194 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. 



fixed as it were to the spot by the novelty arid magnificence 

 of the scene before us, we continued our walk upwards 

 along the banks ; and after passing the two smaller cata- 

 racts, found the river again increased in width to above two 

 hundred yards, winding in the most romantic manner ima- 

 ginable among the hills, and preserving a smooth and un- 

 ruffled surface for a distance of three or four miles that we 

 traced it to the south-west above the fall. What added 

 extremely to the beauty of this picturesque river, which 

 Commander Lyon and myself named after our mutual 

 friend, Mr. Barrow, secretary to the Admiralty, was the 

 richness of the vegetation on its banks, the enlivening bril- 

 liancy of a cloudless sky, and the animation given to the 

 scene by several reindeer that were grazing beside the 

 stream." — pp. 264, 265. 



Returning on board, they found a strong south- 

 erly breeze to have driven the ice off from the 

 shore, affording an open channel between the ice 

 and the land of not less than nine miles in width. 

 Up this they proceeded, and passed several head- 

 lands, to each of which they gave a name. Such 

 was the advantage of a fair wind and open water, 

 that, as Parry says, " we had been favoured with an 

 unobstructed run of fifty miles : an event of no 

 trifling importance in this tedious and uncertain 

 navigation." The great increase in the number of 

 seahorses confirmed the navigators in the belief 

 that they were now approaching Amitioke, the 

 country of Iligliuk, in the neighbourhood of which 

 she and her companions had frequently represented 

 them as abundant. As they proceeded, these wal- 



