole poste lungo la delta terra VERAZZANO^S VOYAGE. 31 reached by this enterprising seaman, as well as from the ex- pressions employed by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in speaking of the voyage, it appears certain that Cabot had entered the great bay afterward explored by Hudson, and since known by his name.* It is an extraordinary fact, therefore, but it rests upon evidence which it would be difficult to contro- vert, that ninety years before the first voyage of Hudson he had been anticipated in his principal discovery by an early navigator, to whose merits the world have done little justice. While the Portuguese, the Spaniards, and the English had early entered upon the career of discovery, the French, a people undoubtedly of the highest genius and enterprise, evinced an unaccountable inactivity upon this great subject, and appeared to view with indifference the brilliant suc- cesses of other nations. At length Francis I., a monarch who was deeply smit with the love of glory, caught the en- thusiasm for maritime discovery, and, eager to cope upon equal terms with his great rival Charles V., fitted out a squadron of four ships, the command of which he intrusted to Giovanni Verazzano, a Florentine navigator of great skill and celebrity. The destination of the armament, however, appears to have embraced the purposes of plunder as well as of discovery ; and in a cruise three of his vessels were so much damaged in a storm, that they were compelled, for the purpose of refitting, to run into a port in Brittany, from which, impatient of the delay, the admiral, in a single vessel named the Dauphin, set sail with a determination to prose- cute discoveries. He first steered his course for Madeira, fini a gradi sessanta sette e mezzo sntto il nostro polo a xi. di Guigno e tro- vandosi il mare aperto e senza impedimento alcuno, pensava fermamente per quella via di poter passare alia volta del Cataio Orientale, e I'avrebbe fatto, se la malignita del padrone e de marineri sollevati non I'havessero fatto tornare a dietro." This discourse is dated 20th June, 1553. * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 16. It must be recollected that Sir Humphrey Gilbert had the advantage of having examined the charts of Sebastian Cabot, which, he tells us, were then to be seen in the queen's privy- gallery at Whitehall. It has also been acutely remarked by a late writer (Memoir of Cabot, p. 29), that Ortelius, who died nine years before Hud- son undertook his first voyage, in the map of America, published in his great geographical work, the "Theatrnm Orbis Terrarum," has laid down the form of Hudson's Bay with singular precision. Now we know by the list of authorities cited by Ortelius, that he was in possession of a map of the world by Sebastian Cabot. The source, therefore, from which he derived his information is evident. 32 VERAZZANO. and thence sailed in a westerly direction for twenty-five days, making in that time 500 leagues. A storm now attacked him, in which his little vessel had nearly perished, but he at last weathered the gale, and proceeding onwards for 400 leagues, arrived upon a coast that, according to his own account, had never before been visited.* It is probable that this shore belonged either to North or South Carolina ;t and the appearance of many large fires on the beach con- vinced him that the country was inhabited. Verazzano, however, in vain sought for a port ; and after exploring the coast both to the south and north without success, he was compelled to anchor in the open sea, after which he sent his boat on shore to open an intercourse with the natives. This he effected not without some difficulty; for as soon as the French landed the savages fled in great trepidation ; yet they soon after stole back, exhibiting signs of much wonder and curiosity. At last being convinced that they had nothing to fear, they completely recovered their confidence, and not only brought provisions to the French, but assisted them in drawing their boat on shore, and carefiilly and mi- nutely scrutinized every thing belonging to the vessels and the crew. They admired the white skin of the strangers, handled their dress, and exhibited the utmost astonishment and delight. They themselves were a handsome race of people, their eyes dark and large, their expression bold, open, and cheerful ; their chests were broad, and they combined middle stature and symmetry of limbs with great nimbleness and swiftness of foot. Their colour was tawny, not unlike the Saracens, and they wore their hair, which was black and thick, tied behind their head in a little tail, and some- times ornamented with a garland of birds' feathers. Their bodies were not disfigured or tattooed in any way, and they walked about perfectly naked, except that they wore short aprons of furs fastened round their middle by a girdle of woven grass. In the immediate vicinity of the coast the country was sandy, rising into gentle undulations ; as they proceeded it became more elevated, and was covered by noble woods, consisting, not of the usual forest-trees, but * Ramusio, Viaggi, vol. iii. p. 420. " Dovi scopsimmo una terra nuova, rton piu da grantichi ne da nioderni vista." I " fcsta Questa terra in gradi 249." — Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 420. VERAZZANO. 33 of the palm, laurel, cypress, and others then unknown in Europe, which grew lo a great height, and diffused a de- licious perfume that was discerned far out at sea. " The land also," says Verazzano in his letter to Francis I., " is full of many animals, as stags, deer, and hares, which were seen sporting in the forests, and frequenting the banks of pleasant lakes and rivers ; nor were there wanting great plenty and variety of birds of game, fitted to afford delight- ful recreation for the sportsman. The sky was clear, the air wholesome and temperate, the prevalent wind blowing from the west, and the sea calm and placid. In short, a country more full of amenity could not well be imagined."*" An excellent author and navigator thinks it probable that the spot where Verazzano first landed was on the coast of Georgia, near the present town of Savannah. t From this he proceeded along the shore, which turned to the eastward and appeared thickly inhabited, but so low and open that landing in such a surf was impossible. In this perplexity a young sailor undertook to swim to land and ac- cost the natives ; but when he saw the crowds which thronged the beach he repented of his purpose, and although within a few yards of the landing-place, his courage failed, and he attempted to turn back. At this moment the water only reached his waist ; but, overcome with terror and ex- haustion, he had scarcely strength to cast his presents and trinkets upon the beach, when a high wave cast him stupi- fied and senseless upon the shore. The savages ran imme- diately to his assistance, and carried him to a little distance from the sea, where it was some time before he recovered his recollection ; and great was his terror when he found himself entirely in their power. Stretching his hands to- wards the ship, he uttered a piercing shriek, to which his friends of the New World replied by raising a loud yell, in- tended, as he afterward found, to encourage him But, if this was sufficiently alarming, their further proceedings proved still more formidable. They carried him to the foot of a hill, turned his face towards the sun, kindled a large fire, and stripped him naked. No doubt was now left in the mind of the unhappy man that they were about to offer him * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 420. t Forster'3 Discoveries in the North, p. 433. 34 VERAZZANO. as a sacrifice to tne sun ; and his companions on board, who watched the progress of the adventure, unable, from the vio- lence of the sea, to lend him assistance, were of the same opinion. They thought, to use Verazzano's own words, that the natives were going to roast and eat him.* But their fears were soon turned into gratitude and astonish- ment ; for they only dried his clothes, warmed him, and showed him every mark of kindness, caressing and patting his white skin ; and on observing that he still trembled and looked suspicious, they assisted him to dress, conducted him to the beach, tenderly embraced him, and pointing to the vessel, removed to a Utile distance to show that he was at liberty to return to his friends. This he did by swimming to the ship's bc'^*, which had been put out to receive him, followed by the kind gestures of the savages, who gazed after him till they saw him safe among his friends. The spot where Verazzano found this amiable people is conjec- tured by Forster to have been somewhere between New- Jersey and Staten Island. From this the Florentine sailed onward, observing the coast trending to the northward, and after a run of fifty leagues came to anchor off a delightful country covered with the finest forests. The trees, although equally luxuriant, did not emit the same perfume as those before seen ; but the region was rich, covered with grass, and thickly peopled, although the natives appeared more timid than the last, and avoided all intercourse. The sailors, however, discovered and seized a family who had concealed themselves in the underwood, consisting of an old woman, a young girl of a tall and hand- some figure, and six children. The two younger of the little ones were squatted on the shoulders of the old woman, and another child hung behind her back, while the girl was similarly loaded. On being approached both the females shrieked loudly ; but, having succeeded in pacifying them, the sailors understood by their signs that all the men had escaped to the woods on the appearance of the ships. Much persuasion was now used to induce them to go on board ; but although the elderly lady showed symptoms of acquies- cence, and eagerly ate the food which was offered her, no entreaties could soften the obstinacy and rage of the * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 421. VERAZZANO. 35 younger. She uttered piercing cries, cast the meat indig- nantly on the ground, and rendered the task of dragging her through the thick woods so tedious and distressing, that they were obhged to desist and leave her, only carrying with them a little boy, who could make no resistance.* The people of this country possessed fairer complexions than those whom they had just left, and were clad with large leaves sewed together with threads of wild hemp. Their common food was pulse, but they subsisted also by fishing, and were very expert in catching birds with gins. Their bows were made of hard wood, their arrows of canes headed with fish-bone, and their boats constructed of one large tree hol- lowed by fire, for they appeared to have no instruments of iron or other metal. Wild vines crept up the trunks of the trees, hanging in rich festoons from the branches, and the banks and meadows were covered with roses, lilies, violets, and many sorts of herbs different from those of Europe, yielding a fresh and delightful fragrance. Verazzano now proceeded one hundred leagues farther to a sheltered and beautiful bay surrounded by gently rising hills, and discovered a large river, which from its depth seemed navi- gable to a considerable distance. Fearful, however, of any accident, they ascended it in boats ; and the voyage con- ducted them through a country so full of sweetness and attraction that they left it with much regret. t Prosecuting their discoveries fifty leagues eastward, they reached another island of a triangular shape, covered with rich wood, and rising into gentle hills, which reminded them of Rhodes both in its form and general aspect. A contrary wind, how- ever, rendered it impossible to land, and pursuing their course about fifteen leagues farther along the coast, they found a port where there was an excellent anchorage. Here they were soon visited by the natives, who came in a squad- ron of twenty boats, and at first cautiously kept at the dis- tance of fifty paces. Observing, however, the friendly ges- tures of the strangers, they ventured nearer, and when the French threw them bells, mirrors, and other trinkets, they raised a loud and simultaneous shout expressive of joy and security, no longer hesitating to row their boats to the ship's side and come aboard. They are described by Verazzano * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 421 t fbid. S6 VERAZZANO. in his account of the voyage sent to Francis I., as the finest and handsomest race, and the most civilized in their man- ners, of any he had yet met in America. Their colour was fairer than that of the more southern people, and in the symmetry of their forms, and the simplicity and graceful- ness of their attitudes, they almost vied with the antique. They soon became exceedingly friendly and intimate, and conducted the French into the interior of the country, which they found variegated with wood, and more delightful than can be easily described. Adapted for every sort of cultiva- tion, whether of corn, vines, or olives, it was. interspersed with plains of twenty-five or thirty leagues in length, open and unencumbered with trees, and of such fertility, that whatever fruit might be sown was certain to produce a rich and abundant return. They afterward entered the woods, which were of great size, and so thick that a large army might have been concealed in them. The trees con- sisted of oaks and cypresses, besides other species unknown to Europe. They foimd also apples, parsley, plums, and filberts, and many other kinds of fruit different from those of Italy. They saw likewise many animals, such as harts, roes, wolves, and stags, which the natives caught with snares, and destroyed with bows and arrows, their principal weapons of offence. The arrows were made with great neatness, and at the point instead of iron they inserted flints, jaspers, hard marble, and other kinds of cut stones. These they also made use of in felling trees, and in excavating their boats, which with great skill were made of a single trunk, yet large enough to hold ten or twelve men commo- diously. Their oars were short and broad at the extremity, which they plied in the sea without any accident happening, trusting solely to their strength of arm and skilful manage- ment, and seeming able to go at almost any rate they pleased. Their houses were constructed in a circular shape, ten or twelve paces in circuit, built of boards, and separated from each other without any attention paid to architectural arrangement, covered with tiles made of clay, of excellent workmanship, and effectually protected from the wind and rain.* On one subject alone they showed suspicion, being extremely jealous of the least intercourse between tho * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 422. VERAZZANO. 37 French and their women. These they would on no pei> suasion allow to enter the ship ; and on one occasion, while the king came on board, and spent some hours in curiously examining- every part of the vessel, his royal consort was left with her female attendants in a boat at some distance, strictly watched and guarded.* The J'rench now bade adieu to this kind people, and pur- sued their discoveries for one hundred and fifty leagues, ex- ploring a coast which extended first towards the east and afterward to the north. The country still presented an agreeable and inviting aspect, although the climate became colder, and the regions along which they passed more hilly. A progress of other fifty leagues brought them to a more mountainous district than any yet seen, covered with dark and dense forests, and possessed by a people whose habits and temper seemed to partake of the severer nature of their country. On attempting to open an intercourse, Verazzano found them as fierce and sullen as those with whom he had lately dealt were agreeable and generous. Twenty-five of the crew who landed were received with a shower of arrows ; and although the exhibition of articles of barter overcame their scruples, and tempted them to agree to an interchange of commodities, the manner in which this was effected evinced a striking mixture of avidity and suspicion. They came down to the beach, choosing the spot where the surf was breaking most violently, and insisted that the French boat should remain on the other side ; a rope was then passed from it to the shore, and the different articles were swung along it. Strings of beads, toys, or mirrors they utterly despised ; but eagerly received knives, fishing- hooks, swords, saws, or any thing in the shape of cutting- metal to be used in war or in the chase, though such was their savage temper, that during the process of exchange they expressed their aversion to the strangers by uncouth gestures of contempt and derision. It seems probable that the country now for the first time visited by Europeans was the present state of Maine ; as we are told by Ve- razzano, that a further run of fifty leagues along the * This country, accordina: to Verazzano, was situated in 41§o of lati- tude (Ramusio, vol. iil. p. 422), Avliich, if correct, would point it out as Cihe present flourishing state of Massachusetts. D 38 VERAZZANO. coast brought him to a cluster of thirty islands separated by narrow channels, — a description which points out, in precise terms, the Bay of Penobscot.* From this point he pursued his indefatigable course for one hundred and fifty leagues farther, till he reached the land already discovered, as he says, by the Britons in the lati- tude of 50^, which is evidently Newfoundland. Here his provisions began to fail, and thinking it prudent to sail for France, he reached home in safety in the month of July, 1524. Verazzano had thus completed the survey of a line of coast extending for seven hundred leagues, and embracing the whole of the United States, along with a large portion of British America. It was undoubtedly an enterprise of great magnitude and splendour, and deserves to be carefully recorded, not only as comprehending one of the widest ranges of early discovery, but as making us for the first time acquainted with that noble country whose history is so im- portant, and whose destinies, even after a progress un- rivalled in rapidity, appear at this moment only in their in- fancy. The Florentine gave to the whole region which he had discovered the name of New-France ; he then laid be- fore the king a plan for completing his survey of the coast, penetrating into the interior, and establishing a colony ; and he appears to have met with encouragement irom Francis I., who embra^^ed his proposals for colonization. From this moment, however, his history is involved in obscurity. Hakluyt affirms that he performed three voyages to North. America, and gave a map of the coast to Henry VHI. The biographer of Cabot asserts, that he was the " Piedmontes«^ pilot'' who was slain on the coast of America in ]527,t no« aware that Verazzano was a Florentine and alive in 1537. and Ramusio could not ascertain the particulars of his last expedition, or even discover in what year it took place. All that is certainly known is, that it proved fatal to this great navigator. Having landed incautiously upon the American coast, he and his party were surrounded and cut to pieces * Murray's North America, vol. i. p. 79. The veracity or the Floren- tine navigator, in his description of the ferocious habits of the natives, is strikingly corroborated by the determined and rancorous hostility evinced afterward by the Indians of this district in opposing evetj attempt at stitlement. t Memoir of Cabot, p. 278. cartier; 39 by the savages ; after which they barbarously devoured them in the sight of their companions.* The death of Verazzano appears to have thrown a damp over the further prosecution of discovery by the court of France ; but at length, after an interval often years, Jacques Cartier, an enterprising and able mariner of St. Malo, was chosen by the Sieur de Mel'eraye, vice-admiral of France, to conduct a voyage to Newfoundland, which, since its dis- covery by Cabot, had been seldom visited, and was imper-i fectly known. Cartier departed from St. Malo on the 20th of April, 1534, with two ships, each of 60 tons burden, and having on board a well-appointed crew of sixty-one men.f The voyage appears to have been limited to a survey of the northern coast of Newfoundland, of which he gives a minute description, dwelling particularly on the zoological features of the country. He found the land in most parts extremely wild and barren, *' insomuch that he did not see a cartload of good earth ; and the inhabitants were of stout make, but wild and unruly." They wore their hair tied on the top like a bunch of hay, fixed with a wooden bodkin, and ornamented with birds' feathers. Like their companions whom Cabot had described, they were clothed * Such is the account of Ramusio in his Discourse upon New-France, Tol. iii. p. 417. But Cardenas, in a work entitled " Ensajo Cronologico para la Historia de la Fioridas" (p. 8), has committed an error similar to that of the writer of Cabot's life. He believes that Verazzano was the same as Juan the Florentine, a pirate in the service of France, who was talien by tlie Spaniards in 1524, and hanged. The evidence which over- turns the theories of both these authors is to be found in a letter of Annihal Caro, quoted byTiraboschi, Storiadella LetteraiuraItal.,vol., vii. part i. p. '^61, 262, from which it appears that Verazzano was alive iii 1537. Lettere Familiari del. Comm. Annibal Caro, vol. i. p. 11. In his great work, Tirahoschi has collected all that is known regarding the life of this eminent discoverer; but this all is little or nothing. He was bom about the year 1485 ; his father was Pierandrea Verazzano, a noble Florentine, his mother Fiametta Capelli. Of his youth, and for what reasons he entered into the service of Francis I., nothing is known. The only published work of Verazzano is the narrative in Ramusio, addressed to Francis I., written with much simplicity and elegance. But in the Strozzi Library at Florence is preserved a manuscript, in which he is said to give, with great minuteness, a description of all the countries which he had visited duriJig his voyage, and from which, says Tirahoschi, we derive the intelligence that he had formed the design of attempting a passage through these seas to the East Indies. It is much to be desired that some Italian scholar would favour the world with the publicatioa of this MS. of Verazzano. t £amusio, vol. iii. p. 435. 40 CARTIER. in beasts' skins, and ornamented their bodies by painting them with roan-colours. They paddled about in boats made of the bark of birch-trees, in which they carried on a con- stant trade of fishing, and caught great numbers of seals. After having almost circumnavigated Newfoundland, Cartier stood in towards the continent, and anchored in a bay which, from the extreme heat, was denominated Baye du Chaleur. The description of the inhabitants of this spot is striking and interesting. " Taking our way," says he, " along the coast, we came in sight of the savages, who stood on the borders 6f a lake in the low grounds, where they had lighted their fires, which raised a great smoke. We went towards them, and found that an arm of the sea ran into the lake, into which we pushed with our boats. Upon this the savages approached in one of their little barks, bringing along with them pieces of roasted seals, which they placed upon wooden boards, and afterward retired, making signs that tliis was intended as a present for us. We immediately put two men ashore, with hatchets, knives, garlands for the head, and such-like wares. On seeing these articles they appeared much delighted, and crowded to the bank where we were, paddling their barks, and bringing skins and other articles, which they meant to exchange for our mer- chandise. Their number, including men, women, and children, was upwards of three hundred. Some of the women, who would not venture nearer, stood up to the knees in water, singing and dancing. Others, who had passed over, came to us with great familiarity, rubbing our arms with their hands, which they afterward lifted up to heaven, singing all the while and making signs of joy ; such at last was their friendliness and security, that they bartered away every thing they had, and stood beside us quite naked ; for they scrupled not to give us all that was on them, and indeed their whole wardrobe was not much to speak of. It was evident that this people might be without difficulty converted to our faith. They migrate from place to place, and subsist themselves by fishing. Their country is warmer than Spain, and as beautiful as can be imagined, — level, and covered even in the smallest spots with trees, and this although the soil is sandy. It is full also of wild torn, which hath an ear similar to rye. We saw many beautiful meadows full of rich grass, and lakes where there were CARTIERS SECOND VOYAGE. 41 plenty of salmon. The savages called a hatchet cochi, and a knife bacon."* All the navigators who had hitherto visited Newfoundland, on reaching its northernmost point, appear to have sailed across the Straits of Belleisle to Cape Charles, upon the coast of Labrador ; but the course of Cartier led him through the straits into the great Gulf of St. Lawrence, now for the first time visited by any European. His predecessor, Verazzano, after reaching the shore of the Bay of Fundy, had probably sailed along the coast of Nova Scotia until he reached Cape Breton. Cartier, on the con- trary, saw before him a wide and extensive field of discovery to the west, which he pursued for some time, directing his course along the coast of the Bay of St. Lawrence ; but, as the season was far advanced, and the weather became pre- carious, he determined to reserve a more complete exami- nation of this unknown country for a second voyage, and returned safely to France, coming to anchor in the port of St. Male upon the 5th of September, 1534.t Having been received with favour and distinction. Car- tier, after a short interval, embarked upon a second voy- age. His squadron consisted of three ships, — the Great .Hermina, of which Cartier himself was master, being a vessel of about 120 tons ; the Little Hermina of 60 tons, and the Hermirillon of 40 tons burden. The crews sol- emnly prepared themselves for their voyage by confession and the reception of the sacrament ; after which they en- tered in a body into the choir of the cathedral, and stood before the bishop, who was clothed in his canonicals, and devoutly gave them his benediction. Having fulfilled these rites, the fleet weighed anchor on the 15th of May, 1535, and the admiral steered direct for Newfoundland. His ships, however, were soon after separated in a storm, and did not again join company till the 26th of June ; after which they proceeded to explore the large gulf which he had already entered. " It was," to use the words of the navigator himself, '* a very fair gulf, full of islands, pass- ages, and entrances to what winds soever you pleased to bend, having a great island like a cape of land stretching somewhat farther forth than the others." This island is evi- dently that named by the English Anticosti, being merely a * Rarauaio. vol. Ui. p. 438. t Ibid. p. 440. D2 42 cartier's second voyage. corruption of Natiscotec, the appellation at this day given it by the natives. To the channel between it and the oppo- site coast of Labrador Cartier gave the name of St. Law- rence, which has since been extended to the whole gulf. On reaching the eastern point of the island of Anticosti, the French, who had along with them two of the natives of the country, whom they had induced in their former voyage to accompany them to France, requested their advice as to their farther progress. The savages stated, that the gulf in which they now lay gradually contracted its dimensions till it terminated in the mouth of a mighty river named Hoche- laga, flowing from a vast distance in the interior of a great continent. That two days' sail above Anticosti would bring them to the kingdom of Saguenay, beyond which, along the bank of the same river, was a populous territory, situated at its highest known point, where the stream was only navigable by small boats. Having received this infor- mation, Cartier sailed onwards, exploring both sides of the river, and opening a communication with the inhabitants by means of the natives whom he carried along with him. The good effects of this arrangement were soon seen ; for at first they fled in great alarm upon the approach of any of the ships' crews ; but on hearing the interpreters cry out that they were Taignoagny and Domagaia, — names which seemed to inspire immediate ideas of friendliness and confidence, — they suddenly turned back ; after which they began to dance and rejoice, running away with great speed, and soon returning with eels, fishes, grain, and musk- melons, which they cast into the boats, with gestures ex- pressive of mv;ch kindness and courtesy.* This soon led to a more intimate and interesting intercourse ; and on the following day the lord of the country, who was named Donnaconna, made a formal visit to the admiral's ship, ac- companied by twelve boats, in which were a great multitude of his subjects. On approaching the vessel he ordered ten of these boats to ship their paddles and remain stationary, while he himself, with the other two boats, and attended by a suite of sixteen of his subjects, advanced over-against the smallest of the French ships, and standing up, com- Euenced a long oration, throwing his body into a variety of ♦ Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 441, cartier's second voyage. 43 strange and uncouth postures, which were afterward dis- covered to be signs indicating gladness and security. Don- naconna now came aboard the admiral's ship, and an en- thusiastic interview took place between him and the two savages who had been in France.* They recounted with much gesticulation the extraordinary things which they had seen in that country, dweDing on the kind entertainment they had experienced, and after many expressive looks of wonder and gratitude, the king entreated the admiral to stretch out his arm, which he kissed with devotion, laying it fondly upon his neck, and showing, by gestures which could not be mistaken, that he wished to make much of him. Cartier, anxious to evince an equal confidence, en- tered Donnaconna's boat, carrying with him a collation of bread and wine, with which the monarch was much pleased, and the French, returning to their ships, ascended the river ten leagues, till they arrived at a village where this friendly potentate usually resided, and which was named Stadacona. " It was," according to the original account of Cartier, " as goodly a plot of ground as possibly might be seen, very fruitful, and covered with noble trees similar to those of France, such as oaks, elms, ashes, walnut-trees, maple- trees, citrons, vines, and white thorns which brought forth fruit like damsons ; and beneath these woods grew as good hemp as any in France, without its being either planted or cultivated by man's labour."t From this time the intercourse between the French and Donnaconna continued with every expression of friendli- ness ; but on hearing that the admiral had determined to go to Hochelaga, a sudden jealousy appeared to seize him, lest he and his people should be deprived of the advantages of an uninterrupted communication with the white strangers, and every possible device was put in execution to deter them from their purpose. One of these stratagems was so ludicrous that we may be permitted to give Cartier's ac- count of it in an abridgment of the quaint translation of Hakluyt : " The next day, being the 18th of September, these men still endeavoured to seek all means possible to hinder us from going to Hochelaga, and for this purpose * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 443. Secouda Relatione di Jacques Cartier t Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 216. 44 CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE. devised a pretty guile. They went and dressed three men like devils, being wrapped in dogs' skins, white and black, with their faces besmeared as black as a coal, and horns upon their heads more than a yard long." These figures they caused to be secretly put into one of the boats, which they concealed within a winding of the wooded bay, waiting patiently for the tide. When the proper moment had ar- rived, a multitude of the boats, crowded with natives and conducted by Taignaogny, suddenly emerged from the creek ; on a signal given, the boat in which were the coun- terfeit devils came rushing out of its concealment, and the middlemost devil, standing up, made a long oration, addressed to the French ships, of which of course every syllable was unintelligible. " Then," to resume the words of Hakluyt, " did King Donnaconna with all his people pursue them, and lay hold on the boat and devils, who, so soon as the men were come to them, fell prostrate, as if they had been dead, upon which they were taken up and carried into the wood, being but a stonecast off, at which time every one of the savages withdrew himself into the wood, and when there began to make a long discourse, so loud that it was easy for the French to hear them even in their ships. When this oration or debate, which lasted for half an hour, was ended, Cartier and his crew espied Taignaogny and Domagaia coming towards them, holding their hands joined together, carrying their hats under their upper garment, showing a great admiration, and looking up to heaven. Upon this the captain, hearing them, and seeing their ges- tures and ceremonies, asked them what they ailed, and what was happened or chanced anew 1 to which they an- swered that there were very ill tidings befallen, saying in their broken French, ' Nenni est il bon,' that is to say, it was not good. Our captain asked them again what it was, and then they answered that their god Cudraigny had spoken in Hochelaga, and that he had sent those three devils to show unto them that there was so much ice and snow in that country that whosoever went there should die ; which words when the French heard they laughed and mocked them, saying that their god Cudraigny was but a fool and a noddie, for he knew not what he said or did. Thsy bade them also csiiy their compliments to his mes- CARTIER*S SECOND VOYAGE. 45 scngefs, and inform them that the God whom they served would defend them from all cold if they would only believe in him."* Having thus failed in the object intended to be gained by this extraordinary masquerade, the savages offered no further opposition, and the French proceeded in their pin- nace and two boats up the river St. Lawrence towards Hochelaga. They found the country on both sides ex- tremely rich and beautifully varied, covered with fine wood, and abounding in vines, though the grapes, from want of cultivation, were neither so large nor so sweet as those of France. The prevalent trees were the same as in Europe, — oaks, elms, walnut, cedar, fir, ash, box, and willow ; and the natives on each side of the river, who appeared to ex- ercise principally the trade of fishermen, entered into an intercourse with the strangers as readily and kindly as if they had been their own countrymen. One of the lords of the country did not scruple after a short acquaintance to make a present to Cartier of two of his children ; one of whom, a little girl of seven or eight years old, he carried away with him, while he returned the other, a boy, who was considered too young to travel. They saw great variety of birds, almost all of which were the same as those flf Europe. Cranes, swans, geese, ducks, pheasants, par- tridges, thrushes, blackbirds, turtles, finches, redbreasts, nightingales, and sparrows of divers kinds were observed, besides many other birds. By this time the river had become narrow, and in some places dangerous in its navigation, owing to the rapids ; and the French, who had still three days' sailing before them, left their pinnace and took to their boats, in which, after a prosperous passage, they reached the city of Hochelaga. It consisted of about fifty houses, built in the midst of large and fair corn-fields near a great mountain, which the French called Mont Royale, corrupted by time into Montreal, which name the place still retains ; while the original American designation of Hochelaga has been long since forgotten. The city, according to Cartier's description, was round, compassed about with timber, and with three courses of ram- parts, one within another, framed like a sharp spire, but laid * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 218; and Ramusio, vol. iii.p. 444. 46 CARTIER S SECOND VOYAGE. across above. The enclosure which surrounded the town was in height about two roods, having but one gate, which was shut with piles, stakes, and bars. Over it, and also in various parts of the wall, were places to run along, and lad- ders to get up, with magazines or heaps of stones for its de- fence. The houses were entirely of wood, with roofs of bark very artificially joined together. Each house had a court in the midst of it, and consisted of many rooms, while the family lighted their fire in the centre of the court, and during the day all lived in common ; at night the husbands, wives, and children retired to their several chambers. At the top of the house were garners where they kept their corn, which was something like the millet of Brazil, and called by them carracony. They had also stores of pease and beans, with musk-melons and great cucumbers. Many large butts were observed in their houses, in which they preserved their dried fish ; but this, as well as all their other victuals, they dressed and ate without salt. They slept upon beds of bark spread on the ground, with coverings of skins similar to those of which their clothes were made.* The reception of the French by the inhabitants of Hoche- laga was in a high degree friendly ; and indeed such was the extent of their credulity and admiration, that they con- sidered the strangers as possessed of miraculous power, and their commander a divine person. This was shown by their bringing their king, Agonhanna, an infirm paralytic about fifty years of age, to be touched, and, as they trusted, cured by the admiral, earnestly importuning him by expressive gestures to rub his arms and legs ; after which the savage monarch took the wreath or crown which he wore upon his head and gave it to Cartier. Soon after this they brought with them all the diseased and aged folks whom they could collect, and besought him to heal them ; on which occasion his conduct appears to have been that of a man of sincere piety. He neither arrogated to himself miraculous powers, nor did he altogether refuse their earnest request ; but read, from the Gospel of St. John, the passion of our Saviour, and praying that the Lord would be pleased to open the hearts of these forlorn pagans, and teach them to know the truth, he laid his hands upon them, and making the sign of the * Kamusio, vol. iii. p. 445 ; and Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 220, 221. cartier's second voyage/ 47 cross, left the issue of their being healed or not in the hand of their Creator.* On inquiring into their religious tenets, he found that they were buried in the deepest ignorance and superstition, unacquainted with the existence of the only true God, and substituting in his place a capricious and horrid being of their own imaginations, named Cudraigny. They affirmed that he often spoke to them, and told them what kind of weather they were to have ; but, if angry, would punish them by throwing dust in their eyes. They had a strange and confused idea regarding the immortality of the soul, be- lieving that after death they went to the stars, and descended like these bright sparks by degrees to the horizon, where they wandered about in delicious green fields, which were full of the most precious trees, and profusely sown with fruits and flowers. Cartier explained as well as he could the folly of such a creed, persuaded them that Cudraigny was no god but a devil, and at his departure promised to re- turn again, and bring some good and holy men, who would instruct them in the knowledge of the true and only God, and baptize them in the name of his Son, with which they declared themselves well pleased. t " There groweth here," says Cartier, " a certain kind of herb, of which during the summer they collect a great quantity for winter consump- tion, esteeming it much, and only permitting men to use it in the following manner : It is first dried in the sun ; after which they wear it about their necks, wrapped in a little skin made in the shape of a bag, along with a hollow piece of stone or of wood formed like a pipe ; after this they bruise it into a powder, which is put into one of the ends of the said cornet or pipe, and laying a coal of fire upon it at the other end, they suck so long that they fill their bodies full of smoke till it comes out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the tunnel of a chimney. They say that this keeps them warm and in health, and never go without some of it about them." It is not impossible that the reader, perplexed by this laboriously minute description, may have failed to recognise in it the first acquaintance made by tha French with the salubrious and far-famed plant of tobacco.^ Not long after this the ships' crews were seized with a * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 448. t Jl>id- P- 449. * "*i4 48 i!ARTIER*S SECOND VOYAGE. loathsome and dreadful disease, caught, as they supposed, from the natives, which carried ofl' twenty-five men, re- ducing the survivors to a state of pitiable weakness and suffering. The malady was then new to Europeans ; but the symptoms detailed by Cartier, — swollen legs, extreme debility, putrified gums, and discoloration of the skin and blood, — leave no doubt that this " strange, unknown," and cruel pestilence was the scurvy, since so fatally familiar to the European mariner. Providentially, however, they dis- covered from the savages a cure in the decoction of the leaves and bark of a species of tree called in their language hannida, and since well known as the North American white pine. " This medicine," says Cartier, " worked so well, that if all the physicians of Montpellier and Louvain had been there, with all the drugs of Alexandria, they would not have done so much in one year as that tree did in six days."* The French be^an now to make preparations for their de- parture ; but a dishonourable plot was first carried into exe- cution, by which they succeeded in seizing Donnaconna, whose usefulness and liberality to them during their resi- dence in Canada merited a more generous return. The monarch, however, with the exception of a slight personal restraint to prevent escape, was treated with kindness, and soon became reconciled to his journey to Europe, although his subjects, inconsolable for his loss, came nightly howling like wolves about the ships, till assured he was in safety. Along with Donnaconna were secured Taignaogny and Domagaia, who had already been in France ; and, after a prosperous voyage, the French ships arrived at St. Malo on the 6th July, 1536.t It might have been expected that, after a discovery of such magnitude and importance, immediate measures would have been adopted to appropriate and colo- nize this fertile, populous, and extensive country. This seemed the more likely, as the arrival of Cartier and the in- troduction of the Indian king at court created an extraordi- nary sensation ; yet notwithstanding the manifest advan- tages, both commercial and political, likely to result from a settlement in Canada, the weak and shallow prejudice which at this time prevailed in most of the nations qf Europe, that no countries were valuable except such as produced gold and * Bamusio vol. iii. p. 451. t ^id- P- 453. ROBERVAL. 40 silver, threw a damp over the project, and for nearly four years the French monarch would listen to no proposals for the establishment of a colony. Private adventure at length came forward to accomplish that which had been neglected by royal munificence, and the Sieur de Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, requested per- mission of Francis I. to pui-sue the discovery, and attempt to form a settlement in the country. This the king readily granted ; and as Roberval was opulent, the preparations Were made on a great scale. He was created by Francis, on the 15th January, 1540, Lord of Norimbega, Lieutenant- general and Viceroy in Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfoundland, Belleisle, Carpon, Labrador, the Great Bay, and Baccalaos, — empty and ridiculous titles, which, if mer- ited by any one, ought to have been conferred upon Cartier. This eminent navigator, however, was only permitted to ac- cept a subordinate command ; and as Roberval, who wished to appear with splendour in his new dominions, was detained in fitting out two vessels which were his own property. Car- tier was ordered to sail before him with the five ships already prepared. He accordingly did so ; but Donnaconna, the Canadian king, had died in France, and the savages, justly incensed at the breach of faith by which they lost their sove- reign, received the French with an altered countenance, de- vising conspiracies against them that soon led to acts of open hostility. The French now built for their defence, near the present site of Quebec, a fort, which they named Charlesbourg, being the first European settlement formed in that part of America. After a long interval Roberval arrived at Newfoundland ; but a jealousy had broken out between him and Cartier, who took the first opportunity during the night to part from his principal, and return with his squadron to France. This of course gave a death-blow to the whole undertaking, for Roberval was nothing without Cartier; and, after some unsuccessful attempts to discover a passage to the East Indies, he abandoned the enterprise, and returned to his native country. The passion for adventure, however, again seized him in 1549, and he and his brother, one of the bravest men of his time, set sail on a voyage of discov- ery ; but they shared the fate of Verazzano and the Cor- tereals, being never again heard of. These disasters effect- E 50 CORTES. ually checked the enthusiasm of France, while in England, the country to whose enterprise we have seen Europe in« (lebted for her first acquaintance with the American conti- nent, the spirit of maritime discovery appeared for some years ahnost totally extinct. The plan of this historical disquisition now leads us to the examination of some remarkable enterprises of the Spaniards for the extension of their immense dominions in the New World, along the more northern coasts of America. The bold and comprehensive mind of Cortes, the con- DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA. 51 queror of Mexico, not content with the acquisition of that noble empire, formed the most extensive projects cf dis- covery. Alarmed at the attempts of the English to dis- cover a northern passage to China and Cathay, he resolved to make a careful survey of the whole coast, extending from the river Panuco in Mexico to Florida, and thence northwards to the Baccalacs, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there might not exist in that quarter a communi- cation with the South Sea. At the same time a squadron in the Pacific was to sail along the western coast of America, and by these simultaneous researches he trusted to find a strait affording a far shorter and easier route to India and the Moluccas, and connecting together the vast dominions of the Spanish crown. ><■ Charles V., to whom these pro- posals were presented, although wiUing to encourage every scheme for the extension of his power, ungenerously threw upon their author the whole expense of the undertaking ; in consequence of which, the idea of the voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage was abandoned, and the magnificent designs for the conquest of many great and opulent kingdoms sank at last into the equipment of two brigantines on the coast of the South Sea, the command of which was intrusted to Diego de Hurtado. This expedition ended calamitously in a mutiny of one of the crews, who brought back their ship to Xalisco : the fate of Hurtado was still more unfortunate, for, although he continued his voyage, neither he nor any of his crew were ever more heard of. A second expedition, intrusted by Cortes to two Spanish captains, Grijalva and Mendoza, was scarcely more fortunate. The vessels were separated on the first night of their voyage, and never again joined company. Grijalva penetrated to an island which he denominated Santa Tome, supposed to have been situated near the northern point of California, afler which he returned to Tehuantepec ; while Mendoza, by his haughty and tyrannical temper, having rendered himself odious to his crew, was murdered by the pilot, Ximenes, who assumed the command. Afraid of re- turning to Mexico, the traitor sailed northward, and dis- covered the coast of California, where he was soon after * Ramiisio, vol. iii, p, 235. Memoir of Cabot, p. 263. 52 TJLLOA. attacked and slain, along with twenty of his crew, by the savage natives.* The survivors, however, brought the vessel back to Chi- ametta, with the tempting report that the coast abounded in pearls. Cortes now set out himself, with a squadron of three ships ; and, although his vessels were dreadfully shat- tered in a storm, pursued his voyage with his accustomed energy, till compelled to return by a summons from Mexico, where the breaking out of serious disturbances required his immediate presence. He intrusted, however, the prosecu- tion of the voyage to Francisco de Ulloa ; and this enter- prising navigator, though at first obliged by want of pro- visions to return to Mexico, revictualled his ships, and again set sail. The pious solemnity with which these ancient mariners were accustomed to regard their proceedings is strikingly shown by the first sentence of his journal : — "We embarked," says he, "in the haven of Acapulco, on the 8th of July, in the year of our Lord 1539, calling upon Almighty God to guide us with his holy hand to those places where he might be served, and his holy faith advanced ; and we sailed from the said port by the coast of Sacatula and Motin, which is sweet and pleasant, owing to the abundance of trees that grow there, and the rivers which pass through these countries, for which we often thanked God, their Creator."! A voyage of twenty days brought the squadron to the harbour of Colima, from which they set out on the 23d of August, and after encountering a tem- pest, in which their ships were severely shattered, they stood across the Gulf of California, and came to the mouth of the river St. Peter and St. Paul. On both sides of it were rich and extensive plains, covered with beautiful trees in full leaf; and farther within the land exceeding high mountains, clothed with wood, and affording a charming prospect ; after which, in a course of fifteen leagues, they <]iscovered two other rivers as great or greater than the Guadalquiver, the currents of which were so strong that they might be discerned three leagues off at sea. Ulloa spent a year in examining the coasts and havens on each side of the Gulf of California. In some places the * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 3C4; and Ramusio, Viaggi, vol. iil. p. 355. f Hamusio, vol. iii. p. 339. Murray's North America, vol. ii. p. 68 •ULLOA. 53 Spaniards found the inhabitants of great stature,* armed with bows and arrows, speaking a language totally distinct from any thing they had hitherto heard in America, and ad- mirably dexterous in diving and swimming. On one occa- sion the crews, who had landed, were attacked with fierce- ness by two squadrons of Indians. These natives were as swift as wild goats, exceedingly strong and active, and leaped from rock to rock, assaulting the Spaniards with their arrows and javelins, which broke and pierced their armour, and inflicted grievous wounds. It is well known that this nation had introduced the savage practice of em ploying bloodhounds in their wars against the Mexicans, and Ulloa now used some of these ferocious animals. The Indians, however, discharged a shower of arrows against them, " by which," says Ulloa, " Berccillo, our mastiff, who should have assisted us, was grievously wounded \y three arrows, so that we could by no entreaty get him to leave us ; the dog was struck in the first assault of the Indians, after he had behaved himself very gallantly, and greatly aided us, having set upon them and put eight or ten of them out of array. But the other mastiffs did us more harm than good, for when they attacked the Indians, they shot at them with their bows, and we received hurt and trouble in defending them."t From this unfriendly coast the Spanish discoverer pro- ceeded to the Baya del Abad, about a hundred leagues dis- tant from the point of California, where he found a more pacific people, who, though they exhibited great symptoms of suspicion, were prevailed upon to traffic, exchanging pearls and parrots' feathers for the beads and trinkets of the strangers. So little, however, were they to be trusted, that they afterward assaulted the ships' crews, compelling them to retreat to their vessels and pursue their voyage. They now discovered, in 28° north latitude, a great island, which they denominated the Isle of Cedars, taking possession of it in the name of the Spanish monarch. It was inhabited by a fierce race of Indians, powerful and well made, and armed with bows and arrows, besides javelins, and long staves thicker than a man's wrist ; with these they struck at the sailors, braving them with signs and rude gestures, * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 342. t Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 409. Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 345, E3 64 ULLOA. till at last it was found necessary to let loose the two mas- tiffs Berecillo and Achillo ; upon which they suddenly took to flight, flying over the rough ground with the speed of wild horses.* Beyond this island the Spaniards attempted to continue their discoveries along the coast of California ; but a tempest having driven them back and damaged their vessels, they determined to return to New-Spain. In their homeward voyage they were in danger from a new and ex- traordinary enemy ; for, when sailing in the main ocean at a rapid rate, above 500 whales, in separate shoals, came athwart them within one hour's space. Their monstrous size created great astonishment, some of them approaching so near the ship as to swim under the keel from one side to the other ; " whereupon," says Francis Pteciado, who wrote the relation of the voyage, " we were in great fear lest they should do us some hurt ; but they could not, because the ship had a prosperous and good wind, and made much way, so that it received no harm although they touched and struck her.''t In this voyage, which for the first time made the world acquainted with the Gulf of California, or Sea of Cortes, Ulloa had not been able to spend sufficient time either in a survey of the coast or in establishing an intercourse with the natives. But not long after his return, Mendoza, the viceroy of New-Spain, despatched Friar Marco de Nica upon an expedition of discovery from Culeacan, at that time the most northerly Spanish settlement, to a province called Topira, situated in the mountains. The account brought back of the riches and extent of the country proved so tempting to the ambition of the Spaniards, that soon after Vasquez de Coronado, an officer of great courage and experience, was appointed by Mendoza to the command of a large force, for the reduction of the new territory ; while, to co-operate with this land expedition, a naval armament was fitted out, of which Ferdinand de Alarchon was ap- pointed admiral, with orders to explore the Gulf of Califor- nia. As far as conquest was intended, these mighty prepa- rations conducted to no permanent results ; but the voy- age of Alarchon led to some important discoveries. After a survey of the lower part of the coast of the gulf, * Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 351. Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 419. t Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 424. ALARCHON. 55 he penetrated with much difficulty and hazard to the bot torn of the bay, where he found a mighty river, flowing with so furious a current that they could hardly sail against it.* This was evidently the noble river now known by the name of the Colorado, which has its rise in the great moun- tain-range near the sources of the Rio Bravo del Norte, and after a course of 900 miles falls into the head of the Gulf of California. Alarchon determined to explore it ; and taking with him two boats, with twenty men and some small pieces of artillery, he ascended to an Indian village, the inhabitants of which, by violent and furious gestures, dissuaded the Spaniards from landing. The party of na- tives, at first small, soon increased to a body of 250, drawn up in warlike fashion, with bows and arrows, and displayed banners. The Spanish admiral appeased them by signs, throwing his sword and target into the bottom of the boat, and placing his feet upon them. " They began," says he, in his letter to the viceroy Mendoza, *' to make a great mur- muring among themselves, when suddenly one came out from among them with a staff, upon which he had fixed some small shells, and entered into the water to give them to me. I took them, and made signs to him that he should approach. On his doing so, I embraced him, giving him in exchange some trinkets ; and he returning to his fellows, they began to look upon them and to parley together ; and within a while many of them cheerfully approached, to whom I made signs that they should lay down their ban- ners and leave their weapons ; which they did immediately." Alarchon gives a minute description of the dress, weapons, and appearance of these Indians. They were decked after sundry fashions ; the faces of some were covered with tattooed marks, extending lengthwise from the forehead to the chin, others had ^(^\y half the face thus ornamented ; but all were besmeared with coal, and every one as it liked him best. Others carried vizards before them, which had the shape of faces. t They wore on their heads a piece of deer-skin two spans broad, like a helmet, ornamented by various sorts of feathers stuck upon small sticks. Their weapons were bows and arrows, and two or three kinds oi * Ramusio, Viaggi, vol. iii. p. 363. t Such is the translation of Hakluyt; but the passage in the origineiL is obscure. 56 AL ARCH ON. maces of wood hardened in the fire. Their features were handsome and regular, but disfigured by holes bored through the nostrils and in many parts of the ears, on which were hung pendants, shells, and bones. About their loins was a girdle of divers colours, with a large bunch of feathers in the middle, which hung down like a tail. They cut their hair short before, but allow it behind to grow down to their waist. Their bodies were tattooed with coals, and the women wore round their waist a great wreath of painted feathers, glued together, and hanging down both before and behind.* Having procured by signs a pacific reception from this new people, Alarchon found to his mortification that they did not understand his interpreter ; but, after a little inter- course, observing that they worshipped the sun, he unscru- pulously intimated to them by significant gestures that he came from that luminary; "upon which they marvelled," says he, " and began to survey me from top to toe, and showed me more favour than they did before." Soon after this a man was found among them who could speak the language of the interpreter; and an intercourse of a very extraordi- nary nature took place, in which the honesty and simplicity of the Indians are strikingly contrasted with the false and unprincipled policy of the Spaniards. The passage is un- commonly graphic and interesting : " The Indian first de- sired to know what nation we were, and whence we came 1 Whether we came out of the water, or inhabited the earth, or had fallen from the heaven ?" To this the admiral re- plied, that they were Christians, and came from far to see them, being sent by the sun, to which he pointed. " After this introduction, the Indian," continues Alarchon in his account ot the voyage, " began again to ask me how the sun had sent me, seeing he went aloft in the sky and never stood still, and for these many years neither they nor their oldest men had ever seen such as we were, and the sun till that hour had never sent any other. I answered him, it was true the sun pursued his course aloft in the sky, and never stood still, but nevertheless they might perceive that at his setting and rising he came near the earth, where his dwelling was, and that they always saw him come out of one place; * RamuBio, vol. iii. p. 364 ALARCHON. 57 and he had created me in that land whence he came, in the same way that he had made many others whom he sent into other parts ; and now he had desired me to visit this same river, and the people who dwelt near it, that I might speak with them, and become their friend, and give them such things as they needed, and charge them not to make war agamst each other. On this he required me to tell them the cause why the sun had not sent me sooner to pacify the wars which had continued a long time among them, and wherein many had been slain. I told him the reason was that I was then but a child. He next inquired why we brought only- one interpreter with us who comprehended our language, and wherefore we understood not all other men, seeing we were children of the sun ] To which our interpreter an- swered, that the sun had also begotten him, and given him a language to understand him, his master the admiral, and others ; the sun knew well that they dwelt there, but because that great light had many other businesses, and because his master was but young, he sent him no sooner. The Indian interpreter," continues Alarchon, " then turning to me, said suddenly, ' Comest thou, therefore, to be our lord, and that we should serve thee ]' To which I answered, I came not to be their lord, but rather their brother, and to give them such things as I had. He then inquired whether I was the sun's kinsman, or his child 1 To which I replied I was his son, but those who were with me, though all born in one country, were not his children ; upon which he raised his voice loudly and said, ' Seeing thou doest us so much good, and dost not wish us to make war, and art the child of the sun, we will all receive thee for our lord, and always serve thee ; therefore we pray thee not to depart hence and leave us.' After which he suddenly turned to the people, and be- gan to tell them that I was the child of the sun, and therefore they should all choose me for their lord."* The Indians appeared to be well pleased with this proposal, and assisted the Spaniards in their ascent of the river to the distance of eighty-five leagues ; but finding it impossible to open a com- munication with the army under Coronado, Alarchon put about his ships, and returned to Mexico.! * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 429. Ramusio, vol. iii. d. 3j6 ^ ♦ Hakluyt, vol. iii. d. 438, 439 . 68 DE FU(^A. After the expeditions of Coronado and Alarchon, in 1542, the spirit of enterprise among the Spaniards experienced some check, owing probably to the feeUng of mortification and disappointment which accompanied the return of these officers. Yet Mendoza, unwilHng wholly to renounce the high hopes he had entertained, despatched a small squadron under Rodriguez Cabrillo, which traced the yet undiscovered coast of North America some degrees beyond Cape Men- docino ,• and in 1596 and 1602, Sebastian Viscaino extended these discoveries along the coast of New-Albion to a river which appears to have been the present Columbia. It has even been asserted by some authors, that, four years prior to the voyage of Viscaino, Juan de Fu9a, a veteran Spanish pilot, conducted a ship beyond the mouth of the Columbia, and doubling Cape Flattery, entered the Straits of Georgia, through which he passed till he came to Queen Charlotte's Sound. De Fuga imagined, not unnaturally, considering the imperfect and limited state of geographical knowledge, that he had now sailed through the famous and fabulous Strait of Anian : and that, instead of being in the Pacific as he then actually was, he had conducted his vessel into the spa- cious expanse of the Atlantic. With this information he returned to Acapulco ; but the Spanish viceroy received him coldly, and withheld all encouragement or reward, — a circumstance to which we may perhaps ascribe the cessation from this period of all further attempts at discovery by this nation upon the north-west coast of America. The whole voyage of De Fu^a, however, rests on apocryphal authority. CHAPTER II. Russian and English Voyages. Behring— Tchirikow— Cook and Gierke— Meares— Vancouver— Kotzebiie. As the zeal of the Spanish government in extending their discoveries upon the north-west coast of America abated, another great nation, hitherto scarcely known to Europe^ undertook at a later period the task which they had aban* BEHRING'S FIRST VOYAGE. 69 •3one(l. Russia, within little more than half a century, had grown up from a collection of savage, undisciplined, and unconnected tribes, into a mighty people. Her conquests had spread with amazing rapidity till they embraced the whole of the north of Asia, and under the energetic admin- istration of Peter the Great this empire assumed at once that commanding influence in the scale of European nations which it has continued to preserve till the present times. Among the many great projects of this remarkable man, the solution of the question, whether Asia, on the north-east, was united with America, occupied a prominent place ; and it appears that during his residence in Holland in 1717, he had been sohcited by some of the most eminent patrons of discovery among the Dutch to institute an expedition to investigate the subject. The resolution he then formed to set this great point at rest by a voyage of discovery was never abandoned ; but his occupation in war, and the mul- tiplicity of those state-affairs which engrossed his attention, caused him to delay its execution from year to year, till he was seized with his last illness. Upon his death-bed he wrote, with his own hand, instructions to Admiral Apraxin, snd an order to have them carried into immediate execution. They directed, first, that one or two boats with decks should be built at Kamtschatka, or at any other convenient place ; secondly, that with these a survey should be made of the most northerly coast of his Asiatic empire, to determine whether they were or were not contiguous to America ; and, thirdly, th^^t the persons to whom the expedition was intrusted should endeavour to ascertain whether on these coasts there was any port belonging to Europeans, and keep a strict look-out for any European ship, taking care also to employ some skilful men in making inquiries regarding the name and situation of the coasts which they discovered, — of all which they were to keep an exact journal, and transmit it to St. Petersburg. Upon the death of Peter the Great, which happened shortly after these instructions were drawn up, the Empress Catherine entered fully into his views, and gave orders to lit out an expedition for their accomplishment. The com- mand was intrusted to Captain Vitus Behring. Under his orders were two lieutenants, Martin Spangberg and Alexei Tchirikow ; and, besides other subaltern officers, they en- 60 gaged several excellent ship-carpenters. On the 5th of Feb- ruary, 1725, they set out from St. Petersburg, and on the 16t& March arrived at Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia. After a survey of the rivers Irtisch, Ob, Ket, Jenesei, Tungusca, and Jlim, they wintered at Ilim, and, in the spring of 1726, proceeded down the river Lena to Jakutzk. The naval stores and part of the provisions were now intrusted to Lieutenant Spangberg, who embarked on the Juduma, intending to sail from it into the Maia, and then by the Aldan into the Lena. He was followed by Captain Behring, who proceeded by land with another part of the stores, while Lieutenant Tchirikow staid at Jakutzk, with the design of transporting the remainder overland. The cause of this complicated division of labour w^as the impassable nature of the country between Jakutzk and Ochotzk, which is impracticable for wagons in summer, or for sledges during winter. Such, indeed, were the difficulties of transporting these large bales of provisions, that it was the 30th July, 1727, before the whole business was completed. In the mean time a vessel had been built at Ochotzk, in which the naval stores were conveyed to Bolscheretzkoi in Kamtschatka. From this they proceeded to Nischnei Kamtschatkoi Ostrog, where a boat was built similar to the packet-boats used in the Baltic. After the necessary articles were shipped. Captain Behring, determining no longer to delay the most important part of his enterprise, set sail from the mouth of the river Kamtschatka on the 14th of July, steering north-east, and for the first time laying down a survey of this remote and desolate coast. When they reached the latitude of 64° 30', eight men of the wild tribe of the Tschuktschi pushed oft' from the coast in a leathern canoe, called a baidar, formed of seal-skins, and fearlessly approached the Russian ship. A communication was immediately opened by means of a Koriak interpreter ; and, on being invited, they came on board without hesita- tion. By these natives Behring was informed that the coast turned towards the west. On reaching the promontory called Serdze Kamen, the accuracy of this information was estab- lished, for the land was seen extending a great way in a western direction, — a circumstance from which Behring somewhat too hastily concluded, that he had reached the extremest northern point of Asia. He was of opinion that thence the coast must run to the west, and therefore no behring's second voyage. 61 junction with America could take place. Satisfied that h@ had now fulfilled his orders, he returned to the river Kam- tschatka, and again took up his winter-quarters at Nischnei Kamtschatkoi Ostrog.* In this voyage it was conjectured by Behring and his officers, from the reports of the Kamtschadales, that in all probability another country must be situated towards the east, at no great distance from Serdze Kamen ; yet no im- mediate steps were taken either to complete the survey of the most northerly coasts of Ochozkoi, or to explore the undiscovered region immediately opposite the promontory. In the course of a campaign, however, against the fierce and independent nation of the Tschuktshi, Captain Paw- lutzki penetrated by the rivers Nboina, Bela, and Tcherna, to the borders of the Frozen Sea ; and after defeating the enemy in three battles, passed in triumph to a promontory supposed to be the Tgchukotzkoi Noss. From this point he sent part of his little army in canoes, while he himself conducted the remaining division by land round the promon- tory, taking care to march along the seacoast, and to com- municate every evening with his canoes. In this manner Pawlutzki reached the promontory which is conjectured to have been the farthest Umit of Behring's voyage, and thence by an inland route returned, on the 21st October, 1730, to Anadirsk, having advanced an important step in ascertain- ing the separation between America and the remote north- easterly coast of Asia. Although the separation of the two continents had been thus far fixed, a wide field of discovery yet remained unex» plored ; and in 1741, Behring, Spangberg, and Tchirikow once more volunteered their services for this purpose. These offers were immediately accepted ; the captain was pro. moted to the rank of a commander, the two lieutenants were made captains, and instructions drawn up for the con- duct of the expedition, in which it was directed that the destination of the voyages should be eastward to the con- tinent of America, and southward to Japan, while, at the same time, an endeavour was to be made for the discovery of that northern passage through the Frozen Sea which * Harris's Collection of Voyagfis, vol. ii. p. 1020, 1021 ; Coxe's Rus- sian Discoveries, p. 23, 24, 94. F 62 BEHRING AND TCHIRIKOW : had been so repeatedly but unsuccessfully attempted by other European nations. The voyage to Japan, under the command of Captain Spangberg and Lieutenant Walton, was eminently successful ; and one of its material results was the correction of a geographical error of considerable magnitude, by which that island had hitherto been placed under the same meridian as Kamtschatka, instead of 11° more to the westward. The expedition of Behring, no less important and satisfactory, was destined to be fatal to its excellent commander. After a winter spent in the harbour of Awatscha, or Petropalauska, on the west side of the great peninsula of Kamtschatka, Behring got his stores on board the two packet-boats built at Ochotzk, expressly for the intended American discoveries. The first of these, the St. Peter, was that in which the commander embarked ; the second, the St. Paul, was intrusted to Captain Tchirikow. Along with Behring went Lewis de Lisle de la Croyere, Professor of Astronomy, while Mr. George WilHam Steller, an experienced chymist and botanist, accompanied Tchi- rikow. All things being ready, a council of officers was held, in which the question regarding the course they should steer was considered, and it happened, unfortunately for the ex- pedition, that an important error had crept into the map pre- sented by the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg to the senate, in laying down a coast south-east from Awatscha, extending fifteen degrees from west to east, while no land was marked due east. At this spot were written on the map the words " Land seen by Don .lean de Gama :" and, trust- ing to the accuracy of this information, it was determined to steer first south-east-by-east, in the hope of discovering this continent ; after which they might follow its coasts as a guide towards the north and east. On the 4th of June, 1741, they accordingly weighed anchor and steered south-east-by- south, till, on the 12th, they found themselves in latitude 46°, without the slightest appearance of the coast of De Ga- ma. Convinced at last of their error, they held on a north- erly course as far as 50° north latitude, and were just about to steer due east, with the hope of reaching the continent of America, when the two ships were separated in a violent storm accompanied by a thick fog. Behring exerted every effort to rejoin his consort ; but all proved in vain. Hb THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 63 cruised for three days between 50° and 51° north latitude, after which he steered back to the south-east as far as 45° ; but Tchirikow, after the storm, had taken an easterly course from 48° north latitude, so that they never met again. Both, however, pursued their discoveries simultaneously, and on the 15th of July, being in 56° north latitude, Tchi- rikow reached the coast of America. The shore proved to be steep and rocky, and, in consequence of the high surf, he did not venture to approach it, but anchoring in deep ■water, despatched his mate, Demetiew, with the long-boat and ten men on shore. The boat was provisioned for some days, the men armed and furnished with minute instructions as to their mode of proceeding, and the s'gnals by which they were to communicate with the ship. But neither mate, men, nor barge were ever again heard of. This was the more mysterious, as all at first appeared to go well with, them. The barge was seen from the ship to row into a bay behind a small cape, and the appointed signals were made, intimating that she had landed in safety. Day after day the signals agreed on continued from the shore. The people on board began at last to think that the barge had probably received damage in landing, and could not return till she was repaired, and it was resolved to send the small boat on shore, with the boatswain Sawelow and six men. Among these were some carpenters and a careener, well armed and provided with the necessary materials, and the boatswain had orders to return with Demetiew in the long- boat the moment the necessary repairs were completed. But neither mate nor boatswain ever came back ; and the most dark surmises of their fate were excited by the cessa- tion of the signals, and the continual ascent of a large volume of smoke from the landing-place. Next day, how- ever, a revival of hope was felt at the sight of two boats which were observed rowing from the land towards the ship. It was believed to be Demetiew and Sawelow ; and Tchiri- kow ordered all hands on deck, to prepare for setting sail on a moment's warnmg. A few minutes changed these cheer- ful anticipations into sorrow ; for, as the boats approached, it was discovered that they vvere filled by American savages, who, seeing many persons on deck, instantly shipped their paddles and remained at a cautious distance. They then stood up, and crying with a loud Voice " Agai, agai !" re« 64 BEHRING AND TCHIRIKOW : turned with great speed to the shore. A strong west wind now rose and threatened to dash the vessel on the rocky coast, so that they were obliged to weigh anchor and put to sea without the slightest hope of hearing any further intelli- gence of their men ; for they had no more small boats, and all communication with the shore was cut off. Tchirikow, however, cruised some days in the neighbourhood, and when the weather became milder, returned towards the spot where his people landed ; but all appeared silent, lonely, and un- inhabited : and in a council of the officers, it was determined to set out on their return, though with the most poignant regret at being obliged to leave this remote and desolate coast without hearing the slightest account of their com- panions. They arrived at Kamtschatka on the 27th of July.* No news of the fate of Demetiew and Sawelow ever reached Russia ; but it is evident that they had been successively attacked and murdered by the savages. " The natives of this part of the north-west coast of America," says Captain Burney, "live principally by hunting and catching game, in which occupations they are in the con- tinual practice of every species of decoy. They imitate the whistlings of birds, — they have carved wooden masks resembling the heads of animals, which they put on over their own and enter the woods in masquerade. They had observed the signals made to the ship by the Russian boat which first came to land ; and the continuance of signals afterward seen and heard by the Russians on board were doubtless American imitations."! Exactly three days after Tchirikow descried land, it appears that Commodore Behring also got sight of the con- tinent in 58° 28", or, according to another account, 60° north latitude. The prospect was magnificent and awful, ex- hibiting high mountains covered from the summits with snow. One of these, far inland, was particularly remarked : it was plainly discernible sixteen German miles out at sea ; and Steller says in his journal, that in all Siberia he had not met with a more lofty mountain.t The commodore, being much in want of water, approached the coast with * Muller, D^couvertes faites par lesRusses, vol. i. p. 234. t Burney's History of North-ea»tern Voyages of Discovery, p. 180. i Ibid. p. 164. THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 65 the hope of being able to land. He accordingly reached the shore on the 20th July, and anchored under a large island not far from the continent. A point of land projecting into the sea at this place they called St. Elias Cape, as it was discovered on that saint's day ; while another headland was denominated St. Hermogenes ; and between these lay a bay, in which, if it became necessary to take shelter, they trusted they would find security. Two boats were now launched, in the first of which Kytrof, the master of the fleet, was sent to examine the bay, while Steller proceeded with the other to fetch water. Kytrof found a convenient anchorage ; and on an adjacent island were a few empty huts formed of smooth boards, ornamented in some places with rude carving. Within the huts they picked up a small box of poplar, a hollow earthen ball in which a stone rattled, con- jectured to be a child's toy, and a whetstone, on which it appeared that copper knives had been sharpened.* Steller, on the other hand, near the spot where he landed, discovered a cellar in which was a store of red salmon, and a sweet herb dressed for food in the same manner as in Kamtschatka. Near them were ropes, and various pieces of household furniture and of domestic utensils. At a short distance he came to a place where the savages had recently dined, — beside which they found an arrow, and an instrument for procuring fire exactly similar to that used for the same pur- pose in Kamtschatka. The sailors who fetched the fresh water had found two fireplaces with the ashes newly ex- tinguished, and near them a parcel of hewn wood, with some smoked fishes like large carp. They observed also marks of human footsteps in the grass, but no natives were seen. In case, however, they should return, some small presents, such as it was conjectured might be suited to their taste or their wants, were left in the huts. These consisted of a piece of green glazed linen, two iron kettles, two knives, two iron Chinese tobacco-pipes, a pound of tobacco leaves, and twenty large glass beads. Steller, an enthusiastic naturalist, entreated that he might have the command of the small boat and a few men, to complete a more accurate sur- vey of this new coast ; but Behring, who was from his ad- vanced age rather timid and over-cautious, put a decided * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 42, 43. 66 BEHRINQ AND TCHIRIKOW I negative upon the proposal ; and his scientific companion, having climbed a steep rock to obtain a view of the adjacent country, found his progress interrupted by an immediate order to come on board. " On descending the mountain," says he in his journal, " which was overspread with a forest without any traces of a road, finding it impassable, I re- ascended, looked mournfully at the limits of my progress, turned my eyes towards the continent which it was not in my power to explore, and observed at the distance of a few versts some smoke ascending from a wooden eminence. *• * * Again receiving a positive order to join the ship, I returned with my collection."* Having put to sea next day, the 21st of July, they found it impossible, according to their original intention, to explore the coast as far as 65° north latitude, as it seemed to extend indefinitely to the south-west. It was studded with many small islands, the navigation through which, especially during the night, was dangerous and tedious. On the 30th of July they discovered, in latitude 56°, an island which they called Tumannoi Ostrog, or Foggy Island ; and soon after the scurvy broke out with the most virulent symptoms in the ship's crew ; so that, in hopes of procuring water, they again ran to the north, and soon discovered the continent, with a large group of islands near the shore, between which they came to anchor. These they called the Schumagins, after the name of one of their men who died there. While at this anchorage the weather became boisterous, and some brackish water procured from one of the largest islands increased the virulence of the disease, which prevailed to an alarming degree. All attempts to put to sea proved for some days unsuccessful, owing to the strong contrary winds ; and at length one morning they were roused by a loud cry from one of the islands, upon which they saw a fire burning. Soon after, two Americans rowed towards the ship in their canoes, which in shape resembled those of Greenland and Davis's Strait. They stopped, however, at some distance, and it was discovered that they not only understood the language of the calumet, or pipe of peace, employed by the North American Indians, but had these symbolical instru- ments along with them. They were sticks with hawks' wings * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 40, 41. THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 67 attached to one end. It was at first impossible to induce the natives to come on board ; and Behring, anxious to establish a communication, and to become acquainted with the country, despatched Lieutenant Waxel in the boat with nine men well armed, among whom was a Tschuktschian or Koriak interpreter. It was found, however, that the savages were utterly ignorant of his language ; and Waxel, having sent some men on shore, who fastened the boat by a long rope passed round a rock on the beach, commenced a friendly intercourse by means of signs. The Americans were disposed to be on the most amicable terms with their new acquaintances, giving them whales' flesh, the only pro- vision they appeared to possess ; and at last one of them so far overcame his fears as to join the Russian lieutenant in the boat, which still lay a little way from the shore. Anx- ious to conciliate his favour and treat him with distinction, Waxel somewhat thoughtlessly presented him with a cup of brandy ; but the effect proved the reverse of what was expected. He made the most ludicrous wry faces, spit vio- lently out of his mouth all that he had not swallowed, and cried aloud to his companions on the shore, complaining of the treatment he had experienced. " Our men," says Mr. Steller in his journal, " thought the Americans had sailors' stomachs, and endeavoured to remove his disgust by presenting him with a lighted pipe of tobacco, which he accepted ; but he was equally disgusted with his attempt to smoke. The most civilized European would be affected in the same manner if presented with toad-stool, or rotten fish and willow bark, which are delicacies with the Kamtscha- dales." It was evident he had never tasted ardent spirits or smoked tobacco till this moment ; and although every effort was made to sooth him and restore his confidence, by oflfering him needles, glass beads, an iron kettle, and other gifts, he would accept of nothing, and made the most eager and imploring signs to be set on shore. In this it was judged right to gratify him, and Waxel, at the same time, called out to the sailors who were on the beach to come back ; the Americans made a violent attempt to detain them, but two blunderbusses were fired over their heads, and had the efiTect of making them fall flat on the ground, wiiile the Russians escaped and rejoined their companions. This adventure gave them au opportunity of examining 68 BEHRING AND TCHIRIKOW : this new people, now for the first time visited by Europeans. *' The islanders were of moderate stature, but tolerably well proportioned ; their arms and legs very fleshy. Their hair was straight and of a glossy blackness ; their faces brown and flat, but neither broad nor large ; their eyes were black, and their lips thick and turned upwards ; their necks were short, their shoulders broad, and their bodies thick but not corpulent. Their upper garment was made of whales' intestines, their breeches of seals' skins, and their caps formed out of the hide of sea-lions, adorned with feathers of various birds, especially the hawk. Their nostrils were stopped with grass, and their noses as flat as Calmucks' ; their faces painted, some with red, others with diflferent colours ; and some of them, instead of caps, wore hats of bark, coloured green and red, open at the top, and shaped like candle-screens, apparently for protecting the eyes against the rays of the sun. These hats might lead us to suppose that the natives of this part of America are of Asiatic descent ; for the Kamtschadales and Koriaks wear the like, of which several specimens may be seen in the Museum at St. Petersburg."* At this time Behring being confined by severe sickness, the chief command fell on Waxel, M-ho was preparing to sail, when seven Americans came in their boats to the ship's side, and two of them catching hold of the entrance-ladder, presented their bonnets and a carved image of bone, bearing some resemblance to a human figure. They likewise held up the calumet, and would have come aboard, but the sailors were taking up the anchor, and the breeze freshening, they were under the necessity of making towards the shore as quickly as possible. There was time, however, to give a few presents, and as the ship passed by the point where they stood, she was saluted with loud and friendly shouts.f They had now to struggle against a tedious continuance of westerly wind, accompanied with thick fogs, which ren- dered the navigation in these unknown seas perilous in the extreme. On the 24th of September the mist cleared away, and disclosed a high and desolate coast, which a strong south wind made it dangerous to approach. The majority of the crew were by this time disabled by the scur\y, and * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 63. t Burney'3 Nortli-easteru Voiages of Discoverv. d. 170 THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. 69 the rest so weak, that to manage the vessel during the tem- pestuous weather was almost impossible. A violent gale soon after began to blow from the west, which gradually in- creased, and drove the ship far to the south-east. The storm continued for seventeen days, — a fact to which there are few parallels in the history of shipwrecks ; and the pilot, Andrew Hesselberg, who had served for fift}'^ years in seve- ral parts of the world, declared he had never witnessed so long and terrible a gale. Meanwhile they carried as little sail as possible, and were driven for a fortnight at the mercy of the wind, under a sky as black as midnight, so that all the time they saw neither sun nor stars. When the storm abated, they found themselves, by the ship's reckoning, in 48° 18" north latitude. Steller, in his journal, draws a striking picture of their extreme misery : — " The general distress and mortality," says he, " increased so fast, that not only the sick died, but those who still struggled to be numbered on the healthy list, when relieved from their posts, fainted and fell down dead, of which the scantiness of water, the want of biscuits and brandy, cold, wet, nakedness, ver- min, fear, and terror were not the least causes."* In these circumstances it became difficult to determine whether they should return to Kamtschatka or seek a harbour on the nearest American coast. At last, in a council of officers, they embraced the first of these alternatives, and again sailed north, after which they steered towards the west. On the 29th of October they approached two islands resembling the two first of the Kurilian group. The long- wished-for coast of Kamtschatka, however, did not appear, and the condition of the vessel and crew began to be deplorable. The men, notwithstanding their diseased state and want of proper food, were obliged to work in the cold ; and as the continual rains had now changed into hail and snow, and the nights shortened and grew darker, their suf- ferings were extreme. The commodore himself had been for some time totally disabled by disease from taking an active command, his wonted energy and strength of mind left him, and he became childishly suspicious and indolent. Among the seamen the sickness was so dreadful, that the two sailors whose berth used to be at the rudder were led * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 65. 70 BEHRING AND TCHIRIKOW : to it by others, who themselves could walk with difficulty. When one could steer no longer, another equally feeble was supported to his place. Many sails they durst not hoist, because no one was strong enough to lower them in case of need, while some of the sheets were so thin and rotten that a violent wind would have torn them to pieces. The rest of this interesting but deeply affecting voyage may be given in the excellent abstract of Captain Burney. " On November 4th, at eight in the morning, they once more saw land ; but only the tops of the mountains at first appeared, and the shore was so distant, that, although they stood towards it the whole day, night came on before they could get near enough to look for anchorage. At noon that day they made their latitude by observation to be 56° north. On the morning of the 5th, it was discovered that almost all the shrouds on the starboard side of the ship were broken, which happened from contraction and tenseness caused by the frost ; for, without other mention made of the weather, it is complained that the cold was insupportable. In this distress the commodore ordered the lieutenant to call all the officers together, to consult on their best mode of proceed- ing ; and the increased numbers of the sick, with the want of fresh water, determined them at all hazards to seek relief at this land. The wind was northerly, and they had sound- ings at the depth of thirty-seven fathoms, with a sandy bottom. They now steered in towards the land, west-south- west and south-west, and two hours after, at five in the evening, they anchored in twelve fathoms, the bottom sand, and veered out throe-quarters of a cable. The sea now began to run high, and at six the cable gave way. Another anchor was let go, yet the ship struck twice, though they found, by the lead, five fathoms depth of water. The cable quickly parted ; and it was fortunate a third anchor was not ready, for while they were preparing it a high wave threw the ship over a bank of rocks, where all at once she was in still water. They now dropped their anchor in four fathoms and a half, about 600 yards from the land, and lay quiet during the rest of the night ; but in the morning they found themselves surrounded with rocks and breakers. They were certain that the coast of Kamtschatka was not far dis- tant ; but the condition of the ship and the crew, with the advanced season of the year, rendered it apparent that they THEIR SECOND VOYAGE. "^l must remain upon this land all winter. Those who were able to work went on shore to prepare lodgings for the sick. This they accomplished by digging pits or caverns between some sandhills near a brook which ran from a mountain to the sea, using their sails as a temporary covering. There was no appearance of inhabitants ; nor were any trees seen, although driftwood was found along the shore. No grass nor antiscorbutic herbs were discoverable ; the island, indeed, was so deeply covered with snow, that even if it produced any antiseptic plants, the patients had not strength to lay them open ; and at this time the Russians were little acquainted with the proper remedies for this dreadful dis- ease. On the 8th of November they began to transport the sick to the miserable habitations which had been prepared for them ; and it was remarkable that some who seemed the least reduced, expired the moment tliey were exposed to the fresh air, and others in making an attempt to stand upon deck.* On the 9th of November, Behring himself was carried ashore by four men on a handbarrow, carefully secured from the air. The ship had been cast on the east side of the island, and the coast was examined both to the north and south ; but no traces of inhabitants were found. Along the shores were many sea-otters, and the interior swarmed with blue and white foxes. "We saw," says Steller in his jour- nal, "the most dismal and terrifying objects: the foxes mangled the dead before they could be buried, and were even not afraid to approach the living and helpless who lay scat- tered here and there, and smell to them like dogs. This man exclaimed that he was perishing of cold ; the other complained of hunger and thirst ; and their mouths were so much affected by scurvy that their gums grew over their teeth like a sponge. The stone-foxes, which swarmed round our dwellings, became so bold and mischievous, that they carried away and destroyed different articles of provision * " It must," says Captain Burney, " be within the memory of many, the great care with which the apartments of the sick were cuarded against the admission of fresh air, and in few instances more than in what was called the sick-berth on board a ship of war, where it was customary to keep a number of diseased persons labouring under differ- ent maladies enclosed and crowded together; and fortunately, since tlie date of this expedition, the management of the sick with respect to air has undergone a very essential reibrm." 72 DEATH OF BEHRING. and clothing. One took a shoe, another a boot, a third a glove, a fourth a coat ; and they even stole the iron imple- ments ; while all attempts to drive them away were ineffec- tual."* Lieutenant Waxel, on whom, since the illness of the commodore, the command devolved, and Kytrow, the ship- master, continued healthy at sea ; and the necessity for exertion, in seeing every thing sent on shore, had a favour- able effect in repelling the attacks of the disease. At last, however, they too were laid up, and soon became so weak that, on the 21st of November, they were carried ashore like the rest. During this dreadful residence on the island, the men lived chiefly on the flesh of the sea-otters, which was so hard and tough that it could scarcely be torn to pieces by the teeth. The intestines were mostly used for the sick; and Steller, in his descriptions of the marine animals of these regions, reckons the flesh of the sea-otter as a specific against the scurvy. When not wanted for food they were killed for their fine skins, 900 being collected on the island, and equally divided among the crew. A dead whale, which was thrown upon the coast, they called their magazine, as it proved a resource when nothing better could be got. The flesh was cut into small pieces, which they boiled a long time to separate the oil from it as much as possible, and the remaining hard and sinewy parts they swallowed without chewing. In this miserable manner they continued to support life ; but some of the crev/ sunk daily under the disease, and on the 8th of December the commodore expired. Behring was an officer of extraordinary merit ; and, until reduced by the disease of which he became ihe victim, endowed with unshaken perseverance and energy. His voyage set at rest the disputed point regarding the separation of the two con- tinents of A«5ia and America ; and he has deservedly bequeathed his name to the strait which he was the first to explore, and the desolate island on which he died. It is melancholy to think, that after the exertions he had made in the cause of naval discovery, his life terminated so miser- ably ; for it may almost be said that he was buried alive : the sand rolled down continually from the side of the cav- * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 73, 74. STATE OF TJIE EXPEDITION. 73 ern in which he lay, and at last covered his feet ; nor would he suffer it to be removed, saying he felt warmth from it, when he was cold in all other parts ; it thus gradually in- creased upon him till his body was more than half-concealed ; so that when he at last expired, it was found necessary to unearth him previously to his being interred. " Behring," says Steller, who was by no means disposed to exaggerate the good qualities of his commander, '• displayed in his ill- ness the most affecting resignation to the will of the Su- preme Being, and enjoyed his understanding and speech to the last. He was convinced that the crew had been driven on an unknown land ; yet he would not terrify others by declaring his opinion, but cherished their hopes and encour- aged their exertions. He was buried according to the Prot- estant ritual, and a cross was erected over his grave to mark the spot, and to serve also as an evidence that the Russians had taken possession of the country."* Soon after the death of the commodore the whole crew were sheltered from the severity of the winter in subterra- nean dwellings contiguous to each other, and recovered so much strength by the use of sweet and excellent water, and the flesh of the sea-animals killed in hunting, that their ex- istence became comparatively comfortable. Of the manner in which they passed their lime during the dreary winter months, from December to May, Steller has left us in his journal a minute and interesting account. In March the sea-otters disappeared, either from the instinct of changing their abode at particular seasons of the year, or banished by continual persecution ; but their place was supplied by other marine animals, which, in their turn, also left them. " To supply ourselves with fuel," says Steller, " was likewise a considerable labour: as the island produced nothing but willow-bushes, and the drift-wood was often deeply buried in the snow till the end of March, we were compelled to bring it from a distance of even fifteen or sixteen versts ; and our load upon these expeditions amounted to from sixty to eighty pounds, besides our hatchets and kettles, with the necessary implements for mending our shoes and clothes. In April, however, we were relieved from this labour by the thaw and breaking up of the vessel." An anecdote of aa * Coxe's Russian Discoveries, p. 79. G 74 THEV BUILD A NEW VESSEL. escape made by them in hunting, as it is given by the same lively writer, presents us with a striking picture of their manner of life upon the island. " On the 5th of April," says he, " during a gleam of favourable weather, Steneser and myself, with my Cossack and a servant of Behring, went on a hunting expedition. Having killed as m.any sea- otters as we were able to carry, we made a fire in a cliff, where we proposed to pass the night. At midnight a vio- lent hurricane arose, and the snow fell in such quantities that we should have been buried had we not run continually backwards and forwards. In the morning, after a long and fruitless search for shelter, we resigned ourselves to our fate ; but the Cossack fortunately discovered a large cavern, which seemed to have been formed by an earthquake, v/here we entered with our provision and wood. It afforded a secure retreat from the weather, contained a cavity in which we could hide our provisions from the depredations of the stone- foxes, and was provided with an aperture which served the purpose of a chimney. The cave and bay, which were named in compUment to me, were inhabited by numerous foxes, which retired on our approach through the chimney ; but the smoke from our fire caused such a spitting and sneezing among them as gave no small diversion to the party. At night, however, they occasionally returned into the cavern, and amused themselves with taking away our caps, and playing other similar gambols. On the 4th we returned to our abode with a rich booty, and were re- ceived with great delight by our companions, who thought us lost."* On the 6th of May, such of the crew as were able to work began to build from the relics of the wreck a vessel, which was intended to carry the survivors to Kamtschatka. Their number was now reduced to forty-five, thirty having died on the island, including the three carpenters ; but a Siberian Cossack named Starodubzow, who had for some time worked as a shipwright at Ochotzk, superintended the building of the new ship. At first they were put to great inconvenience from a deficiency of tar ; but by an ingenious contrivance it was extracted from the new cordage which * We have availed ourselves of Coxe's translation of this passage, as pubJiabed in his Russian Discoveries, p. 85, 86 RETURN TO KAMTSCHATKA. 75 they had to spare. After being cut and picked, they put it into a large copper kettle, having a cover fitting close, with a hole in the middle, They then took another vessel with a similar cover, which they fixed firm in the ground, and upon this set the copper kettle turned upside down, the apertures in the lids being placed exactly against each other. Part of this machinery was then buried in the earth, and a fire kindled round what was above ground, by which means the tar of the new cordage melted, and ran into the inferior vessel. This contrivance having removed their greatest difficulty, by the 10th of August the new vessel was launched, and on the 16th, Lieutenant Waxel set sail with the melan- choly remnant of his crew ; but, owing to contrary winds, they did not make the coast of Kamtschaika till the 25th, although from Behring's Island the distance was not more than thirty German miles. On the 27th they anchored in Awatchka Bay ; and the Cossack Starodubzow, to whose efforts in constructing the vessel the preservation of the crew was mainly owing, received the rank of sinbojarski, a degree of Siberian nobility. Such is an account of the celebrated and unfortunate expedition of Commodore Beh- ling, of which the results were highly important to geo- graphical science, although dearly bought by the death of ■so many brave men. Although Lord Mulgrave had failed in his attempt to dis- cover, by a northerly course, a communication between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans,* the British government did not abandon ail hope ; and in 1776, Captain James Cook, who had already established his reputation as the greatest of modern navigators, was selected by the Admiralty to con- duct another expedition, reversing only the plan, and en- deavouring to sail from the Pacific into the Atlantic, instead of from the Atlantic into the Pacific. In prosecution of this plan, on the 12th of July, 1776, Cook sailed from Plymouth Sound in the Resolution, leaving instructions for the Discovery, the command of which was intrusted to Captain Charles Clerke, to join him at the Cape. From that place the two ships proceeded, in a course marked by important discoveries, through the southern hemisphere, by Van Diemen's Land, New-Zealand, Otaheite, and the » Polar Seas and Regions, p. 260-267. 