No. II. APPENDIX. 363 



In respect to one of these courses, or that by Behring 

 Strait, along the coast of North America, we know that 

 a single sailing vessel passed to Cambridge Bay, within 

 150 miles of the mouth of the Back River, and returned 

 home unscathed, — its commander having expressed his 

 conviction that the passage in question is so constantly 

 open that ships can navigate it without difficulty in one 

 season. Other routes, whether by Eegent Inlet, Peel 

 Sound, or across from Repulse Bay, are preferred by 

 officers whose experience in Arctic matters entitles them 

 to every consideration ; whilst in reference to two of 

 these routes it is right to state that vast quantities of 

 provisions have been left in their vicinity. 



Without venturing to suggest which of these plans 

 should be adopted, we earnestly beg your Lordship to 

 sanction without delay such an expedition as, in the 

 judgment of a Committee of Arctic Voyagers and Geo- 

 graphers, may be considered best adapted to secure the 

 object. 



We would ask your Lordship to reflect upon the 

 great difference between a clearly-defined voyage to a 

 narrow and circumscribed area, within which the missing 

 vessels or their remains must lie, and those formerly 

 necessarily tentative explorations in various directions, 

 the frequent allusions to the difficulty of which, in 

 regions far to the north of the voyage now contemplated, 

 have led persons unacquainted with geography to sup- 

 pose that such a modified and limited attempt as that 

 which we propose involves farther risk and may call 

 for future researches. The very nature of the former 

 expeditions exposed them, it is true, to risk, since 

 regions had to be traversed which were totally un- 

 known ; while the search we ask for is to be directed 

 to a circumscribed area, the confines of which have 

 already been reached without difficulty by one of Her 

 Majesty's vessels. 



Now, inasmuch as France, after repeated fruitless 



