o70 PISCOVEKIES OF ROSS, 1818. 



Every suggestion that appeared to merit considera- 

 tioii was attended to, both in the equipment of the 

 ships and in the instructions to the officers, every 

 one of whom, from the highest to the lowest, left 

 this country in perfect satisfaction, and in full con- 

 fidence of attaining the great object of the expe- 

 ditions — or at least wdth the determination of esta- 

 blishing the fact of its utter impracticability. 



The failure of so many expeditions, of which 

 an abstract has been given in the preceding pages, 

 is certainly rather of a discouraging nature ; and 

 after so many unsuccessful trials for the discovery 

 of a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific 

 oceans by the north-east, the north, and the north- 

 west, it would not seem unreasonable to infer that 

 no such passage exists, and that therefore the two 

 last expeditions might have been spared — but the 

 same inference might with equal fairness have been 

 drawn after the first three or four attempts. The 

 progressive geography of the northern regions 

 was very slow ; but it has been progressive : yet 

 much within the limits of practical navigation still 

 remains unexplored. 



Of the three directions in which a passage has 

 been sought for, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 that by the north-east holds out the least encou- 

 raging hope; indeed the various unsuccessful 



