50 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. 



of which you are in search."* His failure in the 

 discovery of this imaginary current is so far a 

 reflection on his sagacity, as every navigator, both 

 before and after his time, who has entered Davis's 

 Strait, has experienced a current of considerable 

 force settino* down that strait ; and it is now known 

 that the water of the Polar Sea passes through 

 several channels, and down the sea of Spitzbergen 

 into the Atlantic. 



On taking leave of Lancaster Sound on the 31st 

 of August, and proceeding homewards along the 

 same coast, the following day Ross sent a boat 

 on shore, in a small bay near Cape By am Martiu, 

 with orders " to take possession of the country, in 

 the name and on behalf of His Britannic Majesty," 

 with the usual silly ceremony — the more silly when 

 the object is worthless, as in the present case — a 

 barren, uninhabited country, covered with ice and 

 snow, the only subjects of His Majesty, in this portion 

 of his newly-acquired dominions, consisting of half- 

 starved bears, deer, foxes, white hares, and such 

 other creatures as are commonly met with in these 

 regions of the globe. Lieutenant Parry had com- 

 mand of the shore party, and obtained what are 

 said to be " some valuable specimens, and the 

 officers of both ships were equally active and zeal- 

 ous." The whole of this coast, that is to say from 

 latitude 73° 37' to latitude 62° 51', down to Cum- 



* Admiralty Instructions. 



