ROSS'S SECOND VOYAGE. 199 



of a passage south of the ship's present station was 

 renounced. 



It was to the north that all hopes of finding the 

 desired passage were now directed. So far, how- 

 ever, as they were personally able to examine the 

 land, its aspect was unpromising, and the most intelli- 

 gent natives intimated that the only channel was in a 

 much more northerly quarter, supposed to be no other 

 than Barrow's Strait, through which Parry had already 

 navigated. 



Before prosecuting further discoveries in this direc- 

 tion, another journey was resolved upon to the west- 

 ward, beyond the isthmus, to trace the coast of 

 America as it extended along the newly-discovered sea. 

 They thus hoped to reach Cape Turnagain, and to con- 

 nect their discoveries with those of Franklin. The 

 younger Ross again set out on the 17th May, with three 

 companions, eight dogs, and provisions for twenty-one 

 days ; and on the 19th, having crossed the great middle 

 lake of the isthmus, he reached his former station on 

 the western sea. The first view of it was celebrated by 

 three loud and even joyous cheers, though tempered 

 with regret at the diminished prospect of ever being able 

 to navigate it. Having to spend the night here, they 

 contrived a more comfortable sleeping-place, by ex- 

 cavating a sort of burrow in the snow, roofing it with 

 their skin boat, and placing a block of snow as a door. 



After passing Cape Isabella, formed of gray granite 

 five hundred feet high, the party travelled along the 

 coast west and north for twenty miles. On the morning 

 of the 21st of May they discovered, behind a lofty point, 

 an inlet, which, from its breadth and the different char- 

 acter of its opposite coasts, afforded the hope that it 

 might open into the Polar Ocean. They therefore 

 made a complete circuit and a careful survey of its 



