IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) % :/ 4 1.0 1.25 1^128 |2.5 IIIIIM 1^ 1^ lis Itt u ■UUl. lAO 2.0 U 11.6 Photographic ^Sdences Corooration iV W ^ o .A ^ " A PLAIN MATTER-OF-FACT MAN WISHES FOR DATA RATHER THAN WILD HYPOTHESES." -n/U i«. . f r?J hiiirt '"'; vh ii> -ti.V i» Quart. Rev. xxviii. 398. : f ■• .f"i>': ■•;)it <■ n--- ri. ;.• ^^t<*•u•^'■ ■ff<,,:.< ■•■•,V-> , , . V-. vn ' • :,--.;i.V^^iw> :oR. After a lapse of about twenty-six years, the ques- tion of the Existence, as well as the Practicabillti/, of a Passage for ships, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was revived ; and the attention of the public excited in the year 1817, by the writer of an article headed ** Lord Selkirk, and the North-West Passage," in No. 31. of ** a popular criticalJournal." Having introduced the latter subject by an examination into the authenticity of '* Voyage de la Mer Giaciale ; par le Capitaine Laurent Ferrer Maldonado, I'an 1588," the Reviewer says, " Destitute as we consider the relation of Maldonado to be, both of veracity and authenticity, we are by no means inclined to suppose that such a voyage, as it describes, is impracticable. We Jirmly believe^ on the contrary, that a navigable passage doese^rist, and may be of wo difficult execution. Why then, it may be asked, have all the attempts made at different times, from both sides the continent of America, failed ? — Because, not one of them was ever made near that part of the coast of America round which, it is most likely, the passage would lead into the Frozen or Northern Ocean. The distance between Baffin s Sea and Behring's Strait, is not Data. A I i t more than 1200 miles. Could we only be certain that Hearne and Mackenzie actually arrived at the shore of the Northern Ocean, the existence of a passage would amount nearly to a certainty. The solution of this im- portant problem is the business of three months out and home. The space to be examined, at the very utmost, is from the 67th to the 71st parallels, or 4° of lati- tude ! ! If lae continent of America shall be found to terminate, as is most likely, about the 70° of latitude, or even below it, we have little doubt of a/rce and practi- cable passage round it, for seven or eight months in every year ; and we are much mistaken if the North-west Com- pany would not derive immediate and incalculable ad- vantages from a passage of th?^ee months to their estab- lishments on Columbia river, instead of the circuitous voyage of six or seven months round Cape Horn ; to say nothing of the benefit which might be derived from taking their cargoes of furs and peltry for the China market at Mackenzie's and Copper-mine rivers, to which the northern Indians would be too happy to bring them, if protected by European establishments at these, or other places, from their enemies the Esquimaux." What flattering prospects are here held forth to the North-west Company of" incalculable advantages,"and to the ** northern Indians" of being made even *' too happy ! !" Nothing like a fear is expressed, of obstacles to be met with and surmounted. On the contrary, all is plain sailing through •* a free and practicable passage for seven or eight months in every year." The language of the foregoing extracts is calculated to raise, not only the hopes, but the expectations of the public, as high as those which the writer himself no doubt in- dulged in, as to the success of any future attempt ; pro- vided it should be made where he recommends, near the '11 ¥ noi'th-east part of America, He seems, however, to have been aware of there being some little difficulty in get- ting hold of that part of America, for he informs us a little further on, at page 169, that, " Hitherto, most of our adventurers have worked their way through Hud- son's Strait, which is generally choked up with ice, then standing to the northward, they have had to con- tend with ice drifting to the southward, with contrary winds and currents. These inconveniences," he adds, " would be obviated by standing JiV^/ to the latitudes of 71° or 72°, and from thence southerly and westerly, till they saw the north-east coast of America, which would go far to complete the discovery, or, till they reached Hudson's Bay, which would decide the question in the negatived' Here, in the most direct terms, this reviewer records his disapprobation (and with good reason) of a route through Hudson's Strait and Bay, in quest of the north-east part of America ; nay his belief, at the time he wrote, that no passage could be found out of Hud- son's Bay, (and consequently even through the Welcome or Repulse Bay) into the Polar sea. Inasmuch as he says, that if the more northerly route he recommends, should (by a southerly and westerly deviation after- wards) lead any future adventurer into Hudson's Bay, That " would decide the question in the negative." And yet in the same article, at page 162, this reviewer would seem to doubt the veracity of Middleton ; " who," he informs us, ** looked into (he says, sailed round,) what he (Middleton) was pleased to call Repulse Bay," It is indeed very amusing to compare some of the notions of this anonymous writer, in different numbers of this '* popular critical journal," on points connected with the question of a north-west passage. For instance, in this Number 31, at page 170 ; he says—" It is a com- V i P: mon, but we believe an erroneous opinion, that the tem- perature of c.r climate has regularly been diminishing, and that it is owing to the ice having permanently fixed itself to the shores of Greenland, which in consequence, from being once a flourishing colony of Denmark, is now become uninhabitable and unapproachable. We doubt both ihefact and the inference. It is not the cli- mate that has altered, but we who feel it more severe as we advance in years ; the registers of the absolute de- gree of temperature, as measured by the thermometer, do not warrant any such conclusion ; and more attempts than one to land on the coast of Greenland must be made, before we can give credit to its being bound up in eternal ice — which is known to shift about with every gale of wind, to be drifted by currents, and to crumble and consume below the surface of the water,'' -KviKf Now, this is all very probable, and perhaps would not have been questioned by any body, but the reviewer himself. He, however, having a favourite hypothesis to maintain, which he seems to have founded on imaginary assumptions^ at variance, with each other, rather than on known facts and experience, tells us quite a dif- ferent thing in No. 35, of the Quarterly Review, in an article written preparatory to the fitting out of the two expeditions in the beginning of the following year 1818 ; as it was very necessary to clear away (at least by pen and ink) as much as possible of the ice, which some igno- rant folks might suppose would otherwise impede their progress through the Polar regions, towards Behrings Strait ; he therefore admits^ in the first place, " that, for the last four hundred years, an extensive portion of the eastern coast of Old Greenland hasheen shut up, by an impenetrable barrier of ice, and with it the ill-fated Nor- wegian • Danish colonies ; and who were thus cut off at once from all conmunication with the mother-coun- try ;"— that " various attempts have been made, from time to time, to approach thi« coast, but in vain ; the ice beinij every where impervious ; and that all hope being at length abandoned, th?t part of this extensive tract of land, which faces the east, took the appropriate name of lost Greenland. The event to which we have alluded is the dititappearance of the whole, or greater part of this barrier of ice. How the Danes can now pretend to doubtj as one of their writers affects to do, whether there ever were a colony on the eastern side is, to us, quite inexplicable, unless it^beto palliate theirnegligence at the first approach of the ice, and their want of humanity since." In short, the reviewer has, nonv, no doubt of this extraordinary fact, for nothing could have happened so qpportunely ; and he therefore adduces the authority of many persons in various places to prove it, and even assigns as ** the most probable cause, for the sudden departure of all this ice, its having broken loose by its own weight ! !" Having thus " established beyond any doubt, the fact of the disappearance of the ice," he asks, whether any, and what advantages may arise out of an event which, for the first time has occurred, at least to so great an extent, during the last four hundred years ? and answers, first. The influence which the removal of so large a body of ice may have on our own climate. 2ndly. The opportunity it affords of enquiring into the fate of the lon^-lost colony on the eastern coast of Old Greenland. 3rdly. The facility it offers, of correcting the very defective geography ofthe Arctic regions in our western hemisphere, and (►f attempting the circumnavigation of Old Greenland, a direct passage over the Pole, and 6 the more circuitous one along the northern coast of America into the Pacific. He then takes pains to prove deterioration of climate to have taken place in Iceland, Switzerland and Pennsylvania, and that '* it must be equally clear liierefore, that our oxvn climate^ though in a less degree, must have been affected by this vast accumu- lation of Ice on the coast of Greenland :" and gives " reasons for believing, that previously to the fifteenth century England enjoyed a warmer summer climate than since that period ! r ^r/i^, The reviewer having, as we have seen in a former number, expressed hisbelief of theprflc/icflf/)i/%, as well as the existence, of a passage for ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Behring's Strait ; he proceeds to explain his grounds for that belief, 1st He asserts the existence of *' a perpetual current setting down from the northward, (sometimes with a velocity of four or even five miles an hour) along the eastern coast of America and the wrestern shores of Old Greenland ;" and thereon assumes " an uninterrupted communication, between Davis Strait and the Great Polar Basin," the consequent insularity of Old Green- land, and the non-existence of Baffiii's Bay. 2ndly, That vast quantities of drift wood were floated down by this current from the northward, consisting of trees the produce of Asia and America (some, perhaps, through Behring's Strait), by means of his " circum- volving current," between the Pacific and the Atlantic, " round the north coast of America." As these grounds were noi; satisfactory, and much other matter contained in this article appeared rather vision?iry, and calculated to raise the public expectation of success too high, by annihilating probable, or at least possible dif+ ficulties, an anonymous writer was induced to publish a reply to it in the Naval Chronicle for the month of March, 1818, just before the expeditions sailed, under Captains Ross and Buchan. In extracting it here, I shall adduce such facts and experiments, made known to us by those who have since written on the subject, or visited the Arctic regions, as tend to prove, or dis- prove, the opinions of either of these writers. The letter of Phoca, in the Naval Chronicle, is dated Hull, 27th Feb. 1818. I shall be excused for making copious extracts from it ; particularly as it happened to be inserted in a work of very limited circulation at the time ; and the correctness of many of his opinions has been practically proved, so far, by the failure of every expedition by sea, since he wrote this letter. He says, " The appearance of an article in the Quar- terly Review, for this month, on the subject of the ex- peditions, now fitting out, to explore the Arctic regions, has led me to consider some of the matters therein stated, and to enquire into the solidity of some of the writer's notions on this interesting topic." After a few preliminary observations on the fact of the late reported disappearance of ice, from the eastern coast of Old Greenland, and its supposed connexion with the phae- nomena of Magnetism, Electricity, and the Aurora Borealis, he proceeds : ** The removal of this ice being * cotemporaneous with the period when the western de- clination of the magnetic needle became stationary,' is certainly * a remarkable coincidence.* At all events, in whatever way the supposed connexion may be, between the removal of the ice, and these phaenomena, it seems not unfair to infer, that the departure of the immense mountains and fields of ice which for so many centuries have covered the Arctic seas, ma]/ have had some effect in stopping the career of the western decli- ".t'v' -f 8 nation of the needle." But we may as fairly draw the same inference from a similar cause, though probably of much less extent ; and all we can know^ till the whole of the A.'ctic Regions is explored, viz. the departure of, perhaps, a very small portion only, of those ** immense moumains and fields of ice, which had collected in the y'lcimty of Greenland, What may still remain in the Arctic seas, we are yet to learn ; and concerning which, like every thing else, where facts and local experience are wanting, our opinions can only be formed on fixed and re^aived principles. The fact, however, of the dis- appearance of so7ne large mountains and fields of ice from part of the Arctic regions, being admitted, the Quar- terly Reviewer's enquiry as to its supposed influence on our climate, is thus treated: " On the benefits we should derive from an amehoration of our climate^ there can be but one opinion. That our Summer sea- sons have been colder than usual, in the latter years, for instance, and from the caufses he assigns, few will doiibt But the effect produced may not continue* JFor though the principal cause of the chilliness of our climate, compared with what it appears to have been centuries ago, may be removed/w the present, yet, the grand primary cause which produced the ice, whose approximation deteriorated our climate, it is presumed will continue to operate ; and what has happened by the established general law of nature, may happen again. Therefore, though it may be hoped, it certainly would be " unreasonable to presume^" that, mprely on account of the present accidental removal of some portion of ice, " our Summer climate (and Winter too, when the wind blows from the western quartej-) may henceforth improve. Though no doubt it will iinpripve, if the ice does not again collect in the pla^e from .vyljepqe ij; 9 ice, i has lately been dislodged. But surely we have more reason to fear it may^ because it has done so before, than to presume we shall 'henceforth' have no more huge icebergs drifting down to the southward in the wind's eye of our island, and that therefore our climate may improve. For whilst the universe continues to be gOf verned by the unerring and unalterable laws of God, mountains and fields of ice will doubtless continue to be formed in the Polar regions of the north ; and when- ever the winters are successively severe there, they must accumulate, and no doubt find their way to the southward, as they have done, "With respect tp * the opportunity which the local disappearance of the ice affords, of enquiring into the fate of the long lost colony, on the eastern coast of Old Greenland, it must be admitted to be favorable. And should the east coast of Greenland continue to be as free from ice as it is said to have been last year, it is probable tl^e object may be attained.' — Great part of fhis coast has since been visited and laid down by Mr. Scoresby,' and also by Captain Sabine in His M^esty's ship Griper. ;f > *' The reviewer's third object is, *the facility the remo- val of the ice offers, of correcting the very defective geogrs^phy of the Arctic regions in our western hemi- sphere; o( attempting the circumnavigation of Old Greenland— a direct passage over the Pole — and the n|iore circuitous one along the northern coast of Ame- rica, into the Pacific' Certainly, ' any event that tends to| encourage the attempt to amend the very defective ' Mr. Scoresby has published an account of bis observations on this coast ; which has also since been visited bj Captain Sabine in His Majesty's ship lue C;::per. Data. - * •-«ir»#-«"-Hf ^ - w 1, ,* '% ^ 10 geography of the Arctic regions, more especially on the side of America, may be hailed as an important occur- rence.* But let us see whether what itiay be Qnly a localy and very partial, removal of ice collected in the vicinity of Greenland, is likely to facilitate more, than an examination of its eastern coast, or at most its cir- cumnavig ation; and perhaps, of exploring the coast of America, some distance io the north-west of Cum- berland Island, if not to its north-east extremity. It is very true that several circumstances may be adduced in support of the opinion, that Greenland is either an island, or an archipelago of islands, and none stronger than the * perpetual ctirrent stated to set down to the southward along the eastern coast of America, and the western shores of Greenland.* *•" ' •' •*' " But this current, though affording * a strong pre- sumption' that * between I>avis* Straits and the great Polar basin,' there is some communication, surely it does not authorise us to presume, that there is an ^uninterrupted commmncation.* On the contrary, it seems probable that there must be islands or shoals be- tween the north-west coast of Greenland and the north- east coast of America, among which small masses of ice, trees, and whales too, as Wfell as current, mat/ find passage down Davis' Straits from the * Polar basin f but which may be, and probably ere, so blocked up, geiie- rally, by mountains and large fields of ice, as to present an impassable barrier /or Ships, On account of this cur- rent (if it exist,) it is certainly fair to presume that Ih6 northern part of Davis' Stiraits J^ mis-named iti the charts as *a Bay;' for, if it were one, * it would be diffi- cult to explain how a current that runs to the southward perpetually (as we are told),' and sometimes with a II velocity of four or live miles an hour, could originate in the bottom of it !" I mufit observe here that the reviewer's head seems to have been so full of tlie ideal belief of an " open sea to the northward of Davis' Straits, and extending all the way to Behring's Straits, so as to allow of a communica- tion, free and uninterrupted for ships between the Atlan- tic and Pacific," as well as for his imaginary circumvolv- ing current, that he never once allowed a fact to enter, which would at once have destroyed that belief. — If he had examined thelog-books of some of the Davis' Straits whale-ships, he would have discovered, that for days together, when laying.to, under little or no canvas, their bearings of points on the west coasts lof Greenland, do not alter perhaps a point of the compass either way ; and therefore that no such ejptraordinary current could possibly exist." Thi» simple fact must have struck Pho- ca's mind as a seaman at once ; and though it seems to have made him sceptical, he does not venture to contra- dict the reviewer positively, but merely reserves himself ior further proof y and pursues his subject with caution. — " If'\ says he, " there is * an uninterrupted communica- tion', that is, if there is no land, no shoals in the whole space between Greenland and America, it appears very probable that greater quantities of ice would pass through that space with a current of such velocity, and less find its way round Greenland. " But we must first endeavor to decide, as well as we can, how, and where the ice in the Polar regions is formed ; in what directioa it is ^'oM/j/i irapelled by winds and currents ; how these winds probably •a •lii' \ i5; ■ f^KUl iXlVQitVi* * Its non-exi»teace hsis been since proved by Captains Ro»s and Parry. prevail in summer and wint^ ; and how the current probably sets underneath as well as at the surface of the water. For notwithstanding the writer of the article 1 am examining, apprehends * it will be found that the currents of the ocean are entirely suj)erficial, where no land intervenes ;' and though he says, * it would be difficult to explain the perpetual egress of a current from the Polar basin into the Atlantic, without admitt- ing a supply through the only remaining opening (Behring's Straits,) into that basin to supply the demand of the current,' I yet firmly believe that there must be a continual underflmo of water in the ocean, as well as su- perficial currents ; otherwise * that universal motion of the great deep' which he and all must allow, cannot sa- tisfactorily be accounted for. How, then, it may be asked, are these lower currents to be accounted for ? The question is much easier to be put, than solved to the satisfiiction of others. But I will endeavor to explain the ideas I have on the subject, as well as I can; and that too with all the diffidence of one, who knows that though conjectures may perhaps be well founded, their truth depends on experiment. -.n: ** The conjectures I venture to offer are, however, founded on the known and acknowleged properties of Heat and cold. Heat is known to be the general cause of the expan»on of air and water, and cold the cause of compression. — Heat rarefies, and cold condenses. The influence of the sun in ralrefying the atmosphere to the greatest degree, between the tropics, together with the earth's rotation ovi its axis, from w^t to east, would produce a constant wind from east to west all round the globe, j/' no land intervened ; because, the points of greatest rarefaction being successively westward ; and those eastward of eaph other, parting successively, as M i'-li: f'» the Sim sets in their horizons, with part of the heat re- ceived in bis passage over them, the motion of the at- mosphere nearest the surface of the water must neces- sarily be from east to west, following the apparent mo* tion of the sun. We find this proved by fact, on those portions of the gkjbe where the general law is not ob- structed by causes of an opposite nature, arising from terrene influence : viz., in the Pacific Ocean, between America and the east coast of New Holland, and also in the open sea between Africa and America. The central medium line of greatest rarefaction, is the equa- tor ; but according to the sun's declination north or south, it will be more to the northward or southward. The air thus rarefied in the lower regions of the atmo- sphere surrounding the earth, and comprised within the limits of the sun's path between the tropics, must be continually ascending into the higher, and thence, north of the equator, advancing towards the north pole; and south of the line, towards the south pole ; till some^ wherCf in its passage, it acquires that degree of con- densation by cold, which compels it again to return, in the lower strata, to the point of greatest rarefaction, to undergo the same process. -^ " This seems to be the grand general law of nature's operation on the atmosphere, that by * universal mo- tion, it may be preserved in a state of purity/ V } ir»t '*• " Let us now enquire, whether Ibis salne law ii; not equally applicable to that universal motion f>{ the gre^t deep, which must be equally ^nedessary to its puritj, and which we may therefore certainly presume does ' This counter-flux from the equator to the poles, and vice versOt is demonstrated by Mr. daniel iti his l^/eteorological Essays^ publisbisd in 1823, who explains why, *ir,r,.« ^jr >o> R.Mhr»» Iwi^^ " If it be allowed, * that ihe influence of the sun, ixx, rarefying the atmosphere to th^ greatest degree, between the tropics, together with the earth's rotation on its axisj from west to east, would produce (if no land interven- ed) a constant wind from east to west,' may we nojt suppose, if the same causes operate similarly, but proportionally, on the waters of the ocean, that ///ey must produce a similar effect, aQd oblige them to take a like direction — that is, from east to west, at and near the surface all round the globe, within the limits of the sun's declination ? — If this general effect, then, be admitted, on the ground it rests, we may presume, that if there were a passage through the Isthmus of Darien for the immense body of water, which continually flows from east to west into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, what is called the gulf-stream would no longer exist. And as it seems probable, that the sur- face of the water must be somewhat higher ' on the eastern side of America thereaboutSt than on the other» owing to the land's obstruction to the natural course of the great equinoctial current, and the necessity impose^ ^"^ From the observations made by Humboldt at the mouth of the Rio Seoa in the Atlantic, and on the coast of the South Sea, it appears *' there is a difference of level between the two seas, not exceeding 6 or 7 metres^or about 19 or 22 feet." , ,.v . 15 if>« on it, to find vent th though the Gulf of Florida, into the Atlantic ; it is n6t unreasonable to conclude, that if this accumulation of water was at liberty to flow through the 'Continent of AmeWca, into the Pacific Ocean, the sni'face of the sea, on this side (next the Atlantic) would be lower than it now is ; so that parts of land, now uhder water, Would be opposed to view. This effect ^duid, hoWfever, be injurious to commerce with the West Indies ; for it would render the homeward-bound passage more difficult. Instead of a constant weather current, to assist ships, it is pretty certain there would b^ a lee one from the north-east, along the ea&t cbast of Florida ; and its influence would most proba- bly be felt, far up to the north-east ; from whence the current of colder water would flow, nearier the surface tban it now can, covered superficially as it is by the warmer gulf-stream. The high degree of temperature which this great body of water acquires, by the sun's constant action upon it, being slowly reduced, during it^ propelled progress to the north-east, it is probable, that it may advance even beyond the banks of Newfound- land, before it is reduced to the colder temperature of the fluid beneath it, which must be flowing from the north- ern regions of condensation towatrds the points of great- est rarefaction and evaporation between the tropics, to supply the place Of that, which the heat is as constantly evaporating ^nd rarefying ; and so sending back in the upper strata of the atmosphere, to the colder regions. — The gulf-stream, thus propelled by lisiteral pressure, tip to- wards the banks of Newfoundland, is seldom fbiind to affect a ship, beyond those banks ; at the same time, it is possible, that some of it may advance farther to the northward, before that reduction is effected in its tem- perature, which gives it a tendency to the southward . I. ^ i Fqr, many articles, the produce of tropica) climes, and somp, knmn to have been from the West Indies, have |l)eei^ cast ashore on the coasts of Europe. Some of these places being situated to the N.E. of Newfopnd* land, it is difficult to believe that these articles could liave been driven thither by the winds, and the swell pf the sea only. For these, prevailing nearly as much froni N.W. as S.W., would give them about an east direc^ tion. And if they were immersed sufficiently to feel the influence of the great underflow of cold fluid, from the north, which brings the icebergs down to 39° qx 40° of latitude, they would move in an east-southerly di- rection. It seems therefore reasonable to suppose, that there may still be the remains of a northerly movement of \yater at, and very near the surface, to cause bodies floating there to make a course, as some have dom^ to the northward of even E.N.E. from Newfoundland. The great body of the gulf-stream is, however, much reduced in temperature about the banks of Newfound- land ; and in proportion as it feels the cold of the great underflow from the north, it is turned gradually to the eastward and southward, past the Western Islands. Whether any part of it reaches the coast of England, France, Portugal, or Spain, is a point much disputed. It is possible^ however, that it may ; diverging, as it appears to do, to the eastward, and southward. Sotne of the fluid that composed it may find its way to the northward of Cape Finisterre, and add something to the great body o( vi^ater which the western swell heaves into the Bay of Biscay ; and proceeding to the north- ward, along the coast of France, sets over from Ushant beyond Cape Clear ; till meeting with a fluid belov^^ of a colder degree than its own, it perhaps gradually jp^ins the polar stream to the southward according to its depth I 17 and temperature. Some ofthe waters of the gulf stream, it is possible (though hardly that), may assist in supply- ing the water expended by evaporation in the Mediter- ranean, whose tusrfaicej therefore, it is presumed, must be lower than that of the Atlantic, as the constant current setting into it seems to prove. Some philosophers, indeed, suppose that the quantity of water, continually admitted through the gut of Gibraltar into the Mediter- ranean, is greater than can be expended by evapora- tion ; and that, therefore, there must be a counter current setting out underneath. To establish this opinion, it seems necessary, first, to prove that the temperature of the Mediterranean is 16wer generally than that of the Atlantic. For if it be higher (as is most probable), the surpf^xs, \f there were any, and allowing their surfaces to be equal" (and Phoca should have added, their specific grtroitiesthe same)," wo\i\dj I presume, runout at the sur^ face, and the supply be received in underneath, which is contrary to fact. Though I have supposed it barely possible that some of the gulf stream may cross the At- lantic, I by no means say that it is so. On the contrary, it is little felt by ships, far to the eastward of the Azores ; but in the vicinity of thoseislands, the south- east portion of it gradually tarns to the southward, and as it advances in that direction, soon feeling the impulse again ofthe grand equinoctial current, is com- pelled to partake of its westerp motion : thu^ forming a sortof circular eddy, which rtfiiy be comprised between the latitude of about IB** pi^ Id* North, and the parallel ofthe Western Islands'; and from about the longitude of 2^" to 43° West. Within these limits, the gulf weed is found, floating on the surface, where I suppose it origi- nates, lives its appointed time, and ' decays, like any other vegetable production; and I believe it is i^rely Data. C 1 >l or never met with beyond these Hmits. Though 1 hare admitted the bare possibility, that some of the gulf stream may enter the strait of Gibraltar, I cannot agree with the writer of the article in the Quarterly Review, when he says (speaking of the gulf stream), that it is of sufficient force and quantity to make its influence be felt in the distant * Strait of Gibraltar.' Thus, implying (if I understand him right), that this ' force and quantity' of the gulf stream are primary causes of the constant current into the strait. On the contrary, thinking, as I do, that the causes of this constant flow of water into the Mediterranean are of a purely local nature, connect- ed exclusively with that sea ; I therefore think it most probable that if the great equinoctial currentflowed (as I presumeitwould, were there a sufficient passage) through the Continent of America, into the Pacific ; and conse- quently annihilated the present gulf stream, there would still be the very same flow of water into the Mediter- ranean as there is now, as long as the sun's power con- tinued, and the localities exclusively belonging to that sea remained the same. In short, I am of opinion that the waters of the Atlantic (approximate to the Strait of Gibraltar) feel the influence of purely Mediterranean causes ; and that neither * the force' nor * quantity' of the gulf stream have any effect whatever in causing the current that runs into the Mediterranean. It is well known, by experience, that this current is strongest with easterly gales ; in the hottest weather, with wind at the same time ; and is diminished during the prevalence of westerly winds, and is weaker in winter generally than in summer.