The surgeon, naturalist and Arctic explorer Sir John Richardson (1787–1865) was a lifelong friend to his former commander Sir John Franklin, with whom he had twice travelled to seek the North-West Passage. Following two years of silence from Franklin after he embarked on his 1845 expedition to the Arctic, Richardson set out on his own voyage in the hope of finding his comrade. Originally published in 1851, this two-volume work charts the journey which would inevitably fail in its ambition: Franklin, unknown to Richardson, had already died in June 1847. Volume 1 depicts the journey to Fort Confidence in the Canadian Arctic, ending with detailed descriptions of the aboriginal Inuit and Gwich'in peoples encountered. Volume 2 begins with detailed descriptions of the Chipewyan and Cree peoples. A thorough appendix comprises observations on physical geography, climatology and the geographical distribution of plants, and includes vocabularies for the dialects encountered.
Contents
Volume 1. 1. Route assigned to the expedition under command of Sir John Franklin; 2. Overland searching expedition; 3. Pine Island Lake; 4. Clear-Water River; 5. Pyrogenous rocks; 6. Rock by the river's side; 7. Peregrine falcon; 8. Enter the estuary of the Mackenzie; 9. Voyage continued along the coast; 10. Preparing for the march; 11. On the Eskimos or Inuit; 12. On the Kutchin or Loucheux. Volume 2. 13. Of the 'Tinnè or Chepewyans; 14. Eythinyuwuk, or Crees and Chippeways; 15. Occurrences in winter; 16. Mr Rae's expedition in the summer of 1849; Appendices: 1. Physical geography; 2. Climatology; 3. On the geographical distribution of plants north of the 49th parallel of latitude; 4. List of insects; 5. Vocabularies; Explanation of plates; Postscript.
Printer friendly version