1827. 



316 VOYAGE TO THE 



CHAP, fore mentioned shoal, which closes the land toward 

 _^ Point Barrow, may extend to the northward ; nay, it 

 Oct. may even lie off the coast of some polar lands, too low 

 and too far off to he seen from the margin of the ice ; 

 and which can only be ascertained by journeys over 

 the ice, in a similar manner to that in which the 

 momitains to the northward of Shelatskoi Noss were 

 discovered by the Russians. It was this shoaling of 

 the water to the northward of Cape Lisburn that 

 induced the late Captain Burney to believe the conti- 

 nents of Asia and America were connected. 



To the northward of Beering's Strait the tide rises 

 about two feet six inches at full and change, and the 

 flood comes from the southward. 



The quantity of drift wood found upon the shores 

 of Beering's Strait has occasioned various conjectures 

 as to the source from which it proceeds ; some ima- 

 gining it to be brought down the rivers ; others to be 

 drifted from the southward. 



We found some at almost every place where we 

 landed, and occasionally in great quantities. There 

 was more at Point Rodney than in any other part ; a 

 great deal upon Point Spencer ; some upon Cape Es- 

 penburg, but more in Kotzebue Sound. Between 

 Cape Krusenstern and Cape Lisburn there was very 

 little, and in the bay to the eastward of the Cape 

 scarcely any ; but when the coast turned to the north- 

 ward it became more plentiful, and it was afterwards 

 tolerably abundant, and continued so all the way to 

 Point Barrow. In addition to this, it should be re- 

 membered, that a great deal is used by the Esquimaux 

 for boats, implements of all sort, houses, and fuel. 



These trees are principally, if not all, either pine or 

 birch ; all that we examined were of these two species, 

 and we lost no opportunity of making inquiry on this 



