132 PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 



views of polar desolation, was struck with the exceed- 

 ingly dreary aspect which these shores presented. The 

 naked rocks, the snow still covering the valleys, and 

 the thick fogs that hung over them, rendered the scene 

 indescribably gloomy. The ships were soon surrounded 

 by icebergs, amounting to the number of fifty-four, 

 one of which rose at least two hundred and fifty-eight 

 feet above the sea. They were attended by large floes, 

 and rendered very formidable by their rotatory motion. 

 In spite of every obstruction, Parry, early in August, 

 reached the entrance of Fox's Channel, and came in 

 view of Southampton Island. It was now the question 

 whether to sail directly up this inlet, and reach, by a 

 comparatively short route, Repulse Bay and the higher 

 latitudes, or to make the south-western circuit of South- 

 ampton Island, and ascend the beaten track of the Wel- 

 come. Parry judiciously preferred the former, notwith- 

 standing its uncertainties, on account of the great time 

 which would be saved should the course be found prac- 

 ticable. On the 15th he came to an opening stretching 

 westward, and apparently separating the island from 

 other land on the north. Hoping to find this the Frozen 

 Strait of Middleton, he entered it ; but it soon proved 

 a spacious and beautiful basin, enclosed by land on 

 every side. He named it the Duke of York's Bay, and 

 considered it one of the finest harbors in the world ; 

 but, after admiring a large floe covered entirely with 

 minerals, shells, and plants, he moved out of it, and 

 pursued the voyage. 



On the 21st the navigators found themselves in 

 another strait, not much encumbered with ice, but dark- 

 ened by thick fogs ; and before they knew distinctly 

 where they were, a heavy swell from the southward 

 showed that they had already passed through the 

 Frozen Strait, and were in the broad channel of the 