76 COOK AND clerke's vofage. Sandwich Islands. They then steered north-eastward, and on the 7th of March, in latitude 44^° north, came in sight of the American continent at the coast of New-Albion. Owing to unfavourable winds, which forced the ships to the south, it was the 29th before Cook anchored in Nootka Sound, where he was soon visited by thirty boats of the natives, carrying each from three to seven or eight persons, both men and women. At first none of the Americans would venture within either ship, and from the circumstance of their boats remaining at a short distance all night, as if on watch, it was evident they regarded the arrival of the strangers with much suspicion. A friendly intercourse, however, was soon established ; and although theft, par- ticularly of any iron utensil, was unscrupulously committed, they were pretty fair and honest in their mode of barter. " They were," says Cook, " docile, courteous, and good- natured ; but quick in resenting what they looked upon as an injury, and, like most other passionate people, as soon forgetting it. Their stature was rather below the common size of Europeans ; and although at first, owing to the paint and grease which covered their skins, it was believed that they were of a copper complexion, it was afterward discovered that they were in reality a white people. They were well armed with pikes, some headed with bone and many with iron ; besides which they carried bows, slings, knives, and a short club, like the patow of the New-Zea- landers ; their arrows were barbed at the point, and the inner end feathered." A dispute occurred after the arrival of the English, between the inhabitants of the northern and south- ern coasts of the sound ; but a pacific treaty was concluded, and the event celebrated by a species of music, in which they bore alternate parts. " Their songs," says Captain Burney, who was himself present, " were given in turn, the party singing having their pikes erected. When the first finished they laid down their pikes, and the other party reared theirs. What they sang was composed of few notes, and as wild as could have been expected ; yet it was solemn and in unison, and, what I thought most extraordinary, they "were all well in tune with each other. The words were at times given out by one man, as a parish-clerk gives out the first line of a psalm."* * Burnej's North-eastern Voyages of Discovery, p. 213. SURVEY FROM NOOTKA TO NORTON SOUND. 77 It appeared evident to Captain Cook that previous to this the inhabitants had never entertained any direct com- munioation with Europeans. " They were not startled," says he, " by the report of a musket, till one day, upon en- deavouring to prove to us that arrows and spears would not penetrate their war-dresses, a gentleman of our company shot a musket-ball through one of them folded six times. At this they were so much staggered, that their ignorance of firearms was plainly seen. This was afterward con- firmed when we used them to shoot birds, the manner of which confounded them." On the ships leaving Nootka Sound, the natives accompanied their farewell with a singu- lar exhibition : " When the anchor was heaving up," says Burney, " they assembled in their boats, which covered the cove, and began a song, in which they flourished the swords, saws, hatchets, and other things which they had obtained from us. In the midst of this valedictory chorus, one man, mounted on a stage of loose boards, which was supported by the people in the nearest canoes or boats, danced with a wooden mask on, which he occasionally changed, making himself resemble sometimes a man, sometimes a bird, and sometimes an animal. Of these masks they have great variety, and they parted with them willingly, except those of the human face ; if they sold any of these, it seemed to be with some repugnance, as if they were parting with the image of a friend or a relation, and were ashamed to be seen so doing."* From Nootka Sound Captain Cook made a survey of the coast by Mount St. EUas, till he arrived at a cape which turned short to the north, to which he gave the name of Cape Hinchinbroke ; thence he proceeded to Prince William's Sound ; after which he pursued the coast to ihe west, which was found to take a southerly direction, as described by Behring and Tchirikow. These navigators, however, as we have seen, had not made a very particular examination ; and although the tenor of Cook's instructions did not permit him to devote much time to the exploring rivers or inlets, till he reached the latitude of 65°, still that eminent officer deemed himself at liberty to complete an accurate survey of this hitherto undiscovered coast, from the arm of the sea . * Barney's North-eastera Voyages of Discovery, p. 217, 218. G2 ?8 COOK CROSSES BEHRINO's STRAIT TO ASIA. afterward denominated Cook's Inlet round the great penin sula of Alaska, terminating in Cape Oonamak. He thence proceeded along the shores of Bristol Bay, till he doubled Cape Newenham, from which he steered in a north-easterly direction and anchored in Norton Sound. Leaving this the ships entered Behring's Strait, and followed the coast to the north-west, till they doubled a promontory situated in 65° 45" north latitude, which they named Prince of Wales' Cape, regarding it as the western extremity of all America hitherto known. Soon after, in the evening, they discerned the coast of Asia, and standing across the strait came to anchor in a bay of the Tschuktschi country, near a village from which the natives crowded to the shore. Observing this, Cook landed with three boats well armed, and was re- ceived by the Tschuktschi with cautious courtesy. About forty men, armed each with a spontoon, besides bow and arrow, stood drawn up on a rising ground close by the village, and as the English drew near, three of them came down towards the shore, politely taking off their caps and making low bows. On seeing some of the English leap from their boats they retired, and expressed by signs their desire that no more should land ; but when Cook advanced alone, with some small presents in his hand, their confidence was re- stored, and they exchanged for them two fox-skins and two seahorse-teeth. All this time they never laid down their •weapons, but held them in constant readiness, except for a short time, when four or five persons disarmed themselves to give the English a song and a dance ; even then, how- ever, they placed them in such a manner that they could reach them in an instant, and evidently for greater security they desired their audience to sit down during the dance. This Asiatic people, although dwelling within fifty miles of the American coast, were evidently a different race from the inhabitants of the shores of Behring's Strait. All the Americans whom the English had seen since their arrival on the coast were low of stature, with round chubby faces and high cheek-bones. The Tschuktschi, on the contrary, had long visages, and were stout and well made. Several things which they had with them, and more particularly their clothing, showed a degree of ingenuity surpassing what one could expect among so northern a people. Their jdress consisted o{ a cap, frock, breeches, boots, and gloves, RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION. 79 all made of leather or skins extremely well dressed, some with the fur on, some without it, and the quivers which con- tained their arrows were made of red leather neatly em- broidered, and extremely beautiful.* From this bay the ships again stood over to the north- east, and continuing their examination of the American coast. Cook soon found himself surrounded by the dreary features which mark the scenery of the polar latitudes ; a dark and gloomy sky, thick showers of snow and hail, and immense fields and mountains of ice, covered in some places by the huge forms of the walrus or seahorse, which lay in herds of many hundreds, huddling like swine one over the other. The flesh of these animals, when newly killed, was preferred by the crew to their common fare of salt meat, but within four-and-twenty hours it became rancid and fishy. From a point of land, which was denominated Cape Mul- grave, they now explored the coast to the latitude of 70° 29' , where their progress was arrested by an unbroken wall of ice, apparently stretching from continent to continent.! At this time the nearest land was about a league distant, and the farthest eastern point seen a low headland much encumbered with ice, to which Cook gave the name of Icy Cape, and which, till the recent discoveries of Captain Beechey, constituted the extreme limit of European dis- covery in that quarter of the globe. It was now the end of August ; and as nothing further could be attempted at that season on the American coast, the ships returned to the Sandwich Islands, with the intention of resuming in the succeeding summer the attempt for the discovery of a com- munication between the Pacific and the Atlantic, — an ob- ject which their great commander did not live to execute, having been killed in an unfortunate scuffle with the natives of Owhyee on the 11th of February, 1779. The further conduct of the expedition now fell to Clerke and King, and an attempt was made to penetrate beyond Icy Cape ; but the continued fields of ice rendered it utterly abortive. The ships, therefore, having repassed Behring's Strait, came to anchor in the Bay of St. Peter and St. Paul in Kamtschatka. Here Captain Clerke, who had long been in a declining state, died ; upon which, to the great satisfaction of the crew and * Cook's Voyages, vol. vi. p. 409, 410, 411. t Ibid. p. 415, 417. 80 MEARES'S FIRST VOYAGE. officers of both ships, who were sick of the dreary naviga- tion in these inhospitable latitudes, they returned home. Subsequent to the voyages of Cook and Gierke, the north- west coast of America was visited at different periods by Meares, Vancouver, and Kotzebue ; and though the limit of discovery was not extended beyond Icy Cape, the shores were more minutely examined, and a beneficial commercial inter- course established with the natives. Of Captain Meares's voyages, the gi;eat object was to establish a trade between China and the north-west coast of America. For this pur- pose an association of the leading mercantile men in Bengal fitted out two vessels, — the Nootka, commanded by Meares himself, and the Sea-otter, by Lieutenant Walter Tipping. The Sea-otter in the first instance took a cargo of opium to Malacca, thence she proceeded to America, and is known to have made Prince William's Sound ; but after leaving that harbour no accounts of her were ever received, and it appears certain that she and her crew perished at sea. The fate of Meares in the Nootka was scarcely more tolerable. After a tedious and perilous navigation in the China seas, they made their way through the straits between Oonamak and Oonalaska against a current running seven knots an hour, from which they sailed across to America by the Schumagin Islands, and anchored under Cape Douglas.* Thence they proceeded to Prince William's Sound to winter; and their residence here during October, November, and December, though dreary and tedious, was not without its comforts. The natives were friendly, and brought them provisions ; they caught plenty of excellent salmon, and the large flocks of ducks and geese afforded constant sport to the officers, and a seasonable supply for the table. But the horrors of an arctic winter began soon to gather round them. The ice closed in upon the ship ; the snow fell so thick that all exercise became impossible ; the ducks and geese collected into flocks, and passed away to the south- ward ; the fish totally deserted the creeks ; and the natives, a migratory race, imitating the instinct of these lower species, travelled off in a body with their temporary wig- wams to a more genial district. To add to these distresses the scurvy made its appearance ; while the sun described ..* Meares's Voyages, vol. i. p. 19. Introductory Voyage. ^ MEARES'S FIRST VOYAGE. 81 weekly a smaller circle, and shed a sickly and melancholy light. Even at noon, through an atmosphere obscured by perpetual snows, " tremendous mountains forbade almost a sight of the sky, and cast their nocturnal shadows over the ship in the midst of day." The decks were incapable of resisting the intense freezing of the night, and the lower part of them was covered an inch thick r/ith a hoar frost that had all the appearance of snow, notwithstanding fires were kept constantly burning twenty hours out of the twenty- four. Between the months of January and May, twenty- three men died of the scurvy, and the rest of the crew were so disabled as to be incapable of any labour ; but the sun's return and the commencement of more genial weather pro- duced an instantaneous effect on the health and spirits of the crew. The natives returned, and assured the poor sufferers that the cold must soon be gone, making them understand by signs that the summer would commence about the middle of May ; and the sun, which now began to make a larger circle over the hills, not only chased away the huge and gloomy shadows that, like a funeral-pall, had covered the ship, but brought back the fish to the rivers, and the migratory birds to the shore ; so that they soon enjoyed an ample supply of fresh food. On the 17th of May, a general breaking up of the ice took place throughout the cove, and the feeling that they were once more in clear water, with the prospect of soon leaving a scene of so much distress and horror, cheered the minds of the crew with in- expressible comfort.* These happy anticipations were soon realized by their sailing from Prince of Wales' Sound on 21st June, and reaching the hospitable cluster of the Sand- wich Isles, where such was the eflfect of the genial climate, that in ten days' residence every complaint had disappeared. On the 2d of September they left the Sandwich Islands, and arrived on the 20th October at Macao in China. It may easily be imagined, that during so disastrous a sojourn on the American shore, little or no progress could be made in the survey of the coast, which was rugged ; and at no great distance were mountains, covered with thick woods for about two-thirds of their ascent, beyond which they terminated in immense masses of naked rock. The * Meares's Voyages, vol. i. Introductory Voyage, p. 47. 82 NATIVES OF PRINCE WILLIAM*S SOUND black-pine grew in great plenty, and a few black-currant bushes were noticed, but no other kind of fruit or vegetable. The number of savages seen by Meares did not exceed five or six hundred, and these had no fixed place of abode, but wandered up and down as fancy or necessity impelled them. They were strong and athletic, rather exceeding the common stature of Europeans, with prominent cheek-bones, round flat faces, eyes small and black, and hair, which they cut short round the head, of the same jetty colour. A slit in the under lip, parallel to the mouth, and a perforation in the septum of the nose, in which was inserted a large quill or a piece of bark, gave them a hideous look ; while a sin- gular practice of powdering their hair with the down of birds, allowing the frostwork and icicles to hang from the beard, and painting the neck and face with red ochre, in- creased the savage singularity of their appearance. Their clothing consisted of a single frock of the sea-otter skin, reaching to their knees. When employed in their canoes, they used a dress made of the entrails of the whale, which covered the head, and was so disposed that it could be tied round the hole in which they sat, so as to prevent the water from getting into the canoe, while it kept the lower part of the body warm and dry. Their hardihood and capacity of enduring pain astonished the English, and was remark- ably evinced upon an occasion mentioned by Meares : — " In the course of the winter," says he, " among other rubbish, several broken glass bottles had been thrown out of the ship, and one of the natives, who was searching among them, cut his foot in a very severe manner. On seeing it bleed, we pointed out what had caused the wound, and applied a dressing to it, which he was made to understand was the remedy we ourselves applied on similar occasions ; but he and his companions instantly turned the whole into ridicule, and at the same time taking some of the glass, they scar- ified their legs and arms in a most cruel and extraordinary manner, informing us that nothing of that kind could ever hurt them."* The disastrous result of this first expedition did not deter .either Meares or his liberal employers from hazarding a cecond voyage to the same coast, which was attended with * Meares*s Voyages, vol. i. lutroductory Voyage, p. 66. MEARES'S SECOND VOYAGE. 83 more important results. The Felice, of 230 tons burden, and the Iphigenia, of 300, were fitted out on this adventure ; the command being given to Captains Meares and Douglas. Both vessels were copper-bottomed and strongly built, and their crews consisted of Europeans and Chinese, among whom were some excellent smiths, shipwrights, and other artisans. The taking the Chinamen aboard was an experi- ment. Before this time they had never formed part of the crew of an English merchant-ship ; and it is but justice to say that they proved hardy, good-humoured, and industrious. Two other very interesting passengers were on board of Captain Meares's ship, — Teanna, a prince of Atooi, one of the Sandwich Isles, who had volunteered to leave his native country when Meares visited it during his former expedition ; and Comekala, a native of King George's Sound, who had at the same time entreated to be carried to China. Of these two specimens of savage life Teanna was by far the finest, both in moral and in physical quaUties. He was about thirty-two years old, near six feet five inches in stature, and in strength almost Herculean. His carriage was dignified, and, in consequence of the respect paid to his superior rank in his own country, possessed an air of distinction, to which his familiarity with European manners had not communi- cated any stiffness or embarrassment. Comekala, on the other hand, though cunning and sagacious, was a stranger to the generous qualities which distinguished the prince of the Sandwich Isles. He was kind and honest when it suited his own interest ; but stole without scruple whatever he wished to have and could not procure by fairer means. Brass and copper were metals which he might almost be said to worship. Copper halfpence, buttons, saucepans, — all possessed in his eyes the highest charms. It was evident that he coveted the brass buttons of the captain's uniform ; and his mode of fixing his eyes on the object of his desire, and the pangs of ungratified avarice, as exhibited in the contortions of his countenance, proved matter of much amusement to the crew. The cause of his insatiable thirst for copper became afterward apparent. In the mean time Captain Meares found it necessary to separate from his consort, whose slow sailing threatened to impede his progress ; and after a long and hazardous pas- sage, the ship anchored in Friendly Cove in King George's 84 KING George's sound. — comekala. Sound, abreast of the village of Nootka, on the morning of the 13th of May. Comekala, who for several days had been in a state of high excitation, now enjoyed the genuine de- light of once more beholding his native shore ; and when his intention of landing was made known, the whole inhab- itants poured forth to give him welcome. The dress in which he chose to appear for the first time after so long an absence was very extraordinary : on a former occasion, when visited by Hannapa, a brother chief, he contented himself with an ordinary European suit ; but he now, says Meares, arrayed himself in all his glory : his scarlet coat was decorated with such quantities of brass buttons and copper appendages of one kind or other, that they could not fail to procure him profound respect from his countrymen, and render him an object of unbounded admiration to the Nootka damsels. At least half a sheet of copper formed his breastplate ; from his ears copper ornaments were sus- pended ; and he contrived to hang from his hair, which was dressed with a long pig-tail, so many handles of copper saucepans, that their weight kept his head in a stiff upright position, which very much heightened the oddity of his ap- pearance. For several of the ornaments with which he was now so proudly decorated Comekala had lived in a state of continual hostility with the cook, from whom he purloined them ; but their last and principal struggle was for an enor- mous spit, which the American prince had seized as a spear, to swell the circumstances of that splendour with which he was preparing to dazzle the eyes of his countrymen. In such a state of accoutrement, and feeling greater delight than ever was experienced on the proudest European throne, the long-boat rowed Comekala ashore, when a general and deafening shout from the crowd assured him of the universal joy felt on his return. The whole inhabitants moved to the beach, welcomed the traveller on shore, and afterward con- ducted him to the king's house, which none but persons of rank were permitted to enter, and where a magnificent feast of whale blubber and oil was prepared. On the whole, Comekala's reception, and the impression made by his ex- traordinary costume, evinced his intimate knowledge of the character of his countrymen ; for though to the English the effect was irresistibly comic, the natives regarded him with a mixture of silent awe and wonder, which after a while NOOTKA MUSIC. 85 broke forth into expressions of universal astonishment and delight. Not long after this exhibition, two Nootka princes, Ma- quilla and Callicum, paid a visit to the English. Their little squadron, consisting of twelve canoes with eighteen men each, moved with stately parade round the ship : the men wore dresses of beautiful sea-otter skins, covering them from head to heel ; their hair was powdered with the white down of birds, and their faces bedaubed with red and black ochre, in the form of a shark's jaw and a kind of spiral line, which rendered their appearance extremely savage. Eight rowers sat on each side, and a single man at the bow ; while the chiefs, distinguished by a high cap, pointed at the crown and ornamented with a small tuft of feathers, occupied a place in the middle. All this was very striking-, but the most remarkable accompaniment was the air which they chanted, the effect of which is described by Meares as un- commonly pleasing. " We listened," says he, " to their song with an equal degree of surprise and pleasure. It was indeed impossible for any ear susceptible of delight from musical sounds, or any mind not insensible to the power of melody, to remain unmoved by this solemn unexpected con- cert. The chorus was in unison, and strictly correct as to time and tune ; nor did a dissonant note escape them. Sometimes they would make a sudden transition from the high to the low tones, with such melancholy turns in their variations, that we could not reconcile to ourselves the man- ner in which they acquired or contrived this more than un- taught melody of nature. There was also something for the eye as well as the ear, and the action that accompanied their voices added very much to the impression which the chanting made upon us all. Every one beat time with un- deviating regularity against the gunwale of the boat with their paddles ; and at the end of every verse they pointed with extended arms to the north and south, gradually sinking their voices in such a solemn manner as to produce an effect not often attained by the orchestras of European nations." This account of the impressive music of the people of Nootka Sound is, the reader may remember, corroborated by Captain Burney.* The ceremony, however, did not end with the * Supra, p, 76. H 86 HUNTING THE SEA-OTTER. song ; but after rowing twice round the ship, rising up eacg time as they passed the stern, and vociferating, *' WacushI Wacush !" (friends,) they brought their canoes alongside, and the two chiefs came on board. Both were handsome men, of the middle size, possessing a mild but manly expres- sion of countenance. They accepted a present of copper, iron, and other articles, with signs of great delight, and throwing off their sea-otter garments, laid them gracefully at the feet of the English, and stood on the deck quite naked. Each of them was presented with a blanket, which they threw over their shoulders with marks of high satisfaction, and descending into their canoes, were paddled to the shore. A brisk trade in furs now commenced, which, though in- terrupted occasionally by the petty thefts of the savages, was highly fiivourable to the commercial interests of the ex- pedition. Skins of the sea-otter, beaver, martin, sable, and river-otter, of the ermine, black-fox, gray, white, and red wolf, wolverine, marmot, racoon, bear, and mountain-sheep, and in addition to all these, of the furred, speckled, and com- mon seal, sea-cow, and sea-lion, were all procured, though some in greater abundance than others. Of these by far the most beautiful and valuable was the skin of the sea-otter. The taking of this animal is attended with considerable hazard ; but constant practice has taught the natives both skill and courage. " When it is determined to hunt the sea-otter," says Meares, " two very small canoes are pre- pared, in each of which are seated two expert hunters. The instruments they employ are bows and arrows, with a small harpoon, which differs somewhat from the instrument of the same kind used in hunting the whale, the shaft being much the same ; but the harpoon itself of greater length, and so notched and barbed that when it has once entered the tlesh it is almost impossible to extricate it. It is attached to the shaft by several fathoms of sufficient strength to drag the otter to the boat. The arrows employed are small, and pointed with bone formed into a single barb. Thus equipped the hunters proceed among the rocks in search of their prey. Sometimes they surprise the animal when sleeping on his back on the surfiice of the water : and if they can approach without waking him, which requires infinite caution and skill, he is easily harpooned and dragged to the boat, when a fierce battle often ensues between the otter and HUNTING THE WHALE. . 470. 182 franklin's second journey. object also of surveying the coasts between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine Rivers." It was the opinion of this able officer, that in the course he now proposed to follow, reverses similar to those which had surrounded his first journey were scarcely to be appre- hended ; and his views having met the approbation of govern- ment, he received directions for the equipment of the expedition, and was nominated its commander. He had the satisfaction also of being once more accompanied by his valued friend Dr. Richardson ; who, unappalled by his former dreadful sufferings, again offered his services as naturalist and surgeon, and volunteered to undertake the survey of the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers, while Captain Franklin was occupied in an attempt to reach Icy Cape.* Previous to the departure of the ships a correspondence was opened with the governor and direc- tors of the Hudson's Bay Company ; who transmitted in- junctions to their officers in the fur-countries to provide depots of provisions at the stations pointed out by Franklin. The building of proper boats for the navigation of the Arctic Sea, as well as the passage of the rapids between York Factory and Mackenzie River, formed the next object of attention. It was evident that the canoes of birch-bark employed by Sir A. Mackenzie, and by Captain Franklin in his first journey, though excellently adapted for the Ameri- can rivers, uniting lightness and facility of repair with speed, were yet, from the tenderness of the bark, little fitted to re- sist the force of the arctic waves, or the collision of the sharp-pointed masses of ice. Captain Franklin accordingly obtained the Admiralty's permission to have three boats constructed, at Woolwich, under his own superintendence. " They were built," says he, " of mahogany, with timbers of ash, both ends exactly alike, and fitted to be steered either with a ship-oar or a rudder. The largest, being twenty-six feet long and five feet four inches broad, was adapted for six rowers, a steersman, and an officer ; it was found to be ca- pable of carrying three tons weight in addition to the crev/, and could be transported with ease on the shoulders of six men. The other two boats were twenty-four feet in length. ♦ Franklin's Narrative of a Second Expedition to iLe Shores of the Polar ^ea. Introductory Chapter, p. lU. DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION. 183 four feet ten inches broaJ, and held a crew of five men, be- sides a steersman and an officer, with an extra weight of two and a half tons. In addition to these, another little vessel was constructed, at Woolwich, which reflected great credit upon its inventor, Lieutenant-colonel Pasley, of the Royal Engineers. Its shape was exactly that of one of the valves of a walnut-shell, and it was framed of well-seasoned planks of ash, fastened together with thongs, and covered with Mackintosh's prepared canvass. It weighed only eighty-five pounds, and when taken to pieces could be made up in five or six parcels, and again put together in less than twenty minutes, although it was nine feet long by four feet four inches in breadth."* Each person on board was pro- vided with two suits of water-proof dresses, prepared by Mr. Mackintosh, of Glasgow ; the guns, which were of the same bore as the fowling-pieces furnished by the Hudson's Bay company to the Indian hunters, had their locks tem- pered to resist the cold ; each being fitted with a broad Indian dagger similar to a bayonet, which, on being dis- joined, could be used as a knife. Ammunition of the best quality, and a store of provisions sufficient for two years, were also supplied. The expedition sailed from Liverpool on 16th Februarj;-, 1825, and after a favourable passage to New- York, pro- ceeded to Albany, travelled through Utica, Rochester, and Geneva, crossed the Niagara and Lake Ontario, coasted the northern shore of Lake Superior, and thence pushed for- ward through Rainy Lake, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Winipeg, Saskatchawan River, and arrived at Cumberland House on the 15th June. From this station, proceeding northward to Isle a la Crosse, and passing through Deep River and Clear and Buffalo Lakes, they overtook their boats in Methye River on the morning of 29th June. The advanced period of the season rendered it impossible to em- bark on the Mackenzie before the middle of August, so that it became necessary to postpone the great expedition till the ensuing summer. They accordingly established their winter- quarters on the banks, erecting a habitation and store, which they named Fort Franklin. The superintendence of these buildings was committed to Lieutenant Back, while Captain •^ Franklin's Second Journey, Intro. Chap. p. 15, 18. 184 ARRIVAL AT WIUI-F, ISLAND. Franklin determined to descend the river, take a view of the state of the Polar Sea, and return to winter-quarters before the extreme cold should set in. In this voyage there occurred nothing worthy of particular notice till the arrival at Whale Island, where, though Mac- kenzie had the strongest reasons to conclude that he had reached the sea, he appears not to have been completely satis- fied on that, point. Probably his doubts arose from the fresh taste of the water. Franklin, however, proceeded beyond Whale Island, and reached the shore of the great Arctic Ocean. " Embarking," says he, " at eleven A. M., we con- tinued our course along the shore of Ellice Island, until we found its coast trending southward of east. There we landed, and were rejoiced at the sea-like appearance to the northward. An island was now discovered to the north-east, looking blue from its distance, towards which the boat was imme- diately directed. The water, which for the last eight miles had been very shallow, became gradually deeper, and of a more green colour, though still fresh, even when we had entirely lost sight of the eastern land. In the middle of the traverse we were caught by a strong contrary wind, against ■which our crews cheerfully contended for five hours. Un- willing to return without attaining the object of our search, when the strength of the rowers was nearly exhausted the sails were set double-reefed, and our excellent boat mounted over the waves in a most buoyant manner, while an oppor- tune alteration of the wind enabled us in the course of another hour to fetch into smoother water under the shelter of the island. We then pulled across a line of strong rip- pie, v^hich marked the termination of the fresh water, that on the seaward side being brackish ; and in the further pro- gress of three miles to the island, we had the indescribable pleasure of finding the water decidedly salt. The sun was setting as the boat touched the beach ; we hastened to the most elevated part of the island, about two hundred and fifty feet high, to look around ; and never was a prospect more gratifying than that which lay open to us. The Rocky Mountains were seen from S.W. to W. ^N., and fi-om the latter point, round by the north, the sea appeared in all its majesty, entirely free from ice, and without any visible ob- struction to its navigation. Many seals and black and white whales were seen sporting on its waves, and the WINTER EMPLOYMENTS. 185 whole scene was calculated to excite in our minds the most flattering expectations of our own success and that of our friends in the Hecla and the Fury."* Franklin pronounces a high encomium on the accuracy of Mackenzie, and con- siders him as completely entitled to the praise of having reached the Arctic Sea, although, owing to the frail con- struction of the Indian canoes, it was impossible for him to sail to the point where the water became salt. Having accomplished his design in this preliminary jour- ney, Franklin returned on 5th September to his winter- quarters on Great Bear Lake. About the same time Dr. Richardson arrived from his excursion to the north-eastern shores of the same extensive sheet of water, having com- pleted his survey as far as the influx of Dease's River, and ascertained that the first rapid was the best point to which the eastern detachment of the expedition should direct its course on their return from the Coppermine in the following season. Meantime the people were so busily employed that time never hung heavy on their hands, and the shortest day came almost unexpectedly upon them. The Canadians and Indians were engaged in fishing and hunting for the support of the whole party, and during the autumn the nets yielded daily eight hundred fish of the kind called herring- salmon. Four Dog-rib Indians, along with the two interpre- ters, Augustus and Ooligbuck, were employed in hunting rein- deer, and the sailors were divided into different parties, to whom separate duties were allotted ; such as attending on the nets, bringing home the venison killed by the hunters, felling, carrying, and splitting wood, and exercising themselves in running as letter-carriers on snow-shoes between Fort Franklin and two other small posts established on the Mac- kenzie and Slave Lake. A school also was opened, ia which, during the long winter evenings, the officers instructed the sailors in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and during the hours of relaxation the hall was given up to the men to divert themselves with any game they chose ; on which oc- casions they were always joined by the officers. Sunday was invariably a day of rest, and the whole party attended divine service morning and evening. Besides this, the offi- cers had ample employment in noting down the thermo- * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 34-36. Q2 186 APPROACH OF SPRING. metrical, raagnetical, and atmospherical observations, in writ' ing their journals, finishing their charts and drawings, and arranging the objects of natural history which had been collected.* Tiiey were amused by occasional visits of the Dog-rib Indians and various other tribes ; and Christmas- day falling on a Sunday, they on the succeeding evening gave a dance and supper, which was attended by sixty per- sons including savages. " Seldom," says Franklin, " in such a confined space as our hall, or among the same num- ber of persons, was there a greater variety of character or greater confusion of tongues. The party consisted of Eng- hshmen, Highlanders (who mostly conversed with each other in Gaelic), Canadians (who spoke French), Esqui- maux, Chipewyans, Dog-ribs, Hare Indians, Cree women and children, all mingled together in perfect harmony, while the amusements were varied by English, Gaelic, and French songs."t The spring now approached, and the migratory animals, which observe with beautiful exactness their periods of de- parture and arrival, began to appear, gladdening the yet wintry face of nature. On 5th October the last swan had passed to the southward, and on the 11th the last brown duck was noticed. On 6th May the first swan was seen, and on the 8th the brown ducks reappeared on the lake. The mosses began to sprout, and various singing birds and orioles, along with some swifts and white geese, arrived soon after. It is remarked by Dr. Richardson, that the singing birds, which were silent on the banks of the Bear Lake during the day, serenaded their mates at midnight ; at which time, however, it was quite light. On 20th May the little stream which flowed past the fort burst its icy chains, and the laughing geese arrived to give renewed cheerful- ness to the lake. Soon after this the winter-green began to push forth its flowers ; and under the increasing warmth of the sun's rays the whole face of nature underwent a de- lightful change. The snow gradually melted, the ice broke «p from the shores of the lake, the northern sky became red and laminous at midnight, the dwarf-birch and willows expanded their leaves, and by the 3d June the anemones, * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 54-56. t tbid. p. 67 EMBARKATION ON THE MACKENZIE. 187 the tussilago, the Lapland rose, and other early plants, were in fall flower.* Admonished by these pleasing changes. Captain Franklin prepared to set out, and on 1 5th June the equipments for the beats were completed. Fourteen men, including Au- gustus the Esquimaux interpreter, accompanied the com- mander-in-chief and Lieutenant Back in the two larger boats, the Lion and the Reliance ; while nine men, and Oolig- buck another interpreter, attended Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall in the Dolphin and the Union. Spare blankets, and all that could be useful for the voyage, or as presents to the Esquimaux, were divided between the eastern and western parties. On the Sunday before their departure, the officers and men assembled at divine worship, and, in addition to the usual service, the special protection of the Almighty was implored for the enterprise upon which they were about to be engaged. All was now ready, and on Tuesday, 28th June, they embarked upon the Mackenzie, with the naviga- tion of which the reader is already familiar. On the Ith July they reached that part where the river divides into various channels, and the two parties had determined to pursue different directions. The expedition which was to follow the western branch, commanded by Captain Frank- lin, embarked first at Dr. Richardson's desire, with a salute of three hearty cheers from their companions, and as they dropped down the river and passed round a point of land they perceived their friends who were to follow the eastern branch employed in the bustle of embarkation. All were in high spirits, and it was impossible not to contrast their present complete state of equipment with the circumstances of their first disastrous journey. On reaching the mouth of the Mackenzie, the western expedition came almost immediately into contact with the Esquimaux. Captain Franklin observed an encampment upon a neighbouring island, and instantly proceeded to open a communication. A selection of presents was made, and at the same time every man was directed to have his gun ready for use. Having adopted these precautions, they steered direct for the island with their ensigns flying. The boats touched ground when about a mile from the beach. Signs * Richardson's Meteorological Tables. 188 ESQUIMAUX. were made to the Esquimaux to come off, and the English pulled back a little to await their arrival in deeper water. Three canoes, each carrying only a single person, pushed off, and these were followed rapidly by others ; so that in a few minutes the whole space between the boats and the shore was alive with those little vessels, which they name kayaks. An attempt was at first made to count them, and the sailors got the length of seventy ; but they increased in such quick succession as to baffle their further efforts. At first every thing proceeded in a friendly manner. Au- gustus, after delivering a present, informed them, that if the English succeeded in finding a navigable channel for large ships, an advantageous trade would be opened. This in- timation was received with a deafening shout, and the sight of the presents which had been carried away by the three foremost kayaks inflamed the cupidity of their companions ; so that the boats were in a moment surrounded by nearly three hundred persons, offering for sale their bows, arrows, and spears, with a violence and perseverance which became at last exceedingly troublesome, and Captain Franklin di- rected the boats to be put to seaward. At this moment a kayak was upset by one of the oars of the Lion, and its unhappy possessor was struck by the accident with his head in the mud and his heels in the air. He was instantly ex- tricated, wrapped in a warm great-coat, and placed in the boat, where, although at first excessively frightened and angry, he soon became reconciled to his situation, and look- ing about, discovered many bales and other articles which had hitherto been carefully concealed. His first impulse was to ask for every thing he saw, his next to be indignant that his requests were not granted ; and on joining his com- panions, as they afterward learned, he harangued on the inexhaustible riches of the Lion, and proposed a plan for a general attack and pillage of both the boats. This scheme was immediately carried into execution ; and although the plunderers at first affected to be partly in sport, matters soon assumed a serious complexion. Two of the most powerful men, leaping on board, seized Captain Franklin, forced him to sit between them, and when he shook them off, a third took his station in front to catch his arm whenever he attempted to raise his gun or lay his hand on the broad dagger which hung by his side. During this assault the two boats VIOLENT CONDUCT OF THE ESQUIMAUX. 189 were violently dragged to the shore, and a numerous party, stripping to the waist and brandishing their long sharp knives, ran to the Reliance, and commenced a regular pillage, handing the articles to the women, who, ranged in a row be- hind, quickly conveyed them out of sight. No sooner was the bow cleared of one set of marauders than another party commenced their operations at the stern. The Lion was beset by smaller numbers, ^nd her crew, by firmly keeping their seats on the canvass cover spread over the cargo, and beating off the natives with the butt-end of their muskets, succeeded in preventing any article of importance from being carried away. Irritated, at length, by their frequent failure, the Esquimaux made a simultaneous charge, and, leaping on board, began to wrest the daggers and shot-belts from the sailors, and to strike with their knives. In the midst of this attack, when the crew in the Lion were nearly overpowered and their commander disarmed, all at once the natives took to their heels, and concealed themselves behind the drift-timber and canoes on the beach. This sudden panic was occasioned by Captain Back, whose boat at this time had been got afloat, commanding his crew to level their muskets, — a proceeding which was immediately observed by the Esquimaux, though not noticed by Captain Frank- lin's men, who were wholly occupied in defending them- selves. The Lion happily floated soon after ; and as both boats pulled off. Captain Franklin desired Augustus to in- form some of the Esquimaux, who manifested a disposition to follow and renew the attack, that he would shoot the first man who ventured to approach within musket-range.* In the evening, Augustus anxiously entreated permission to attend a conference of his countrymen on the shore, to which he had been formally invited. The courage and fidelity of this person had much endeared him to the Eng- lish, and it was not without hesitation that Captain Frank- lin agreed to his request, as he stated his determination to reprove the natives for their disgraceful conduct. He was at length allowed to go, and by the time he reached the shore the number of Esquimaux amounted to forty, all of them armed. On landing, he walked undauntedly into the middle of the assembly, and addressed them in the following * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 101-107. 190 SPEECH OF AUGUSTUS. animated speech, which he afterward repeated to his Eng lish friends : — '* Y^our conduct," said he, " has been very bad, and unlike all other Esquimaux. Some of you even stole from me, your countryman — but that I do not mind. I only regret that you should have treated in this violent manner the white people, who came solely to do you kind- ness. My tribe were in the same unhappy state in which you now are before the white people came to Churchill ; but at present they are supplied with every thing they need ; and you see that I am well clothed, I get every thing I want, and am very comfortable. You cannot expect, after the transactions of this day, that these people vyill ever bring any articles to your country again, unless you show your contrition by returning the stolen goods. The white people love the Esquimaux, and wish to show them the same kind- ness that they bestow upon the Indians. Do not deceive yourselves, and suppose that they are afraid of you ; I tell you they are not, and that it is entirely owing to their hu- manity tliat many of you were not killed to-day, for they have all guns with which they can destroy you either near or at a distance. I also have a gun, and can assure you that if a white man had fallen, I would have been the first to have revenged his death." During this speech, which was delivered, as they perceived from the boats, with much energy and spirited gesticulation, the Esquimaux expressed their approbation by frequent shouts, and on its conclusion made a very penitent, though somewhat singular apology : *' They had never seen white men before," they said, " and really all the things in the boats were so beautiful and de- sirable that it was impossible not to steal them. As they were very anxious, however, for the friendship and trade of the white men, they solemnly promised never to repeat such conduct, and, at the request of Augustus, sent back the large kettle, the tent, and some pairs of shoes which they liad carried oif."* The interpreter was afterward invited to a dance, and a friendly understanding seemed to be es- tablished ; but Captain Franklin soon discovered that the professions of the natives were hollow and treacherous ; and nothing but his jealous precautions saved him and his com- * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 108, 109. FRIENDLY ESQUIMAUX. 191 panions from massacre, in which it had been resolved to in- clude the faithful Augustus. ' Their voyage along the coast in the direction of west- north-west, after a progress of twelve miles, was impeded by the ice stretching from the shore far to seaward. The boats were in consequence hauled up ; and as the frozen masses were piled round to the height of thirty feet, it be- came necessary to await the breaking up of this formidable barrier. Having gone to sleep, the officers were startled at midnight by the guard calling to arms : three Esquimaux, belonging to a large party encamped at some distance, had stolen forward, and been only discovered when close at hand. Alarmed at the appearance of the men, who stood to their arms, the strangers were on the point of discharging their arrows, when they were arrested by the loud voice of Au- gustus, who explained the object of the expedition, and di- lated upon the advantages which they would derive from it. A present confirmed his statement, and an amicable inter- course was opened, — a line, however, being first drawn at a certain distance from the tents, across which no Esquimaux was to pass under the penalty of being instantly shot. Against this they made no remonstrance, only remarking, when informed of the treacherous conduct of the natives at the mouth of Mackenzie River, that "these were bad men, altogether different from them, and never failed either to steal or quarrel whenever an opportunity was offered." The delight exhibited by these people, including the most elderly among them, on receiving any little present, was ex- actly similar to that of children when they get hold of toys. They ran from one thing to another ; examined with rest- less curiosity every part of Augustus's dress, who, to gratify his vanity, had put on his gayest apparel ; and, ignorant of the uses of the articles presented to them, they walked about with cod-fish hooks and awls dangling from the nose, and copper thimbles strung to their trousers or rein-deer jackets. The men were robust, and taller than those seen on the east coast by Captain Parry, though their manner of life appeared to be nearly the same. With the broad nose and small eyes, which peculiarly distinguish the whole Esqui- maux tribes, they had the cheek-bones less projecting than those of the eastern coast. From a constant exposure to the glare of the ice amd snow, the whole party were 102 DRESS AND MANNERS OF THE ESQUIMAUX. tifriicted with sore eyes, and two of the old men seemed nearly bUnd. They wore the hair on the upper lip and chin, and every man had pieces of bone or shells thrust through the septum of the nose, while holes were pierced on each side of the under lip, in which were placed circular pieces of ivory with a large blue bead in the centre,— ornd- rnents which they valued highly, and declined selling. Their clothes consisted of a jacket of rein-deer skin, wuii a skirt behind and before, and a small hood ; breeches of the same material, and larire seal-skin bouts. The d.ress of the females diiiered from that of the men only in their wearing POINTS SABINE AND KAY. 193 wide trousers, and in the size of their hoods, which did not fit close to the head, but were made large jfor the purpose of receiving their children : these were ornamented with fitripes of different coloured skins, and round the top was fastened a band of wolf's hair, made to stand erect. The women were from four feet and a half to four feet three- quarters high, and some of the younger, though too cor- pulent, were pretty ; their black hair was tastefully turned up from behind to the top of the head, and braided with strings of white and blue beads and cords of white deer- skin. Both men and women were much pleased by having their portraits sketched by Captain Back ; and one young lady, who sat for a full-length and chose the extraordinary attitude of stuffing both hands into her breeches-pockets, interrupted the labours of the draughtsman by repeatedly jumping into the air, and smiling in a very ludicrous and irresistible manner. The men were armed with bows and arrows, long knives, which they concealed in the shirt- sleeve, and spears tipped with bone.