DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 417 



cloudless. It was with no ordinary feelings of joy and 

 gratitude that M'Clure and his party started before sun- 

 rise to obtain from the adjacent hill a view of that sea 

 which connected their discoveries with those of Sir 

 Edward Parry. Ascending a hill six hundred feet above 

 the sea-level, they patiently awaited the increase of 

 light to reveal the long-sought-for north-west passage from 

 tiie Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 



As the sun rose, the panorama slowly unveiled itself. 

 First the land called after Prince Albert showed out on 

 an easterly bearing ; and, from a point since named 

 after Sir Robert Peel, it evidently turned away to the 

 east, and formed the northern entrance of the channel 

 upon that side. 



The coast of Banks's Land terminated about twelve 

 miles further on than where the party stood ; and thence 

 it turned away to the north-west, forming the northern 

 coast of that land, the loom of which had been so cor- 

 rectly reported by Parry more than thirty years before. 

 Away to the north, and across the entrance of Prince 

 of Wales Strait, lay the frozen waters of Barrow's, or, 

 as it is now called, Melville Strait ; and, raised as they 

 were at an altitude of six hundred feet above its level, 

 the eye-sight embraced a distance which precluded the 

 possibility of any land lying in that direction between 

 them and Melville Island. 



The north-west passage was discovered ! All doubt 

 as to the water communication between the two great 

 oceans was removed ; and it now alone remained for 

 M'Clure, his officers and men, to perfpct the work by 

 traversing the few thousand miles of known ground 

 between them and their homes. 



The position of Mount Observation, from which the 

 important discovery had been made, was ascertained to 



be in latitude 73 30' 39" N. ; longitude 114 3^ W 

 27 



