530 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XIV. 



thinks it not improbable, since the discovery of the 

 land seen by Simpson, and marked on the chart 

 1 Captain James Ross's Point,' that the vacant 

 dotted space between Point Scott and Cleft Moun- 

 tain may be land, as he has marked it ; and also 

 that the space between Cape Smyth and Point Scott 

 may be a wide channel, opening into the lower part 

 of Prince Regent's Inlet : should this be so, it will 

 form the continuation of his own Strait, through 

 which not only a single ship and boats, but whole 

 fleets, may pass. At the same time it must be ad- 

 mitted that conjectural geography is never safe : 

 the direction of a coast line, or the course of a river, 

 can only be known, and then imperfectly, to the 

 distance of the furthest point of sight ; to arrive at 

 correctness, they must be traced. 



The object of this miscellaneous chapter, with 

 the small chart, is to point out distinctly, and to 

 correct, the erroneous impression which the Report 

 of a Select Committee of the House of Commons is 

 calculated to convey, founded on the most absurd 

 nonsense, given in evidence before the Committee, 

 especially that part of it from which a conclusion 

 is drawn, that a passage does not exist between the 

 bottom of Prince Regent's Inlet and the Polar Sea, 

 which has since been proved to be wholly incorrect. 



THE END. 



London : Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. 



