FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 259 



ice observed by the Hecla and Griper in the year 1820, 

 off Cape Dundas, the south-western extremity of Mel 

 ville Island ; and we therefore consider that loss of time 

 would be incurred in renewing- the attempt in that 

 direction. But, should your progress in the direction 

 before ordered be arrested by ice of a permanent appear- 

 ance, and should you, when passing the mouth of the 

 strait betwen Devon and Gornwallis's Islands, have 

 observed that it was open and clear of ice, we desire 

 that you will duly consider, with reference to the time 

 already consumed, as well as to the symptoms of a late 

 or early close of the season, whether that channel might 

 not offer a more practicable outlet from the archipelago, 

 and a more ready access to the open sea, where there 

 would be neither islands nor banks to arrest and fix the 

 floating 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, >ou should have determined to winter in that 

 neighborhood, it will be a matter for your mature delib- 

 eration whether, in the ensuing season, you would pro- 

 ceed by the above-mentioned strait, or whether you 

 should persevere to the south-westward, according to 

 the former directions. 



"You are well aware, having yourself been one of tho 

 intelligent travellers who have traversed the American 

 shore of the Polar Sea, that the groups of islands that 

 dtretch from that shore to the northward, to a distance 

 not yet known, do not extend to the westward further 

 than about the one hundred and twentieth degree of 

 western longitude ; and that beyond this, and to Beh- 

 ring's Strait, no land is visible from the American shore 

 of the Polar Sea. In an undertaking of this description, 

 much must be always left to the discretion of the corn- 



