190 National Geographie Magazine. 
The temperature of the water and air was found higher upon 
this side of the island, and I have no doubt but that the climate 
of the vicinity of Mackenzie bay is materially modified by the 
comparatively warm water coming out in great volume from the 
Mackenzie river. The strong current running to the northward 
from the river would naturally sweep the ice out of the bay and 
to the northward, as far as the vicinity of Banksland and the 
extreme northern Arctic. 
Where it goes to and where it ceases is now a matter of con- 
jecture. It is to be hoped that the drift-floats which were launched 
by us from this point, and from various poits between here and 
Herald island, may contribute something to the solution of this 
question. ri 
As the chances of being shut in by the ice were easily among 
the possibilities to the whalers who were in our company, and with 
whose fate our companion the Beluga had joined for the time, the — 
whole question of supplies and retreat was gone over with the 
whaling masters. A retreat up the valley of the Mackenzie, the 
Porcupine, and Yukon, seemed feasible, as reindeer were to be 
found in this vicinity in the winter months. 
As the masters of the whalers would not return with me to the 
eastward, I determined to start back, in order to make my westerly 
cruise with the sailing fleet. Recalling the boats, we got under- 
way, standing first to the northeast to put over our first drift-float 
clear of the tidal influence of the waters immediately about Her- 
schel island, and in the open water and northerly current of the 
Mackenzie. These floats were made of wood about two feet long 
and nine inches thick, with the name of the ship, the date, and 
the words, for drift, cut upon the face. In a cavity at one end 
of the float, plugged with soft wood, there was placed a copper 
cylinder containing a letter requesting the finder to inform the 
U. S. Hydrographic office at Washington, the nearest U.S. Con- 
sul, or the commanding officer of the Thetis, the time and place 
where the float was found. 
After launching the float upon its unknown journey, a lookout 
was sent to the highest masthead: from there it was reported 
that to the northward and northeastward there was nothing in 
sight but open water, neither ice nor ice-blink was visible, and the 
western entrance to the Northwest passage stretched before us 
invitingly, as clear and as free as the waters of our own Chesapeake 
bay. But I had reached my limit, and turning back, to the regret 
