LITTELL'S LIVING AGE-No. 561.-24 FEB., 1855.

THESE strifes, these tumults of a noisy world, Where Fraud, the coward, tracks his prey by stealth,

And Strength, the ruffian, glories in his guilt,
Oppress the heart with sadness. Oh, my friend,
In what serener mood we look upon
The gloomiest aspects of the elements
Among the woods and fields! Let us awhile,
As the slow wind is rolling up the storm,
In fancy leave this maze of dusty streets,
Forever shaken by the importunate jar
Of commerce, and upon the darkening air
Look from the shelter of our rural home.

intendence of the present Emperor, charged with idea of similarity; but that there was any real the duty of collecting the materials from all resemblance of features, is almost too prepostesources, private as well as public. The archives, rous to deserve serious examination. Was libraries, and other public establishments, as well Shakspeare like Ben Jonson ? Was the outin France as in foreign countries, have already ward favor of the courtly Addison ever confoundfurnished valuable documents. A great numbered with the soldierly bluffness of Dick Steele ? of families and individuals, amateurs and col- To whom, of all his age, was Sam Johnson liklectors of autographs, who possess portions of ened? Bring the question down to the present the correspondence, are also communicating with day, and let us ask Mr. Smith whether he has the commission. This work is to contain, not ever been mistaken for Alfred Tennyson? But only the autograph and dictated letters of the to return: some of Mr. Smith's appreciations are Emperor, but also his proclamations, instructions, undoubtedly very fine. What wit and judgment bulletins, reports, and even the notes which he is there in this sentence upon the poetical dandies wrote upon the margin of important papers sub- of Queen Anne: "Poetry was a sort of scented mitted to him. As a history of the intimate snuff, which they took daintily; they sipped it, existence of the man, such a collection will be like coffee, for its taste; they wore it, like a rainvaluable, and will better serve for an analysis of pier, for its ornament and its point-and many his true character than all the treatises that could of them used it like Tybalt-it was one, two, be written by observers, even the most acute. and the third in your bosom.'" Perhaps there In mentioning these important works, and con- is a little of the Thackeray manner in this-a templating the contingency of their being cramming in of quip and antithesis: but Mr. translated into English, it may be again im- Smith will file this down; in becoming less witty pressed upon the publishers that there is a la- he will become more instructive, and his lectures mentable want of good translating in our market. will form (when published, as of course they will The race of competition has doubtless as much be,) a valuable addition to our critical literature. to do with this as anything else; and, in the eye In parting with this subject, let us hope that Mr. of a publisher, a translation is a translation, Smith's prediction about Scotch song-writers whether it be executed at the rate of half-a-may not be verified-that they "will be seen on guinea or ten guineas per sheet-only he prefers earth no more." Surely he could falsify this, paying the former. So that the work is got an' he would." through somehow, there seems to prevail a lamentable carelessness about the rest; and the consequence is, that the translations which swarm from the press are discreditable in execution, and Alone. (Low & Co.)-" Alone" is a commondestructive alike of the sense and the style of place story, and might have been a pleasing one, their originals. When shall we ever again see had it been told in a less fantastic style, unadornsuch a work as Sir THOMAS URQUHART'S won-ed by the finest flowers and feathers of American derful translation of RABELAIS? To produce rhetoric. The characters and incidents can such a work requires the most profound and scholarly knowledge of both languages, and an elegant style of writing in the language of the translation, added to a thorough comprehension of the author. Nowadays publishers are satisfied if their hack workman knows both languages very imperfectly, and cannot write grammatically in either. As for comprehension of the author, that seems to be regarded as a luxury too expensive to be afforded, if not as a positive incumbrance.

