"But time enough has been taken now. You see, Bernard, I am going to make a great sacrifice of income on your behalf.". "But I do like her; only I have a sort of | If I knew that this matter between you and Bell feeling that these things grow best by degrees. was arranged, I should have reason to feel satisI quite share your dislike to being in a hur-fied with what I was doing." From all which ry." Bernard began to perceive that poor Crosbie's expectations in the matter of money would not probably receive much gratification. But he also perceived, or thought that he perceived, a kind of threat in this warning from his uncle. "I have promised you eight hundred a year with your wife," the warning seemed to say. "But if you do not at once accept it, or let me feel that it will be accepted, it may be well for me to change my mind, especially as this other niece "I'm sure I am very grateful." "I have no children, and have therefore always regarded you as my own. But there is no reason why my brother Philip's daughter should not be as dear to me as my brother Orlando's son." "Of course not, Sir; or, rather, his two is about to be married. If I am to give you so daughters." "You may leave that matter to me, Bernard. The younger girl is going to marry this friend of yours, and as he has a sufficient income to support a wife, I think that my sister-in-law has good reason to be satisfied by the match. She will not be expected to give up any part of her small income, as she must have done had Lily married a poor man." "I suppose she could hardly give up much." "People must be guided by circumstances. I am not disposed to put myself in the place of a parent to them both. There is no reason why I should, and I will not encourage false hopes. large a fortune with Bell, I need do nothing for Lily. But if you do not choose to take Bell and the fortune, why then-" And so on. It was thus that Bernard read his uncle's caution, as they walked together on the broad gravel path. "I have no desire to postpone the matter any longer," said Bernard. "I will propose to Bell at once, if you wish it." And then, having thus arranged that matter. they received their future relative with kind smiles and soft words. AUTUMN. Close at our feet the brook slid down, A lock of hair; a ring; a flower- Like one who in a pensive dream The whispered vow-the lingering kiss- O fire that paints the autumn leaf— Ah! soon these groves shall lose their glow; Shall leave the branches bleak and bare. ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. HE return of Mr. Hall awakens an interest ready made public through the press, may not be inappropriately given here. persons are well aware that, for some Tin the almost forgotten Arctic Expeditions, hundred years past, it was the great hope of com mercial and scientific men that a shorter route to the golden land of Cathay could be found than the one discovered by Vasco de Gama to India by the "Cape of Good Hope." Old voy It is true that many years have elapsed since the last great effort to discover a passage round America, by sea, was made by Franklin and his brave followers-all, as is alleged, perishing in the attempt; but no length of time can obliter-agers asserted that such a passage was to be dis ate the important facts gained in connection with the subject. The heroic deeds of men who periled life in the cause of science-of a science that was to prove beneficial to the whole world by the knowledge obtained of magnetism and electricity-and the unceasing perseverance of those same men in the cause of humanity amidst the wilds of that sterile region, are fully equal to the bravest acts of bold warriors on the battlefield. An instance of this, and a good illustration of what may be done by one determined and practical mind-even with slender meansis now seen in the undertaking of Mr. Hall. He has done much, though not all of what he proposed. He has given another proof of what the American spirit (and, when unfettered, the British also) is capable of performing; and he has shown to all acquainted with Arctic exploration what could have been accomplished by the English Government in saving the lost Polar Expedition, if the usual system of official blindness | to plain truths and to common-sense reasoning colony about the same date. had not prevailed. covered round the northern coasts of America. likely some of the earlier Spanish navigators Whatever may be the honor or reward he is to receive at the hands of his countrymen, when this fearful strife of war allows some attention One of the first efforts, however, made to find to the subject, assuredly he is also entitled to this passage was that under Martin Frobisher, admiration and esteem elsewhere. In the Old a brave admiral in the navy of Queen ElizaWorld there were many who looked upon his beth. He with three vessels--one of only 25 bold attempt as rash in the extreme, forgetting, tons burden, and the others not over sixty each as was often urged by myself and a few others, left England