160 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE ICE. 



ing by the experience so fearfully and fatally acquired by the 

 Franklin Expedition, and the observations of Eae, Collinson, and 

 myself, may succeed in carrying his ship through from sea to sea." 

 " In the meantime to Franklin must be assigned the earliest dis- 

 covery of the North- West Passage, though not the actual accom- 

 plishment of it in his ships." 



" The extent of coast-line explored by Captain Young (on Prince 

 of Wales Land) amounts to 380 miles, whilst that discovered by 

 Hobson and myself amounts to nearly 420 miles, making a total 

 of 800 geographical miles of new coast-line, which we have laid 

 down." 



Lieut. Hobson, after parting with Sir Leopold at Cape Victoria, 

 thus describes the condition of the ice between Boothia Felix and 

 King William Island : — " No difficulty was experienced in crossing 

 James Eoss Strait. The ice appeared to be of but one year's 

 growth, and although it was in many places much crushed up, we 

 easily found smooth leads through the line of hummocks. Many 

 very heavy masses of ice, evidently of foreign formation, have been 

 here arrested in their drift ; so large are they that, in the gloomy 

 weather we experienced, they were often taken for islands." At 

 Cape Felix he observes : — " The pressure of the ice is severe, but 

 the ice itself is not remarkably heavy in character ; the shoalness 

 of the coast keeps the line of pressure at a considerable distance 

 from the beach : to the northward of the island the ice, as far as I 

 could see, was very rough, and crushed up into large masses." 



Having laid before you extracts from the journals of the different 

 expeditions which have reached the Arctic Sea from the Pacific 

 Ocean, the rivers of America, and that portion of Asia which is 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of Behring Straits, we are now in 

 a condition to comprehend fully the effect which the currents of 

 the Pacific have upon the motion of the ice to the north of Behring 

 Straits. 



The first, and a very important point it is, which presents itself 

 is the contrast between the configuration of the two continents after 

 the narrow shallow strait has been passed which separates them. On 

 the western side the trend of the coast is gradual, affording immediate 

 access for the current to or from the strait along the shore of the 

 north face of the Asiatic continent. On the opposite side of the strait 

 the turn of the shore is abrupt and rectangular. On the Asiatic 

 side we have indisputable records of open water continuously met 

 with during the period of lowest temperature for a distance of 

 upwards of 1000 miles. On the opposite shore the ice is driven 

 frequently during the winter by the force of the wind from the 



