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LXVII. Notices respecting New Books. 



Journal nf a Voyage for the Discovery of a North West Passage 

 from the Jllantic to the Pacific ; performed in the Years 

 1819-20, in His Majesty's Ships Hecla and Griper, under the 

 Orders of William Edward Parry, R.N., F.R.S. and Comman- 

 der of tlie Expedition. With an Appendix, containing the 

 Scientific and other Observations. Published by Authority of 

 the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 4to. pp. 4S9. 

 London, 1821. 31. 13^.6^. 



EvEUY person must recollect the anxiety — hardly mixed at last 

 even with a shade of hope— that was entertained for the fate of 

 this Expedition, when the season had once arrived that precluded 

 the possibility of a return without first passing a winter in the 

 Arctic region. The vessels however, as our readers know, re- 

 turned at length in safety, and in the volume before us vve have 

 the record of'their enterprise — a narrative which, considering the 

 monotonous scene in which the gallant men engaged in it were 

 obliged to put forth their energies, is indeed highly interesting. 

 Our limits necessarily compel us to be brief in our notice of this 

 work, so valuable to "navigation and ^geographical inquiry. 



Capt. Parry has prefixed to his Journal a copy of his Instruc- 

 tions, which' appear to have been drawn up with considerable 

 judgement. They were in substance, that he should make the 

 best of his way to Davis's Strait, and, when the ice was suffi- 

 ciently open to admit his approach to the western shores of the 

 strait, that he should advance to the northward, as far as the 

 opening into Sir James Lancaster's Sound ; explore the bottom 

 of that sound,— pass through it, if possible, and get to Behring's 

 Straits. Should he fail in making a passage through this sound, 

 he was to examine Alderman Jones's Sound, and if he could not 

 pass through it, then to try Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, in every 

 part of it. Should he fail liere also, he was to return to the south- 

 ward, down Baffin's Bay, and endeavour to make way through 

 Cumberland's Strait, or any opening that might lead him to the 

 seas adjoining the eastern or northern coast of America, and pur- 

 sue his voyage along that coast, to the northward or westward, 

 to Behring's' Straits. Although this was the order in which the 

 various attempts were recommended by the Admiralty to be made, 

 yet Captain Parry had tlie discretionary power to make thei.i ni 

 such order as appeared to iiim most advantageous. We may ob- 

 serve, en fyassant, that Captain Parry, following the orders of the 

 Admiralty, first attempted to pass through Lancaster Sound, and 

 huccccded. If he had accomplished his passage through Behrnig s 

 Sfrait, he was tlicn to proceed to Kamtschatka, and send from 

 3 B 2 thence. 