* But to return : — The winds and sur- ' The opinions of men of science are still divided as to the cause of the constant current which runs into the Mediterranean, through the strait of Gibraltar. In turning over the Annual Register for the year 176O, 19 as face currents in the Pacific Ocean are influenced, generally, in a similar way, by the sun's power, as tho^^e a short time ago, I observed an essay, written by Mr. Waiz, of the Royal Society of Stockholm, to exphiin this cause. It is ingenious, but not quite satisfactory, because his facts are at variance with each other. Mr. Waiz computes that " the water, which is received annually into the Mediterranean, by the straits, and from the Nile, and all the rivers which fall into the Black Sea, and flow through the strait of Con> stantinople, cannot raise its surface less than thirty feet : and the annual evaporation to lower it s^bout f orty-f our feet." He then says that *' if the Mediterranean had lost annually, since it first existed, this quan- tity of water, by evaporation, it would, long before now, have been reduced to a vast mass of indurated salt." And yet, he adds, " in the many thousand years, since this sea has been known, this metamor- phosis has not taken place, but even its waters, as far as we know, are not become more salt." He therefore feels himself obliged to give up evaporation, and " seek some other expedient to get rid of its redundant waters." What redundant waters ? Has he not computed the evaporation to be sufficient to lower its surface 44 feet, and its supply through the strait of Gibraltar, and the Dardanelles, as well as by all the rivers, which flow into it, as only sufficient to raise it annu- ally 30 feet? Thus, so far from there being any redundancy of water io the Mediterranean, an annually increased supply would be required, and not an expedient to get rid of what he himself proves it cannot have. The expedient he has recourse to, however, is a double current, which be first proposes to ascertain with all possible exactness, and then to reconcile it to the laws of hydrostatics. As a proof (to him) of the existence of this under current, from east to west, out of the Mediterranean (which he assumes to be salter and heavier), he men- tions (and others have repeated it) a story of a " Dutch transport vessel having been beaten to pieces by a French ship of war, in the middle of the strait of Gibraltar, between Tariffa and Tangier ; the wreck of this vessel, with some casks, and other /tg-A^ things, appeared, after some days, on the surface of the water, four English miles to the westt towards the Spanish sea." Mr. Waiz then observes, ** If the di- rection of the current were the same at the bottom, as on the surface, from west to east, these wrecks could not have raised themselves against the current, so as to swim at top." If we may here assume that Mr. Waiz believed, that this wreck, with the casks and other 20 between Africa and America, making however due allowance for the difference of the formation and posi* I light things, did not float on the surface, but immediately wnArdown to the Bottom (the term he uses) , or at least into a fluid of that de- gree of saltness and gravity which (as he aiterwards attempts to prove, by experiment) must give it a direction to the west, and carry these light articles along with it, — I would ask, then. If the fluid at the sur* face were, as he must allow, less salt, or specifically lighter than that beneath it, in proportion to its depth, yet still how could these light articles sink to that convenient depth, unless their specific gravity was greater than it V And if greater (which however can hardly be ad" mitted), by what law could they, when carried far enough to the west- watxi, as conveniently rai^e themselves again to the surface, and be observed floating in a medium, that could not support them before 1 But the truth is, the fact, if it be one, proves, if it prove any thing (taking it for granted, that the light substances specified would have floated in the surface fluid), that they must have been driven within the influence of that surface counter current, which every man who has had experience in the strait of Gibraltar, knows, does set to the westward, close in, both on the Barbary and Spanish shores. Mr. Waiz, on the authority of Count Marsigli, assumes the exist* ence of an under and surface current (in opposition to each other) through the strait of Constantinople. He says, " that the salt water enters at the bottom into the Black Sea, and is then rendered lighter by the quantity of fiesb water that runs into it ; after which, it flows again in the same strait, above the salt water, into the Mediterranean, as is seen in the strait of Gibraltar." He also says, " The currents are stronger at Constantinople than at Gibraltar, because the differ- etice in the degrees of saltness, of the water which comes in and that which goes out, is greater, namely, according to Marsigli, 73 to 62 1 whereas it is not so great in the strait of Spain." The tbfcory of this under current, in the strait of Gibraltai is thus explained by Mr. Waiz: *' As there is a continual and copious discharge of salt water into the Mediterranean, a great part of this water deposits its salt by evaporation ; therefore what is left always remains more salt, and consequently more weighty. Supposing then the surfaces of the two seas, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, to be efuaF (a supposition, however, without facts to support it), ** their gfavitj would not be equal ; but the water of the Mediterranean, as the m\ IS ipious this wayb then . to their sthe •( 21 lions of intervening lands. For these obstract thd uniform general tendency of the winds and carrents most weighty, would press on that of the Atlantic, and the two seas wonld run together, till the waters became of equal weight, so that the Mediterranean would necessarily be lowest. When this happens, the water of the Atbntic, which is highest, cannot take its course through the strait but by a higher current, by rae&ns of which it spreads itself in the Mediterranean ; but this would augment thorated from the Mediterranean, exceeds tli« supply every way necessary to equalize its surface with that of the Atlantic. This Mr. Waiz also admits to be the fiict ; and sets out by proving \i. Colonel Capper, whose " Observations on the Winds and Monsoons," tlK igh published in the year 1801 I never happened to meet with till last week, says, at page 202, on this question of evaporation being the cause : " In summer the land is always much hotter than water, and the surrounding air on land is much more dry ; consequently the i r m- 22 M from east to west ; therefore from the east coast of New Holland to the east ccast of Africa, and within evaporation of all Mediterrauean or inland seas must be infinitely geater thrin that of the ocean, in the same parallels, where the air is already saturated, and continues in the same temperature many days successively. Besides, it roust be remembered, that the water evapo- rated from Mediterranean seas, is immediately in summer conveyed to- wards the land, where great part of it remains, being there precipita- ted in rain, for the benefit of the earth, or retained on the summit of the mountains in the form of ice and snow ; and even the remainder is but slowly returned into the different seas and lakes, through the channels of the adjacent rivers. The quantity of water thus raised in vapour, and retained there, for these beneficial purposes, can only be supplied by a constant current from that part of the north Atlantic, with which it immediately communicates. ** Should this hypothesis, on further examination, be considered as well founded, it will serve also to account for the equatorial currents ; for during the equinoxes, and for some weeks preceding and following them, the evaporation near the equator must be very considerable ; the water adjacent will therefore flow in to supp'y the deficiency, and consequently in all parts of the ocean, where it is not obstructed by land, will produce, at this season, opposite currents from the two poles to the equator. But an exact account of the currents in the Atlantic, kept for one year, would verify or refute this system ; and the strength of the current at different sea ions, frim the ocean to the Mediterra- nean, through the strait of Gibraltar, would afford very useful infor- mation on this subject." Among those who appear to have adopted the theory of Mr. Waiz, is a writer in a popular critical review. No. 28, for May 1 8l6. He says : ** We mean not tc support the truth of Dr. Halley's theory ; we know it is liable to a multitude of objections, from which the old notion of an under current, setting out of the strait, is entirely free ; and if it has been proved experimentally, what should be the case theoretically, that the water of the Mediterranean is more salt, and consequently of greater specific gravity than that of the Atlantic, it is as necessary that the former should rush out underneath, and the latter rush in above, as that the flame of a candle should be driven by the cold air through [under] the bottom of a door into the room, while the more rarefied air carries t outward at the top of the door. This under !'; 23 the limits of the sun's declination, the winds and cur- rents are periodical, according to his place. But it curreut, and the two lateral currents which Tofino" (and every one has) " found constantly setting outwards, along the shores of Europe and Africa, at new and full moon, afford a more satisfactory solution of the problem, than the unequal effect of evaporation." Now it appears to me that all he facts we do know are in favour of Dr. Halley's theory, and against that of a counter under current, which is tenable only after it shall be proved that the surfaces of the Mediterranean and Atlantic ever were, or are, equal ; and that the waters of the former are specifically heavier (and colder too) at equal depths than those of the Atlantic. At present, these two necessary data are little better than supposi- tions. But sound arguments are not to be built on suppositions. The first supposition, Mr. Waiz, in particular, had no claim to make as a groundwork for his hypothesis : for he sets out with computing " the quantity of evaporation as sufficient to lower the surface of the Mediterranean about 44 /eef annually ; but the supply received into it, as only sufficient to raise it 30 feet annually." So that by his owq showing, so far from his being entitled to suppose the surfaces of the Mediterranean and Atlantic to be, or ever to have been, equal ; that of the former, if his computation were correct, would have been lowered 14 feet, every succeeding year. Now, so great a disparity between the annual supply of water to the Mediterranean, and its expenditure by some cause, be it what it may, is disproved by past and present ex- perience. For no such diminution of the water in the Mediterranean has taken place. Its surface is of the same height n ' 'v as it has been in all ages. That its surface is lower generally than that of the Black Sea, and of the Atlantic, we want no calculation to show : the constant flow of the first through the Strait of Constantinople, and of the Atlantic into it through the Gut of Gibraltar, are facts before our eyes which prove it agreeably to the laws of hydrostatics. And accord- ing to the same laws, if ever the supply to the Mediterranean should so far exceed the expenditure by evaporation, as to realize Mr. Waiz's supposititious theory of equal surfaces, then the effect he showed by his box experiment may take place, provided the waters of the Medi- terranean be specifically heavier, salter, and colder, at equal depths, than those of the Atlantic. Butif they are nearly of equal specific gravity (which, notwithstanding a few partial experiments to the contraryj ^ f I would be leadii^ us too far out of the way, to attempt to trace the currents in the Indian seas, influenced as they are, so variously, and oppositely, in their direction and velocity, at different seasons, by tfaie Monsoons and the bodies of land within their limits. Suffice it to say what more particularly applies to the North Padficand will lead us again to the Arctic fegions* "< - ^ ' » ^ '^^ ^ ** Having said, that the air is rarefied and raised in the atmosphere, and that the greatest degtee of evapo- ration is effected between the. west coast of Afriea; and the east coast of America; and tbat»or^/t of tJie liiie» the fluid is so returned towards the North Pole, and being condensed somewhere in its passage by cold, it perhaps supplies with water some of the rivers which discharge into the seas of the temperate zone or into the North Polar Ocean ; and, whether falling in rain, hail, or snow, upon the earth or not, it ultimately finds its way into the Ocean. And according to the temperature propon- tionate to its depth, the water takes a direction towards the regions of equatorial heat ; is again raised by that beat to the surface, and again evaporated. Experiments in the Ocean have proved, that when xl.e temperature of the atmosphere exceeds that of the surface of the sea, the superiicip] water is generally warmer than that at certain depths beneath it (I say generally^ because 213 soundings, and confined waters, local causes effect many w probably the case), and the surface of the Mediterrauean be at all times UmtT than tlwt <^the Atlantic, then the perpetual How of the snrface <}f llie latter into the Mediterranean must be the c^seqaence, as ocft^al^ as any other effect follows its proper antece^itnt cause. Nay, ei«a if ^^w^RmI Setf had any channel of communication with the McdhemnMB, iU waiers also wookl flow into it, because the sur&ce •f the RedSea, I should sHppose>mi»l be higher than that of the other, iai obvioas reasons." i I 25 e:vc€ptions to this general rule), and, in all probability, the greater the depth the colder the fluid in that case. And as we know that when the air (or water) receives an in- crease of heat, its parts will be put in motion towards that heat, it follows, that the colder water throughout its whole depth must have a tendency to flow towards the point of greatest heat, and therefore be continually rising towards the surface in the equatorial regions. — • This probably is the routine of the general movement of the atmosphere, and the waters of the Ocean, between Europe, Africa, and America, and from the arctic re- gions to the equator.' And it seems no less probable, ' Colonel Capper, in his " Observations on the Winds and Mon- soons," sa}'s, at page 130, " In the next place, I shall attempt to show by what means the atmosphere is supplied with water; in what man- ner the winds are rendered the vehicle for conveying this moisture to the earth ; and by what means these waters are again returned to the sea, carrying with ihem the salts from the land, so as to keep up th^ saltness of the ocean. " In the absence of the sun in the winter solstice, immense masses of ice and snow are collected, in the polar regions, which by these means become so many reservoirs of water, de}Sosited there by the hand of Nature, in a solid form, until the return of the sun, when they are in part dissolved, and being again put in circulation, serve to in- crease the quantity of the water in the sea. "During the whole of the summer solstice, in each hemisphere, in- cluding the three hottest months, the quantity of ice and snow thus dissolved must be prodigious. If when this operation is performing the sun was suddenly to disappear, and this mass of water to be again immediately congealed, the first dissolution would have taken place in vain : but the course of the sun is gradual, and as he continues his progress, either north or south, one atmosphere is progressively warmed, whilst the other is proportionably cooled : with the former a vacuum is formed, which is filUd up by the cold denser «ir put i6 motion by its gravity to restore the equilibrium: this motion of the air consequeutly conveys with it the increased body of water /rom th« polar regions, and carries this additional mass towards the (mpics and the equator. Data. P .1:1 ^ !• U that in the Pacific they are subject to the same general laws. For there also the great equatorial current is in constant motion to the westward ; and like the gulf- stream, and from causes, too, in some points similar, it gradually turns to the northward when it approaches the lands to the northward of New Guinea and the Philippine Islands, being perhaps at the same time in- fluenced by currents setting in a different direction; more particularly during the prevalence of the south- west monsoon in the Indian and China seas. Near the coast of Japan the current has been found to set N.E. by N., at the rate of five miles an hour : at 18 leagues distance, about three knots, in the same direction ; but at a greater distance from the land it inclined more to the eastward ; and at t»0 leagues from the land it set E.N.E., three miles an hour ; then (Hke the gulf-stream) inclinhig gradually to the southward ; so that at the distance of 120 leagues from the coast of Nipon, its direction was S.E., and its rate not more than a knot. From this current setting generally to the N.E., along the coast of Japan, more or less strong, according to the season of the year, it appears that the motion of the air and waters, between the west coast of America and New Holland, and all the lands north- ward towards Behring's Strait, is similar to that north of the Equator, between Africa, Europe and America. It is therefore presumable, that though a superficial cur- rent may run into Behring's Strait, there must also be one running out of it underneath^ if there be no obstruc- ,^.," When the polar currents of air and water, if we may use this ex- pression, reach the torrid zone, the constant heat of the sun, which Is increased likewise by the heat of the earth as it approaches the land', causes a considerable increase of evaporation, or in common language, a distillation of the sea water, leaving behind in the ocean .all its saline qualities." ^ lerica. il cur- Iso be Istruc- tion, and the principles this theory rests on are correct. But the writer of the article I am examining is of opi- nion that * the constant circular motion, and inter* change of waters between the Pacific and the Atlantic ' must be by Behring's Strait ; otherwise ' it would be dif-* ficult to explain the perpetual egress of a current from the Polar basin into the Atlantic, without admitting a supply through the only remaining opening into that basin, to answer the demand of the current/ I admit the probability of a surface current into the Strait, for the reasons already given, and believe there may be one, because it is mentioned thus in Cook's Voyage : * We were now convinced that we bad been under the influence of a strong current setting to the north, that had caused an error in our latitude of 20 miles. In passing this Strait last year we experienced the same eflfect. On the 12th of July, when within the Strait, in latitude 69*. 37', and half way between the two conti- nents, the current was found to set N.W. at the rate of one knot.' This proves there was a surface current* though a small one, both at the entrance and to the northward of the Strait. But what have we to found the supposition on, that the waters may be * rushing out ' (that is, in from the Pacific, I suppose is meant) * with the greatest violence under the Floodgatey which means * the impenetrable barrier of ice which stopped the progress of Cook's successors ? ' ** The author of the article in question supposes that * if the Polar basin should prove to be free from land about the Pole, it will also be free of ice,' and that this may be the case is not improbable, in the summer season : not, however, because Of the non-ex- istence of land, but for other reasons, which shall be explained by and by. He also supposes that th^ m lii.i sd barrier of ice which stopped the progress of Cook's suc- cessors was moveable, or no where touched the bottom. The writer of Cook's Voyage was of the same opinion as to the ice nearest the ship, though that opinion rested on a foundation that might not, perhaps, equally apply to the larger masses of ice further to the northward, and not seen. His words are : — ' We had twice traversed the sea, in lines nearly parallel to the run we had just made, and in the first of those traverses we were not able to penetrate so far north, by eight or ten leagues, as in the second ; and that in the last, we had again found an united body of ice, generally about five leagues to the southward of its position in the preceding run. As this proves that the large compact fields of ice which we saw were moveable, or diminishing, at the same time, it does not leave any well-founded expecta- tion of advancing much further in the most favorable season.' . " Though this proves that the floating ice seen shifted its position, both to the northward and to the southward, but chiefly the latter, as will be soon further proved — yet it does not prove that the larger masses to the northward, perhaps, which they did not s6e, m.^ght not be immoveable, by grounding on the bottom, if the water became shoaler in that direction, as our navigators found it wast as far as they advanced. Now should there have been any immoveable masses of ice to the northward, it would in some degree explain why the current, which the writer in the review sup- poses to set with such * violence * from the Pacific, 0hould not have carried the ice away with it towards the Pole, where there may be none. But, if the whcde of this ice was moveable, it proves that whether there was a small current setting to the northward, or not. 29 and whether at the surface or the bottom, or both, there must have been a stronger current from the north- ward, or something else, which still more powerfully impelled the ice to the southward, in defiance of the other, as well as of the wind, which appears to have been generally from the south-west when strongest. It is said in Cook's Voyage, * It may be observed, that in the year 1778> we did not'meet with the ice till we ad- vanced to the latitude of 70", ofi the 17th of August ; and that then we found it in compact bodies, extend- ing as far as tha eye could reach, and of which a part or the whole was moveable ; since by drifting down upon us (from the northward) we narrowly escaped being hemmed in between it and the land.' On the Asiatic side they encountered extensive fields of ice, and were sure to meet with it about the latitude of 70°, quite across, whenever they attempted to stand to the northward. On the 26th of August they were ob- structed by it in 69i°, in such quantities as made it quite impossible to pass either to the north or west. In the second attempt they cOuld do little more, for they were never able to approach the continent of Asia higher than 67** ; nor that of America, in any part, than 68°, or 68°. 20' north. But in the last attempt they were obstructed by the ice three degrees further to the southward, and their endeavors to push further to the northward were principally confined to the mid space between the two coasts. ? ** Now all this does not seem to favor the supposition of a current * rushing in' from the Pacific through Behr- ing's Strait, with such velocity, as it may fairly be sup- posed a body of water would have, of sufficient quan- tity to supply the southerly current, * setting perpetu- ally into the Atlantic on both sides of Gmenland, not 30 ' only when the ice is melting, but when the sta isfreez' ing* Indeed, if we do but consider for a moment the quantity of water that may be supposed to flow through so extensive a space as Davis's Strait, * with a ve- locity of four, and sometimes even five miles an hour;* and then add to that the amazing quantity setting as constantly to the southward, in the still greater space to the eastward of Greenland and Spitzbergen, it does certainly appear to be improbable, nay, impossible, that a current of at least equal, or of double velocity, and occupying the full extent in depth and breadth of Behring's Strait, would be at all adequate to answer the demand ; much less, so trifling a current as we are warranted hy facts to believe there ii. For in Cook's Voyage, the remarks on this matter are thus summed up : — * By comparing the reckoning with the observa- tions, we found the currents to set different ways, yet more from south-west than any other quarter. We again tried the currents, and found them unequal, but never exceeding one mile an hour. Whatever their direction might be, their effect was so trifling, that no conclusion respecting the existence of a passage to the northward could be drawn from them.' It is presumed, that all the currents here spoken of were superficial ; but even admitting they extended quite across the Strait, and flowed the same way throughout its whole depth, still it seems quite beyond the bounds of possibility that the quantity of water so admitted, and with a rate of flow * so trifling,' could be sufficient for the supply of the currents *>■ setting to the southward perpetually, through the other /aw open* tng», (Baifln's sea being doubted then) into the At- Jftntic.*^'^ "y^'^^^-v^ •''/.; ^' Judging from such facts as are before us, that* a part, and but a very small part, of the demand to sup- ply the southern current, comes in from the Pacific through Behring's Strait, it is necessary to inquire, From what sources then is all the water so flowing out of the polar regions derived ? I have supposed the currents to bo produced (at least the motion of the great deep) generally by evaporation in the equatorial regions of heat, and by cold returned in various ways in the atmosphere, by land and by sea, into the northern re- gions, even as far as the Pole. For though * tlie way of the Almighty is,' as tlie Psalmist says, * in the sea, and his path in the deep waters,' yet it is also as surely in the clouds of heaven. And though his foot- steps are not known certainly, yet it is permitted us humbly to endeavor to trace them. " Whether or not there be any increase of water from the melting of the ice in the Polar sea, so as to cause a current to the south, appears not to be very material, and perhaps has little to do with the general quantity in the * Polar basin.* In all probability, it remains nearly the same at all times, whether there is more or less ice ; that is, taking the ice and water together to make up that quantity. I agree with the reviewer, that * those who could suppose the melting of the ice to afford such a supply, would betray a degree of igno- rance greater, perhaps, than that of not being aware of the very little influence which an arctic 'summer exerts on fields of ice, perpetually surrounded as they are by a freezing atmosphere created by themselves!'- However, there is no subject, perhaps, on which opi- nions have been more at variance than on the melting of the ice in the polar regions, as well as where and how it is formed. St. Pierre went so far as to suppose it was the cause of the tides \ but he does not appear m ;'.4| I ■ II to have been a * plain matter-of-fact man/ but of fancy and imagination. "Others think the ice does not melt at all, or at least very little, even in summer. If ice, when once formed (be it how it may) round and along the coasts of these regions, does not melt at all, there must be a constant increase, so long as that ice is ' surrounded perpetually by a freezing atmosphere created by itself,' which the reviewer tells us it * mostly is, even in sum- mer :* and if so, we may fairly presume it always is in winter, • " At this rate, with the exception of what may make its escape through Davis's Strait, and to the eastward of Greenland, it would necessarily be always advancing towards the Pole, (admitting the land to be the place of its first formation) and close over it ; unless we can find some probable cause counteracting this effect of perpetual frost. And perhaps we are warranted in supposing that there exists some such cause. Indeed it seems more than probable, that the process of freez- ing and melting may be going on in the arctic regions, on the same body of ice, (if of magnitude to be suffici- ently immersed,) at the same timey and perhaps in the winter, as well as the summer. " Water is a compound of ice and caloric. The temperature of ice is 32° ; and whilst surrounded by a temperature equal, it will remain ice. But whenever the temperature of the atmosphere exceeds 32°, and continues so long enough for the body of ice to receive a sufficiency of caloric to effect its dissolution, it will do so. It is probable, that the temperature of the atmo- sphere, even in the arctic regions, in summer will some- times exceed 32°, and the more, perhaps, the nearer the Pole; and whenever it does, sufficiently, the effect on ice is obvious. i I *' This seems suficicnt to be said, on the probability of ice above water meltinj;^ in the Arctic regions in summer, if the temperature of the atmosphere ever sufficiently exceeds 32". In the winter, as the tempe- rature of the atmosphere must be constantly below that, of course the freeaing above water will be as constant, though the surface of the sea itself will pro* bably not freeze tiU at a temperature much below 30°, even in a motionless state. The same body of ice, whilst freezing abore water, that is, increasing in size and extent by snow, hail, and the salt water freezing in washing over it, may perhaps, at the same time, be melting under water ; and this process will probably be accelerated according to the magnitude of the mass, and the depth of its immemon. For, when the at- mosphere is colder than the surface of the sea, the water will (in proportion, perhaps, to its depth) be found warmer by some degrees, than at the surface ; and though few experiments have yet been made to establish the fact, yet sufficient lO warrant this conclu^ sion. Thus in summer, if the temperature of the at* mosphere should be 32°, and the surface of the sea {clear of land and soundings) three or four degrees higher, that of the water below would probably be much higher still ; so that the portion of a large mass of ice, aboive the surface of the sea, would remain ice, and augment ; and the other portion of it betoiWy being immersed in a temperature exceeding the point of congelation, tvould probably be melting and decreas- ing. The well attested facts, of large bodicfii of ice having been seen to capsize or turn bottom up, prove that their centres of gravity are altered, by either an increase of their bulk aboive, or a diminution of it below, according to the excess of either effect. Upoii Data. £ 34 the whole, however, il seems probable, that in the Arc- tic regions the; process of freezing in the atmosphere exceeds that of melting under water, particularly on those smaller masses of ice which are immersed the least, and therefore there must be a general increase of ice in the * Polar basin,' from the Pole (if the ice originates U -re) towards the lands surrounding the * basin ;' or from those lands (if the ice first forms there) up towards the Pole. On this question, too, opinions ha> e been various. Every circumstance seems to weigh cgainst the opmion of its greatest formation being about the Pole, except one, and that is, because the sea water there will probably contain ^east salt. I am disposed to believe that it must also be much colder in the winter, at the surface of the sea near the PoiCf than any where else. In the part of the Polar basin further to the southward, where it is bounded by land, it is to be presumed that the general prevailing winds are from S.W. to N.W., particularly the former, in bad weather ; northevly, and easterly, when most settled and fine. If so, it is to be supposed there will be a current generally prevailing from the westward to the east- ward, partaking at the same time of that general tendency of the fluid to move southward from the Pole, which I imagine it will be found to have, from the coldness of its temperature " [meaning, I suppose, as compared with the progressively increasing general temperature of the sea from the Pole towards the Equa- tor]. "These two general combined impulses, ope- rating on moveable bodies, floating on the surface of the Arctic seas, must impel them in an east-southerly direction, all round the globe : being, in fact, that * circumvolving current,' v/hich the reviewer mentions, * as carrying fir, larch, aspen, and other trees, the pro-: ■K. ope- ice of therly that lions, pro-: iluce of bolh Asia and Amenca, from the Polar basin through the outlet into the northern ocean." The * puzzling' diagram, as Phoca terois it, as well as the remarks he makes on the reviewer's ingenuity, in hav- ing so happily * assisted ' the reader in the explanation of the notions he entertained on this interesting sub- ject, I do not deem it necessary to repeat here. Phoca continues : " Having, for the reasons before given, pre- sumed, that there is a circumvolving current in the Arctic sea, from west to east, but southerly withal^ it leads me to inquire into the probable effect of it, and the winds together, upon floating masses of ice. " In the first place, (let the ice be formed where it may) its general direction will in all probability be from west to east, with a ter-dency at the same time to set to the southward, too strong to be counteracted by the force of any winds from that quarter: its bulk imder being greater than that above the surface. " If we cast our eyes on a chart of the north Polar regions, no opening is seen for the egress of ice to the southward, out of the ' Polar basin,' from Norway and Lapland to the eastward, a^ong the whole coast of Asia, till we come to Behring's Strait. Through this strait it does not appear at all probable that much of the ice can pass, v^n account of its comparative small extent ; and the depth of water being perhaps insuffi- cient to float the bodies of greatest magnitude. There may also be * a trifling current,' as I suppose ; or one of the * greatest violence,' as the Quarterly Reviewer supposes, running in from the Pacific, to oppose its passage through the Strait. " From Behring's Strait, then, all along the coast of America, we find no opening for the ice to escape till we get to 'Baffin's Sea!' and Davis's Strait. Through Mr i 1? ■'<•' 30 dhis Strait, if there be an uninterrupted communication^ it is not unfair to pi^sume that immense quantities wculd be carried by a current 'running perpetually with a velocity, as it is stated, of four, and sometimes of iCTen five miles an hour f I am, however, inclined to think, that either from the interruption of lands, or shoals, between Greenland and America, a comparative small quantity passes from the ' Polar basin' through Davis'S Strait ; and that much of the ice, as well as currents, may have Hudson's Bay for their origin. If any Obstruction do exist to the free egress of ice through Davis's Strait, the consequence must be a vast accumulation of it, in a mass more or less conso- lidated, from about Nova Zembla, all the way to the eastward, as far as Greenland, and extending north- ward from every part of the coasts of Asia and A? re- rica, at least to the parallel of latitude in which u^ north 'point of Greenland may lie. For whatever masses of ice cannot pass through Davis's Strait must be pressed continually by others,, brought from the westward and northward, by the circumvolving cur^ rent, alonf, the north part of the more connected ice. " If its progress to the southward, through Davis's Strait, were not somehow impeded, it would pass through. If impeded in its <:ottrse to the southward (let the im- pediment be what it may), it is yet still more impeded in its progress to the eastward, by the west side of Greenland ; and therefore must accumulate against this solid ban-ier, as far at least to the northward as Greenland extends. Then, and not till then, can ice of any comparative quantity drive further to the east- ward, or find any passage down to the southward. All the ice farthest to the northwar-d of Greenland is tijuBn at liberty to mov« on towards Spitsbergen ; whilst m t!ie ice that may he in motion dosest in with the land, when rounding the nortti^east part of Greenland, mil take a tui^ to the southward, and in towards the coast withal ; because it will be within the influence of an eddy, that must necessarily be produced in the stream of waters passing nearest to the north-east part of that land. There it must collect, and if it consolidate, extend to the siiores of Iceland, or even Spdtzbergen ; or else ' burst its letters,' as it is said to have done lately, axid drift away to the southward, iiato the At* lantic. ' " This is sufficient lo account for the ice between Greenland and Spitzbergen having a general ra.ove- ^nentto the south-west. And there is the same i-ea- 8on to suppose, that the ice nearest to tlae north-east and east coast of Spitzbergen, has skso a similar mxwe- ment. But it will not warrant the conclnsion, ^of there being a carrent in the same direction, aUt amy conside- rable distance to ihe : northward and eastward of Spitzbergen. On the contrary, it seems most probable, that any masses of ice found m that direction, to the northward of 82" or 83% will be more within the influ- ence of the general ciroumvolving current ; and there- fore make an east-sa lerly drift towards l*^ova Zembla, and perhaps clear of its NE. point. Green- kvid and Spitiibergen, being situated so much further ■ (J the northward than any other known land in the * relic regions, form an impenetrable barrier agadnst the movement, to the eastward, cf any ice but what may be to the northward oS them both. ** Much of this northernmost surplus ice finding its way lo the southward, is one reason why it seems very likely, that ice in the greatest quantity, and most com- pact, will be fo4ind from about Nova Zembla, all along 'M >i ', 36 » 1^ the coasts of Asia and America, and extending to the northward as far, generally, as the noj^th part of Greenland; and that, perhaps, less and less ice will be found to the northward of its parallel, as the Pole is approached. That is, adopting the opinion that the ice is first produced near the surrounding lands, and accumulated afterwards at sea, so as to extend its sur- face from those lands northerly till it reaches the pa- rallel of the north point of Greenland, which the surplus ice must roundj before it can pass into the Atlantic, if Davis's Strait be obstructed. ..j.I " Greenland and Spitzbergen forming so powerful a bar to the progress of the ice to the eastward, with the circumvol i*'^ current, renders it extremely probable that there is . ays less ice between Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen than any where else in the same parallel j and perhaps still less, the nearer the Pole in summer, )\[i " Whether the ice during the winter encompasses the Pole or not, can only be matter of conjecture ; and, in all probability, the fact will never be decided by man. In that season, if the cold is intense in proportion to the nearness to the Pole, it is possible the ice may ad- vance to it. But yet, as it is more probably drifted out of the * Polar basin,' as fast as it collects, to the northward of Greenland, it seems more reasonable to conclude that it seldom reaches beyond the latitude of 82° or 83°, in any very extensive or consolidated bodies, all the year round. On this ground, for one, rests the opinion I hold in common with the writer of the article in question, of the probability of the vicinity of the Pole being free of ice in the summer ; not, however, as a con- sequence of there being no land there, but whether there shall be any land or not. For I have supposed it likely, that the temperature of the atmosphere, in the 39 con- lether )Osed n the •Arctic regions, sometimes may exceed 32°; and the more, perhaps, the nearer the Pole is approached. First, because there may be less ice, for the reasons I have given. — And if there be ice, there will probably be a warmer atmospheric temperature, to dissolve it, at the "Pole itself, than any where else to the southward of it, as far as 80° or 75° : because, when the sun's rays first strike the Pole, they will be felt there incessantly for six months ; but with what force and effect, we have yet to learn. On all other parallels, in proportion to their distances from the Pole, the duration of the sun's influence will be shorter. And though the sun's power, during the periods they feel it, may perhaps be greater than at the Pole, yet being interrupted whilst he is below the horizon, it is perhaps probable, on the whole^ that the greatest effect of the sun's heat may be at the Pole ; as, there, he is above the horizon for six months ; in the latitude of 84°, about five months; and in 78^, about four months only at a time. " We are next to inquire, what facility the late dis- appearance of the ice from the east coast of Old Green- land offers — first, for attempting a direct passage over the Pole; and secondly, the more circuitous one, along the northern coast of America, into the Pacific. " As to the first, according to the view I have taken of the subject, it appears to me that the facility this event offers for attempting a direct passage over the Pole, would be very nearly the same, whether more or less ice be collected, not only on the eastern coast of Old Green- land, but all round it, and even between it and Iceland, and towards Spitzbergen. That is, provided the attempt is to be made, as it is to be hoped it will be, to the east- ward of Spitzbergen; because, for the reasons I have 4ofiered, it is probable the least quantity of ice will be i 40 found thercj clear of the land. At all events, whatever masses may be found there, they will m all prohabiHty be of less magnitude, and more detached from each other, because the space for them to more in is least confined. If any of the vessels fitting out be destined to take this route, the probability is, that gf they advance beyond