48 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. 



so confidently asserted to exist ; and that, therefore, this 

 inlet was not the place to persevere in forcing a passage, 

 but that there was reason to expect it would be found fur- 

 ther south. My orders, * to stand well to the north,' had 

 already been fully obeyed, and no current had been found ; 

 and if ' a current of some force ' did exist, as from the ' best 

 authorities ' we had reason to believe was the fact, it could 

 be nowhere but to the southward of this latitude. As, in 

 my Instructions, I am also directed ' to leave the ice about 

 the 15th or 20th of September, or at latest the 1st of 

 October,' I had only one month left for my operations, in 

 which month the nights are long, and, according to a fair 

 calculation, not more than two days' clear weather out of 

 seven could be expected. It may, therefore, with propriety 

 be stated that I had only eight days remaining to explore 

 the remainder of Baffin's Bay, a distance of above four 

 hundred miles. Of this space nearly two hundred miles 

 had never been examined : a range including the supposed 

 place of the discontinuity of the continent, and that to which 

 my attention had been particularly called, and where the 

 imaginary current, which was to be my guide, was to be 

 expected. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add that, under 

 these circumstances, I was anxious to proceed to the spot 

 where it must be evident I had the best chance of success. 

 Yet my anxiety, on the other hand, to leave no part of the 

 coast unexplored, even after all hopes of a passage were 

 given up, determined me to persevere as I did, notwith- 

 standing there was no current, a material decrease in the 

 temperature of the sea, and no driftwood, or other indica- 

 tion of a passage, until I actually saw the barrier of high 

 mountains, and the continuity of ice, which put the question 

 at rest. That I did so persevere became afterwards a 

 source of great satisfaction, as I was fortunate enough to 

 succeed also in exploring every part of the coast to the 

 southward to which my attention was to be directed, and 



