OF THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY ON THE MORE NORTHERN COASTS OF AMERICA, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY PATRICK FRASER TYTLER, ESQ., WITH DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN REGIONS. BY JAMES WILSON, ESQ., F.R.S. E. & M.W.S. TO WHICH IS ADDED AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING REMARKS ON A LATE MEMOIR OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, WITH A VINDICATION OF RICHARD HÅKLUYT. ILLUSTRATED BY A MAP, AND NINE ENGRAVINGS BY JÅCKSON, EDINBURGH: OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE-COURT; AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON. PREFACE. AMONG the various Expeditions of Discovery by land and sea, none have been considered of greater importance, or regarded with a deeper interest, than those into the Arctic Regions. The navigator has nowhere to contend with such formidable obstacles, nor does he elsewhere behold an aspect of nature so peculiar. The EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY COMmenced with a volume descriptive of the Polar Seas and Countries; and the popularity of that work has afforded a gratifying proof, both of the interest felt by the public in the subject, and of its having been treated in a satisfactory manner. But there remained another branch of adventure equally arduous, which required to be completed before we could be said to have obtained a fuli, and connected view of the various efforts made to explore the extreme north by the nations of Europe, and particularly by Britain. We allude to the expeditions undertaken, partly by land and partly by coast and river navigation, to trace the limits of America, where that continent borders on the Arctic Circle. The scenery, it is well known, is of the same grand and impressive character; and the successive adventurers were exposed to vicissitudes if possible still more striking than those experienced |