Vie latitude of 82" or 83* north, the ice will less and less impede their progress to the Pole ; amd to reach it will perhaps be the least difficult part of the enterprise. To the northward of 82" or 83% up to the Pole, it is likely that the weather in the sum* mer will be for the most part fine, but hazy generally. Thick fogs will be frequent. The winds are likely to be moderate, shifting often round from north to east, by south, to west, and north again, but prevailing chiefly from the eastward and northward. Jf our Polar navigator pass the Pole without any great di^ ficulty, and find the true south course he has steered to be on or near the 170° west meridian, and so leading him towards Behring's Strait, he will, in all probability, soon get to the southward as far as 80^, or perhaps 78% where it is as probable he will find his further progress stopped by ia*. perhaps impenetrable. . . *' From this part of the expedition, therefore, / see no very reasonable ground for entertaining * lively hopes,' that a practicable passage for ships will be discovered into the Pacific, though there does not seem to be the least doubt of there being one for water andjish. " As to the second, viz. * the more circuitous pas* sage, along the north coast of America into the Pacific^' the prospect of success is still more unfavorable than the other ; because the navigators are destined, in the first place, * to struggle against the ice, currents, and tides, in Davis's Strait, and on the east coast of America^ ;i 41 which the writer of the article I have been examining tells us himself * are of course never free from moun- tains and patches of ice ;' and to which he attributes the failure in every attempt, either to make this {very) passage, or to * ascertain its impracticability;' so thpt the highest point former navigators ever reached is the arctic circle, or at most the 67th parallel !' But even allowing that the present adventurers do reach the north-east point of America, and discover a passage through what is * gratuitously called Baffin's Bay,' they will then have to make no less than one hundred degrees of westing, most probably through immense fields of ice, fixed, or moving with the circumvolving; current as well as the winds, both prevailing in a ge- neral direction from west to east, against them. If there be any ground to hope that a practicable passage for ships can be discovered between the Pacific and the Atlantic, along the north coast of America, the chances are, that it will be done (if ever it be) from Behring's Strait to the eastward ; and therefore, it is much more likely to be accomplished by the Russian officers, said to, be making the attempt this year, than by ours ; because most of the obstacles opposed to the progress of our navigators^ from east to west, will be in favor of the Russians the other way." It appears in the preface to Captain Ross's account of his unsuccessful Voyage, that as early as the 4th of December, 1817, he was informed that two ships were to be sent out to ascertain the existence or non-exist- ence of a north-west passage. On the 15th of January, 1818, four ships were commissioned, viz. the Isabella, Alexander,. Dorothea, and Trent; the two former for the north-west, and the latter two for the Polar expedi- tions. On the 16th of April the Isabella and Alex- Data. F ■t ■■ t- Si Ml 42 ander reached the Nore, and on tlie 2&th their pilots quitted them off Cromer. The Dorothea and Trent joined them at Lerwick on the 1st of May, but did not accompany them to sea on the 3d. The instructions to Captain Ross, who commanded the N.W. expedition, (as exhibited in his account of his Voyage) were dated on the 31st March, 1818; and from their general tenor it would seem that the Quarterly Reviewer had been consulted, and many of his suggestions adopted, as to the most eligible route to be pursued. The reviewer denied, or at least doubted the existence of the land seen by Baffin, and what had been hitherto * gra- tuitously called Baffin's Bay; ' and assumed the belief of an open sea to the northward of Davis's Strait, and the existence of a * perpetual current through that Strait, from the northward, with a velocity of four, and sometimes even of five miles an hour.' In conformity with these assumptions. Captain Ross is instructed, in tha first place, * to make the best of his way into Davis's Strait, through which he will endeavor to pass to the northwardf without stopping on either of its coasts, unless be should find it absolutely necessary.' The instructions add — * From the best information we have been able to obtain, it would appear that a current of some force runs from the northward towards the upper part of Davis's Strait, during the summer season, and perhaps for most part of the winter also. This current, if it be considerable, can scarcely be altogether supplied by streams from the land, or the melting of ice ; there ■would therefore seem reason to suppose it may be derived from an open sea, in which case Baffin's Bay cannot be bounded by land.' The reviewer supposes, as we have seen in a former page, that the north-east point of America may be situated in latitude from 70" it tu 7*2° N., and says, that all former attempts at a north west passage failed, because none of them were ever made near that part of the coast ; but he apprehends difficulty in approacliing it by way of narrow SlraitSy as ' they are generally choked up with ice, which incon- venience would be obviated by standing first to the northward to the latitude of 7!" or 72°.' Agreeably to this, it is suggested ' in the instructions to Captain Ross/ as a general observation, that a passage through fields of ice is most likely to be found where the sea is deepest^ and least connected with land ; as there is reason to suppose that ice is found to be more abundant near the shores of the continent and islands^ in narrow straits, and deep bays.' By the by, I wonder whether this observation (which is really a very sound one) suggested itself to the person (whoever he was) who drew up the instructions for Captain Buchan, to pursue his course in the * Dorothea and Trent, in a di* rection as due north as may be found practicable through the Spitzbergen seas.' If it had, that officer would in all probability have been more fortunate ink making his attempt to the eastward of Spitzbergen, for the reasons given by Phoca, and which the reviewer himself must admit to be correct, even on his own prin- ciple ; though to be sure the reviewer says, * The fai- lure of the Polar expedition was owing to one of those accidents to which all sea voyages are liable, more es- pecially when to the ordinary sea risk is superadded that of a navigation among fields and masses of ice/ Captain Ross is further instructed, after reaching * that part of the sea to the northward of Davis's Strait' which, if reports may be relied on, is generally free from * field ice,' to stand Weil to the northward before he edge away to thr westward, in order to get a good 11 i i : offinj^, in rounding the north-east point of the continent of America ; whose latitude has not been ascertained, but which, if a conjecture may be hazarded, from what is known of the northern coast of that coniment, may perhaps be found in or about the 72nd degree of latitudt .* * In the event of his being able to succeed in rounding this point, and finding the sea open,' he is instructed • carefully to avoid coming near the coasts where lie would be most likely to be impeded by fixed or floating ice ; but, keeping well to the northward, and in deep water, to make the best of his way to Behring's Strait.' After these expeditions had sailed, two more articles appeared on the question of this north-west passage ; one in the Quarterly Review, No. 36, for June, 1818, in favor of its accomplishment of course; and the other in the Edinburgh, No. 69, for the same month, quite as full of that * scepticism,' which its more or- thodox opponent approves of — not in * matters of reli- gion' — but of * science, which, by provoking inquiry, frequently leads to the detection of error, and always stimulates to the discovery of truth.' As some passages in both these rival reviews appear to have occasioned a more than common quantum of this laudable scepticism on the mind of Phoca, he was induced to publish another letter in the Naval Chro- nicles for September and October, before the two ex- peditioi 3 returned j being * An Attempt to prove, from Circumstances and Facts stated by Philosophers, that a Passage for Ships from the * Polar Basin ' to the Pa- cific through Behring's Strait, must be impracticable.' "Mr. Editor, Hull, 5th Sept. 1818. " Locke tells us, that * false or doubtful positions, relied upon as unquestionable maxims, keep those in 45 the dark from truth who build on them ; arid to be in- different which of two opinions is true, is the ri^^ht tem- per of mind that preserves it from being imposed upon, and disposes it to examine with that indifferency until it has done its best to find out the truth ; and this is the" only direct and safe way to it.' • *' In examinin{]f subjects of science and philosophy, as well as of religion, this indifferency is particularly requisite ; and the mind should be entirely divested of that prejudice by which individuals as well as parties are so liable to be misled. • " On a subject of the former kind, w'hich has for the last few months attracted so much of the superficial notice and curiosity of the public, and perhaps the serious consideration of a few, it seems peculiarly ne- cessary to have the mind thus prepared for its discus- sion — I mean the pending expeditions to explore the arctic regions. Some points connected with them, sd strongly asserted, and attempted to be proved by one set of philosophers, and as strongly opposed, and denied by another, seem calculated to distract the judgment, even of those who happen to be prejudiced in favor of either party, without convincing any who think the matter worthy of their attention, and feel dis- posed, without bias, to inquire into the solidity of the arguments used by either, to prove their assertions and conjectures well founded, or stated facts to be true^ which appear discordant. • " The grand and chief point, on which these philo-* sophers are at issue, appears to be, whether Behring's Strait * is merely the entrance of a vast bay or inland sea?* or * the separation of two vast continents V Each seeming to rest their opinion, as to the success or failure^ of the expeditions, mainly on that question. ^ lid 4G It' ** Captain Burney, in his Memoir, proposed to show, that * there does not exist satisfactory proof of such separation ; and, secondly, from peculiarities which have been observed, there is cause to suppose the fact to be otherwise; that is to say, that Asia and America are contiguous, and parts of one and the same continent.' j " As it is clear that we have no positive proof of the junction of the two continents of Asia and America, let us examine the nature of those peculiarities from which Captain Burney concludes * there is cause to sup« pose them contiguous, and one and the same.' rnj: " These peculiarities were — First, *The sudden dis- appearance of tides, on arriving in Behring's Strait. — • Secondly, There was little or no current, nor could it be perceived that the tide either rose or fell. — Thirdly, That to the northward of the latitude of 68° 4^' N. the soundings were observed to decrease.' It will then be proper to inquire how far these * peculiarities ' autV 'se the supposition? And lastly, whether the very sar ^^j- tuliarities could exist if the continents do not join ? • " The philosophers of the north argue in support of the supposition, chiefly on the grounds stated by Cap- tain Burney. Those of the south not only seem to dis- credit the existence cf the * peculiarities ' observed per- sonally by Captain Burney himself, but on an hypothe- sis of their own, as well as from some of the facts stated by that officer, they endeavor to establish their opinion of the separation of the two continents, and the exist- ence of a perpetual current from the Pacific thro»)gh Behring's Strait into the Arctic Sea ; finally declaring, that they *have less apprehension of the passage through Behring's Strait being closed against our navigators (except by ice) than of the difficulties they may have to encounter on this side of America.' , ^ i '\ 47 ejcist- ro»)g;h aring, rough ators ve to i t-^t ** On the subject of currents Jn general, and particii* larly what is called the gulf-stream, as well as tkis sup- posed one through Behrings Strait, as asserted in the Quarterly Review before, I was induced to make a few observations on the 27th of February last. On these questions, therefore, I do not mean to enlarge here ; though, regarding what has been further said, in that Review for June last, on the extraordinary effects of currents, and their assumed direction, I may perhaps offer a few remarks as I go along. ** The philosophers of the north have not considered it worth while to notice these points, and only observe, that * the notion of a stream rushing beneath a frozen arch cannot be admitted.' But to return to the ques- tion of the separation or junction of Asia and America* Jf Behring's Strait is * merely the entrance of a vast bay or inland sea, ' the failure o'" both expeditions, as well by way of the Pole as Davis's Strait, must be cer- tain, even were they to surmount all the difficulties in their progress by either route ; the object of both being to pass through that Strait in'.o the Pacific. " But even if Beh ring's Strait should be ' the sepa- ration of two great continents/ a further anii no less important question arises, viz. Whether another local impediment does not exist, which must, of necessity, be as impassable as land, at least for ships^ and therefore occasion some, if not all, of those very peculiarities, from the personal observation and knowledge of which. Captain Burney concludes 'there is cause to suppose that Asia and America are contiguous, and parts of one and the same continent.' '* Feeling no bias towards the opinions or the suppo- sitions of either party, and regardless of the fact, either of the junction or separation of Asia and America, my 4« m U' object in. this. examination is to attempt to prove, asfar as kno^vnfacfs, qnd.pth^pcircnm^tanc^s^ stated and agreed in by both parties, can prcvCj that the passage for ships from the Polar Sea into ii.° Pacific, by way of Behring's ^Strait, is as ivipraQticablq ,^^ if ^s^a and Ame- rica were known to join^ ■jrhojigh W ^^ P?''h2ips. war- ranted in giving full crecJi|.to^,tl?e,acco!qi|)t Captain ^u|- ney gives pf the ' p^c\||ijarities^^ h^ Qbs^rye,d;jet it n^ay be as well to e3f,amii^g„^fiQ„(^ts s^fited jiji (JJook's ?J)4 Clarke's V9pg^s, injvHPP/^fj; 9,())is^.^:yi#^c^';;a^ w^U as some 9/ the 9ir^!^no|s^pcef,, ^^tivflejj^ \^f^^ v Qi^^r^ terly Revie^w in.;:efut£^ti(^n,p|it.,^,^ .. . . .-■ _,; ^ "The first^.fi^ct potiqed^by C^^ptain JBurney is vthe sudden dis?Lpp^ar9.ppe of ^ tides pn arriving in Behrjpg's St^mi ^^/^^^tj(i|jS^pQpd|jjJ)i|^ prno qpfr rent ; no|; cpi^ld ^iji^^ perceiyed that the tide either rogp prfelUf^ ?c . >ty •;Ji^*> mifffn lUsii vf-^v vjlsif^a»'«j ^i ■(mU f ,-; — tc >rw;ji^*> mifun lujji YT^jv vuKi^^anj ^' u^im " In CjarKe's Voyage it is stated, that 'on Thur^qajy the l§t of July, Mr. Bligh, the master of the Resolution,| ^jJ^villg. moored a small keg with the deep sea lead in 75 fathoms water (oflf Thad^us' Noss), forud that the ship made a course north by east about half a mile an hpur.' This was attributed by h'.n * to the effect of the spMtherly swells rather than to any current.' ; ,,/* In Cook's Voyage, when at anchor in G fathoms, with the Peaked Mountain, over Cape Prince of Wales, bearing S. 10'' W., on the 1 Ith of August, it is remark- ed, * Weperceived little or no current, nor did we perceive that the tide either rose or fell.' Again, on the 21st of August, in lat. 69" 30', it is said, * During the afternoon Wf had but little wind, and the master was sent in a boat tp observe whether there was anv current, but he found none.' In Clarke's Voyage, when off Cape East, ijjj.th^ 5th p^f sfi^ly, jt jisj.ema^ked^ VWe wer^ now cpp- 49 W vinred of our having been under the influence of a strong current, setting to the north, which had occa- sioned an error of 20 miles in the computation of the latitude at noon. At the time of our passing the Strait last year, we experienced a similar effect.' On Monday, the 12th of July, in latitude 69** 49* N. within the Strait, on the Asiatic side, it is remarked : — ' On examining the current, we found it to set north-west, at the rate of half a mile an hour.' And finally, in describing the local circumstances generally, within the Strait, the ac- count of the tide or current is thus given: — * We found but little tide or current, and that little came from the westward ;' that is, athwart the Strait's mouth, from the coast of Asia towards America, and neither into njr out of the Strait. These extracts all prove the fact of there being little or no current within the Strait ; and also, that there was generally very little more outside, or even at the entrance. For the set of 20 miles observed on the 5th of July, though called * strong* can barely de- serve the term ; at all events, it does not convey the idea of ci * violent current rushing in with the greatest velocity.' " The writer of an article in the Quarterly Review for June last, concludes, (and hypothetically enough) that because there were tides so strong near the Aleutian Islands (at least 5 or 600 miles off) as to run at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, the water * must be carried to the northward by these extraordinary tides ;' conceiving that these tides, and the ^creat body of the northern Pacific, which he asserts ^ all navigators have found to be in motion towards Behring's Strait, ' * are the strongest indications of an open and uninterrupted passage for water (uninterrupted e.vcept by ice) through that strait into the Polar sea ; and a decisive argument Data. G 50 1^ against any such bay as Captain Burney has imagined to be formed by the junction of the two continents of Asia and America.' *'That these strong tides, observed among the Aleutian Islands, extend to the northward as far as Behring*s Strait, seems to be only an imaginary assumption, and till facts have proved that such currents are known to exist, • rushing in to the funnel-shaped mouth of the Strait,' it is unnecessary to reply to the question, * What becomes of all the water carried to the north- ward by these extraordinary tides V If, indeed, such currents were known to exist, * rushing in to the funnel- shaped mouth of the Strait,' they would doubtless oc- casion a rise and fall, no less remarkable than that which takes place * in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Tonquin.' But facts and experiments having shown that there is little or no current either within, or out- side* near the entrance of Behring's Strait; consequently, no such effects are produced on the waters within the Strait, for this simple reason — the want of such a cause, as effects the ' remarkable rise and fall in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Tonquin.' *f' " It is therefore needless to have recourse to the chi- merical supposition of the existence of a communication, under the ice, between the Pacific and the Polar sea, in order to account for the well authenticated fact ^ of there being little rise or fall of water within Behring's Strait. *' Besides, if the temperature of the water in the Pa- cific be (as I presume we may conclude it to be) warmer than that within Behring's Strait, it must of course and necessity flow in (if it does at all) at the surface, as I observed before when treating this subject last Feb- mary ; and the philosophers of the north have told us ot i^ince, in the Edinburgh Review for June last, that ' when water grows warmer it expands, and consequently floats incumbent, communicating; afterwards its surplus heat, with extren.e slowness, to the mass below,' " Though such sage authority would alone seem suf- ficient to prove that any little current there may be from the Pacific into Behring's Strait, must flow in at the surface (as what little there was did in/ac/), and not underneath, it is, however, as well to try how far the philosophers of the south are borne out by facts, in as- serting so positively that * all navigators have found the great body of the northern Pacific to be in motion towards Behring's Strait ; and that a current sets in that direction along the coast of America on one side, and those of Japan and Kamtschatka on the other.' They acknowledge, however, at the same time, * that as the observations of the currents on these coasts have been few, and the currents observed might therefore be local and partial, they mean not wholly to rest their argument on them, but to have recourse to other and less eqmvoc^\ proofsj for the general umvement of the Pacific towards the north.' They consider this * to he indisputably proved by the ii nense quantities of drift wood, thrown up on the souiuern shores of the Aleutian lalands, consisting of fir, larch, aspen, and other trees, the pommon produce of the two continents of Asia and America.' But as a proof of the more southerly parts of the northern Pacific partakin of the same motion, they present to notice ' p* curious fact mentioned by Stephen Glottof, that among other float* ing bodies thrown up on the Aleutian Islands, is fou u the true camphor wood, and another sort, very white, soft, and sweet-scented.' t,^ » ^,. " Nothing is more possible than that this camphor ) ! 52 ^ood might come from the Asiatic islands, or some parts of tropical Asia ; for the south-west monsoon in the Indian and China seas is known to blow from May till October, through the sea of Japan, and even up to the head of the Gulf of Tartary, occasioning strong currents to the northxvardt smd which might carry the camphor wood through the sea of Japan, the Straits of Matsmai, or Perouse, and among the Kurile Islands ; from whence a south-west swell, with gales of wind from that quarter and the southward, might drift it upon the Aleutian Islands, without assuming a conti- nuation of the general current so much further to the northward. *' Perouse, after passing Tobaco Ximc, about the end of April, says, * a strong current to the northward was experienced.' On the 6th of April, near the Island of Kumi, he found ' the current set to the north- ward with extreme rapidity,^ When at anchor in the bay of Ternai, on the 22d '^f June, he observes, * The ebb and flood have no effect upon the direction of th^ current half a league in the offing : what we felt at ouir anchorage varied only from south-west to south-east, and its greatest velocity was only a mile an hour.' The wind was constantly from the southward during his stay in the Gulf of Tartary, till the 2d of August, when he sailed from the Bay de Castries. " After passing the strait which bears his name, we find no mention of any Cu. rent to the northward ; but,^ on the contrary,'oii the 10th of August, when off Cape Crillon, he says, * We found ourselves a little to the south- ward of our reckoning, but only ten miles.' When near the Kurile Islands, he remarks, * Our observations on the 23d informed us that we had been drifted to the westward t forty miles in two days ; ad we ascertained 5.1 the accuracy of these obaervations on the 24th, by setting the same points we had observed on the 21st, and find- ing them exactly where they ought to be, according to our longitude observed/ On the 81st he found he had been carried * ten leagues to the south'east^ On his passage from the Kurile Islands to Kamtschatka, no mention is made of a current to the northward. It appears probable therefore, from the facts stated in the voyage of this navigator t that the northerly set of current, even during the south-west monsoon^ does not extend further (except in the Gulf of Tartary) than the latitude of 46** or 47° N. And by referring to Clarke's or King's Voyage, we shall find how it set on the east side of Nipon. It is thus described : * On the 1st of November, at a time when we were 13 leagues to the eastward of White Point, the current set at the rate of three miles an hour to the N.E. by N. On the 2d, as we made a nearer approach to the shore, il continued in a similar A\mc* tipn, but was augmented in its rapidity io Jive miles ail hour. As we receued from the coast, it again became more moderate, and inclined towards the east. On the 3d, at the distance of 60 leagues from the shore, it sol at the rate of three miles an hour to the £.NkE. i Ok the two following days, it turned to the south warrf^ and at 120 leagues from the coast its direction was south-easty and its rate did not exceed one mile a»d a half an hour. It again on, the 6lh aad?7t(i shifted to the N.E., and its force diminished gradually till the Sttii at which time we could no longer perceiyi& any ourrenttfo ?" It may therefore be said[,thatithe nottk^east ourrenk does not generally set further to the nortliward,> at amy time of the year, in the western part of the* noitherii Pacific, than the pjar^le^s of 46° or 47°;daidin allpro^ bjaJbiJity not so fiii^.f 9;^iYi owi «i ^^inti vm* Mw^m^^ X 54 II' Hi ' ('i ** On the 2d of July, Captain Krusenstern, when in latitude 34° 3' N. and longitude 190° 8' W. says : * By observation, we found we had been carried by a current S7 miles to the N.E. by N. in the space of three days* On the 29th of June, the last day on which we had observed, the current ran 13 miles to the south.' " In this part of the Pacific the current may fairly be supposed to be itrongeat in its northerly direction at this season; because the sun being in that hemisphere, all the winds in the southern Pajoific blow from the 8.£. ; those in the western and north-western part of that ocean, rounding gradually, in the vicinity of New Hol- land and New Guinea, to the southward, and S.W. north of the Equator, where they are incorporated with the S.W. monsoon, which then blows from the Indian find China seas. Yet, even here, the current ran at the rate of a little more than half a mile an hour ; and indeed, as it set * to the south, with a greater velocity; three days before, it may be termed variable, rather than * perpetual.' '* From the month of September or October, till the month of March, ' the sfreat body of water of the north- em Pacific' appears still less likely to be ' in a state of perpetual motion towards Behring's Strait ;' at least all that part of it which is to the northward of 20° N. ; be- cause winds more from the N.W. than the S.W. prevail generally quite across the ocean, as far at least to the southward as that latitude. The sun being then in the southern hemisphere, tli© N.E. trade wind is rarely steady beyond the latitude of 15° or 16° N. in the neighbourhood and westward of the Sandwich Is* lands ; and, eastward of them, perhaps not so far. In the north-west part of the Pacific the winds in these months (from October till March) areall from the N.E., 55 i I generally from about the latitude of 40* N. and the coast of Nipon, down to the Equator ^ and the more northerly, as it is approached. And from the Equator to the latitude of at least 16° or 18° S. the N.W. mon- soon in this rainy season there prevails almost as steady to meridians beyond the Society Islands, as it does from Madagascar . j Endeavor Strait. *' Navigators know (or ought to know) that currents depend generally on the direction given to prevalent winds by the power of the sun ; therefore, as the winds in this ocean are locally variable and periodical, though chiefly so to the southward of the Equator, the currents likewise must be periodically changeable, to the north- ward or southward, though having ?l general tendency to the westward, on both sides the Equator, at all times ; but especially north of the Line, as far as the tropic of Cancer ; and such we find to be the case from the testi- mony of navigators. " After Perouse quitted Kamtschatka, in the month of October, in running to the eastward, in about the paral- lel of 37^° N. as far as the longitude of 180°, he experien- ced strong gales from the south-westward ; and he says, * the birds appeared to me to come from the south, driven by the violence of the wind ;' and, * since quitting Kamts- chatka we had constantly a very heavy swell : at one time the sea washed away our jolly-boat, which was lashed to the gangway, and we shipped more than a ton of water.' " Nothing is more possible than that winds like these and a heavy swell would drive the * camphor wood,* or other floating bodies, upon or even beyond the Aleutian Islands, towards Behring's Strait ; without supposing the existence of a * perpetual current,' so far in that direction, to account for the fact And though it i ■[ml ki;i 56 I I ;. „ I is very possible that all the drift wood spoken of ' does not stop at the Aleutian Islands,' and that some, taken up by Captain Clarke in Behring's Strait, might have come from thence ; yet, as the Quarterly Reviewers * have not been able to trace the * camphor wood' beyond the Aleutian Islands,' it is a circumstance rather against, than in favor of, their hypothesis. For as the camphor wood was a floating body too, as well as the other drift wood, and the famous * log of mahogany,* which they traced so marvellous a distance ; whatever earned the one, might have carried the other. It is therefore just as possible, that these trees of various kinds, the productions * of North America, and north, as well as tropical Asia,' may be driven by tides, winds, and swell together, in all directions, among the Aleu- tian Islands, and to the south, as well as to the north. And this in fact we find to be the case ; for both Cap- tains Cook and Clarke make mention of * pine trees being driven upon the Sandwich Islands,' which in all probability came from places -either to the N.E. or N.W. of those islands. "Captain Lisianski 'found lying on the beach' of the small island which bears his name, ' several large trunks of trees, the largest of which measured twenty- one feet in circumference at the root ; and he says, * they were like the red-wood tree, that grows on the banks of the Columbia river * in America ;' and if they ever grew there, they must have had the assistance of a southerly and westerly cun'ent to enable them to reach Lisianski Island, in defiance of the northerly one, which the Quarterly Reviewers suppose must have carried the Mog of mahogany' all the way from the Isthmus of Darien, all along the coast of America, 'through Bebring's Strait, and thence along the north coast of 67 America, and down^ Baffin's Sea' to Disco. But indeed Lisianski, when be passed between Agiiian and Tinian on the Idth of November, Says, *From Sitca (on the uorlh-w68t coast of 'America) to the Ladrone Islands we bad the'Ctiiv6nts> from NwE. to the S.W. The last, whitch was tfaei strongest^ 1 carried ns 140 miles to the s$k4tkwardi and2iO(^Uniheiwe^w}>rd, Its force was very ^leat'nebbT^be tropic, but on. o^iproaching the Marian laland9kv>it shifi^d toi< thet westward. ;t Though this paAsag&'is oddlytrworded^'^Tetat seems to imply that J|hetoU^;frora the norths-east towards* the« 80uth-»we9t,'iElll titeway from Sitca to the L' Hui^ii'o/txmj ►vr- -i., . ■, V I »^ The Quarterly Retiewens, howetei', stedfastly belie v- ing m the existence of thir per[)etual current, of their awH creatiorii infer that^ logs and trees of the preceding year'sdrift had passed throi^h the Strait (Behring's) with the ice into the * Polar basin,' and attempt to prove that * the ice, like the drift wood, has a progressive mo- tion to the northward ;' because on the 17th of August Captain Cook fell in with it in lat. 70** 41' N. and Captain Clarke, * on the 6th of July following, in 67** N.' Now, as far as I can see, this does not seem to prove any ^hing more than what the facts themselves show — namely, the different situations in which the ice was found at two distinct periods in diffei^ent years. It may indeed be presumed, perhaps, that, because Captain Cook fell in with it a montli later one year than Cap- tain Clarke did another, the sun's power might have dissolved it further la the northward; or, that the pre- ceding winter might have been less sevsre,; and therefore the ice had not extended so far to the southward. But with, respect to the movement of the ioe itsflf, to the •f H 58 fiorihtvard in either ye.ir, the words of both Captains Cook and Clarke are expressly to the contrary. "Captain Cook says, on the 21st of August, 'We were at present in lat. 69° 32' N. and in longitude 195" 48' E., and as the main ice was not far from us, it is evident that it now covered a part of the sea, wliich a few days before had beenyree from it, and that it extended further towards the south than where we first fell in with it.' Certainly it did, no less than sixty-nine miles ; for he fell in with it in lat. 70° 41' N. ^ " Captain Clarke says, in July the following year, • We had traversed this sea since the 8th of the month, and that, in lines parallel with the course we now steered ; the first time, we were unable to penetrate so far north as the second, by eight leagues, and that this last time a compact body of ice had been observed, commonly five leagues further south than before. This clearly proves that the vast and solid fields which we saw were decreasing or moveable.' Again, in the year 1778^ * we did not discover the ice till we advanced to the - latitude of 70°, on the 17th of August, and we then , found it in compact bodies, which extended as far as the eye could reach ; and of which the whole or a part was moveable, since, by its drifting down upon us (from the northward), we narrowly escaped being hemmed in between it and the land.' * On the 26th of August, in lat. 69j° N. and longitude 184° E., we were ob- structed by it in such quantities, that we could not pass either to the north or west. In our second attempt we never had an opportunity of approaching the continent of Asia higher than 67° of latitude, nor that of,America in any part, except a few leagues between the latitude 68° and 68° 20' N. But in the last attempt, we were obstructed by it three degrees further to the southward,^ ii ** From these passages it is clear, that these navigators «lid find the movtahle ice, in fact, further and further to the southward, from some cause, during the time they were among it, in both years. Their judgment on the spot was, that it moved in that directiotiy and in this they could not be mistaken with respect to the ice they saw nearest the ships ; for it compelled them to recede from it further to the southward. If it did not move (south- ward), it must have extended itself, even in these summer months, by augmentation, hoi\\ in quantity and superficies, from some (perhaps fixed) mass beyond it to the northward, which they could not see ; a point which I shall leave the philosophers of the south to de- cide for themselves, but which 1 believe to be most im- probable, and those of the north will of course pronounce impossible : for they have just told us, what I am sure 1 little suspected, and I dare say will be no less surpris- ing to our arctic navigators when they return, that * the fields or shoals of saline ice which during the greater part of the year covey the arctic seas, are annually formed and destroyed, and during the thaw, which com- monly lasts about three months, the heat of the solar rays is adequate to the dissolution of all the ice pro- duced in the course of the autumn, the winter, and the spring ! !' So that as our polar navigators fortunately have been in, those arctic seas during these 'three months of thaw,' they will nqt have been at all im- peded by * the fields or shoals of saline ice,' as they are ' all thus annually formed and destroyed ;' but will merely have to work Tom Cox's Traverse among the icebergs. And, as the philosophers of the south inform us, that * the sea through which these massy mountains float, must be open, -and where they can float a ship will find no difficulty in sailing,' they must have made great 11, m ■■'. ■ 00 I! r M w I ■ progress by this time in a navigation thus cleared so * completely of all obstruction (at least from ice\ which the ignorant and unlearned among us have foolishly supposed to be the most formidable bar to their success. ** Of course, too, none of the ice seen by Captain Cook and his successors (which the Quarterly Reviewers term * an impenetrable barrier') could have been of this * saline' quality; for when they quitted it, the ice re- mained nearly in the same state as they found it, undis- solved, and apparently undiminished, at the end of the summer. What Captain Cook saw on the 17th of August, in lat. 70° 41' N. is described by him as * per- fectly impenetrable,' and extended from \V. by S. to E. by N. as far as the eye could reach. And on the 27th, we are told that * there being little wind, Captain Cook went in the boat to examine the state of the ice. He found it was as impracticable for ships to pass it as if it had been so many rocks. He particularly remarked that it was all pure transparent ice except the upper surface, which was rather porous. It seemed to be composed of frozen snow, and to have been all formed at sea. None of the productions of the land were found incorporated or mixed with it. The Captain judged that the larger pieces reached thirty feet, or more, under water. He thought it highly improbable that this ice could have been the production of the preceding win- ter ; he was rather inclined to suppose it to have been the production of many winters. It was equally im- probable, in his opinion, that the little that now remained of the summer could destroy even the tenth part of what remained of this great mass, for the sun had already ex- erted upon it the full force and influence of his rays. The sun indeed, according to his judgment, contributes very little towards reducing these enormous masses ; ■f 61 for though that luminary is above the horizon for a considerable while, it seldom shines out for more than a few hours at a time, and frequently is not seen for several successive days." And I dare say, if poor Captain Cook were alive now, he would still be of the same opinion. Neither would it be in the power of the philosophers of the north to make him believe that to be true, which is cont.