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 and naturalist to the expedition, and also by three of his former companions.

The reception of this little party at New York was of the most gratifying description – a compliment to themselves, to science, and to philanthropy. The Government of the United States honoured itself by refusing to receive the duties on the transit of the articles brought by the expedition through its territories; the directors of the Hudson River Steamboat Association tendered a vessel for their conveyance to Albany; and many were the letters addressed to Commander Back from different parts of the Union, expressive of the interest which the writers took in the fate of the expedition. On the 29th March Commander Back and Mr. King partook of a dejeuné à la fourchette given by the British Consul at New York, on which occasion there were present a numerous assemblage of gentlemen of that mercantile metropolis. On the 9th of April, they arrived at Montreal, and were there joined by four volunteers from the brigade of artillery quartered in that town. They took their departure from thence on the 25th April, and during the summer of 1833, reached to about 109 miles from Bathurst’s Inlet. On the 25th April, 1834, a packet from the “Managing Committee of the Arctic Land Expedition,” intimating the safe return of Captain Ross and his party, and directing him to confine himself for the future to an exploration of the territory for scientific purposes, reached Commander Back, who was then preparing to depart from his winter quarters. Fort Reliance, at the east end of Great Slave Lake. Previous to the receipt of this intelligence, he had written to the Geographical Society as follows:–

“We have had a most distressing winter in this more than Siberian solitude, where desolation reigns in unbroken repose. Even the animals have fled from us, as it were by instinct, and many, very many, of the unhappy natives have fallen victims to famine in situations the most revolting to human nature. The fish also, on which I in some measure relied, left us; in places which we were told never before failed we have not caught a fish; and during the whole season scarcely a living creature has been seen, except on one occasion a raven, which, in wheeling over the house, startled me with his croak, so uniform was the silence around