198 parry's polar attempt. 



much needed ; and then to set out on our return 

 on the following day." 



Such are Captain Parry's most satisfactory 

 reasons for abandoning an enterprise, so hope- 

 less, as it had latterly become. The highest 

 point reached was 82° 45' N., in 19^° E. Their 

 distance from the ship at this time was one 

 hundred and seventy-two miles, and to arrive 

 at this station the party had travelled two hun- 

 dred and ninety-two miles, of which about one 

 hundred were by water, previously to their en- 

 tering the ice. " As we travelled by far the 

 greater part of our distance on the ice three, 

 and not unfrequently five times over, we may 

 safely multiply the road by 2\ ; so that our 

 whole distance, on a very moderate calculation, 

 amounted to five hundred and eighty geogra- 

 phical miles, or six hundred and sixty-eight 

 statute miles ; being nearly sufficient to have 

 reached the Pole in a direct line." 



At this extreme point of the journey the ice 

 did not show any indication of a proximity to 

 a permanent body of ice, either by its evenness 

 or its extent ; on the contrary, it was " so full 

 of hummocks that it occupied just six hours 

 to cross one of the floes, the extent of which, 

 in a straight line, did not exceed two miles 

 and a half;" and the continued drift of the body 