*ary to the evidence of his senses and experience on the spot. And yet those of the south say, ' it does not appear that Captain Cook entertained any doubt of a passage through Behring's Strait, into the Arctic sea.' 1 will not venture to say that he did entertain doubt, but I will say that itappearsr evident, on the face of these extracts, that he could not have entertained the least hope of finding any such passage. " Having thus far disposed of the question of ' a perpetual motion of the great body of the northern Par- cific towards Behring's Strait,' 'along the coasts of Japan and Kamstchatka,' let us next see what facts say to its general direction a)ong the west coast of America. — It has been shown that, at the entrance of Behring's: Strait, Captains Cook and Clarke found * very little or no current.' When at anchor near Sledge Island, Cap- tain Cook observes, * the tide of flood came from the eastward, and set to the westward, till between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock ; from which time, till two o'clock in the morning, the stream set to the east- ward, and the water fell three feet : the flood running both stronger and longer than the ebb, we concluded there was a westerly current, besides the tide.' Fur- ther to the southward, off Shoalness, he remarks that 'the tide of flood set to the north, and the ebb t& the southward,' 'and among the Aleutian Islands / 62 the tides were strong and regular.' The general set was W.S.W., and E.N.E., clear of tbcin ; and various among them, according to the directions of the chan- nels. Subsequent navigators appear to have found ' them the same, not only there, but every where else (though setting in directions according to localities), all along the N.W. coast of America, /row these Islands as far down to the southward as 40° of latitude. Nor do any ,of the navigators on that coast (as far I find) mention the. prevalence of a northerly current at any time of the year. '* On the 11th of October, the day Captain Vancou- ver sailed from Nootka Sound for Monterey, he says, * when in J 00 fathoms water, by the lead when on the ground, the vessel seemed to lie as if at anchor.' So that there was 7io current at all here at that time, and little or none seems to have been observed all the way down to Monterey. After quitting that port on the 2nd of December, he observes, on passing the Island of Guadaloupe on the 8th, * The observation made on that and the preceding day exactly agreed with the ship's run by log.' On the 23rd of December, when in lat. 13° 50' N. and longitude 100° 55' W., Captain Vancouver says, 'During our passage thus far from Monterey, it did not appear that we had been much affected by currents ; the log and observations having agreed very nearly, and the difference between the lon- gitude by dead reckoning and that which I considered to be the true longitude, had not exceeded half a degree ; the dead reckoning having been in general to the east- ward of the truth. The wind in the north-western quarter continued to blow a steady breeze, and as we advanced to the south-eastward increased in force.' *From this position, the current set towards the south (>3 and east, and sometimes to the northward of east (oc- casioned no doubt by an indraught towards the Gulf of Panama), particularly near the Island of Cocos, and from thence to the Galepagos Islands ; but after passing them^ the currents shifted, and ran to the southward, and to the westward. I have been tempted to accom- pany Captain Vancouver thus far down the coast, to try to discover, if possible, that current on whose sup- posed existence the philosophers of the south ground their extraordinary conclusion that the mahogany plank which the Governor of Disco's table was made of, and also a tree of logwood found there, * could only have reached the spot on which they were found, along the coast of America from the Isthmus of Darien.' How they got there, God only knows ! But if Captain Van- couver's account of the currents he met with along that coast are to be credited, it is impossible they could have gone thither by the route supposed, or ever have reached Behring's Strait; even admitting it possible that these logs had been drifted from the Gulf of Pa- nama by the equatorial current, quite across the Pacific, and afterwards driven all the way up to the northward along the coasts of Nipon and Kamtschatka. Indeed it seems much more possible, and probable too, that these very logs of mahogany found their way to Disco somehow or- o|;her from the Gulf of Mexico. It is very clear that the gulf-stream might have carried them up to, or perhaps beyond Newfoundland, from whence, it is not impossible that by other currents or local tides they might have got into eddies close in along the coast of Labrador, and even into Hutlson's-Bay, and out again through some o^ the openings furthest to the northward, and so across Davis's Strait to Disco. They might also, as well as the other log of mahogany * picked up (34 n I J It by Admiral Lewenorne,' have been driven from some part of the northern Atlantic, by southerly gales, and heavy seas. For, floating at the surface, they would not feel the influence there of the perpetual underflow from the north, which brings the icebergs down to the south- ward, against the heaviest gales, because they are deeply immersed in it. And if thus driven near the S.W. part of Greenland, they might be carried by the eddy and regular tides which have been observed on the west side of it. ** But even admitting the possibility of these logs entering Behring's Strait by the marvellous long route supposed, another obstacle perhaps lies in the way of our belief of their reaching Disco from thence. It is true, the philosophers of the south have cleared the way for them=»at once, by assuming as a fact without sufficient evidence, that Davis's Strait is open to the northward because it has been stated that 'a perpetual current runs there to the southward ; sometimes with a velocity of four or even of five miles an hour.' This may be so: but I apprehend that well-established fact and ex- periment will prove this statement not to be quite correct. Nor will any seamen who know what a current of five knots is, believe that such a current can exist where whale ships can keep on their fishing ground for weeks toge- ther, without the least difficulty. But, as I observed before on this subject last February, it is highly pro- bable, that either from the interruption of lands, or shoals, between G eenland and America, a compara- tively small quantity of current passes from the * Polar basin,' through Davis's Strait, and that much of the ice, as well as the current, may have Hudson's Bay for its origin. " I shall only add here, what the philosophers of the 65 north say to Davis's Strait being open, or closed hy land to the north. • They are of opinion that ' Baffin's last voyage showed that Davis's Strait is absolutely shut all along the north side ; and proved that either no passage exists on its western coast, or none which is for the shortest time of the year practicable ;' thus leaving the poor * log of mahogany' no chance of having reached Disco that way, from Behring's Strait. " The 3d peculiarity mentioned by Captain Bumey was, that ' the bottom not being swept by streams, was of soft oaze ;' and in Clarke's Voyage we read, that * the bottom towards the middle was of soft slimy mud ; and near either shore, a brownish sand intermixed with a few shells and small fragments of bones.' • " With regard to this fact, it is however sufficient to observe, that perhaps few seamen who have had much experience of tides and currents in soundings, will con- sider a bottom of oaze or slime as any proof of its not being swept by streams ; or admit that a bottom, over which the strongest tide or current runs, must therefore be stony, sandy, or gravelly ; for they cannot but be acquainted with many examples to the contrary. One of the most remarkable that occurs to my recollection just now, is the Gulf of Martaban ; in which the almost entire bottom is composed of the softest slimy mud, though tides at the springs run at the rate of 7 or 8 knots an hour. "The 4th and last peculiarity noticed by Captain Burney, and perhaps the strongest of all, is, that * the soundings were observed to decrease to the northward beyond the latitude of 68° 45' N.' The Quarterly Re- viewers have endeavored to prove the contrary, though perhaps not satisfactorily ; at least not according to my apprehension of Captain Burney's meaning. Both Data. . . }. ill :^ij M 66 £ ^^^ he and they must be near the truth, as it lies some- where between thera, in the small space of 12 feet only. The fact is, the bottom is not very uneven where the soundings vary only a fathom or two in as many leagues ; and in this place they were certainly very regular. " When Captain Burney says, that * in steering to the westward, they did not find the depth to increase,' he seems clearly to mean, when at a considerable dis- tance from the land, towards mid-channel. And when Captain Cook * states distinctly,* that in approaching the American coast * the water shoaled gradually;' and when he was obliged to anchor in 6 fathoms, it was found that the water shoaled gradually towards the land, ' he as clearly alludes to soundings very near the land of America. And again, when in 6 fathoms, he says, * as we advanced to the westward the sound- ings deepened,' (as of course they must to mid-channel, where the depth is 28 and 30 fathoms,) it does not at all bear upon the question of there being more or less water generally from south to north, on which the Quarterly Reviewers are at issue with Captain Burney. That the •depth of water midway between Asia and America was about 29 or 30 fathoms, and, as Captains Clarke and Gore state, 'decreasing gradually as we approached either continent,' (traversing on a parallel,) is very true. But how can this affect Captain Burney'e statement of the fact of the general depth being less to the north- ward ? Though in some particular spots to the north- ward of ()8° 45', a little more water was perhaps found, yet still the general depth might certainly have been less. And as Captain Burney judged on the spot, from various circumstances, as well as all the soundings at the time, his opinion on that matter is certainly more likely to be correct, than one formed from the perusal 67 of journals, where most probably all the soundings are not inserted ; or the examination of charts, where still fewer may be laid down. " Upon the whole, then, taking it for granted that the 4th and last fact is established, or at least, if there is not less, there certainly is nearly the same depth, as far as the ships advanced to the northward, in Behring's Strait ; let us now inquire how far the peculiarities observed by Captain Bumey warrant the supposition of the junction of the two continents, even admitting that the soundings did positively decrease to the northward. " Captain Burney grounds his supposition chiefly, if not entirely, on these peculiarities ; and the philoso- phers of the north, after enumerating them, conclude their article in these words: — * These are obviously distinct indications of an inclosed sea.' -^ > " But it may be inclosed without the existence of any land between Asia and America; for as to the fact of the depth of water decreasing to the northward, that cannot be admitted as proof of there being land in that direction connecting the two continents ; because the very same decrease would take place upon the acclivity of a bank extending east and west, whose shoalest part might be at, or near the surface at some, yet undefined, distance to the northward, beyond where the ships ad- vanced ; and thence deepening again, probably as gra- dually^ to the north. And when two different facts may result from circumstances in all respects not exactly alike, the supposition of one or the other is equally well bottomed. If such a bank exist near the surface, it would doubtless occasion peculiarities the very same as those observed ; and if there be such a bank at some depth under the surface ; or even, if the depth of 30 fathoms or more continue, as is most probable, far :,:« ^m^mm 08 beyond the parallel reached by Captain Cook, there is much reason (and fact too) to conclude, (as I have observed before on this subject,) that the ice itself must as completely inclose an expanse beyond Behring's Strait, so long as Nature holds her course, as land itself would ; and consequently all the peculiarities observed by Captain Burney must, on that account, equally exist. *• In attempting to prove this inclosure by ice, I shall argue chiefly from the facts, stated and agreed in, and therefore, it is presumed, accredited fully by both parties of philosophers. " Those of the south have informed us, that ' icebergs or mountains of ice are generated on the land, either in valleys, or against steep shores :' and those of the north agreeing on this point, minutely describe the pro- cess of their formation, and consider them to be the gradual production of perhaps ' many centuries,' and * the accumulation of ages.' .i. " The philosophers of the south have named New Si- beria as * the probable source of the icebergs which come down Davis's Strait, through which they assume * an uninterrupted communication' with the Polar basin* But those of the north believing that Baffin's last voyage * showed that Davis's Strait is absolutely shut all along the north side,' it is inferred, I presume, by them, that the icebergs * which appear most frequently in Davis's Strait, all originate there, particularly along the western coast of Greenland, 'from whence every year, but es- pecially in hot seasons, they are partially detached from their seats, and whelmed into the deep sea.' Now on this joint doctrine of both parties, as to the formation of icebergs in valleys, and against steep shores ; as the Arctic sea m bounded chie/li/ by the coasts of Siberia ? ■fe- 09 and America, where there perliaps may be * valleys and steep shores,' it may be presumed that icebergs must be produced there also, as well as at New Siberia, in Baffin's Bay, and on the west side of Greenland. And as the remarkable fact, stated by one party, that allihe ice brought by the S.VV. current round Spitzbergen \s field ice, is .not denied by the other, (for indeed they say that icebergs are seen floating only in Davis's Strait,) a ques- tion arises; viz. If it may be allowed probable, or even possible, on these grounds, that icebergs may also be formed on some parts of the lands extending from Nova Zembla eastward to Greenland, pray what be- comes of them, if they cannot pass through Davis's Strait, and be not brought by the south-west current round Spitzbergen, and be very seldom met with in the eastern Greenland sea ? » " Not being composed of that saline ice, which we are told ' is annually formed and destroyed,' they must remain, and drive about in all directions, as long as they have sufficient depth of water to float in, not till they *are divided, scattered and dissipated,' as 'the shoals of ice in the Arctic seas commonly are, before the end of June, nor till they are dissolved. For one party tells * how little the influence of an Arctic summer is, even, on fields of ice, perpetually surrounded as they are by a freezing atmosphere created by themselves.' On their hypothesis therefore it is evident, that as part of these immense masses must remain at the end of the summer, to that part the ensuing winter must add something. When speaking on this subject on a former occasion, I supposed it probable that the process of melting and freezing may be going on in the Arctic re- gions on the same body of ice (if of a magnitude to be sufficiently immersed) at the same time ; and perhaps m t < m rfl ■. '*' 70 in winter, as well as in summer, owing to the increasing temperature of the water from the surface downwards in proportion (perhaps) to its depth. The philosophers of the north have since * demonstrated that the Polar seas are always ready, under the action of any frosty wind, to suffer congelation; and though the annual variations of the weather are in these seas expended on the superficial waters, without disturbing the vast abyss below ;' yet as the water drawn up from a con- siderable depth is warmer^ within the Arctic circle than what lies on the surface, the floating ice, accordingly, begins to melt * generally on the under side, from the slow communication of the heat sent upwards.' Though we are told, ' that before the end of June the shoals of ice in the Arctic seas are commonly divided, scattered and dissipated, and a few weeks are commonly sufficient to dissolve the floating ice ;' and though ' during the thaw, which commonly lasts about three months, the heat of the solar rays is adequate to the dissolution of all the ice produced in the course of the autumn, the winter and the spring ! !' yet it is to be presumed that the icebergs are not meant to be included in this *all.' Indeed it is observed, that *some of them are 2000 feet high ;' and, supposing the surface of the sea to be at 52°, (which I dare say it never was, nor ever will be in the Arctic seas,) an iceberg having only 600 feet elevation would require one hundred and fifty days for its dissolution, and double that time, if the temperature of the sea it floats in should be at 42**. Even at this rate it cannot dissolve, for it would require at least ten months. But being indeed informed further, that * within the Arctic circle, the surface of the ocean, being never much warmer than about the IT of Fahrenheit's scale, is, in the decline of summer, soon cooled down 71 to the limit at M'hicli congelation commences,' it seems that even such an iceberg could never be dissolved there. " And as * in the space of a few weeks only, visited by the slanting and enfeebled rays, frost resumes its tremendous sway, and it begins to snow as early as Au- gust,' the conclusion (at least on such data) seems evi- dent, that icebergs even while they float within 'the Polar basin,' and can find no passage thence into a warmer temperature, are more likely to augment their bulk, by the effect of frost, sncw, and hail above^ than to be diminished below the surface of the sea. This increase will be much greater still on such icebergs as may take the ground, on the bank if there be one, but if there be nol, in the shoal water (which is very insuffi- cient to float them) extending from Asia to America ; for the temperature of the water being of course colder there, the effect of dissolution under the surface will be greatly diminished ; whilst the augmentation above will be the same as if it floated. So that every fall of snow and hail, adding to masses of ice thus situated, must form, collectively, one * impenetrable barrier,' as Captain Cook termed what he saw. A barrier that doubtless has been, and will remain there for ages, fixed to the bottom by its own inertia, extending probably compact and immoveable far to the northward of the parallel reached by Cook ; and perhaps rising in mountains, as far as soundings extend, and thence declining to- wards its margin, which may be subject to continual disruption, by the swell of the sea in deeper water : or, it may present to the north a rugged perpendicular front, bidding stern defiance to the roaring of the winds or the raging billows of the sea, and mocking the vain attempts of man to pass it. t !« .•■( 72 it " That there must exist such a barrier as this, inclos- ing an expanse to the northward of Behrinj^'s Strait (// there be no hind there), appears to me to be little less than certain, and whicli mast be kept still more compact, along its northern boundary, by the constant pressure aj^ainst it of the Polar stream from the north, which I have supposed on a former examination of this subject, and which therefore can find no egress from the Polar sea, down to llie regions of equatorial heat, except to the eastward of Greenland and Spitzbergen. '* Another circumstance, amounting almost to a proof of the passage by Behring's Strait being closed up, even against fish of large size, much more against ships, is, that none of our navigators (at least as far as 1 know) have mentioned seeing a single whale within the Strait, where the water is not deep, and the ice abundant. It of course does not foilo^v that because they sazv none, there were not any ; yet T there had been any, it is more than probable that our navigators would have seen some of them during their stay there. And the philosophers of the south remark, ' that whales are gene- rally found in those parts of the Arctic seas where ice most abounds, and where it has taken the ground on shores and banks.' They have also mentioned a ' cir- cumstance of whales struck with harpoons in the sea of Spitzbergen or in Davis's Strait, being found on the north-west coast of America!' They consider this as affording an additional argument for a free communi- cation between the Atlantic and Pacific, by way of Behring's Strait. " Though I have endeavored to prove that an ex- panse to the northward of Behring's Strait is thus per- petually inclosed by a conglobation of icebergs, on the supposition of their formation on other lands surround- i 73 I'l I ing the Polar sea, as well as at New Siberia and in Davis's Straits ; yet even allowing that this supposition, on the ground it rests, is improbable^ and admitting that none of these stupendous masses are so formed, but only such ice as Captain Cook saw, whatever might be its quality or kind ; yet it seems to me no less clear, that even ice of that kind, collected as it is between two lands, must by its annual augmentation have formed an equally 'impenetrable barrier:* for what our naviga- tors saw was evidently as abundant at the close of each summer as they found it on their first arrival among it. This fact shows that * all the ice produced there in the winter, the autumn, and the spring, is not dissolved,' nor even * dissipated,' though * divided and scattered.' Therefore, the quantity dissolved each summer being evidently lesSj generally, than what is * produced in the autumn, the winter, and the spring,' the consequence must be (by congelation at least) an increase on the whole of that solid mass further to the northward, which I presume is immoveably fixed on the bottom. It is very true, that much of the ice along the southern margin may be partially dissolved by the rays of the summer sun ; and being subject to disruption by the motion of the sea, in gales of wind (from the southward), may therefore move about in an extent of many leagues to the south- ward of the main body, as our navigators found it did. " Much of the ice may be of that saline quality whi( h is said to be * annually formed and destroyed,' but the greatest part of what Cook saw was not ; for he says, * it seemed to be wholly composed 6f frozen snow.' In another place he says, on the 17th of August, when in lat. 70° 41' N. * We were at present close to the edge of the ice, which was as compact as a wall, and appeared to be at least 12 feet high ;' Captain Cook particularly Data. K • ii l' m if ill remarked, that the ice was all pure and transparent, except the upper surface, which was rather * porous.* And as the philosophers of the north have assured us, that pure transparent ice projects one tenth, as it swims in the sea, even this part of the ice must have been im- mersed to within 12 fathoms of the bottom : but Cook observes, * further to the northward it sdemed to be much higher ; and in all human probability, the ice at no great distance to the northward, beyond what he saw, was immoveably fixed at the bottom, and continued so as far as soundings extend. For it is mentioned in Clarke's Voyage, that the height of the highest ice they saw * was estimated at 16 or 18 feet,' which therefore must have been immersed to within two or three fathoms of the bottom, according to the soundings they had at the time. " It is also worthy of remark, that the water was found to be somewhat shallower on the coast of America than that of Asia, at an equal distance; our navigators were therefore able to penetrate near three degrees further to the northward, on the side of America, * because they came up with the ice in both years sooner, and in larger quantities, on the coast of Asia.' This strong fact seems of itself almost suffi- cient to prove, that the heavy ice further to the north- ward must have been aground in some depth ; for if it were all water-borne, and moveable, as the ice was which our navigators saw nearest the ships, why should it not move as far to the southward on one coast, as it did on the other, so long as it could float? The only reason can be, because its progress in that direction was sooner stopped, by the bottom being nearer the surface on the coast of America, than it was on that of Asia, and consequently giving to the main body of fixed ice, a general direction of about E.N.E. and 75 i- I W.S.W., according to tlie probable lino of equal doptli of water. " Whether this barrier may at any time of the year reach as far as to the Pole itself, is a question I have offered my surmises on before, rej^arding the winter ; and I agreed in opinion with the philosophers of the south, that the sea will be (/ only say ??iay be) there found free from ice in the summer ; * presuming that there is proba- bly a warmer summer temperature to dissolve it at the Pole itself, than any where else, to the southward of it, as far as 75° or 80° ; because, when the sun's rays first strike the Pole, they will be felt there incessantly for six months ; but with what force and effect I had then to learn. For this information we are now, however, indebted to the philosophers of the north. They assure us, that * it may be shown that, under the Pole, the action of the solar light is, at the time of the solstice, one-fourth part greater than at the Equator, and sufficient in the course of a day to melt a sheet of ice one inch and a half ihick.' They further inform us, that * it may be proved by experiment, that, under the Pole itself, the power of the sun at the solstice could, in the space of a week, melt a stratum of five inches of ice. We may hence fairly compute the annual effect to be sufficient for thawing to the depth oi forty inches. It should likewise be observed, that owing to the ha- ziness of the atmosphere in the northern latitudes, those singular emanations, which are now found al- ways to dart from an azure sky, and in the more tempe- rate climates to diminish the calorific action of the sun, often by one-fifth part, can scarcely exist. On this account, perhaps, the estimate of the annual destruction of the polar ice may be swelled to the thickness of four feet.' 76 V- K'5'j, I 511 1 ri;? " There appears to be some mistake or discordance in this computation ; for, in the first case, as * the so- lar lijrht can be shown to be sufficient in the course of a day to melt a sheet of ice of an inch and a half thick,' it could in the space of a week melt a stratum of ten inches and a half^ instead of ^fwe : and by the same rule the annual effect may be sufficient for thaw- ing to the depth of eighty-four inches and a half, in- stead of * forty ; or perhaps the estimate of the annual destruction of polar ice may be swelled to more than eight feet instead of* four/ If, on the other hand, it be allowed, that only * five inches' are melted ir the space of a week, there cannot be so much as an inch and a half melted in the course of a day, as is stated in the first case. " Whether either of these computations will be * proved* to be correct by the e^vperiments Captmn Buchan is gone to make in that quarter this year of our Lord, God knows ; but, if he should have proceeded between Green- land and Spitzbergen^ I fear not ; for the route to be pur- sued towards the Pole with most probability of success, must doubtless be midway between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, for the reasons I have before given. Even the philosophers of the south acknowledge that * the lands are usually surrounded with ice,' and therefore recom- mend that * ships, instead of coming near the lamlj and endeavouring to pass through narrow straits^ ought to avoid the land, and keep as * much as possible in the open sea. and in or near the edge of the current, where the sea may be expected to be free.' Those of the north indeed go still further, and tell us, that a * few weeks are commonly sufficient to disperse and dissolve the floating ice, and tlie sea is at last open for a short and dubious interval to the pursuits of the adventurous 77 i: mariner.' Their opinion as to tiie practicability of reaching the Pole seems, upon the whole, rather slender ; though not that it is impossible : for though they say, * as the cold increases but very little in advancing to the higher latitudes, the vast expanse of ice which covers the Polar basin may be nearly dissolved at the close of every summer ; and if the intrepid navigator, therefore, could seize the short and quivering interval, he might push on to the Pole itself;' yet * they consider the scheme of penetrating to the Pole itself as more daring' than ' the project of finding a N. W. passage to China ; which they must at the same time suppose to be impossible, if they believe that the peculiarities observed by Captain Burney are, as they assert, ' obviously indications of an inclosed sea.'' Of the success of either plan their hopes are confessed .to be ' extremely slender ;' but the ground they have taken leaves them in fact as much without any hope at all, as I confess I am, of success. " There is another point on which these men of sci- ence and learning differ so materially, that those who have read one review, and perhaps felt disposed to pin their faith upon it, without much consideration, are astonished, on perusing the other, to find almost every thing denied, or apparently refuted ; leaving them just as wise as they were before, or perhaps still worse, in a state of indecision and doubt between both, or with no opinion at all. The question I mean is, whether the remarked chilliness of our climate in the years 1816 and 17 was in any degree owing to the influence of ice- bergs passing in the Atlantic, which there has been so much talk about ? The philosophers of the south say, • it would be a waste of words to enter into any dis- cussion on the diminution of temperature, wliich must J 78 necessarily be occasioned by the proximity of large mountains and islands of ice ; and therefore it is equally clear, that our climate must have been affected by the vast accumulation of ice on the east coast of Greenland. It can scarcely be doubted, therefore, that the remark- able chilliness of the atmosphere, in the summer months of 1816 and 1817, was owing to the appearance of ice in the Atlantic' ** Now my own sensations assure me, that a northerly wind is coiJ, and the thermometer that they have not de- ceived me. I also suppose this wind to be cold here, because it comes from regions where ice is known to abound. And if there were as much ice due west of us, and the wind came from it towards us, I dare say the atmosphere under the lee of it would be chilled by it to a certain degree, according to the distance from it ; but how much and how far, I shall leave to the philo- sophers of the not'th to '• compute.' Though these philo- sophers deny all this, yet at the same time they seem to me to acknowledge it. " After most ably explaining the * true principles which regulate the distribution of heat over the globe, in- dependent of every hypothesis, by the direct appeal to experiment and observation,' they assure us, that * what- ever may be the vicissitudes of the Polar ice, they cannot in any sensible manner affect the climates of the lower latitudes ;' that * the idea is quite chimerical that any winds could ever transport the Polar influence to our shores.' Some persons • have imagined that the mountains or islands of ice which are occasionally drifted into the Atlantic ocean must be sufficient by their frigoritic influence to modify the character of our climate ; but a little reflection will convince us that large I 79 such remote influence on our climate must be quite in- significant.' ' ' ** After enlarging at length, and with great ingenuity, they remark, that * the three last seasons, which have been reckoned very open, have succeeded to winters notoriously cold and protracted ; for our severe winters are occasioned by the prevalence of northerly winds, which must arrive at the Polar sea. from the south, and consequently transport so much warmth as may check the usual rigor of the frost ! !' "Now, though it is possible that these northerly winds might have come all the way from the Pacific ocean, and * have transported so much warmth as might check the usual rigor of the frost,' yet it by no means follows of course that they must ; or that our northerly winds were ever entitled, by having traversed so extensive a track, to the denomination of south. For it is just as possible, and much more probable, that these northerly winds originated and commenced their journey somewhere in our hemisphere on this side the Pole. But whether they did, or did not, come all the way from the Pacific, as southerly winds, to the Pole, whence they became northerly as to us here, it is, however, clearly, though perhaps inadvertently, admitted by these philosophers, that these said northerly winds had posi- tively acquired a frigorific ' character,' somewhere, and somehow, on the passage to our 'lower latitudes.' For it is acknowledged that * their prevalence occasioned {on account of their * frigorific influence'it may be supposed) our * severe winters:' an acknowledgment apparently at variance with the former opinion, that * whatever may be the vicissitudes of the Polar ice, they cannot in any sensible manner affect the climates of the lower lati- tudes ;' and that * the idea is quite chimerical, that any I 1,1! 