at time only three days' stores of pemmican remained,
and it was only with the greatest difficulty, and by subsisting
on lichens and scraps of roasted leather, that they managed to
return to their base of operations at Fort Enterprise. Four years
later, in 1825, Franklin set out on another exploring expedition
with the same object, starting this time from the mouth of the
Mackenzie river, and despatching one of his companions, Richardson,
to connect the coast between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine; while
he himself proceeded westward to meet the Blossom, which, under
Captain Beechey, had been despatched to Behring Strait to bring his
party back. Richardson was entirely successful in examining the
coast-line between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine; but Beechey,
though he succeeded in rounding Icy Cape and tracing the coast as
far as Point Barrow, did not come up to Franklin, who had only
got within 160 miles at Return Reef. These 160 miles, as well as
the 222 miles intervening between Cape Turn-again, Franklin's
easternmost point by land, and Cape Franklin, J. C. Ross's most
westerly point, were afterwards filled in by T. Simpson in 1837,
after a coasting voyage in boats of 1408 miles, which stands as a
record even to this day. Meanwhile the Great Fish River had been
discovered and followed to its mouth by C. J. Back in 1833. During
the voyage down the river, an oar broke while the boat was shooting
a rapid, and one of the party commenced praying in a loud voice;
whereupon the leader called out: "Is this a time for praying? Pull
your starboard oar!"

Meanwhile, interest had been excited rather more towards the South
Pole, and the land of which Cook had found traces in his search
for the fabled Australian continent surrounding it. He had reached
as far south as 71.10 deg., when he was brought up by the great ice
barrier. In 1820-23 Weddell visited the South Shetlands, south of
Cape Horn, and found an active volcano, even amidst the extreme
cold of that district. He reached as far south as 74 deg., but failed
to come across land in that district. In 1839 Bellany discovered
the islands named after him, with a volcano twelve thousand feet
high, and another still active on Buckle Island. In 1839 a French
expedition under Dumont d'Urville again visited and explored the
South Shetlands; while, in the following year, Captain Wilkes, of
the United States navy, discovered the land named after him. But
the most remarkable disc