44 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC UEGIONS. 



80' 48' N., and even that Icngtli only once in the 

 season. Is it reasonable, thercforCj to suppose, that 

 whale-fishers, sailing in clear water, without any 

 particular object to induce them to proceed far to- 

 wards the north, should exceed the length to which 

 Captain Phipps attained in the same year, and 

 within a few days of the same time, by eighty-seven 

 miles tovv^ards the north ? I imagine, on the con- 

 trary, that both Captain Clarke and Captain Bate- 

 son had been mistaken in their latitude, and had 

 not been so far as Captain Phipps, or at least not 

 farther. But I by no means wish to infer, that all 

 the cases brought forward in Barrington's Miscel- 

 lanies are equally objectionable, or that no voyager 

 has ever sailed beyond the latitude of 81" or 82° ; 

 though I feel persuaded, that, among the numerous 

 instances produced to prove this point, few of them 

 can be relied on. The prevailing desire, indeed, 

 to communicate extraordinary circumstances, has a 

 tendency, in some measure, to bias the judgment of 

 the most candid person, and has, no doubt, occasion- 

 ed very many exaggerated statements ; for all navi- 

 gators who have proceeded to a very great extent 

 into any unknown region, especially where they 

 have little opportunity of determining their real si- 

 tuation, natuj-aily give the farthest point in their 

 opinion, when they are in doubt, rather than the 

 nearest. Even so late as tlie year 1817, we have a 

 striking illustration of tbis fact. Tlie Larkins of 