80 winds could ever transport the Polar influence to our shores.' ** These northern philosophers have satisfactorily ex- plained the true principles which regulate the distribu- tion of heat over the globe, particularly regarding the tf?mperature of the earth, at certain depths. But in apfilying these principles to the temperature of the sea, some of the conclusions appear not so well to accord with experiment and observation. Tbey say, that * in the more temperate regions of the globe, the superficial waters of lakes an J seas, as they grow warmer, and therefore specifically lighter, still remain suspended by their acquired buoyancy ; but whenever they come to be chilled, they suflfer contraction, and are precipitated ; hence the deep water of lakes and seas is a.rs:, con- siderably colder than what floats at the surface, [Query, — Would not the deep water of a frozen lake jt sea in the more temperate regions be warmer than at the sur- face, for the same reason that it is so in Polar regions ?] It is then said, that ' the gradation of cold is distinctly traced to the depth of 20 fathoms, below which the di- minished temperature continues nearly uniform, as far as the sounding line can reach.' » *' Though the sea, as well as the land, may have its isothermal lines, yet at what various depths, according to the temperature of the atmosphere, climates, and other mutable circumstances, has not yet been disco- vered ; but certainly generally far below the di^pth ol ttccnlyfdlhoms. For it would seem that there must be at the surface, on two parallels, somewhere between the Equator and the Poles, two stations, or points, not fixed, but changeable, and dependent on the atmospheric tempe- rature over them : between which stations, or points, and the Equator, \\\en to the same efleot, if it were necessary. One vcjy remarkable one is mentioned by Data. L 82 1 it- . M< III if' Mr. Clarke Abel in his recent work. He informs us that Captain Wauchope of H. M. S. Eurydice, when within a few leagues of tlie Equator, put his apparatus overboard, and allowed it to descend till it had run out 1400 fathoms of line, but he estimated the perpen- dicular depth at 1000 fathoms. The temperature of the surface was 73". On drawing- up the instrument, he found the thermometer marking 42° ; a difference of temperature of 31°. And there can be no doubt but that the difference of the temperature was progres- sive from the Surface down to that depth. " The philosophers of the north observe : * That in shallow seas, the cold substratum of liquid is brought nearer to the surface ;' but though as a general axiom this may be true, yet it may not be relied on in particu- lar cases, much less * that the increasing coldness of the water drawn up from only the depth of a few fathoms, may therefore indicate to the navigator who traverses the wide ocean, his approach to banks or land.' Indeed no navigator who has had any experi- ence in the matter would, I apprehend, place the least dependence on so precarious a guide ; for he must know that many experiments would show its falli- bility. -^ .; '. <■- . : • " Some instances^ in proof of this, may be collected from the journal of Captain Hall of the Lyra, lately published, who made some experiments on the tempe- rat'ire of the surface near the Loochoo Islands, and in the Yellow Sea. ^ ** On the 19th of July, when off Chusan in, 32 fathoms water, the temperature of the surface of the sea was 78° and 80° ; and on the 22d, in 43 fathoms, it was only 77° and 72° ; but when at anchor in 3i fathoms, in the Gulf of Peecheelee, in latitude 38° 42' N., and longi- f^ No 1 1 h 2 3 4 1 5 1 6 m 83 . tude 117" 49' W., on the 27th of July, the temperature of the surface was as high as 82°. Also on the .'id of August, when at anchor off Peiho, the surface was 82" at noon, and 80° at midnight, and ihereit was generally warmer than the atmosphere itself. When at anchor in Napakiang harbour, the general temperature of the surface of the sea was about 83°, but out at sea, oft' the Island of Loochoo, when in latitude 26' 36' N. and longitude 127° 56' W. the surface was 4 or 5 degrees colder, being on the 14th and 15th only 79^° and 78°. Again, on the 20th of October, at anchor in Napakiang harbour, when the autumnal cold had lowered the temperature of the sea's surface there to 75 1° and 75°, (or 7 or 8 degrees below what it was when anchored there before) yet in the Japan sea the surface was also lower, being 74° and 73°. Thus in these particular instances, the water became warmer (at the surface at least) the nearer the land was approached, and also as the depth of water ^ecreajefif. /: ,;/ ,? ; " Mr. Clarke Abel has also published the result of a few experiments made by him on the temperature of the sea, in soundings, both at the surface and bottom, which, though useful and satisfactory, are not conclu- sive. They are shown in the following table. • • -a • £ .■« a. Q Place. Tempe- niture. Difference of Temperature Date. 5 4-* a in u • g 3 30 CO o (UCQ %_ a O '=* .i: E II Cl> No 1 2 3 4 5 July 1816. 23 8 A.M. 24 Noon. 25 8 A.M. 8 P.M. 26 6 A.M. 2711P.M. o ' 35 01 .36 24 37 30 37 58 38 12 ' 123 46 122 69 122 40 121 34 120 30 40 15 20 is 15 15 Open Sea. do. do. do. Amongst the Mectaw Islands. Gulf of Pee- cbeelee. 76 7.5 72 74 74 75 o 74 71 67 69 67 74 65 67 62 66 66 72 o 2 4 5 '7 7 1 9 4 5 3 1 2 o n 8 10 8 8 3 I 84 " From these experiments (Mr. Clarke Abel observes) it appears ; * 1st. That the sea diminishes in its tem- perature in proportion to its depth.' * 2d. That the difference of the temperature of the surface and any given depth, within a certain range, is greater at sea than 7iear the land.' ' 3d. That the difference of the temperature at the surface and bottom is greatest when that of the air and surface is least.' * **The 1st and 3d positions appear evident on the face of the experiments, but the experiment No. 3 seems to affect the correctness of the 2d position ; for the difference of the surface, and 20 fathoms depth, vi'as 5 degrees, and by that of the 1 st experiment, made further from the land, there was a difference of 9° only in 40 fathoms ; which was less in proportion than near the land. It is remarkable, however, that all these experiments (except the 3d) prove, as far as they go, that in the depth of 15 fathoms the water at the bottom was invariably warmer, than it was found to be at the depth of 40 fathoms * in the open sea ;' and in the Gulf of Peecheelee, where the 6th experiment was niade, it was no less than 1" degrees warmer at the depth of 15 fathoms. •V-.:.f •i ;y "The lower state of the atmosphere when the 3d experiment was made, would seem to account for the temperature of the water at the bottom being so much below what it was found to be by the others. ' " There is also a much greater proportional difference of the temperature of the air and water at the depth of 20 fathoms, than there was by the rest of the experi- ments. •« These experiments also prove, that in these ' shal- low seas,' however, the cold substratum of liquid, ivas mt brought nearer the surface, at this season of the 85 was year ; so that in these instances, there was rm increas- ing * coldness of water drawn up from the depth of only a few fathoms, to indicate to the navigator, wlio tra- verses the wide ocean, his approach to land or banks ;' but the reverse. "After this digression from the chief point of my inquiry, I shall now conclude, by merely observing, that as the success or failure of both expeditions ultimately depends upon there being a passage {practi- cable for ships) or no passage, from * the Polar Basin' into the Pacific, — a point, on which so much has been said and written by philosophers — on which scarcely two persons are found to agree — all have their doubts, and none have any positive knowledge, — it would really seem that thiSf of all others, from its superior import- ance, ought to have been first determined, and not left as the last, and in all human probabiUty the most diffi- cuk to be solved by our Polar navigators. And that too (if ever they reach so far) near the long-hoped for close of a toilsome voyage, when they may be reduced by sickness or deaths ; or at least so worn down by anxiety and fatigue, as to be unable to return the way they came, or to surmount the difficulties opposed to their furtiier progress. ; , " The despatching these expeditions by the way they are gone, to explore a passage through Behring's Strait, seems as if a pt.-rson were ordered to enter a certain labyrinth, by a well known passage on one 6ide, but to pass out of it on the opposite by another, which one half the world supposed there might be, and the other half that there might not — of whose existence most were in doubt, and none knew any thing, except a few, who had twice tried, but could find uo passage beyond a certain barrier which they found to be insurmountable. t ''\\ «?; I 86 P hi m ml .*.*' IW !«' * " Now if this very barrier sliould happen to he gene- rally considered as Ihe probably chief obstacle to be sur- mounted, and could, without much difficulty, be a|)- proached from the side where it lay ; certainly the most rational, the most prudent and advisable course should seem to be, first of all to have this barrier examined on that side, and its nature and extent fully ascertained, before the person be sent on what people of common sense would perhaps call * a wild-goose-chase,' without such information. *' However, though this part of the expeditions may fail, yet if our navigators return, let them have reached where they may, they will at least bring back with them more correct hydrographical information than any we can have at present. And in all probability the observations they may have l)een enabled to make in the Arctic regions will enlarge the bounds of sci- ence ; and for that alone, though no other benefit should be derived from them, it was highly befitting a country like this to send them out." In the month of October, 1818, the Dorothea and Trent arrived, after the most strenuous, but unsuccess- ful endeavors to penetrate towards the No'th Pole, betwee7i Greenland and Spitzbergen. The Isabella and Alexander also returned to Deptford on the 21st of November ; and in the beginning of the following year Captain Ross published an account of his voyage. A writer in the Quarterly Review, No. 41, published in May 1819, in criticising that work, speaks of the two voyages in these terms : ''The failure of the Polar expedition was owing to one of those accidtnts to which all sea voyages are liable, more especially when to the ordinary sea risk is superadded that of a naviga- tion among fields and masses of ice." Now, as a mere 87 looker on, I am inclined to think, with Phoca, that if Captain Biichan had been ordered to make his attempt to the eastward of Spitzbergen, he might perhaps have advanced further than he did ; though even if it had been possible for him to pass the Polar Axis of the Globe, he never would have reached Behring's Strait. " Of the other Voyage (says the Reviewei-; we hardly know in what terms to speak, or how to account for it." He does, however, in the sequel, seem to ac- count for it pretty well. And, after belabouring the Captain to his heart's content with his goose-quill, he consoles himself under "the disappointment he ex- perienced in common with the rest of the world, at the failure of tha two expeditions, which bade so fair to set at rest the long agitated question of the existence or non-existence of a north-west passage," &c., with a glance " at the advantages which have resulted from it." The first and most prominfent of them is thus candidly acknowledged ; " We are 7iozv quite sure that there is such a Bay, or rather inland sea, as that of Baf- fin, though neither so wide, nor of the same form, as it is usually represt-nted in charts," — a fact, by the by, that few or none, exr pt himself, perhaps had ever doubted, any more than lu y helievi. i in the existence of his ima- ginary current of " four or five knots velocity, through Baffin's Sea,' which this recent confirmation of poor Baffin's veracity has gone far to annihilate, and with it one of the Reviewers strongest arguments in favor of a practicable passage for ships ; as I shall endeavor to show by and by. In consequence of the failure of both these expedi- tions, a; question of a practicable passage, either by way of ibe Pole, or through Davis's Strait to the northwhiii and westward, and through Behring's m h ^. i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) / O V] <^ /a % ^l /A "W '/ 1.0 I^|2j8 |25 ■ 50 *^™ Iml jLi - I.I US 1.8 1.25 U 111.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 2j west main street webster, n.y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 7 l/j 111 I 88 Strait into the Pacific, of course remained in precisely the same doubtful state as it did before they sailed. Captain Ross had been deceived by a reliance on his own eyesight, and therefore did not examine, with all due care and attention, the entrance and extent of Lancaster Sound, which many of the Officers of the Expedition believed to be open to the westward ; it was therefore thought proper to send out another expedi- tion to explore it completely. Many were sanguine enough to think it would be found to lead into the Polar Sea, or along the North Coast of America, whence the long-sought for passage through Behring's Strait would be accomplished, and none more so than our Reviewer. In the Quarterly Review, No. 35, at pages 211, 212, he took much pains to show that his " perpetual c ir- rent to the southward through Baffin's Sea did exist, because Baffin's Bay did not ; as it would be difficult to explain how any current could originate at the bottom of such a Bay, much less a current that is stated to run scnetimes with a velocity of four and even five miles an hour ;" and the fact of " several vessels having been as high as Baffin, without observing the least ap- pearance of land, removed all doubt as to th6 non- existence of the Bay, as drawn in the charts." From his own mind it certainly did. In the Quarterly Review, No. 36, for June following, while the two Expeditions under Buchan and Ross were pending, he " discussed the points on which the probability of their success might be calculated ; and which he thought would mainly depend on two circum- stances^ the existence of a circumvolving current from the North Pacific into the Atlantic, which would prove the communication ; and of a great Polar Sea m cisely s. without land,'' As to any obstruction from ice there, it does not seem to have entered at all into his contem- plation. He considered " the important, and indeed the onli/ point to be ascertained, was the general and perma* nent direction taken by the grea^ body of the Pacific." ' Though he stems to have been perfectly satisfied himself, with " having traced the waters of the Pacific through Behring*s Strait," and along with it a plank of hiahogany all the way to Disco ; yet the movement of those waters towards Behring s Strait seems to be com- pletely disproved by Phoca's statement of facts, though he admits, on the words of Cook and Clarke, of there being a trifling superficial current to the northward in that Strait ; and which has since been confirmed by Lieutenant Kotzebue. But as the Reviewer has con- fessed that he does " now know there is such a Bay, or rather inland Sea, as that of BalBin," he must admit the impossibility of the mahogany plank having drifted down to Disco, through his " Baffin's Sea." And yet, notwithstanding this Reviewer's acknowledgement mm, h^ there being indeed such a Bay as that of Baffin, he still clings to his favorite current, as part of the circumvolving one between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and will not give it up, although he formerly declared "it would be difficult to explain how any current could originate in the bottom of such a bay ;" protesting in the Quarterly Review, No. 41, that " whatever Captain Ross may say or think to the con* trary, there cannot remain the slightest doubt that the great body of the water in Baffin's Bay has a motion'* to the southward. . This pertinacious adherence to a long cherished favorite notion, is very natural in one who had been *' so circumstantial with regard to this current, as its Data. M Mr 90 I ejtislence (said he) affords, in our opiriioii, the best fidpc for the success of the Expeditions now engaged in ex* ploring a passage." . Unwilling to place much confidence in the states ments of the conductor of the Expedition through Davis's Strait, the Quarterly Reviewer preferred the (pinion of the officers of the Alexander, "that a southerly current had been experienced, Ion g before they approached the entrance of Cumberland Strait,'* on their return to the southward. But on this subject, in its proper order, I shall have occasion to give the opinion of the officer who then commanded the Alex- ander, and has had further experience, since that time, of the set of the currents, or tides, in Davis's Strait, as far to the northward, at least, as Lancaster Sound. The result of Ross's Voyage having rendered a pas- sage through ** Baffin's Sea" rather hopeless in a high latitudey and the supposed current at all events very doubtful, though the Reviewer rested his " best hope^^ for the success of the Expedition on its existence ; the search was now to be made for this " best hope" further to the southward, in Sir James Lancaster's Sound. The Hecla and Griper were commissioned for this service about the latter end of January 1819, the former by Lieutenant Edward William Parry, and the Griper by Lieutenant Matthew Liddon, They left Deptford on the 4th of May, and sailed from the Nore jon the 11th. Lieutenant Parry was instructed, as Commander of the Expedition, ** to make the best of his way to Davis's Strait. On his arrival in tWs Strait, his further proceedings were to be regulated chiefly by the position and extent of the ice; but on finding it sufficiently open to permit his approach to the .western shores of the Strait, and his advance to the I>l .01 north ward« as far as the opening in Sir James Lan- caster's 8ound, he was to proceed in the first instance, fo that; part of. the coast, and use bis best endeavois to explore the bottom of that Sound ; or in the event of its proving a Strait opening to the westward, he \vas to use all possible means, consistently with the safety of the two ships, to pass through it, and ascertain its direction and communications ; and if it should be found to connect itself with the northern sea, he wad to make the best of his way to Behring's Strait." The finding a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific was the main object of this expedition. Another expedi- tion proceeded also under the command of Lieutenant Franklin, late Commander of the Trent, from Fort York, on the shores of Hudson's Bay, to trace the Copper Mine River to its mouth, and the coast of America from thence to the eastward or northward; as tlie case might be, in order to settle the long-sought-fer N,E. point cf that Cmtinent. Lieutenant Parry re. turned from his Voyage on the 3d of November 1820, of which he has published a well-written account'. Captain Franklin returned some months before him=, and both were justly promoted for the ability and peN severance with which they endeavored to accomplish the grand objects of the Expeditions they were respectively intrusted with the command of. But though they both failed in attaining the two chief ultimate objects of their search, owing to the existence of physical impediments which had not been foreseen, and perhaps no human power could possibly have suripounted ; yet they did as much as men could do, and brought back with them a great accession of knowledge respecting the Arctic regions, and many experimental facts, which will be found, I fear, wher* we come to examine them 92 closely, to bear rather against than in favor of the exist* ence of a practicable N.W. passage for ships, though both these officers have recorded their opinions of its practicability. Though Captain Parry had the good fortune to find a navigable passage, from the entrance of Lancaster Sound, along the southern shores of a chain of lands, lying in an east and west direction, and sufficiently contiguous to keep that passage free at least of the heavy polar ices, by impeding their further progress between or to the southward of those lands ; yet when he approached the S.W. end of the westernmost of them, named by him Melville Island, he found it utterly impossible to succeed in his most strenuous at- tempts to pass that point. When near this point. Captain Parry says, he sent Lieutenant Beechey to measure a mass of ice which had drifted close to the . ship, who found its thickness to be 42 feet ; and he says, " as it was a piece of a regular floe, this mea- surement may serve to give some idea of the general thickness of the ice in this neighbourhood. There were some, however, which were of much larger dimensions ; an immense floe, which formed the principal, or at leii.si the nearest obstruction to the westward^ was covered with large hummocks, giving to its upper surface the appearance of hill and dale. The thickness of this floe, at its nearest edge, was six or seven feet above the sea, and as about six sevenths are usually immersed, the whole thickness would appear, in the common way of reckoning, to have been from 40 to 50 ieei, which cor- responds with that actually measured by Lieutenant Beechey. But the hummocks were, many of them at least, from 15 to 25 feet above the level of the sea, so that the solidiiy of this enormous floe must have been \'i D3 infinitely greater than any thing vre bad seen before. It was the opinion "f Messrs. Allison and Fyffe that it very much resembled the ice met with at Spiizbergen, but according to the account of the two latter, was much heavier than any which thei/ had seen there.'* Captain Parry then observes — ** It now became evident, from the combined experience of this and the preced- ing year, that there was something peculiar about the S.W. extremity of Melville Island, which made the ici/ sea there extremely unfavorable to navigation, and which seemed likely to bid defiance to'all our efforts to proceed much further to the westward in this paral- lel of latitude. We had arrived off it on the 17th of k^eptembar 1819, after long and Leavy gales from the north- v^estward, by which alone the ice is ever opened on thi^ coast" (meaning, I presume, the south or lee> ward coast with those winds), ** and found it in unusu- ally heavy and extensive fields, completely closing in with the land, a mile or two to the eastward of wher6 we were now lying. We again arrived herein the early part of August ; and though the rest of the navigation had been remarkably clear for the 50 miles between this and Winter Harbour, seeming to afford a presumptive proof that the season was rather a favorable one than otherwise, the same obstruction presented itself as before ; nor did there appear, from our late experience^ a reasonable ground to hope that any fortuitous cir- cumstance, such as an alteration in winds or currents, was likely to remove the formidable impediments which we had to encounter. The increased dimensions of the ice hereabouts would not alone have created an insur- mountable difficulty in the navigation, but that it was very naturally accompanied by a degree of closeness which seldom or never admitted an open space of i- ■ ■;• '■* clear water of sufficient size for a ship, or even a boat, to sail on it. We had been lying nearlj^ in our present situation, with an easterly wind, and blowing fresh, for thirty-six hours together, and although this was consi* derably off the land, beyond the western point of the land now in sight, the ice had not during the whole of that time moved a single yard from the shore ; afford* ing a proof that there was no space in which the ice was at liberty to move to the westward** Captain Parry, at page 297 of his Voyage, after again admitting that ** there is something peculiar about the S. W. end of Mel- ville Island, extremely unfavorable to navigation, yet it is also certain, that the obstructions we met with from ice, both as to its thickness and extent, were found ge- jierally to increase as we proceeded to the westward after passing through Barrow's Strait," endeavors to account for this ' peculiar something,' as well as this increased obstruction from ice, in a way that I should rather have expected from the Quarterly Reviewer than him. Captain Parry says, " That we should find this to be the case, might perhaps have been reasonably anticipated ; because the proximity to a permanently open sea" (the Pacific I presume) " appears to be the cir or seven weeks, even in the climate of Melville Island, are con- tinually discharging themselves into the ocean. On this account it would appear pix)bable that the high land is more favorable to the dissolution and disper- sion of ice near its shores, than that which is lower, because it supplies a never-ceasing flow during the whole of the thawing season." Considering the quan- tity of land, already known to exist between the west side of Greenland and the coast of America, and gene- rally described high, this abundatit dissolution there- from must, during that period, increase the quantity of fluid, and consequently occasion some current towards the south. I merely mention this now, as I shall per- haps in the course of this inquiry be, able to bring forward the testimony of Captain Parry to prove the fact ; but not that the ** short summer" dissolves all " the ice formed on the sea in winter." Ill We have already seen that the grounds originally taken by the Quarterly Reviewer in favor of the exist- ence and practicability of a N.W. passage (of both which he did not then, still less does he now, entertain any doubt) are the following, which I shall again call to the reader's attention. 1st. The existence of a perpetual current setting down from the northward, from the Polar Basin, through Baffin's Sea, and Davis's Strait, into the Atlantic, with a velocity of four, and sometimes of five miles an hour. *2d. The non-existence of Baffin's Bay, as drawn in the charts. 3d. A ci scum vol ving current, setting as perpetually " from the Pacific through Behring's Strait" into the Polar Basin, and out of it into the Atlantic; and ** whose existence in his opinion affords the best hope for the success of the expeditions engaged in exploring a passage into the Pacific" — by way of the Pole, as well as along the north coast of America. 4th. A great Polar sea, /ree/row* ice, near the Pole, if free from land* Mr. Barrow, one of the secretaries at the Admiralty, appears, from what he says in his account of the voyages to the Polar regions, published in 1818, to have taken up the question precisely on the same grounds as the Reviewer. Mr. Scoresby, in his account of the Arctic regions, published in 1820, enumerates some of these, and also considers them as probable grounds for supposing that such a passage viay exist, Ellis's reasons, he says, ap- pear to him to be " the most satisfactory." One of these, rather a curious one to be so ** satisfactory," is " the direct testimony of the Indians, which tends to prove that they have seen the sea beyond the mountains, 112 and observed vessels navigating thereon ! /" Where, in tlie name of Heaven, could these vessels have come from ? or how could any have been there^ unless they were the canoes of Esquimaux ? which it may be presumed Ellis did not understand these Indians to mean by what he termed vessels. Mr. Scoresby, on the whole, however, is rather scep- tical on the practicability of such passage, " and even if it were discovered, he conceives it would be at intervals only of years that it would in all probability be open at all." Like a man of much experience and judgment, he says, " the most certain (and I dare say he might have added the only) method of ascertaining the exist- ence of a communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific, along the northern shore of America, would doubtless be by journeys on land." ^his hint has been taken, and as far as it goes, successfully acted on. If followed up as it is now reported it will be, this " grand question," I have not- the slightest doubt, will be solved: but by any ship or ships, without the aid of expeditions by land — it will remain as it now is, a matter of doubt. Let us now examine the four grounds of argument in favor of the practicability of a N.W. passage for ships. Phoca attempted, in the first instance, before the ex- peditions sailed, to disprove them all, (and I think with some success) except the 4th, which he thought proba- ble, but desired further proof, which is still wanting. Mr. Scoresby disputed none but the 4th, and his reasons for not believing that there is an open sea clear of ice about the Pole, I shall examine in the proper place. But let us first try the validity of all these four grounds or arguments, by the test of the experience of 113 IS, a those navigators, who have recently visited the north Polar regions. ■ . Ist. " The existence of a perpetual current, setting down from the northward, from the Polar Basin, through Baffin's Sea, and Davis's Strait, into the Atlantic, with a velocity of four, and sometimes five miles an hour." Although the already noticed candid declaration of the Reviewer, that * he noxo knows there is such a bay as thatof Baffin,' &c. and he said, befpre he believed it, that {/"there were such a bay, * it would be difficult to explain how any current could originate at the bottom of it,' would seem to render it superfluous to prove that there is no such current, yet though I shall produce the testi- mony to that effect, of one whom he has had no reason to doubt, I must state the currents as I find them mentioned in Captain Ross's Voyage, from the day he passed the parallel of Cape Farewell, during his passage up to the head of Baffin's Bay, and down it again till he got off the entrance of Cumberland Strait. On 23d of May, in lat. 57° 2' and longitude 43** 2', Captain Ross says : * This evening I remarked the appearance of a current, and the next day ascertained by hoisting out our boat, that it set W, N. W. (true) at the rate of a quarter of a mile an hour.' On the 24th * the N. W. current was still manifest.* On the 26th of May, in latitude 58° 36', and long. 51^ W. *The latitude agreed, but we had been set by a current a few miles to the westward' On the 27th, ' a copper cylinder with a detail of our situation was thrown overboard near a very large iceberg, in lat. 61" N. and long. 53° 25*, which we passed at 9 p.m. It apparently drifted to the westward, though we could perceive no current.* June 1st, in lat. 63° 41', long. 55° 42', 'no effect of a current was apparent, and having gained three niiles Data. . P ■;?l 114 m of latitude, it seemed evident there could be no current : which appeared surprising, as the wind had blown for three successive days directly down the strait,' that is, from the northward. On the 5th of June, lat. 65° 46', and long. 55° W. * a boat was anchored to try for a current, but none was perceptible.' July 3d, in lat. 71" 33' and long. 56° 2', * by mid-day we had made a degree of latitude through a channel apparently void of ani/ current,' July 1,9th, ' we continued in the midst of the ice, which /as canying us fast to the no7'thward.' August 13th, lat. 75° 54', long. 66" 53', * it is worthy of remark, that here, as on the whole of this coast north- ward of 70°, we found the deepest water near the land, and that no current was found.' August 23d, * the sun's meridional altitude was ob- served on the iceberg, and the latitude found to be 76° 37', the iceberg having drifted three miles to the north- ward: September 1st, lat. 73° 37', long. 77° 25', * to observe the current, the line was dropped over again, and the transit bearings of two objects on the land set ; these however did not vary in the least, nor did we find any current by the line.' * My orders to stand well to the north' had been already fully obeyed, and no current had been found ; and if * a current of some force' did exist, as from ' the best authorities' we had reason to believe was the fact, it could be no where but to the southward of this latitude: On the 6th of September, in lat. 72° 23', and long. 73° 7', ' no current was found!' September 30, lat. 64° 10', and longitude 63° 5', * we found by our reckoning that the current had set us twenty-five miles to the N,E, during the last 24 hours.' Thus, according to Captain Ross, no current from the northward was ever experienced ; but, on the contrary, when any could be detected, it set either /o the West, N,W.y Norths or N*E, 115 long. Let us now see what Captain Parry discovered in his subsequent voyage, as far to the northward as the entrance of Lancaster Sound. # On the 26th of June 1819, 'in lat. 63° 59' and longitude 61° 48', in 125 fathoms, the deep sea line in- dicated a drift to the S. by W.' July 11th, * we sounded at noon in 202 fathoms, lat. 69° 24' and longitude 58° 16'; not allowing current, which for the three preceding days ha.d appeared to set the ships to the S.S.E. at from 8 to 13 miles per day.' July 20th, lat. 72° 57', long. 58° 41', in 120 fathoms, the ships drift to S.S, W: July 24th, lat. 72° 59' and longitude 60° 8', * sb ;>s drift to S. 1° E. 4| miles in 24 hours, depth of water 260 fathoms.' On the 30th July, noon, latitude 74° l', * being the first meridional altitude taken for four days, and differ- ing only two miles from the dead reckoning ;' which is remarkable, considering the sluggishness of the com- passes ; and would seem to afford a presumptive proof that * no southerly current exists in this part of Baffin's Bay.' Further to the southward, however, in the narrow- est part of Davis's Strait, he appears from the foregoing extracts to have met with a very small set of current from the northward. We will now refer to his observa- tions when returning from Lancaster Sound, homeward , bound. On the 3d of September, in latitude 71° 24', 'being only 2 miles and ^ to the southward of the dead reckon- ing in three days, we considered that there could be no current of any importance setting in that direction on this part of the coast.' September 4th, * the latitude observed was 71" 2' 42", agreeing to within a mile of the account ; so that no current could well have existed since the pre- ceding day's observation.' September 9th, in latitude 69° 24', long. 67° 5', in 35 fathoms, 5 or 6 miles from the land, % •»f m I 116 Captain Parry says, 'found the curi^ent running some- what less than a mile an hour, in 3. S.hE. direction. At 4 30' P.M. it was again tried, and found to set to the S.E. at the vate of I of a mile per hour ; and at 7 o'clock, when we hove to near Cape Katerfor the Griper to join us, we found it to be slack water ;' which proves this to have been a tide stream^ and not a current. On the 11 th of September, at noon, in lat. 69'' 19', and long. 6&' 5', in 275 fathoms : * It must here be remarked, that for each of the last three days, and for these only^ we had found the ship between 7 and 8 miles to the southward of the reckoning.' September 25th, at noon, in latitude QQI" 13', ' being 2 miles and | to the southward of the dead reckoning, which difference had occurred on each of the 12 preceding days.' From all these facts it is quite clear that no such current as the Quarterly Reviewer imagined, was found — indeed scarcely any worth men- tion; and certainly, what little was detected either in Baffin's Bay, or Davis's Strait, could hardly have origi- nated in his circuravolving current from the Pacific through Behring's Strait and the Polar Sea : nay, there was no such thing as a permanent current/roTW the west- nyard found in any part, even of Lancaster Sound, and Barrow's Strait, if the authority of Captain Parry is suf- ficient to show it. He sums up the matter in these words : " Of the current which we experienced in Davis's Strait, and Baffin's Bay. It would appear that during the Summer and Autumn^ there is in this part a considerable set to the southward. In judging of the causes which produce this general tendency of the *M/>er- Jicial current, it will be proper to bear in mind two facts, which we have had occasion to remark in the course of this and the prCx^eding voyage; first, that in a sea much encumbered with ice, a current is almost invaria- 117 , bly produced, immediately on the springing wp of every breeze of wind ; and, secondly, that in several instances where the ships have been beset in the ice, the direction of the daily drift has been the point of the compass di- rectly opposite to that of the mnd, whether the latter was from the northward or the southward. ' " It appears to me, upon th^ whole, that the southerly current which we have been enabled to detect, is not more than may be caused by the balance of the northerly/ winds, added to the annual dissolution of large quantities of snow, which finds the readiest outlet into the Atlan- tic. In the Polar sea, to the westward of Barrow's Strait, no current has been found to exist beyond that which is evidently occasioned by different winds. In every nart which we had an opportunity of visiting, the tides, though smallf appear to be as regular as in any part of the world." Thus the Reviewer's firat ground has been annihilated by proof positive. The second he has himself confessed to be so, by the same proof. With respect to the third, " a circumvolving current setting as perpetually from the Pacific through Behring's Strait into the Polar basin, and out of it into the Atlantic," &c. the foregoing facts show that none of it was found in the whole space between the west coast of ,C' ^nland aud the meridian of 113" 46' 43" 5 in lat. 74'' 46^ 25", which was the farthest point Captain Parry reached ; when the Reviewer says, *' After struggling till the 16th, Captain Parry determined to return to the eastward along the edge of the ice, with the intention of availing himself of any opening that might occur, to get to the southward, and, if possible, upon the coast of America." Not perhaps, for the purpose of *' seeking,'' like Captain Ross, as the Reviewer tells him, " for ^i* circumvolving current ;" but for, what Captain Patry considered a J J 118 I i nil III much betiei' reason^ which I shall have occasion to mention by-and-by, as he assigned it at the time, and on a subsequent occasion ; especially as the Reviewer has repeated it in terms of approval and acquiescence.