on the 11th of July, 1576. As that it is a peculiar trait of the American char-his small craft passed Greenwich on their adacter to accomplish great things by individual efforts. This was forgotten when speaking of Mr. Hall's undertaking as too rash, no matter how well it was planned, nor how much it was really in most accordance with the only mode of getting nearest at the truth by mixing freely with the native tribes. But while this was said of him, it was also added that the nobleness of his aim, the humanity of his views, and the disinterestedness of his labors in a cause abandoned every where, save by a few, called for the sincere respect and admiration of all true men. venturous errand the Queen stood on the terrace, and, waving her kerchief, bade them "Godspeed." On they went, ill-supplied, ill-fitted to encounter the dangers of Arctic navigation if compared with exploring vessels nowadays, and utterly ignorant of the way, except from report and such aid as geographical science always has been able to impart. Sighting the east coast of Greenland, and then driven by gales of wind to the southwest, Frobisher finally reached the latitude of 63 in the Straits now bearing his name. He here attempted to establish a colony. He went forth, aided, it is understood, by one Five men were left behind by accident, and in this city, who has always generously given though the place was again supposed to have heart and soul and purse to every effort made been visited, yet the fate of these men, and the by his countrymen to seek for tidings of the lost remains of the colony, were undiscovered till, as British voyagers. He went, and for more than now appears, Mr. Hall arrived there. Frobisher two years nothing was heard from him. At returned to England with specimens which were length a report came that he had returned, and taken for gold, and the result was that several in August last he once more landed on his na-expeditions were thenceforward sent out for tive soil. What he went to do, how he did it, the double purpose of discovery and speculation. and what he accomplished, will best be told by It would be needless to mention all of these inhimself in the work which no doubt he intends dividually. Their deeds-their privations and publishing. But some account of those labors sufferings-have been chronicled by that quaint preceding his, with such information he has al-historian Purchas. VOL. XXV.-No. 150.-3 G But it is necessary to speak of one or two voyages made at this period for discovering a Northwest Passage. Baffin, in 1594, succeeded in traversing along the now desolated shores of Greenland as far north as 77°. Then turning round, what he supposed to be a Sound (named Smith's Sound, but since proved by the lamented Dr. Kane and his companions to be a large channel), he took the western coast, and, after the most successful voyage as yet then performed, returned in safety to England. He did not positively discover the passage sought for, but undoubtedly he pointed out the right course; for Lancaster Sound, the direct road to it, was entered by his ship, and all the places he visited have since been proved as leading channels in that direction. Indeed there is very strong reason to believe that he went down Regent's Inlet, and came out either through Hudson Strait or some passage north of it. Fox, in a small vessel of only 22 tons, next went up Hudson Bay, previously discovered by that brave explorer who gave his name to the noble river flowing past this city. But Fox merely reached the head of the bay and returned. Had he gone a little further the opening since discovered by Parry would have been found, and his labors better rewarded. Captain James then made the attempt, but endured most fearful sufferings, and so with many more who ventured. At length, in 1668, a charter was granted to a company of traders with the understanding that, while engaged in collecting furs and settling the lands around Hudson Bay, the discovery of a Northwest Passage was to be persevered in by them. To accomplish this they, at different times, made sundry slight efforts, but with no success. Trading-posts were established at several places, and soon a lucrative barter was carried on with the natives, who suffered the Europeans thus to invade their homes without molestation. In 1771, however, Hearne, one of their officers, went alone - that is, with only native guides and traced a river (since called the Coppermine) to the sea, on the north coast of America. A few years later Mackenzie succeeded in following a noble stream (now the Mackenzie River) to the same open sea, both discoveries being in the latitude of 70°, but 300 miles apart. This created some slight interest again at home, and an attempt was made to reach the Pole by sending two ships directly northward. In one of those ships, Nelson, then a boy, sailed as midshipman, and thus in his early career had some experience of Arctic adventure. Both ships came back unsuccessful. Cook meanwhile had, on one of