scarcely be discerned for the figures of speech by which they are surrounded. When American authors will insist upon imitating the tone and texture of European fashionable life, the result is invariably coarse, false and nonsensical. The following is a description of the heroine as a school-girl, after she has had a "difficulty" with the Italian master, who has offended her about an Italian exercise:-"I beg you will not subject yourself to further insult on my account, interrupted Ida, whose figure had dilated and heightened during the colloquy; then to him(the master)-Once more, I command you to stand aside! If you do not obey, I shall call Mr. Purcell.' * ** * Ida stood with folded The lecture delivered by Mr. Alexander Smith arms, countenance settled, in such proud scorn at the Mechanic's Institute, Falkirk, upon the as Lucifer would have envied and striven to imitate." life and genius of Burns, is particularly inter()-We give, also, a picture of her after she is esting. It was a bold and admirably composed come into full possession of all her perfection as lecture, full of pith and thought, although oca heroine :-" She (Ida) felt the nervousness of a casionally whimsical and eccentric. When, youthful hostess that things should go off' well. for example, Mr. Smith says that "the counte- The company, pleased with their reception and nances of the great men of any particular time themselves, conscious that, although the praise have a family resemblance," and instances the or censure might not be put upon her, yet, in celebrities of the reigns of Elizabeth and Anne, reality, the result depended upon her exertions. he either gives way to a love of paradox, or he Solicitude yielded to triumphant satisfaction as the enunciates a patent absurdity. A resemblance electric sympathy spread, leaping from tongue to in mental tone, form of diction, cut of beard, tongue, and evolving, in dazzling corruscations, from style of doublet-all these are possible enough; kindling eyes." (!) We would mildly suggest to and the resemblance in outward show, caused young and ardent American writers the great by the mere sameness of fashion, may create an advantages of modesty of speech.-Athenæum.

From Household Words. THE LOST ARCTIC VOYAGERS.

WE have received the following communication from Dr. RAE. It can have no better commendation to the attention of our readers than the mention of his name :

doubted all they told me, however plausible their tale might have appeared; because had they, as they usually do, deposited any property under stones in the neighborhood, they would have had a very excellent cause for attempting to mislead me.

That ninety-nine out of a hundred interObserving, in the numbers of this journal preters are under a strong temptation to exdated the second and ninth of this month, a aggerate, may be true. If so, my interpreter very ably-written article on the lost Arctic is the exception, as he did not like to talk voyagers, in which an attempt is made to more than he could possibly help. No doubt prove that Sir John Franklin's ill-fated party had I offered him a premium for using his did not die of starvation, but were murdered tongue freely he might have done so; but not by the Esquimaux; and consequently that even the shadow of a hope of a reward was they were not driven to the last dread alter- held out.

native as a means of protracting life, permit It is said that part of the information reme to make a few remarks in support of my garding cannibalism was conveyed to me by information on this painful subject-informa- gestures. This is another palpable mistake, tion received by me with the utmost caution, which is likely to mislead. I stated in one of and not one material point of which was published to the world without my having some good reason to support it.

First, as regards my interpreter. To compare either Augustus or Ouligback (who accompanied Sir John Franklin and Sir John Richardson in their overland journeys) with William Ouligback, my interpreter, would be very unfair to the latter. Neither of the first two could make themselves understood in the English language, and did not very perfectly comprehend the dialect of the natives of the coast westward of the Coppermine River.

William Ouligback speaks English fluently; and, perhaps, more correctly than one half of the lower classes in England or Scotland.

my letters to the Times that the natives had preceded me to Repulse Bay; and, by signs, had made my men left in charge of the prop erty there (none of whom spoke a word of Esquimaux) comprehend what I had already learnt through the interpreter.

I do not infer that the officer who lay upon his double-barrelled gun defended his life to the last against ravenous seamen; but that he was a brave, cool man, in the full possession of his mental faculties to the last; that he lay down in this position as a precaution, and, alas! was never able to rise again; and that he was among the last, if not the very last, of the survivors.

The question is asked, was there any fuel As I could not, from my ignorance of the in that desolate place for cooking the contents Esquimaux tongue, test William Ouligback's of the kettles? I have already mentioned in qualifications, I resorted to the only means of a letter to the Times how fuel might have doing so I possessed. There is an old servant been obtained. I shall repeat my opinion with of the company at Churchill, an honest, trust-additions:-When the Esquimaux were talkworthy man, who has acquired a very fair ing with me on the subject of the discovery of knowledge of both the Esquimaux character the men, boats, tents, etc., several of them reand the Esquimaux language. This man in-marked that it was curious no sledges were formed me that young Ouligback could be found at the place. I replied that the boat perfectly relied on; that he would tell the was likely fitted with sledge-runners that Esquimaux exactly what was said, and give the Esquimaux reply with equal correctness; that when he had any personal object to gain, he would not scruple to tell a falsehood to attain it, but in such a case the untruth was easily discovered by a little cross-questioning. This description I found perfectly true.

Again: the natives of Repulse Bay speak precisely the same language as those of Churchill, where young Ouligback was brought up.

The objection offered that my information was received second-hand, I consider much in favor of its correctness. Had it been obtained from the natives who had seen the dead bodies of our countrymen, I should have

*Living Age, No. 559,

screwed on to it. The natives answered, that sledges were noticed with the party of whites when alive, and that their tracks on the ice and snow were seen near the place where the bodies were found. My answer then was, That they must have burnt them for fuel; and I have no doubt but that the kegs or cases containing the ball and shot must have shared the same fate.