- He may also have an eye to the discovery of this favo- rite current of his ; for as it had not been found, either by. Ross or Parry, any where within the limits I have before mentioned, its progress from Behring's Strait (if it exist beyond it) through channels of communication, between the " Polar basin" and the Atlantic must, of course, be sought for hereafter, on parallels between Mel- ville Island and the coast of America : for we cannot be surprised at the Reviewer's anxiety to get hold of a current, "whose" very " existence in his opinion aftbrds the best hope for the success of the expeditions engaged in exploring a passage into the Pacific." That there certainly is a temporary and " trifling*^ superficial cur- rent in Behring's Strait to the northward, Phoca has admitted ; and so do I, though totally inadequate to supply that which is known to set to the southward, continually, out of the Polar sea, through the Spitzber- gen sea, into the Atlantic ; even if it were possible to believe that the waters of the Pacific composed any part of it. Mr. Scoresby appears (as I before observed) to believe in the existence of the Reviewer's circumvolv- ing current, or at least that of " a sea communication" between the Pacific and " the Atlantic." As to the latter, for water and fish, I admit it may be very possi- ble, somewhere in the space between Melville Island and the north coast of America, which yet remains to be explored, Mr. Scoresby is of the same opinion as the Reviewer, chiefly for the same reasons; one of which is, because " it is presumed that worm-eaten drift- wood, found in the Arctic countries, is derived from A 119 a trans-polar region," as he supposes one log was which ** he observed in 1817, on the Island of Jan M? yen." Now, at page 209 of his " Account of the Arctic Re- gions," Mr. Scoresby has informed us, that " From the coast of Britain, the northern branch of the Gulf- stream probably extends superficially along the shore of Norway. About the North Cape, its direction ap- pears to be changed by the influence of a westerly current from Nova Zembla, so that it afterwards sets to the N. W. as high as the borders of the ice, and thus operating against the polar current setting to the south- ward." I should like to know Mr. Scoresby's authority for this movement of the superficial waters towards the fV, and N.W. fro?7i Nova Zembla, However, as he of course believes, or knows it to be so, I would ask him if, by the aid of such a medium, the worm-e^ten drift- wood he saw on Jan Mayen's Island might not have been brought from the West Indies, by this much shorter^ and more probable route than the other? The polar current, Mr. Scoresby (page 4,) informs us, " flows, he is well assured, during nine months of the year, if not all the year round, from the N.E., towards the S. W. The velocity of this current may be from 4 to 20 miles a day, varying in different situations, but is most con- siderable near the coast of Old Greenland." Here, then, is the perfectly well authenticated fact of a perpetual current out of the Polar sea. It is acknowledged by the Reviewer in various parts of his writings, and par- . ticularly pointed out by Mr. Barrow, at page 377 of his Voyages to the ** Polar Regions." — Now, this perpetual current to the southward, out of the Polar Sea, must have a cause. That cause, whether it be what Phoca attempted to prove it to be, or any other, would, doubt- less, produce a similar current from the Polar sea to- ^^ 120 ^aitd» the Atlantic, through an;^ channels of communis cation which maif exist from the west side of Greenland to the coast of America, in quantity and velocity propor- tionate to the dimensions of such channels. — Phoca^ disbelieving the existence of any such current in the space called " Baffin's Sea," by the Reviewer, rationally concluded that therefore there must be either land or shoals north of that space. ', The subsequent proof of Baffin's veracity, and con- sequently there being in fact no such current, either there, or in. the space westward, as far as Melville Island, proves, that there can be no channels of communi- cation in that space between the Polar Sea and the Atlantic, even for water in any considerable quantity ; much less Worships, The Reviewer, however, is of a very different opinion. He thinks there may be a passage to the northward into the Polar sea through Wellington Channel ; because, when the ships passed its southern entrance, it was " free from every particle of ice, as far as the eye could reach, on a remarkably clear day;" and therefore, if the ships had proceeded up that chanp nel, wherever it led to, the sea beyond would also have been as clear and open. I admit it to be very possible, that the northern opening of such channel may be found clear of ice, as well as the southern ; provided other lands lie to the northward of it. For one of my argu- ments is, that the northern shores of all Arctic lands, as well as the northern entrances of all channels formed between them, if no land exist north of them, are, and of necessity must be, continually more or less encum- bered with heavy polar ices ; extending from those lands towards the north polar axis of the globe. And that too, whether around it as a centre, there may be some expanse of open sea, as the Reviewer, and many ■ vi».<«l1 121 others suppose, without ice^ or whether there be, as Mr. Scoresby concludes, (page 311,) " A continent of ice- mountains, existing in regions near the Pole, yet unex- plored, the nucleus of which may be as ancient as the earth itself, and its increase derived from the sea and atmosphere combined" — for it is quite immaterial to my argument which theory may be correct. The only facts I require are, first, the existence of heavy polar ices ; xnd, secondly, the certain general movement of these ices, from the north towards the south, in all the regions surrounding the Pole, as long as they are at liberty to do so, by the combined influence of the polar current, and winds prevailing from the same quarter. These facts, it is quite notorious, all parties are agreed in ; and have been acknowledged, over and over again, by the Reviewer, Mr. Scoresby, Mr. Barrow in his Voyages into the Polar Regions, Mr. Fisher, and Capt. Parry, in their respective publications. The Quarterly Reviewer, in his notice of Capt. Parry's Voyage, seemed to be more than ever confirmed in his opinion of an open Polar Sea by that of Dr. Brewster, who, '* after comparing the results of the expedition under Capt, Parry with those he had drawn from a previous theory," is of opinion " that the hopes which have been so rea- sonably entertained of reaching the Pole itself, are thereby encouraged ;" concluding that " the mean tem- perature of the Pole of the globe will be 1 1°, incom- parably warmer than the regions in which Capt. Parry spent the winter." The Doctor adds, " if the Pole is (be) placed in an open sea, the difficulty of reaching it entirely ceases. ^^ '' Thus supported in his opinion of a clear, open, and navigable Polar Sea, by that of " all the Greenland- men," {except Mr. Scoresby), and the theory of the Data. Q . 122 learned Doctor into the bargain, and baving assured us, that he considered ** the knowledge acquired on th^ late expedition to have afforded a sanguine hope for the complete solution of the interesting question of a north-west passage," I must confess I expected he had perhaps recommended the higher powers to make another attempt by way of the Pole : especially as alt the original motives for sending Captain Buchan that way, must have been evidently strengthened in his mind, by the recently acquired knowledge. Nothing in fact having happened that could possibly tend to weaken them, except Capt. Buchan's failure, owing " to one of those accidents to which all sea voyages are liable;" unless indeed Mr. Scoresby's book may have acted as a sort of damper to the " sanguine hope" in that quarter, if ever the Reviewer has condescended to read such passages as these. At page 49 of Scoresby's account of the Arctic Regions, he says, " Were the mean temperature of the Pole, indeed, above the freezing point of sea water, and the mean heat of latitude 78** as high as 33° or 34**, then the circumpolar seas would have a chance of be^ iLg free from ice: but while the temperature of the former can be shown to be about 18°, and the latter 1 1" below the freezing temperature of the sea, we can have no reasonable ground, I conceive, for doubting the CO itinual presence of ice in all the regions imme- diately surrounding the Pole." And at page 54 : "If the masses of ice which usually prevent the advance of navigators beyond the 82nd degree of north latitude be extended in a continued series to the Pole (of which, unless there be land in the way, I have no doubt), the expectation of reaching the Pole by sea must be alto- gether chimerical" Now, if we take Mr. Scoresby to be \ 123 right in his conjecture that ** there is a continent of ice- mountains in the regions near the Pole, unless there be land in the way," what must there be between it and the place where Capt. Parry wintered at, which, accord- ing to Dr. Brewster's theory, is W or 12" colder than the Pole, or, as the Reviewer says we may conclude, " one of the coldest spots on the face of the globe ?" Ac- cording to Mr. Scoresby, in this case there must be a frozen Ocean, north of lands surrounding that Ocean, if there be 720 other land between them and the pole ; which is very far beyond what Phoca has ventured to suppose the Jce extended. On the other hand, our oracle the Reviewer says, " If we suppose that clusters of Islands continue to be scattered over it (the Polar Sea) on all sides, to the very Pole, or its vicinity, we shall in that case probably not be far from the fact, in concluding the whole of this extensive sea to be shal- low, choked up with ice, and unnavigable." According to this authority, then, this Polar Sea is to be choked up with ice, if there be land. So that, take either view, or combine both, we can come at nothing but ice, ice, ice, all along the northern shores of Arctic lands, and a frozen ocean to some indefinite extent to the north- ward o( the northernmost oHhose lands. Being obliged, at this rate, to give up the idea of any further attempts being intended by way of the Pole, as perhaps the Reviewer himself had done long before, I next con- sidered what other particular knowledge had been ac- quired on the late expedition, to afford this " sanguine hope," and whereabouts the Reviewer could reasonably expect it to be realized. I could hardly suppose he would recommend another trial to be made to the northward in Baffin's Bay ; " because it is now known that there is such a bay." Nor by the route last pursued ff 4 124 by Capt. Parry, although, so/ar, successfiilly ; because " he did not think that the strenuous, but unsuccessful endeavors of the late expedition, in two different sea- sons, to penetrate to the westward of Melville Island, afforded any hope that the passage will ever be effected in i/tat particular parallel of latitude : nor by the Wel- lington Channel " in the first instance," though he says " it viaj/ be desirable to look at the state of the Polar sea beyond it, hereafter." But, above all others, it never could be supposed that he would recommend the attempt to be made by way of Hudson's Strait and Bay, who had reprobated the very idea from the first. Nay, he had recorded his decided opinion that " all former attempts had failed, because not one of them was ever made near that part of the coast of America, round which, it is most likely the passage would lead into the northern or frozen ocean," a frozen ocean (by the by), which he then believed to be without ice. And because "hitherto most of our adventurers have worked their way through Hudson's Strait, which is generally choked up with, ice ; then, standing to the northward, have had to contend with ice drifting to the southward^ with contrary winds and currents ;" and " the most northerly straits and islands, which form the passages into Hudson's Bay, are of course never free from mountains and patches of ice ; and yet all navigators proceeding on discovery have either entered these Straits and had to struggle against the ice and currents, and tides on the coast of America, or, &c." If we may judge from the late second fruitless at- tempt of Capt. Parry, to discover a passage that way, the Reviewers early judgment, in this particular in- stance, has unfortunately been but too correct. For although Captain Parry did not, as far as the 125 newspapers tell us, meet with any greater difficulties than the annual ships of the North- West Company gene- rally do, in Hudson's Strait ; yet, after entering Hud- son's Bay, he, like most of our adventurers, had to con- tend, not merely '* with ice drifting to the southward," but was obstructed in his advance towards the N.W. by the Repulse Bay of Middleton, whose testimony to its existence, it appears, was doubted by himself as well as the reviewer, who says, Middleton " looked into what he was pleased to call Repulse Bay :" a name, however, which has now become doubly appropriate, as well as the Bay of Baffin. It may be allowed us to presume, that the Quarterly Reviewer, who recorded his decided judgment against making any future attempt, where all former ones had failed, could not have been consulted before it was resolved to send Captain Parry by that very route. For as nothing had been done, or become known, between the years 1817 and 1821, to alter the grounds of his judgment in that particular, he could not, it may be supposed, have been so inconsistent as to have approved in the latter year, what he so decidedly condemned in the former. He may, however, have been persuaded to concur in the opinion of others, contrary to what appears to have been his own better judgment in this particular instance. Indeed the writer of the critique on Captain Parry's first Voyage, in the 49th No. of the Quarterly Review, says, (whilst the last ex- pedition was pending,) Captain Parry " has recorded his opinion in favour of its accomplishment, and his sug- gestion has no doubt been adopted on the present voy- age:" and " it can scarcely h Joubted then, that the attempt is now about to be made, as recommended by Captain Parryy in a more southern latitude, and close along the north coast of America, where they may rea- 1^ ^1 12f] 1^ soD'dbly hope to meet witli a better summer climate, and a longer season for their operations, by at least six weeks." Here then we find that the * sanguine hope* was fully expected to be realized on the north coast oj America, if Captain Parry had been fortunate enough to reach it by way of Hudson's Bay, and any of its northern straits. But he found those he examined blocked up with ice, which the Reviewer told us long ago they were * never free from.' I have not heard whether any of the Re- viewer's * mountains of ice* w^re met with there. How- ever, we shall hear when Captain Parry's account of his last voyage comes out, which I am very anxious to see, in the hope of getting some more light thrown on the subject ; though I must confess thpt hope is not very san- guine as far as regards what may, or may not, be here- after effected along the north coast of America. In the mean time, whilst the next expedition is pending, which I am told is to proceed by way of Lancaster Sound and down Prince Regent's Inlet, towardstbat coast, let us try the strength and solidity of the reasons given by the Reviewer, in* his critique on Captain Parry's voyage, as well as those published by Captain Parry himself. The Reviewer in many passages has nearly quoted that offi- cer's words, and as some of his opinions are the same, (though others very difFeromt,) they may be considered as jointly belonging to bcth : the one by original sug- gestion, and the other by adoption. I shall quote from both, and occasionally compare them together, drawing such conclusions from the data they furnish, as shall appear to me to be fair and legitimate ; and wherever these are at all at variance with, or tend to undermine, their own arguments, such discordance shall be pointed out. . »« 127 I, and 8t six was erica f ach it traits, h ice, never le Re- How- ; of his to see, )n tUe rif san- i here- in the which ad and t us try by the age, as If. The lat offi- i same, Bidered lal sug- te from I rawing SIS shall herever ermine, pointed f In the first place, Captain Parry says, at page 142, " I began to consider whether it would not be advisable, whenever the ice would allow us to move, to sacrifice a few miles of the westing we had already made, and run along the margin of the floes, in order to endeavour to find an opening leading to the southward ; by taking ad- vantage of which we might be enabled to prosecute the voyage to the westward in a lower latitude. I was the moreincHnedtomake this attempt fromitshavinglongbe- come evident to us, that the navigation of this part of the Polar Sea is only to be performed by watching the occa- sional openings between the ice and the shore : and that therefore a continuity of land \s essential, if not absolutely necessary for the purpose. Smh a continuity of land, which was here about to fail us, must necessarily be fur- nished by the northern coast of America, in whatever latitude it may be found." Again, at page 297, Captain Parry says, " Our experience, I think, has clearly shown that the navigation of the Polar Seas can never be per- formed with any degree of certainty without a continuity of land. It was only by watching ♦he occasional openings between the ice and the shore that our late progress to the westward was eflected, and had the land continued in the desired directiony there can be no question that we should have continued to advance, however slowly, towards the completion of our enterprise." " In this respect therefore, as well as in the improvement to be ex- pected in the climate, there would be a manifest advantage in making the attempt on the coast of America, where we are sure that land will not Jail us." In both these ex- tracts it is declared that a continuity of land is essential, if not absolutely necessary. A continuity, where? and how situated, as to the westward course to be steered by ships ? Why a continuity, such as the North Georgiam '[U i 1 . 128 Islands, lying contiguous to each other, nearly east and west, on a parallel, norths or on the starboard hand of that course. But vhy should it lie in that direction; jand be situated north of thai course ? Because such a continuity did in ft t enable the ships to proceed as far only to the westward as it extended, but no farther. How did it enable them to do so ? By protecting them from polar ices, such as were met with at the west end of Mel- ville Island ; where., Captair. Parry says, " hadi\\e land continued in the desired direction, there can be no question that we should have continued to advance towards the completion of our enterprise." TLa Quarterly Reviewer says, "the heavy ice found there was owing probably .to the discontinuance of land, or to the prevailing northerly mnds having driven down the main body of ice and wedged it in among the Islands." This was a discnntinu' €nce of latid on the north of the ship's course; and the acknowledgment of the ice •' having been driven down" implies the belief that there must be a fertile supply from that quarter, and what Captain Parry terms a power in constant operation of " enormous pressure" to have thus " wedged it in among the Islands." Mr. Fisher, whom I have quoted before, seems to have had a much clearer conception of this matter, at the time and place, than any of his shipmates. His words are decidedly to the point, at page &9 : " I think it is pvo- bable, as long as we find land to the northward, to stop the polar ice from drifting down upon us, that we shall find a passage to the westward along the land. I do not mean, however, to say that a passage will, without any interruption, be constantly found to exist between the land and the ice: on the contrary, I am aware that a southerly wind may give us occasional checks, by farcing the ice in with the coast; but immediately the V29 wind changes to the opposite direction, it will neces* sarily have the contrary effect. This is not indeed a matter of speculation, nor do I intend it to be consi» dered as such ; for both this and the last year's experi- ence have afforded us so many instances of the truth of what I have said, that jL have no hesitation in giving it as my opinion, that the viciniiy of land to the north- ward will always be in our favor. My object in being so particular on this point is, because there are some amongst us of quite a different opinion *" Mr. Fisher does not particularly name any who thus differed from him in this opinion, which he had so justly formed ; but it would appear that Captain Parry himself, before he reached Wellington Channel, regarded this " continuity of land to the northward" of him, with " uneasiness, prin- cipally from the possibility that it might take a tura to the southward and unite with the coast of America ;" not being then aware, as he afterwards learnt by ex- perience that such continuity was " essential, if not ab- solutely necessary, for the navigation of this part of the Polar Sea ;" and as I dare say it vill be for the navi- gation of that part of it, from the meridian of Prince Regent's Inlet to that of Icy Cape. . • We have seen alread j where and what this continuity was, as well as its importance to the ships, as far as it extended. That importance was fully proved by the insurmountable icy obstruction which they met with at its western extremity. And yet Captain Parry says, and the Reviewer repeats it : '* Such continuity of land as was here about to fail us, must necessarilybe furnished by the northern coast of America, in whatever latitude it may be found." ** There would be a manifest advantage in making the attempt on the coast of America, where we are sure Data. B, 4. 130 that land will not fail us/* If the Reviewer alone had made such ah observation as the first, it need not have surprised one ; hut that Captain Parry himself, with the facts of his experience before him, should not only have written but published the same, is indeed somewhat unexpected ; for the two cases cannot possibly have any feature alike, except as regards the term continuity applied to them, and perhaps being so, in both having a direction nearly east and west. Though there must be continuity of land on the coast of America, yet surely it cannot be ^wcA a continuity as that formed by the ^lorth Georgian Islands, which failed Captain Parry at the west end of Melville Island : because the coaat of America is on the larboard hand, or to the southward oi ships steering to the westward, and consequently to leeward, as the prevailing winds are from the northward. On the contrary, the continuity formed by the North Georgian Islands is to the northward, or on the star- board hand, of ships so steering, and therefore to wind' ward. As to siuation, then, they are only as opposite as north and south. Bui in other and far more im- portant points they are quite the reverse of each other. The chain of landj extending from Baffin's Bay, on the north of the passage discovered by Captain Parry, acted as a barrier against the polar ices, which, it is confessed by all the authorities I quote, are driven from north to south by the combined power of the polar current and "the prevailing northerly winds." The southern shores of those lands being weather shores, (or having the wind blowing from them,) were conse- quently found to be comparatively free from ice. Nor in truth was there, in the whole extent of that passage, any such heavy polar ice met with, as was found near the west end of Melville Island. But what was the state of the northern coast of Melville Island, which was a lee 131 shore, as the winds are proved to prevail ? Captain Parry has told us what he observed at Point Nias. Nay, what was the state of the shores facing the north of the lands forming the south side of that passage, and extending from Prince Regent's Inlet to Banks's land, at what- ever distance those lands may be from the North Geor- gian Islands ? Those lands were not seen all the way in continuity, but there must be land there sufficiently contiguous to prevent the field ice even from moving fur- ther to the southward than it was observed to do from the North Georgian Islands ; and if there should be no land nearer to those Islands than che coast of America itself, that coast must be the impediment, and the ice will be, in all human probability, found to be continuous quite to that coast. Now, let us see what answer Captain Parry will furnish to the last question^ as to the state of the ice to the southward. It has already been seen, at page 142 of Captain Parry's Voyage, that, when he first met with such decided obstruction, necr the west end of Melville Island, he " was desirous of finding an opening in the ice leading to the southward, by taking advantage of which, he might be enabled to orosecute the voyage to the westward in a lower latitude. At page 250, he de- F riiMis the ice to the W. and W.S.fV, of Cape Dundas, I * V hence, it being 1000 feet high, the view of it mub save been very extended. " It was as solid and compact as so much land ; no passage in that direction was yet to be expected ; the only clear- water in sight was a channel of about three-quarters of a mile wide, between the ice and the land." — At page 259, on the 26th of August, when he cast off from the ice, and ^nade all sail to the eastward, he says, *• We kept close ' the ice, which w •''K ioug the edge ^uite compact 132 the southward, without the smallest appearance cf an operh ing to encourage a hope of penetrating in that direction" At page 261, when ii? lat. 72° 2' 15" and long. IDS'* 14' 20", he says, " A constant look-out was kept from the crow's-nest, for an opening to the southxvard ; but not a single break could he perceived in the mass of ice which still covered the sea in that direction" And on the fol- lowing day, the 28th of August, he adds, " The ice to the southward, along which we continued to sail this day, was composed of floes, remarkable for their extra- ordinary length and continuity : some of them not having r single ^»reak or crack for miles together, though their height abi ' I'le sea was generally not more than 12 inches, au^ their surface as smooth and even as a bowling-green ; forming a striking contrast to the ice to which we had lately been accustomed more westerly." On the 30th of August, he says, " Having now traced the ice the whole way, from long. 1 14" to 90" without discovering any opening to encourage a hope of penetrating to the southward, I could not entertain the slightest doubt that there no longer remained a possibility of effecting our object." Does Captain Parry then, with facts like these before his eyes, really mean to say, that a continuity of land, south of the westerly course to be steered towards Behring's Strait, is in aqy point, except the two I have mentioned, such as one to the north of it ? Suppose, for instance, that, after he entered Lancaster Sound, there had been no land whatever to the northward, between him and the Pole, and that the land to the southward from Cape Byam Martin to Banks's Land, or even to Behring's Strait, was continuous ; I would ask him candidly, to say, if he believes he could have advanced to the west- ward beyond even the 80th degree of longitude? 13a Would he have found that continuity such as the one to the northvmrd, whose existence alone enabled him to reach the 1 14th meridian ? But the Quarterly Review would perhaps answer for him : " Yes, he would not only have made as much westing as he did, but he would have reached Behring's Strait; because he would have entered mi/ * Polar basin,^ where there would have been no ice to impede his progress." , And yet the Reviewer acknowledges that *' the ice found about the S.W. extremity of Melville Island, was owing proba- bly to the discontinuance of land, or to the prevailing northerly winds having driven down the main body, and wedged it in among the Islands !" May I ask him then to give me any sound reason, why the same combined causes should not have produced the same effects, i/'that discontinuance had taken place in the same parallel on any other meridian, between Baffin's Bay and 114" west longitude? and why it may not take place at the west end of Arctic lands, on any meridians west of that longitude, and in parallels even south of Melville Island, IF NO other lands should happen to be situated to the northward of them again ? He, how- ever, I dare say, will not allow the inference that must be drawn from his own admission : for in the face of that admission, and in support of his firm belief still, that there is an open Polar Sea, notwithstanding ice " is driven to the southward" from thence, where the supply must consequently come /row, he gives the authority of Captain Parry, who, he says, " has no doubt of an open sea to the westward of Melville Island ; as whole fields of ice, interminable to the sight, were observed to be moving bodily to the westward for days together." Captain Parry may have told him so, for aught I know ; but as far as I can find, what he has published in his m li ■li !l >34 Voyage does not seem to me to amount to quite so much as this. At page 86, Captain Parry does, to be sure, say something about a strong westerly current, which by-the-by, though perhaps it was only a temporary one, is not much in proof of the existence, there at least, of the Reviewer's famouG circumvolving current between the Pacific and Atlantic from west to east, if, as he supposes, there be a passage for it. But this fact is not at variance with Phoca*s circumvolving current in that direction. For he does not insist on there posi- tively being a passage for it (though there may be,) any where, but along the northern shores of circumpolar lands, j/" it cannot pass bettueen them, till it rounds the north point of Greenland, and finds its way down its east coast towards the Atlantic. Captain Parry says, " On the 17th September, the current, which for the last two days had been setting to the westward, and which could not possibly have escaped our observation had it existed previously to the late westerly and north-westerly gales, was here found to be running stronger than we had before remarked it. — ^This was made particularly obvious when, having reached the farthest point west- ward to which we could possibly venture to carry the ships, we were obliged to heave to, in order to watch for an opening that might favor our views ; the ships were at this time drifting to leeward through the water, at the rate of about a mile and a quarter an hour, in spite of which, they went so fast to the westward by the land, that Lieutenant Beechey and myself estimated the current to be running at least two miles an hour in that direction. I must here remark, that besides the current to which I have now alluded, and by which the floes and heavy masses appeared to be affected, there was, as usual in this navigation, a superficial cur- 135 rent atso, setting the smaller pieces past the others, at a much quicker rate. Of the causes which now pro- duced this strong" westerly current, at a time when the contrary might rather have been anticipated, it is of course not easy, with our present limited experience of this part of the Polar Sea, to offer any very probable conjecture; but the impression on our minds, at the time, was, that it was perhaps caused by the reaction of the water, which had been forced to the eastward, in the early part of the late gales, against the ice, with which the sea was almost entirely covered in that direc- tion. Be this as it may, we did not fail to draw from it one conclusion, which was favorable to the object we had in view, namely, that the drift of so large a body of ice for days together in a westerly direction, indi- cated a considerable space of open sea somewhere in that direction." As to this open space of sea to the westward, it is only necessary to observe here, that as it appears, from other previous remarks, that the tides were here very regular, though it is not made to appear so clear at times, whether the Jlood was from east or west ; at all events the floating ice was carried by them, sometimes one way, and sometimes the other. The currents also are stated, as setting sometimes to the east- ward, and as such ice must have been carried by them, in that direction, " the large body of it which was drifting to the westward, for days together," might have been only returning back, to fill up the space it had before per- haps occupied there, by means of what Captain Parry calls " the reaction of the water, which had been forced to the eastward in the early part of the late gales." In the following year, when Captain Parry had gained more experience in the "vicinity of the S.W. extremity of Melville Island, he speaks very differently on the 130 subject of an open sea to the westward of Melville Island. He says : " We had been lying near our pre- sent situation, with an easterly wind blowing fresh for thirty- SIX hours together, and although this was considerably o^the land, beyond the western point of land now in sight, the ice had noty during the whole of that timet moved a single yard from the shore ; affording a proof that there was no space in which the ice was at liberty to move to the westward^ and offering a single and striking exception to our former experience." Captain Parry's former experience, however, was not obtained quite so far to the westward, as it was at the time when this single and striking exception occurred. Captain Ross was instructed "carefully to avoid com- ing near the coast of America, in order to give it a good offing," for, says the Reviewer, " had it been intended that he should ascertain its position, his instructions, we have no doubt, would have directed him to proceed up the Welcome, and endeavor to pass through Middle- ton's Frozen Strait ; whereas the object clearly was to avoid being entangled with the shoals and islands and ice, on the northern shores of America, which, by the vague accounts of Hearne /and Mackenzie, are very similar to the northern shores of Siherldi.*' The Reviewer too acknowledged that he had less apprehension of the passage through Behring's Strait being closed against our navigators, except by ice, than of the difficulties which they may probably have to encounter on this side of America." No wonder then, if he had any influence in the deliberations at the Admiralty, that, in order to avoid these. Captain Parry was instructed to proceed by way of Lancaster Sound, and ** if it should be found to connect itself with the northern sea, he was to make the best of his way to Behring's Strait;" not at all doubt- 137 ing but that sea would he found free from ice, and na- vigable the whole way. We have seen the result ofthat voyage. With that result the Reviewer's resources seem to have failed him, and he very prudently gives up the cudgel to Captain Parry ; and though he seems to have had ?i fearful hankering after Middle tons Frozen St rait , or Repulse Bay, which he disbelieved quite as much as he did the existence of Baffin's Bay, yet after what he had said and published he could not well recommend it himself, as a next place of trial. He therefore informs us that " the attempt was to be made as recommended hy Captain Parry, in a more southern latitude, and close on the coast of America,' This was preferred to a route through Prince Regent's Inlet, on account of the delay which would necessarily be occasioned by proceeding so far to the northward, as Sir James Lancaster's Sound, in order to get into that inlet. 