his memorable voyages, penetrated through the Straits dividing Asia from America (discovered by Behring, a Russian navigator, and named after him), and succeeded in reaching "Icy Cape," the northwestern extreme of this great continent. His wish was to have sailed on to the eastward for home, but the sea was too much frozen over to permit him. He therefore returned south, and for a short time all idea of exploring in that direction was abandoned. At length, in the beginning of the present century, the late Sir John Barrow (then Secretary of the Admiralty), who himself had been to Spitzbergen, turned his attention to the subject. He conceived that a passage to the northwest could be found, and if discovered would prove commercially as well as scientifically useful to the world. Accordingly he induced the British Government once more to send out an expedition for the purpose. Four ships were dispatched in 1818, two to proceed due north for the Pole, and two to the northwest through Baffin Bay. The former were under the command of Captain Buchan, having Franklin (then a lieutenant) as his second: the latter were under the leadership of Captain John Ross, with Lieutenant Parry next to him. It is singular that in the history of these Arctic expeditions we find the "seconds in command" ultimately, and often rapidly, rising above their chiefs, and in several instances gaining a world-wide reputation far greater than any obtained by their former commanders. Who now remembers Buchan as the superior of Franklin? Who thinks of Ross as formerly Parry's chief? Parry, Franklin, and again, more lately, Sherard Osborne, once junior to Austin, to Belcher, and other officers on the British side, and Kane on this, stand noted in the world's history as connected with Arctic affairs. In reviewing these Polar expeditions this fact appears very prominent, and may be accounted for by remembering that a first voyage sometimes fails, and a leader then gets discredit; but a second attempt, with the known experience of the first, often produces success. Thus in the case of Captain Ross and Captain Buchan. The latter had to return wholly barren of results: the former made the tour of Baf fin Bay, went over that old voyager's ground, and found his statements correct; then crossing to Lancaster Sound, here made the great mistake which so long afterward hung upon his fame. He asserted that a range of mountains ran across that very passage, which has since proved the highway westward as desired. He returned to England and reported that no Northwest Passage could be found. But it soon leaked out that Parry differed from this view of the question, and, in fact, openly asserted that no such mountains as Ross had fancied he saw existed. Government therefore gave him an opportunity of testing this question, and the next year he was dispatched with two ships to renew the attempt. Every one is tolerably well aware of his success. Lancaster Sound was perfectly clear of all impediment, and the adventurous explorers passed along with flowing sail into the mysterious regions of the then unknown icy sea. Places that are now familiar to most geographers were rapidly discovered and named. Wellington Channel on the right, Prince Regent's Inlet on the left, Somerset Land on the south, Corn wallis Island on the north, and, lastly, Mel- every means to sustain life? The searching for ville Island in the west, were prominent among bones thrown away on the outward trip, and boilmany other spots of interest to the Arctic nav-ing those bones down to see if any nourishment igator now. At the latter place winter had to could be extracted from them! The eating of be prepared for. It was the first ever passed by tripe de roche (a sort of moss), which, when cookmodern explorers in that frozen region. Yet it ed, produces a jelly-like substance, acrid to the went over remarkably well. The tact, the judg- taste, bitter inside, and hurtful to digestion, yet ment, the kindness of manner shown, and the some relief to a famished appetite. The gnawwise precautions taken by Parry, carried his ing of leather belts and shoes, until, at last, it crews through the severity of an Arctic winter was hardly safe to leave an article in the way without any loss of even small importance. of those less master of themselves than the rest. The cooking and eating of raw furs gathered at the different vacated winter stations at which they arrived on the way. The voracity with which any sort of food the kind Indians procured for them would be devoured. All this, and much more that could be related, who that reads works of travel or adventure that knows it not? Or, still more, who that is American and of America that has not read or heard all the terrible sufferings endured by the lamented Kane and his companions, as chronicled so well by himself, and then again in that excellent narrative of Arctic life and privations, so minute, so faithfully written, "Hayes's Arctic Boat Journey?" Thus, then, let us hurriedly pass on. leave the