PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 105 



this reason, Lieutenant Parry did not hesitate to give to 

 the great channel, which was understood to effect so 

 desirable a junction, the merited appellation of Barrow's 

 Strait, after the much-esteemed promoter of the expedi- 

 tion. A favorable breeze now sprang up, and the adven- 

 turers passed gayly and triumphantly along the exten- 

 sive shore of Cornwallis Island, then coasted a larger 

 island, named Bathurst, and next a smaller one, called 

 Byam Martin. At this last place they judged, by some 

 experiments, that they had passed the magnetic merid- 

 ian, situated, probably, in about 100 west longitude, 

 and where the compass would have pointed due south 

 instead of due north. 



The navigation now became extremely difficult, in 

 consequence of thick fogs, which not only froze on the 

 shrouds, but, as the compass was also useless, took 

 away all means of knowing the direction in which they 

 sailed. They were obliged to trust that the land and 

 ice would preserve the same line, and sometimes em- 

 ployed the oddest expedients for ascertaining the pre- 

 cise point. They encountered, also, a compact floe, 

 through which they were obliged to bore their way by 

 main force. 



Notwithstanding all these obstacles, they reached the 

 coast of an island larger than any before discovered, 

 to which they gave the name of Melville. The wind 

 now failed, and they moved slowly forward by towing 

 and warping, till, on the 4th September, the lieutenant 

 could announce to his joyful crew that, having reached 

 the longitude of 110 west, they were become entitled to 

 the reward of five thousand pounds promised by Parlia- 

 ment to the first ship's company who should attain that 

 meridian. They still pushed forward with redoubled 

 ardor, but soon found their course arrested by an 

 impenetrable barrier of ice. They waited nearly a fort- 



