The whole coast has been explored by Sir John Franklin, Sir John Richardson, and Sir George Back, who have earned their knighthoods through great peril.

As we pass Coronation Gulf--the scene of Franklin, Richardson, and Back's first exploration from the Coppermine River--we revert to the romantic story of their journey back, over a land of snow and frost, subsisting upon lichens, with companions starved to death, where they plucked wild leaves for tea, and ate their shoes for supper; the tragedy by the river; the murder of poor Hood, with a book of prayers in his hand; Franklin at Fort Enterprise, with two companions at the point of death, himself gaunt, hollow-eyed, feeding on pounded bones, raked from the dunghill; the arrival of Dr.Richardson and the brave sailor; their awful story of the cannibal Michel;--we revert to these things with a shudder.

But we must continue on our route.

The current still flows westward, bearing now large quantities of driftwood out of the Mackenzie River.

At the name of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, also, we might pause, and talk over the bold achievements of another Arctic hero; but we pass on, by a rugged and inhospitable coast, unfit for vessels of large draught--pass the broad mouth of the Youcon, pass Point Barrow, Icy Cape, and are in Behring Strait.