FATE OF THE FRANKLIN ARTIC EXPEDITION.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1396, 13 January 1860, Page 5

FATE OF THE FRANKLIN ARTIC EXPEDITION.

[Concluded from our last. ] .-, .-., delf-ware, hoops of marine's water-bottle, smal iron hoops, fragments of white line, spunyarn canvass and twine, three small canvass tents under which lay bearskin, blankets, and frag ments of blankets, two blanket frocks, severa old mits, stockings, gloves, pilot cloths,, and bdJ cloth jackets and trousers, large shot piece o tobacco and broken pipe, metal part of powde case, top of tin canister, marked cheese, pre served potato tin, feathers of ptarmigan, an< salt meat bones. , Seen near Cape Maria Louisa.. Part of a drift tree, white spruce fir, 18 fee long, 10 inches in diameter; it Appeared t( have but recently (i.e., ,si nee thrown on th( coast) been sawed longitudinally down tbe cen tre, and one half of it removed. Belies obtained from the Boothian Esquimaux : near the Magnetic Pole, in March and April 1859. ■ :i •; i : Seven knives made by the natives out of ma terials obtained from the last Expedition, on< knife without a handle, one spear-head am staff, (the latter has broken off;) two files, larg spoon or scoop, the handle of pine or bone, tb bowl of musk ox born, six silver spoons an< forks, the property of Sir John Franklin, Lieu tenants H. de Vescorate and Fairholme, A M'Donald, assistant surgeon, and Lieutenan E. Couch, (sapposed from the initial letter 1 and crest a lion's head,) a small portion of i gold watch chain a broken pieca ornament* work, apparently silver gilt, a few email, naya and other metal buttons, a silver medal obtained by Mr. M'Donald as a prize for superior attain menu at a medical examination in Edinburg April, 1838, some bows and arrows in whici wood, iron, or copped has beeu used in the con struction— of no other interest Remarks upon these Articles. The spear-staff measures 6 feet 3 inches ii length, and appears to have been part of a )ig> boat sail ; it mestjped (before being partial! rounded to adapt it to its present : use) aboii H by If inches, is made of English oak and upon the side has been painted whit over green. The spear-head is of Stee rivetted to two pieces of hoop, with bone be tween and lashed on to the ■taff. The rivet are of copper nails. The native who soli it said he himself got it from the boat in th Fish River. Another spear of the same kin< was seen. Tbe knive3 are made either of iroi or steel, rivetted to two strips of hoop, betweei which the handle of wood is inserted, and rivet passed through, securing them together. Th rivets are almost all made out of copper nails such as would be found in a coppeHastene* boat ; but those which have been examined d< not bear the Government mark. It is probabl that most of the boats of the Erebus and Teiro were built by contract, aud, therefore, Wouh not have the broad arrow stamped upon thei iron and copper work. One small knife appear to have been a surgical instrument. A latgi knife obtained in April, bears some, martini such as a sword or cutlass might have. Tto man who sold it said he bought it for another who picked it up on the land where the shii was driven ashore by the ice, and where th white people had thrown it away, it was thei about as long as bis arm. This, was the firs information he received of one ol the shin having drifted on shore. One knife and on file was stamped on the broad arrow. Thi handles are variously composed of oak, ash pint, mahogany, elm and bone. The. spoon and forks were readily, sold for a few needle each, also the buttons, which they wore as or naments on their dresses. Bows and arrow were readily exchanged for knives. -Previous! to the stranding on the neighbouring shore, o the last expedition, thesa people must bav< been almost destitute of wood or iron. Sam of them had even got only bone knives, spea points. Some of their sledges weira seen con sißting «f two rolls of sealskin, flattened am frozen to serve as runners, and connected to gether by cross-bars of bones. Many mon knives, bone, and buttons, similar to thos brought away, might bare been obtained, bu no personal or important relics. Seen ip a snow 'hut in lat 71 deg* N. jSlOtl April, 1859, not brought away. The wooden shovels one of them made 6 mahogany board, some spear handles, and i bow of English wood a deal case, which migh have served for a telescope or barometer. ■' Ij external dimensions were :— Length, 3 ft. 1 in depth 3fr iuclaes ; width, » in ; two brass, binjre remained attached to it Relics obtained from the Esquimaux net ?X No T rt ?n, upon the East Coast of Kin. William Island, in May, 1859. * Two table spoons, upon one i* scratch* WW t on the other WG ; these bear the Franklii crest; two table folks, one bearing the Franklii crest ? the other is also crested, probably Capt Croaiws, silversmith's name is I. West* tiw teaspoons, one engraved A. M. D. (A. ATDoa aid,) the other bears the Fairholme crest an< motto ; handle of a dessert knife, into whic had been inserted a razor, (since broken off) b Millikio, Strand ; buttons, wood, and iron wer here iff ibandance, but as enough of these ha already been obtained no more were purchased Taken oat of some deserted huts (snow) nem here, some scraps of different kinds of woo< such as could not be obtained from a boat teak, or African oak. Found lying about th< skeleton, nine rules eastward of Cape Hersehe May, 1859:-The tie of black silk handkerchie fragments of a double-breasted blue clo waistcoat, with covered silk buttons, and edge< with braid ; a scrap of a coloured cotton shirt, silk covered buttons of blue, cloth great coat i small clothes brush, a horn pocket comb/ a leather pocket book, which fell to pieces when thawed and dried ; it contained nine or ten letters, a few leaves, apparently blank. A sixpence, dated 183], and a half sovereign, dated 1844. From beside an Esquimaux stone marlc. on the east side of Montteal Island.— Part o a preserved meat tin, pointed red* Part of the rim of some strong copper case or vessel : pieces of iron hoop, two nieces of flat iron, aniroa hook bolt, a piece of sheet copper. Article! seen amongst the natives at Cape Norton, no purchased.r-Bows made of wood, knives, unti tortn, and plain buttons, a sledge made of two pieces of hard wood. Articles seen about -a? snow hut, near Point Eooth, not' purchased € fcight or ten fir poles, varying from 5 feet to W feet in length, the shortest being 2* inches iii diameter. Two wooden saow shoes about » feet long, and made of pieces of,, plank paintS white or pale yellow; it occurred to mo thS the pieces of plank might have been the boS boards of a boat. There was " wood fashioned mto smaller articles ■