Capt. Parry's Vuijage of Discovery. o9\ 



and precipitous shore would probably occur, a circumstance wliicli 

 the forec;oinu; narrative has shown to be attended with much 

 comparative uncfrtainty and risk. 



' Tiie question which naturally arises, in the next place, relates 

 to tlie most likely means of getting to the coast of America, so 

 as to sail along its shores. It would, in this respect, be desirable 

 to find an outlet from the Altantic into the Polar Sea, as nearly 

 as possible in the parallel of latitude in which the northern coast 

 of America may be supposed to lie : as, however, we do not know 

 of any such outlet from Baffin's Bay, about the pai'allcis of (iS** 

 to 70", the attempt is, perhaps, to be made with better chance 

 of success in a still lower latitude, especially as there is a consi- 

 derable portion of coast that may reasonably be supposed to offer 

 the desired communication, v>'hich yet remains unexplored. Cum- 

 berland Strait, the passage called Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, 

 Jying between Southampton island and the coast of America, and 

 Repulse Bay, appear to be the points most u-orthy of attention ; 

 and, considering the state of uncertainty in which the attemjits 

 of former navigators have left us, with regard to the extent and 

 communication of these openings, one cannot but entertain a rea- 

 sonable hope, that one, or perhaps each of them, may afford a 

 practicable passage into the Polar Sea. 



' So little, indeed, is known of the whole of the northern shore 

 of Hudson's Strait, which appears, from the best information, to 

 consist chiefly of islands, that the geography of that part of the 

 world may be considered altogether undetermined; so that an 

 expedition, which should be sent to examine those parts, would 

 soon arrive upon ground never before visited, and in which, from 

 an inspection of the map in its present state, there certainly docs 

 seem more than an equal chance of finding the desired passage. 

 It must be admitted, however, that any notions we may form 

 upon this question, amount after all to no more than conjecture. 

 As far as regards the discovery of another outlet into the Polar 

 Sea, to the southward of Sir James Lancaster's Sound, it is evi- 

 dent that the enterprise is to be begun again ; and we should be 

 cautious, therefore, in entertaining too sanguine a hope of find- 

 ing such a passage, the existence of which is still nearly as un- 

 certain as it was two hundred years ago, and which possibly may 

 not exist at all. 



' In tlie course of the foregoing narrative, it may have i^een 

 remarked, that the westerly and north westerly winds were al- 

 ways found to produce the effect of clearing the southern shores 

 of the North Georgian islands of ice, while they always brought 

 with them clear weather, which is essentially necessary in pro- 

 secuting discoveries in such a navigation. This circumstance, 

 together with the fact of our having sailed back in six days from 



the 



