agreeable to our persons; the skin of the hands especially became dry, cracked, and opened into unsightly and smarting gashes, which we were obliged to anoint with grease. On one occasion, after washing my face within three feet of the fire, my hair was actually clotted with ice, before I had time to dry it. From these facts some idea may, perhaps, be formed of the excessive cold. It seemed to have driven all living things from us: we had been accustomed to see a few white partridges about; but even these, hardy as they are, had disappeared. Once, indeed, a solitary raven, whose croak made me run out to look at him, swept round the house, but immediately winged his flight to the westward. Nothing but the passing wind broke the awful solitude of this barren and desolate spot."

It would appear that when famishing, the Indians are not proof against the temptation to allay their hunger with human flesh; for there is no reasoning with persons reduced to such extremities, be they savages or civilized. It required therefore considerate conduct, when surrounded by tribes so sorely pressed. Captain Back and his companions were not, however, always annoyed by such visiters. On the 25th of April, when conversing, for the hundredth time, of certain kind persons who had gone far to see the party, they were interrupted by a sharp and loud knock at the door.

"The permission to come in was unnecessary, for the person followed the announcement before the words could be uttered, and with the same despatch thrust into my hands a packet, which a glance sufficed to tell me was from England. He is returned, sir!' said the messenger, as we looked at him with surprise. What! Augustus-thank God!" I replied, quickly. Captain Ross, sir-Captain Ross is returned.' Eh! are you quite sure? is there no error? where is the account from?' The man paused, looked at me, and pointing with his finger, said, You have it in your hand, sir.' It was so; but the packet had been forgotten in the excitement and hurry of my feelings. Two open extracts from the Times and Morning Herald confirmed the tidings; and my official letter, with others from the long-lost adventurers themselves-from Capt. Maconochie, Mr. Garry, Governor Simpson, and many other friends, English and American, removed all possible doubt, and evinced, at the same time, the powerful interest which the event had awakened in the public, by a great proportion of whom the party had long since been numbered among the dead. To me the intelligence was peculiarly gratifying, not only as verifying my previously expressed opinions, but as demonstrating the wisdom as well as the humanity of the course pursued by the promoters of our expedition, who had thereby rescued the British nation from an imputation of indifference which it was far indeed from meriting. In the fulness of our hearts, we assembled together, aud humbly offered up our thanks to that merciful Providence, which in the language of Scripture hath said, Mine own will I bring again, as I did sometime from the deeps of the sea.' The thought of so wonderful a preservation overpowered for a time the coin. mon occurrences of life. We had but just sat down to breakfast; but our appetite was gone, and the day was passed in a feverish state of excite. ment. Seldom, indeed, did my friend Mr. King or I indulge in a libation, but on this joyful occasion economy was forgotten; a treat was given to

the men, and for ourselves, the social sympathies were quickened by a generous bowl of punch."

On the 5th of June, Captain Back left his winter habitation, and proceeded to the Great Fish River, encountering severe hardships from the nature of the country, from climate, and hunger. About the middle of July, the party had gone down the stream so far, that it had become as broad as the Thames at Westminster Bridge, but not so smooth.

Bending short round to the left, and in a comparatively contracted channel, the whole force of the water glided smoothly but irresistibly towards two stupendous gneiss rocks, from five to eight hundred feet high, rising like islands on either side. Our first care was to secure the boat in a small curve to the left, near which the river disappeared in its descent, sending up showers of spray. We found it was not one fall, as the hollow roar had led us to believe, but a succession of falls and cascades, and whatever else is horrible in such confusion worse confounded.' It expanded to about the breadth of four hundred yards, having near the centre an insulated rock about three hundred feet high, having the same barren and naked appearance as those on each side. From the projection of the main western shore, which concealed the opening, issued another serpentine rapid and fall while to the right there was a strife of surge and rock, the roar of which was heard far and wide. The space occupying the centre from the first descent to the island was full of sunken rocks of unequal heights, over which the rapid foamed, and boiled, and rushed with impetuous and deadly fury. At that part it was raised into an arch; while the sides were yawning and cavernous, swallowing huge masses of ice, and then again tossing the splintered fragments high into the air."

This sublime scenery was at Lake Macdougall, many such sheets of water having been traversed in the course of their descent. By the time the river became a mile broad, traces of the Esquimaux were discovered. The following description accompanies a likeness of one of the tender sex among these extraordinary people.

"The women were much tattooed about the face and the middle and fourth fingers. The only lady whose portrait was sketched was so flattered at being selected for the distinction, that in her fear lest I should not sufficiently see every grace of her good-tempered countenance, she intently watched my eye; and, according to her notion of the part I was pencilling, protruded it, or turned it so as to leave me no excuse for not delineating it in the full proportion of its beauty. Thus, seeing me look at her head, she immediately bent it down; stared portentously when I sketched her eyes; puffed out her cheeks when their turn arrived; and, finally, perceiving that I was touching in the mouth, opened it to the full extent of her jaws, and thrust out the whole length of her tongue. She had six tattooed lines drawn obliquely from the nostrils across each cheek; eighteen from her mouth across her chin and the lower part of the face; ten small ones, branching like a larch tree from the corner of each eye; and eight from the forehead to the centre of the nose between the eyebrows. But. what was most remarkable in her appearance was the oblique position of the eyes; the inner portion of which was considerably depressed, whilst

the other was proportionably elevated. The nostrils were a good deal expanded, and the mouth large. Her hair was jet black, and simply parted in front into two large curls, or rather festoons, which were secured in their places by a fillet of white deer skin twined round the head, whilst the remainder hung loose behind the ears, or flowed not ungracefully over her neck and shoulders. She was the most conspicuous, though they were all of the same family: they were singularly clean in their persons and garments; and, notwithstanding the linear embellishments of their faces, in whose mysterious fingres a mathematician might perhaps have found something to solve or perplex, they possessed a sprightliness which gave them favour in the eyes of my crew, who declared they were a set of bon. nie-looking creatures.'