Had there been no bears thereabouts to mutilate these bodies-no wolves, no foxes? is asked; but it is a well-known fact that, from instinct, neither bears, wolves, nor foxes, nor that more ravenous of all, the glutton or wolverine, unless on the verge of starvation, will touch a dead human body; and the carnivorous quadrupeds near the Arctic sea are seldom driven to that extremity.

Quoting again from the article on the lost vantage with those further west, both dislike Arctic voyagers: 66 Lastly, no man can with and fear their neighbors, and not without any show of reason undertake to affirm that cause; as they have behaved treacherously to the sad remnant of Franklin's gallant band them on one or two occasions. So far do they were not set upon and slain by the Esqui- carry this dislike, that they endeavored, by maux themselves?" every means in their power, to stimulate me to shoot several visitors to Repulse Bay, from Pelly Bay, and from near Sir John Ross's wintering station in Prince Regent's Inlet.

Now, is it likely that, had they possessed such a powerful argument to excite-as they expected to do my anger and revenge as the murder of my countrymen, would they not have made use of it by acquainting me with the whole circumstances, if they had any such

This is a question which like many others is much more easily asked than answered; yet I will give my reasons for not thinking, even for a moment, that some thirty or forty of the bravest class of one of the bravest nations in the world, even when reduced to the most wretched condition, and having firearms and ammunition in their hands, could be overcome by a party of savages equal in number to themselves. I say equal in number, to report? because the Esquimaux to the eastward of the Again, what possible motive could the EsCoppermine, seldom, if ever, collect together quimaux have for inventing such an awful in greater force than thirty men, owing to the tale as that which appeared in my report to difliculty of obtaining the means of subsistence. the secretary of the Admiralty? Alas! these When Sir John Ross wintered three years in poor people know too well what starvation is, Prince Regent's Inlet, the very tribe of Esqui- in its utmost extremes, to be mistaken on maux who saw Sir John Franklin's party such a point. Although these uneducated were constantly or almost constantly in the savages-who seem to be looked upon by neighborhood. In the several springs he passed there, parties of his men were travelling in various directions; yet no violence was offered to them, although there was an immense advantage to be gained by the savages in obtaining possession of the vessels and their con

tents.

those who know them not, as little better than brutes-resort to the last resource" only when driven to it by the most dire necessity. They will starve for days before they will even sacrifice their dogs to satisfy the cravings of their appetites.

One or two facts are worth a hundred In eighteen hundred and forty-six-seven, I theories on any subject. On meeting some and a party of twelve persons wintered at old acquaintances among the natives at ReRepulse Bay. In the spring my men were pulse Bay, last spring, I naturally inquired divided and scattered in all directions; yet about others that I had seen there in eighteen no violence was offered, although we were hundred and forty-six and forty-seven. The surrounded by native families, among whom reply was, that many of them had died of there were at least thirty men. By murder- starvation since I left, and some from a disease ing us they would have put themselves in pos- which, by description, resembled influenza. session of boats and a quantity of cutlery of Among the party that died of starvation was great value to them. In the same spring, one man whom I well knew-Shi-makeck— when perfectly alone and unarmed, except and for whom I inquired by name. I learnt with a common clasp knife, which could have that this man, rather than endure the terrible been of no use, I met on the ice four Esqui-spectacle of his children pining away in his maux armed with spear and bow and arrow. presence, went out and strangled himself. AnI went up to them, made them shake hands; other, equally well known to me, being unand, after exchanging a few words and signs, able, I suppose, to support the pangs of hunleft them. In this case no violence was used; ger, stripped off his clothes, and exposed himalthough I had a box of astronomical instru- self to cold, until he was frozen to death. In ments on my back, which might have excited several instances, on this occasion, cannibalism their cupidity. Last spring, I, with seven had been resorted to, and two women were men, was almost in constant communication pointed out to me as having had recourse to with a party four times our number. The this" last resource." It may be, I have only savages made no attempt to harm us. Yet the words of "babbling and false savages who wood, saws, daggers, and knives were ex-are, without exception, in heart, covetous, tremely scarce with them, and by getting pos- treacherous, and cruel," in support of what I session of our boat, its masts and oars, and the say. remainder of our property, they would have been independent for years.

