278 APPENDIX. 



masses of ice ; and if you should have advanced too far to- the south- 

 westward to render it expedient to adopt this new course before the 

 end of the present season, and if, therefore, you should have determined 

 to winter in that neighbourhood, it will be a matter for your mature 

 deliberation whether in the ensuing season you would proceed by the 

 above-mentioned Strait, or whether you would persevere to the south- 

 westward, according to the former directions. 



7. You are well aware, having yourself been one of the intelligent 

 travellers who have traversed the American shore of the Polar Sea, that 

 the groups of islands that stretch from that shore to the northward to 

 a distance not yet known, do not extend to the westward further than 

 about the 120th degree of western longitude, and that beyond this, and 

 to Behring's Strait, no land is visible from the American shore of the 

 Polar Sea. 



8. Should you be so fortunate as to accomplish a passage through 

 Behring's Strait, you are then to proceed to the Sandwich Islands, to 

 refit the ships and refresh the crews ; and if, during your stay at such 

 place, a safe opportunity should occur of sending one of your officers 

 or despatches to England by Panama, you are to avail yourself of such 

 opportunity to forward to us as full a detail of your proceedings and 

 discoveries as the nature of the conveyance may admit of ; and in the 

 event of no such opportunity offering during your stay at the Sandwich 

 Islands, you are on quitting them to proceed with the two ships under 

 your command off Panama, there to land an officer with such de- 

 spatches, directing him to make the best of his way to England with 

 them, in such a manner as our Consul at Panama shall advise, after 

 which you are to lose no time in returning to England by way of Cape 

 Horn. 



9. If at any period of your voyage the season shall be so far advanced 

 as to make it unsafe to navigate the ships, and the health of your 

 crews, the state of the ships, and all concurrent circumstances should 

 combine to induce you to form the resolution of wintering in those re- 

 gions, you are to use your best endeavours to discover a sheltered and 

 safe harbour, where the ships may be placed in security for the winter, 

 taking such measures for the health and comfort of the people com- 

 mitted to your charge as the materials with which you are provided for 

 housing in the ships may enable you to do. And if you should find it 

 expedient to resort to this measure, and you should meet with any in- 

 habitants, cither Esquimaux or Indians, near the place where you winter, 

 you arc to endeavour by every means in your power to cultivate a 



