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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaira film* fut reproduit grAce A la g*nAroslt4 de: Library Division Provincial Archives of British Columbia Les imagea suivantas ont M raproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nattet* de l'exemplaira film*, at en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux y Captain Ross. His name was even expunged from the maps. Rather more than a century after, Behring''s Strait was passed, and the separation of the two continents in the west ascertained. Hearne reached the mouth of the Coppermine River in 1772, and McKen/ie the mouth of McKenzie''s River, twenty-one years later. These four points, then, were all that was known of the shore of the American Arctic Ocean; and no benefit resulted from ihat httle, if we except the settlement of Hudson's Bay, till the recent explorations of Ross, Parry, Franklin, Beechy, and, though last, not least, of Dcasc and Simpson. Let the reader read what follows with the best map he can procure before him. It will be necessary to a correct under, standing of the premises. In 1818, Sir John Ross ascertained that the barrier of ice which closes Baffin's Bay was penetrable, circumnavigated that great inland sea, and opened a new ocean to the whale fishery, which has already been of great benefit to Great Britain. He also invented an instrument for sounding the depths of the ocean, and discovered a people of fishermen who pursued their avocation without boats, or the use or knowledge of iron or other metals, in a climate where the sun has scarce power to shine, and the very brutes are yearly obliged to emigrate. These people knew no others, considered themselves the only men on earth, knew scarcely a comfort, and yet they were contented and happy. More than two thousand miles of coast were restored to our knowledge of geography ; and all this, one would suppose, was enough to entitle the gallant officer to the gratitude of the people he represented; but it was not so. He did not do all that it was possible to have done, as subsequent experience has demonstrated. He did not see that there was an open passage into Lancaster's Sound, or enter it ; and hence he sufTered a temporary disgrace. It was alleged that his officers were more clear-sighted than himself, and hence he lost the confidence of •'19 -57 /Hi ■ • '^. Hi Discovery of the Northwest Passage. 63 5SAGE. lo of Hast. and Eng. discovered s far south isetls Bay. who gave J'eninsula of Boothia is ascertained to be but fif- teen miies wide, of which ten are occupied by water, and a canal might easily be cut through, were its possible navigation for about a month in the year a desideratum. It was supposed by Captain Ross that the level of the sea on one side of the isthmus of Boothia was several feet higher than on tile other, and hence he inferred, though erroneously, that tliere was no passage nigh this point. It is proper to observe here that the overland sur- veys, and tlie assignment of the pole, were made by Commander James Ross. On May 29th, 1832, all hope of saving the Victory being at an end, and it being impossible to brave another winter in that region, the company left the ship for Fury Beach, which they reached, atler incredible hardship and sulFerings, on the 1st of July. It was their only chance for life. Here they found three of the shattered boats of the Fury, in which they reached Leopold South Island in September following. Then, the ice bar- ring all furtiier progress, they returned to Fury Beach. " All our attempts to push through were vain ; at length, being forced by want of provisions and the approach of a most severe winter, to return to Fury Beach, where alone there remained wherewith to sustain life ; there we arrived on October 7, after a most fatiguing and laborious march, having been obliged to leave our boats at Batty Bay. Our habitation, wliich consisted in a frame of spars, 32 feet by 16, covered with canvass, was during the month of November enclosed, and the roof covered with snow from four to seven feet thick, which, being saturated with water when the temperature was 15 deg. below zero, immediately took the consistency of ice, and thus we actually became the inhabitants of an iceberg during one of the most severe winters hitherto recorded : our sufferings, aggravated by want of bedding, clothing, and animal food, need not be dwelt upon. Mr. C. Thomas, the carpenter, was the only man who perished at this beach ; but three others, besides one who had lost his foot, were reduced to the last stage of debility, and only thirteen of our number were able to carry provisions in seven journeys of sixty-two miles each to Batty Bay, We left Fury Beach on July 8, carrying with us three sick men which wero unable to walk, and in six days we reached the boats, where the sick daily recovered. Although the spring was mild, it was not until August 15 that we had any cheering prospect : a gale from the westward having suddenly opened a lane of water along shore, in two days we reached our former position, and from the mountain we had the satisfaction of seeing clear water almost directly across Prince Regent's Inlet, which we crossed on the 17th, and took shelter from a storm twelve miles to the eastward of Cape York. Next day, when the gale abated, we crossed Admiralty Inlet, and were detained six days on the coast by a strong northeast wind. On the 25th we crossed Navy Board Inlet, and on the following morning, to our inexpressible joy, we descried a ship in the offing becalmed, which uroved to be the Isabella, of Hull, the same ship which I commanded in wtuc Discovery of Ike Northwest Passage. 