334 On the PracticaliUlij 



Having presumed tliat there is a " circumvolving current" in 

 the Arctic sea from W. to E. but southerly withal , it leads me to 

 inquire into the j)robable eflfect of it, and the winds together, 

 upon floating masses of ice. 



In the first place ^let the ice be formed where it may), its ge- 

 neral direction will in all probability be from W. to E, with a 

 tendency at the same time to set to the southward, too strong to 

 be much counteracted by the force of anv winds from that quar- 

 ter ; its bulk under being greater than that uhovs the surface. 



If we cast our eyes on a chart of the north polar regions, con- 

 structed on the plane of the equator, Jio opening; is seen for the 

 egress of ice to the southward, out of the Polar basin, from Nor- 

 way and Lapland to the eastward, along the whole coast of Asia, 

 till we come to Behring's Strait. Througii this strait it does not 

 appear at all probable that much of the ice can pass, on account 

 of its comparative small extent, and the depth of water, perhaps, 

 being insufficient to float the bodies of greatest magnitude. 

 There may also be a " /rj/??//i,'" superficial current, as I sup- 

 pose ; or one " of the greatest violence," as the writer of the 

 article in the Quarterly Review supposes, running in from the 

 Pacific, to oppose its passage through this strait. 



From Behring's Strait, then, to the eastward, all along the 

 north coast of America, we find no opening for the ice to escape, 

 till we get to Davis's Strait. Through this strait, if there is " an 

 uninterrupted communication," it is not unfair to presume that 

 immense quantities would be carried bv a current " running per- 

 petually with a velocity, as it is stated, of four and sometimes 

 of five knots an hour ! I am, however, inclined to think that 

 either from the interruption of lands, or shoals, between Green- 

 land and America, a comparatively small quantity passes from 

 the Polar basin through Davis's Strait, and that muck of the ice, 

 as well as the current, may have Hudson's Bay for their origi'i. 

 7/" any obstruction does exist to the free egress of ice through 

 Davis's Strait, the consequence must be a vast accumulation of 

 it in a mass, more or less consolidated, fr(jm about NovaZembla 

 all the way to the eastward, as far as Cireenland ; and extending 

 northward from every part of the coasts of Asia and America, at 

 least to the parallel oi la.t\tude in which the north point of Green- 

 land may lie. 



For whatever masses of ice cannot pass through Davis's Strait? , 

 must be pressed continually by others brought from the west- 

 ward and northward by the circumvolving current, along the 

 north part of the more connected ice. If its progress through 

 Davis's Strait to the southward was not somehoiu impeded, it 

 w'ould pass through. If impeded (let the impediment be what 

 it may) in its covrse to the southward, ii is 3ct stilF more im- 

 peded 