tale of want and misery Franklin and his companions then endured, to rapidly sketch out what followed. The following spring fresh attempts were made to penetrate further on, but it was found that the ice between Melville Island and some land, called Bank's Land, seen in the southwest, was so heavy as to make passage in that direction then impossible. Accordingly, having done more than any previous voyager before him, and having reached the meridian of 110° west, one of the positions marked as that to be attained, and for which a reward was given, he returned. The nation was rejoiced at his success, and the spirit of discovery became thoroughly awakened. Franklin had been sent overland through British North America to try and effect a junction with Parry somewhere about that open sea discovered by Hearne and Mackenzie, as it was a part of Parry's instructions to try and get there. Franklin, however, had not returned; and Parry therefore now solicited permission to renew his attempt. It was granted; and this time he took the route of Hudson Bay, supposing it probable that some opening toward the west existed beyond the farthest of Fox's or the Fur Company's discoveries. He was right. A passage was found; and it is still a question as to whether such passage could not have been made practicable for going on to the west had the time when it was discovered been earlier in the season. Parry remained in the neighborhood of his new discoveries for two winters, establishing friendly intercourse with the Esquimaux, and leaving behind him the most favorable impressions concerning our people. Attention is called to it simply to illustrate some remarks presently to be made on the subject of the new discoveries. Upon Parry's return again to England fresh honors and rewards awaited him and his companions. Franklin also had just returned, after undergoing one of the most terrible ordeals that man can be subjected to, viz.: slow and lingering starvation. On his journey overland he, and Richardson, and Back, and the brave sailor-attendant Hepburn, with their companions, suffered hardships almost incredible. They reached the Arctic Sea and traversed its shores to some little distance, then finding it impossible to proceed any further began their return. And it was on this return journey those severe privations were endured. Who has not read the touching history of this first Arctic land journey penned by Franklin's own hands?. Who has not shuddered at the recital of days and days of hunger, compelling a resort to almost any and Let us Franklin, despite the wretchedness of the past, went again with nearly all the same companions. This time he was more successful. He and Richardson traced the coast for a great distance, and with what Captain Beechey was doing near Cook's farthest, established the fact that a water communication actually did exist along the northern face of Arctic America, except so far as a small space on the east was eoncerned that had not been explored. The result was, that, as Parry had previously found a way to Melville Island in a few degrees higher latitude, and Franklin this water communication along the coast, it only needed the discovery of some channel between the two to complete the long-sought-for Northwest Passage. It was about this time (1825) that Parry's third Voyage of Discovery was made. He now went down Regent's Inlet, hoping to reach the coast in that direction. But here he met his first mishap. One of his vessels, the Fury, was pressed by ice on the shore and wrecked. Her stores and every thing valuable were saved, and made into a large dépôt, so that any future voyagers or whaling ships meeting with disaster might find relief. The place where these stores were landed was called Fury Beach, and, in connection with the Lost Polar Expedition, has become a spot of great importance. Parry returned to England, and afterward made an effort to reach the North Pole, but could get no farther than 814° latitude. Two or three years afterward Captain John Ross, feeling hurt at the failure he had made in 1818, now tried to go out again. Government, however, declined to encourage him. Whereupon a private individual, Mr. Felix Booth, Along the whole coast of Arctic America, except at and about Boothia Isthmus, a water communication had been found. Northward of that was Parry's route to Melville Island, overlapping the one below. Thus it needed but a link between the two to complete the whole. Was there land or water intercepting? Franklin was directed to ascertain. He was told to make for the northwest corner of Somerset Land, at a place named by Parry Cape Walker, and thence furnished the means. He went in 1829 (ac- | Passage prior to Franklin's last and fatal voyage, companied by his nephew, J. C. Ross, and a let us glance at the knowledge obtained to that chosen crew), in a vessel called the Victory. period. Their course lay down Regent's Inlet toward the American coast. Prosperously they reached the lower part of the Inlet, discovering