Men in very cold climates certainly require a much larger amount of gross animal food than in southern latitudes—­varying, of course, with their particular physical constitutions.  Now, let us grant—­though we do not positively admit it—­that, however the provisions taken from England may have been economised, they have, nevertheless, all been consumed a couple of years ago, with the exception of a small quantity of preserved meats, vegetables, lemon-juice, &c. kept in reserve for the sick, or as a resource in the last extremity.  As to spirits, we have the testimony of all arctic explorers, that their regular supply and use, so far from being beneficial, is directly the reverse—­weakening the constitution, and predisposing it to scurvy and other diseases; and that, consequently, spirits should not be given at all, except on extraordinary occasions, or as a medicine.  Sir John Ross, in his search of the North-West Passage in 1829, and following years, early stopped the issue of spirits to his men, and with a most beneficial result.  Therefore, the entire consumption of the stock of spirits on board Sir John Franklin’s ships must not be regarded as a deficiency of any serious moment.

We shall then presume, that for upwards of two years the adventurers have been wholly dependent on wild animals, birds, and fish for their support.  Here it becomes an essential element of consideration to form some approximate idea of the particular locality in which the missing expedition is probably frozen.  Captain Penny tracked it up Wellington Strait and thence into Victoria Channel—­a newly-discovered lake or sea of unknown extent, which reaches, for anything that can be demonstrated to the contrary, to the pole.  It has long been noticed, that the mere latitude in the arctic regions is far from being a certain indication of the degree of cold which might naturally be expected from a nearer approach to the pole.  For instance, cold is more intense in some parts of latitude 60 degrees than in 70 or 77 degrees; but this varies very much in different districts of the coast, and in different seasons; and we may remark in passing, that whenever there is a particularly mild winter in Britain, it is the reverse in the arctic regions; and so vice versa.  The astonishment of Captain Penny on discovering the new polar sea in question was heightened by the fact, that it possessed a much warmer climate than more southern latitudes, and that it swarmed with fish, while its shores were enlivened with animals and flocks of birds.  Moreover, trees were actually floating about:  how they got there, and whence they came, is a mysterious and deeply-interesting problem.  Somewhere in this sea Sir John Franklin’s ships are undoubtedly at this moment.  We say the ships are; for we do not for one moment believe that they have been sunk or annihilated.  It is not very likely that any icebergs of great magnitude would be tossing about this inland sea in the summer season—­in