Chap. XIL BACK'S JOURNEY TO THE POLAR SEA. 481 



The drift-wood found on the whole of the 

 southern coast of the Polar Sea, from Mackenzie 

 River to Point Turnagain, was fully ascertained to 

 have been brought entirely from the westward, not 

 only from the Mackenzie, but also, as we know from 

 Simpson, down the numerous rivers falling from 

 the Rocky Mountains ; the easterly current setting 

 through Behring Strait carries this drift-timber to 

 the extreme easterly end of the American coast. 

 Admiral Krusenstern, in 1823, in reply to a question 

 put to him on this subject, regarding two Russian 

 ships that had gone from the coast of Asia into the 

 Strait of Behring, writes, " with respect to the 

 currents in these straits, they have been observed 

 constantly to set on the coast of Asia to the N.W. : 

 near the coast of America to the N.E. ; and off Icy 

 Cape, near which the ships remained four days, due 

 east, at the rate of 25 and 30 miles a day." 



The extreme point seen to the northward, on the 

 western side of the estuary, Back named Cape Ri- 

 chardson, which, he says, is in lat. 68° 46', long. 

 96° 20' W. Another point a little to the westward 

 of this he named Maconochie, and thinks there is 

 reason to believe that, between them and Point 

 James Ross, a passage exists — a conjecture fully veri- 

 fied by Dease and Simpson having sailed through 

 it in the year 1839. But of the discoveries of these 

 gentlemen hereafter. Captain Back is also correct 

 in describing an open sea to the eastward as far as 



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