At last the party, while threading their way between some sandbanks, with a strong current, caught sight of a majestic headland in the extreme distance to the north, which had a coast-like appearance. This promontory was subsequently honoured by receiving the name of Her Royal Highness the Princess Victoria. It was, indeed, the ocean they had arrived at. Here they fixed themselves for some time. The only occurrence which we shall particularly mark as connected with their stay at this place, is thus recorded.

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

Captain Back's eager wish was to proceed from Victoria Headland, hoping to find a passage coast-ways to Point Turnagain. But the weather became inclement; it was altogether impossible to

achieve the great object at heart; and therefore it was necessary to retrace his way, and make homewards-an undertaking itself of extreme toil and difficulty. But we shall not accompany the party on their return, recommending the volume itself to all who are capable of feeling an interest in bold enterprises, manfully pursued, and admirably described. The work exhibits a number of results of a curious as well as valuable character, which were obtained by the expedition, affording strong presumptions, at the same time, that a survey may be made coast-ways, of the space between the Strait of the Fury and Hecla and Cape Turnagain, when the long-agitated problem concerning a north-west passage will be solved.

ART. VI.-A Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts of England, in the Summer of 1835. By SIR GEORGE HEAD. London: Murray. 1836.

THE remark is common enough, that before a man betakes himself to foreign travel, he ought to be familiar with the history and the conditions of the various divisions of his own country. Good taste, sound judgment, and patriotism, enforce such a view and - choice. In an especial manner, it is natural to suppose, that every district in the British dominions will be interesting to an Englishman. Ours is a land which even foreigners regard as matchless in many respects. Surely, then, it must argue that a vitiated spirit sways a native, when he hurries to the continent of Europe or elsewhere, there to spend his money, visit remarkable scenes, or study character and institutions; nay, and perhaps to write a costly book about what he has seen and heard abroad, before having made himself familiar with the great features which distinguish the scenery, the institutions, and the people of his own home. And yet, how many of our fellow-citizens and countrymen fall under the censure thus implied! But we counsel all who may differ from us in this opinion, or who may proceed on the principle of denying honour to a prophet while he is in his own country, and of presuming that everything grows in value and interest according to its distance from home, to read Sir George Head's Tour.

When we first glanced at the title page, we confess, however, that we did not expect a work of the character it possesses. There is something so prosaic in the phrase, "The Manufacturing Districts of England," as it is generally used-something which intimates so much of machinery and the steam-engine-that though several of the most valuable works which have of late appeared, have been exclusively of this business-like character, we did not anticipate that other readers than those who have a taste for trade, merchandise, and financial statements, were likely to find here much

to attract them. But we judged hastily and erroneously. Not only is this "Home Tour" well calculated to impress the reader with a lasting idea of the wealth and the ingenuity of Englishmen, but to show that there is an extraordinary amount of social virtues and domestic happiness, even in the crowded scenes of England's manufacturing power. While Sir George presents this gratifying picture, embracing departments and places which have been too often treated with the dry detail of a political economist, or the forbidding colours of a gloomy spirit, he often contrives to raise the laugh. His sketches possess an admirable freshness, as well as kindliness. He paints with the minuteness of a Dutch artist, and makes you love the subject about which he may be most humorous. In short, an Englishman cannot but think more highly and affectionately of his country, after reading this account of those districts which, times without number, have been described repulsively, or shunned by the admirers of the picturesque.

The author's Tour has much of the character of a ramble-of those random, hasty, or protracted visitings, which a cheerful man of independence, whether as regards business or opinions, ever finds to be most enticing. He is a traveller always ready to fall in with the humour of those he meets with, provided that it be quaint, characteristic, and agreeable; and, wherever fancy or chance may drive him, he is sure to meet with such specimens. Still, the impression conveyed is forcible, that his descriptions are faithful, and that they come exactly as they fell upon his own mind-that mind, however, lending its charitable construction on all occasions to the objects of his observation. Whether it be a stupid fellow falling overboard, and when "jugulo tenus" (up to the neck) who holds on to a plank by a set of red fingers, till pulled up again, to receive an unmerciful scolding from his better half, for performing such an uncalled for manœuvre-or a conceited couple in the same canalboat, the husband being weasel-shaped, the wife little, and the twain smirking and smiling on each other, or gloating with eyes of affection on a baby, by appearance an abortion-nothing but things as they should be or are capable of exciting emotions of kindly feeling appears to Sir George. Nay, the said little ill-conditioned child delighted so much in crying, that it seemed to him happy; and the more it cried, the more its papa's eyes glistened, as he suggested this, that, and t'other thing. He is not a person who ever stands in need of a fellow-traveller upon any uniform principle; neither does it appear that he troubled himself in his late tour by taking to himself such a companion, male or female. And yet, we believe that a more valuable and amusing friend could not, on similar occasions, be found in the three kingdoms-so much does he sympathise with every body and every thing. Thus

"An Irishman can certainly, in common cases, do more with his pig