Chap. VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE. 253 



The two other parties, consisting of four men 

 each, under the respective commands of Lieutenants 

 Sherer and Ross, were directed to travel, the former 

 to the southward, and the latter to the northward, 

 along the coast of Prince Regent's Inlet, for the 

 purpose of surveying it accurately. Parry was 

 anxious also to ascertain the state of the ice to the 

 northward, to enable him to form some judgment 

 as to the probable time of their liberation. These 

 parties found the travelling along shore so good, as 

 to enable them to extend their journeys far beyond 

 the points intended. Lieutenant Ross brought the 

 welcome intelligence of the sea being perfectly open 

 and free from ice at the distance of twenty-two 

 miles to the northward of Port Bowen, " by which," 

 says Parry, " I concluded — what indeed had long 

 before been a matter of probable conjecture — that 

 Barrow's Strait was not permanently frozen during 

 the winter." From the tops of the hills about Cape 

 York, beyond which promontory Lieutenant Ross 

 travelled, no appearance of ice could be distin- 

 guished. 



Lieutenant Sherer returned to the ships about 

 the same time, having performed a rapid journey 

 as far as 72J°, and making an accurate survey of 

 the whole coast to that distance ; and Parry regrets 

 that he was not furnished with more provisions and 

 a larger party to have enabled him to travel round 

 Cape Kater, which is probably not far distant from 



