UNEXPLORED CHANNEL. 247 



a tremendous current running down it, that 

 after persevering for two or three miles more, 

 we were obliged to stop. 



I stopped with great reluctance, as I was 

 extremely anxious to ascertain whether this 

 channel really communicates with the East Sea 

 or not. Many of the habitues of Spitzhergen 

 believe that it does, but the point has never 

 been clearly settled, as nobody has ever passed 

 through the sound, or seen the termination of 

 it. I then tried to continue the exploration 

 by walking up the sides of the sound but the 

 ground was so excessively rough as to be al- 

 most impracticable for walking, and I had to 

 give it up. 



Christian had been sixteen seasons in Spitz- 

 hergen, but he had never been so far up as 

 this before, and could give me no information 

 on the subject. He however agreed with me 

 in opinion that there was strong evidence in 

 favour of the communication being complete, 

 because the water seemed very deep, and much 

 heavy ice was floating down it ; also, he 

 thought the current was much stronger than 

 was likely to be caused by the mere return of 

 the regular tide down Stour Piord. 



The day was tolerably clear, but there was 



E 4 



