A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 215 



a correspondence with the magnetic variation ; if any of 

 my readers consider Avith me, that these are new in descrip- 

 tion, and that they can furnish any useful results, then I 

 shall not consider my time and anxiety thrown away. 



In this pursuit I went unbidden and unsolicited ; and 

 should my inquiries, as I trust they will, afford either 

 entertainment or profit to the general or philosophic reader, 

 I shall consider such approbation a proper stimulus to con- 

 tribute my humble mite, on every fit occasion, in aid of the 

 cause of science. 



In giving publication also to the result of my inquiries in 

 the arctic seas, I have to boast of a loftier motive : viz. the 

 deep concern I feel in the cause of humanity. Havino- 

 learned lately that an expedition is preparing to set out for 

 those seas, with intent to explore a north-westerly passao-e, 

 by a polar route, into the North Pacific Ocean, I should 

 deem myself culpable in withholding from the public at laro-e, 

 as well as from the projectors of that undertaking, such 

 particulars of the natural state of the higher northern 

 latitudes, as I had, during the course of last summer, a full 

 opportunity of observing. 



With that view, therefore, I drew the reader's attention 

 to the actual state of those countries during the summer 

 months, when only the arctic waters are navigable ; and, in 

 the course of the Journal, a faithful and accurate account 