* The Esquimaux had predicted, that as soon as a strong wind began to blow from the land it would loosen the ice ; and on 12th July a heavy rain with a pretty high gale set in, and opened up a passage. The boats accordingly were launched ; and, passing a wide bay named by the com- mander after his friends Captains Sabine and Kay, they were suddenly arrested by a compact body of ice, and en- veloped at the same time in a dense fog. On attempting to pull back for the purpose of landing, they discovered that the ice had closed between them and the shore. In this situation only one alternative was left, which was to pull to seaward and trace the outer border of the ice. This they at last effected ; though a sudden change of wind brought on a heavy swell, and surrounded them with floating masses of ice, which threatened to crush the boats to pieces. They succeeded, however, after five hours employed in pulling in and out between these floating icebergs, in reach- ing the shore and landing a little to the west of Point Sabine. After a detention of *^J9o days they proceeded as far as Point Kay ; but being here again impeded by a compact body of ice, which extended to seaward as far as the eye could * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 118, 119. R 194 HERSCHEL ISLAND. reach, they were obliged to encamp and wait patiently for the first strong breeze from the land. The time of their sojourn in these arctic solitudes was pleasantly occupied in making astronomical observations, collecting specimens of the plants in flower, sketching Bcenery, and completing charts of the coast. Augustus went in search of his countrymen, and returned at night with a young Esquimaux and his wife, who, after a few presents, became loquacious, and informed them that the ice would soon break up. Symptoms of this desirable change were accordingly observed next day, and with great labour they reached Herschel Island. At the moment they made the shore a herd of rein-deer came bounding. down to the beach, pursued by three Esquimaux hunters, and imme- diately took the water, while the natives, startled at sight of the strangers, gazed for a moment, consulted among themselves, changed the heads of their arrows, and pre- pared their bows. Their hostile intentions, however, were laid aside when they were addressed by Augustus ; and in the evening a large party arrived, bringing dried meat, fish, and game, for which they received presents in exchange, which set them singing and dancing round the encampment for the greater part of the night. From these people was collected some curious information. They stated that they procured beads, knives, and iron principally from Esquimaux residing far away to the west, and also from Indians who came annually from the interior by a river directly opposite the encampment, to which Cap- tain Franklin gave the name of Mountain Indian River.* Whence the Indians or the Esquimaux obtained these goods they could not tell, but supposed it was from Kabloo- nacht or white men, at a great distance to the west. The articles were not of British manufacture, from which Cap- tain Franklin concluded that the Kabloonacht must be the Russian fur-traders. It was with great diflRculty that the boats made even a short distance from Herschel Island. The ice repeatedly closed in upon them, leaving only a narrow channel, often too shallow to float the boats, and dense fogs now became frequent, rendering their navigation peculiarly hazardous* * Franklin's Second Journey, p, 130, 131. CLARENCE RIVER. 195 These dreary curtains hanging over the ice gave it the appearance of water, and exposed them to the danger of being shut in by an impenetrable barrier when they expected an open sea. They continued their course, however, till they came abreast of Mount Conybeare, when they en- camped, and crossing a swampy level ascended to the sum- mit, from which they enjoyed a striking view into the inte- rior. Three noble ranges of mountains were seen parallel to the Buckland chain, but of less altitude, while the pros- pect was bounded by a fourth range, mingling their pyra- midal summits with the clouds, and covered with snow. From this last encampment their advance was extremely slow. The boats were pushed forward through small lanes, the utmost vigilance being necessary to prevent their being entirely shut in, as a few hours often made essential changes, and their frail craft could only be saved by being frequently hauled upon the beach. The calm weather also retarded them, and they earnestly longed for a strong gale to break up the compacted fields of ice, and permit them to continue their voyage. After a detention of some days their wishes seemed about to be gratified ; at midnight, on the 2.5th July, a strong south-westerly breeze sprang up, accompanied by thunder and lightning ; but in the morning an impenetrable fog hung over the sea. On the land side the prospect was equally dreary ; an extensive swamp, in which they sank ankle-deep at every step, prevented any excursions into the interior, and the clouds of mosquitoes which for ever buzzed around them kept them in a perpetual irritation. At length, however, the fog dispersed, disclosing an open lane of water about half a mile from shore ; following its course for eight miles they came to the mouth of a wide river, which had its rise in the British range of mountains. Its course approached near the line of demarcation between the Ame-< rican dominions of Great Britain and Russia, and Captain Franklin named it the Clarence River, after his present majesty, then lord high admiral. On the most elevated part of the coast near its mouth they erected a pile of drift- wood, under which was deposited a tin box, containing a royal silver medal, and an account of the proceedings of the expedition ; after which the union flag was hoisted with three hearty cheers. 196 MOUNT COPLESTON. They now continued their voyage, though often beset by ice and interrupted by fogs, and passing the boundary be- tween Russian and British America descried an encamp- ment of natives on a low island, surrounded by many oomiaks and kayaks guarded by Esquimaux dogs, while their mas- ters were fast asleep in the tents. The interpreter being despatched to arouse them, a singular scene took place. At his first call a little squabby woman rushed out in a state of perfect nudity, uttered a loud yell, and instantly ran back again to rouse her husband, who, shouting out that stran- gers were at hand, awoke the whole band. In a moment all seized their arms, and without waiting to put on their deer- skin breeches or jackets, swarmed out upon the beach, which in an instant was covered with fifty-four grown-up persons completely naked, very outrageous, dirty, and ugly. A short parley quieted their fears, an interchange of presents took place, and the boats crossed Camden Bay, having in view the noble range of the Romanzoff Mountains, whose peaks were covered with snow. Soon after they arrived at the mouth of a river, which discharged into the sea so great a volume of water that even three miles from land the taste was perfectly fresh ; and having reached latitude 70° 7', farther progress was prevented by ice closely packed on the outer border of a reef, and they discovered that the great chain of the Rocky Mountains either terminated abreast of their present situa- tion, or receded so far to the southward as to fade away iit the distance. During their detention Captain Back, to whose pencil we are indebted for many admirable drawings of arctic scenery, made a sketch of the most western moun- tain, which they named Mount Copleston.* Various cir- cumstances now warned them that much further progress along this inhospitable coast was impracticable. The fogs became more frequent and perilous, the water was often so shallow that even at two miles from shore the boats grounded, and on getting into deeper soundings, the re- peated shocks received from masses of floating ice severely injured their timbers, especially those of the Lion, which was very leaky. Still they struggled on from Flaxman * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 150. See the Vignette to this volume. ILLUSIONS OF THE FOG. 197 Isiand along a low, desolate shore, rendered more dreary by the stormy weather, till on the 10th a gale brought along with it a thick fog, and they hauled up the boats, encamping on a low spot, which they named Foggy Island. Here they kindled fires, dried their clothes, which were completely wet with the moisture of the atmosphere, and amused themselves in their murky prison by proceeding in search of rein-deer. The fog caused frequent and sometimes ludi- crous mistakes ; and on one occasion, after the men had spent a long time in stealing upon some deer, and were congratulating themselves on coming within shot, to their amazement the animals took wing and disappeared in the fog, with a scream and cackle which at once declared their genus, and seemed to deride the credulity of their pursuers. •' We witnessed with regret," says Captain Franklin, " in these short rambles, the havoc which this dreary weather made among the flowers. Many which had been blooming upon our arrival were now lying prostrate and withered, and these symptoms of decay could not fail painfully to re- mind us that the term of our operations was fast approach- ing. Often at this time did every one express a wish that we had some decked vessel, in which the provisions could be secured from the injury of salt-water, and the crew sheltered when they required rest, that we might quit this shallow coast and steer at once towards Icy Cape."* So frequently did they attempt to fulfil this desire, and so per- petually were they driven back by the fog closing in upon them, that the sailors declared the island was enchanted. Indeed, to a superstitious mind the appearances furnished some ground for believing it. The fog would often dis- perse, and permit a short glimpse of a point about three miles distant, bearing north-west-by-west ; in a momen every hand was at work, the boats were launched, the crews embarked ; but before they could be dragged into deep water the spirit of the mist once more drew his impenetra- ble curtain round them, and after resting a while on their oars, they were compelled to pull back to their old quarters, Scarcely had they kindled a fire and begun to dry their clothes, soaked with wading over the flats, when the fog again opened, the boats were launched, and the desirei* * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 154. R2 19S APPROACH OF WINTER. point almost gained ; but their tormentor once more en- veloped earth and ocean in a thicker gloom than before. " Fog is, of all others," says Captain Franklin, " the most hazardous state of the atmosphere for navigation in an icy sea, especially where it is accompanied by strong breezes ; but particularly so for boats where the shore is unapproach- able. If caught by a gale, a heavy swell, or drifting ice, the result must be their wreck, or the throwing their pro- visions overboard, to lighten them so as to proceed in shoal- water. Many large pieces of ice were seen on the border of the shallow water, and from the lowness of the temperature we concluded that the main body was at no great distance."* The nights were now lengthening : the grasses and the whole aspect of the vegetation was autumnal ; their stores of drift-wood had been so much drawn upon, that though the tents were wet through, and they were for warmth obliged to wrap their feet in blankets, no fire was allowed except to cook the victuals. The provisions were barely sufficient for the support of the party on their return, while the fre- quency of the fogs, the shallowness which prevented the boats from floating, the heavy swell that, as the wind freshened, rose upon the flats, compelled them to haul far- ther from land, and the danger which in doing so they necessarily incurred from the drift-ice, — formed an accumu- lation of difficulties which rendered their progress from Point Anxiety across Prudhoe Bay to Return Reef the most discouraging and painful part of the whole voyage. It wa3 now the 16th of August, and the boats, though the exer- tions of the crews had been unwearied, were only half-way between the mouth of Mackenzie River and Icy Cape. The young ice had already begun to form at night on the pools of fresh water, and the mind of the commander recurred naturally and wisely to his former experience. He recol- lected that only one day later, and in a latitude two degrees more southerly, he had in his first voyage encountered severe storms of wind and snow, and that in another fort- night the winter would set in with all us horrors. Already the sun began to sink below the horizon, and with thia change the mean temperature of the atmosphere rapidly decreased ; the deer were hastening from the coast ; the * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 156. THE EXPEDITION COMPELLED TO RETURN. 199 Esquimaux had ceased to appear ; no winter houses gave indications that this remote coast was inhabited ; and the autumnal parties of geese hourly winging their flight to the westward, indicated that winter had already surprised them in their polar solitudes. It had been Franklin's great object to double Icy Cape, and meet the expedition under Captain Beechey in Kotzebue's Inlet ; but from the distance and the advanced season this was now impracticable. On the other hand, his instructions directed him, " if, in consequence of slow progress, or other unforeseen accident, it should re- main doubtful whether the expedition should be able to reach Kotzebue's Inlet the same season, to commence their return on the 15th or 20th of August." To reUnquish the great object of his ambition ; and to disappoint the confidence reposed in his exertions, was a sacrifice which cost him no ordinary pain ; and had he been then aware of the fact (with which the reader will be immediately acquainted) that the barge of the Blossom was at that moment only 146 miles distant, we have his own authority for stating that no difficulties or dangers would have prevailed on him to return ; but, under the circumstances in which he was placed, to make any further effort in advance was incom- patible with the higher duties which he owed to his officers and crew. After a mature consideration of every thing, he formed the reluctant conclusion that they had reached the point where perseverance would have been rashness, and their best efforts must have only led to a more calamitous failure.* It was resolved therefore to return ; and on the morning of the 18th of August they began their retreat to the Mackenzie River, which, without any material danger, with the exception of a severe gale encountered off Point Kay, they regained on the 4th of September. Thence they proceeded to Fort Franklin, where they met Dr. Richardson, Mr. Ken- dall, and their friends of the eastern expedition, who, after a prosperous and interesting voyage to the mouth of the Coppermine, had returned to the Fort on the 1st September. Of this interesting journey our limits will only permit a very cursory glance. Fortunately for the eastern expe- dition, the coast between the mouths of the Mackenzie and the Coppermine Rivers presented none of those serious * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 161, 162, 165. 200 EASTERN EXPEDITION. obstacles which at every step were starting up in the dreary and protracted route of the western party ; and they conse- quently accomplished a voyage of about 500 miles, between the 4th of July and 8th of August. It was eminently suc- cessful in the accurate survey of this hitherto unexplored coast, but unvaried by any remarkable incidents. The Es- quimaux on various parts of the coast were more numerous, pacific, comfortable, and wealthy than the western tribes; but their civilization had not eradicated the propensities for thieving. On one occasion the boats were surrounded by a fleet of about fifty kayaks, and an attack was made exactly sim- ilar to that upon Franklin ; but though the object was the same it was pursued with less vigour, and the moment the sailors levelled their muskets the whole party dispersed with precipitation. On arriving at Atkinson Island they discovered, under shelter of a chain of sand-hills drifted by the wind to the height of thirty-feet, a small Esquimaux town, consisting of seventeen winter houses, besides a larger building, which Dr. Richardson at first conjectured to be a house of assembly for the tribe. Ooligbuck the interpreter, however, whose ideas were more gross and commonplace, pronounced it to be a general eating-room. " This large building," says Dr. Richardson, " was in the interior a square of twenty-seven feet, having the log roof supported on two strong ridge-poles two feet apart, and resting on four upright posts. The floor in the centre formed of split logs, dressed and laid with great care, was surrounded by a raised border about three feet wide, which was no doubt meant for seats. The walls three feet high, were inclined outwards, for the convenience of leaning the back against them, and the ascent to the door, which was on the south side, was formed of logs. I'he outside, which was covered with earth, had nearly a hemi- spherical form, and round its base were ranged the sculls of twenty-one whales. There was a square hole in the roof, and the central log of the floor had a basin-shaped cavity one foot in diameter, which was perhaps intended for a lamp. The general attention to comfort in the construction of the village, and the erection of a building of such magni- tude, requiring a union of purpose in a considerable number of people, were evidences of a more advanced progress towards civilization than had yet been found among the NATIVES OF HARROWBY BAY. 20 ^ Esquimaux. Whale-sculls were confined to the large builds ing, and to one of the dwelling-houses, which had three or four placed round it. Many wooden trays and hand-barrows for carrying whale-blubber were lying on the ground, most of them in a state of decay."* On making the traverse of Harrowby Bay, land was seen round the bottom ; and on nearing shore twelve tents were distinguished on an adjoining eminence. When the boats appeared, a woman who was walking along the beach, gave the alarm, and the men rushed out, brandishing their knives, and employing the most furious expressions. In vain Ooligbuck endeavoured to calm their apprehensions, explain- ing that the strangers were friends ; they only replied by shouts, leaps, or hideous grimaces, intended to inspire terror, and displayed great agility, frequently standing on one foot and throwing the other nearly as high as their head. Dr. Richardson, nothing intimidated by these gesticulations, be- thought himself of enouncing, at the highest key he could reach, the word " Noowoerlawgo," meaning, " I wish to barter," and the sound operated like a spell. The savages instantly became quiet ; one of them ran to his kayak, pad- dled off to the boats, and was followed by crowds, who fear- lessly came alongside, readily exchanging bows, arrows, spears, and dressed seal-skins, for bits of old iron-hoop, files, and beads. " The females," says Richardson, " unlike those of the Indian tribes, had much handsomer features than the men ; and one young woman of the party would have been deemed pretty even in Europe. Our presents seemed to render them perfectly happy, and they danced with such ecstasy in their slender boats as to incur more than once great hazard of being overset. A bundle of strings of beads being thrown into an oomiak, it was caught by an old woman, who hugged the treasure to her breast with the strongest expression of rapture ; while another elderly dame, who had stretched out her arms in vain, became the very picture of despair. On its being explained, however, that the present was intended for the whole party, an amicable division took place ; and to show their gratitude, they sang a song to a pleasing air, keeping time with their oars. They gave us many pressing invitations to pass the night at their * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 217 202 RETURN TO FORT FRANKLIN. tents, in which they were joined by the men ; and to excite our liberality the mothers drew their children out of their wide boots, where they are accustomed to carry them naked, and holding them up, begged beads for them. For a time their entreaties were successful ; but being desirous of getting clear of our visiters before breakfast-time, we at length told them the stock was exhausted, and they took leave."* The voyage, owing to the clear atmosphere, the unen- cumbered state of the coast, and the abundant supply of provisions, was pursued with ease and comfort ; and on 8th August having made a bold cape, rising precipitously from the sea to the height of 350 feet. Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall climbed the promontory, and descried in the distance the gap in the hills at Bloody Fall, through which the Cop- permine holds its course. Delighted with the prospect of so near a termination of their labours, they communicated the intelligence to the crew, who received it with expressions of profound gratitude to the Divine Being for his protection during the voyage. On reaching the river the men were in excellent condition, fresh and vigorous for the march across the barren grounds on their return to Fort Franklin, which, as already mentioned, they reached in safety on the 1st of September. On approaching within a few days' journey of the fort, a pleasant adventure occurred, characteristic of Indian gratitude and friendship. The party had supped, and most of the men were retired to rest, when Mr. Ken- dall, in sweeping the horizon with his telescope, descried three Indians coming down a hill towards the encampment. More moss was thrown on the fire, and the St. George's ensign hoisted on the end of a musket, to show the comers that they were approaching friends ; but they hid the youngest of their number in a ravine, and approached slowly and with suspicion. Mr. Kendall and Dr. Richardson im- mediately went unarmed to meet them, and as they came up one held his bow and arrows ready in his hand, and the other cocked his gun ; but as soon as they recognised the doctor's dress, — the same he had worn the preceding au- tumn in his voyage round Bear Lake, and which was familiar to most of the Hare Indians, — they shouted in an * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 226. BEECUEVS VOYAGE. 203 ecstasy of joy, shook hands most cordially, and called loudly for the young lad whom they had hid to come up. " The meeting," says Dr. Richardson, " was highly gratifying to ourselves as well as to the kind natives ; for they seemed to be friends come to rejoice with us on the happy termination of our voyage."* It had naturally occurred to government, that if the expe- ditions under Captains Parry and Franklin should be success- ful, their stores would be exhausted by the time they reached Behring's Strait. It was certain also that Franklin would be destitute of any means of conveyance to Europe ; and to supply these wants government resolved that a vessel should be sent out to await their arrival in Behring's Strait. For this purpose, accordingly. Captain F. W. Beechey sailed in the Blossom from Spithead on the 19th May, 1825. The vessel was a twenty-six gun ship ; but on this occasion mounted only sixteen. She was partially strengthened, and adapted to this peculiar service by increasing her stowage. A boat was also supplied to be used as a tender, built as large as the space on deck would allow, schooner-rigged, decked, and fitted up in the most complete manner. Cloth, beads, cut- lery, and various other articles of traffic, were put on board, and a variety of antiscorbutics were added to the usual allowance of provision. Aware that he must traverse a large portion of the globe hitherto little explored, and that a considerable period would elapse before his presence was required on the coast of America, Captain Beechey was in- structed to survey the parts of the Pacific within his reach, of which it was important to navigators that a more correct delineation should be laid down. These observations were not, however, to retard his arrival at the appointed rendez- vous later than the 10th of July, 1826 ; and he was directed to remain at Behring's Strait to the end of October, or to as late a period as the season would admit, without incurring the risk of spending the winter there. During this interval he was to navigate from Kotzebue's Sound northward, and afterward to continue in an easterly course along the main shore as far as the ice would allow. Captain Beechey's survey of various portions of the Pacific does not fall withia the plan of this work. * Franklin's Second Journey, p. 374, 204 NATIVES OF CAPE PRINCE OF WALES. On the 2d of June, having left the Sandwich Isles, h& shaped his course for Kamtschatka, and on the 27th was becahned within six miles of Petropalauski. The best guides to this harbour are a range of high mountains, on one of which, upwards of 11,000 feet in height, a volcano is in constant action. It was a serene and beautiful evening when they approached this remote quarter of the world, and all were struck with the magnificence of the mountains capped with perennial snow, and rising in solemn grandeur one above the other. At intervals the volcano emitted dark columns of smoke ; and from a sprinkling of black spots upon the snow to the leeward it was conjectured there had been a recent eruption. From Petropalauski Captain Bee- chey sailed on the 1st of July for Kotzebue's Sound. " Wf approached," says he, " the strait which separates the twc great continents of Asia and America, on one of those beautiful still nights well known to all who have visited the arctic regions, when the sky is without a cloud, and when the midnight sun, scarcely his own diameter below the horizon, tinges with a bright hue all the northern circle. Our ship, propelled by an increasing breeze, glided rapidly along a smooth sea, startling from her path flocks of aquatic birds, whose flight in the deep silence of the scene could be traced by the ear to a great distance." Having closed in with the American shore some miles northward of Cape Prince of Wales, they were visited by a little Esquimaux squadron belonging to a village situated on a low sandy island. The natives readily sold every thing they possessed, and were cheerful and good-humoured, though exceedingly noisy and energetic. Their bows were more slender than those of the islanders to the southward, but made on the same principle, with drift-pine, assisted with thongs of hide or pieces of whalebone placed at the back, and neatly bound with small cord. The points of their arrows were of bone, flmt, or iron, and their spears headed with the same materials. Their dress was similar to that of the other tribes on the coast. It consisted of a shirt, which reached half-way down the thigh, with long sleeves and a hood of rein-deer skin, and edged with gray or white fox- fur. Besides this they had a jacket of eider-drake skins sewed together, which, Avhen engaged in war, they wore below their other dress, reckoning it a tolerably efficient protection against an arrow AURORA BOREALIS. 205 or a spear-thrust. In wet weather they threw over the fur dress a shirt made of the entrails of the whale, which, being well saturated with oil and grease, was water-tight ; and they also used breeches of deer's hide and seal-skin boots, to the upper end of which were fixed strings of sea-horse hide. It was their fashion to tie one of these strings round the waist, and attach to it a long tuft of hair, the wing of a bird, or sometimes a fox's tail, which, dangling behind as they walked, gave them a vidiculous appearance, and may probably have occasioned the report of the Tschuktschi recorded in Muller that the people of this country have tails like dogs.* On the 22d July, the ship anchored in Kotzebue's Sound, and after exploring a deep inlet on its northern shore, which they named Hotham Inlet, proceeded to Chamisso Island, where the Blossom was to await Captain Franklin. A discretionary power had, however, been permitted to Captain Beechey, of employing the period of his stay in surveying the coast, provided this could be dojne without the risk of missing Captain Franklin. Having accordingly directed the barge to keep in-shore on the look-out for the land-party, he sailed to the northward, and doubling Cape Krusenstern, completed an examination of the coast by Cape Thomson, Point Hope, Cape Lisburn, Cape Beaufort, and Icy Cape, the farthest point reached by Captain Cook. As there were here strong indications of the ice closing in, and his instructions were positive to keep in open water if possible, he determined to return to Kotzebue's Sound, while he despatched the barge under Mr. Elson and M. Smyth to trace the coast to the north-eastward, as far as they could navigate. On this interesting service the barge set out on 17th Au- gust, while Beechey returned towards Kotzebue's Sound. On the night of the 25th they beheld, for the first time in these northern latitudes, a brilliant display of the Aurora Borealis. " It first appeared," says Captain Beechey, " in an arch extending from west-by-north to north-east ; but the arch shortly after its first appearance broke up and en- tirely disappeared. Soon after this, however, a new display began in the direction of the western foot of the first arch, * Beechey's Voyage, vol. i. p. 34L S 205 ESQUIMAUX CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS. preceded by a bright flame, from which emanated corusca- tions of a pale straw colour. An almost simultaneous move- ment occurred at both extremities of the arch, until a com- plete segment was formed of wavering perpendicular radii. A soon as the arch was complete, the light became greatly increased, and the prismatic colours, which had before been faint, now shone forth in a very brilliant manner. The strongest colours, which were also the outside ones, were pink and green, on the green side purple and pink, all of which were as imperceptibly blended as in the rainbow. The green was the colour nearest the zenith. This magni- ficent display lasted a few minutes ; and the light had nearly vanished, when the north-east quarter sent forth a vigorous display, and nearly at the same time a corresponding co- ruscation emanated from the opposite extremity. The west- ern foot of the arch then disengaged itself from the horizon, crooked to the northward, and the whole retired to the north- east quarter, where a bright spot blazed for a moment, and all was darkness. There was no noise audible during any part of our observations, nor were the compasses percepti- bly affected."* During the voyage back to Chamisso Island, where they arrived on the 27th August, they had repeated interviews with the Esquimaux, whose habits and disposition were in no respect different from those of the natives already described. They found them uniformly friendly, sociable, devotedly fond of tobacco, eager to en- gage in traffic, and upon the whole honest, though disposed to drive a hard bargain. On some occasions they attempted to impose upon their customers, by skins artfully put toge- ther so as to represent an entire fish ; but it was difficult to determine whether they intended a serious fraud or only a piece of humour, for they laughed heartily when detected, and appeared to consider it a good joke. Their persons, houses, and cookery were all exceedingly dirty, and their mode of salutation was by a mutual contact of noses ; some- times licking their hands and stroking first their own faces, and afterward those of the strangers, t The rapidity with which these people migrated from place to place was re- markable. On one occasion the motions of two baidars under sail were watched by the crew of the Blossom. Tha * Beechey's Voyage, vol. i. p. 387. f ^id- p. 345, 391. elson's expedition. 207 people landed at a spot near Choris Peninsula, drew up the boats on the beach, turning them bottom upwards, pitched tents, and in an incredibly short time transferred to them the whole contents of their little vessels. On visiting the en- campment an hour after, every thing was found in as com- plete order as if they had been domiciliated on the spot for months ; and the surprise of the sailors was raised to the highest by the variety of articles which, in almost endless succession, they produced from their little boats. " From the two baidars they landed fourteen persons, eight tent- poles, forty deer-skins, two kayaks, many hundred-weight of fish, numerous skins of oil, earthen jars for cooking, two living foxes, ten large dogs, bundles of lances, harpoons, bows and arrows, a quantity of whalebone, skins full of clothing, some immense nets made of hide for taking small whales and porpoises, eight broad planks, masts, sails, pad- dles, &c., besides sea-horse hides and teeth, and a variety of nameless articles always to be found among the Esqui- maux."* In the mean time, Mr. Elson in the barge proceeded along the shore for seventy miles, as far as a promontory, denominated by Beechey Cape Barrow, which was after- ward discovered to be only distant 146 miles from the ex- treme point of Franklin's discoveries. Upon this new line of coast posts were erected at various distances, with direc- tions for Captain Franklin, should he succeed in pushing so far to the westward. A frequent communication was opened with the inhabitants, who were found to resemble the other Esquimaux, with the unpleasant difference that their manners were more rude and boisterous, and their conduct in some instances decidedly hostile. Point Barrow, the most northerly part of America yet discovered, formed the termination to a spit of land jutting out several miles from the more regular coast-line. The width of the neck did not exceed a mile and a half; on the extremity were several small lakes, and on its eastern side a village. The danger of being shut in by the ice was now great, and Mr. Elson determined to land, obtain the necessary observations, erect a post, and deposite instructions for Franklin. This plan, however, was frustrated by the violent conduct of the * BeecUey's Voyage/ vol. i p. 405. 208 RETURN OF BEECHEY. natives, who assembled in formidable numbers, and threat- ened to attack the crew of the barge, which consisted only of eight men. It was therefore judged prudent to proceed as speedily as possible to the rendezvous at Chamisso Island, which they reached on the 9th of September, not without considerable difficulty, having been obliged to track the barge round Cape Smyth, through a sea thickly beset with ice, that threatened every moment to close with its impen- etrable walls, and cut off their return. The result of Cap- tain Beechey's voyage, and of the expedition undertaken under his orders by Mr. Elson and Mr. Smyth, was the addition of a new and extensive line of coast to the geogra- phy of the polar regions. The actual distance between the extreme points reached by Captain Franklin and Mr. Elson being so small, there is every reason to believe that the navigation of this remaining portion will not be attended with any very formidable or insurmountable obstacles. In the following year Beechey, in obedience to his instruc- tions, returned to Kotzebue's Sound, and recommenced his examination of the coast, in the hope of extending his sur- vey beyond Cape Barrow, and either joining Franklin or collecting some certain intelligence regarding his enterprise. In both objects he had the mortification to fail ; he found the posts erected the preceding year and the buried bottles re- maining untouched, and the state of the weather rendered it necessary to put about before reaching Icy Cape. It had been previously arranged, that the signal to be used by Franklin, if he arrived on an unknown coast during the night, should be a beacon kindled on the cliffs ; and, on passing Cape Krusenstem after dark, their attention was arrested by a large fire blazing on an eminence. Every eye on board was fixed on the welcome light, and every bosom beat with the delightful expectation of soon seeing their friends. The ship was brought-to, and hope almost passed into certainty, as a boat was seen pulling from the shore. On examining her through the telescope by the light of the Aurora Borealis, some sanguine spirits declared they could discern that she was propelled by oars instead of paddles, and it needed only a slight additional exertion of the fancy to be assured that the dress of the crew was European. In the midst of these excited and enthusiastic feelings, the harsh and boisterous voices of the natives suddenly broke on ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 209 their ear, and the pleasing picture which their imagination had been so busy in constructing faded away in a moment, leaving nothing before them but two sorry Esquimaux baidars and their unlovely occupants. From this point Captain Beechey's voyage presented few features of new or striking interest. In Behring's Strait they were visited by a splendid exhibition of the Aurora Borealis, and under its coruscations of pink, purple, and green rays, which shot up to the zenith in the shape of a gigantic cone, they anchored off Chamisso Island. After the discovery of two capacious harbours, which they named Port Clarence and Grantley Harbour, they took their final departure from the Polar Sea, on the 6th October, 1827. On the 29th a flight of large white pelicans apprized them of their approach to the coast of California ; and after touch- ing at Monterey and San Bias, they arrived at Valparaiso on the 29th April, 1828. On the 30th June they passed the meridian of Cape Horn in a gloomy snow-storm, and made Rio on the 21st July. Their voyage from Rio to England was completed in forty-nine days, and they arrived at Spit- head on the 12th October, 1828. He found that the expe- dition of Franklin had preceded him in his return by more than a year, having reached Liverpool on the 26th Septem- ber, 1827 ; its transactions occupied two years and nearly eight months, while Beechey had been absent on his voyage three years and a half. sa THE NATURAL HISTORY OP THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF AMERICA. CHAPTER V. Introductory Observations. Amelioration in ttie Character of European Intercourse with uncivil- ized Nations— The Absence of Sandy Deserts a grand Feature in the Physical Attributes of America— General Boundaries of the Districts afterward treated of in Detail — Early Sources of Information regard- ing the Natural History of North America— General View of the Fur- countries— Passages across the Rocky Mountains— Plains and Valleys along the Pacific Shore. The preceding historical narrative will have rendered our readers familiar with the progress of navigation and dis- covery along the shores of North America ; while the sketches which have been presented of the journeys of Hearne and Mackenzie, as well as of the more recent ex- peditions of Franklin and Richardson, will have exhibited an accurate and interesting picture of whatever is most worthy of record in the history and habits of the more cen- tral tribes. The unextinguishable boldness and persevering bravery of the human race are strikingly manifested by these achievements in maritime and inland adventure ; and while we are too often shocked by the recital of deeds of violence and bloodshed, by unprovoked and unpardonable aggression on the part of the invaders, and by unsparing revenge, in retaliation, by the darker savage, we cannot but admire the energy and reckless daring exhibited on either side, though we may too often regret the want of a gentler and more INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 211 humanizing spirit. In regard, however, to the later expe- ditions, especially those from the British shores, the philan- thropist and philosopher must have been alike delighted by the amelioration which has taken place in our mode of intercourse with the " painted men," who are no longer massacred as the beasts that perish, but, even when sought after originally from motives not entirely disinterested, are yet regarded as beings in whom the great Creator has im- planted the germ of an immortal life. But by what a cata- logue of crimes was the name of Christian first made known to many nations of the Western World ; and by what cruel tyranny and the sword of an exterminating war were not the insidious pretences of peace so often followed up by the civilized nations of Europe ! The cross was indeed but a vain and hollow symbol in the hands of those blood-stained and avaricious men, who sought to plant upon a false foun- dation that glorious banner to which God alone giveth the increase. The last entry in the following sumptuous enume- ration was probably omitted in the books of those proud traders : — " The merchandise of gold, and silver, and pre- cious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner ves- sels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and — souls of men.^^* We have now to describe the characteristic features of the Natural History of the Northern Parts of America, a task rendered comparatively easy, in many important par- ticulars, by the labours of those intrepid men the recital of whose adventurous expeditions by land and sea has already engaged the attention of the reader. Indeed, we know of no better or more conclusive argument against those who venture to doubt the propriety of scientific exploration, on account of the uncertain fulfilment of some of our most sanguine expectations, than the great advancement which has recently been effected in our natural knowledge of far countries. It is true that the north-west passage has not yet been achieved, and it may be true that it never will be * Revelations, xviii. 12, 13 212 NATURAL HISTORY. achieved, consistently with the strictly utilitarian views of merely commercial enterprise : but even although we should never have it in our power to substitute bad muskets for the arrows and harpoons of the skin-clad Esquimaux, and should be for ever doomed to a continuance of our present lengthened navigation to the eastern shores of Asia ; still it is something to say that we have almost completed our geographical knowledge of the circumference of the north- ern parallels of the earth ; and that, if the merchant cannot exchange his commodities by a more rapid route, a stock of intellectual food and a rich library both of useful and en- tertaining knowledge have been already provided, and will doubtless increase for the benefit of future generations. It is to the two expeditions under Sir John Franklin that we owe the better part of our information regarding the natural history of the interior districts of the fur-countries of North America ; and although the collecting of specimens did cer- tainly form but a secondary object in comparison with those great geographical problems, the solution of which was looked forward to as the principal and more important re- sult, yet it is gratifying to know that in the performance of higher duties of difficult and dangerous achievement, these resolute men neglected nothing which could in any way conduce to the completion of our knowledge of the countries they explored. Before entering into any zoological details, we shall de- vote a brief space to the consideration of one of the most peculiar and influential features in the physical character of the New World, viz. the absence of sandy deserts. It has been well observed that the physical conformation of North America precludes the possibility of those arid wastes They result from a want of moisture, and attach to such extended plains, in the more immediate vicinity of the tropics, as are too vast and disproportioned in relation to the quantity of rain which nature has assigned them ; for there — " No cloud of morning dew Doth travel through the waste air's pathless blue, To nourish those far deserts." They drmk and are for ever dry ; for the castellated glories of cloud-land float over them in vain ; and even when rent INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 213 by thunderbolts, or illuminated by the blinding glare of the fed lightning, they never hear the refreshing music of the voice of " many waters." Geographical observation points out that whenever a continent or country is expanded for more than a few hundred miles beneath an equatorial sky, with a surface comparatively low and flat, it will become a desert. This is nothing more than the natural result of its inability to be supplied with moisture. A great proportion of Africa, the central regions of Asia, Arabia, and even those parts of Hindostan where mountains do not prevail, have become steril and deserted. Vast chasms are thus created, in which neither animal nor vegetable life can flourish. New-Holland probably owes its moisture to its insular situation ; and the peninsular form is no doubt highly ad- vantageous in that respect to the regions of Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, while the mountain-ridges of Hin- dostan render it essential service. It is chiefly owing either to the vicinage of the sea, or of some alpine tract of territory, that those parts of Asia and Africa which the great deserts do not reach have become the fit abodes of the human race. Over a great extent of Central Africa, and some parts of Asia, along the coasts of the Red Sea and of the Indian Ocean, there does not seem to exist a sufficiency of mountain-ranges to collect from the atmo- sphere such stores of moisture as are necessary to fertilize those thirsty plains, and clothe their arid wastes with ver- dure. No commanding Cordilleras overlook those burning deserts, — no upland vales, nor cool and cloud-capped sum- mits, each with its huge recess, " That keeps till June December's snow," serve as the perennial fountains of refreshing water. Let us briefly consider a few of the leading physical characters of America, with a view to ascertain the cause of its exemption from desert regions.* Wilhin and in the vicinity of the tropic. North America is composed of what * See a short paper entitled " The United States are exempt from Deserts, and all the Evils consequent thereon," published in Mr. Featherstonhaugh's Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural .Science. Philadelphia, August, 1831. 214 NATURAL HISTORY. may, comparatively, be regarded as a narrow slip. It en- joys all the advantages of an insular position, and is re- freshed on either side bv the vapours of the translucent sea. Besides, the Cordilleras traverse the whole space, rising upon the Mexican table-land to an elevation of 11,000 feet. All the winds of heaven, and especially the deeply-saturated trades, pour forth their never-ceasing vapours on this well-disposed region, and clothe its length- ened slopes and undulating plains with all the rich luxu- riance of a life-sustaining vegetation. " These friendly mountains, after upheaving the tropical parts of our con- tinent to the regions of eternal verdure, bear aloft their wide-spread arms (the Chipewyan and Alleghany ranges) as far as it is necessary to counteract the heats of a south- ern sun, and impart fertility to the great valley of the Mississippi, which seems especially confined to their fos- tering care. But when elevations become no longer essen- tial to the certainty of moisture and vegetation, they sink into the great plains of Canada, and disappear. How wise is this arrangement ! For, if these mountains had carried their characteristic elevation far north, they would have chilled with their eternal snows all the northern portion of our country, and rendered it barren, — not from drought and deserts, but, what is equally to be deprecated, the blights of intolerable cold. These friendl}' ranges of mountains are thus the everlasting guarantee of our coun- try's fertility. The Alleghany range derives its moisture from the Atlantic, and waters not only all the states that intervene between it and that ocean, but the states and dis- tricts that rest upon its western base, and contributes its full part to the great plains of Mississippi and Missouri. The Rocky or Chipewyan range draws heavily from the Pacific Ocean, and abundantly waters, not only that slope, but the extended plains which meet its eastern base. The narrow slopes of the two ranges of mountains which bor- der the two oceans are easily and very naturally irrigated from those oceans ; and their slopes, pointing inwards from the oceans and the plains immediately in contact with them, draw moisture from the numerous founts and reservoirs of the mountains themselves. The great valley of the Mis- sissippi, however, is too extensive, and too important to the rising generation of this country, to be left to any INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 216 uncertain supply of moisture. The sources of the mountain^ with which it is enfiladed might prove to be inadequate, and certainly would, if all depended on them. Other guarantees are found, and powerful aids provided in the case. That great valley opens itself without barrier, on the southern end, to the trade-winds, which become deflected by the Mexican coast, enter it fraught with all the moisture of the gulf, and deposite on this region a supply literally inexhaustible, because those winds themselves are per- petual."* But even should the vast masses of vapour which gather over these majestic mountains, and are carried thither by the trade-winds, be insufficient to supply with moisture the almost boundless plains of the Western World, Providence has there collected the mightiest reservoirs of fresh water which exist on the surface of the known earth. The vast lakes of Canada, over which the winds are perpetually sweeping, and from which arise innumerable clouds of vapour, ensure a never-failing supply of water to the con tiguous portions of the plain. Thus, table-lands and rocky mountains, a circumambient ocean, and the most magnificent internal reservoirs, all co-operate to ensure, especially to the territory of the United States, a perpetual supply of moisture. The natural fertility of the soil is therefore great, and yields abundantly and with certainty to the wants of man. This humidity is moreover well-tempered, and is rarely poured forth in superabundance. In some northern European countries, and even in Great Britain and Ireland, our own familiar homes, the crops more fre* quently fail from excess than deficiency of moisture. In the former case, the grain is either blighted in the field, or it moulds and rots in the granary, or acquires a musty smell and flavour which render it unfit for the production of the finer breads. Wherever deserts prevail to a great extent, they not only prevent vegetation, and, consequently, preclude the possi« bility of a numerous population, but they also exercise a prejudicial influence over all the habitable neighbouring re- gions. They draw from them their moisture, and thus render their vegetation precarious. The heats that steam * Ibid. 216 NATURAL HISTORY. from deserts enfeeble the vegetable life of the adjoining districts, and the sirocco-winds, collecting deleterious mat- ters from their fevered surface, carry languor, disease, and death in their course, and convert the verdant freshness of nature into an arid wilderness. When the seasons and the climate of a country are uncertain, when no human effort can control them, and no art or foresight render the results of labour available, the human creature himself par- takes of the wildness and irregularity of outward nature, and is either a victim of the wrathful elements, or a fierce and relentless devastator in his turn. Even the very form of man, in connexion with deserts, is deprived of much of its natural symmetry ; it is thin, dry, emaciated, and of a black or swarthy hue. He seems there formed, as it were, to drift with the sands, to move his limber and elastic frame with all the quickness that uncertainty may require ; but he possesses not the muscular powers requisite to continuous and effective labour. " In such countries population is sparse, and the few who draw a scanty support from the stinted and uncertain vegetation are unfixed in their habits, and wanderers. They realize nothing — improve not their condition — are actuated by the sudden impulses of want, or the emergency occasioned by the irregularities of the ele- ments around them. If industry exists not, and human labour be unavailable, none of those improvements which change the condition of our race, and give to us character and comfort, have any existence. Without surplus prodnc- tion there can be no commercial exchanges ; a limit is thus placed to social improvement, and a barrier erected against civilization. Man, under such a state of things, cannot multiply his race, because his supply of food is limited, — nor create wealth, because his labour is unproductive and without stimulus, — nor make valuable improvements in the arts, comforts, and intercourse of society, because he has neither the means nor the necessary numbers, — nor can he polish and refine himself, because his state of society is essentially wild and violent."* In America the natural condition and consequent tendency of all things is widely different, for the human race is there exempted from deserts and their concomitant evils. Hence a mighty power of fer- ♦Featherstonhaugh's Monthly American Journal, vol. i. p. 80. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 217 tility is slumbering even among the most unpeopled wastes j and nothing is wanting but the skill and perseverance of man to make the " desert blossom as the rose." ''Pure element of waters ! wheresoe'er Thou dost forsake thy subterranean haunts, Green herbs, bright flowers, and berry-bearing plants Rise into life, and in thy train appear ; And, through the sunny portion of the year, Swift insects shine, thy hovering pursuivants. But if thy bounty fail, thi forest pants, And hart and hind, and hunter with hiS' spear, Languish and droop together." The portion of North America with the natural history of which we are now about to be engaged is exclusive of the southern parts of the Canadas, and of the whole of the United States. But it comprehends the entire of those vast territories which lie to the northward of the 48th parallel, from the northern shore of Lake Superior to Melville Island, in relation to latitude ; and from Newfoundland and the' eastern cape of Labrador to the peninsula of Alaska, the western termination of the Russian dominions in America, in regard to longitude.