new land, which was named Boothia in honor of his patron. The first winter gave them no uneasiness, though the cold was great in the extreme. The following spring, journeys on shore were made, and during one of them, through the aid of friendly Esquimaux, the western water communication was reached by crossing an isthmus having numerous lakes and channels intersect-penetrate, if possible, southwest toward that waing it. The lakes abounded in salmon, hot springs were discovered, and one river called the Saumerez was found not to freeze during winter. For three years was Ross and his party frozen in. During the second summer J. C. Ross discovered the Magnetic Pole and King William's Land. The third summer preparations were made for abandoning the ship. It was done, and the whole party dragging their boats with provisions on sledges, proceeded on their way back to Lancaster Sound. At Fury Beach dépôt (which proved the means of saving them from starving) they remained the fourth winter, and finally succeeded in reaching one of the whale-ships, which picked them up and took them back to England. A singularity attending this rescue was as follows: When Ross commanded the first expedition of 1818 his ship was called the Isabella. She was afterward sold for a whaler, and this was the very vessel that now saved him and his crew. The long time Ross had been away led to a belief of his being frozen in and needing help. Accordingly Back and Dr. King volunteered, with a party, to seek him. They proceeded down the "Great Fish River" and explored part of the coast, when a native messenger came and brought news of Ross's return. The circumstance is mentioned because of the importance now attached to this river in connection with Franklin and his men. In addition to the discoveries made by Back and King, a boat party under Dease and Simpson traced the remaining part of the coast, and fully established the fact of a navigable water communication right along, except a doubtful part more to the east and just below Boothia Isthmus. This part they considered to be water, and certainly the geographical formation of the whole coast would seem to warrant such an idea; but Dr. Rae, who, in 1844, when exploring for the Fur Company, went over the locality, asserts the contrary. Nevertheless, in 1845, the time when Franklin left England, this part was a blank upon the charts, and he, with his officers, went away with the impression that it was an open passage. This fact bears very strongly upon whatever has been, or may yet be, done to ascertain the truth about their still mysterious fate. And now, having given a rapid sketch of the various efforts made to discover the Northwest ter communication he had seen. Failing in that, he might turn back and try Wellington Channel. But discretionary powers were given him, and whatever would lead to the great object in view was to be attempted. Geographical knowledge, however, was not the only thing to be sought for. Science, and especially every fact connected with magnetism, was part of their particular duty. "Daily observations with the valuable instruments and portable observatory put on board" were to be made, for, said the Government, "such observations are especially important to us now." Picked officers and men formed his crew. The writer of this was himself a volunteer, but had not interest enough to be appointed, when, as he was told, the ships might almost have been manned by officers alone who wished to go. Among those officers were men who had been more than once and twice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Crozier, next to Franklin in command, had not long returned from a four-years' cruise in the extreme south. Fitzjames, Graham Gore, and many others, were all tried men. Fitzjames had the especial charge of magnetical observations, and always sought for an opportunity to make them. Thus it is certain that, if the ships got near the Magnetic Pole, many valuable observations would be made. We know the ships did get there, and therefore these observations were attended to, and may yet be found in the records of them undoubtedly kept. But there was another part of the Arctic regions to which at that time some importance was attached. On the east of Boothia manypersons thought a channel could be found; and as the Hudson Bay Company had settlements well up in that direction, and the fishing grounds of whalers were not far away, it certainly ap peared very desirable for the place not to be neglected. Indeed Franklin's first idea was to try in that quarter, but he gave it up for the more northern route. One more circumstance has yet to be mentioned in connection with what we are now introducing. In 1833 an English whaler visited the neighborhood of Frobisher Straits, and brought away an Esquimaux called Eenoolooapick. This young man was taken to Scotland, rapidly acquired a knowledge of civilized life, and returned to his native land. The surgeon of the ship (Mr. Macdonald) was with him on both voyages, |