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tenant Parry. The Expedition quitted England in May 1819, and 

 reached Davis's Strait early in July. The progress of the ships 

 being arrested by the ice, which at the early part of the summer 

 was known to the whalers to occupy the upper part of Baffin's Bay, 

 the character of Parry at once showed itself, by a prompt deter- 

 mination to attempt a passage through the opposing boundary. He 

 accordingly dashed into the ice with both his ships with a boldness 

 which deserved success, and accomplished a passage through this 

 great barrier, till then considered impenetrable. 



The Expedition reached Lancaster's Sound on the 1st of August, 

 and found it entirely free from ice. " We were now," says Parry, 

 " about to explore that great inlet which had obtained a celebrity 

 beyond what it might otherwise have been considered entitled to 

 possess, from the opposite opinions which had been held with regard 

 to it, and it will be readily conceived how anxious we were to ad- 

 vance." His suspense was not of long duration, for in a very few 

 days he had the high gratification to be able to clear up all doubt, 

 by the advance of the ships over that imaginary chain of mountains 

 which had been drawn across the Sound as if purposely to disarm 

 inquiry, and by the discovery of a wide and magnificent strait open- 

 ing out into the Polar sea, to which was given the name of Barrow, 

 as a well-deserved compliment to the second Secretary of the Admi- 

 ralty as the strenuous promoter of Arctic discovery. 



Hour after hour rolled away, and the ships continued their unin- 

 terrupted progress upon a direct course for Behring's Strait. Who 

 but Parry himself could know the feelings which filled his anxious 

 mind at that time ! His associates, as they witnessed the clear 

 open sea rise in the horizon mile after mile, might be elated at the 

 brilliant prospect before them ; but with Parry the enjoyment was 

 heightened by the full realization of his hopes in this part of his 

 voyage, and by the reflection that the serious responsibility he had 

 incurred before leaving England would now redound to his honour. 



Our limited space will not permit us to dwell upon the eventful 

 progress of this, one of the most memorable of the Polar voyages. 

 Suffice it to observe, that it was upon this occasion our navigators 

 discovered the great opening into the Polar sea on the west, Prince 

 Regent's Inlet on the south, Wellington Channel on the north, cele- 

 brated in after years as the supposed route of the gallant and 



