38 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. 



respect, because in it is the greatest variation in the 

 compasse of any part of the known world ; for by 

 clivers good observations I found it to be above five 

 points or fifty-six degrees varied to the westward." 

 But the strongest reason that should have operated 

 on Ross's mind was the possibility of this sound 

 being a wide strait, opening directly into the Polar 

 Sea, and affording the shortest passage through it 

 to Behring's Strait — a discovery that would have 

 immortalized him. He was at full liberty to use 

 his discretion. Speaking of Davis's Strait, his in- 

 structions say — 



" In the present state of uncertainty with regard to the 

 movements of the ice, and with the very imperfect know- 

 ledge we have of this strait, and still more so of the sea be- 

 yond it, no specific instructions can be given for your 

 guidance : the time and manner of proceeding to fulfil the 

 ulterior object of your destination, in places where impedi- 

 ments may occur, must be left entirely to your discretion, 

 in the exercise of which we rely on your zeal and skill 

 in your profession for the accomplishment, as far as it 

 can be accomplished, of the service on which you are em- 

 ployed." * 



On rounding the northern and turning down the 

 western coast, after passing the entrance of Sir 

 Thomas Smith's Sound, Mr. Fisher asserts, and ap- 

 peals to the log of the Alexander to prove it, that 

 " no land was seen to the northward in that direc- 

 tion." One of the officers declares, that he saw the 



* Admiralty Instructions. 