* These districts are very generally known under the name of the Amenc3.n frir-coim/rics ; and it is indeed to the employes of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany and other commercial travellers that we are largely indebted for information regarding the zoological productions' of several extensive tracts. For example: the earliest collec tions of the birds of Hudson's Bay were formed about ninety * In s])eaking of the boundaries of the almost boundless territories 6! the Russian dominion, we feel inclined to qualify the expression by the' words used in the spirited inscription engraved on the piece of plate pre- sented to Colonel Behm. That gentleman was commandant of the province of Kamtschatka in the time of Captain Cook, and had enter- tained the great navigator and his crews in a humane and generous spirit. The inscription, of which the composition is graceful, rims as follows : ViRo KGREGio magno i)e Beiim ; qul Imperatricis Augustissimae' Catherinae auspiciis, summ&que animi benignitate, saeva, quibus praeerat Kamtschaikae littora, navibus nautisque Britannicis hospita praebuit eosque in terminis, si qui essent Imperio Russico, frustra explorandis mala multa perpessos iterate vice excepit, refecit, recreavit, et com" meatti omni cumulate auctos dimisit ; Rei navalis BRiTANMc.f. sep TEMviRi in aliquam benevolentiae tarn insignis memoriam, araicissiiWS' gratissimoque animo, suo, patriacque nomine, D. D. D. r^ MDDCLXXXl. 218 NATURAL HISTORY. years ago by Mr. Alexander Light, who was sent out by the company in consequence of his knowledge of natural history. It has been also recorded that Mr. Isham, for a long time a resident governor of various forts in the fur- countries, occupied his leisure in preparing the skins of beasts, birds, and fishes. These two gentlemen, we are in- formed by Dr. Richardson, returned to England about the year 1745, and, fortunately for the advancement of science, intrusted their specimens to Mr. George Edwards, the in- genious author of the " Natural History of Birds, and other rare undescribed Animals," — a publication which has been characterized as the most original and valuable work of the kind in the English language. In the course of the year 1749, Ellis* and Drage,t the latter of whom was clerk to the California, published the respective narratives of their voyage, both of which tend to the illustration of natural history. Little information appears to have been received regard- ing these northern regions for about twenty years succeed- ing the last-mentioned period. Mr. William Wailes went to Hudson's Bay in 1768 for the purpose of making ob- servations on the transit of Venus, and was intrusted on his return by Mr. Graham, governor of the company's fort at Severn River, with a collection of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, for presentation to the Royal Society. These speci- mens were described by John Reinhold Forster,J and ap- pear to have excited so much attention that the Royal Society requested that directions should be given by the governor and committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, with a view to the more frequent and extensive collection and transmission of objects of natural history. Accord- ingly several hundred specimens of animals and plants, col- lected at Fort Albany, were transmitted by Mr. Humphrey Martin. His successor, Mr. Hutchins, was still more in- dustrious ; for he not only prepared numerous specimens, but drew up minute descriptions of whatever quadrupeds and birds he could procure. It was in fact from his ob- servations (preserved in a folio volume in the Library of * Vo3'age to Hudson's Bay in the Dobbeand California t Voyage by Hudson's Straits. t Philosophical Transactions, 1772. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 219 the Hudson's Bay Company*) that Pennant and Latham chiefly derived whatever was valuable in their worksf re- garding the feathered tribes of Hudson's Bay. Cook's third voyage threw some light, from circumstances not now very efficient, on the species of the north-west of America and Behring's Straits.J Pennant's "Arctic Zoology" was published in 1785, and contains the most ample descriptive catalogue of arctic American quadrupeds and birds which had appeared prior to Dr. Richardson's recent volumes. These may be regarded as among the more accurate sources of information up to the commencement of our own scientific expeditions by land and sea, — for although Um- fraviile and Hearne no doubt illustrate the habits of some of the more common species, and the well-known voyages of Vancouver, Portlock, Meares, and LangsdorfF to the north-west, — and the journeys of Lewis and Clarke to the banks of the Columbia, contribute to our stock of know- ledge, yet no very important results were thereby obtained. The naturalists attached to Kotzebue's expedition also ac- quired some information regarding the zoology of the north-west coasts ; and the Appendix to Captain Beechey's Voyage, now in preparation, will probably throw consider- able light on those forlorn regions of the world. vol. i.> Introduction, p. xxix. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 229 find several interesting tracts of country, with the natural history of which we are, however, more imperfectly ac- quainted than we should desire. The countries between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific are in general of a more hilly nature than those already described to the eastward ; but the upper branches of I he Columbia are skirted by extensive plains, which present the same general character as those of the Missouri and Saskatchawan. New-Caledonia extends from north to south about 500 miles, and from east to west about 350 or 400. Its central post at Stewart's Lake is placed in north latitude 54^, and west longitude 125 degrees. According to Mr. Harmon, it contains so many lakes that about one-sixth of its entire surface is under water. The weather here is much milder than on the eastern side of the mountains, — an amelioration which is no doubt owing to the comparatively narrow extent of land which intervenes between the moun- tains and the sea.* However, for a few days during the depth of winter it must be " pretty considerably" cold, as the thermometer is said to descend for a time to about thirty- two degrees below zero of Fahrenheit. Snow generally falls about the 15th of November, and disappears by the 15th of May ;t from which the winter may be fairly inferred to be of shorter duration by about one-third than it is in some places situated under the same latitude on the other side. The only remaining district of North America to which we need here allude, as falling within the scope of the present volume, is that forlorn region in the north-west cor- ner of the continent, which fornjs the terminating portion of the vast Russian dominions. Its shores have been coasted by Cook, Kotzebue, and Beechey ; but of its interior nature and productions we are more sparingly informed. Dr. Richardson, indeed, reports, from information given by the few Indians of Mackenzie's River who have ever crossed the range of the Rocky Mountains in that northern quarter, that on their western side there is a tract of barren ground frequented by rein-deer and musk-oxen ; and it may also be * Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 355. t Journal of Voyages and Travels in the Interior of North Anmertca, between the forty-seventh and fifty-eighth degrees of latitude, by Daiiie! WiUiani Harmon, a partner in the North-west Company . Andover, l^jtS. 230 ^ATURAL HISTORY. mferred, from the quantity of furs procured by the Russian company, that woody regions, similar to such as exist to the eastward of the mountains, also occur in this north-west corner of America. CHAPTER VI. The Quadrupeds of the Northern Regions of America. Inaccuracies of some Historical Writers— No Monkeys in North America —Bats— Shrewmice— Genus Scalops, or Shrewmole— Otiier Moles of America — The Star-nose — Various Bears— ^DifTerent digitated Quadru- peds— Tlie Canada Otter— The Sea-otler— The Dogs and Wolves of America — Tlie Foxes— The Beaver— The Musk-rat — Meadow Mice and Lemmings— The Rocky Mountain Neotoma — The American Field- mouse— The Marmots— The Squirrel Tribe — The Canada Porcupine — The American Hare— The Polar Hare— The Prairie Hare— Tlie Little Chief Hare— Genus Cervus— The Elk, or Moose-deer— The Rein-deer —The Woodland Caribou— The Rocky Mountain Sheep— The Rocky Mountain Goat— The Bison, or American Buffalo— The Musk-ox. Having in the preceding chapter exhibited a general sketch of some of the prevailing features in the physical geography of the northern countries of America, we shall now proceed to a more detailed and systematic account of their natural history. But, in the first place, we may notice a slight in- accuracy which prevails in regard to the comparative size of the ferine inhabitants of the Old and New World. " Nature," says Dr. Robertson,* " was not only less prolific in the New World, but she ;ip[)ears likewise to have been less vigorous in her productions. The animals originally 'aelonging to this quarter of the globe appear to be of an inferior race, neither so robust nor so fierce as those of the other continent. Amerita gives birth to no creature of such bulk as to be compared with the elephant or rhiiwceros, or that equals the lion and tiger in strength and ferocity. The tapir of Brazil, the largest quadru}>ed of the ravenous tribe !n the New World, is not larger than a calf of six months old. The puma and jaguar, the fiercest beasts of prey, * In his History of America, QUADRUPEDS. 231 Avhich Europeans have inaccurately denominated lions and tigers, possess neither the undaunted courage of the former, nor the ravenous cruelty of the latter. '^ They are inactive and timid, hardly formidable to man, and often turn their backs upon the least appearance of resistance.! The same qualities in the climate of America which stinted the growth and enfeebled the spirit of its native animals have proved pernicious to such as have migrated into it voluntarily from the other continent, or have been transported thither by the Europeans.^ The bears, the wolves, the deer of America, are not equal in size to those of the Old World. "2. QUADRUPEPS. 247 tha Indian huts in the vicinity of the fort a few Jays pre- ceding ; and its extreme emaciation and the emptiness of its interior showed clearly that it had died from hunger. Captain Lyon describes the wolves of Melville Peninsula as comparatively fearless. One afternoon a fine dog strayed a short way ahead of its master, when five wolves made a sudden and unexpected rush, and devoured it in so incredibly short a time, that before Mr. Elder, who witnessed the attack, could reach the scene of action, the dog had disap- peared, with the exception of the lower part of a leg. They frequently came alongside the frost-bound ship, and one night broke into a snow-hut, and carried away a brace of Esquimaux dogs, which appeared to have made a consider- able resistance, as the ceiling was sprinkled with blood and hair. The alarm was not given till the mortal strife had terminated, and when they were fired at, one of the wolves was observed to take up a dead dog in his mouth, and to set oft' with it at an easy canter, although its weight was supposed to be equal to his own.* The dusky wolf, described in Godman's Natural History, is regarded as a distinct species by Mr. Say ;t and the black variety is also considered by some authors as entitled to specific separation. The not unfrequent occurrence of black individuals in the litter of the gray and brown wolves seems, however, rather to point out the probability of this diflference of colour being merely an accidental variation. But the prairie wolf (Canis lalrans) is undoubtedly a dis- tinct and well-defined species. It hunts in packs, and is an animal of great swiftness. It occurs on both sides of the Rocky Mountains ; but is less numerous on the banks of the Columbia than in the plains of the Missouri and Saskatcha- wan. When the hunters on the banks of the latter river discharge their muskets at any kind of game, great numbers of the prairie wolf are sometimes seen to start from holes in the earth, and keep a look-out with a view to secure the offals of the slaughtered animal. With the exception of the prong-horned antelope, there is probably no swifter quadruped in America than the prairie wolf. These fierce and unreclaimed animals conduct us natu- rally to the domesticated tribes of the canine race, of which * Lyon's Private Journal. t Long's Expedition to tbe Rocky Mounlains. 248 NATURAL HISTORY. there are several remarkable varieties in the northern re- gions of America. We can here aflbrd space only for a few lines regarding the Hare Indian or Mackenzie River dog (Canis familiaris, var. lagopos). The front figure of the annexed cut represents his external aspect. This domestic variety, as far as Dr. Richardson could learn, appeared to be cultivated only by the Hare Indians, and other tribes frequenting the borders of the Great Slave Lake, and the banks of the Mackenzie. It is too small and slight to serve as a beast of draught or other burden, and is consequently used solely in the chase. It is an animal of a playful and aflectionate disposition, easily conciliated by kindness. It has a mild countenance, a demufe expression, a small head, slender muzzle, erect ears, and eyes somewhat oblique. Its legs are rather slender, the feet broad and hairy, the tail bushy, and for the most part curled over the right hip. It may be characterized as bearing the same near relation to the prairie wolf as the Esquimaux dog does to the great gray wolf of America. Indeed the whole of the canine republic in these parts of America are of very wolfish habits. For example, the larger dogs which our expedition purchased at Fort Franklin for the purposes of draught were in the habit of pursuing the Hare Indian dogs in order to devour them ; but the latter, fortunately, far outstripped the others in speed. A young puppy, vs'hich Dr. Richardson purchased from the Hare Indians, became greatly attached to him, and when about seven months old, ran on the snow, by the side of his sledge, for 900 miles, without sufiering from fatigue. " During this march it frequently, of its own accord, carried a small twig or one of my mittens for a mile or two ; but although very gentle in manners, it showed little aptitude in learning any of the arts which the New- foundland dogs so speedily acquire of fetching and carrying when ordered. This dog was killed and eaten by an Indian on the Saskatchawan, who pretended that he mistook it for a fox." The flesh of dogs is much esteemed by the Canadian voyagers, and by several of the Indian tribes. The Chipe- wyans, however, who deem themselves descended from a dog, hold the practice of using it as an article of food in great abhorrence. QUAimUPEDS. 251 Ihere are many species of fox in-North America. The American red fox {Ca7iis fulvus) inhabits the woody dis- tricts of the fur-countries, and from thence about 8000 of the skins are annually imported into England. Pennant, and many other authors of last century, regarded the species as identical with the common European kind ; from which, however, it was shown by M. Palisot de Beauvoisto be quite distinct. The American species is distinguished by its longer and finer fur, and more brilliant colouring. Its cheeks are rounder ; its nose thicker, shorter, and more truncated ; its eyes are nearer to each other, and its feet are in general much more woolly beneath. The red fox has a finer brush, and is altogether a larger animal than the European ; yet it does not possess the continuous speed of the latter ; it seems to exhaust its strength almost at the first burst, and is then overtaken without much difliculty, either by a mounted huntsman or a wolf. The cross fox (C. decussatus) and the black or silver fox (C argcntatus) are considered by some as distinct species, while others, probably with greater correctness, view them in the light of local or accidental varieties. Besides these, we may name as American species, the kit-fox (C. cinereo-argentatus\ and the arctic fox, commonly so called (C lagopus). The latter occurs also in the Old World. Several kinds of lynx inhabit North America j but we shall not here enter on their history. We cannot, however, so slightly pass the beaver of these northern regions (Castor fiber, Amcricanus), one of the most valuable and noted of quadrupeds. Its description is con- tained in almost every book of natural history ; and we shall therefore confine ourselves in this place to such particulars as illustrate its general habits. As the history of this ani- mal given by Hearne has been characterized by competent authority as the most accurate which has yet been presented to the public, we shall here abridge it for the benefit of our readers. As the beaver not only furnishes an excellent food, but is highly valuable for the sake of its skin, it naturally attracted the particular attention of the last-named traveller. The situation of beaver-houses was found to be various. When the animals are numerous they inhabit lakes, ponds, and 252 NATURAL HISTORY. rivers, as well as those narrow creeks which connect the lakes together. Generally, however, they prefer flowing waters, probably on account of the advantages presented by the current in transporting the materials of their dwellings. They also prefer deepish water, no doubt because it affords a better protection from the frost. It is when they build in small creeks or rivers, the waters of which are liable to dry or be drained off, that they manifest that beautiful instinct with which Providence has gifted them — the formation of dams. These differ in shape according to their particular localities. When the water has little motion the dam is almost straight ; when the current is cojisiderable it is curved, with its convexity towards the stream. The mate- rials made use of are drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplars ; also mud aiid stones intermixed in such a manner as must evidently contribute to the strength of the dam ; but there is no particular method observed, except that the work is carried on with a regular sweep, and all the parts are made of equal strength. " In places which have been long frequented by beavers undisturbed, their dams, by fre- quent repairing, become a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force both of ice and water ; and as the willow, pop- lar, and birch generally take root and shoot up, they by degrees form a kind of regular planted hedge, which I have seen in some places so tall that birds have builL their nests among the branches."* . ~ The beaver-houses are built of the same materials as the dams ; and seldom contain more than four old and six or eight young Ones. There is little order or regularity in their structure. It frequently happens that some of the larger houses are found to have one or more partitions, but these are only parts of the main building left by the sagacity of the beavers to support the roof; and the apart- ments, as some are pleased to consider them, have usually no communication with each other, except by water. Those travellers who assert that the beavers have two doors to their dwellings, one on the land side and the other next the water, manifest, according to Hearne, even a greater igno- rance of the habits of these animals than those who assign to them an elegant suite of apartments, — for such a con- * Hearne'B Journey to the Northern Ocean. QUADRUPEDS. 253 struction would render their houses of little use, either as a protection from their enemies, or as a covering from the winter's cold. It is not true that beavers drive stakes into the ground when building their houses ; they lay the pieces crosswise and horizontal ; neither is it true that the woodwork is first finished and then plastered ; for both houses and dams con- sist from the foundation of a mingled mass of mud and wood, mixed with stones when these can be procured. They carry the mud and stones between their fore-paws, and the wood in their mouths. They always work in the night and with great expedition. They cover their houses late every autumn with fresh mud, which freezes when the frosts set in, and becomes almost as hard and solid as stone ; and thus neither wolves nor wolverenes can disturb their repose. When walking over their work, and especially when about to plunge into the water, they sometimes give a peculiar flap with their tails, which has no doubt occa- sioned the erroneous belief that they use these organs ex- actly as a mason uses his trowel. Now a tame beaver will flap by the fireside where there is nothing but dust and ashes ; and it therefore only uses the trowel in common with the water-wagtail, — in other words, the quadruped as well as the bird is characterized by a peculiar motion of its caudal extremity. The food of this animal consists chiefly of the root of the plant called Nuphar luteum, which bears a resemblance to a cabbage-stalk, and grows at the bottom of lakes and rivers. It also gnaws the bark of birch, poplar, and willow trees. In summer, however, a more varied herbage, with the addition of berries, is consumed. When the ice breaks up in the spring, the beavers always leave their houses and rove about until a little before the fall of the leaf, when they return again to their old habitations, and lay in their winter stock of wood. Hearne gives the following account of some tame beavers which belonged to him ; — " In cold weather they were kept in my own sitting-room, where they were the constant companions of the Indian women and children, and were so fond of their company that when the Indians were absent for any considerable time, the beavers discovered great signs of uneasiness, and on their return showed equal marks of pleasure, by fondling on them^ 1^54 NATURAL HISTORY. crawling into their laps, lying on their backs, sitting erect like a squirrel, and behaving like children who see their parents but seldom. In general, during the winter, they lived on the same food as the women did, and were remark- ably fond of rice and plum-pudding ; they would eat par- tridges and fresh venison very freely, but I never tried them with fish, though I have heard they will at times prey on them. In fact, there are few graminivorous animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous."* According to Kalm, Major Roderfert, of New- York, had a tame beaver above half a year in his house, where it went about quite loose like a dog. The major gave him bread, and some- times fish, of which he was said to have been greedy. He got as much water in a bowl as he wanted, and all the rags and soft things he could meet with he dragged into a cor- ner, where he was accustomed to sleep, and made a bed of them. The house cat on one occasion, happening to pro- duce kittens, took possession of the beaver's bed without his offering her any opposition. When the cat went out the beaver often took a kitten between his paws, and held it to his breast, as if for the purpose of keeping it warm ; but as soon as the proper parent returned he delivered up the offspring.! Another well-known amphibious quadruped of America is the musk-rat, or musquash {Fiber Zibethicus). Its fur resembles that of the beaver, but is shorter ; the down is coarser and less valuable, and the more lengthened part of the coat is weaker and not so shining. It is easily wetted after death, although it resists the water well when the animal is alive. The musk-rat measures about fourteen inches, exclusive of the tail, which is eight or ten inches long. It has a strong smell of musk, especially in the spring. Its flesh, however, is eaten by the Indians ; it re- sembles flabby pork. This species extends from the thir- tieth to about the seventieth degree of north latitude. ♦' Their favourite abodes are small grassy lakes or swamps, or the grassy borders of slow-flowing streams, where there is a muddy bottom. They feed chiefly on vegetable mat- * Hearne's Journey to the Northern Ocean. t Kalm's Travels in Nor^h America. QtJADRUPEl>S. 255 ters, and in northern districts principally on the roots and tender shoots of the bulrush and reed mace, and on the leaves of various carices and aquatic graisses. The sweet flag {Acorus calamus), of whose roots, according to Pen- nant, they are very fond, does not grow to the northward of Lake Winipeg. In the summer they frequent rivers, for the purpose, it is said, of feeding upon the fresh-water muscles. We often saw small collections of muscle-shells on the banks of the larger rivers, which we were told had been left by them."* Before the frosts set in, the musquash builds a house of mud, of a conical form, with a sufficient base to elevate the chamber above the level of the water. It generally chooses a spot covered with long grass, which it incorporates with the mud. It uses no kind of composition with which to agglutinate these materials ; but there is usually a dry bed of grass deposited within the chamber. The entrance is under water. Dr. Richardson informs us that when ice forms over the surface of the swamp, the musquash makes breathing-holes through it, and protects them from the frost by a covering of mud. During severe winters, however, these holes are frequently frozen up, and many die. Hats are manufactured from the skins of these animals ; and for that purpose between four and five hundred thousand are imported into Great Britain evsry year. Several species of meadow-mice and lemmings (Gen. Arvicola and Georychus) inhabit the northern regions. Our restricted limits, however, do not admit of our particularizing these tribes. An animal equalling the Norway rat in size, and men- tioned by Lewis and Clarke under the name of rat of the Rocky Mountains, was described in the Zoological Jour- nal,t and is now known as the Rocky Mountain neotoma {N. Drummondii, Rich.). It is of a yellowish-brown colour above, white beneath, with a tail exceeding the length of the body, and bushy at the extremity. According to Mr. Drummond, it makes its nest in the crevices of rocks, seldom appearing in the daytime. It is a very destructive animal in stores and encampments. It gnaws furs and * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 117. t No. 12, March, 1828, p. 517. 256 NATURAL HISTORY. blankets to pieces, and Mr. Drummond, having placed a pair ot stout English shoes on a shelving rock, found on nis return that they had been minced into fragments as fine as sawdust. Though neither the black nor brown rat, nor the common mouse of Europe, are native to America, they now occur by importation in many parts of the New World. The American field-mouse {Mus leucopus) becomes an inmate of the dwelling-houses as soon as they are erected at any trading port. In the northern districts it extends across the whole country from the shores of Hudson's Bay to the mouth of the Columbia. " The gait and prying actions of this little creature," says Dr. Richardson, *' when it ven- tures from its hole in the dusk of the evening, are so much like those of the English domestic mouse, that most of the European residents at Hudson's Bay have considered it to be the same animal, altogether overlooking the obvious dif- ferences of their tails and other peculiarities. The Ame- rican field-mouse, however, has a habit of making hoards of grain or little pieces of fat, which I believe is unknown of the European domestic mouse ; and, what is most singu- lar, these hoards are not formed in the animal's retreats, but generally in a shoe left at the bedside, the pocket of a coat, a nightcap, a bag hung against a wall, or some similar place."* This species may be regarded as the representa- tive of the Mus sylvaticus of Europe. Its most inveterate foe is the ermine or stoat, which pursues it even into the sleeping apartments. Many marmots inhabit North America.f Of these, how- ever, we shall here make meption of only a single species, the wistonwish or prairie marmot (^Arctomys Liidovicianus). This animal is called prairie dog by Sergeant GassJ and Lieutenant Pike,^ and it is also the barking-squirrel of * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 142. t For a detailed account of these animals see Mr. Sabine's paper in Linn. Trans, vol. xiii. ; the Appendix to Franklin's First Journey ; Dr. Harlan's Fauna Americana; Dr. Godman's American Natural History; Griffith's Animal Kingdom ; Pallas's Novas Species Quadrupedium e Glirium Ordine ; Pennant's Arctic Zoology ; and Dr. Richardson's work 60 frequently above referred to. J Journal of the Travels of a Corps of Discovery, &c. Travels on the Missouri and Arkansaw. QUADRUPEDS. 257 Lewis and Clarke.* The entrance to the burrows of this species descends at first vertically, and then continues downwards in an oblique direction. They occur at inter- vals of twenty feet, and when numerous they are called prairie dog villages. The animals delight to sport about their own doors in pleasant weather. On the approach of danger, they either retreat to their holes or sit for a time barking and flourishing their tails, or sitting in an erect position, as if to reconnoitre. When shot by the hunter, they generally tumble into their burrows, and are thus not easily laid hold of, either dead or alive. They pass the winter in a state of torpidity, and lay up no provisions. The sleeping apartments consist of neat globular cells of fine dry grass, with a small aperture at the top, — the whole so compactly formed that it may almost be rolled over the floor without being damaged. The warning cry of this animal bears some resemblance to the hurried barking of a small dog.f The squirrel-tribe are also very numerous in the countries now under consideration. The chickaree or Hudson's Bay squirrel {Sciurus Hudsonius, Pennant) inhabits the forests of white spruce-trees which cover so vast a portion of the fur-countries. It extends as far to the south as the middle states of America, and spreads northwards to the utmost regions of the spruce-forests, which cast their sombre shade as high as the sixty-ninth parallel. It burrows at the root of the largest trees, and seldom stirs abroad during cold or stormy weather ; but even in the depth of winter it may be seen sporting among the branches whenever the snow is brightened by a gleam of sunshine. When pursued it makes great leaps for a time from tree to tree, but ere long seeks a favourable opportunity of descending into a burrow. However, it seldom voluntarily quits its own particular tree. During the winter season it collects the spruce-ccnes, and carrying them to the outskirts of its burrow, it picks out the seeds beneath the snow. Of the flying-squirrels of America we may memion the species (or variety ?) discovered by Mr. Drummond on the Rocky Mountains {Pteromys Sabrinus, var. B. alpinus.) It * Travels to the Pacific Ocean. t Say's Notes to Long's Expedition to ttie Rocky Mountains. Y2 258 NATURAL HISTORY. inhabits dense pine-forests, and rarely ventures from its re- treats except during the night. Passing over the sand-rats (genus Gcomys, Rafinesque),* and the genus Aplodontia of Richardson, t v^e shall give a short account of the Canada porcupine {Hystrix pilosus of Catesby, H. dorsata, Linn.). This singular animal is dis- tributed over a considerable extent of America, from the thirty-seventh to the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude. Dr. Harlan informs us that it makes its dwelling-place be- neath the roots of hollow trees. It dislikes water, is cleanly in its habits, sleeps much, and feeds principally on the bark and leaves of Pinus Canadensis and Tilia glabra. It has been known to strip a tree entirely of its leaves, and is also fond of sweet apples and Indian corn. When discovered on the ground this animal does not strive to get out of the way ; but, on being approached, it immediately spreads the spines near the tail over the whole of the back. The female brings forth annually three or four young at a birth, after a gestation of forty days. In the fur-countries the porcupine is most numerous in sandy districts covered with Pinus Banksiana, on the bark of which it delights to feed, as well as on that of the larch and spruce-fir, and the buds of the various kinds of willows. The Indian dogs do not decline to attack this " fretful" creature, and they soon kill it, though not without injury to themselves ; for its quills, which it never fails to erect when attacked, are dangerous from the minute teeth, directed backwards, with which they are furnished. The points are extremely sharp, and are no sooner lodged beneath the skin of an assailant than they begin to bury themselves, and finally produce death by transfixing some vital organ. These spines are detachable by the slightest touch, or, as some say, by the will of the animal, and soon fill the mouths of the dogs by which it is attacked, and seldom fail to kill them, unless carefully picked out by the Indian women. Wolves also sometimes die from the same cause.J Its flesh tastes like flabby pork, and though by no means * American Monthly Mag. for 1817, p. 45. t Zoological Journal, January, 1819. t Fauna Boreali- Americana, vol. i. p. 215. QUADRUPEDS. 259 agreeable to European palates, is much relished by the In dians. The quills are variously died, and are used in the working of different ornaments and articles of hunting- apparel. There are four species of hare in North America. We shall give a short history and description of each. 1st, The American hare, commonly so called {Lepus Americanusy Erxleben). This species bears a great resem- blance to the European rabbit. It seldom w^eighs more than four pounds. In winter it is covered with a thick coat of fine long fur, externally of a pure white colour, except a narrow border on the posterior margins of the ears, and round their tips, and about one-third down their anterior margins, which are blackish-brown, on account of the dark roots of the hair being visible. In summer the fur of the upper parts is shining blackish-gray at the roots, but tinged towards the tips with yellowish-brown and black. There is a large proportion of black on the back, and the resulting colour of the surface is a dark umber-brown, mixed with yellowish- brown. A white circle surrounds the eye. The white colour commences between the fore-legs, and extending over the under parts, predominates on the extremities. The sides are of a dull pale, yellowish-brown. The ears are nearly naked during this season. The tail is white below, mixed above with gray and brown. This species is common in woody districts all over the continent of North America. It abounds on Mackenzie River as high as the sixty-eighth parallel ; but it appears to be replaced by the larger species both on the " Barren Grounds" to the eastward, and on the extensive plains through which the Missouri and Sas- katchawan take their far-flowing courses. In summer it eats grass and other vegetables, and in winter willow-bark forms a principal part of its sustenance. It never burrows, and is much preyed on both by man and beast. The furs of this species are imported into Britain under the name of rabbit-skins. Twenty-five thousand have been taken at a trading-post in Hudson's Bay in a single season. 2d, The polar hare {Lepus glacialis, Leach). Dr. Leach appears to have first discriminated this species from the varying hare. It inhabits both sides of Baffin's Bay, and is common over the north-eastern districts of America. It 260 NATURAL HISTORY. is not known to advance southward beyond the fifty-eighth parallel, and does not occur in wooded countries. How- ever, it is often seen in the vicinity of thin clumps of spruce- fir. It digs no burrow, but seeks the natural shelter of large stones. The winter-fur of this species is of a snow- white hue, even to the roots. It is denser and of a finer quahty than that of the preceding. Summer specimens killed in Melville Island (lat. 75°) had the hair of the back and sides of a grayish-brown colour towards the points. The weight of this species varies from seven to fourteen pounds. The flesh is whitish and excellent, being much superior in flavour to that of the American hare> and more juicy than the alpine hare of Scotland. 3d, The prairie hare {Lepus Virginianus, Harlan). The fur of this species is intermediate in fineness and density between that of the two species just noticed. It is common on the north and south branches of the Saskatchawan, and on the plains of the Missouri, as well as on those of the Columbia River. It frequents open districts and clumps of wood, and its general habits resemble those of the European hare. This hare is pure white in winter, with the excep- tion of the borders of the ears, which are of a wood-brown er fawn-colour. In summer, the head, neck, back, shoulders, and outer parts of the legs and thighs are of a lead-colour. The lower parts are white, with a tinge of lead-colour. In the month of March the summer- fur appears in combination with the spotless garb of winter, and is characteristic from the middle of April to the middle of November, after which the snowy dress again prevails. This species can leap twenty-one feet at a single spring. It weighs from seven to eleven pounds. 4th, The little chief hare {Lepis [Lagomys'] princepst Rich.). This is a small animal, of a blackish-brown colour above, and gray beneath. Its head is short and thick, and its ears are rounded. It inhabits the Rocky Mountains be- tween the fiftieth and sixtieth degrees, and was killed by Mr. Drummond near the sources of the Elk River. The favourite localities of this species are heaps of loose stones, through the interstices of which it makes its way with great facility. It is often observed, towards sunset, mounted on a stone, and calling to its mates in a shrill whistle. It does not appear to excavate burrows, but when approached by the hunter it utters a feeble cry, resembling that of a QUADRUPEDS. 261 rabbit in distress, and instantly disappears among the stones. This cry of fear is repeated by its neighbours, if it has any, and is so deceptive as to appear at a great distance, while in fact the creatures are close at hand. The little chief hare (so called, we understand, from its expressive Indian appellation, huckathrce, kah-yawzcB) bears a resemblance to the alpine pika described by Pallas and Pennant as inhabit- ing Kamtschatka and the Aleoutian Islands. It is a diminu- tive animal, not measuring more than six or seven inches in length, and differs from the true hares in the number of its teeth. It also wants a tail. The next group to which we have to call the attention of the reader is one of great interest, from the size, value, and general importance in the economy of nature, of the species by which it is constituted, — we mean the deer-tribe of America. Of these about half a dozen different kinds inhabit the fur-countries. As in the other numerous groups, we must here restrict ourselves to the history of a very few species. The genus Cervus includes all those ruminating animals which are furnished with antlers. Two species are common to the northern parts of both continents ; five or six belong to North America ; four to America south of the equator ; and above a dozen to India, China, and the archipelagoes of the south-east of Asia.* Of these some inhabit marshy forests, others the wooded shores of rivers or the sea, while others again prefer the bleak sides and barren valleys of mountain-districts. The species vary occasionally in colour, and are subject to those changes of constitution to which all animals are more or less liable, and which physiologists have distinguished by the names of albinism and melanism, — the first applied to the white, the second to the black varieties of colour. It has also been remarked as rather a singular circumstance, that the white varieties occur more frequently in the equatorial regions than in the colder countries of the north, — a proof, perhaps, that the intensity of light and * For the natural history and description of many of the most remark' able of the Asiatic species, see " Historical and Descriptive Account of British India" (being Nos. XL VII., XLVIII., and XLIX. of the Family Library), vol. iii. 262 NATURAL HISTORY. heat are but secondary causes in the production of animal colours.* The elk or moose-deer (Cervus alces) is a gigantic animal, of a heavy and rather disagreeable aspect. It is easily re- cognised by the great height of its limbs, the shortness of its neck, its lengthened head, projecting muzzle, and short up- right mane. When full grown it measures above six feet in height. The fur is long, thick, and very coarse, of a hoary -brown colour, varying according to age and the season of the year. The antlers are very broad and solid, plain on the inner edge, but armed externally with numerous sharp points or shoots, which sometimes amount to twenty- * Desmoulins. QUADRUPEDS. 263- eight. A single antler has been known to weigh fifty-six pounds. The neck of the elk is much shorter than its head, which gives it almost a deformed appearance, though such a form- ation is in fact rendered necessary by the great weight of its antlers, which could not be so easily supported upon a neck of greater length. Notwithstanding the length of its muzzle, it collects its food wi^h difficulty from the ground^ being obliged either greatly to spread out or to bend its limbs. From this results its propentity to browse upon the tender twigs and leaves of trees, — a mode of feeding which the keepers of the French menagerie found it very difficult to alter in the individual under their charge. The upper part of the mouth is prolonged almost in the form of a s aall trunk, and furnished with muscles, which give it great flexi- bility of movement, and enable it rapidly to collect its food. In summer, during the prevalence of the gadflies in the Scandinavian peninsula, it plunges into marshes, where it often lies day and night, with nothing above water but its head. It is even said to browse upon the aquatic plants beneath the surface, making at the same time a loud blowing sound through its nostrils. The American elks live in small troops in swampy places. Their gait, according to Dr. Harlan, is generally a trot, and they are less active than most other deer. The old in- dividuals lose their horns in January and February, and the young in April and May. In regard to their geographical distribution, they appear to have been formerly found as far south as the Ohio. At present they occur only in the more northern parts of the United States, and beyond the Great Lakes. Captain Franklin met with several during his last expedition, feeding on willows at the mouth of the Macken- zie, in lat. 69°. Although they are said to form small herds in Canada, yet in the more northern parts they are very soUtary, more than one being seldom seen, except during the rutting-season, or when the female is accompanied by her fawns. The sense of hearing is remarkably acute in this species, and it is described as the shyest and most wary of the deer-tribe. It is an inoffensive animal, unless when irritated by a wound, when its great strength renders it for- midable, or during rutting-time, when it will kill a dog or a wolf by a single blow of its fore-foot. It is much sought after by the American Indians, both on account of the fleshy 264 NATURAL HISTORY which is palatable, and the hides, with which they in part manufacture their canoes, and several articles of dress. The grain of the flesh is coarse, and it is tougher than that of any other kind of venison. In its flavour it rather resembles beef. The nose is excellent, and so is the tongue, although the latter is by no means so fat and delicate as that of the reindeer. The male elk sometimes weighs from a thousand to twelve hundred pounds. The reindeer {Ccrvus tarandus) is widely distributed over the northern parts of both the Old and New World. It has long been domesticated in Scandinavia, and is an animal of incalculable importance to the Laplander. We are less acquainted with the nature and attributes of the American species ; but we shall here follow the prevailing opinion, and consider it identical with that of the north of Europe and of Asia. There appear to be two varieties of reindeer in the fur-countries. One of these is confined to the woody and more southern districts, the other retires to the woods only during the winter season, and passes the summer either in the Barren Grounds or along the shores of the Arctic Sea. Heame's description applies to the latter kind, while the accounts given by the earlier French writers on Canada relate to the former. The reindeer of the Barren Grounds is of small stature,-, and so light of weight that a man may carry a full-groWn- doe across his shoulder. The bucks are of larger dimen- sions, and weigh, exclusive of the oflfal, from 90 to 130 pounds. The skin of the reindeer is light, and being closely covered with hair, it forms a suitable and highly- prized article of winter-apparel. " The skins of the young deer make the best dresses, and they should be killed for that purpose in the months of August or September, as after the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. The prime parts of eight or ten deer-skins make a complete suit of clothing for a grown person, which is so impervious to the cold, that with the addition of a blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may bivouac on the snow with safety, and even with comfort, in the most intense cold of an arctic winter's night."* Dr. Richardson is of opinion that the flavour of the reindeer flesh is superior to that of * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 242. qUADRUPEDS, 265 (he finest English mutton. However, the aitimal must be in prime condition, as its lean state is comparatively worse than that of other creatures, Pcmmican is formed by pouring one-third part of melted fat over the flesh of the reindeer after it is dried and pounded. Of all the deer- tribe of America this species is the most easily approached, and immense numbers are slaughtered for the use of the Indian families. The other variety of reindeer to which we have alluded above is called the woodland caribou. It is much larger than that of the Barren Grounds, has smaller horns, and is greatly inferior as an article of diet. The most remark- able peculiarity in the habits of this animal is, that it travels to the southward in the spring. It crosses the Nelson and the Severn Rivers in vast herds during the month of May, and spends the summer on the low marshy shores of James's Bay, returning inland, and in a northerly direction, in Sep- tember.* Passing over the prong-horned antelope {A. furcifcr, Smith), an inhabitant of the plains of the Missouri and Saskatchawan, remarkable for its extreme swiftness, we shall devote a few pages to the natural history of the wild sheep and goaf, of the Rocky Mountains, two of the most remarkable and important of the native quadrupeds of North America. (See the tollowing Plate.) The Rocky Mountain sheep (Ovis montana, Desm. and Rich.) inhabits the range from which it derives its name,, from its northern termination, or at least from latitude 68°, to the fortieth degree of north latitude. It also dwells among many of the elevated and craggy ridges which inter- sect the country lying to the westward, between the prin- cipal range and the shores of the Pacific Ocean ; but it does not appear to have advanced beyond the eastern declivities of the Rocky Mountains, and it consequently does not occur in any of the hilly tracts nearer to Hudson's Bay. The favourite feeding-places of this species are " grassy knolls, skirted by craggy rocks, to which they can retreat when pursued by dogs ot wolves," Its flesh, when in sea- * For the history of the w^apiti (C. strongyloceros), the black-tailed deer (C macrotis, Say), and the long-tailed deer (C. leucurus, Douglas), we must refer to the writings of the various travellers and systematia authors named in the course o'' these chapters. z 266 NATURAL HISTORY. son, IS stated by Mr. Drummond to be quite delicious,— as- being far superior to that of any of the deer-species, and even as exceeding in flavour the finest Enghsh mutton. This showy animal exceeds the Asiatic argali in size, and is much larger than the largest varieties of the domestic breeds. The horns of the male are very large. The ears are of moderate size. The facial line is straight, and the general form of the anunal, being, as it were, intermediate between that of the sheep and stag, is not devoid of ele- gance. The hair is like that of the reindeer, short, fine, and flexible, in its autumn growth ; but as the winter ad- vances, it becomes coarse, dry, and brittle, though still soft to the touch : it is necessarily erect at this season, from its extreme closeness. The hmbs are covered whh shorter hairs. In regard to colours, the head, buttock, and' posterior part of the abdomen are white ; the rest of the body and the neck are of a pale or dusky wood-brown. A deeper and more lustrous brown prevails on the fore-part of the legs. The tail is dark-brown, and a narrow brown line, extending from its base, divides the buttock, and unites with the brown colour of the back. The colours reside in the ends of the hair, and as these are rubbed off during the progress of winter, the tints become paler. The horns of the female are much smaller, and nearly erect, having but a slight curvature, and an inclination backwards and outwards.* The following are the dimensions of an old Rocky Moun- tain ram, killed on the south branch of the Mackenzie, and fiow in the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. Feet. Incheji Length of the head and body 6 Height at the fore shoulder 3 5 Length of tail 2 Length of horn, measured along the curvature . . 2 10 Circumference of horn at its base 1 1 Distance front tip to tip of the horns 2 3 These animals collect i^i flocks consisting of from three to thirty, the young rams and the females herding together during the winter and spring, while the old rams form * The Edinburgh College Museum contains a fine specimen of th« ttmtlt Rocky Mountain abeep. QUADRUPEDS, 269 separate flocks, except during the month of December, which is their rutthig-season. " The ewes bring forth lu June or July, and then retire with their lambs to the most inaccessible heights. Mr. Drummond informs me, that in the retired parts of the mountains, where the hunters had seldom penetrated, he found no difficulty in approaching the Rocky Mountain sheep, which there exhibited the sim- plicity of character so remarkable in the domestic species ; but that where they had been often fired at they were ex- ceedingly wild, alarmed their companions on the approach of danger by a hissing noise, and scaled the rocks with a speed and agility that baffled pursuit. He lost several that he had mortally wounded, by their retiring to die among the secluded precipices."* When the first mission was established in California, nearly two centuries after the discovery of that country, Fathers Piccolo and de Salvatierra found " two sorts of deer that we know nothing of; we call them sheep because they somewhat resemble ours in make. The first sort is as large as a calf of one or two years old ; its head is much like that of a stag, and its horns, which are very large, are like those of a ram; its tail and hair are speckled, and shorter than a stag's, but its hoof is large, round, and cleft, as an ox's. I have eaten of these beasts ; their flesh is very tender and delicious. The other sort of sheep, some of which are white, and others black, diflfer less from ours. They are larger, and have a great deal more wool, which is very good, and easy to be spun and wrought."t The ani- mal first mentioned in the above quotation is the Rocky Mountain sheep ; the other is the wild-goat of these same districts, of which we shall now exhibit a brief history. t The Rocky Mountain goat inhabits the highest and least accessible summits. The precise limits of its territorial range have probably not yet been ascertained ; but it appears to extend from the fortieth to the sixty-fourth or sixty-fifth degree of north latitude. It is seldom or never observed * Fauna Boreali- Americana, vol. i. p. 273. t Phil. Trans. No. 318, p. 232. + I have el.sewhere ob.served, that in the account of Lewis and Clarke's travels, in the Quarterly Review (vol. xii. p. 334, 362), there are two passages, which, if not corrected, would lead to an inaccurate conclusion regarding the origin of domestic sheep. See QuarterJj Journal of Affricultuve, No. ix. p. 374, Note. Z2 270 NATURAL HISTORV. at any distance from the mountains, and is said to be less numerous on the eastern than the western sides. It was not met with by Mr. Drummond on the eastern declivities of the range, near the sources of the Elk River, where the sheep are numerous ; but he learned from the Indians that it frequents the steepest precipices, and is much more difficult to procure than the sheep. On the other hand, Major Long states, from the information of a foctor of the Hudson's Bay Company, that they are of easy access to the hunter. The flesh of this species is hard and dry, and somewhat unsavoury, from its musky flavour. Beneath its long hairy covering there is a coating of wool of the finest quality. " If the Highland Society and the Hudson's Bay Company were to combine their resources of ' ways and means,' the importation of this fine animal into the alpine and insular districts of Scotland might be eflfected without much difficulty or any great expense."