90 ACCOUNT OP THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



both as to the truth of the narrative and the extent 

 of the navigation. The late voyage, however, by Cap- 

 tain Ross and Lieutenant Parry, how much soever 

 the public may feel disappointed as to the general is- 

 sue, affords a pleasing confirmation of the faithfulness 

 and accuracy of Baffin ; and when we observe the 

 brief and unostentatious manner in which he nar- 

 rates the transactions of this important voyage, 

 we cannot withhold our warmest admiration. 



After the voyage of Baffin, it would be tedious 

 even to enumerate the various expeditions which 

 have been sent out on discovery into the Arctic 

 seas, all of which have failed in their principal ob- 

 ject. I shall therefore close this brief and imper- 

 fect sketch of the progress of northern discovery, 

 with observing, that, whatever has been added to 

 the discoveries of Willoughby, Davis, Hudson and 

 Baffin, among English voyagers, and to the dis- 

 coveries of Barentz, Heemskerke, and Ryp, a- 

 mong the Dutch, consists only in the explorations 

 by the Russians and the Dutch of the northern 

 shores of the Continent of Europe and Asia, and 

 in the researches by the British about the shores of 

 Spitzbergen, and in the bays of Hudson and Baffin. 

 A tabular enumeration of all the voyages under- 

 taken in search of a northern communication be-* 

 tween the Atlantic and Pacific, with a brief view 



