376 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. 



out any certainty of a supply, nothing more than 

 an outline could be taken of these inlets from 

 twenty to sixty miles deep ; but pains appear to 

 have been bestowed by Franklin, Back, and Hood, to 

 make them as correct as time would allow. One of 

 these numerous branches was named Melville, and 

 is stated to be thirty miles from east to west, and 

 twenty from north to south ; and Bathurst's Inlet 

 is not less than seventy miles long. These, how- 

 ever, as occasional receptacles of ice, are not to be 

 considered as refuge harbours for ships. 



Having surrounded this gulf, called Coronation 

 Gulf on the chart, Franklin, Richardson, and Back 

 walked along the southern coast of the Polar Sea 

 ten miles, and finding its trending to be still to the 

 east, they named the spot Point Turnagain, being 

 well satisfied that it was more than probable this 

 point would prove the termination of the voyage. 

 " It was evident,'* says Franklin, " that the time 

 spent in exploring the Arctic and Melville Sounds, 

 and Bathurst's Inlet (all branching out of and por- 

 tion of the great gulf), had precluded the hope of 

 reaching Repulse Bay, which at the outset of the 

 voyage we had fondly cherished ; and it was equally 

 obvious that, as our distance from any of the trad- 

 ing establishments would increase as w 7 e proceeded, 

 the hazardous traverse across the barren grounds 

 which we should have to make, if compelled to 

 abandon the canoes upon any part of the coast, 