* The fine wool of this species grows principally on the back and buttock, and is intermixed with long coarse hair.f The bison, or American buflfalo {Bos Americanus), is spread over a great portion of the temperate regions of America, and appears to extend southwards probably as far as the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude. Its charac- teristic positions, however, are the great prairies to the westward of the Mississippi, where, according to Dr. Harlan, they sometimes congregate in such vast troops that 10,000 individuals are supposed to have been seen at one time. Although they inhabited the Carolinas at the period of the earliest colonization, they have long since retired towards the plains of the Missouri. None have been seen in Penn- sylvania for a long time, nor in Kentucky since about the year 1766. The influence exerted over the natural bound- aries of the brute creation is indeed strikingly illustrated by the geographical history of this species. It appears to have formerly existed throughout the whole extent of the * Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 353. t The synonymy of this animal is somewhat confused. It is the wool-bearing antelope, Antilope lanigera of Major Hamilton Smith : the mountain sheep (though distinct from the true Ovis montana) of Jameson and Ord ; the Mazama dorzata et sericea of Rafinesque ; the Rupicnpra Americana of De Blainville ; the Antilope Americana of Besraarest ; and the Capra Americana of Richardsoa. 4iUADRlJPEDS. 271 United States, with the possible exception of the territory to the east of Hudson's River and Lake Champlain, and of some narrow lines of coast along the Atlantic shores and the Gulf of Mexico. During the early part of the sixteenth century it was seen by Alvar Nunez near the Bay of St. Bernard, which may be regarded as its southern boundary on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountain 'chain. It ex- tends much farther north among the central than the eastern territories ; for we find that a bison was killed by Captain Franklin's expedition on the Salt River, in the sixtieth parallel ; while it has not been traced to any of those tracts which lie to the northward of Lakes Ontario, Erie, &c., and to the eastward of Lake Superior. Mr. Keating states that to the westward of Lake Winipeg the bison is found as far north as the sixty-second degree ;* and Dr. Richard- son adduces the testimony of the natives to show that they have taken possession of the flat limestone district of Slave Point, on the north side of Great Slave Lake, and have even wandered as far as the vicinity of Great Marten Lake, in latitude 63° or 64°. The Rocky Mountain range appears to have formerly opposed a barrier to the westerly progres- sion of the species ; but they are said to have discovered of late years a passage across these mountains, near the sources of the Saskatchawan. They are now known to occur both in California and New Mexico, and their exist- ence on the Columbia is also ascertained. The male bisons contend together with great fury during the rutting-season, and it is dangerous to venture near them at that period. In general, however, they are shy and wary, and there is more difficulty than danger in ap- proaching them ; but when wounded they will sometimes turn upon and pursue the hunter. " While I resided at Carlton House," Dr. Richardson informs us, '* an accident of this kind Occurred. Mr. Finnan M 'Donald, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's clerks, was descending the Sas- katchawan in a boat ; and one evening, having pitched his tent for the night, he went out in the dusk to look for game. It had become nearly dark when he fired at a bison-bull, which was galloping over a small eminence ; and as he was hastening forward to see if his shot had taken * Account of Major Long's Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's Biyer, vol. ii. chap. i. "272 NATURAL HISTORY. effect, the wounded beast made a rush at him. He had the presence of mind to seize the animal by the long hair on its forehead, as it struck him on the side with its horn ; and being a remarkably tall and powerful man, a struggle ensued, which continued until his wrist was severely sprained, and his arm was rendered powerless ; he then fell, and after receiving two or three blows became sense- less. Shortly afterward he was found by his companions lying bathed in blood, being gored in several places ; and the bison was couched beside him, apparently waiting to renew the attack had he shown any signs of life. Mr. M 'Donald recovered from the immediate effects of the in- juries he received, but died a few months afterward."*- The jflesh of a well-conditioned bison is juicy, and of excellent flavour. The tongue is a great delicacy, and may be so cured as to surpass the gusto of that part of an English cow. The hump, or wig, as it is sometimes called, has a fine grain, and is almost as rich and tender as the tongue. In regard to the external characters of the bison, the male is remarkable for the enormous size of its head, the conical elevation between the shoulders, its small piercing eyes, short black horns, and on the fore-quarters the great profusion of shaggy hair. Its hind-quarters appear comparatively weak, from the shortness of the woolly hair by which they are covered. The male sometimes weighs above 2000 pounds ; but 12 or 14 cwt. is regarded as a good weight in the fur-countries. It measures eight feet and a half in length, and above six feet high at the fore-quarter. The cow is smaller in the head and shoulders than the bull. According to Rafinesque, the bison has been domesti- cated in Kentucky and the Ohio.f It is even reported by some authors to have bred with the tame cow of European origin ; and the cross breed is said to continue prolific. This statement, however, requires confirmation. " Our inquiries on the spot," says Major H. Smith, " never pro- duced a proof, or even an assertion from the well-informed, that they had seen the hybrid oftspring." This animal is unknown to the Esquimaux on the shores of the Polar Sea. * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 291. t I state this on tbe information of M. Antoine Desmoulins, not having had i^.,in my power to peruse the work of the writer above named ns? 288 NATURAL HISTORY. virtue is its own most abundant reward !"* Nevertheless^ as practical ornithology can by no means flourish without powder and shot, Wilson continued to knock down as many birds as he required, — and they were many, — for the space of several succeeding years. Alas ! that the latter were so few. More allied to the starling tribe is a bird remarkable for the singularity of its habits, called the cowpen or cuckoo- bunting {Embcriza pecoris of Wilson), classed by Mr. Swainson in the genus Molothrus. It visits the fur-coun- tries in May, and, after ranging as far north as the sixtieth parallel, it departs in September, and collecting in large flocks during the ensuing month in Pennsylvania, it finally retires to winter-quarters in Mexico and the most southern parts of the United States. It feeds on grain, grass, and worms, and is frequently seen perched familiarly on the backs of cattle. But the most remarkable trait in the character of this species is its practice (like that of our own cuckoo) of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, and abandoning its future offspring to the care of strangers. The yellow-throat and red-eyed fly-catcher are most fre- quently selected to perform the office of foster-parents. Passing over the rice-bird, the Baltimore oriole, the pur- ple grakle, and others of the Shirnidce, we shall here briefly notice the family of the crows. The raven {Corvus corax,) which occurs in all the four quarters of the globe, is abund- ant in the fur-countries ; and the carrion-crow ( C. corone) also occurs there, but appears to be of a less hardy nature, as it is seen in the interior in summer only, and does not seem to approach within 500 or 600 miles of Hudson's Bay. The magpie ( C. pica) is as common in the prairie lands of America as it is in Europe. Several beautiful jays likewise occur in North America. We come next to the woodpeckers, which are numerous and widely spread over the American continent, as might be expected in connexion with the vast forests with which so much of the country is still encumbered. The ivory-billed * American Ornithology, vol. ii. p. 230. BIRDS. 28» woodpecker (Picus principalis) is undoubtedly the most magnificent of the genus. While many of the smaller kinds seek their prey in the orchard or shrubbery, among rails, fences, or prostrate logs, the present species inhabit the most towering trees of the forest, " seeming particularly attached to those prodigious cypress swamps, whose crowded giant sons stretch their bare and blasted, or moss-hung arms, midway to the skies. In these almost inaccessible recesses, amid ruinous piles of impending timber, his trumpet-like notes and loud strokes resound through the solitary savage wilds, of which he seems the sole lord and master." The food of this species, Mr. Audubon informs us, consists chiefly of beetles, larvse, and large grubs. No sooner, however, are the grapes of the forest ripened, than they are eaten by the ivory-billed woodpecker with great avidity. " I have seen this bird," says the last-named ex- cellent observer, " hang by its claws to the vines, in the position so often assumed by a titmouse, and, reaching downwards, help itself to a bunch of grapes with much apparent pleasure."* Although we have introduced a no- tice of this fine species, we are not aware that it extends so far to the north as the countries with which we are at present engaged. It is, however, well known in many of the United States. A much more northern species is the three-toed woodpecker (P. tridactylus of Swainson), which exists in all the forests of spruce-fir that lie between Lake Superior and the Arctic Sea. It is the most common of the species that occur to the north of Great Slave Lake. The varieties of the feathered race are inexhaustible. Each tribe and family contains many familiar and well-re- membered species, on the history of which we could dilate with pleasure ; but we must of necessity leave even the names of many unrecorded. Two frail and fairy beings, however, seemingly of too delicate a fabric to withstand the rudeness of the northern blasts, now solicit our regard, and as they have flown far to obtain it, we must here insert a compendious history of the North American humming-birds. Meanwhile, let us borrow the words of the enthusiastic Audubon. They apply to the ruby-throated species {Tro- * (^ithological Biography, vol. i. p. 344. Bb 290 NATURAL HISTORY. chilus coluhnsy Linn.). " No sooner has the returning sun. again introduced the vernal season^ and caused millions of plants to expand their leaves and blossoms to his genial beams, than the little humming-bird is seen advancing on fairy-wings, carefully visiting every opening flower-cup, and like a curious florist, removing from each the injurious in- sects that otherwise would, ere long, cause their beauteous petals to droop and decay. Poised in the air, it is observed peeping cautiously and with sparkling eye into their inner- most recesses, while the ethereal motions of its pinions, so rapid and so light, appear to fan and cool the flower without injuring its fragile texture, and produce a delightful mur- muring sound, well adapted for lulling the insects to repose. Then is the moment for the humming-bird to secure them. Its long delicate bill enters the cup of the flower, and the protruded double-tubed tongue, delicately sensible, and im- bued with a glutinous saliva, touches each insect in suc- cession, and draws it from its lurking-place to be instantly swallowed. All this is done in a moment, and the bird, as it leaves the flower, sips so small a portion of its liquid honey, that the theft, we may suppose, is looked upon with a grateful feeling by the flower, which is thus kindly relieved from the attacks of her destroyers. " The prairies, the orchards, and gardens, nay, the deep- est shades of the forest, are all visited in their turn, and everywhere the little bird meets with pleasure and with food. Its gorgeous throat in beauty and brilliancy baffles all competition. Now it glows with a fiery hue, and again it is changed to the deepest velvety black. The upper parts of its delicate body are of resplendent changing green, and it throws itself through the air with a swiftness and vivacity hardly conceivable. It moves from one flower to another like a gleam of light, upwards, downwards, to the rights and to the left. In this manner it searches the extreme northern portions of our country, following with great pre- caution the advances of the season, and retreats with equal care at the approach of autumn."* The nest of this species is formed with a delicacy propor- tioned to its tiny inmates. The external parts consist of a light-gray lichen found on the branches of trees or o» * Oraithological Biography, vol. 1. p. 248. BIRDS, 2^1 decayed fence-rails, and so trimly arranged around the nest, as well as at some distance from the spot to which it is at- tached, as to appear like a portion of the stem. These little pieces of lichen are ^lued together, as some say, with the saliva of the bird. The next layer consists of a cottony substance, and the innermost of silky fibres obtained from various plants, but all extremely soft and delicate. In this sweet receptacle the female deposites a single pair of eggs, pure white, antl of an almost oval form. A Virginian gentleman kept two of these creatures in a cage for several months. He supplied them with a mixture of honey and water. On this they appeared to feed ; but as the sweet and viscous liquid brought many small ^ies about the cage, the humming-birds were seen to snap at and swallow the insects with great eagerness. Mr. C. W. Peale also succeeded in rearing two young ones from the nest. They used to fly about the room, and would fre- quently perch on Mrs. Peaie's shoulder. Wilson himself took a nest in the summer of 1803, the inhabitants of which were just about to fly ; indeed one of them flew out by the window that same evening, and, striking against a wall, was killed. The other refused food, and was scarcely alive next morning. A lady, however, undertook to nurse it, and dissolving a little sugar in her mouth, she thrust in the bird's bill, which immediately sucked with great avidity. It was kept for three months, and daily supplied with loaf- sugar dissolved in water. Fresh flowers were also scattered every morning around its food ; and in this way it appeared gay, active, and full of spirits, and hovered from flower to flower as if in its natural state. It never failed to express, both by a peculiar motion and a chirping voice, the greatest pleasure when its supply of flowers was introduced into the cage. It became the admiration of all beholders, and sanguine hopes were entertained that it might be pre- served throughout the winter ; but unfortunately it one day got at large, and flying about the room in a more exeited manner than usual, it injured itself in such a way as to die soon after.* The species to which these observations apply * Tn addition to the writings of Wilson and Audubon, consult, for a knowledge of the history and habits of humming birds, Mr. Bullock's " Six Months in Mexico," and M. Lesson's " Histoire des Oiseur Mouches." 292 NATURAL HISTORY. ranges during the summer season as far to the north as the 67th parallel. Dr. Richardson found it on the plains of the Saskatchawan, and Mr. Drummond discovered its nest near the sources of the Elk River. This was composed chiefly of the dov^fn of an anemone, bound together by a few stalks of moss and bits of lichen, and had an internal diameter of one inch. The other species to which we alluded above was first observed by our illustrious navigator Cook, on the barren shores of Nootka Sound. It is the ruff-necked humming- bird ( Trochilus collaris of Latham, and the Trochilus rufus of Gmelin). It is a superb species, and ranges to the southward at least as far as the table-land of Mexico, near Real del Monte; from which locality specimens are pre- served in the unrivalled collection of Mr. Loddiges. It was traced by Kotzebue along the Pacific shores as far as the sixty-first parallel. The migration of birds has in every age afforded a subject of pleasing speculation to the admirers of the never-ending wonders of the natural world ; but in no instance does it more freely excite our admiration than when manifested by creatures so frail, and fantastically attired in hues " Which make the rose's blush of beauty pale, And dim the rich geranium's scarlet blaze." Of the long-winged and most aerial of the feathered race, the swallow tribe, many beautiful species inhabit America. We shall here notice only the white-fronted or cliff-swallow {Hirundo lunifrons of Say), discovered near the Rocky Mountains by Major Long. It was seen in great numbers by Sir John Franklin's party in 1820, while travel- lino- from Cumberland House to Fort Enterprise. Its clus- tered nests are frequent on the fiices of the rocky cliffs of the Barren Grounds, and a number of them made their first appearance at Fort Chipewyan on the 25th of June, 1825, and immediately built their nests under the eaves of the dwelling-house, which are not more than six feet above a balcony that extended the whole length of the building, and was a constant promenade. " They had thus to graze the heads of the passengers on entering their nests, and were moreover exposed to the curiosity and depredations of the children, to whom they were novelties : yet they preferred BIRDS. 1298 the dwelling-house to the more lofty eaves of the store- houses, and in the following season returned with aug- mented numbers to the same spot. Fort Chipewyan has existed for many years, and trading-posts, though far dis- tant from each other, have been established in the fur-coun- tries for a century and a half; yet this, as far as I could learn, is the first instance of this species of swallow placing itself under the protection of man within the widely-ex- tended lands north of the Great Lakes.* What cause could have thus suddenly called into action that confidence in the human race with which the Framer of the Universe has endowed this species, in common with others of the swallow tribe "?"! This species is very widely distributed. It was transmitted to Professor Jameson from India some years ago by the Marchioness of Hastings. Passing over the goat-suckers (genus CapriTnulgus)^ which are frequent and numerous in the northern regions of America, we may here record the name of the belted king-fisher (Alcedo alcyon, Linn.) as the sole representative in the fur-countries of a tribe very widely diffused over all the known regions of the earth. It is a bird of passage, and winters as far south as the West Indies, although it also occurs in Georgia and the Floridas during that season. A more numerous and much more important family of birds (in America) are the Tetraonida or grouse. Nearly a dozen species inhabit the fur-countries, and of these the largest and most remarkable is the pheasant-tailed grouse or cock of the plains {Tetrao urophasianus, Bon.). The flight of this bird, Mr. Douglas informs us, is slow and un- steady, and affords but little amusement to the sportsman. Its wings are small, and but feebly feathered in proportion to the size of the bird, which measures from thirty-two to thirty-four inches in length, and weighs from six to eight pounds. Though it may be said to represent the capercailzie • The late governor, De Witt Clinton, has given a very interestieg history of the closely-resembling species, H.fulva, which about sixteen yeais ago began to build its nests on the walls of houses in the Westero States, and has every succeeding summer been aavancing farther to tb© .eastward. Vide Ann. Lye, New- York, vol. i. p. 156. t Fasina Boreali-Ainericana, vol. ii. p. 331. Bb2 294 NATURAL HISTORY. or wood-grouse ( T. urogallus) in the New World, it differ* in this respect, that it never perches. Its flesh is dark- coloured, and not particularly good in point of flavour.* We shall close our account of American land-birds, com- monly so called, by a reference to the passenger-pigeon (Columba migrcUoria).- It may be presumed to be suflS- ciently common in America, from a fact, or rather a calcu- lation, given by Alexander Wilson. He estimated a flock which continued to pass above him for the greater part of a day to have been a mile iu breadth and 240 miles in length, and to have contained (three birds being assigned to every square yard) at least two thousand two hundred and thirty millions, two hundred and seventy-two thousand pigeons !t Mr. Audubon confirms his predecessor's account by a nar- rative still more extraordinary,} and adds, that as every pigeon consumes fully half a pint of food (chiefly mast), the quantity necessary for supplying his flock must have amounted to eight millions seven hundred and twelve thou- sand bushels per day I — an expensive doocot. Of the order of waders (Grallafores) none winter in the fur-countries. They generally arrive about the end of April and beginning of May, and are driven southwards in autumn by the advance of winter, and its hardening influ- ence upon the moist grounds and swampy shores, from which these long-legged gentry draw their principal support. We shall rest satisfied by furnishing a Ust of their names in the note belovv.^ * For the history and description of the other American grouse, con- sult Mr. David Douglas's paper in the 16th volume of the Linn. Trans. ; Professor Jameson's edition of the American Ornithology, vol. ii. p. 314, and vol. iv. p. 189,325; the second volume of the Fauna Boreali-Ameri- cana, p. 342; and my own " lilu.strations of Zoology," vol. i. plates 26, 27, 30, 31, and corresponding letter-press. t See vol. ii. p. 299. t See his interesting history of the passenger-pigeon in the first volume of the "Ornifhological Biography," p. 319-326. § The saiiderling (Calidris arenaria, Illiger); American ringplover (Charadrius semipalmatus, Bonap.); kildeer-plover (Ch. vociferus, Linn.); golden-plover (CA. pluvialis, Linn.?); gray lapwing {YanellTis melanogaster, '&e.c\isi.)\ turnstone (Strepsilus interpres. 111.); whoop- ing^crane {Grtis Americana, Temm.) ; brown crane (G. Canadensis, Temm.); great heron (Ardea Ilerodias, Linn.); American bittern, {Ardca Icntisinosa, Mont.); American avoset {Recurvirostra Amerr BIRDS. 295 Of the still more extensive order of Natatorcs^ or web- footed swimming-birds {Palmipedes), we shall present only a few brief notices. Birds of this order are fully more re- markable for the texture than the tints of their plumage, although several Kpecies of the duck tribe are likewise dis- tinguished by considerable brilliancy of colour. Destined to inhabit the seashore, and the banks of lakes and rivers, they are much exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, and their feathers are providentially rendered very close and compact, and abundantly imbued with an oily secretion, through which they become impermeable by moisture. This beautiful provision, as I have elsewhere observed,* is more indispensable to the economy of the Palmipedes than to any other order, as many of them are strictly oceanic, be- ing sometimes found 500 leagues from land, and conse- quently having no other place of repose, either by night or by day, than the surface of the '* injurious sea." In adoi- tion to an abundant plumage, the truly aquatic kinds, such as ducks and divers, are furnished with a close, and, in some instances, very valuable down, which preserves them from the effects of cold and moisture, and is afterward used in the formation of their nests on the arrival of the genial season. With the exception of ducks and mergansers, no very marked distinction prevails between the plumage of the cava, Linn.); long-billed curlew (Numenius longirostris, Wils.); Hudsonian curlew (N. Hudsonicus, Lath.); Esquimaux curlew (JV. borealis. Lath.); Douglas' sanf the Admiralty, our chief promoter of those important * Linn. Trans, vol. xU.p. 5S2. *'»•■! ;; ^ ^t^'''li.'' (> BIRDS. 299 geographical discoveries, from the successful conduct of which such essential benefits have resulted to zoological science. It appears that the swan lately discovered, or at least identified as new to the records of British ornithology, and described by Mr. Yarrell* under the name of Bewick's swan {Cygnus Bewickii), is an inhabitant of the seacoast within the Arctic circle of America. It is much later in its north- ern migratory movements than its congener the trumpeter- swan (C. buccinator). According to Lewis and Clarke, it winters near the mouth of the Columbia. Its nest is de- scribed by Captain Lyon (than whom few describe in a more agreeable manner) as built in a peat-moss, and being nearly six feet long, four and three-quarters wide, two feet high exteriorly, and with a cavity in the inside of a foot and a half in diameter. The eggs were brownish- white, clouded with a darker tint. A more common species of swan in the interior of the fur-countries is the trumpeter above named. The great bulk of the skins imported by the Hudson's Bay Company pertain to this species. The white pelican {Pel. onocrotalus) is frequent in the fur-countries as high as the sixty-first parallel. It haunts eddies beneath cascades, and destroys a great quantity of carp and other fish. The great northern diver {Colymbus glacialis) is met with in considerable numbers in all the lakes of the interior, though seldom observed either in Hudson's Bay or along the shores of the Arctic Sea. It flies heavily, but swims with great swiftness. The black-throated species (C Arc- ticus)y on the other hand, though common on the coasts of Hudson's Bay, more rarely makes its way into the interior. Most of the guillemot tribe {Uria troile^ Brunnichii, grylUy and alle) frequent the Arctic seas of America. We shall here close our account of the feathered races of these northern regions. * Lina. Traus. vol. xvL p. 445i. 300 NATURAL HISTORY. CHAPTER VIII. Some Account of the Fishes and other Zoological Productions of the Northern Regions of America. Stnrgeon— Salmon— Trout— Char— Capelan— White Fish— Blue Fish— Herring— Pike— Burbot — Pert-h— Bull-head— Northern Insects — Thenr Natural Preservation from Cold — More Northern Extension of Tropical Forms in America than in Europe— Bees— Extension Westwards of the Honey-bee — Diplera— Melville Island Spider— Butterflies. The fishes of the northern regions are of great import- ance as articles of food in- countries where a nutritious diet is by no means easy to obtain ; and where, as we have seen in the course of our historical disquisition, tripe de roche, burnt bones, and fur-jackets are too frequently the sorry substitutes for better fare. We shall mention a few of the characteristic kinds. A species of sturgeon called sterlet (Accipenser Ruthe- nus) abounds in the Saskatchawan. The fishery at Cumber- land House is most productive during the spring and summer. This is a much smaller species than the A. huso. An in- dividual weighing 60 pounds is considered large. The Coppermine River salmon (Salmo Hcrnii) is shaped like a common salmon, with a somewhat larger head. Its size is inferior to that of the British salmon. It is cap- tured in great quantities in the leap at Bloody Fall, on the Coppermine, in the months of July and August. Many varieties of trout also occur in the lakes and rivers of the northern parts of America ; but as the kinds which fre- quent our own otherwise well known streams are still vaguely indicated fc'y naturalists, the reader need not wonder that we have little definite information to communicate regarding those of such far distant lands. The Indians do not appear to designate their trouts by specific appellations, but use a general term ; the Crees call them nammcecoosy the Chipewyans thlooeesinnch, and the Esquimaux cBrkallook. The vividness of their spots and markings seems to vary with the season ; and the colour and consequent condition FISHES. 301 of the flesh are likewise liable to change. They attain at times to an enormous size ; Dr. Richardson frequently ob- served trouts weighing 40 pounds. In Manito or God's Lake, they are reported to attain the size of 90 pounds. A species nearly allied to the char {.S. alpinus), but with the tail more forked, and a blunter snout, was taken in a lake in Melville Island. The capelan or lodde ( S. Grcenlandicus) was observed in large shoals along the shallow shores of Bathurst's Inlet. The white fish (Coregonus albvs) is named thlooaek by the Copper Indians, and tittamcg by the traders. It varies in weight from three to eight pounds, and sometimes attains even a much greater size. It abounds in every lake and river of the American arctic regions, and forms a most delicious food, being eaten without satiety as almost the sole article of diet at some of the trading-posts for a series of years. Back's grayling (C. signifer) is the poisson bleu of the fur- dealers. This beautiful fish prefers the strong rapids, and rises eagerly at the artificial fly. It was found during the first expedition only in the clear rivers to the northward of Great Slave Lake, and measures about 16 inches exclu- sive of the caudal fin. The common herring (Chipea Ha- rcngus) was caught in Bathurst Inlet early in the month of August ; and pike {Esox lacius 1) are common in all the lakes. The burbot {Gadus lota) is likewise a frequent fish in every lake and river. It preys indiscriminately on what- ever other species it is able to swallow, and in the spring its stomach is generally crammed witb^cray-fish to such a degree as to distort the shape of its own body.* It is little prized as food. There is a kind of perch, sufficiently common about Cumberland House, which resembles our common perch in shape, but at the same time dififers in several respects from the European species. Its length to the caudal fin is about 19 inches. A peculiar cottus {C.polaris, Sabine), similar in its habits to C gohia, was found to occur abundantly on the shores of North Georgia in pools of water left by the ebbing of the tide. The largest were not more than two inches long.f The six-horned bull-head (C. hexacornis)y is also frequent in the Arctic seas.J * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 724. t Supplement to the Appendix to Parry's First Voyage, p. 213. i For some notices of shells and other invertebrate animals of the Cc 302 NATURAL HISTORY. We have little to say of the insects of the northern re- gions. Cold is in general adverse to the production and increase of insect life, and even temperate climates are much less productive than tropical and equatorial regions, in relation to those tiny tribes. It is probable, however, that the distribution of many northern species is still un- known. It was formerly supposed that in Iceland there were none, and that even in Norway there were very few, and their absence from those countries was attributed to ex- cess of cold. Horrebow contradicted this opinion in regard to Iceland, although Dr. Hooker, in his interesting " Recol- lections" of a tour in that island, states that he met with few,* yet Olafsen and Provalsen, during their residence there, collected 200 different species in one small valley. f Otho Fabricius resided six years in Greenland, and col- lected only 63 species of the insect class properly so called.t In the still higher latitude of Winter Harbour, where Sir Edward Parry sojourned, only six species of insects were collected from the beginning of the month of September till the August following. In Greenland, according to Mr. Kirby, every order of insect has its representatives, except Orthoptera and Hemiptera ; but in Melville Island, besides these deficiencies, neither coleopterous nor neuropterous species were observed ; and even the mosquito, that shrill tyrant of the Lapland plains, appears to have ceased from troubling along those hyperborean shores. It must, how- ever, be borne in mind, that insects can escape the extremes of cold, not only, as Mr. Macleay observes, by passing cer- tain periods in the pupa or torpid state, but also by being while in that state usually buried in the earth, where they are but slightly sensible even of the most extreme rigour of winter. " What they chiefly require is the presence of heat during some period of their existence ; and the greater, within certain limits, is the heat, the more active will be their vital principle. On the American continent the ex- tremes of heat and cold in the course of the year are, as is well known, incomparably greater than in places of the Arctic Regions, consult the Supplement above named. See also a List of Zoophytes by Dr. Fleming, in the Appendix to Captain Parry's Second Voyage to the Arctic Regions. * First edition, p. 272. t Voyage en Islande. t, L t Fauna Grcenlandica. INSECTS. 303 same latitude in Europe. We may, therefore, readily conceive how families of insects will inhabit a wider range of latitude in the former country than in the latter. We see also how insects may swarm in the very coldest climates, such as Lapland and Spitzbergen, where the short summer can boast of extraordinary rises in the thermometer ; be- cause the energy of the vital principle in such animals is, within certain limits, proportionate to the degree of warmth to which they may be subjected, and escapes in a manner the severe action of cold."* It is on the above principles also that Mr. Macleay accounts for what certainly at first seems an extraordinary circumstance in the geography of insects ; namely, that their tropical structure extends much farther north in America than in Europe, — that is, in a manner directly the reverse of that which has been noted by botanists to occur in the vegetable kingdom. When we examine Copris carnifex, Cetonia nitida, Rutela G-punclatUf and other insects from the neighbourhood of New-York, and compare them with species of the same families from Brazil, we shall find their diflference of structure infinitely less than that which would result from a comparison of the entomological productions of the environs of Madrid with those of the banks of the Congo. Mr. Macleay admits, that although in his opinion the in- sect tribes suffer less in cold climates than plants, it does not therefore follow that the prevalence of cold has no effect in relation to the destruction or prevention of insect life. In truth, the diminution of the number of species becomes very conspicuous as we advance towards the poles. But this the learned author of the HorcB Entomologicce supposes to be owing rather to the short continuance of the summer warmth, than to the lowness of its existing degree. In ac- cordance with this view we certainly find that many insects, such as gnats, mosquitoes, &c. which pass their larva state in water, — thus avoiding the extremest cold, and whose ex- istence in the perfect state being naturally ephemeral, must, therefore, suffer little from the shortness of summer, — are nowhere more troublesome than among the moors and marshes of the north. On the other hand, the number of coleopterous species, which, being naturally longe*" lived, * Horae Entomologicae, part i. p. 45. 304 NATURAL HISTORY. require a greater continuance of warmth, is sensibly dimin- ished amid those dreary wastes.* Several specimens of a species of caterpillar were found in Melville Island. They occurred in the vicinity of Sediz Arctica and Saxifraga oppositifolia, and a new moth {Bombyx Salini, K.) was found in a swampy part of the island. The honey-bee {Apis mellifica) is supposed to be not an indige- nous but an imported species in America. Our land expe- ditions did not observe its occurrence to the north of Canada. The Americans have now settled the Missouri, as far as the 95th meridian, and it is probable that the New-England men, in their journeys westward, carried hives along with them. According to Mr. Warden, the honey-bee was not found to the westward of the Mississippi prior to the year 1797; but it is now well known, and has been so for a considerable time, as high up the Missouri as the Maha nation ; having proceeded westward 600 miles in fourteen years.t Such a distance seems great for these tiny crea- tures to advance by the ordinary process of swarming, even supposing that the flight of the new colonies was invariably in a western direction. It is at the rate of 43 miles a-year ; but they have, perhaps, been smitten by the Yankee pas- sion of settling beyond the clearings.t A wild bee {Apis alpina, Fah. Bombus Arcticusy K.) of a black colour, with the base and apex of the thorax and the anterior half of the ab- domen pale yellow, is very common within the Arctic Cir- cle."^ " Scarcely any genus of the insect creation has so large a range as this of Bombus. It is found in the Old World and in the New, — and from the limits of phsenoga- mous vegetation to the equator ; but its metropolis appears to be within the temperate zone. The range of the species in question seems limited by the Arctic Circle, and to go from Greenland only westward, for it does not appear to * Horae Entomologicae, part i. p. 46. T Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States of America, vol. iii. p. 139. X Dr. Richardson lately informed me, that in the course of his north- ern journey, he saw some bees in very high latitudes resembling our common bumblebee, but that he did not at the time ascertain the exact species, and the circumstances under which he was then placed unfor- tunately prevented his preserving specimens of the softer insects. ^ The insect above alluded to is a distinct species from the Apis alpina of Linn., which is black, with the upper side of the abdomen, eli but the base, covered with ferruginous hair. INSECTS. 305 have been seen in Lapland or Iceland,* or other eastern parts of that circle."! Of the dipterous tribes we shall here mention only the Chironomus polaris of Kirby. The body is of a deep black, somewhat hairy. The antennse are plumose. The wings are rather shorter than the body, of a milky hue, with pris- matic reflections, and the marginal nervures black. The abdomen is slender and hairy. This species seems allied to the Tipulu stercoraria of De Geer, but exceeds it by twice the size. Along with Ctenophora Parrii it may be said to replace the Culices or gnats which prove so trouble- some to navigators and travellers up to a certain high lati- tude. The species of the genus Chironomus, more espe- cially, are often seen in our own country dancing in the sunbeams even during the depth of winter, when Culex is benumbed ; and it was therefore to be expected, a priori, that the former would occupy a higher range, and approach nearer the pole than the latter. On the last day of Cap- tain Parry's attempt to reach the North Pole over the ice, a species of Aphis was found in lat. 82° 26' 44", about 100 miles from the nearest known land. J This may be con- sidered as the extreme northern boundary of insect life. A small spider was seen in great abundance in Melville Island, running on the ground, as well as on various plants, and leaping when alarmed. Mr. Kirby had an opportunity of examining only a single specimen, which was so defec- tive from injury that he could not name with certainty the genus to which it belonged ; but from its leaping propen- sities it was inferred to belong to Salticus of Latreille. To whatever genus it pertains, the specific name of Mel villensis is now bestowed upon it. Mr. Scoresby brought a few insects from the east coast of West Greenland. Among these were two butterflies, Papilio palceno, Linn. {Faun. suec. 1041), znd Papilio dia, Linn. (Fab. Mant. ins. ii. p. 6], n. 581). Both of these were enumerated for the first time as productions of Green- land in the account of his voyage ; for the only butterfly * Hooker's Recollections of Iceland, 1st edition, p. 34. t Supplement to the Appendix to Captain Parry's First Voyage, p. 217. J Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole in Boats, C c2 306 NATURAL HISTORY. met with on either coast by Fabricius was the Papilio Tullia of Muller.* The entomology of the northern portions of the mainland of America is as yet known only through a few vague and superficial notices, from which we can deduce no positive re- sults, and with which we therefore deem it unnecessary to trouble the reader. We expect ere long a valuable contri- bution on the subject from the skilful pen of Mr. Kirby.f CHAPTER IX. Characteristic Features in the Botany of the Northern Regions of America. Mr. Brown's Observations on the relative Proportions of the two great Divisions of Phaenogamous Plants — Beautifttl small Willow from East Greenland— Notices of the more remarkable Species collected by Dr. Richardson — Galium Tinctorium— Cornus Alba — Phlox Hoodii — Vi- burnum Edule— Azalea Nudicaulis— Lilium Philadelphicum— Epilo- bium Angustifolium— Ledum latifolium— L. Palustre— Prunus Virgi- niana— Pyrus Ovalis— Crepis Nana— Cineraria Congesta— Pinus Nigra — P. Alba— P. Banksiana — P. Microcarpa — L. Lambertiana — Empe- trum Nigrum— Myrica Gale— Populus Trepida— Populus Balsamifera — Juniperus Prostrata- Splachnum Mnioides— Dicranum Elongatum — Gyrophora proboscidea— Hyperborea Pennsylvanica, Mecklenbergii, vellea— Cetraria Richardsonii— Fucus Ceranoides— Difficulties in the Determination of Arctic Species— Plants recently introduced to the British Gardens— Lathyrus Decaphyllus— Eutoca Franklinii — Lupinus Littoralis— Clarkia Puchella— Gerardia Capitata— New Dodecatheon — Andromeda Tetragona — Menziesia Empetrifolia — Azalea Lapponica — Dryas Drummondia. Although, as a subject of scientific and philosophical in- vestigation, botany yields in interest to none of the other branches of natural history, and although a great poet and profound observer of nature has asserted that " To him the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears," * Scoresby's Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-Fishery, p. 424. t The third volume of Dr. Richardson's Fauna Boreali-Americanay now in preparation, will contain a few notices of Serpents, a descrip tion of the Fishes, an account of the Insects (by Mr. Kirby), and a list of Testacea. PLANTS. 307 yet, owing to the extension which we have assigned to the zoological department, our space we fear will scarcely suffice for more than a cursory sketch, even with the total exclusion of all lachrymose affection. Several of our best botanists have, of late years, devoted a portion of their attention to the floraof the Northern Regions of America; but the subject has as yet made little progress beyond the indispensable pre- liminary of correct, though probably not yet completed, catalogues of certain districts. From these it is scarcely possible at present to select any such general features as would interest the majority of our readers ; but we shall in the mean while indicate the sources from which those who incline to investigate this branch of science may derive the most ample and accurate information. A list of plants, collected in Melville Island by the officers of the first Polar voyage, has been published by Mr. Brown, with characters and descriptions of the new species.* This account was made up from the herbaria of Captain Sabine, Mr. Edwards, Mr. James Ross, Captain Parry, Mr. Fisher, and Mr. Beverley, whose names are here given in the order of the extent of their collections. Great difficulty was ex- perienced by Mr. Brown in determining many of the species, either from their extremely variable character or the incom- plete condition of the specimens, and occasionally also from the want of authentic individuals of an identical or analogous nature from other countries, with which the recent acqui- sitions might be compared. The plan originally followed by the great Scotch botanist in the preparation of his list was more extensive than that finally executed. It included remarks on the state and relative proportions of the primary divisions and natural orders to which these northern plants pertained — a comparison of that hyperborean vegetation with the productions of nearly similar climates — and obser- vations on the range of such species as were ascertained to be common to Melville Island and other parts of the world. Towards the completion of that plan he had made consider- able progress ; but he found eventually that to have satis- factorily developed some of the subjects just named, would not only have required more time than he had then in his ♦ Supplement to the Appendix to Captain Parry's First Voyage, London, 1834. 308 NATURAL HISTORY. power to bestow, but also a more ample stock of materials than was at that period within his reach. If then so skilful an observer was unable to exhibit any general views on the subject, we hold ourselves to stand excused for their absence from this department of our present publication. In the list referred to the reader will find descriptions of several new or imperfectly-known genera and species, with admirable illus- trative engravings from the unrivalled pencil of Mr. Bauer. In Mr. Brown's earliest observations on the interesting subject of the relative proportions of the two primary divi- sions of phaenogamous plants, he had arrived at the conclu- sion, that from 45° as far as 60**, or perhaps 65° of north latitude, the proportion of dicotyledonous to monocotyledo- nous plants gradually diminished.* From a subsequent consideration, however, of the list of Greenland plants given by Professor Geisecke,t as well as from what he had been able elsewhere to collect, regarding the vegetation of alpine regions, he had supposed it not improbable that in still higher latitudes, and at corresponding heights above the level of the sea, the relative numbers of these two divisions were again inverted ;t — in the list of Greenland plants just referred to, dicotyledones being to monocotyledones as four to one, or in nearly the equinoctial ratio ; and in the vege- tation of Spitzbergen, as far as it could be judged of from the materials hitherto collected, the proportion of dicotyle- dones appearing to be still further increased. This inver- sion in the cases now mentioned was found to depend at least as much on the reduction of the proportion of grami- neae, as on the increase of certain dicotyledonous families, especially saxifrageae and cruciferae. " The flora of Mel- ville Island, however, which, as far as relates to the two pri- mary divisions of phaenogamous plaints, is probably as much to be depended on as any local catalogue hitherto published, leads to very different conclusions — dicotyledones being in the present list to monocotyledones as five to two, or in as low a ratio as has been anywhere yet observed ; while the proportion of grasses, instead of being reduced, is nearly double what has been found in any other part of the world * Flinders' Voyage, ii. p. 538. t Article Greenland, in Brewster's Encyclopaedia. t Tuckey'8 Congo, p. 423 PLANTS. 309 (see Humboldt in Diet, des Sciences Nat. torn. 18, table at p. 416), — this family forming one-fiflh of the whole phaeno- gamous vegetation."* Prior to the publication of the list, from the prefatory remarks to which the preceding is an extract, a short cata- logue of plants collected on the east coast of Greenland was published by Mr. Scoresby, with some remarks by Dr. Hooker.! The female catkins of a willow, allied to Salix arenaria of Smith, are described as extremely beautiful, owing to the fine contrast between their almost black scales and the pure silky whiteness of their germens. This was the only arborous plant met with by Mr. Scoresby. Its mode of growth was singular ; for although it expanded to the extent of several feet, it so accommodated itself to the nature of that chilly climate, or was so acted upon by its ungenial influence, that it only spread laterally, and was never observed to rise higher than two or three inches from the ground, t In the same year with the preceding, the narrative of Sir John Franklin's first journey, already so often referred to, made its appearance. The appendix to that volume (No. vii. p. 729) contains a list of North American plants by Dr. Richardson, which, however, is not given as con- taining any thing like a full catalogue of the flora of the district through which the expedition travelled. During their summer journeys only a small portion of time could be allotted to botanical researches, and the constant and more important duties of the officers prevented their aiding the doctor at all times in the collection of specimens as sedulously as they inclined to do. Under unavoidable cir- cumstances of a very harassing nature, a large proportion of plants may well be supposed to have escaped their notice ; and the disastrous incidents attending their homeward journey across the Barren Grounds, from the shores of the Arctic Sea, forced them to leave behind the entire col- * Supplement of the Appendix to Captain Parry's First Voyage, p. 262. t Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-fishery, Appendix, No ii. p. 4J0. } In connexion with the last-named work the reader may also consult a Catalogue of Plants collected by William Jameson, Esq., surgeon, on the west coast of Greenland, drawn up by Dr. Greville, and published in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, vol. iii. p. 426. 310 NATURAL HISTORY. lections formed during the summer of 1821, with the excep- tion of a few specimens collected on the banks of the Cop- permine River, and which had previously been intrusted to Mr. Wentzel's care. Professor Schwaegrichen, when in London, named the musci, and Dr. Hooker undertook the examination of the lichenes and fungi. Nothing more need be said to stamp a high value on those portions of the catalogue. This list contains (besides a few specimens described in the addenda by Mr. Brown) above 660 species. These are referable to various classes in the following numerical pro- portions : — Amount of species. Monandria 3 Diandria 5 Triandria 31 Tetrandria 9 Pentandria 51 Hexaiidria 25 Heptandria 1 Octandria 11 Decandria . . . -• 38 Dodecandria 1 Icosandria 26 Polyandria 24 Dydynamia 15 Tetradynamia 23 We shall briefly notice a few species, remarkable for their economic or other uses. The juice of the Galium tinctorium is used indiscriminately with that of G. boreale, by the women of the Cree nation, for the purpose of dying their porcupine quills. The lead-coloured fruit of Gornus alba are called bear-berries (musqua-meena) by the Crees, be- cause the bear is known to feed and fatten on them. A new species of phlox was discovered by the expedition, and named Phlox Hoodii, " as a small tribute," Dr. Richardson informs us, " to the memory of my lamented friend and companion, whose genius, had his life been spared, would have raised him to a conspicuous station in his profession, and rendered him an ornament to any science to which he might have chosen to direct his attention." This beautiful plant is a striking ornament to the plains in the neighbour- hood of Carlton House, where it forms large patches, con- spicuous from a distance. The red berries of the Viburnum Amount of species. Monodelphia 1 Diadelphia 23 Syngenesia 52 Gynandria 8 Monfflcia 39 Diaecia 24 Cryptogamia, Fihces 19 Musci 73 Hepaticse 16 Lichenes 121 Fungi 19 AlgtK 5 PLANTS. 311 eduhy named winter-berries by the Crees, were obsen'ed to be highly ornamental to the woods. The bruised bark of the root of Azalea nudicatdis is applied by the Indians to recent wounds. The Liliiim Philadelphicum is called mouse-root by the Crees, because the common mouse of their country (a species of campagnol) is known to feed upon its scaly bulbs. The Canadian voyagers use the young shoots of Epilohium angustifolmm as a pot-herb, un- der the name Uherbe fret. The Ledum latifoliitm, some- times used as tea, is named kawkee-kee-pucquaw (ever- green, or always leaves), and also maskaeg or medicine, be- cause the natives think that the white residents drink its infusion as a medicine. The Ledum palustre, according to Dr. Richardson, forms a better substitute for tea than the plant just named. The Prunus Virginiana grows to be a handsome small tree, rising on the sandy plains of the Saskatchawan to the height of twenty feet, and extending as far north as Great Slave Lake, where, however, it attains the height of only five feet. Its fruit, known under the name of choke-cherry, is not very edible in the recent state, but forms a desirable addition to pemmican when dried and bruised. The Pyrus ovalis of Pursh is a common plant as far north as lat. 62°, and abounds in the plains of the Saskatchawan. Its wood is greatly esteemed by the Crees, for the formation of ar- rows and pipe-stems ; it is hence called iois de fleche by the Canadian voyagers. Its berries, about the size of a pea, are the finest fruit in the country, and are used by the Crees under the name of Messasscootoomrneena, both fresh and dried. They make excellent puddings. Among the Syngenesious plants we shall signalize only two examples. The Crepis nana^ a singular species, ap- pears to have been noticed by the land-expedition only on the banks of the Coppermine River. The polar voyagers collected it in Repulse Bay, Five Hawser Bay, and Lyon Inlet. The Cineraria congesta, described by Mr. Brown,* varies from three to seven inches in height. The leaves are some- times merely undulated, at other times furnished with long, spreading, sharp, unequal, tooth-like processes. Generally * Appendix to Parry's First Voyage, p. 279. 