Aug. 1858. FLOOD TIDE FROM THE WEST. 157 



is at once bold and rugged. Many seals have been seen ; a 

 young bear was shot, and Walker took a photograph of him 

 as he lay upon our deck, the dogs timidly creeping near to 

 lick up the blood. 



The great rapidity of the tides in Bellot Strait fully 

 accounts for the spaces of open water seen by Mr. Kennedy 1 

 when he travelled through, early in April. The strait runs 

 very nearly east and west, but its eastern entrance is well 

 masked by Long Island; when half-way through, both seas 

 are visible. As in Greenland, the night tides are much 

 higher than the day tides ; last night it was high water at 

 about half-past eleven ; as nearly as we can estimate, the 

 tide runs through to the west, from two hours before high 

 water until four hours after it ; that is, the flood-tide comes 

 from the west. Such is also the case in Hecla and Fury 

 Strait; in both places the tide from the west is much the 

 strongest. I am not sufficiently informed to discuss this 

 subject fully, but I infer the existence of a channel between 

 Victoria and Prince of Wales' Land. The rise and fall is 

 much less upon the western side of the Isthmus of Boothia 

 than upon the east, and it likewise decreases, we know, in 

 Barrow Strait, as we advance westward. 



2yd. — Yesterday Bellot Strait was again examined, but 

 the five miles of close pack occupied precisely the same 

 position as if heaped together by contending tides ; con- 

 siderable augmentations were moreover seen drifting in from 

 the western sea. Finding nothing could be effected in 

 Bellot Strait, we sought in vain for the more southern 

 channel which should exist to form Levesque Island : we 

 did, however, find a beautiful harbour, and are now securely 

 anchored in its north-west arm; I have named it after 

 the gentleman whose supposed island I find is a part of the 



1 Mr. Kennedy discovered this important passage when in command 

 of the • Prince Albert ' in 1851. 



