Chap. IV. PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 119 



opportunity occurred. Nothing was omitted which 

 highly intelligent officers and the best instruments 

 could supply. An appendix, drawn up on a clear 

 and well-arranged principle, contains such observ- 

 ations and remarks as were deemed of most im- 

 portance. The volume itself exhibits the conduct 

 and the character of both officers and men in the 

 most praiseworthy point of view ; and with regard 

 to the enlightened Commander by whom it is written, 

 it need only be repeated here what has been said 

 elsewhere : " No one can rise from the perusal of 

 this work without being impressed with the fullest 

 conviction that his merits as an officer and scientific 

 navigator are of the highest order ; that his talents 

 are not confined to his professional duties ; but that 

 the resources of his mind are equal to the most 

 arduous situations, and fertile in expedients under 

 every circumstance, however difficult* dangerous, 

 or unexpected." In addition to all this, Parry 

 may be said to possess the true character and spirit 

 of a British sailor — open, straightforward, and up- 

 right; his education was such as to inspire him 

 with a love of the profession, having entered the 

 service in 1803, been made a lieutenant in 1810, 

 and continued to serve in that rank on the coast of 

 America till 1817, when he was selected, as has 

 been related in the preceding voyage, to command 

 the Alexander, as second to Ross. 



On the present voyage he was most cheerfully 



