ADDRESS. 89 



time before the ice is detached from the land. Furthermore, it is 

 a matter well authenticated, that upon the breaking up of the ice 

 in a harbour of Hudson's Bay, a vessel which was driven out, 

 passed the straits without any impediment, and reached England 

 in the midst of the winter, while in May and June following, the 

 straits were blocked with floating ice. The existence of a north 

 west passage, however, is no longer a matter for conjecture. It 

 will be found by standing well from the shore, on which the ice is 

 thrown in accumulated masses, by the winds and currents of the 

 north, or by keeping the mid channel, through Bhering's Straits, 

 and rounding the headlands of our continent, and thence into the 

 Spitzbergen Seas. That this route is more feasible than any 

 other, is evident from the fact, that the ice formed in bays and 

 harbours, and the estuaries of fresh water rivers, is solid and mas- 

 sive, while that formed in the ocean, being congealed from salt 

 water, is seldom more than six inches in thickness, appearing like 

 snow partially melted and refrozen, is semi-opaque, and presents 

 in general but a feeble barrier to the bold navigator. Indeed, we 

 do not believe, and our personal experience must here strengthen 

 our assertion, that ice is ever formed in the main ocean, at a dis- 

 tance from land. No, not at the Pole itself ! 



The unexplored part of the Northern Polar Seas, may be con- 

 sidered about twenty-four hundred miles across it, or seven thou- 

 sand two hundred miles in circumference. The whole surrounding 

 coast is inhabited ; the European part by the Laplanders and 

 Fins ; the Asiatic by the Samoyedes, and other rude tribes, who 

 subsist upon reindeer, and fish ; and the American by the various 

 tribes of the Esquimaux. Numerous large rivers in Asia and our 

 own continent, pour their sluggish streams of fresh water into the 

 Polar Seas. 



These, together with the great extent of coast, necessarily pro- 

 duce large quantities of ice, which is thrown out in the spring, 

 and floated by the northern currents into the channel or sea 



12 



