Capt. Bowles, R. N. Capt. Beaufort, R. N. F. R. S. J. H. Pelly, Esq. Governor H. B. Company. Nich. Garry, Esq. Dep. Gov. do. W. P. Craufurd, Esq. Capt. Beechey, R. N. F. R. S. Dr. Richardson, F. R. S. George Ross, Esq., Honorary Secretary. Of these, Mr. Booth, Captain Duncan, and Captain Bowles were appointed Trustees. The services and influence of Sir George Cockburn, which had been so beneficially employed in aid of the expedition, were soon lost to the Committee, in consequence of his appointment to the command on the West India station. But his place was condescendingly supplied by his Royal Highness, the Duke of Sussex, who was pleased to become Vice Patron and Chairman. Mr. George Ross also having resigned his situation as honorary secretary, and turned his attention to the object of getting up an expedition by sea for the same benevolent purpose, his place was taken by Robert McCulloch, Esq., a cousin of Captain Ross, and thus not less interested in the success of the scheme than Mr. Ross himself. It was gratifying to observe, in the rapid accumulation of our funds, the liveliness of the public sympathy in this disinterested project. No obstacle, therefore, was to be anticipated from want of means, and the preparations went on with increased confidence. In furtherance of the communications which were made by Dr. Richardson, the Governor and Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company had already despatched directions to their agents in America, apprising them that such an expedition might be expected in the following spring, and directing the necessary preparations to be made for it; and now, besides generously placing at our disposal 120 bags of pemmican, two boats and two canoes, these gentlemen suggested, with equal liberality and considerateness, the expediency of taking it under the especial protection of the Company, by issuing a commission under their seal to me as its Commander. Gladly, as may be supposed, did I avail myself of so important an offer, well knowing, from past experience, that the co-operation of all parties throughout their extensive territory would by this means be effectually secured. The expedition was to consist of two officers and eighteen men; part of whom, including two good boat carpenters, were to be engaged in this country, and part in Canada,-men who should be inured to fatigue, and well accustomed to the duties they would have to perform. From Montreal it was proposed that the ordinary route of the fur traders should be followed by the Ottawa, French River, the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, &c. to Great Slave Lake; from whence Indians were to be employed as guides and hunters to accompany the party to the banks of the Thlew-ee-choh-desseth, or Great Fish River, which, according to the testimony of the Indians, lay to the eastward of the Lake, and might be approached by an intervening chain of smaller lakes and portages. The winter residence, for which, from a reference to Hearne's Journey, it seemed so well adapted, was to be there established; and in the mean while a detachment of eight men, well armed, was to proceed in advance with me, without loss of time, to explore the river in a light canoe. As it necessarily flowed through the barren lands which are of nearly equal elevation with the country north. of Fort Enterprise, it was to be expected that its course, like the descent of the Coppermine river, would be interrupted by rapids or cascades; and these the canoe excursion would enable me to survey, so that, on my return to the winter establishment, we might construct boats combining the qualities requisite for both the river and sea navigation. As far, also, as the season would permit, my visit to the sea might give me an opportunity of communicating with the Esquimaux, and obtaining, if not intelligence of Captain Ross, at least much information for the direction of my course the following summer. Having passed the first winter, it was proposed that we should start for the sea the moment the ice broke up; and, if an opinion should prove correct, which I had been led to entertain from an inspection of the maps traced by the Indians, that the mouth of the river lay between the 68th and 69th parallels of latitude, and the 90th and 100th meridians of longitude, we should then be less than three hundred miles from the wreck of the Fury in Regent Inlet. It had formed part of Captain Ross's plan to visit the wreck of the Fury in the first instance, that he might supply himself with coals and such provisions and stores as were available; and to return and winter beside it, if in the course of the summer he should be unable to penetrate to the westward. It was therefore in Regent Inlet that the search for him was most likely to be successful. If, contrary to our hope, no traces of Captain Ross should be discovered on arriving at the wreck of the Fury, and the season should be far advanced, it would be necessary for us to retrace our way to winter quarters; and, in so doing, we should embrace every opportunity of erecting land-marks and signal posts, to arrest the attention of the wanderers to the notes deposited beneath, detailing the position of our abode, and the means adopted for their relief. On the disruption of the ice in the following spring, the expedition would again be on the shores of the Polar Sea, and its researches would be resumed in a different direction from that previously taken. Every Esquimaux hut would then be minutely inspected, in the hope of finding some token of the fate of our countrymen; and the gratification which the promoters of the expedition would experience, should even a single British seaman be rescued from his melancholy fate by their means, every one felt would amply repay our utmost exertions. While, even if no such happy fortune should attend our researches, the geographical knowledge that must be obtained, and the scientific information resulting from a course leading nearly over one of the Magnetic Poles, would, it was hoped, tend to console them. Such was the outline of the plan to be followed, as regarded the humane and principal object of our search; and in the event of that being rendered nugatory by the almost unlooked for return of Captain Ross and his gallant companions, or by any obstacle preventing the progress of the expedition in the |