102 Geographical Collections. 



the annual loss of property is great, and not unfrequently that of lives also. 

 To remedy this evil, which was daily gaining importance, Commander W. 

 H. Bayfield, R. N. was directed by his present Majesty, when Lord High 

 Admiral, to make a careful survey of this river, which should answer all the 

 purposes of navigation throughout its extensive reefs and channels. This 

 survey has since then been proceeding, and a plan of the harbour of Quebec, 

 made by Commander Bayfield, has been published. His charts of the river 

 are looked for with much anxiety by the provincial government of Quebec, 

 who are only waiting for their appearance, to pass a law for regulating the 

 examination of pilots for the river, touching their necessary qualification. 

 The erection of three new light-houses, in diflferent parts of the river, has 

 been already ordered, at the suggestion of Commander Bayfield, which will 

 materially contribute to the safety of its navigation Athenceum. 



Intelligence of Captain Ross, R. N. — Two accounts of the progress of 

 Captain Ross's exploratory voyage have reached us. We give them as 

 communicated to us. According to one account. Captain Ross was met 

 with in Baffin's Bay in August 1829, where, having suiFered damage 

 during hard weather, he fortunately was enabled, from the wreck of a Green- 

 land ship, to refit. He afterwards steered northward, and has not since 

 been heard of. The other account represents our adventurous commander 

 and his brave crew as having been forced back to Lively Bay, in Baffin's 

 Bay, where they spent last winter Ed. New Phil Journ. Jan. 1831. 



Notice ofDr Parrofs Ascent of Mount Ararat. — (Extracted from a letter 

 from Dr PaiTot, dated Convent of St Gregory, 28th September, 1829.) 



" I hasten to inform you, that we have at last accomplished the complete 

 ascent of Ararat. The third attempt was made on the 25th of this month ; 

 in which I was accompanied by the young deacon of the convent St 

 Gregory, Abojan, five peasants, and two Russian soldiers. We arrived at 

 the summit on the 27th, at 3 p. m. Our difficulties were great ; much, 

 perhaps the whole, of our success is owing to the ardour of the two soldiers 

 and one of the five peasants, the other four being unable to follow us. From 

 the first step which we made on the frozen snow, to the summit, we were 

 obliged to cut steps with hatchets for secure footing, — a precaution which 

 was still more necessary on our descent ; for the prospect, extending from 

 this height over an immense surface of glittering ice, intersected with deep 

 and dark precipices, was really imposing, even to those who were accustomed 

 to such enterprizes. The time was most favourable to us ; we passed the 

 night in midst of the hoar-frost, in an atmosphere so tranquil and serene, 

 that I scarcely felt the cold, which, however, is extremely keen at these 

 heights. The moon was a careful guide for our uncertain steps on the icy 

 cone, when, after the sun had disappeared, we were still above the region of 

 perpetual snow. The barometer at the summit stood at 180,7^", at a 

 temperature of 3° 5 cent. ; which gives about 2,700 toises for the elevation 

 above the level of the sea. The line of perpetual snow is at about 2,000 

 toises, — an extraordinary height for the latitude of 39° 45', according to the 

 maps ; but attributable, probably, to Ararat being an entirely isolated 

 mountain, whose climate is consequently not cooled by other contiguous 

 elevations above this line.* 



" Ararat is composed on every side, from 'the line of snow for a distance 

 of about twelve French leagues, of nothing but lava, without even any other 

 volcanic productions ; so that it must be regarded as one of the largest 



* " At Casbeck, (in 43 deg-. lat.), the line of perpetual snow commences at 1,647 toises. 

 According to the law of the squares of the cosines of latitudes, the line of snow on Ararat 

 ought to be above 1,822 toises high, and consequently 158 toises less than the true height. 

 M. Parrot being at the top of Ararat seventeen days after he left Casbeck, (which is 

 3| degrees from Ararat,) he must have been on the summit of the two mountains precisely 

 at the same relative season." 



