1854.] IMPROBABILITY OF PASSING NORTH. 215 



all minor gaps, until the whole bore the appearance, at 

 least, of a strict survey." 



" But secondary to these main instructions was the 

 effort to trace any communication with the ships under 

 Captain Collinson's command, and to deposit adequate 

 supplies to aid them, in retreat, at the most eligible posi- 

 tions." 



" That our efforts have entirely failed in our first and 

 most exciting search rests mainly, I believe, on the con- 

 viction that the ' Erebus' and 'Terror' did not advance 

 westerly, or northerly, beyond Beechey Island; and it is a 

 matter of no common importance to my mind, and ad- 

 verse to any intention of a northern movement, that not 

 one single reliable trace of detached sporting parties has 

 been met with northerly. But, on the other hand, east- 

 erly, at points where we should naturally expect explorers 

 would be averse to proceed, numerous traces of tempo- 

 rary sojourn abound, fatal, in my mind, to any idea of 

 further western discovery, and specially in the direction 

 of Wellington Channel." 



" I admit, now that we know that navigable channels 

 exist on either sides of Baillie Hamilton and Dun das 

 Islands, that it was not unnatural to suppose that the 

 ships might have escaped westerly by that route ; but, 

 speaking as a surveyor, or as a simple navigator, had I 

 travelled from hence to the heights of Cape Osborn, or, 

 further north, to Cape Hogarth, and beheld from thence, 

 as I have done on the latter, and near the former, the 

 clear panoramic view of Wellington Channel, I would 

 not have deemed the Queen's Channel of sufficient im- 

 portance to risk my vessels for exploration, nor of equal 



