18 ACCOUNT OF THE AECTIC REGIONS. 



they liavc seen the sea beyond the mountains, and 

 liavc observed vessels navigating therein ; and, most 

 particnhirly, from the ^nature and peculiarities ob- 

 served in the tides. This latter argument is by far 

 the most conclusive, and as such will alone be con- 

 sidered here. Ellis sets out with the general prin- 

 ciples, that in inland seas, having but small outlets, 

 there is little or no tide ; that in such places, what 

 tide there is rises highest in the inlet, where the 

 sea is narrowest, and becomes less and less consider- 

 able, in proportion as the sea expands within ; that 

 the highest tides in such situations, are occasioned 

 by winds blowing into the inland sea, in the direc- 

 tion of its strait communicating with the main 

 ocean, or in the direction of the course of the 

 tide on the exterior coast ; and that the time 

 of high-water is soonest at places near the en- 

 trance of the inland sea, and progressively later 

 in other situations, according to their distance 

 from the strait through which the tide flows. 

 These facts, in the very small degree in which they 

 arc observed, he derives from observations on the 

 - vdnds and tides in the Baltic, INIediterranean, and 

 other inland seas. From the application of these 

 principles, Ellis proceeds to shew, that every 

 circumstance with regard to the tides in Hudson's 

 Bay, is different from what would take place in 

 an inland sea ; and then concludes, that Hud- 

 son's Bay is not such a sea, but has some openings 