Let us inquire slightly into that want of truthfulness so frequently and indiscriminately What appears to me the most conclusive charged against savages in general, and the reason for believing the Esquimaux report, is Esquimaux in particular : — When that most this: the natives of Repulse Bay, although distinguished of Arctic navigators, Sir Edward they visit and communicate for mutual ad- Parry, wintered at Winter Island (not Win

ter Harbor) and at Igloolik, in the Straits of the Fury and Hecla, he met many of the very tribe of Esquimaux that I saw at Repulse Bay. From these Sir Edward received information and tracings of the coast west of Melville Peninsula, surrounding a bay named by the natives Akkoolee.

the land about a long day's journey (which, with dogs and sledges, is from thirty-five to forty miles) to the north-west of the mouth of the river, as low and flat, without hills of any kind, agreeing in every particular with the descriptions of Sir George Back and Simpson.

They told me that the top of the cairn This Esquimaux-tracing or delineation of erected by Dease and Simpson, at the Castorcoast was entered in the charts, in dotted lines, and-Pollux River, had fallen down. This I until my survey of 1847 showed that, in all found to be true; and afterwards, on asking material points, the accounts given by the na- them in which direction it had fallen, they said tives were perfectly correct. When Sir John towards the east. True again. I showed two Ross wintered three years in Prince Regent's men, who said they had been along the coast Inlet, the natives drew charts of the coast line which I had traced, my rough draft of a chart. to the southward of his position, and informed They immediately comprehended the whole; him that, in that direction, there was no water-examined and recognized the several points, communication leading to the western sea. islands, etc., laid down upon it; gave me their Sir John Ross's statements, founded on those Esquimaux names, showed me where they had of the natives, were not believed at the Admi-had "caches," which I actually saw. ralty, nor my own, in 1847, although I saw the Another Esquimaux, on learning that we land all the way, and in which I was supported had opened a "cache," in which we found a by Esquimaux information. The authorities number of wings and heads of geese which had at the Admiralty would still have Boothia an long lain there, and were perfectly denuded island. Last spring I proved beyond the pos- of flesh, said that the "cache" belonged to sibility of a doubt, the correctness of my for- him. Thinking that he was stating a falsemer report, and consequently the truthfulness hood so as to obtain some reward for having inof the Esquimaux; for, where parties of high terfered with his property, I produced my standing at home would insist on having no-chart, and told him to show me the island, thing but salt water, I travelled over a neck among a number of similar ones all small, on of land or isthmus only sixty miles broad. which his "cache" was; he, without a mo

We will merely append, as a commentary on the opinion of our esteemed friend Dr. Rae, relative to the probabilities of the Esquimaux besetting a forlorn and weak party, the speciality of whose condition that people are quite shrewd enough to have perceived, an extract from Sir John Barrow's account of Franklin's and Richardson's second journey :

On conversing with the natives about the ment's hesitation, pointed to the right island. different parties of whites, and the ships and Having dwelt thus much on the trustworthiboats they had seen, they described so per-ness of the Esquimaux, I shall next touch on fectly the personal appearance of Sir John Ross their disposition and aptitude to falsehood: and Sir James Ross-although the men spoken but this I must defer for the present. with had not seen these gentlemen- that any one acquainted with these officers could have recognized them. The natives on one point set me right, when they thought I had made a mistake. I told them that the two chiefs (Sir J. and Sir J. C. Ross) and their men had all got home safe to their own country. They immediately remarked that "this was not true, for some of the men had died at the place where the vessel was left." I, of course, alluded only to that portion of the party who had got away from Regent's Inlet in safety. It must be remembered that this circumstance occurred upwards of twenty years ago, and "A kaiyack being overset by one of the consequently is an instance of correctness of Lion's oars, its owner was plunged into the memory and truthfulness that would be con- water with his head in the mud, and appasidered surprising among people in an ad-rently in danger of being drowned. We invanced state of civilization.

"Thus far all went on well; but an accident happened while the crowd was pressing round the boats, which was productive of unforeseen and very annoying consequences.

stantly extricated him from his unpleasant situThe peculiarities of the Great Fish River, ation and took him into the boat until the waand of the coast near its mouth, has been so ter could be thrown out of his kaiyack; and minutely described by Sir George Back, and Augustus, seeing him shivering with cold, so beautifully illustrated by his admirable wrapped him in his own great coat. At first drawings, that they can easily be understood he was exceedingly angry, but soon became by any one. The Esquimaux details on this reconciled to his situation; and, looking about, subject agreed perfectly with those of Sir discovered that we had many bales, and other George Back: the river was described as full articles in the boat, which had been concealed of falls and rapids, and that many Esquimaux from the people in the kaiyacks, by the coverdwelt on or near its banks. They described ings being carefully spread over all. He soon