4 This last attempt has also failed, but with this " advan- tage^' gained, as the Reviewer would say ; that we now do know there is such a Bay as the Repulse Bay of Mid- dleton ; and as to ** the difficulties which our navigators would probably have to encounter on this side of Ame- rica," he has been a true prophet for once* And now% as the Reviewer says, " comes the question to be solved as to the best and shortest route to get upon the coast of America. From the appearance and circumstances, at the southern part of Prince Regent's Inlet, there was not a man in the late expedition, who was not convinced that it opened out into the sea, which washes the northern coast of that continent." This route however did not, it seems, hold out such a fair prospect of success, as that taken last through Hudson's Strait, as the latter was " recommended " by Capt. Parry himself; and the Reviewer '• thought it Data. S I: ^> •rf: 138 probal)le that either Hudson's Strait, Sir Thos. Roe's Welcome, or Repulse Bay, or all of them, might afford navigable passages into the Polar Sea." These then, with " the knowledge acquired on the former expedi- tion," afforded that " sanguine hope " for the complete solution of *^ the interesting problem of a north-west pas- sage." The route which last failed, was then of course considered " the best and shortest, to get upon the coast of America." That by way of Lancaster Sound, and down Prince Regent'vS Inlet, where the present attempt, it is said, will be made, may therefore be termed the forlorn hope, whether it may turn out to be the best or not. As the last expedition failed in reaching the north coast of America, the arguments of the Reviewer and Capt. Parry, in favor of the route along that coast, are of course equally applicable to it in the attempt now to be made there. We will therefore proceed to examine them. In the first place ; if Capt. Parry should succeed in getting through Prince Regent's Inlet, and to the south- ward of the land forming its west side ; and if that land should, trend nearly on a parallel, so as to be in coft- tinuity nearly, or to join Banks's Land, he will, in all probability, find just as little difficulty in advancing as far as Hie west end of that land, along its southern shore, as he did to that of Melville Island. But, if there should happen to be a large space to the westward of Banks's Land, without any land, and nojic between it and the north coast of America, it is as proba- ble that he will find the whole of that space filled with ices and unnavigable, either to the west or south : and for the same reasons that he could do neither in the whole space between Melville Island and Banks's Land. 139 But admitting that Capt. Parry should get on tlie north coast of America, what then ? Why, he says, and the Reviewer also, tliere " will he a manifest advantage gained, in making the attempt along the northern coast of America, as he will there be certain of a continuity of land. Arrived on the coast of America, and no ob- struction from land, we," says the Reviewe" "see no reason why the passage to Icy Cape, which does not exceed 1500 miles, might not easily be accomplished in one scasoji ; about 000 of these were actually run on the last voyage in six days ;" but that was from the xvest- w'ardf quite the wrong wa\j. He should have added, that " it required five weeks to traverse that distance when going in the opposite direction," lo the ivestward or to- 'ivards Behring's .Strait, as Capt. Parry did. If, as I think, I have shown that there would have been 7io advantage gained by making the passage to the ivest- wardy along the northern s/iores of the lands extending from Prince Regent's Inlet to Banks's Lam], provided the North Georgian Islands had not existed ; what " mani- fest advantage," then, can be expected, on the jwrth coast of America, if there should happen not to be lands situated to ihe northward of it again, along its zvhole ex- tent to Behring's Strait, to keep off those Polar ices, which it is acknowledged by all do, in fact, drift tc the southward ? If there should be any extent of it zvith- out such protection, what is to prevent the advance of such ices, even to that coast ? I may be told that " the summer climate there will be so much warmer," that they will dissolve before they reach it. The Reviewer says, " Supposing the theory of Dr. Brewster to be correct which assigns the greatest degree of cold to the mag- netic meridian, the most serious obstruction from ice will probably occur from yo"" to 100° of west longitude ; or (setting aside that theory) about midway of the J". \ T';' :fl! 140 coast, as being the most distant point from tlie two Oceans ; it being well known from experience, that the proximity of a permanently open sea is a circumstance which, of all others, in high latitudes, tends the most to temper the severity of the climate." In this doctrine the Reviewer and Capt. Parry so perfectly agree, that, in speaking of it, they are mutual echoes to each other. But this is only an opinion, a mere assertion, dictated by hope, rather than founded on experience, in a situa- tion so remote from either ocean. The Reviewer *' takes for granted," what scarcely admits of a doubt, ** that the action of the sun's rays, so much more power- ful and radiated from so much more land, along the continuous coast of America, than along the passage discovered by Parry, will produce the same effect of opening a clear channel of water between the coa'^t and the ice,"' by effecting its dissolution. Capt. Parry says, "Should tlie sea on the coast of Americ be found moderatdi) deep, and shelving towards the e, (which from the geological character of the known parts of the continent to the south, and of the Georgian Islands to the north, there is reason to believe would be the case, for a considerable distance to the westward,) the facility of navigation would be much increased, on account of the grounding of the heavy masses of ice in water sufficiently deep to allow ships to take shelter behind them, at such times as the Jloes closein upon the land." Capt. Parry then, it would appear, does not expect much advantage to be gained from the dissolution of the ice, as he admits the "heavy masses"may^e^Acre to take the ground, and ^^Jloes to close in upon the land." He is not so sanguine on this point, therefore, as the Reviewer ; nor can Mr. Barrow ■be, who, having given this subject much of his attention, may be considered high authority. He says, at page 14t 373 of his Voyages to the Polar Regions, " In fact, the ice-bergs, and those vast fields of ice which float about on the sea and are wafted down by currents into the Atlantic, are chiefly formed on coasts, and in bays, in jiarrozv straits, and at the mouths of great rivers. The whole coast of Siberia is a fertile source of tliis supply," [on the authority of the Russians I dare say: I wonder what becomes of them all, now the door is shut against them by the land to the northward of Davis's Strait.} " The multitude of large rivers which fall into the Polar Sea, by carrying down the alluvial earth, have formed numerous and expansive and shallow bays of fresh water, which in the course of the winter become so many solid masses of ice. As the sources of these rivers, and a great part of their course, are in more southern latitudes, where they never freeze, the water they sup- ply is, in the winter, dammed u|> near the mouth, and ice-bergs are formed, which, when broken loose, are drifted out to sea. In the same manner the field ice is formed in the straits, and bays, and on shalloio coasts, which, when set afloat in the spring, is carried out into the sea : in this situationit is dri.lted about till, heaped piece on piece, and driven about, it again fixes itself among archipelagos of islands, on shallow coasts, and in straits, bays, and inlets, where each field becomes a nucleus for • an increasing accumulation, as in the straits of Belleisle and Behring^for instance, and in every part of Hudson's Bay down to the latitude of 50°." Now, to be sure, if this be the case, there can be 7w dissolution of ices on the north coast of America, and as the wind, it appears, prevails generally from the north- ward, they cannot be carried out to sea in its teeth ; so that at this rate, on such authority at least, it must be con- 142 tinually encumbered with ices, whether those from the northern ocean find access to it or not. How indeed can such " an increasing accumulation' of ice be dis- solved at all, when in Hudson's Bay, so much furUier to the southward, there is an "increasing accumulation:" nay, even " in the Strait of Belleisle ! !" But then the Quarterly Reviewer and Captain Parry will turn round on Mr. Barrow and me, and say, that all this may be so, but " it can scarcely be doubted that the climate on the north coast of America will be found to improve, and the obstruction become less, as the ships advance towards the Pacific. Besides, it is well known that the western coast of every continent and large island (even of our own) enjoys a higher temperature by many degrees than the eastern coast in the same parallels of latitude." As a fact, this is true with regard to northern extra tropical continents, whose western coasts have a much higher mean temperature than the eastern. " This diflerence is extremely striking between the west- ern roast of North America, and the opposite eastern coast of Asia. Mr. Daniel explains it, by the heat evolved in the condensation of vapour swept from the surface of the ocean by the westerii winds. This general current, in its passage over the land, deposits more and more of its aqueous particles, and by the time that it arrives upon the eastern coasts is extremely dry : as it moves onward, it bears before it the humid atmosphere of the intermediate seas, and arrives upon the opposite shores in a state of saturation. Great part of the vapour is there at once precipitated, and the temperature of the climate raised by the evolution of its latent heat." I ap- prehend, however, that little of this effect will be found to ameliorate the climate on the north coast of America much to the eastward of Behring's Strait, owing to the I 143 probable proximity and immense quantity of ices to the north, from whence frigid winds prevail to counteract it. And therefore tliat the rule will not perhaps be found so applicable to the eastern and western sides o^ Arctic lands, as it doubtless is to those of extra tropical conti- nents more to the southward. But before the question comes to further proof, which there is much reason to hope it may, by means of the intended land expedition, let us try it by the test of the few recorded observations hitherto made on the temperature of the east ccast of Greenland, in Hudson's Bay, and Behring's Strait, as extreme points in the case. For the first, we will take the authority of Mr. Scoresby, in his Voyage to Green- land, published in 1822, who says, at page 204, after he had laTuded in Scoresby 's Sound : " The heat among the rocks was most oppressive, so much so chat my excursion was greatly contracted by the painful languor which the uncommonly high temperature produced. Unfortunately I had no thermometer with me. but I think the temperature could not be below 70'' ; to my feelings it was equal to the greatest heat of summer in England." This was on the 25th of July, to the ?iorth- wardoflatiiude l(f. In Hurry's Inlet, he says, " that Mr. Lloyd experienced a degree of heat as oppressive to his feelings as he ever suffered either in the East or West Indies, to which torrid regions he had been a frequent visitor." '' It so far overcame some of his men who had attempted to climb an adjoining hill, that they could not proceed, but lying down, fell fast asleep," &c. " The superior heat of the land to that of the sea was most remarkable and striking ; when the temperature on shore was not less than 70°, the thermometer on board the ship, even near the shore in Scoresby 's Sound, never rose, I believe, in the shade above 40"," n 5!;: ^:t 144 The Quarterly Reviewer tells us that, "almost every voyager into Hudson's and Baffin's Seas complains of the occasional hot weather and the great annoyance of mosquitoes on the shores. Duncan, when surrounded with ice, had the thermometer in August at 56" in the shade, and 82° in the sun." It is not said what latitude this was in, but it must have been to the southward of 05°. So much for the temperature on the eastern side of Greenland and America. For that on the west side, and not further north, we will see what Lieutenant Kotzebue found it to be in Behring's Strait, and also in the shalloxv sound bearing his name, which being almost surrounded by land, may very naturally be expected to have the temperature of its water, as well as that of the atmosphere, considerably raised by the radiation of heat from it. On the 26th of July, when near the St. Lawrence Islands (situated to the southward of Behring's Strait, and between Asia and America,) and in latitude 63° N. the temperature of the air was 53* 8', and of the surface of the sea, 41° 2'. In Kotzebue Sound, in lat. 63^° and long. 162°, from the 2d to the 13th of August, the 7we«« temperature of the air was about 63", and that of the sea water about 52°. On the 19th of August, in latitude 66° 16' N. and a little to the northward of East Cape, the temperature of the air was 44°, and the sea water 35° 8'. These few facts will not lead any one in his senses to conclude that the waters of the Pacific, which at the surface are of a temperature of 70° or 80°, could possibly have composed any of the fluid here. Neither do they prove that the climate of the western coast of America is " higher by many degrees than the eastern," at least on equal parallels, though somewhat higher in latitude 68° than 70° on the east side of Greenland. This western part of America, forming the east side w 145 of Behring's Strait ought of course, according to the rule of the Reviewer and Captain Parry, to be the warmest part of it or. an equal parailc!. Yet, being o£ so low a temperature as it appears to be, on what ground can it be believed that there will be a better cli- mate further to the eastward^ on the north coast, than there is here ? Nay, by their own rule, must it not be progressively colder from ley Cape all the way to their point oi greatest frigidity and obstruction, about " mid- way of the coast ?" Or to the one supposed by Dr. Brewster to be ** situated in about 80° N* latitude and lOO'^W. longitude?" I must, however, take the liberty of borrowing one of the Reviewer's own arguments to prove, that the cli- mate ** from midway," on the north coast of America, towards the Pacific, can not be milder than it has been experienced at its western extremity. In the beginning of the year 1818, he took much pains to show that the temperature of our climate in England was lower in the three summer months of 1816 and 1817, by from IT to 20°, than it had been in corresponding months of 1805, 18^, and 1807 — that " the remarkable chilliness of the almosphere, in the summer months of those two years, was owing to the appearance of ice in the Atlantic" — that ♦' it would be a waste of words to enter into any discussion on the diminution of temperature, which must iiecessarily be occasioned by the proximity of vast mountains, nnd islands of ice ;" in short, that the westerly winds did in fact acquire an unusually frigorific character, by having passed over a few icebergs drifting to th. southward in the Atlantic, at the distance of some hundreds of miles from the British Isles. What then must be the character of winds in the circumpolar Data, T 140 ■t Arctic sea, if ihey "prevail generally from the north?" And what their influence on the climate of the whole north coast of America, upon which they blow, and the ice drifts ; it being a lee shore ? That the winds, judging theoretically, should prevail from the northward in the Arctic regions, is perhaps indisputable ; and, though the Keviewer has admitted it to be so, yet it is as well to establish the fact by the testimony of navigators in that quarter of the globe. Ml". Scoresby, from a mean of nine years' observation in the Spitzbergen sea, in the months of April and May, has "estimated the frigid winds passing over ice, to be in proportion to the mild winds blowing from the sea, as 173 N. to 69 S." In Baffin's Bay, it appears by Captain Ross's register, that the northerly winds were in proportion to the southerly, as 75 to 59 — the easterly and westerly, as 62 E. to 65 W. — And on an examination of Captain Parry's register of the winds for 448 days between July 18 J 9, and September 1820, the northerly winds were in proportion to the southerly,! as 316 N. to 140 S. ; and the easterly to the westerly, as 118 E. to 245 W. or thereabouts. So that i/any ice be either formed along the north coast of America, or drive down upon it by these winds, " prevailing, as they do, from the northward and westward," and a Polar current from the same quarter, I should like to know by what possible means it can be expected to be cleared of it, ej^cept by the effect of heat ? Or, if that which perhaps may be so dissolved is, as I believe, replaced constantly, though probably imperceptibly, by the tenancy of the whole body to move southward^ (whe- ther it extends five or ten or any number of degrees to the northward, towards the Pol ,) how that north coast, oi; the north or "west coasts o*' any lands> on any 147 parallels and meridians between the N.W. part of Greenland and Melville Island, can be otherwise than perpetually encumbered with ice, provided no other land be between them and the Pole ? But more especially so, if we admit also the effect of the Reviewer's circumvolv- ing current from the Pacific, to be " rushing in" through Behring's Strait with " the greatest velocity :" for as that current is bound to the Atlantic^ it must set to the eastward from thence, and carry along with it floating masses of ice. Lieutenant Kotzebue says : " The direction of the current was always N.E. in Behring's Strait, and stronger on the Asiatic than on the American coast/ I estimate the current on the Asiatic coast in the chan- nel, at the greatest depth, to be three miles an hour, when the wind blew fresh from the south. The con- stant N.E. direction of the current in Behring's Strait proves that the water meets with no obstruction, and consequently a passage must exist, though perhaps not adapted to navigation :" and believing, in consequence of what our Quarterly Reviewer had told him, that the current in Baffin's Bay runs to the south, he thought " no doubt can remain that the mass of water which flows into Behring's Strait takes its course round America, and returns through Baffin's Bay into the ocean." — Mr. Von Chamisso, the naturalist, who was with Kotzebue in the Rurick, is not quite so positive, nor so sanguine: for he says, "After we had tried to prove that a current goes to the north through Behring's Strait, we must confess that it is too weak, and can force but too little water through the narrow entrance, to correspond with those currents which flow from Davis's Strait, and along the east coast of Greenland, towards the south." This gentleman too, it seems, believed, at the time he wrote this, in the Reviewer's current down 1^ % ;i'. 148 *• Baffin's Sea," which we have seen had no existence but in his own fertile imagination. * Captain Burney supposed " the current in Pehring's Strait to be periodical ; were it perpetual," said he, " its moderate rate through a channel neither wide nor deep, could contribute little towards a current in the Greenland seas." Very little, truly — and perhaps has nothing to do with the current in the Spitzbergen sea. We have seen, from the testimony of Mr. Scoresby junior, that the current there is perpetual. Indeed, from the united testimony of hundreds besides, there can be no doubt of the fact of a constant current from the northward, out of the Polar Sea, towards the Atlantic Ocean : and because it is exactly such an effect as must of necessity result from physical causes ori- ginating in heat and cold on the globe. This, too, being the only effect of that cause hitherto dis- covered in the Arctic regions, has appeared to me to be, of all others, the strongest argument against the practicability at least — nay, almost the existence of a passage for ships from the Atlantic into (what I under- stand by) the Polar Sea, on any parallel and meridian, from the N.TV. part of Greenland to Melville Island. The space between Melville Island and the coast of America, to Behring's Strait, still remains to be explored by. ships. To that space the same argument is appli- cable under the like circumstances. For, should a similar effect (the certain result of the same cause) not be found there, the same conclusion must follow — Im- practicability. But further, even if such similar current should be hereafter discovered flowing from the Polar Sea, somewhere within that space, towards the Atlantic, between insulated lands ; it may indeed prove the existence of a passage, perhaps under the ice, for water 149 and fish, like that between Melville Island and Banks's Land, without proving its practicability for ships. Be- cause, as such current must of necessity be from the north or west, or both, it will in all probability close up the narrower passages with ice. Even admitting then the circp^^volving current of the Reviewer (not from the Paci/itf but) from Behring's Strait to the east- ward, to be flowing towards the Atlantic by way of channels yet unexplored between Melville Island and the coast of America, if these channels should not be sufficiently wide to allow the heavier masses and fields of ice to pass through with the current, from the northward, or westward, or both ; the natural conse- quence, I should apprehend, must be an accumulation of icy obstruction at the northern and western openings of such channels ; as was the case in the space between the west end of Melville Island and Banks's Land, and since that time, in the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. And this, too, on the same principle, and for the same reason, that a grating placed across a stream would cause an accumulation of such floating substances as could not pass through it, on the side nej^t its source. At the same time, it must be observed, that even the future proof of such current from tlie northward or westward, from the Polar Sea, or along the northern coast of America, will not in the least tend to prove that either the one or the other has the waters of the Pacific Ocean for its source^ as has been so wildly con- jectured : for the waters of that ocean can have no more to do with it, as a cause of its existence in any part of the north circumpolar regions, (except through the medium of evaporation and a northerly movement in the atmosphere,) than the man in the moon. It ^ ) d 150 I have not yet been able to learn whether any cur- rent from the westward, of a permanent character, was met with under the ice, in the Strait of Fury and Hecla. But if there was, it may be considered (accord- ing to the view I have taken of the subject) as a cir- cumstance unfavorable to success. There is another fact mentioned in the Appendix to Captain Franklin's account of his journey to the mouth of the Copper- Mine River, which tends to prove that the climate to the westward of the meridian (113" 6') of Fort Enterprise, is colder than that to the eastward of it. He says, " The easterly winds predominate in the country to the northward of the Great Slave Leike ; and whilst they blow, the weather is milder than during the westerly winds. The coldest, and I may add the strongest wind, in every season, in this country, is the north-west y Now, if the westerly winds in the summer months of 1816 and 1817 were so remarkably 'chilled, in their way to our shores, by passing over a few icebergs in the Atlantic, as to reduce the temperature of the cli- mate of Great Britain from 1 1 to 20 degrees, the Re- viewer can have no objection, I presume, to admit that the westerly winds to the northward of the Great Slave Lake must have come from a colder climate, westward of the 113th meridian, than that could possibly be to the eastward of it, from whence the winds. Captain Franklin says, were milder. In short, that they were frigified toOy somewhere and somehow, on their pas- sage. And as ice was the cause of the unusual chilli- ness of our westerly winds here, by the Reviewer's own argument, therefore, the colder character of the westerly and north-westerly winds, to the northward Idl of the Great Slave Lake, must have been owing to the same cause too; the abundance of ice in the direction from whence these winds came. And as even westerly winds had this cold character, some of this ice, it may be supposed, was as far to the southward as the coast of America : for on a flat shelving shore, such as parts of the " north coast may b6, it is impossible to pre- scribe how far inland low field ice shall not be driven by the pressure of other ice, forced by tempestuous weather towards the land." Captain Burney also ob- serves, *' that the shallowness of the sea near the north coast of Asia, the freshes discharged into it from many large rivers, and the coast fronting the north, render it more liable to be frozen, than the seas of Greenland and Spitzbergen in a much higher latitude. The northern lands in the Icy Sea are impediments to the dispersion of ice, and hence arises the great difficulty of navigation in that sea." This passage is partly appli- cable likewise to the north coast of America. But Captain Franklin has recorded his favorable opinion of the practicability of a passage for ships along that coast. " Our researches," he says, " as far as they have gone, seem to favor the opinion of those who con- tend for the practicability of a N.W. passage. The general line of coast probably runs east and west, nearly in the latitude assigned to the Mackenzie river, the Sound into which Kotzebue entered, and Re* pulse Bay; and very little doubt can, in my opi- nion be entertained of the existence of a continued sea in or about that line of direction. A connexion with Hudson's Bay is rendered more probable from the same kind of fish abounding on the coast we visited, and on the coast to the north of the Churchill river. The portion of sea over which we passed is navigable 'k I.V2 for ships of any size ; the ice we met with, particularly after quitting Detention Harbour, would not have ar- rested a strong boat. The chain of islands affords shelter from all heavy seas, and there are good harbours at convenient distances." There can be no doubt that the chain of islands seen to the northward of that portion of the coast ex- plored by Capt. Franklin, from the Copper Mine River eastward, would shelter ships from heavy seas, if it were likely there could be any produced there. And the shelter those nearest, as well as the North Georgian Islands, afforded to that part of the coast, was the rea- son why it was not much encumbered with ice, more especially to the eastward of Detention Harbour ; as George the Fourth's Coronation Gulf is almost com- pletely protected by Wilraot's Chain, and other islands to the northward of it. If a similar chain should exist from Cape Hearne to Icy Cape, there will proba- bly be a navigable passage all the way between it and the coast of America, provided it runs, as Capt. Frank- lin supposes, east .and west, nearly in the latitude as- signed to the Mackenzie River, and the Sound into which Kotzebue entered. But there is some reason to fear that the coast of America, westward of Mackenzie's River, will be found to trend more to the northward than the dotted imaginary line of direction so arbitra- rily assigned to it by geographers. The late Admiral Burney said, " an account or notice is given by Kobi- lef of a great river, in the coast of America, to the north of Behring's Strait, which river is described to take a long course in a southerly direction, and its banks to be full of villages." Can the Sound discovered by Lieut. Kotzebue to the northward of Behring's Strait, between Capes Krusenstern and Espenberg, lead to 153 iilarly ve ar- ffords hours jlands ist ex- River , if it And orgian le rea- more ur ; as L com- slands should proba- it and Frank- ide as- id into ason to ienzie's thward arhitra- Ldmiral ■f Kobi- le north take a anks to jred by 3 Strait, lead to this great river, " described to take a long course in a southerly direction ?" Though Kotzebue's detail of his proceedings in this Sound is rather obscure and un- satisfactory, and so apparently contradictory, in some parts, as to implant a doubt of its correctness ; yet I am rather disposed to attribute tiiis to the translation, which is evidently defective, than to any intention on his par^, to conceal known facts, for the purpose of deception. He entered this Sound, named after him, on the 1st of August. "At 11 o'clock (he says) we were at the entrance of a broad inlet ; the coast va- nished in the east, and high mountains showed them- selves in the north." Here the wind abated, and he anchored in seven fathoms water, in lat. Qif 42' 30", and long. 164** 12' 50" : at 7 o'clock he weighed again, " and steered to the eastward {across^ but as he says) up the strait." " On the 2nd, at day-break, our ex*- pectations were at the highest pitch ; there was still nothing but open sea to the east." The next passage is rather remarkable. ** As we now saw low land in the south, the direction of which was likewise to the east, we could no longer doubt that we were really in a broad channel, as we always continued to see the open sea in the east." Now, if there be any channel leading to the eastward, it must be opposite to his noon position of this day, which was in lat. 66° 35' 18", and long. 162** 19', in 8 fathoms water, where he says he was ** obliged to idLck^ because the wind turned to the S.EJ" But if there had been a passage to the eastward, where he says " the sea continued open," surely the shifting of the wind, in soundings of eight fathoms, need not have prevented him from standing on in that dh'ection, on the starboard tack, to explore an open space in so promising a quarter, or at least till he had seen the land Data. U A I 164 in continuity, or had shoaled his water, so as not to be able to proceed further. According to his pubhshed Chart of this Sound, however, the land must have been seen to the eastward, from tlie noon position of the Rurick on the 2d August ; for the whole eastern side of Kotzebue's Sound is delineated in continuiti/t and a working track along it is laid down as far to the south- ward as Chamisso Island. He anchored to the west- ward of this island, "in eight fathoms water, in an open- ing five miles broad, where he still cherished the hope of discovering a passage into the Frozen Ocean ;" which hope, it may therefore be presumed, had thus far been disappointed, and as it also was here, " The an- chor was weighed ; we sailed (to the eastward) up the Strait, and when we had passed the narrow part, we again cast anchor in seven fathoms." He then pro- ceeded to examine the coast eastward with his boats ; and on the 7th, when in Eschscholtz Bay, he says, " We had advanced so far at noon, that we could dis- tinctly observe that the land was united every where. At the distance of a full mile from the shore, the water had decreased to the depth oi five feet, and the hope of dis- covering a river also vanished." But he says, further on : ** I called the Bay after our physician, Eschscholtz. I do not doubt that there was a river behind the high mountains, which the shoals, however, would not permit us to investigate. The ebb tide runs out seven, and the flood only five hours. They change regularly; the current sets with more violence out than in, and some- times runs two knots." These are indications of a river, but not of a channel leading to a sea; but Kotzebue, in his Chart, has connected the whole coast round Eschscholtz and Spafariefs Bays, though it does not seem quite certain that he carefully examined the latter: IAS the for on the 10th August he says, " We left EschsclioUi Bay with a fresh S.E. wind. I now wished to ex- amine the land to the south. It lay at the distance of seven miles from us:" but his track in the ship is further off, leading towards Cape Deceit, in a direct line nearly from Chamisso Island. However, he says, that ** he steered along the coast W.S.W. because he considered the examination of the east tinnecessarij ; as he had dis- tinctli/ seen the connexion of the land from the point of Chamisso Island." Whether he alludes, in this passage, to the south part of the Sound eastivard from Cape De- ceit, round to Chamisso Island, or the east coast it« self of the Sound, from abreast of the noon position 2d August, southward to the point next to Cha- misso Island, it is rather difficult to say, but not very material. Mr. Barrow, irt mentioning this subject in his account of Voyages to the Arctic Regions, says, " Kotzebue entered an inlet in latitude about 67 h to 68°. Its extent • to the eastward was not determined; but the Rurick proceeded in that direction as far as the meridian of 160°, which corresponds with that of Norton Sound.'* From the Indians " Lieut. Kotzebue learned, that at the bottom of the inlet was a straity through which there was a passage into the great sea ; and that it required nine days rowing in one of their boats to reach this sea. This, Kotzebue thinhsy must be the great northern Ocean, and that the whole of the land to the northward of the inlet must either be an island, or ' an archipelago of islands." From what Lieutenant Kotzebue has published^ it does not appear that what he learned from the Indians was in the least connected with any ^^ strait at the bottom of the inlet y' or on the eastern side of the Sound ; but referred to one situated on the western side, in the Bay of Good Hope, between 156 h" Capes Deceit and Espenberg. Kotzebue says, he ' went :n his boats, on the 12th of August, to examine this strait. " After proceeding about four miles," says he, " we arrived at a Cape where the land suddenly took a direction from south to wesc. From a hill I observed a broad arm to the west, which ran from the sea into the land, and tliere wandered in several windings between the mountains." Here, meeting with an old Indian, " I tool: much pains," says he, " to make my American comprehend, that I wished to know how far this branch might extend f He at last comprehended me, arid made me understand his answer, by the following pantomime : he seated himself on the ground, and rowed eagerly with his arms ; this business he interrupted nine times, closing his eyes as many times, and resting his head on his hand. Ikarnt by this that it would take nine days to get to the open sea, through this branch." And, a few pages further on, Kotzebue says, " the account given by the American may be correct, and this branch either extends to Nor- ton Sound, or joins Schischmareff's Bay." Now, as Norton Sound lies to the southward^ and Schischma- reff Bay to the westward of the place Kotzebue was (Examining, the "Great Sea" to which this strait or branch led, must have been in one or other of those di- rections. How then could Kotzebue have *' thought it «iust have been the Great Northern Oceans that the In- . dians informed him it required nine days rowing to reach ?" He does indeed say, afterv^^ards, when speak- ing of Kotzebue Sound, '* I certainly hope that this sound may lead to important discoveries next year ; and though a north-east passage may not with certainty be depended on, yet I believe / shall be able to penetrate Uiuch further to the east^ as the land has very deep in- dentures." Mr. Von Chamisso, who accompanied 157 he Lieutenant Kotzebue, in liis " remarks," has this pas- sage : " We observe that that part of the American coast which we examined to the north of Behring's Strait, appeared to us to excite the hope of finding a channel among the entrances and friths which intersect it and which might lead to the Icy Sea towards the mouth of ' Mackenzie River, without doubling Icy Cape, which would then be part of an island ;" and in a foot note, he adds : " Several Journals have published a letter from the author of these articles (San Francisco, New California, on the 28th of October 1816,) in which this opinion was delivered ; an error of the copyist has altered the sense, so as to make it seem as if this entrance had really been ejcamined by us.'