812 NATURAL HISTORY. the flowers are collected into a remarkably compact head,' but in two specimens examined by Dr. Hooker,* several of the flower-stalks spring singly from the axils of the leaves up the whole length of the stem ; in which case they are mostly single-flowered, truncated, and leafy ; but always clothed, in common with the involucre, by a beautiful long and dense silky wool, by which character this species ap- pears to be principally distinguished from C. palustris. Specimens of this plant were gathered by Dr. Richardson in Bathurst Inlet, on the shore of the Arctic Sea, on the 25th of July. According to Mr. Edwards, the individuals in Captain Parry's collection, which have elongated flower- stalks, were drawn out by having been rnade to grow on board ship ; at least he has seen such treatment produce precisely that effect ; and he adds that in its native place of grov^rth he never observed the plant othei'wise than remark- ably dense and crowded in its inflorescence. The black American spruce (Pinus nigra, Lamb.) is found in swampy situations as far north as lat. 65^, where it terminates along with the Betula papyracea. The white American spruce {P. alba, Lamb.) is mentioned by Dr. Richardson as the most northern tree which came under his observation. " On the Coppermine River, within twenty miles of the Arctic Sea, it attains the height of twenty feet or more. Its timber is in common use throughout the coun- try, and its slender roots, denominated Watapeh, are indis- pensable to canoe-makers for sewing the slips of birch-bark together. The resin which it exudes is used for paying over the seams of the canoes ; and canoes for temporary purposes are frequently formed of its own bark. It is the only tree that the Esquimaux of the Arctic Sea have access to while growing, and they contrive to make pretty strong bows by joining pieces of its wood together."! The Scrub or gray pine {Pinus Banksiana, Lamb.), in dry sandy soils, prevails to the exclusion of all others. It is a handsome tree with long, spreading, flexible branches, generally fur- nished with whorled curved cones of many years' growth. It attains the height of forty feet and upwards in favourable situations ; but the diameter of its trunk is greater in prO' * Appendix to Parry 'f^ First Voyage, p. 397. t Appendix to FraBklio'e First Journey, p. 752. PLANTS. 313 portion to its height than that of the other pines of the country. It exudes less resin than P. alba. The Canada porcupine feeds upon its bark ; and its wood, from its light- ness and the straightness and toughness of its fibres, is highly prized as canoe timbers. It was observed on the route of the overland expedition as far north as lat. 64° ; but on the sandy banks of the Mackenzie it is said to attain to a still higher latitude.* The American larch (P. micro- carpa, Lamb.) was observed in swampy situations from York Factory to Point Lake, in lat. 65°. It was, however, of dwarfish growth in the last-named locality, seldom exceed- ing the height of six or eight feet. One of the most magnificent of the newly-discovered forest-trees of North America is Lambert's pine {Pinus Lambertianaj Douglas). Its principal localities are probably to the south of the districts with which we are here more especially interested ; but as its northern boundaries are not yet known, and as it forms in itself so fine a feature in this department of botany, we cannot leave it altogether unnoticed. It covers large districts in Northern California, about a hundred miles from the ocean, in lat. 43° north, and extends as far south as 4°. It grows sparingly upon low hills, and the undulating country east of a range of mountains, running in a south-western direction from the Rocky Mountains towards tho wf^a, where the soil consists entirely of pure sand. It forms no dense forests like most of the other pines of North America, but is seen scattered singly over the plains, more after the manner of Pinus rcsinosa. The trunk of this gigantic tree attains a height of from 150 to upwards of 250 feet, varying from twenty to nearly sixty feet in circumference ; — thus far exceeding " The tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast Of some great ammiral." * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 752.— This is the only American species that makes any approach in habit and appearance to the Pinus sylvestris, commonly called the Scotch fir. A distinguished writer in the Quarterly Review ascribed the deterioration of our planta- tions of the last-named tree to the circumstance of our nurserymen find- ing it cheaper to import cones from Canada, than to pay for gathering them in Braemar, — a charge, however, from which the trade must be fully and freely acquitted, as the Pinus sylvestris does not in fact exist in America. Dd 314 NATURAL HISTORY. The stem is remarkably straight, and is destitute of branches for about two-thirds of its height. The bark is uncommonly smooth for such large timber ; of a light-brown colour on the south, and bleached on the north side. The branches are rather pendulous, and form an open pyramidal head, with that appearance which is peculiar to the abies tribe. The leaves are rigid, from four to five inches long, of a bright green colour, and grow in fives. The cones are pendulous from the extremities of the branches, and when ripe measure about eleven inches in circumference at the thickest part, and from twelve to sixteen inches in length. The scales are lax, rounded, and destitute of spines. The seeds are large, eight lines long and four broad, of an oval form. Their kernel is sweet and of a pleasant taste. The timber is white, soft, and light. It abounds in turpentine reservoirs ; its specific gravity is 0*463 ; and the whole tree produces an abundance of amber-coloured resin. That which exudes from the tree when it is partly burned loses its usual flavour, and acquires a sweet taste, in which state it is used by the natives as sugar, being mixed with their food.* The seeds also are eaten when roasted, and they are likewise pounded into coarse cakes and stored for winter use.t Numerous species of willow occur in the Northern Re- gions of America, — they are not yet well defined. The * Mr. David Douglas, in Linn. Trans., vol. xv., and Edin. New Phil, Jour. vol. V. p. 401. T We trust that our accomplished correspondent, Dr. Traill, of Liver- pool, will excuse our making the following extract from one of his private letters. " Have you seen Douglas ? I was greatly pleased with his intelligence and modesty. He gave me a most interesting sketch of his travels beyond the Rocky Mountains, and a simple but appalling account of the privations of a traveller in that part of the New World. The contrast between the vegetation of the western and eastern sides of the chain is striking. The variety of oaks, juglandes, and elms, inter- spersed with magnolias and rhododendrons, form the striking peculiari- ties of the eastern, — but beyond the mountains only one species of oak is found, while neither elms, juglandes, nor magnolias occur, and only a single rhododendron. It is, however, the favourite haunt of the giant-pine. He had measured several more than 250 feet high,— he saw some still taller, and took the circumference of a stem denuded of its bark, which was forty-eight feet in circumference, and at 190 feet from its base still bore a circumference of four and a half feet. The annual rings oq one stem were ascertained to be nine hundred." PLANTS. 315 plant which yields the whortleberry {Empetrum nigrum) is valuable in these inhospitable regions. Its fruit, after the first frosts, is juicy and very pleasant ; it is much sought after and carefully hoarded by the different kinds of mar- mot, and forms the autumnal food of that species of duck called Anas hyperhorea. The Indian women use the buds of Myrica gale to die their porcupine quills. The Ameri- can trembling poplar {Populus trepida) occurs from Hudson's Bay as far to the northward of Great Slave Lake as lat. 64°. It is found to burn better in a green state than any other tree of the country. The form of the leaf-stalk in this species is highly curious, and beautifully accords with, and accounts for, its continual motion, — the upper part be- ing rounded, and suddenly, at its junction with the leaf, becoming so thin and flat as to have scarcely sufficient strength to support it. The balsam poplar (P. halsamifera) may be said to grow to a greater circumference than any other species in these northern regions. Although it burns badly when green, and gives little heat, its ashes yield a great quantity of potash. It was traced as far north as Great Slave Lake, and the south branch of the Mackenzie has been named Riviere aux Liards, from its frequent preva- lence in that quarter. Great part of the drift-timber ob- served on the shores of the Arctic Sea belongs to this spe- cies of tree. It is called ugly poplar (matheh-meetoos) by the Crees. The fruit of the common juniper is known under the appellation of crowberry to the last-named nation ; and an- other species of that plant, of almost equal frequency {Ju- niperus prostrata), grows close to the ground, and sends out flageliform branches two yards long. . Of the Musci we shall here mention the Splachnum Tnnioides, which is very common on the Barren Grounds, where it forms little tufts, the roots of which are found always to include the bones of some small animal. Di- cranum elongatum likewise occurs on those desolate districts where, with other species of the genus, it forms dense tufts very troublesome to pedestrians. These are called *' women's heads" by the Indians, " because," say the latter, " when you kick them, they do not get out of the way ;" — a fine commentary on a life of unsophisticated nature, and a 316 NATURAL HISTORY. beautiful illustration of the refined ideas which prevail in countries " Where wild in woods the noble savage runs." Of the Lichenes, of which there are many species in these northern countries, we shall name a few examples. Gyrophora proboscidea is found on rocks on the Barren Grounds, and is more abundant towards the Arctic Sea than G. hyperborea. These two species, in common with G. Pennsylvanica and Mecklenbergii, were found in greater or less abundance in almost all rocky places throughout the northern portions of the over-land journey. They were all four used as food ; but as our travellers had not the means of extracting the bitter principle from them, they proved in- jurious to several of the party by inducing severe bowel- complaints. The Indians reject them all except G. Meck- lenbergii, which, when boiled along with fish-roe or other animal matter, is agreeable and nutritious. The last-named lichen is, however, rather scarce on the Barren Grounds ; and Dr. Richardson and his companions were obliged to re- sort to the other three, which, though they served the pur- pose of allaying the appetite, were found to be very inefli- cient in restoring or recruiting strength. The G. vellea is characteristic of moist and shady rocks, and is consequently most luxuriant in woods. It forms a pleasanter food than any of the species we have named ; but it unfortunately occurs but sparingly on the Barren Grounds, where its presence would be most desirable. A new plant named Cetraria Richardsonii by Dr. Hooker, was found on these grounds generally in the tracks of the reindeer. It did not appear to occur to the southward of the Great Slave Lake. About a score of fungi were picked up by our sci- entific travellers. Exclusive of a conferva, and the frag- ment of a floridea, the Fucus ceranoides was the only alga observed in the Arctic seas.* The Appendix to Captain Parry's second voyage was published in 1825, and contains, among other highly-prized contributions, a botanical Appendix by Dr. Hooker. When the extent of the collections examined by that accomplished * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 763. PLANTS. 817 botanist is considered, a greater accession of new species might have been expected than actually occurred ; but this is perhaps to be explained by the circumstance of the coun- tries explored during the second voyage being as it were intermediate between those previously examined, — Melville Island being to the north, and the continental portion of America, bordering the Arctic Sea, lying to the south of the districts to which we at present more immediately refer. This, in the opinion of Dr. Hooker, diminished the probability of the occurrence of many new species. In point of mere number, however, the second collections very considerably exceeded those of the preceding voyage, — and this may be explained partly by the more southern latitude in which the plants were gathered, and partly by the length of time spent in those districts. Dr. Hooker conceives that, as an illustration of the botanical productions of a region extend- ing from between lat. 62° to 70° north, his catalogue may be regarded as tolerably complete. The variety of crypto- gamia is particularly great, and the herbaria were in such admirable order as to reflect the highest credit on the skill and assiduity of the gentlemen by whom they were collected and preserved. " It may not be amiss," Dr. Hooker observes, " to notice here the extreme difficulty which attends the determination of what ought and what ought not to be considered as good species among Arctic plants. Vegetables of our own more southern latitudes often assume, in those frigid regions, an aspect quite different from what we are accustomed to see them wear ; and which, without referring to a very extensive series of specimens, might well be supposed to afford de- cided marks of specific distinction. Mr. Brown seems to be fully aware of this, and he speaks with caution of the identity of several of his new species. In more than one instance, after having drawn out a description of a supposed new individual, I have found cause to alter my opinion con- cerning it, and finally to consider it only as a variety of a well- known kind ; nor shall I be surprised if future observations should show that my Saxifraga plaiitaginifolia must be united to S. nivalis^ and my Chrysanthemum grandijiorum to C. inodorum, though at first sight nothing can appear more distinct."* * Appendix to Parry's Second Voyage to the Arctic Regions, p. 382. ] Dd2 318 NATURAL HISTORY. We shall conclude this branch of the subject by a feW miscellaneous notices of recently-discovered species. The ten-leaved everlasting pea {Lalhyrus deca'phyllus) was found on the banks of the Saskatchawan by Dr. Rich- ardson and Mr. Drummond. It is adorned by fine heads of flowers, of a bright red colour before expansion, but which become purple as they open. This is an exceedingly ornamental plant, measuring about three feet in height. It was first raised in this country by Mr. Patrick Neill, of Canonmills, a gentleman well known for his encouragement of horticulture, and for his general attainments in many branches of natural science. Franklin's eutoca {Eutoca, Franklinii).* -This interest- ing annual was discovered by Dr. Richardson during the first over-land expedition. It was found growing in abun- dance among trees that had been destroyed by fire, on the banks of the Missinnippi, and was named by Mr. Brown in honour of the leader of the gallant band.f It has now become well known in our gardens, the seeds collected during the second expedition having been pretty generally distributed. It is a hardy plant, which recommends itself to notice by the profusion of its bright blue-coloured blos- soms. t The seashore lupin {Lupinus littoralis).^ This orna- mental and hardy perennial was discovered by Mr. Douglas, who found it " growing abundantly on the seashore of North-west America, from Cape Mendocino to Puget's Sound. Its tough branching roots are serviceable in bind- ing together the loose sand, and they are also used by the natives of the river Columbia as winter food, being pre- pared by the simple process of drawing them through the fire until all their moisture is dissipated. The roots are then tied up in small bundles, and will keep for several months ; when eaten, they are roasted on the embers, and become farinaceous. The vernacular name of this plant is Somnuchtan ; and it is the liquorice spoken of by Lewis and Clarke, and by the navigators who have visited the north- west coast of America. * Botanical Magazine, t. 2985. T Addenda to Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 764, and lab. 27. '^ * t Dr. Hooker, in Bot. Mag. ^ Ibid. t. 2953. PLANTS. 319 We may add that Mr. Douglas has enriched our gardens by upwards of ten new species of this fine genus. Beautiful Clarkia {Clarkia pulchclla).* This hardy an- nual deserves its specific name, as it is really one of the most beautiful which has been recently introduced into our gardens. It was first discovered by Mr. Lewis on the Kooskoosky and Clarke Rivers, but was afterward found by Mr. Douglas extending from the great falls of the Columbia to the Rocky Mountains, and seeds were forwarded by him to the London Horticultural Society. The flowers are generally of a fine lilac colour, but a pure white variety is also known. Mr. Douglas discovered in the northern parts of America, and introduced into the British gardens, about fifteen new species of Pentstemon, all of which are ornamental, and many exceedingly beautiful herbaceous plants. To the same intelligent and indefatigable collector we are also in- debted for several fine species of CEnothera or tree primrose. We owe to Dr. Richardson and Mr. Drummond the in- troduction to our gardens of the following species : — viz. Gerardia capitata, a handsome perennial ; an apparently new species of Dodecatheon, which has flowered this sum- mer in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden ; Andromeda tetra- gona, Menziesia empetrifolia, Azalea Lapponica (three very beautiful small shrubby plants), and Bryas Drummondii. The last-named plant bears yellow flowers. Of the other two known species of the genus, one of which is a native of the mountains of Scotland, the flowers are white. * Dr. Hooker, in Bot. Mag. t. 2918. 320 NATURAL HISTORY CHAPTER X. Sketch of the Geological Features of some of the Northern Districts of America. Frozen Subsoil of Hudson's Bay — Primitive Rocks of Hayes River — Hill River— Borders of Knee Lake— Remarkable Rock-island of Mag- netic Iron Ore — Lake Winipeg — Limestone District — Fort Chipewyan — Carp Lake — Gneiss Formation of the Barren Grounds — Transparent Waters of Great Bear Lake— Fort Franklin— Bear Lake River- Lig- nite Formation of Mackenzie River— Spontaneous Fire — Pipe Clay — Alluvial Islands at the Mouth of the Mackenzie— Copper Mountains — Coppermine River— Islands of the Arctic Sea— Arctic Shore— Cape Barrow — Galena Point— Moore's Bay — Bankes' Peninsula— Barry's Island— Cape Croker— Point Turnagain — General Occurrence of the New Red Sand-Stone — Hood's River — Wilberforce Falls— Gneiss For- mation — General Summary. The great extent of country traversed by our over-land adventurers, the dreary continuance of that universal snow, which so long rendered the surface of the earth in many places almost inaccessible, the frequent journeys in canoes, and the difficulties which almost perpetually prevailed in the way of transporting weighty articles, prevented a com- plete or very satisfactory knowledge being obtained of the geological structure of the Northern Regions of America.* For the reasons stated below, we shall here confine our observations to certain restricted districts in those regions. Between the fifty-sixth and fifty-eighth parallels the west- ern shores of Hudson's Bay are extremely flat, and the depth of water decreases very gradually on approaching * In the fourteenth volume of the Family Library, entitled " Nar- rative of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions," the reader will find a chapter on Arctic Geology by Professor Jameson, in which the characteristic formations of Cherie Island, Jan Mayen's Island, Spitzbergen, Old Greenland, and the various insular and continental shores explored by the expeditions under Captains Ross and Parry, are described and commented on. So far, therefore, as regards many of the great North-eastern regions of America, we beg to refer the reader to Professor Jameson's skilful summary. See also observations on the Rock Specimens collected during the First Polar Voyage, by Charles Konig, Esq. Supplement to the Appendix, p. 247, GEOLOGY. 321 them. Dr. Richardson states that in seven fathoms of water the tops of the trees are just visible from a ship's deck. Large boulder-stones are scattered over the beach, and sometimes form shoals as far as five miles from shore. These are, of course, troublesome and dangerous to boats. Hayes and Nelson Rivers enter Hudson's Bay about the central portion of this quarter. They are separated on reaching the coast merely by a low alluvial point of land, on which York Factory is stationed. A low and uniformly swampy aspect characterizes the suTrounding country and the banks of Hayes River at least for fifty miles inland. The upper soil presents a thin stratum of half-decayed mosses, immediately under which we find a thick bed of tenacious and somewhat slaty bluish clay containing boulder- stones. Forests, consisting chiefly of spruces, larches, and poplars, occur, but the individual trees, except under local circumstances of a favourable nature, are of a small size. The subsoil is generally frozen, and as it consequently retains a great deal of the surface-water, swamps of sphagna and other mosses are always being formed ; but the bright summer days, though long, are few, and as vegetation thus decays but slowly, little peat occurs. During a favourable season the ground thaws to the depth of about four feet ; but there still remains, it is said, a frozen bed of ten or eleven feet, beneath which we find loose sand. As the earth is not thus permanently frozen in the interior countries of North America, the ungenial condition of the soil about York Factory ought probably to be attributed to the neigh- bourhood of the sea, which is too much encumbered with ice during winter to mitigate the severity of those naturally frost-bound regions, and being laden along shore with numerous icebergs and other insulated masses, even to the middle of August, must of course diminish the intensity of the summer heat.* The boulder-stones just mentioned show that there occur in the district of Hayes River several primitive rocks, such as. red granite, hornblende rock, gneiss, and syenite ; of the transition class, gray wacke ; and of the secondary class, red sandstone, belonging probably to the new red sandstone * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, p. 499. 322 NATURAL HISTORY. formation, in which is included the rothegende and varie- gated sandstone. Two kindir of limestone likewise occur in this district. The banks of Steel River, the principal branch of the Hayes, present the same general characters as those of the stream into which it flows. The same, may be said of Fox and Hill Rivers, the union of which forms the Steel River. However, on the lower parts of Hill River the banks are more varied in their outlines, and rising more precipitately and from a narrow channel, they attain to an elevation of nearly 200 feet. About a mile below the Rock Portage, that is, about 100 miles from the sea, rocks first occur in situ. They consist of gneiss, and rise in the channel of the river from beneath lofty banks of clay. This gneiss formation seems to extend to Lake Winipeg, and contains subordinate beds and veins of granite, and beds of horn- blende rock, and mica-slate. At the Swampy Portage a bed of red felspar occurs. It contains small grains of epidote, and at the Upper Portage hornblende-slate was observed, alternating with gray gneiss, slightly intermingled with hornblende, together with beds of quartz rock containing precious garnets. At the Lower Portage on Jack River (the name of Hill River after crossing Swampy Lake) a red granite occurs. The rocks on Jack River are low, with a very spare covering of soil ; the woods are thin, and the surrounding country flat. The borders of Knee Lake pre- sent similar characters ; but in one spot which was examined on account of its exhibiting a more luxuriant growth of trees, the soil was still thin, but the subjacent rock con- sisted of primitive greenstone, with disseminated iron pyrites. " About half a mile from the bend or knee of the lake," says Sir John Franklin, "there is a small rocky island, composed of magnetic iron ore, which affects the magnetic needle at a considerable distance. Having re- ceived previous information respecting this circumstance, we watched our compasses carefully, and perceived that Ihey were affected at the distance of three hundred yards, both on the approach to and departure from the rock : on de- creasing the distance they became gradually more and more unsteady, and on landing they were rendered useless ; and it was evident that the general magnetic influence was totally overpowered by the local attraction of the ore. GEOLOGY. 323 When Kater's compass was held near to the ground, on the north-west side of the island, the needle dipped so much that the card could not be made to traverse by any adjust- ment of the hand ; but on moving the same compass about thirty yards to the west part of the islet, the needle became horizontal, traversed freely, and pointed to the magnetic north."*- We are indebted to Sir Alexander Mackenzie for the valuable observation, that the principal lakes in these north- ern quarters are interposed between the primitive rocks and the secondary strata which lie to the westward of them. Of this Lake Winipeg affords a good example. It is a long narrow sheet of water, bounded on its eastern side by primi- tive rocks, which are mostly granitic, while horizontal lime- stone strata form its more indented western shore. The north shore of Lake Winipeg is formed into a peninsula by Play-Green Lake and Limestone Bay. Steep cliffs of clay are here prevalent, similar to those which pre- ceded the gneiss in Hill River, but containing rather more calcareous matter. The beach is composed of calcareous sand, and fragments of water-worn limestone, of which there are two kinds ; the one yellowish-white, dull, with conchoidal fracture and translucent edges ; the other bluish and yellowish-gray, dull, with an earthy fracture and opaque. Dr. Richardson did not observe any rocks of the former kind in situ in this neighbourhood, although cliffs of the latter were apparent on the west side of Limestone Bay, and continued to bound the lake as far as the mouth of the Saskatchawan, and were reported to spread down the whole of its western shore. The extension of the limestone deposites of Lake Winipeg, in a westerly direction, has not been ascertained, but it has been traced as far up the Saskatchawan as Carlton House, where it is at least 280 miles in breadth. This limestone extends over a vast tract of country, and may in general be characterized as compact, splinty, and yellowish-gray. It is very testaceous, and large portions of it are entirely composed of bivalve shells. In the journey up the Saskatchawan it was traced to the Neepewan, a dis- tance of 300 miles, where it is either succeeded or covered * Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, p. 36. 324 NATURAL HISTORY. by cliffs of calcareous clay. It is probable that the lime- stone formation not only extends over a vast portion of the plains, but also runs parallel to the Rocky Mountains as far as Mackenzie River. Betv^reen it and the Rocky Mountains, rocks of the coal formation occur ; and beds of burning coal have been known for many years on the upper parts of the Saskatchawan, as well as on the last-named river. One of the most marked characteristics of the limestone formation is the entire exclusion of foreign beds. It was never ob- served in association with any other rock, except, perhaps, on Elk River, where it appeared in contact with compact earthy marl and slaggy mineral-pitch, or bituminous sand- stone ; and on Coppermine River, where rolled fragments of a similar stone were found connected with layers of dark flinty slate. Salt springs and lakes exist from twelve to twenty miles to the northward of Carlton House. In Athabasca Lake Sir John Franklin's party came again upon the edge of the primitive formation. Fort Chipewyan seemed to stand upon a granite rock, and a little to the eastward a reddish granite is associated with gray gneiss. Granite is the most abundant rock on Slave River ; but it disappears about a mile and a half below the Portage des Noyes, and the banks from thence to Slave Lake are allu- vial. At the mouth of the Yellow Knife River, and in Lake Prosperous, mica-slate prevailed ; and between Rocky and Carp Lakes the granite contains many beds of mica-slate, often passing into clay-slate. Here the country is tolerably wooded, and white spruce occupy the rocky situations, Pinus Banksiana the sandy spots, and aspen the low moist places.* At Carp Lake the hills are of lower altitude, the valleys are less fertile and have fewer trees, and these features seem to characterize the commencement of the gneiss forma- tion, which extends over the great district to the eastward of the Coppermine River, termed by the Indians the Barren Grounds. The soil is inimical to almost every species of vegetation. The summits of the hills about Fort Enterprise are composed of a durable red granite, and large masses of the same substance are scattered over their surface. On * Appendix to Franklin's First Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, p. 520, GEOLOGY. 325 an arm of Point Lake, forty-five miles due north of Fort Enterprise, the rocks belong to the transition class. The light blue-coloured waters of Great Bear Lake are very- transparent, more especially in the vicinity of the primitive mountains of M'Tavish Bay. A piece of white rag, when sunk, did not disappear till it had descended to the depth of fifteen fathoms. The surface of Bear Lake is not supposed to be 200 feet above the Arctic Sea, and as its depth is much greater than that amount of feet, its bottom must consequently be below the level of the sea.* At the mouth of Dease's River, the hills are five or six hundred feet high, and are composed principally, if not entirely, of dolomite, in hori- zontal strata. The northern shores of Bear Lake are low, and skirted by numerous shoals of limestone boulders. At the foot of the Scented Grass Hill, a rivulet has made a section to the depth of 100 feet, and there shaly beds are seen interstratified with thin layers of blackish-brown earthy- looking limestone, containing selenite and pyrites. Globular concretions of that stone, and of a poor clay iron-stone, also occur in beds in the shale. The surfaces of the slate-clay were covered by an efflorescence of alum and sulphur, and many crystals of sulphate of iron lie at the bottom of the cliff, and several layers of plumose alum, half an inch in thickness, occur in the strata. At the base of Great Bear Mountain, the bituminous shale is interstratified with slate- clay, and Dr. Richardson found imbedded in the former a single piece of brown coal, in which the fibrous structure of wood is apparent.! On the northern shore of Keith Bay, about four miles from Bear Lake River, stands Fort Franklin, upon a small terrace, which is elevated about thirty feet above the lake. The bottom of the bay, wherever distinguishable, was ob- served to be sandy, and thickly strewed with rounded primi- tive boulders of great size, which were particularly abun- dant near the river, — and the waters of the cape formed by Scented Grass Hill were also strewed with large square blocks of limestone. All these boulders must have been carried from the parent rocks by a current flowing from the * In M'Tavish Bay, near the shore of Great Slave Lake, forty-five fathoms of line did not reach the bottom. Some of the great lakes of Canada are supposed to descend 300 feet below the " Ocean's brim." t Appendix to Franklin's Second Journey, p. 6. Ee 326 NATURAL HISTORY. east. Two varieties of granite which occur among them were recognised as forming abundant rocks at Fort Enter- prise, which lies about 170 miles south-east from M'Tavish Bay. The soil in the vicinity of Fort Franklin is sandy or gravelly, and covers to the depth of one or two feet a bed of clay of unknown thickness. This clay continues firmly frozen during the greater portion of the year, and the thaw seldom penetrates more than a couple of feet into the sur- face of the earth. Bear Lake River is about seventy miles long, from its origin in the lake till it falls into the Mackenzie, and its breadth is never less than 150 yards, except at the rapid. Sections made by the river generally present sand or clay^ — the former probably proceeding from the disintegratioa of a friable gray sandstone, which occasionally shows itself in the more solid form. The walls of the rapid are about three miles long, and 120 feet high. They are composed of horizontal beds, the lower of which consist of an earthy- looking stone, intermediate between slate-clay and sand- stone, having interiorly a dull yellowish-gray colour. These beds are separated by thin slaty layers, of a substance simi- lar in appearance, but harder, which contain impressions of ferns, and from the debris at the bottom of the cliff Dr. Richardson gathered impressions of the bark of a tree (lepidodendron) and some ammonites in a brown iron-shot sandstone. These are regarded by Mr. Sowerby as of a new species. They contain sulphate of barytes, and are supposed to be referable to some of the oolites near the Oxford clay. We may here notice the remarkable lignite formation of Mackenzie River. The formation which constitutes its banks consists of wood-coal in various states, alternating with beds of pipe-clay, potter's clay (occasionally bitumi- nous), slate-clay, gravel, sand, and friable sandstones, and occasionally with porcelain-earth. These strata are usually horizontal, and as many as four beds of lignite are exposed in some places, of which the upper are above the highest river floods of present times. The lignite itself is pretty compact when recently detached ; but it soon splits into rhomboidal pieces, separable into more or less delicate slaty portions. When burnt, it produces little smoke or flame, and leaves a browai^h-red residuum, not one-tenth of the GEOLOGY. 327 original bulk. But the smell is very fetid, resembling that of phosphorus. It was found unfit for welding iron when used alone, but it sufficed when mixed with charcoal. However, the smell was still most annoying. A frequent form of this lignite is that of slate, of a dull brownish- black colour, with a shining streak. These remarkable beds seem to take fire spontaneously when exposed to the action of the air. They were found burning by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, when he passed downwards in 1 789, and are supposed to have been on fire ever since. Large slips of the banks take place in conse- quence of the destruction of the coal, and it is only when the debris has been washed away by the river that good sec- tions become visible. " The beds were on fire when we visited them ; and the burnt clay, vitrified sand, aggluti- nated gravel, &c. gave many spots the appearance of an old brick-field."* The pipe-clay is also sufficiently singular to deserve a special notice. It occurs in beds from six inches to a foot in thickness, and chiefly in contact with the lignite. Its colour is yellowish-white ; in some places, however, it is light lake-red. It is used by the natives as an article of food in times of scarcity, and is said to be capable of sus- taining life for a considerable time. It is known to the traders under the name of white mud. They wash their houses with it. The alluvial islands at the mouth of the Mackenzie separate the various branches of that great river. These islands are either partially or entirely flooded in the spring ; their centres are depressed, and are either marshy or occu- pied by a lake. Their borders, however, are more elevated, and are well clothed by white spruce-trees. These, and whatever other trees are produced in the islands, suddenly cease to grow about latitude 68° 40'. The famous Copper Mountains, so called, consist prin- cipally of trap rocks, which seemed to Dr. Richardson to be imposed upon the new red sandstone, or the flcetz lime- stone which covers it. They rise to a height of eight or nine hundred feet above the level of the river, and present a softish outline at a distance ; but on a nearer view they * Appendix to Franklin's Second Journey, p. 18. 328 NATURAL HISTORY. seem composed of ridges, many of which have precipitous sides. The summits are stony and uneven. The largest pieces of copper are found associated with prehnite, and the Indians are careful to search for ore wherever they observe pieces of the last-named mineral lying on the surface. The original repository or vein of copper ore does not appear to have been hitherto observed ; but judging from specimens picked up by our overland expeditions, it most probably traverses felspathose trap. Ice-chisels have been observed in the possession of the Esquimaux measuring twelve or fourteen inches long, and half an inch in diameter, formed of pure copper. Another range of trap hills occurs at the distance of ten miles to the northward of the Copper Mountains. This range is about twenty miles from the Arctic Sea, and be- yond it the country is very level, with a subsoil of light brownish-red sandstone. These desolate plains nourish only a coarse short grass, and the trees, which had previously dwindled to scraggy clumps, entirely disappear. At the mouth of the Coppermine River there occurs a low ridge of greenstone ; and from thence to Bloody Fall, which is a distance of about ten miles, the country is very level, with the exception of some ridges of trap, by which it is traversed. The channel of the river is sunk nearly 150 feet below the level of the surrounding country, and is bounded by cliffs of yellowish-white sand, and sometimes of clay, beneath which beds of greenstone occasionally crop out. The islands in this quarter of the Arctic Sea are invari- ably rocky. They present a remarkable uniformity of ap- pearance, and are very generally bounded by mural preci- pices of trap-rock clinkstone or claystone. But the main shore presents a greater diversity. For sixty miles east- ward of Coppermine River, the beach is low and gravelly, but towards Tree River the trap rocks reappear and form a steril and rocky coast. At Port Epworth the valleys were stony, and almost entirely destitute of herbage. The rocks observed were liver-brown clinkstone porphyry, with a few beds of earthy greenstone, and the same formation extends to the mouth of Wentzel's River, to the eastward of which a projection of the coast forms Cape Barrow. When Dr. Richardson rounded this cape the weather was extremely GEOLOGY. 329 foggy, but the rocks examined consisted of a beautiful ad- mixture of red and gray granite, fonning steep and craggy peaks which rose abruptly from the water to the height of 1500 feet. At Detention Harbour the granite hills termi- nate abruptly, or recede from the coast, giving place to less elevated strata of gneiss, in which beds of red granite are enclosed. A vein of galena Vt'as observed running through the gneiss for two hundred yards at the spot named in con- sequence Galena Point.* A mass of indurated iron-shot slaty clay occurs on the western point of Moore's Bay, and the promontory which forms the eastern side of that bay is composed of trap rocks and claystone porphyry, whose mural precipices constitute the sides of narrow valleys, opening at either end towards the sea. An iron-shot clink- stone porphyry, with a columnar aspect, prevails from Moore's Bay to the entrance of Arctic Sound. The eastern shore of that sound is covered with grass, and scarcely ex- hibits any naked rock ; but the clinkstone porphyry reap- pears on Bankes's Peninsula, along with an earthy-looking greenstone, and forms as usual parallel ranges of mural precipice. On Barry's Island the trap rocks form cliffs from 50 to 160 feet high, superimposed on thick beds of in- durated clay or marl. A red amygdaloidal rock, containing beautiful pebbles of carnelian, chalcedony, and imbedded jaspers, was observed on the north side of the island. Trap rocks, for the most part greenstone, and sandstone of the new red formation, characterize Sir James Gordon's Bay ; but to the north of Fowler's Bay the gneiss reap- pears, with beds of granite and hornblende gneiss. Hex- agonal crystals of hornblende, above a foot long, were ob- served imbedded in the gneiss near Point Evritt, and the islands in the offing consisted as usual of floetz trap or por- phyry. Cape Croker is composed of red sandstone, of which the debris forms a shelving and utterly barren shore. Grayish-white sandstone, associated with or passing into slaty-clay, was visible on the northern shore of Melville Sound, wherever the barren clayey sand was washed away. Cliffs of greenstone, or of clay-stone porphyry, superim- posed on the flat strata, presented the appearance of islands, when seen from the opposite coast, as our exploring party ♦ Appendix to Franklin'B First Journey, p. 531. Ee2 330 NATURAL HISTORY. entered the sound, and had the low connecting land been then visible, a tedious and unnecessary circumnavigation of the sound itself would have been saved. The coast ex- hibited the same appearance as far as Point Turnagain, the most eastern point attained by the overland expeditions. On a general view, it appears that the new red sandstone formation prevails along those portions of the North Ame- rican Arctic shores. *' All the islands visited," says Dr. Richardson, " were formed of trap or porphyry belonging to that formation ; and, judging from similarity of form, the rocks of the other islands belong to the same class. The gneiss formation is next in extent ; and, indeed, it appears to run nearly parallel to the coast within the red sandstone from Cape Barrow, across Hood's River above Wilberforce Falls, to the bottom of Bathurst's Inlet, and from thence to Hope's Bay, on the western side of Melville Sound. The only foreign beds we observed in the gneiss were granite, perhaps quartz-rock and hornblendic gneiss or syenite. We saw no clay or mica-slate, nor did we observe any formations intermediate between the gneiss and new red sandstone ; nor, except at Cape Barrow, where granite predominates, any other formation than the two just men- tioned. Our opportunities for observation, however, were not extensive ; the necessity of proceeding without delay limiting our botanical and geognostical excursions to the short period that was required to prepare breakfast or supper."* From Point Turnagain the party proceeded to Hood's River, which they traced to some distance. Near its mouth that river is from 100 to 300 yards in width, and is bounded by steep high banks of clay, reposing on floetz rocks. At Wilberforce Falls, which are six or seven miles above the second rapid, the river makes a striking descent of about 250 feet into a chasm, the walls of which consist of light- red felspathose sandstone, belonging, as Dr. Richardson supposes, to the old red sandstone formation, or that which lies under coal, and occasionally alternates with transition rocks.i A short distance above these falls the gneiss forma- tion appears, and produces hills precisely similar to those about Fort Enterprise. On quitting Hood's River our ex- ♦ Appendix to Franklin's First Journey, p. 533. t Ibid. p. 534. GEOLOGY. 331 ploring party ascended from the valley through which it flows, and entered upon an even, clayey, and very barren district, partially covered by shallow lakes. This plain country continued nearly as far as Cracroft's River, where the gneiss reappeared, and presented those bleak hills and precipices so characteristic of the Barren Grounds. The gneiss formation was observed to continue without essential change to Obstruction Rapid, between Providence and Point Lakes, where it united with the Fort Enterprise dis- trict formerly alluded to. The preceding geognostical details, and others into the consideration of which we cannot here enter, render it ap- parent that the general distribution and connexion of the hills and mountain-masses of these northern regions are nearly the same as geologists have observed to characterize similar materials in other portions of the earth. The primitive rocks occur in their usual relations ; and gneiss, attended by an extremely scanty vegetation, appears to be the most extensively distributed. Granite was the. next in frequency ; after which may be placed mica-slate. Clay- slate and protogine were the least abundant. The granite of Cape Barrow was intersected by veins of augite green- stone of the same description as those which occur in the granite districts of Great Britain, and the primitive rocks in general were found to be traversed by veins of felspar, quartz, and granite. The transition rocks, consisting principally of clay-sIate and graywacke, bore a strong resemblance to those in Dumfries-shire, — a fact which did not fail to attract the attention of Dr. Richardson, himself a native of that dis- trict. In regard to the secondary formations, the facts observed by Dr. Richardson show the existence — First, Of the old red sandstone, or that which lies under coal, and occasionally alternates with transition rocks : Second, Of the coal form- ation, which was ascertained to occur in certain districts of Mackenzie River, and towards the Rocky Mountains : Third, Of the new red or variegated sandstone, an important form- ation of considerable extent, which contained, as it is known to do in the Old World, gypsum and beds of salt, or of muriatiferous clay, affording saline materials for the im- 332 NATURAL HISTORY. pregnations of the salt springs which issue from it : Fourth, Of the secondary limestone belonging to that vast deposits which lies above the new^ red sandstone, and beneath chalk, and which occupies extensive tracts in Britain and other parts of Europe : Fifth, Of the secondary trap and porphyry rocks, in the composition and character of which one of the most interesting features is undoubtedly the frequent oc- currence of native copper, both among the Copper Moun- tains themselves, and along the Arctic shore. The alluvial deposites consist, as usual, of sand, gravel, rolled blocks, boulder-stones, and the debris of various rocks. We may conclude by observing, in the words of Dr. Richardson, to whom we are deeply indebted for the inform- ation presented in this volume, that the foregoing details make it manifest " that in the regions we traversed the rocks of the primitive, transition, secondary, and alluvial classes have the same general composition, structure, position, and distribution as in other parts of America which have been examined ; and as these agree in all respects with the rock formations in Europe and Asia, they may with pro- priety be considered as universal formations — parts of a grand and harmonious whole — the production of Infinite Wisdom." " Stand still and behold the wondrous works ok God, — THE wondrous works of him which is perfect IN knowledge." "Remember that thou magnify his work which men BEHOLD. Every man may see it ; men may behold it AFAR OFF." " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all! the earth is full of thy RICHES." " Before the mountains were brought forth, or EVER thou HADST FORMED THE EARTH AND THE WORLD, EVEN FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, THOU ART GoD." APPENDIX REMARKS ON A LATE MEMOIR OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, WITH A VINDICATION OF RICHARD HAKLUYT. " Floreat Historia Britannica, recordis authenticisque expromatun Scribatur lente, mature, ordinate, sincere, dilucide, sine partium studio, sine pravo consilio, sineomni vili affectu viris literatis indigno." — Madox, Disceptatio Epistolaris De Magna Rotulo Scaccarii. The reader is already aware, that in the present volume the discovery of North America, in the reign of Henry VII., has been exclusively ascribed to John Cabot, a Venetian, who had settled as a merchant at Bristol. The author of a late work* has attributed this noted extension of geographi- cal knowledge solely to the subject of his biography, Sebas- tian Cabot, the son of John. According to him, it was Se- bastian who projected the expedition in which the discovery was made, — it was Sebastian who conducted the expedition, — it is doubtful whether John Cabot accompanied the voyage at all, and it is certain, if he did, it was simply as a merchant who traded on his capital. The biographer has brought for- ward his arguments in support of this theory, in the fifth chapter of his work, entitled Comparative Agency of John * Memoir of Sebastian Cabot. 334 APPENDIX. and Sebastian Cabot ; and it is in the course of these argu- ments that he has made an attack upon the integrity and honesty of Richard Hakluyt, a writer to whom the history of maritime discovery is under the deepest obligations. These two points, therefore, — the discovery of North America, and the credit due to the evidence of Hakluyt, — must necessarily be considered in conjunction ; and we trust we shall con- vince every impartial reader of the accuracy of our assertion, that John Cabot was the discoverer, and that the attack upon Hakluyt is perfectly unfounded. Before, however, proceeding to the more immediate sub- ject of inquiry, we may be permitted to say, that although it becomes our duty to point out repeated and riiaterial errors, and in some instances considerable injustice committed by the biographer of Cabot, we are anxious to avoid that pe- culiar asperity which he has unnecessarily mingled with a subject so remote that it may surely be approached in a spirit of great calmness and impartiality. We wish to em- ploy no expression which may give a moment's unnecessary pain to the biographer. His Memoir of Cabot, as may be seen from the references to it in the course of this volume, has been frequently of use to us. Although rather a piece of biographical and historical criticism than a pure biogra- phy, it is a meritorious work ; it points out to the reader some recondite sources of information, — its deductions and arguments are often acute and ingenious, — and, confused and deficient as it is in its arrangement, it contains occa- sional passages which are eloquently written. But it is im- possible not to regret that there is infused into the whole book a more than ordinary proportion of that bitter and querulous spirit which, in a greater or less degree, seems inseparable from the lucubrations of the antiquary, — that the author has poured abuse, contempt, and ridicule upon those who have fallen into errors which he sometimes has, and at other times imagines he has, detected, — and that he is unscrupulous in imputing unfair and ungenerous motives to those who little deserve such an accusation. Robertson, Forster, Henry, Campbell, Southey, Barrow, and other able writers, are attacked in unmeasured terms, as the arch pro- pagators of all that is erroneous and superficial on the sub- ject of maritime discovery ; and our excellent friend Rich- ard Hakluyt, who has slept in an honoured grave for upwards VINDICATION OF HAKLUyT 335 of two centuries, is resuscitated to be treated only with more unsparing severity. We proceed now to the discussion of the point in question, — Who discovered North America 1 The fact, then, that it was John Cabot who projected, fitted out, and conducted the expedition by which this discovery was made rests on evidence so conclusive, that it is diffi- cult to imagine how any impartial inquirer can resist its force. First, There is the original commission or letters-patent in Rymer, vol. xii. p. 595, in which Johii Cabot is evidently the principal person intrusted with the undertaking. His three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanchez, are indeed in- cluded with him in the patent ; but it is allowed on alt hands that neither Lewis nor Sanchez accompanied the voyage, and Sebastian, although he undoubtedly went along with his father, could not then have been more than twenty, — an age excluding the idea of his either originating or con- ducting the enterprise. Secondly, We have the language of the second patent, dated the 3d February, 1498, in which the letters are di- rected to Johji Cabot alone, and he is empowered to sail with his ships to the land and isles o{ late found by the said John, in the king's name and commandment, — a piece of evidence which, even if it stood single and unsupported, appears to be decisive of the question. Thirdly, We have the inscription under the contemporary portrait of Sebastian Cabot, painted by Holbein, in which he is described as the son of the Venetian, Sir John Cabot, who was the first discoverer of the New Land, " Primi In- ventoris Terras Novae sub Henrico VH., AngUse Rege;" and in the Fourth place, A proof of the same fact is to be found in the inscription by Clement Adams upon the Map of America which he engraved after a drawing of Sebastian Cabot's, and in the lifetime of this navigator. In this inscription, as already more minutely pointed out,* the principal place is given to the father, John Cabot, and the son is mentioned, as it appears to us, not as commanding the ships or having originated the voyage, but simply as accompanying the ex^ pedition. * Supra, p. 16, 17. 