200 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. 



Admiral Sir Benjamin Halkr.vell." To a fine bay 

 on the Cockbnrn Island shore (the north) he gave 

 the name of Autridge ; and, to an inlet in the same 

 land, that of White ; and he concludes this part of 

 his report by saying that " the opening of the strait 

 into the Polar Sea was now so decided, that I con- 

 sidered the principal object of my journey accom- 

 plished." It would have been more satisfactory if 

 Mr. Reid had been a little more circumstantial in 

 his observation on the two western points of the 

 strait ; that which is named Englefield on the chart, 

 but by whose authority does not appear, is not men- 

 tioned as a cape, gradually trending to the south- 

 ward, and leaving a broad entrance into the Western 

 Sea. It may hardly be necessary to observe that 

 a point of land seen obliquely from a distance of 

 twenty or thirty miles must be very unsatisfactorily 

 laid down on paper. The width between the two 

 shores opening into the sea appears to be about six 

 or seven miles, which, compared with its length of 

 sixty miles, can scarcely be called a " magnificent 

 passage. 5 ' Its capacity, however, notwithstanding 

 the obstructing islands, may be amply sufficient to 

 admit a passage into the Polar Sea, for ships of a 

 moderate size ; though it is pretty certain that no 

 ship will ever attempt it, not merely on account of 

 the ice with which it appears to be permanently 

 blocked up, but also of the perpetual current setting- 

 down it, occasioning such a tumultuous swell and 

 disturbance among the ice, as must render it still 



