66 H. P. STEENSBY. 
“Storisen, ’ which by the Polar current is carried along the east coast, 
rounds Cape Farewell, and blocks the west coast till about 64° N. lat., 
together with the west ice which comes from the ice-filled sounds in 
the northern part of Baffin Bay, and in the spring months reaches as 
far down as 66°—69° N. lat. On the north and north-west coasts of 
Alaska and round the mouth of the Mackenzie, masses of Arctic Ocean 
pack-ice lie close in to land, and prevent all intercourse except on 
the smooth ice across the level innermost ice over shallow water, which 
is used in the spring by the Eskimo when travelling by sledge from 
Point Barrow and Colville River to the mouth of the Mackenzie. 
Only for a couple of months does the ice withdraw and leave a narrow 
open water-way between the land and the pack-ice. Of especially great 
extent is the open sea west of Point Barrow, where the edge of the 
pack-ice in August generally lies north of 70° N. lat., as it also does 
off the mouth of the Mackenzie where the warm river-water evidently 
plays some part. 
In the Archipelago the conditions of ice must be treated with 
especially great caution, as the waters and currents are so complicated, 
and because no one has yet tried to give a collective description. The 
known conditions, which can be taken as a starting point, are the 
grouping of the islands, the prevailing north-west winds, with the open 
waters, which have been substantiated several times by English sailing 
expeditions. 
A glance at the map shows with certainty that the ice-masses 
can come only from the north and north-west, and on account of the 
north-westerly winds there must be pressure in the direction of the 
south and south-east. Through Smith Sound and the confusion of 
straits between Sverdrup Islands and Parry Islands the above mentioned 
west ice stretches out into Baffin Bay, but that this and, on the whole, 
the pack-ice in the eastern sounds of the Archipelago are so compara- 
tively inferior can only be due to the protecting islands. In the summer 
numerous expeditions have passed through Lancaster Sound and Barrow 
Strait. Joan Ross and Mc. Салмтоск went south through Prince 
Regent Inlet and along the east coast of North Somerset and Boothia 
Felix. Jon FRANKLIN must either have passed this way and through 
Bellot Strait, or through Peel Sound and Franklin Strait to the south- 
east end of Mc. Clintock Channel, where his ships were crushed in the 
pack-ice on the west-coast of King William Land. A few years later 
Mc. CLURE and COLLINSON sailed in two ships from Bering Strait. 
COLLINSON sailed his ship to Dease Strait and extended his investiga- 
tions to Victoria Strait, west of King William Land, but returned when 
he saw that he could not advance further on account of the pack-ice. 
A year afterwards, he went up to the north end of Prince of Wales 
Strait, but the pack-ice again blocked his way. A year previously, 
Mc. CLurE had been stopped at the same spot in Prince of Wales 