57 fitc a spot to iivc pardoned pcct that the 1 of Sindbad, But Nature as tlic centre to ho but fif. canal miglit montli in the e level of the gher tiian on here was no overland sur- ander James an end, and :he company :ble hardship nee for life. which they the ice bai-. joing forced er, to return sustain life ; ■ious march, habitation, ith canvass, )vered Avith water wjien consistency )erg during aggravated Iwelt upon, led at this reduced to ere able to Batty Bay. which were ! sick daily ust 15 that g suddenly )ur former eing clear crossed on istward of ralty Inlet, vind. On lorning, to led, which nanded in 181S ; at noon wo reached her, when her enterprising commander, who had in vain searched for us in IVince Regent's Inlet, after giving us threo cheers, received us with every demonstration of kindness and hospitality which humanity could dictate." We have only further to say of Captnin Ross, that his government were so far liberal as to reimburse him and his noble friend, Felix Booth, th3 expenses they had actually incurred, that he received the honor (?) of l came on dispersed towards evening, and unfolded a full view of the shores of the estuary. Far to the south, Victoria Headland stood forth so clearly defined, that wc instantly recognised it by Sir George Back's drawing. Cape Beaufort we seemed to touch, and with the telescope wo were able to discern a continuous line of high land as far round as north- east, about two points more northerly than Cape Hay, the extreme eastern point seen by Sir George Back. " The traverse to the furthest visible land occupied six hours' labor at the oar, and the sun was rising on the 17th when we scaled the Rocky Cape, to which our course had been directed. It stands in latitude 68 deg. 3 min. 56 sec. N., longitude 94 deg. 35 min. W. The azimuth compass settled exactly in the true meridian, and agreed with two others, placed on the ground. From our proximity to the magnetic pole, the compass had lat- terly been of little use ; but this was of the less consequence, as the astro- nomical observations were very frequent. The dip of the needle, which at Thunder Cove (12th August) was 89 deg. 29 min. 35 sec, had here de- creased to 89 deg. 16 min. 40 sec. N. This bold promontory, where we lay wind bound till the 19th, was named Cape Britannia. On the rock that sheltered our encampment from the sea, and is the most conspicuous object on thi that, i storni!' and "O coast Next it al rul'uge "F rninolt Discovery of the Northwest Passage. r-to their coiripa- oa ill liititudo ('(liu;nf<;d by 1 tlic iucntion ^rval buy,"' [irricil round ugiist, iit tho to the south. Ifloiiht of the Fisii River. 2 to tiiree in on by high out. )rm we ever e westward, Sir George )int Pechell. to Montreal by some of id a quantity ee other ar- brcakfasted 1, precursor Jomplished ; mine would fuel and de- old weather oothia from -'rmincd not Iso. A fog view of the )od forth so rge Back 'a ilescope we d as north, me eastern abor at the cy Cape, to leg. 3 min, ass settled ;ed on the iss had lat- the astro. ', which at I here de- where we 3 rock that lous object on this part of the coast, we crectcid a conical pile of poiuieroua siom-s, that, if not pulled down by tlie natives, may defy the rage of a thousand storms. In it was placcul u bottle, containing a sketch ul' our proceedings, and possession was taken of our discoveries in the name of Victoria I. " On the lOlh, the gale shifted, atid after crossing a bay, due east, the coast bent away nortlu-ast, which enabled us to elUct <'i run of f(jrty miles. Next day the wind resumed its former direction, and after pulling against il all the morning and gaining only three miles, we were obliged to taku rul'uge in the mouth of a small river. " From a ridge, about a hiague inland, wc obtained a view of some very remote blue land in the northeast, in all probability one of the southern pn»niontories (jf Hoothia. Two consid(!rable islands lay fur in the oiling, and others, high and distant, stretched from I'l to ENE. " Our view of the low main shore was confined to five miles in an easterly directi(jn, after which it appeared to turn off greatly to the right. Wo could, therefi)re, scarcely doubt our having arrived at that large gulf uui- formly described by the Esquimaux as containing many islands, and with numerous indentations stretcliing southward till it approaches within forty miles of Repulse and Wager bays. The exploration of such a gulf, which was the object of the Terrors ill-starred voyage, would necessarily demand the whole time and energies of another expedition, having a starting or retreating [)oint much nearer to the scene of operations than Great Rear Lake ; and it was (evident to us that any further perseverance could only lead to the loss of the great object already attained, together with that of the whole party. Wo must here be allowed to express our admiration of Sir John Ross's extraordinary escape from this neighborhood, after the protracted endurance of our ships, unparalleled in arctic story. The mouth of the stream, which bounded the last career of our admirable little boats, and received their name, lies in latitude 68 deg. 28 min. 27 sec. N., longi- tude 97 deg. 3 min. W. ; variation of the compass, 16 deg. 20 min. W." We have done our best to make the doings of Messrs. Dease and Simp- son, and Sir John Ross, comprehensible. We something doubt whether we have succeeded. As far as we know, there has as yet been no map, great or small, of the recent discoveries, published either in this country or in England ; and without such a facility, it is almost out of the question to follow either of the exploring parties. Even were the line of coast well defined, the absurd practice of American map makers of calculating longi- tude from Washington, instead of from Greenwich, is excessively harass- ing to the reader who attempts to accompany an English traveller on an American chart. One question arises from the whole subject, Cui bono ? What good is to result from the lavish expenditure of wealth, the unremitted exertions of five centuries, the loss of life that has attended the search after the no'-th- west passage ? It has been said with apparent truth, that the passage now demonstrated to exist, exists to no available purpose ; that it never lias been and never will be passed. But these objections are rather specious than real. The discovery of the magnetic pole alone, repays every sacri- fice made in the cause of northern discovery from the date of Eric Raude and his Northmen down to the time of Ross, Dease, and Simpson. Again, if the passage can never be efTected ■ ae season, or by one vessel, does It follow that it cannot be effected at all ? The contrary is demonstrated. What has been done once can be done again. Every inch of the coaat ■H 60 Discovery nf the Norlhwest Passage. \ f d : *■ \ '. from Behring's Strait to tho strait of the Fury and Ilocla has bcon navi.i gated by Englishmen, excepting ii distaiico ot" less than one hundred ami seventy. five miles ; and it is proved that any part of the distanee can b