476 Our North Land. 



mislead those who read them and unjustly condemn the route in the 

 minds of the people. I do not condemn the stations. My anxiety is 

 from a fear that their functions are misunderstood. Magnetic and 

 meteorological data are valuable. A knowledge of the direction of 

 the prevailing winds over those waters is very essential to naviga- 

 tion. So also is a knowledge of the fogs, the rise and fall of the 

 tides, the variation of the compass, and other magnetic phenomena. 

 In these lines the stations will render important service, but the 

 records kept by them cannot solve, or even throw much light upon 

 the question of the navigation of the Hudson's Bay route. Again 

 I assert that this problem can be solved only by keeping a suitable 

 steamer in those waters pretty much all the time. Instead of a 

 three months' expedition, a strong steamship commanded by a person 

 experienced in northern waters should cruise in the Bay and Strait 

 twelve months in the year. When it is too cold to exist in the Strait 

 she could cruise in the Bay, which is known to be open and free 

 from ice in the heart of winter. In this way a thorough knowledge 

 of the possibilities of the navigation of those waters could be obtained. 

 A large quantity of coals for steaming purposes should be shipped to 

 some convenient point during the known season of navigation, and 

 the vessel kept there constantly three years, instead of three months. 

 The report of such an expedition would settle the question and 

 settle it too, in my opinion, most favourably. 



