1745. MOOR AND ssnru. 'zQS 



the northward for the purpose of discovery. To the 

 northward of Churchill they had a sea clear of ice. 

 In coasting along the shore and among islands Mr. 

 Ellis observes, that the needles of the compasses 

 lost their magnetical qualities, '^ one seeming to 

 act from this direction, and another under that, 

 and yet they were not for any considerable space 

 of time constant to any :" his speculations on this 

 fact, which has been remarked among the islands 

 of Hudson's Bay both before and since his time, 

 do not appear to throw much light on this phe- 

 nomenon, and are therefore omitted. 



They proceeded to the northward as far 65° 5' 

 in the Welcome, where they found the flood tide 

 coming from the northward. This direction of 

 the tide, and their nearness to Wager Strait, con- 

 cerning which there had been so warm a dispute 

 between Mr. Dobbs and Captain Middleton, de- 

 termined the two Captains of the Dobbs and 

 California to enter upon an examination of it.' 

 The entrance of this inlet is formed by Cape 

 Montague on the north, and Cape Dobbs on the 

 south. About five leagues within it, the width is 

 contracted to about five miles, where the tide 

 rushes with so much impetuosity that Mr. Ellis 

 savs, it seems like a sluice: bevond this it ao-ain 

 opens out, and forms several good harbours and 

 safe anchoring ground. At one hundred and fifty 

 miles from the entrance, the colour of the water 

 was found to be perfectly bright^ and its taste 



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