OF THE POLAR SEA. 233 



Repulse Bay ; supposing the latter to be in the 

 longitude assigned to it by Middleton. 



When the many perplexing incidents which 

 occurred during the survey of the coast are con- 

 sidered in connexion with the shortness of the 

 period, during which operations of the kind can 

 be carried on, and the distance we had to travel 

 before we could gain a place of shelter for the 

 winter, I trust it will be judged that we prose- 

 cuted the enterprise as far as was prudent, and 

 abandoned it only, under a well-founded convic- 

 tion that a further advance would endanger the 

 lives of the whole party, and prevent the know- 

 ledge of what had been done from reaching Eng- 

 land. The active assistance I received from the 

 officers, in contending with the fears of the men, 

 demands my warmest gratitude. 



Our researches, as far as they have gone, seem 

 to favour the opinion of those who contend for the 

 practicability of a North- West Passage. The 

 general line of coast probably runs east and west, 

 nearly in the latitude assigned to Mackenzie's 

 River, the Sound into which ICotzebue entered, 

 and Repulse Bay ; and very little doubt can, in 

 my opinion, be entertained of the existence of a 

 continued sea, in or about that line of direction. 

 The existence of whales too, on this part of the 



