Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 313 



The narrative having thus far advanced, a con- 

 versation with Sir Edward Parry prepared the 

 writer in some degree for the following letter : 



"Admiralty, 25th Nov. 1845. 



" My dear Sir John, — Understanding that you are pre- 

 paring an account of the proceedings of all the expeditions by- 

 sea and land which have been engaged in Arctic discovery in 

 our own times, I venture to trouble you with my present 

 views as to the practicability of reaching the North Pole 

 over the ice, to which you may possibly make allusion in the 

 course of the interesting narratives which you have under- 

 taken. 



"It is evident that the causes of failure in our former 

 attempt in the year 1827 were principally two : first, and 

 chiefly, the broken, rugged, and soft state of the surface of 

 the ice over which we travelled ; and secondly, the drifting 

 of the whole body of ice in a southerly direction. On ma- 

 ture re-consideration of all the circumstances attending this 

 enterprise, I am induced to alter the opinion I gave as to its 

 practicability in my Journal, p. 144 ; because I believe it 

 to be an object of no very difficult attainment, if set about 

 in a different maimer. My plan is, to go out with a single 

 ship to Spitzbergen, just as we did in the Hecla, but not so 

 early in the season ; the object for that year being merely to 

 find secure winter quarters as far north as possible. For 

 this purpose it would only be necessary to reach Hakluyt's 

 Headland by the end of June, which would afford ample 

 leisure for examining the more northern lands, especially 

 about the Seven Islands, where, in all probability, a secure 

 nook might be found for the ship, and a starting point for 

 the proposed expedition, some forty or fifty miles in advance 

 of the point where the Hecla was before laid up. The 

 winter might be usefully employed in various preparations 

 for the journey, as well as in magnetic, astronomical, and 