* These passages seem to afford some ground to suspect that there may be an opening on the east side of Kotzebue Sound which had been seen, but not examined ; or on what can Kotze- bue have founded his belief, that he should '* be able to penetrate much further to the east" the following year T Certainly, from what he has^fliV/, concerning the bottom of that sound, and an inspection of the chart he has published, if true, no such belief or even hope can be excited ; for he has connected the land completely round it, with the exception of the strait in the Bay of Good Hope, leading to the westward. Willing to believe him to be an officer of honorable principles and veracity, I can hardly bring myself to suppose him other- wise without further proof. The hope he expressed, (if he really had any,) of being "able to penetrate further to the east" out of Kotzebue Sou d, must have rested on the known existence of some ^Xvrni supposed to lead from the east side of that sound to the Northern Ocean. And if what he learned from the Indians did refer to such a strait, instead of the one on the west side, as it I I I 158 evidently does both in his chart and publication, he may inadvertently have told the truth to!M r. Barrow on his arrival in London, and afterwards have been com- manded by his government to falsify both. However, I must confess, I \vould much rather attribute this dis- cordance to some misunderstanding, than allow my- self to suppose the other to be even possible. If, on the other hand, there is only a river at the bottom of Esch- scholtz Bay, " behind the mountains, which the shoals would not permit Kotzebue to investigate," it could hardly be expected to communicate with the northern Ocean, unless by another branch. In that case, it would not answer to the description of the " Great River" mentioned by Kobilef, which is said " to take a long course in a southerly direction." If, therefore, any such river exist, it must be looked for still further to the northward, and perhaps beyond Icy Cape. From some facts stated in the account of Captain Parry's attempt through Lancaster Sound, and in Cap- tain Franklin's Journey, it seems doubtful whether what may be properly termed the Polar Sea has yet been reached. But it is very possible that each may have navigated in waters separated from it by conti- nuity of land, at some yet undefined distance to the northward and westward ; in which waters, the North Georgian Islands, and others perhaps to the westward of them, are situated, and extend perhaps as far as the 130th meridian; and into which both the Copper- mine and Mackenzie's rivers disembogue : in short, a mediterranean sea, communicating with the Bays of Hudson and Baffin, by various channels, through which the flood tide finds its way from the Atlantic and Spitzbergen Sea. Captain Ross found the flood tide to set from the 159 touthward all the Way up the east side of Baffin's Bay. The rise and fall decreased gradually, and the times of high-water at full and change were /a/er, as far as, he advanced to the northward. The tide of flood set to the southward and westward on the west side of that Bay, as he returned along it, to the southward. Captain Parry, near Possession Bay, in lat. 73° 31' 16", and long. 77° 22', says, "he found the rise and fall of tide, as nearly as could be judged from the marks on the beach, to befrom 6 to 8 feet. While the tide was rising, the stream came from the northward and westward along the shore of the Bay. It is more than probable, there- fore> that the flood comes from the N.W. on this part of the coast." Whether the flood came from the west, out of Lancaster Sound, or from the northward down the west side of Baffin's Bay, it must of course, at this placet have taken the direction imposed on it by . the trending of the coast from Cape Liverpool towards the south-east. On the 7th of August, when in Prince Regent's In- let, off Port Bowen, he says, " The whole rise of tide (being nearly the highest of the springs,) appears to have been ten feet. The ebb was found to set strong to the southward in shore. A boat being moored to the bot- tom, at three miles' distance from the land, at 5 p.m., not the smallest current was perceptible. From these and several subsequent observations, there is good reason to suppose that tlie Jlood tide comes from the southward in this inlet." Captain Parry adds : ** I have before observed, that the east and west coasts which form this grand inlet are probably islands : and on an inspection of the chart, I think it will also appear highly probable that a communication will one day be found to exist between this inlet and Hudson's Bay, either through m , 160 the broad unexplored channel called Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome, or through Repulse Bay, which has not yet been satisfactorily examined. It is also pro- bable that a channel will be found to exist, between the western land and the northern coast of America; in which case, the flood-tide which came from the south- ward, may have proceeded round the southern part of the west land out of the Polar Sea : part of it setting up the inlet, and part down the Welcome, according to the testimony of all the old navigators." That the east and west lands forming Prince Regent's Inlet may be islands, is very likely ; and that it communicates with Hudson's Bay, appears to be little less than certain : for (to my mind at least,) it is proved by the flood-tide running from the southward. '''-" As I believe this tide has its source in the south and east, and that it flows from the Atlantic and Spitzber- gen Sea, through Hudson's, Cumberland, and Davis's Straits, by channels of communication with them all, and perhaps by others yet unexplored, still further to the northward on the west side of Baffin's Bay, that in Prince Regent's Inlet is consequently a part of it. This part, when it reaches the north entrance of Prince Re- gent's Inlet, naturally takes the direction of the east and west lands forming it ; setting to the eastward on the former, and to the westward along the latter towards the Wellington Channel ; and making the times of high- water, at full and change, progressively later in that direction, as far as, or perhaps beyond Melville Island: the other part of the great general flood sets down the Welcome, along the west side of Hudson's Bay, as it naturally must, from the trending of the yet known land, and making the times of high-water at full and change, on that coast, progressively later to the southward. Tliis IGl fact, therefore, can by no means prove, as Ellis and* others have concluded, that because the flood-tide in the Welcome sets to the southward, it must necessarily come from the west, originally, out of the Polar Sea, and that therefore there must be a navigable passage. Nor, indeed, if the flood tide shall hereafter be found to come from the westward, along the southern shores of the, land west of Prince Regent's Inlet, will it in the least prove that the Polar Sea is its grand source, as has been conjectured. For the same fact would occur in an inclosed sea, by the flood taking the direction of its circumbounding land. It will no doubt prove the ex- istence of a channel between that land west of Prince Regent's Inlet and the northern coast of America, but nothing more. Channels of communication are known to exist be- tween the Atlantic and Baffin's and Hudson's Bays, and now, there perhaps can be little doubt of one between them by way of Lancaster Sound, and Prince Regent's Inlet. There probably are others, though yet undisco- vered. As far as can be gathered from the experience of Captain Parry, and the facts stated by him as well as Mr. Fisher, in their respective publications, it would ap- pear that the flood-tide through Lancaster Sound, and Barrow's Strait, all the way to Melville Island, has its general^ow,notivova. the west, but from the east, and from the northward between some of the North Georgian Islands. The times of high water, too, at full and change, as far as they can be got at, seem to have been progres- sively later from east to west, and the rise and fall of tide was also less and, less in that direction. On the 22d of August, when off'Gascoyne Inlet, about the longitude of 96% Mr. Fisher says, '* I have only to add one circum- Data. X 162 stance which I feel less pleasure m relating; it is that we found the ebb-tide come from the westward ; the tide ebbed during the time we were on shore, which was about fifty minutes, between 10 and 1 1 inches." On the 28th of August, when off Point Gilman, Captain Parry says, " The tide was rising by the shore from noon till half past 4, P.M. at which time the boats left the beach, and by the high- water mark, it was considered probable that it would rise an hour longer. The time of high water may therefore be taken at half past 5, which will make that of full and change about 12 o'clock. Mr. Ross found, on rowing round the point near which he landed, that the stream was setting strong against him from the northward. We had tried the current (tide) in the offing at noon," (in lat. 75° 3' 12", and long. 103" 34' 37") " by mooring the small boat to the bottom, when it was found to run in a south direction, at the rate of half a mile per hour. At 4 p.m., near the same station, it was setting S.S. TF. | of a mile per hour, so that it would appear tolerably certain, that the Jiood-tide here comes from the northward.'* On the 2d of September, in lat. 74" 58, and long. 107" 3' 31", Captain Parry says, "When the boats landed at 1. 40. p. M. the tide had fallen a foot by the shore. It continued to fall till 7 P.M. and then rose again, the whole fall of tide not ex- ceeding Jive, or Jive and a half feet. At the time we landed. Lieutenant Beechey tried for a current in the offing, but could find none. At half past 7 the tide was setting E.N.E. at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, and at a quarter before ten, after I returned on board, it was still setting slowly to the pastward. By the above observations, the time of high water at full and change of the moon seems to be about I after one o clock. The direction of the tide of flood does not appear so clear." »atwe ebbed It fifty 5th of says, 111 half and le that water make Ross mded, om the in the ;. 103" I, when rate of station, I that it de here iber, in •y says, de had '// till 7 not ex- ;ime we it in the ide was in hour, board, e above change k. The ) clear." 1U3 . , • *' If*' says Captain Parry, " it come from the westward, there must be a tide and half tide, but it seems more probable^ on an inspection of the chart, tliat here, as on the eastern side of Byam Martin's Island, it will be found to come from the northward between the islands." But it is most probable, that, as the tide setting to the E,N.E, at half past 7 was the ebby the flood must have set to the W.S.W, in the same place, unless Captain Parry can give any good reason why it should 7wt, On the 6th of September, in lat. 74" 47', and long. 1 10' 34', Captain Parry says, " It was low water by the shore at half past 9, and it had risen between two and three feet when the boats came away at half past 12. During this time, the ships were tending to a tide coining strong from the eastward, from which direction it is therefore pro- bable" (why not certain f) "that ihefiood tide runs on this part of the coast, though we had no opportunity of trying its true set in the offing," Again, on the 9th of Septem- ber, "Considering our present detention so near the shore a good opportunity of observing the true rise and fall of the tides, I caused a pole to be fixed on the beach for the purpose, by which it was found to be high water at half past 4 o'clock in the morning, and the tide e^^^till half past 10. From this time till half past 4 p.m. when it was again high water, the tide had risen two feet eight inches ; so that, small as this tide was, it seems to be very regular. The direction of the stream of flood was, as usual, not so easy to determine. But I shall give the facts as they occurred. At the time of low water by the shore, and for an hour and a quarter ^c/bre it took place, the current was setting to the eastward at the rate of three quarters of a mile per hour. It continued to run thus for the greater part of the day, but at times it was observed to set in an opposite direction, and now and 164 then no current whatever was perceptible. From 8 till 11 P.M. it was running strong to the westward, after which it stopped, and then began to set the ice the contrary way. I have been thus minute in mentioning the above particulars, not with a hope of throwing any light upon that interesting question of the direction of the tides in this part of the Polar Sea, but to show how impossible it is, with the land close on one side, and on the other innumerable masses of ice, in almost constant motion, to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion on the subject. In Winter Harbour, in lat. 74° 47' 15", and long. 1J0° 48' 30'', it was found to be high water at 29 minutes past 1 o'clock, and the mean rise and fall was only 2 feet 7 inches.'' On the 1st of August, in the year following, when Captain Parry was released from Winter Harbour, and had rounded Cape Hearne, he says, ** We found the ships to be considerably impeded by a tide or current setting to the eastward, which, as it slacked about 7 in theevening, I considered to be the flood, the time of high water at Winter Harbour, this day, being about half past 7." In this instance, as in others, where di supposed flood tide from the westward has been mentioned, it is coupled with an expression of some doubt as to its being a tide or current. The flood tide from the eastward has been stated wzore decidedly. Why, in this case and at this place, Captain Parry should have considered the flood to come from the westward^ merely because this " tide or current slacked about the time it was high water in Winter Harbour ;" when not very far from the same p^ace, on the 6th of September of the former year, he thought that the tide coming from the eastivard was probably the floods he can of course assign some good reason. It seems to me, however, that this stream was most probably a current^ especially as he says on the l(i.J 1 4th of August, "The frequent experience we had of the quickness with which currents are thus formed, in con- sequence, merely, of the wind setting the various bodies of ice in motion, naturally leads us to this useful caution, that one or two trials of the set of the stream in icy seas must not be too hastily assumed in drawing any con- clusions as to its constant or periodical direction." This observation may be truly applicable to temporary currentSy but not to tides, which, though they may be accelerated or retarded in their velocity by various causes, must always set in the direction imposed on them by others of locality, which cannot vary, the trendings of the lands between which they have their course. Upon the whole, it appears that Captain Parry then did find the rise and fall of tide to be less to the west than to the eastward and southwardy from whence therefore, a probabky at least, if not a " satisfactory, general " conclu- sion may be drawn, that the flood tide comes originally. Though we cannot come at the direction of the flood tide on that part of the coast of America which Capt. Franklin travelled and coasted, yet at the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, in lat. (37M8' and long. 114° 37', he states, that a *' rise and fall of four inches in the water was observed." This was the farthest west and the least observed. In travelling from thence along the coast to the eastward^ the rise and fall, though very small, it appears, did increase ; from whence, there- fore, it may be fairly argued that the flood comeSy till the contrary shall he proved. In about 112° west, Capt. Franklin says, " For the last two days the water rose and fell about nine inches. The tides, however, seemed to be very irregular, and we could not determine the direction of the ebb or flood. A current, setting to the eastward, was running about two miles an hour during ' I i 106 our stay." About the mouth of Banks River, Capt. Franklin says, " at this place the water fell two feet during the night ;" and on the 3d and 4th of August, in Bathurst Inlet, he observed " a fall of more than two fed in the water during the night." On the 15th of August he adds, "it may here be remarked that we observed the first regular return of the tides in Warren- der's and Parry's Bays, but their set could not be ascertained. The rise of water did not amount to more than two feet.'' Now it must be remarked that War- render Bay is about the easternmost limit of Capt. Franklin's researches. Though I will not go so far as to say that the fore- going facts, which I have collected chiefly from the pubHcations " of those who contend for the practica- bility of a N.W. passage," tend to disprove it ; yet, they are evidently very strong i. cations of an extensive Mediterranean Sea, such as I tiave supposed may exist, having communication by various channels with the Bays of Hudson and Baffin, though not with the Polar Sea proper. Though the Quarterly Reviewer says, " Hearne talks vaguely of the sea being full of islands at the mouth of .the Copper- JVfine River, as far as he could see with a good pocket telescope ;" yet Capt. Franklin has proved him to be quite correct, with regard to the numerous islands ; and perhaps it may fall to his lot, also, to prove, whether or not Hearne was as correct too, in ** think- ing it more than probable, that the Copper-Mine River empties itself into a sort of inland sea, or extensive bay, somewhat like that of Hudson." There is another circumstance yet to be mentioned, which goes far to show, that Hearne may be right in his judgment; at least it seems so to me. On the 17th and 18th of Octo- 167 ber, when Capt. Parry was at Melville Island, " the deer were observed in vast numbers, preparatory to their departure over the ice to the coast of America, after which one or two only were seen." The Quarterly Reviewer says, on the return of summer, *• it was quite astonishing to behold the rapidity with which the various plants of the island pushed forth their leaves and flowers, the moment the snow was off the ground. Whether it was the abundance of these flowers that tempted the musk oxen and rein-deer to make the long journey over the ice, or whether they came to these secluded and peaceable islands to drop their young, is not known. In a valley, formed by the stream of a ravine, which had the same lively appearance as that of an English meadow, a whole herd of musk oxen were seen grazing ; and our surprise (says Capt. Parry) in some degree ceased, at the immense distance which these animals must travel in the course of their annual visits to these dreary and desolate regions ; as such a pasture, affording undisturbed and luxuriant feeding during the summer months, may, in spite of the general appearance of the island, hold out sufficient induce- ment for their annual emigration ;" and the Quarterly Reviewer says in another place, that *' deer migrate from America to Melville Island, which is upwards of 300 miles from the Continent." Capt. Franklin too, in his Appendix, No. 5, at page 668, informs us that " iii summer the musk oxen migrate in considerable num- bers from the Continent (America) to the various islands which exist in the Polar Sea," so that the fact is stated and, of course, believedhy all these authorities. In the autumn these animals pass from Melville Island to the coast of America. In the spring, nay in the '• summer" too^ they return to that island, and *• various " others il IS ITiG U; ys /J ri iii te*i ** which exist in the Polar Sea." Now by what means are they enabled to make these long journeys ? Not by land ; ior those, who suppose the navigable passage to exist, which is now once more to be sought for be- tween Melville Island and the north coast of America, cannot believe there is land any wherp in continuityy in that space, for them to travel ow. Not by water ; for though those whose trade it is to feed curiosity with a goose's quill, know that there is no lack of credulity among us, whatever there may be of faith : yet, I presume they would find it somewhat difficult to make any John Bull believe that these deer and musk oxen SWIM the distance of 300 miles twice a year! Well then, unless these beasts *' take unto themselves wings and fly," to pass *• over the ice," they must of course make their long journeys upon it. If so, it may be supposed to be continuous, and almost per- manent, or they could hardly migrate thus upon it, not only in the spring and autumn, but even the summer. The medium however, let it be what it may, which enables these animals to do this, would not, I suppose, be the very best for ships to sail in ; and therefore, i/'the fact of their migration be true, as thus stated, it cannot but render the hope of a navigable passage rather for- lorn. But if that medium should happen to be land, it must be land in continuity, which would at once decide the question of the existence of a N. W. passage in the negative. In that case, the result would be the same, whether an attempt at the discovery should be made from this side, or from Behring's Strait. But why those " who contend for the existence and practicability of a N.W. passage for ships," should prefer the former, has ap- 16}) |K'ared to mo quite unaccountable. Captain Parry, however, has recorded his reasons, such as they are, in its favor, in these words. " In the course of the fore- going narrative, it may have been remarked that the westerly and north-westerly winds were always found to produce the effect of clearing the southern shores of the new Georgian Islands of ice, while they always brought with them clear weather, which is essentially necessary in prosecuting discoveries in such navigation. 7'his circumstance, together with the fact of our having sailed back in si.v days from the meridian of Winter Harbour, to the entrance of Sir James Lancaster's Sound, a distance which required ^ve weeks to traverse, when going in the opposite direction, seems to afford a reasonable ground for concluding, that an attempt for effecting the N.W. passage might be made with a better chance of success from Behring's Strait, than from the side of America. There are some circumstances, how- ever, which in my opinion render this mode of pro- ceeding altogether impracticable, at least for British ships. The principal of these arises from the length of the voyage which must first be performed in order to arrive at the point where the work is to be begun. After such a voyage, admitting that no serious wear and tear had been experienced, the most important part of a ships resources, namely, the provisions and fuel, must be very materially reduced, and this without the possi* bility of renewing them to the extent necessary for such a service, and which can alone give confidence in the performance of an enterprise of which the nature is so precarious and uncertain. Nor should it be forgotten how injurious to the health of the crcNvs, so sudden and extreme a change of climate would in all probability prove, as that which they must necessarily experience Data, X 176 "I'M ill going at once from the heat of the torrid zone into the intense cold of a long winter upon the northern shores of America. Upon the whole, therefore, I can- not but consider, that any expedition equipped by Great Britain, with this view, will act with greater ad- vantage by at once enjploying its best energies in the attempt to penetrate from the eastern coast of America along its north'^rn shores." Now, if the practicability of the N.W. passage were doubled, or its wow-existence deemed possible even, it appears to me that the onli/ reasons why it would be imprudent to make the attempt from Behring's Strait to the eastward, are the very two which Captain Parry, in the first paragraph of the foregoing extract, says *' seem to afford a reasonable ground for conclud- ing that an attempt might be made with a belter chance oi success from Behri?ig's Strait than tlie side of Ameri- ca." Because every seaman ought to know, that in case of failure in an attempt//ww west to east, by finding land, or the zvestern entrances of Straits so encumbered with ice as to oppose his further advance, he would rather have a fiee wind to return with, as Captain Parry had when " he sailed back in six days a distance of 600 miles, which required five weeks to traverse," than tiiese " westerly and north-westerly winds" to beat back against. As these winds were *• alv,ays found to produce the effect of clearing the southern shores of the new Geor- gian Islands of ice," it may be presumed that they must also produce the effect of encu7}ibering the northern and western shores of islands, as well as the northern and western entrances of Straits existing between them, with ice — if there be any to windward. Consequently, ships proceeding from west to east, and finding such 171 western entrances closed against them by ice, would be in a much worse predicament than Captain Parry was, for instance, when he found the western entrance of the Strait of tlie Fury and Hecla actually so closed against him by ice. For his obstruction being to wind- ward of him, he had only to quit it and return home, '' with these winds from the West and N.W. prevailing" in his favor^ and perhaps the *' circumvolving current" of the Quarterly Review into the bargain. Whereas, any ship having advanced from Behring's Straits as far as the ae^/e/'w limit of such obstruction as Captain Parry met with, must have been reauced to the necessity of beating back again the way she came ; unless some channel could be discovered to the northward, com- municating with Barrow's Strait and Lancaster Sound, which it is hoped Captain Parry will find by way of Prince Regent's Inlet. But no such obstruction from ice, and indeed but little from even land intervening, can have entered into the calculation of those who have said, " We jirmly believe that a navigable passage does eiist, and may be of no difficult execution. It is the business of three mo7iths owi VLuA home. We have little doubt of a/ree and practicable i)assage for seven or eight months in every year. Arrived on the coast of America, and no obstruction from land occurring, we see no reason why the passage to Icy Cape, which does not exceed 1500 miles, might Jot easilij be accomplished in one season ; about 600 of these were actually run on the last voyage in six days;' and finally Captain Parry himself " has recorded his opinion in favor of its ac- complishment." To persons thus sanguine in their hope, nay, so con- fident in their expectations of 'success, the prevalence *' of westerly and north-westerly winds" must be, of 172 M It ■,} 'I i:^:; ^1 Others, the most favorable circumstance, as tliey would ensure the 5j^eef it. That coast can be got hold of at Bebrinsi's Strait, and if it co^ld be kept sight of, and there t'* wo obstruction, a ship by tracing it must ultimately discover it : and in less than half the time it can possibly b« done from east to w^est, with the prevailing winds and the Reviewer's circumvolving current against her ; even allowing that she may get at once close in upon the coast of America, by way of Prince Regent's Inlet, or other yet undiscovered cIkiuim'Is. But if that inlet 176 11 fail, ** twenty" other expeditions mai/ also fail, as Ad- miral Blimey justly observes, by as many channels, if they exist. On the contrary, one attempt from Behring's Strait, whether there be obstruction or not, would per- haps decide the question for ever. The most certain mode, however, and doubtless the least expensive, must be by land expeditions ; and if such means had been tried in the year 1818, in all probability it would have been decided by this time. Though, in this inquiry, I have attempted to show that the Quarterly Reviewer's belief in the practicability and existence of a north-west passage was originally formed on an assumption of circumstances and sup- posed facts, as vague, crude, and inconsistent with each other, as they are contrary to the laws of nature, and which even the future proof of both cannot establish as true ; and though it is tolerably clear, that none of the great commercial advantages which his glowing but wild imagination anticipated, can ever be the result of that proof; yet many others undoubtedly have been, and will yet l)e, obtained by means of the naval expedi- tions, and which it is highly to the glory and honor of the first maritime power in the world should have been Bent out. It perhaps would have been better not to have avowed to the world, at firsts that the grand object of these expeditions was " the discovery of a north-west passage," where success must be so doubtful; but merely to have said, they were fitted out in this " piping time of peace," for the purpose of exploring the Arctic re- gions ; to obtain facts, to make observations on'their various phfenomena, for the extension of science, by throwing light on many subjects as yet but little under- stood. In this case all the information they brought 177 home would have been acceptable to the public from its novelty, to the philosopher from its value, and clear gain to all, unalloyed by any feeling of disappointment ; and if the north-west passage should have been unexpect- edly discovered^ the gaping world would have considered it as the ne plus ultra of all human enterprise, in short something like a trip to the moon in a balloon ; for, indeed, the notion which many persons even at present entertain of it is something like that. The Quarterly Reviewer, himself, in No. 49, page 214, observes that, " in proportion as the expectations of tlie public have been raised," not so much perhaps, as he says, *' by the result of Captain Parry's last Voyage" as by what he has written, " would a failure be felt. Indeed, we have no doubt that any thing short of reaching the Pacific would now be considered as a failure, and cause disap- pointment, even if it should be discovered that no com- munication exists between the Atlantic and the Pacific." Certainly, there can be no doubt but it wOuld be a failure ; and though the public in general would con- sider it such, yet I must confess, as one of that public, though I should feel great regret, I cannot say 1 should be disappointed ; because my expectations have not been unduly rais(Ml, nor shall I ever think that anyone of these expeditions was fitted out in vain. Who, indeed, can be so narrow-minded as to say, what is the use of all these expeditions ? why all this expense ? except those who measure the value of every thing by tlic commercial scale? The undertaking is one every way worthy of this country. The man, whoever he was, who first sug- gested it, is justly entitled to that praise wliich every one of enlarged and liberal mind will award him, whether it succeed to its full extent or not. Nor will the No- Data. Z 178 bleman who presides at the Admiralty fail of that rewarcj from posterity which he so richly merits, for having attended to his suggestions, and so far carried them into effect. SCRUTATOR. n . ^,? ^■_ I i < r?^.?.f 17Q that I, for irried I ' i. /> t . 1^ •. I . • J •. *i-^ ♦ POSTSCRIPT. •R. ii A FEW days after the foregoing sheets were viritten, Captain Parry's long-expected " Journal of a Second Voyage for the Dis- covery of a North-West Passage" made its appearance. After carefully reading it, I cannot say that I have met with a single fact of sufficient weight to induce me to alter one line I had written, or to doubt the correctness of any of the inferences I had drawn from Data previously furnished. On the contrary, I have found much to confirm them. The grand source of the flood-tide in Hudson's Bay is proved to be the Atlantic. It set to the westward generally from Resolution Island all the way to the coast of America, but taking local directions imposed on it by intervening lands. The r^te of flow (except in confined channels and inlets) decreased in advancing to the westward, as did also the rise and fall of the tide, in proportion to the distances of the places where it was observed from Hudson's and Cumberland Straits, Sic. What I most desired to know, was, whether or not any cu;rrent had been experienced in the Strait of the Fury and Hecla from the westward. In the event of there being any such, I presumed to anticipate its effect on floating ice, should there be any, at its western mouth, whatever might be the source or cause of that current ; but at the same time denying that the waters of the Pacific Ocean could pos- sibly form any part of it. Captain Parry did find a current from the westward, running through the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, of which, and the tides in that Strait, he writes thtis at page 354 of his Journal : " I be- 180 lieve there can be little doubt that the flood-tide here coniee from the westward. That there is, besides this, during a great part of the summer, a permanent current setting from the same direction, is also sufficirntly apparent ; and the joint effects of these tw o causes appear to account satisfactorily for the various irregularities observed, as well in the set of the stream, as in the rise and fall of water by the shore. The natural inference, with respect to the cur- rent, seemed at the time to be, that it is occasional by the. annual melting of the snows upon the shores of the Polar Sea, for which this Strait affords the only outlet leading to the southward, within perhaps some hundieds, of miles ; and this supposition appeared the more reasonable from the circumstance of the current having jtist now [20th September, 1S22,] ceased, wlien the streams from the land were once more arrested by the frost of the approaching winter." ;:■,',',.: r • 'i ;. .,;r.-!. . - -j.!T .;;• »f;J m 'h. -.<•? In fact, then, this current was only periodically " permanent ;" and, admitting Captain Parry to be correct in his inference as to its cause, it therefore cannot be a part of the Quarterly Reviewer's *' circumvolving current from the Pacific through Behring's Strait," which he believes to be "perpetual." For if that circumvolving current of his between the Pacific and Atlantic be perpetual, and there really exist an unobstructed course for it all the way iioxw Behring's Strait, and through that of the Fury and Hecla, -. " the only outlet leading to the southward," why should it have " ceased" there about the 2()th of September ? Captain Parry's own expla- nation is quite conclusive, that the Reviewer's current can have nothing at all to do witlj*ihe one he met with in the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. Were this current perpetual, so much the worse. Its temporary adverse operation is f^uito bad enough, for, according to Captain Parry's account of it, it flows eastward, during the only nai//o'o6/e; season, and ceases with it, * • f . •. The effect of this current is thus described by him at page 489 ; " The state of the ice for two successive summers, in the Strait of 181 I from art of action, e two arities fall of le ciir- aiinual which within reil the ig the Fury and 11 tela, seems to indicate that the obstruction we there met with, is dependent rather on locality than season. It is more than probable, that the obstacles which finally arrested our progress in the Strait, are to be mainly attributed to the current we found setting to the eastward through it, and which coincides with that observed by Captain Franklin, and by the Russians, to the westward." True — it does so — as to direction ; but the c^use which Captain Parry assigns for its periodical flow and cessation, renders it impossible to identify this current with the one they ob- served, which is said to be perpetual. " This stream," Captain Parry adds, " in finding its way through the Strait, would un- doubtedly have the effect of keeping the ice close home upon its western mouth, so as to prevent the egress of a ship in that direc- tion : and I cannot help thinking that on that account, the naviga- tion of that Strait will seldom, if ever, be practicable." , On what possible ground, then, can it be expected that the reest- ern mouth of any other existing Strait between Prince Regent's Inlet and Beliring's Strait should, under similar circumstances, be more practicable than that of the Fury and Hecla ?" • u Though Captain Parry says that " circumstances beyond the reach of any previous speculation, have combined to oppose an in- surmountable banit-t to our entrance into the Polar Sea by the route lately pursu ' yet some of these very circumstances were a lually pointed out ^y the. Quarterly Reviewer as the causes of the fadure of all former attempts, made in that quarter to discover a north-wcbt passage. Nay — ail oi these circumstances, as well as the result of Cap jin Parry's last voyage, were anticipated, and in my hearing mentioned to many private triends by one who deemed the judgment of the Quarterly Reviewer quite «oundo«/j/ on that point, but who at the same lime firmly believed that Repulse Bay had b.-:i! ** satisfactorily examined :" never, like him, having doubled tliit Middleton was, ^^hat Captain Parry has now proved him, a inui of veracity. 182 !'^^ lii Captain Parr; says, ** However unsuccessful have been our tate endeavors^ they were unquestionably directed to the right place/' and that " with the limited geographical information we then pos- sessed, no other route than that pointed out in my instructions, could possibly have been pursued with any reasonable hope of success." Certainly the route through iludson's Strait and Bay did, to those who selected it, hold forth more hope at the time than any other, because it was preferred ; and even after failure has proved it to be the wrong, it is still proclaimed as the " right place," and as the on/ij route that could possibly have been pursued with any reasonable hope of success ! But this necessarily places the route by Prince Regent's Inlet very low indeed in the scale of hope ; for at the time Captain Parry sailed last, that inlet was as well known to him as it is now. No addition has been made to the then limited geographical in- formation he possessed immediately belonging to itse/J\ If, then, three years ago, Prince Regent's lulet were considered, as it is here acknowledged to have been, as nut holding forth " any reasonable hope of success," on what can a more reasonable hope be built now? For my own part, I must confess that I dare not indulge expectation of more from the next attempt through Prince Regent's Inlet, &,c. than Captain Parry's strenuous endeavors effected in " the right place;" and therefore, supported by an acknowledgment from such authority, I still consider it to be what 1 have already termed it, the Forlorn Hope. And that too, notwithstanding Captain Parry concludes his Journal in these words, which 1 sin- cerely wish may one day prove to be prophetic : " I never felt more sanguine of ultimate success in the enterprise in which I have lately been engaged, than at the present moment ; and I cannot but entertain a confident hope, that England may yet be destined to succeed in an attempt which has for centuries past engaged her attention, and interested the whole civilised world." Frinted by A. J. Valpy, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1-