Dr. King on the Fish River of the Polar Sea. 415 



empties itself into that gulf is rendered more probable from 

 the fact, that drift wood is found, according to Esquimaux in- 

 formation furnished to Captain Sir Edward Parry, at Siatoke, 

 one of the islands of that gulf; and whence could this wood 

 come, but from a wooded counti'y ? and the Fish River is the 

 only stream eastward of the Mackenzie that is known to take 

 its rise within the limits of the woods. 



Now Captain Sir John Franklin " imagines that the Fish 

 River does not flow to the northward, but to the eastward, 

 and probably falls into Knapp's Bay, or between the Chester- 

 field and Wager Inlets." Surely the gallant officer will no 

 longer entertain this belief. Again, he doubts the finding of 

 fuel on the banks of the river or near the source of it, as he 

 always understood that part of the country to be destitute of 

 wood. Everybody except Captain Sir John Franklin, as far 

 as I know, always understood the contrary ; besides, the 

 known confines of the woods, extending as they do, according 

 to Dr. Richardson, to 63;^°, sets the matter entirely at rest, a 

 fact altogether overlooked by Captain Sir John Franklin. 

 Further, he doubts the possibility of an exploring party get- 

 ting a sufficient quantity of fish in any river in that quarter to 

 support it during a winter; but who proposes to search for 

 fish in the head waters of rivers? It is in the lakes and not 

 in the sources of rivers that fish are to be found in the winter 

 season, as is well known to the Indians and the fur traders. 

 After weighing the evidence on all sides, we can hardly, I 

 think, come to any other conclusion than that the Fish River 

 has been accurately described in the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety's Journal. It is evident then that it must form a promi- 

 nent feature in all further attempts to survey the unexplored 

 polar lands. It is the high road by which to connect the 

 discoveries of Messrs. Dease and Simpson on the one side 

 with those of Captain Sir Edward Parry on the other. The 

 sea of Regent's Inlet can thus be traced upwards, its bound- 

 aries on either side can be explored ; with Melville Peninsula 

 we shall thus be made thoroughly acquainted, and the insular 

 or peninsular character of North Somerset will be determined. 

 Considerable importance has been attached to the land of 

 North Somerset, from a belief that it is an island, which, if 

 proved, would at once solve the grand problem of three cen- 

 turies — the discovery of the north-west passage. This is 

 evidently an error; for, if insular, its separation from the 

 main land can be but of trifling extent, otherwise there would 

 be a strong current setting through the Fury and Hecla 

 Strait, whereas, according to Captain Sir Edward Parry, there 

 is no current ; while the absence of any current through that 



