A Good Year for Discovery. 115 



What a wonderful man was old Baffin, who in his 

 small and crazy vessel of 55 tons so successfully 

 penetrated these then undiscovered regions ! He 

 must indeed have been a brave old navigator, and 

 one whose deeds we should strive to emulate. 



I am quite convinced, and the captain is of the 

 same opinion as myself, that this would have been 

 a splendid year for discovery. We have had four 

 remarkably open seasons in succession, and with 

 such a ship as the one I am now in, there is no 

 saying what such men as McClintock, Richards, or 

 Osborn would not perform. It almost seems an 

 opportunity thrown away that may possibly not 

 occur again for some time, though we must re- 

 member that should this summer be followed by a 

 mild winter, our prospects of reaching a high lati- 

 tude next year will be much increased. If the 

 entrance to Smith's Sound appears so free from 

 obstruction as it does now, what will it not be in 

 two months hence ? 



We make short work of our degrees of longitude, 

 having rattled off ten during the last twenty-four 

 hours. 



Tuesday, June 10th. — We still continue to make 

 fair progress, though compelled at times to force 

 our way through broad streams of straggling ice, 

 and through many miles of pancake or bay ice, 

 which is young ice formed by the heavy fall of 

 snow and low temperature that we yesterday 



