104 



VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. 



August 







met with apparently a similar 

 extent of open water to that 

 seen by Mr. Morton of Kane's 

 Expedition in the same lo- 

 cality. Morton's description 

 of Cape Constitution, with the 

 relative positions of Franklin 

 and Crozier Islands, rendered 

 it easy to recognize the spot 

 where his remarkable journey 

 from Eensselaer Harbour ter- 

 minated in June 1854. 



Though our later experi- 

 ences show that this open 

 water is caused by the rapidity 

 of the tidal movements in a 

 comparatively narrow channel 

 connecting two large basins, 

 yet at the time Dr. Kane 

 wrote, with the incomplete 

 data at his command, he had 

 fair reason to believe in the 

 existence of a very consider- 

 able extent of open sea. In 

 justice to the memory of that 

 distinguished Arctic explorer, 

 I extract the following from 

 his volumes, where he re- 

 views Morton's journey, and 

 compares with his discoveries 

 the reported open waters and 

 seas of other Arctic voyagers : 



