516 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XIV. 



The learned member who put these questions 

 seems not to have been satisfied with the replies 

 which he had received from Captain Ross, for on a 

 third examination he returns to the charge : — 



" You stated, among the other reasons you gave, that 

 there was no north-west passage practicable ; that there was 

 a difference in the altitude of the two seas east and west of 

 the isthmus which unites Boothia with the continent of 

 America ? 



" Yes ; I was the only officer there : Commander Ross 

 had no opportunity of ascertaining it ; it was while he was 

 on other services : it was when I went with the provisions to 

 him I ascertained that ; in two years in June, 1830, and the 

 end of May, 1831. 



" The observations made at two different times, both led 

 you to the same result ? 



" Yes. 



" Have you any doubt upon that? 



" Not at all ; I measured it with the theodolite in the 

 usual way ; the process becomes very simple, and incapable 

 of error to those who understand it. 



" There is a difference, is there not, in the altitude of the 

 Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on the east and west sides of 

 the isthmus of Darien ? 



" I have heard there is, and the Red Sea and the Medi- 

 terranean also ; there is eight feet rise and fall of tide on 

 those isthmuses, and only fourteen inches on the west side ; 

 I tried that at the time ; I broke a hole in the ice for the 

 purpose." 



Captain Ross must here have been sadly bewil- 

 dered, which caused him to talk unintelligible non- 

 sense. The member who put the question did not 

 ask for explanation, but for a simple fact. He 