336 APPENDIX. Having gone thus far, we are now ready to enter upon the investigation of the arguments urged by the biographer in favour of the claim which he has set up for Sebastian as the sole discoverer ; and here we may remark, that in the classification of his evidence he has followed a method which is certainly not the best calculated for the manifesta- tion of truth. He first arranges what he denominates the proofs in support of the father ; but those which he enu- merates first, and which alone he discusses with minute attention, are the weakest that could be selected, and such as no one who carefully weighs them would place much re- liance on ; while the unanswerable evidence is brought in last with extreme brevity, and dismissed with scarce any observation. " The various items of evidence," says he, " which are supposed to establish the prevailing personal agency of John Cabot, may be ranked thus : — "1. The alleged statement of Robert Fabyan. " 2. The language of more recent writers as to the char- acter of the father. " 3. The appearance of his name in the map cut by Clement Adams, and also in the patents. " As to the first," he continues, " the authority usually referred to is found in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 9, — 'A note of Sebastian Cabot's first discoverie of part of the Indies, taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, not hitherto printed, which is in the custodie of M. John Scow, a diligent preserver of antiquities. In the 13 yeere of K. Henry the 7 (by meanes of one John Cabot, a Venetian, which made himselfe very expert and cunning in the know- ledge of the circuit of the world, and islands of the same, as by a sea-card and other demonstrations reasonable he shewed), the king caused to man and victuall a ship at Bris- tow, to search for an island which he said he knew well 'was rich, and replenished with great commodities ; which shippe, thus manned and victualled, at the king's costs, divers merchants of London ventured in her small stocks, being in her, as chief patron, the said Venetian. And in the com- pany of the said ship, sailed also out of Bristow, three or foure small ships, fraught with sleight and grosse marchan- dises, as course cloth, caps, laces, points, and other trifles. VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 337 and so departed from Bristow in the beginning of May, of whom, in this maior's time, returned no tidings.' " This is the passage which the author of the Memoir has accused Hakluyt of perverting ; and, instead of giving it simply as it was furnished by Stow, — of interpolating the name of John Cabot. Nor is it difficult to see how he was led to make this accusation. It was necessary, in support of his views, to show that this alleged statement of Fabyan contained no allusion to John, but actually supported the claim of Sebastian Cabot : but this could not be done if Hakluyt has given it fairly ; and in this way the biogra- pher, animated with zeal for his theory, was imperceptibly drawn on to attack the integrity of this writer. Now, be- fore considering so grave an accusation against Hakluyt, we have one introductory remark to make upon this quota- tion from Fabyan. It is certain that it alludes to the second voyage made to North America by Sebastian Cabot, in the year 1498, and not to the first, in which that country was discovered. Of this the passage contains internal evidence which is perfectly conclusive. The first voyage took place in the twelfth year of Henry VII. This in the thirteenth. The first voyage was at the sole expense of the adventurers. Of this the king bore the expense. The first voyage could allude to no former discovery. This alludes to an island which had been already discovered. To quote the passage, therefore, as evidence in favour of John Cabot's discovery, which has certainly been done by some modern writers, argues a rapid and superficial examination of its contents. Certainly Hakluyt does not cite it with this view ; but in- cludes it, on the contrary, among those portions of evidence, those testimonies, as he calls them, in which the sole glory of the earliest voyage to North America is given to Sebastian Cabot.* All this may be true, says the memoriahst, but it does not exculpate Hakluyt. I do not accuse him of citing the passage as a proof in favour of John Cabot — but of altering it so as to mislead other authors : he has " per- verted" the passage, and has suffered the evidence of his " guilty deed" to lie about, so as to furnish the means of his own conviction. Such is the charge advanced against Hakluyt ; and never, we will venture to say, was there a * Hakluyt'e Voyages, edition 1600, vol. iii. p. 4-9, inclusive. Ff 338 APPENDIX. more unfounded accusation, as will appear when it come* to be examined, and yet the argument of the biographer is ingenious, and it requires some attention to detect its fallacy. The object in the whole matter, it will be observed, was twofold ; first, to show that Robert Fabyan, a contemporary author, ascribes the discovery of North America to Sebas- tian, and not to John Cabot ; and, secondly, to prove that Hak- luyt has been guilty of dishonestly perverting the passage from Fabyan communicated to him by Stow the antiquary. How then does he accomplish this ] In the first place, he goes to the earliest work of Hakluyt, published in 1582, where this writer gives for the first time the following note as to the discovery, which we quote verbatim from the work itself, now lying on our table : — " A Note of Sebastian Gabote's Voyage of Discoverie, taken out of an old Chronicle written by Robert Fabian, some time Alderman of London, which is in the custodie of John Stow, citizen, a diUgent searcher and preserver of antiquities. In the 13 This yeere the king (by means of a Venetian Kin's Henrie ^^i^h made himselfe very expert and cunning the VII. in knowledge of the circuite of the worlde, and 1498. islands of the same, as by a carde and other demonstrations reasonable hee shewed) caused to man and victuall a shippe at Bristowe, to searche for an ilande, whiche hee saide hee knewe well was riche, and replenished with riche commodities. Which ship, thus manned and victualled at the kinge's costs, divers merchants of London ventured in her small stockes, being in her, as chiefe patrone, the said Venetian, and in the companie of the said shippe, ^ . sayled also out of Bristowe three or foure small ships fraught with sleight and grosse merchan- dizes, as course cloth, caps, laces, points, and other trifles, Wm. Pur- ^^^ ^° departed from Bristowe in the beginning chasi Maior of May, of whom, in this Maior's time, returned of London, no tidings." Having given this quotation from Hakluyt's publication of 1582, the writer of the life next turns to the larger work of the same author, published in 1589, and he discovers VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 339 that he has added to the sentence, as it stood in 1582, the words " one John Cabot." The passage in the narrative of 1589 stands thus : — " In the 13 yeere of King Henrie the VII. by means of one John Cabot, a Venetian, which made himself very expert," &c., the rest of the sentence being the same as in 1582. Here then, says he, is manifest interpolation and dishonesty ; the original passage from Fabyan has been altered ; Hakluyt, in 1589, does not give it in the same terms as in 1582. Before, however, arriving at so strong and uncharitable a conclusion, it must strike every reader that the original passage, either as it stands in Fabyan, or as it stood in the extract furnished by Stow from Fabyan, ought to be carefully examined. Till the passage, as it is given by Hakluyt, is compared with one or other of these, it is perfectly evident that no charge of alteration or interpolation can be made good against him. Now, the original chronicle of Fabyan, from which Stow took the passage, is lost — and the biographer does not pretend that he has discovered in the manuscripts of Hakluyt the original passage, as extracted by Stow, and sent to this writer — but he endeavours to supply it in a very singular manner. In speaking of Hakluyt's alleged perversion of the passage, as sent by Stow, he observes : — " Fortunately, we are not left to mere conjecture. In 1605 appeared Stow's own ' Annals.' The simplicity and good faith of this writer are so well known, as well as his intense reverence for what- ever bore the stamp of antiquity, that we have no fear of his having committed what in his eyes would have been sacrilege, by changing one syllable of the original. Let it be remembered, then, that Hakluyt relies exclusively on what he obtained from Stow ; and in reading the following pas- sage from the Annals, we find what doubtless passed into Hakluyt's hands before it was submitted to his perilous correction. It occurs at p. 804 of the edition of 1605, and at p. 483 of that of 1631. ' This year one Sebastian Gaboto, a Genoa's sonne borne in Bristol, professing himself to be expert in the knowledge of the circuit of the world, and islands of the same, as by his charts and other reasonable demonstrations he shewed, caused the king to man and victual a ship,' &c. The rest corresponds with the passage in Hakluyt. * * * Thus," continues the biographer, 340 APPENDIX. " we have the best evidence that the contemporary writer, whoever he may have been, made not the slightest allusion to the father. Bacon, Speed, Thuanus, &c. all furnish the same statement."* Such is the passage from the Memoir of Cabot ; and thus it appears that the whole of this attack upon Hakluyt rests upon a fact which the biographer imagines he has proved, but which in truth is nothing else than a piece of the merest and the most vague presumption — namely, that Stow furnished Hakluyt, in 1582, with an extract from Fabyan, which, when he himself proceeded, about eighteen years after, to compile his Annals from a long list of writers, whose names he has given us in his prefatory, pages, he so scrupulously copied, that we are entitled to take it as it stands in the said Annals, and argue upon it as the iden- tical passage contained in the lost chronicle of Fabyan. But this is not merely gratuitous assumption. There is, we think, strong evidence to show that Stow, in composing his various works, did not, upon the point in question, — the discovery of America, — consult the manuscript of Fabyan, although he affirms it to be in his possession, but in the multiplicity of his authorities had overlooked it alto- gether. The first Summary of Chronicles was published by this industrious antiquary in 1565. A new edition was given in 1573, and again another edition in 1598. His excellent work entitled a Survey of London and West- minster was also published in 1598 ; and it is a remarkable circumstance, and one which militates strongly against the hypothesis of the biographer, that although in the list of his authorities prefixed to the edition of his Chronicles in 1573, and to the Survey of London, there is express men- tion of the manuscript by Fabyan, still, in neither of these works is there any allusion made, which we can discover, to the voyages of the Cabots, or the discovery of America. His work entitled Flores Historiarum, or Annals of Eng- land, was published in 1600, and here, for the first time, is the passage regarding the voyage to America introduced ; in which, as we have already seen, Sebastian Cabot is called " a Genoa's son." But it is to be recollected that Robert Fabyan was a contemporary of Sebastian Cabot , » Memoir of Cabot, p. 44. VINDICATION OY HAKLUYT. 341 that he was a rich merchant and alderman of London ; and the probability is, that he was either personally ac- quainted with so illustrious a navigator, or at least enjoyed the best opportunities of rendering himself master of his history. It appears to us, therefore, exceedingly improb- able that Fabyan should have fallen into the error of de- scribing Sebastian Cabot as a Genoese's son, instead of the son of a Venetian. Now, it is a singular circumstance, that in the Chronicle of Thomas Lanquette, a work which Stow also mentions as in his possession, Sebastian is de- scribed as the son of a Genoese, and the discoverer of a part of the West Indies,* and this induces us to conjec- ture that the passage in question was taken by Stow, not from Fabyan's Chronicle, but from that work. Down to 1598, he does not appear to have examined Fabyan's trea- tise upon the subject of America, or Cabot ; and becoming old (he was now in his seventy-sixth year), and failing in his memory, it appears extremely probable that he had con- tented himself with a reference to the volume of Lanquette. So far, therefore, from admitting the fact which has been hastily, and without any sufficient ground, assumed by the biographer, that the passage in Stow's Annals regarding Sebastian Cabot may be considered the very extract from Fabyan communicated to Hakluyt, we con- tend that a minute examination of Stow's historical labours proves that, in composing his Annals, he had omitted to consult the Chronicle of Fabyan, and had copied some less authentic writer — probably the Chronicle of Lanquette. What follows from this 1 — First, the whole elaborate accu- sation of guilty perversion of the extract from Fabyan, so unceremoniously advanced against Hakluyt, falls completely to the ground. Secondly, the biographer's supposed pas- sage from Fabyan, a contemporary, turns out to be nothing more than a quotation from Stow ; and consequently, the assertion that the former has described Sebastian Cabot as the sole projector and executor of the voyage in which North America was discovered, is perfectly unwarrantable. The original manuscript of Fabyan, as we have already * Barrett's Bristol, p. 185, 173. I take it for granted that this author must have seen the passage which he quotes ; but in the only edition of Lanquette's Chronicle which I have had an opportunity of examin- ing there is no such passage. Ff2 342 APPENDIX. stated, is lost ; the original extract from it furnished by Stow to Hakluyt is also lost ; and without a minute exami- nation of these two documents, the biographer was not en- titled to wound the fair reputation of this excellent writer, to whom the history of naval discovery is under so many obli- gations, by charges without proof, and innuendoes arising mainly out of the errors which he himself has committed. But the biographer will perhaps contend that he has at least made out one fact against Hakluyt — namely, that in 1589 he altered the passage from the fonn in which he gave it in 1582 ; and is not this, says he, a dishonest and guilty deed 1 To this we answer, — and we think it impossible for him to controvert the assertion, — that, admitting the fact, there is no guilt or dishonesty in the case. The vitiation of the text imputed here to Hakluyt may be considered either as a perversion of the real truth, historically con- sidered, or of the individual passage, or of both. First, then, it is to be remarked, that Hakluyt cannot be accused of dishonesty, historically speaking, because in the passages in question he has stated nothing but the truth. It has been already proved that the extract com- municated by Stow relates solely to the second voyage of 1498, planned and fitted out by John Cabot the Yenetian, and conducted afterward by his son Sebastian ; and the alteration of the note, from the words " a Venetian," used in 1582, to the words " one John Cabot, a Venetian," used in 1589, only makes it speak with more clearness and accu- racy. But, in the second place, Hakluyt, says the biogra- pher, has perverted and altered a quotation. There might be some appearance of plausibility in this accusation, if Hakluyt had given the passage in dispute as a quotation, and had thus bound himself down to the common usage which compels an author in such a case to insert it word for word. But he does not do so. He warns the reader that he is perusing, not a quotation, but a " note made up by him from an extract communicated by Stow, and taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, not hitherto printed ;" and having done so, he considered him- self at liberty to correct that note, by inserting in it any additional information which he had acqu.ired. In 1582, he thought that the words, "a Genoa's son, born in Bristol," could not apply to Sebastian Cabot, with whom they were VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 343 coupled, and he inserts the words, " a Venetian," dropping the name altogether. In 1589, he had probably become acquainted with the second patent, which ascribed the plan of the expedition solely to John Cabot ; and he therefore added to his note the words, " John Cabot, a Venetian," where he speaks of the person who had caused the king to man and victual a ship. Even, therefore, if we were to admit, which we do not, that a discrepancy had been made out between the passages ^n Hakluyt and the real extract from the Chronicle of Robert Fabyan, we should be en- titled to repel any accusations against his honesty, founded upon a basis so extremely erroneous. The memorialist now comes to the consideration of the proof as to the " personal agency of the father in the dis- covery of North America, derived from the inscription on the map cut by Clement Adams, which Hakluyt states is to be seen in her majesty's Privy Gallery at Westminster, and in many other ancient merchants' houses."* And here he commences his examination by another unfair innuendo against this writer. " We approach the statement of Hakluyt," says he, " with a conviction that he would not hesitate for a moment to interpolate the name of John Cabot, if he thought that thereby was secured a better cor- respondence with the original patent." I have convicted him (it is thus he argues) of interpolating the quotation furnished by Stow from Fabyan, and there is a strong pre- sumption he would not hesitate to alter the inscription also. " It would, certainly," he remarks, " require less audacity to associate here the name of the father, as it is found in the patent, than to do that of which Hakluyt has already been convicted."t To this indirect insiuuation it may be calmly repUed, that, as the first attempt to affix guilt upon Hak- luyt has been shown to he a total failure, the inscription ought to be received from his hands with perfect confidence that we read it in his work exactly as it was copied by him from the original map of Sebastian Cabot, cut by Clement Adams, From the manner in which it is given, first in the original Latin, and then translated, it professes to be an exact quotation ; and even were Hakluyt as guilty a person as the biographer represents him, it might be contended * See the proof stated. Supra, p. 16 t Memoir of Cabot, p. 48. 344 APPENDIX. that he would have paused before he committed an act of interpolation, of which the original in the Queen's Gallery, and in many ancient merchants' houses, must have in- stantly convicted him. But to proceed. Having thus prepared us to expect an audacious alteration, the biographer endeavours to show- that those persons who had seen Sebastian Cabot's charts and maps, introduce no allusion to the father, and he leaves the reader to make the inevitable inference against Hakluyt's honesty. This writer has quoted an inscription on Sebas- tian Cabot's map, which attributes the discovery to John Cabot. But Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who had seen Sebas- tian's charts, makes no allusion to the father; and Richard Willes, who speaks familiarly of the map of this navigator, does not mention John ; therefore it is left to the reader silently to infer that Hakluyt may have interpolated the name of the father. A plain statement of the fact will put all this down in an instant : — Hakluyt has narrated in the clearest terms that the map to which he alludes, and from which he copies the inscription, was engraved by Clement Adams ; and the terms of the inscription show that it (the inscription) was added by the artist. Sir Hum- phrey Gilbert, on the contrary, just as clearly states, that the documents to which he alludes, are " charts of Sebastian Cabot, which are to be seen in the queen majesty's Privy Gallery at Whitehall," — evidently meaning the original charts drawn by this seaman, and presented to the queen ;* and Willes does not mention the engraved map at all, but speaks of a table of Sebastian Cabot, which the father of Lady Warwick had at Cheynies.f The argument, there- fore, or rather the unfavourable inference created in the mind of the reader by the biographer, which derives its force from the supposition that Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Richard Willes refer to the same document as Hakluyt, namely, the engraved map by Clement Adams, falls com- pletely to the ground. If there had been any account of the first discovery on the charts alluded to by Gilbert, and the " table" mentioned by Willes, and in this account the father's name had not appeared, there might be some pre- * Hakluvt, vol. iii. p. 16. t History of Travel in tbe West and East Indies, p. 232. Hakluyt, VOL iii. p. 26, 26. VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 345 sumption against the elder Cabot ; but the writer of the Memoir does not pretend there was any such account or inscription on the charts and the table ; and to infer, from the silence of Gilbert and Willes, either that Hakluyt had altered the inscription, or that John Cabot could not have been the original discoverer, is a remarkable instance of vague and inconclusive reasoning. This is the proper place to notice an extraordinary error, or rather series of errors, fallen into by the biographer, re- garding this same " extract." It is described by Hakluyt as an " extract taken out of the map of Sebastian Cabot, cut by Clement Adams, concerning his discovery of the West Indies, which is to be seen in her majestie's Privy Gallery at Westminster, and in many other ancient merchants' houses." Clearer words, one would think, could scarcely be employed to express the fact that a map engraved by Adams hung in the Privy Gallery at Westminster, from which Hakluyt, who was much about court, copied the ex- tract or inscription which he has given at p. 6. Yet the biographer has committed the singular blunder of supposing that it was the extract from the map, and not the map itself^ which was hung up in the Privy Gallery at Westminster, and that it may be inferred that Hakluyt had never seen the original map. " From the stress," says he, " laid by Hakluyt and Purchas on the extract hung up in the Privy Gallery at Whitehall, we may infer that they had never seen the original map."* In this sentence there occurs a second error, in imagining that both Hakluyt and Purchas refer to the same document. The allusion by Purchas, t however, is to one totally different. This author refers, not to any extract taken from the map cut by Clement Adams, but to " the words of a great map in his majesty's Privy Gallery, of which Sebastian Cabot is often therein called the author, and his picture is therein drawn," which map, Purchas adds in the margin, " some say was taken out of Sir Sebastian Cabot's map by Clement Adams ;" a sentence proving, beyond a doubt, that these writers allude to differ- ent works, — Hakluyt to the map of Clement Adams, Pur- chas to a later one, supposed by some authors to be copied from it. Lastly, in a succeeding sentence,! the author of * Memoir of Cabot, p. 52. t Purchas, vol. iii, p. 807. X Memoir of Cabot, p. 52. 346 APPENDIX. the Memoir, when he hazards the conjecture that the map by Adams was executed after Cabot's death, and therefore without any communication from him, again widely errs from the truth ; for had he consulted Purchas he would have found that the map by Adams was published in 1549.* Thus, in a sentence which occupies the short space of seven hues, three errors, and these of no trivial importance, are committed. The first error is material ; because it in- evitably leads the reader to believe that Hakluyt is only giving an extract from an extract, whereas he is giving an extract from an original which he had seen. The second error is also important ; because it would induce us to infer that Purchas and Hakluyt resolve into one- and the same witness, whereas Purchas quotes a separate and additional testimony ; for, it is to be observed, that, on a map en- graved probably some time in the reign of James VI., there was copied the same inscription as in the early map in 1549 ; from which we are entitled to conclude, that in the interval nothing had transpired to invalidate the truth of the inscription. Lastly, the third error is most material of all ; because its efTect is to lead us to consider the Latin inscrip- tion copied by Hakluyt from the map by Clement Adams as of little or no weight in evidence, instead of which it is, as has already been shown in the text,t as nearly as possible equivalent to a declaration of Sebastian Cabot himself. The laboured endeavour to get rid of the overpowering evidence of the inscription, by impeaching the accuracy and integrity of the copy furnished by Hakluyt, is thus singu- larly unsuccessful ; and having failed in this point, the author of the Life of Cabot passes over altogether the proof which it contains. This, we think, may be taken for a silent admission that, if correctly given, it proves that John Cabot was the discoverer ; and we shall not fatigue the reader by a repetition of the arguments given in the text, only reminding him that it is there shown that the inscription was written, probably from the information com- municated, either by Sebastian or by some persons who accompanied the voyage, and that the map where it occurs must have been often seen by this navigator. In his examination of the proofs of the personal agency * Purchas, vol. iii. p. 807. t Supra, p. 17 VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 347 of John Cabot, the biographer now arrives at the appear- ance of his name in the letters-patent granted by the king. These interesting documents, from their priority of date and the importance of their evidence, every impartial in quirer would, we think, have ranked first ; but he at once assigns them the last place, and passes them very lightly over. With the substance of these royal letters the reader is already acquainted ;* and it is here sufficient to repeat that the commission, in virtue of which the first voyage of 1497 was undertaken, during which North America was discovered, is granted to John Cabot and his three sons, while the second commission of 1498 is not only granted to John Cabot alone, but, alluding to the voyage already made, describes him as the sole discoverer, " giving him permis- sion to lead his ships to the land and isles of late found by the said John in the king's name, and by his command." To escape from this clear and unanswerable assertion in a document whose authenticity is higher than that of any other which can be produced, the memorialist, trembling for his favourite Sebastian, is driven to some very desperate and amusing expedients. He first asserts, that the appear- ance of the father's name in the first commission or patent does not prove that he embarked in either of the expeditions. Now, undoubtedly, if the first patent stood alone, the father's name in that deed would not conclusively prove that he conducted the first voyage, although a strong pre- sumption that he did so might fairly be founded upon it ; but it is evident the two patents, in estimating the evidence, must be taken together, and how does the biographer get rid of the second, which, in language neither to be evaded nor misunderstood, distinctly asserts the fact of the dis- covery by the said John, and by John only ; for no other name but that of the father appears in the deed ? The extraordinary theory by which he attempts to elude its evidence will best be given in his own words. '• The second patent," says he, " is to the father alone. If we seek a reason for this departure from the original arrange- ment, it may be conjectured that some of the sons chose to give a different direction to a parental advance and their personal exertions ; and that the head of the family * Supra, p. 15, IS. 348 APPENDIX. thought fit to retain subject to his own discretionary die posal the proposed investment of his remaining capital. It is said that one of the sons settled at Venice, and the other at Genoa. The recital of the discovery by the father would of course be stated, under the circumstances, as the consideration of the second patent in his favour. Another reason for the introduction of the father's name concurrently at first with his sons', and afterward exclu- sively, may perhaps be found in the wary character of the king, whose own pecuniary interests were involved in the result. He might be anxious thus to secure the responsi- bility of the wealthy Venetian for the faithful execution of the terms of the patent, and finally think it. better to have him solely named rather than commit powers, on their face assignable, to young men who had no stake in the country, and who were not likely to make it even a fixed place of residence. On the whole, there may at least be a doubt whether the father really accompanied the expedition."* It is surely quite unnecessary to attempt a serious reply to this singular passage, which, advancing from one step of an improbable and unsupported hypothesis to another, lands the reader at last in that conclusion of outrageous skepti- cism which has just been quoted. The words of the second commission state a simple fact, " that the land and isles were discovered by John Cabot.^^ The biographer, in reply, first talks discursively and at some length on the motives which induced the sons, Lewis, Sanche2i, and Sebastian, to ■withdraw a capital which there is no proof they ever ad- vanced, — subjects of little moment, — and he then at once gets rid of the stubborn fact, that John Cabot is named as the " sole discoverer," by the incidental remark, that this would, of course, be stated as the ground of the second patent, — a species of reply which irresistibly re- minds us of the celebrated mode of getting rid of any diflB- culty "by a concatenation." We leave the reader to form liis own conclusion from the words of the commission, with no anxiety as to the result. It is asserted that Hakluyt is guilty of perversion when he describes John Cabot as " very expert and cunning in the knowledge of the circuit of the world, and islands of the * Memoir of Cabot, p. 60, VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 349 same, as by a sea-card, and other demonstrations reasonable, he shewed;"* and in the same breath the biographer pro- ceeds to arraign Campbell, Macpherson, and Barrow of folly, because they speak of him as a scientific and able sea- man, there being no proof that he was any thing else than a merchant who dwelt in England.! Now when Hakluyt, in a writing of unquestionable authenticity (the first royal com- mission just quoted), found John Cabot intrusted with the command of a squadron of five ships, which was empowered to sail on a voyage of discovery to all countries and seas of the east, west, and north, he certainly cannot be ac- cused of having committed any grievous infringement upon truth or probability when he described him as a seaman ; and when, in another document of almost equal authority (the inscription on the map by Clement Adams), he ob- served ii stated that he, along with his son Sebastian, were the first who discovered North America, are we to be told that he was guilty of excessive exaggeration, when he drew the inference which every discerning and impartial mind would be inclined to derive from the same facts, that the author of such a discovery must have been an excellent navigator and cosmographer 1 Nor is it a fair mode of reasoning to accuse Campbell and Barrow as guilty of a thousand absurdities, when they describe John Cabot as an " accomplished seaman, a skilful pilot, or an intrepid navi- gator."t These writers, it is to be recollected, had before them the letters-patent in Rymer, and the inscription by Adams, instruments which had in no way been perverted ; and from an examination of these they arrived at the con« elusion, to which every reader is inevitably led, that he who possessed the inventive mind to plan this new course to India by the north-west, who had in person commanded the expedition and successfully achieved the discovery, must have been, both as a practical and a scientific navigator, a man of no ordinary character and acquirements. It is difficult, within the limits to which we must confine these remarks, to reply to the various accusations against Hakluyt which are scattered throughout the pages of this * Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 9. t Memoir of Cabot, p. 46, 47, 60, 51. t/frtd. p.46,50,51. 350 APPENDIX. Memoir ; besides, we do not profess to write a full vindica- tion of that excellent author. He is arraigned of ignorance and carelessness as a translator, of a want of integrity in regard to the sense of his original, and of appropriating to himself passages from other authors without acknowledg- ment. The gravest accusation, that of wilfully altering the sense of his original, has been satisfactorily answered already ; but we venture to say that few who are acquainted with his amusing and instructive volumes will not be aston- ished at the charge of plagiarism. A conscientious and even tedious scrupulosity in giving the names of every indi- vidual from whom he has derived his information is one of the most striking features of his work. The third volume of the second edition of his voyages happens to be now on the table before us : it consists of about 158 separate docu- ments, and we will venture to say, that of these there is not one upon which the biographer can support a charge of any thing approaching to serious and premeditated plagia rism ; not one in which, if the author's name is known, it is not anxiously mentioned ; or, if it is unknown, where the anonymous paper is not given in such a way that it cannot possibly be attributed to the compiler himself. Even the two instances in this volume quoted against him by the biographer do not in fair reasoning form an exception. No one who has read Hakluyt's preface will be disposed to think with severity of the slight alterations which, with the honest intention of presenting the whole truth before his reader, he has occasionally introduced into the abstracts, notes, and translations, which form the great body of his work. His earnest desire, as he himself declares, " was to adjust the displaced and scattered limbs, as well of ancient and late voyages by sea as of travels by land, and traffic of merchandise by both, into one regular body ; restoring each divided and dislocated member to its natural order and symmetry, iind by the help of geography and chronology, the sun and moon, or right and left eye of all history, refer- ring each particular narration to its due time and place." That in accomplishing this laudable object he has sometimes used rather undue liberties with his documents, may be admitted ; but even in the most remarkable of these instances of alleged.mistranslation and interpolation which the biogra- VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 351 pher has brought against him, the passages are first accu- rately given in the original language, a mode of proceeding which completely establishes the honesty of his intentions. It is vain to accuse of fraudulent interpolation a writer who first warns the reader that he must be prepared to find some of the translations of the documents which he has presented partially transposed, and corrected by the help of geography and chronology, and who carefully quotes, in the same page, the passages in the original, before he pre- sents them in the shape which he believes consistent with truth. If this be fraud, it possesses a very singular charac- ter ; it is fraud which courts detection ; it is forgery, studi- ously placing in the hands of all readers the documents by which its iniquity may be traced and established. With regard to the attack made upon this writer for his ignorance and mistranslation, the author of the Life of Cabot, we think, in considering Hakluyt's voluminous labours, consisting of three folio volumes, might have been disposed to pardon a few inaccuracies of this nature. They will insinuate themselves, however anxious we may be to avoid them, into all human productions ; and he who has spent most time in works requiring multifarious research, and the painful examination of ancient authorities, will be the most disposed to view with lenient eyes the errors of such as are similarly occupied. If the biographer will turn to his own Memoir (p. 240) he will find in Pasquiligi's de- scription of the captives the following sentence : " Hanno signata la faza in modo de Tndiani : chi da vi., chi da viii., chi da manco segni." Their faces they have punctured like Indians', some with six, some with eight, some with fewer marks. In the Memoir, it is thus translated, " They punc- ture the face, like the Indians, exhibiting six, eight, or even more marks.'''' Bo not let the biographer imagine that we have quoted this erroneous version of a very simple passage with the view of accusing him of ignorance, or that there is the slightest intention of insinuating that he did not know that the four Words " chi da manco segni" meant " some with fewer marks." The oversight is pointed out as an example of the occasional mistranslations or mistakes into which, with every desire to be accurate, even a well-informed writer will occasionally fall, that he may be inclined to ex- tend to the labours of others that charity of criticism with 352 APPENDIX. which he would wish that every Uberal mind should regard his own.* The author of the Life of Cabot was perfectly entitled to maintain the theory that Sebastian, the son, and not John Cabot, the father, was the discoverer of North America ; but he was not entitled to adopt, what we must denominate the disingenuous method of making an impression upon the reader's mind by silently dropping the name of the latter out of passages where, if he had stated the whole truth, he ought to have mentioned both. Thus, at page 1 74 we find this remark : " At his return [Sebastian] Cabot settled in Bristol, ***** fifty-three years after the date of his first commission from Henry VII." Again, page 222, we find this notice : " Sixty-one years had now elapsed since the date of the first commission from Henry VII. to Sebastian Cabot, and the powers of nature must have been absolutely wearied out." Again, page 235, we have another more glaring example of this determination to keep the father entirely out of view : " The bare mention of these dates will establish the impossibility that he could have been ignorant of the great discoveries of Cabot [it is Sebastian he is speaking of], which, commencing at the point seen on the 24th June, 1497, had extended over the ' londe and isle' recited in the second patent." In the first and second of these sentences John Cabot's name is entirely suppressed, although the commission spoken of was directed to him, along with his three sons ; and in the last, the entire merit of the discovery is ascribed to Sebastian, at the mo- ment the biographer is quoting the words of the second commission, which positively attributes it to John. Allusion has already been shortly made to the " evidence" contained in the inscription upon an ancient portrait of Sebastian Cabot ; but we must be allowed, for a moment, to add a few words upon this proof, which is very important and conclusive. There is now in existence a portrait of this navigator, by Holbein, for a minute history of which we refer the reader to the Appendix to the Memoir of Cabot. f * In the same passage from Pasquiligi, another oversight occurs : " Nela terra loro non hanno ferro : ma faimo cortelli de alcune pietre." Memoir of Cabot, p. 240. " In their country they do not possess iron, but they make knives of particular kinds of stones." The biographer translates cortelli swords. t Memoir of Cabot, Appendix, Letter F. p. 323. VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 353 It is sufficient for our purpose to remark, that it is acknow- ledged to be an original, for which Sebastian sat to the artist, and which, in the time of Purchas, hung in the Privy Gallery at Whitehall. Upon this picture is the fol- lowing inscription : " Effigies Seb. Caboti Angli, filii Jo- hannis Caboti Veneti Militis Aurati, Primi Inventoris TerrsB Novas sub Henrico VII. Angliae Rege." It is evident, by the common rules of grammatical construction, that the words Militis Aurati, Piimi Inventoris Terrse Novae sub Henrico VII. Angliae Rege, apply exclusively to John Cabot ; and if so, they contain a positive assertion that John was the first discoverer of North America. Now, the authen- ticity of the picture being undoubted, the inscription fur- nishes as convincing a piece of evidence as could well be conceived. And again, it may be fairly argued, that the circumstance of the words Militis Aurati being found united with the name of John Cabot, by which it is proved that the king had conferred on him, and not on Sebastian, the hon- our of knighthood, affijrds the strongest presumption that it was John who was the original discoverer. This remark leads us, in the last place, to expose an ex- traordinary series of errors committed by the biographer, in relation to this Latin inscription on the picture. He has accused Dr. Henry, Dr. Campbell, and the authors of the Biographia Britannica of an absurd misconception, in ima- gining that the words Militis Aurati indicate that John Cabot had been knighted. But it is justice to let him speak for himself. He first demonstrates that the words Miles Auratus cannot possibly apply to the son Sebastian, after which he proceeds thus : — " The point being thus clear with regard to the son, other writers have assumed, as a matter of course, that the distinction (of knighthood) must have been conferred on John Cabot." " Accordingly, Campbell, in his Lives of the Admirals, has an article en- titled Sir John Cabot. Dr. Henry informs us, in his His- tory of Britain, vol. vi. p. 618, that John Cabot was gra- ciously received and knighted on his return, and the same statement is repeated in the Biographia Britannica." " To the utter confusion,^'' he continues, " of all these grave au- thorities, a moment's consideration will show that the ivords relied on do in themselves prove that knighthood had not been conferred. It is scarcely necessary to follow up tliis sug- Gg2 354 APPENDIX. gestion, by staling, that in reference to one who had re- ceived that honour, they would have been., not Militis Aurati, but Equitis Aurati. Though the term Miles is sometimes appUed in old documents even to peers, yet, as a popular designation, the language of the inscription negatives the idea of knighthood. In the very works immediately con- nected with the subject of the present volume, the appro- priate phrase perpetually occurs. Thus, Eques Auratus is used to designate Sir Humphrey Gilbert (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 137) ; Sir Hugh Willoughby, ib. p. 142 ; Sir Martin Frobisher, ib. p. 142 ; Sir Francis Drake, ib. p. 143. In the dedication of look's translation of Peter Martyr, it is in like manner used, and we see it at this moment on the ' Ef- figies' of Sir Walter Raleigh, prefixed to the first edition of his History of the World. It will probably be deemed very superfluous to refer to Selden's Titles of Honour (p. 830) for a confirmation of what has been stated. The weight of censure must fall on Purchas, who was originally guilty of the blunder.''''* One would have thought that the writer must have been very sure of the ground on which he stood before he ven- tured to assume so lofty and decisive a tone, — and yet we are altogether at a loss for expressions which may mark cour- teously, and yet strongly, the combination of error, igno- rance, and absurdity presented by this extraordinary sen- tence. He first argues, that the words Miles Auratus are never used to denote a knight ; and, secondly, that where they are used, they " do in themselves prove that knight- hood had not been conferred." Now, fortunately, the biog- rapher allows that Sir Humphrey Gilbert was a knight, in- deed he is one of his own examples of Equites Aurati. Keeping this in mind, we request him to turn to Holland's celebrated and well-known work, the Heroologia Anglise, containing the engraved portraits of the most eminent Eng- lish warriors, navigators, statesmen, and ecclesiastical re- formers, who flourished in England from 1500 to 1620. He will there find, at p. 6.5, vol. i., a beautiful head of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and around it the following inscription, — "HuMFRiDus Gtlbertus, Miles Auratus." Do these words prove here that knighthood had not been conferred 1 * Memoir of Cabot, p. 183. , VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 355 Again, we beg him to turn to another engraving in the same work, the portrait of the celebrated Sir Richard Gren- ville, of whose knighthood there is not the smallest doubt. It will be found at page 85 of the first volume of Holland's work, and it is thus inscribed around the margin, — " Rich- ARDUs Grenvilus, Mil. Aur. :" (Miles Auratus.) But the biographer has quoted the famous Sir Francis Drake, as illustrating his argument. He points triumphantly to him as an undoubted knight, being styled Eques Auratus, and to whom, therefore, the words Miles Auratus could not pos- sibly be applied. Once more, we beg him to turn to the Heroologia, vol. i. page 105. He will there see a striking portrait of Drake, with his hand resting on the globe, and these words round the margin of the print, — " Franciscus Drake, Miles Auratus." One other example may be given of the common use of those words to denote knight- hood, which, according to the positive assertion of our author, are never found together, and which, if used, prove that this honour had not been conferred. It is the first sentence in Holland's Life of Sir John Harrington, Heroo- logia, page 133. " Joannes Harington filius natu maximus Clarissimi Militis Jacobi Haringtoni de Exton, in Comitatu Rutlandie, Equestri seu Militis Aurati dignitate multis abhinc annis a beatissimse memoriae Regina Elizabetha insignitus fuit." It need hardly be pointed out to the intel- ligent reader, that this brief sentence of four lines, in its use of the word Miles by itself to denote knighthood, and Miles Auratus, as synonymous with the terms dignitas Equestris, overturns the whole argument of the biographer, who not only contends that the expression Miles Auratus is never used as descriptive of knighthood, but that, except in an- cient deeds, the single word Miles never occurs. Had he taken the trouble to consult any friend who possessed even a superficial acquaintance with the language in which the inscription was written, he must have discovered that the words Eques Auratus, Miles Auratus, Eques by itself, and Miles by itself, are used indiscriminately in modern Latin to denote knighthood ; and that the " absurd misconcep- tion" imputed to others existed nowhere but in his own ideas. But even had we not been able to quote such unanswer- able instances as Humphrey, Grenville, Drake, and Har- 356 APPENDIX. rington, it is singular that it should not have occurred to this writer that the words Miles Auratus upon John Cabot's portrait must necessarily have had some meaning, — that they must either be literally translated, or be understood to express knighthood. Now this, last he will not allow them to denote ; and the only meaning he affixes to them is, that they " negative the idea of knighthood, and prove that such an honour had not been conferred." We are driven then to a literal interpretation ; and it is impossible for him, ac- cording to the principle he has laid down, to give any other translation than this : " The portrait of Sebastian Cabot, Englishman, son of John Cabot the Venetian, a golden sol- dier, but by no means a knight." Such is the singular and amusing interpretation which, had he weighed his own assertion for a moment, or had he exerted that spirit of dili- gent, accurate, and extensive research (we are using his own words) to which he lays claim,* the biographer must have found it necessary to adopt. These various errors have been pointed out with no other feehng than a desire of showing the recklessness of the attack upon Campbell, Henry, and the authors of the Biographia Britannica. It is difficult, indeed, to repress a smile when we compare the bitterness and severity of the criticism with the extreme ignorance of the critic ; and in taking leave of this subject, we may be permitted to hope that the recollection of his chapter on the words Miles Auratus Avill induce the cham- pion of Sebastian Cabot to revise his Latin, and to be more lenient to the real or supposed mistakes of his predecessors and contemporaries. It has been shown, we trust, to the satisfaction of every one who will impartially weigh the evidence, that John Cabot was the discoverer of North America ; and it is satis- factory to find that all that may be called the contemporary proofs, — the first commission in Rymer, the brief narrative on the map by Clement, the words of the second commis- sion, and the inscription on the picture, — confirm the con- clusion that this Venetian was entitled to the honour. Be- fore, however, concluding these remarks, we may add a single word on the testimony of later authi ^s. Fabyan, or the contemporary writer, for he is spoket of under both * Introduction to Memoir of Cabot, p. 1. VINDICATION OF HAKLUYT. 357 denominations, Bacon, De Thou, and Speed, are all cited by the biographer as exclusively in favour of the title of Se- bastian. " We have the best evidence," says he (p. 44), " that the contemporary writer, whoever he may have been, made not the slightest allusion to the father. Bacon, Speed, Thuanus, &c. all furnish the same statement." Now, with regard to Fabyan, in his printed Chronicle there is no allu- sion, either to the original discovery on the 24th June, 1497, or to the subsequent voyi.ge of Sebastian Cabot in 1498 ; and as to the supposed manuscript Chronicle which is stated by Stow to have been in his possession, it appears to have perished, and we have no mode of ascertaining its import, except through the note of Hakluyt, which, as far as it goes, is nowise against the claim of John Cabot. Nay, even granting that (to the contrary of which we have strong proof) in Stow's Chronicle, published in 1605, occurs the very passage of the lost manuscript of Fabyan, and that in this passage Sebastian Cabot, a Genoa's son, born in Bris- tol, is alone mentioned ; still the reader is alr^^ady aware of the conclusive answer, namely, that the passage relates, not to the first voyage of 1497, but to the second voyage of 1498, of which all are agreed that Sebastian Cabot had the command. But another evidence in favour of Sebastian as the original discoverer is said to be found in Lord Bacon's Life of Henry VIL We can scarcely persuade ourselves that any one who makes this assertion can have attentively studied the remark in question, so evidently does it allude, we think, where it mentions Sebastian, to the second voyage of 1498, and not to the original voyage of 1497. That Bacon was aware this was not the first discovery, and that he had a vague kn>. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS