1853.] SUTHERLAND — ARCTIC REGIONS, 309 



is also a difference in the temperature of the sea on its two shores. 

 On several occasions during the late expeditions in search of Sir John 

 Franklin, while the ships were crossing that strait from east to west 

 a fall of a few degrees was observed. This accounts pretty accurately 

 for the fact that the east shore during a great part of the year keeps 

 clear of ice, while the opposite is for the most part encumbered ; and 

 the greater mildness of the climate on the east side arises from the 

 same cause. Allusion need not be made here to the late President's 

 Paper on the temperature of the North of Europe, as the analogy be- 

 tween the North Atlantic and Davis' Straits with respect to currents 

 will easily occur to us. 



The specific gravity of the water also assists in determining the 

 direction of the currents in the Polar Seas, During Captain Ingle- 

 field's late voyage, it was found to decrease as we approached Cape 

 Farewell and advanced northward and westward in Davis' Straits*. 



In the Atlantic, long. 30°, lat. 56° 30', 24th October, 1852, the natural tempera- 

 ture being 48° Fahr.,the density at 60° Fahr. was 1-02808. 



At Cape Farewell on the 31st July, natural temperature 33°, density 1-0245. 



Davis' Straits, lat. 68°, sixty miles off the coast of West Greenland, August 11th, 

 natural temperature 40°, depth fifty fathoms, density 1*0265. 



Close to Cape York, lat. 76°, August 21st, natural temperature 30°, sea-water-ice 

 and icebergs abundant, depth fifty-four fathoms, density 1-0215, 



About two miles off Cape Alexander, Smith's Sound, lat. 78° 20', long. 71°, August 

 27th, natural temperature 32°, no ice but in the vicinity of the glaciers in the 

 coast (Sketch No. 8, b), depth 154 fathoms, density 1-02516. 



In Jones' Sound, lat. 76° 11', long. 83°, September 1st, natural temperature 30°, 

 sea-water-ice and icebergs present but not abundant, density 1-02451. 



About two miles off Cape Fitzroy, Lady Anne's Strait, Jones' Sound, lat. 75° 35', 

 September 2nd, natural temperature 30°, sea-water-ice thirty to forty feet 

 thick, most abundant, no bottom, 150 fathoms, density 1*0235. 



And otf Cape Walsingham, lat. 66° 34', long. 60° 50', October 12th, natural tem- 

 perature 30°, density 1*0245. 



Slight as the differences in these densities may appear to be, in my 

 own estimation they are assignable to no other cause than the in- 

 creased saltness of the water on the east shore, consequent upon a 

 tendency of the water to advance from the southward, and the di- 

 minished salinity resulting from the dilution of the water moving to 

 the southward. The above cases, taken by chance, I have cited from 

 the observations made every day at noon, and although the results 

 at Cape York and Cape Farewell do not bear out the impression con- 

 veyed by the whole, we may still presume that impression to be safe 

 in a general point of view. The exception at Cape Farewell arises in 

 all probability from a diversion of the great Arctic current which 

 flows round that promontory, and carries into that part of the Straits 

 ice and drift-wood which may have come southward from great 

 distances in the Greenland Seas ; and in this respect it may be taken 

 as a proof of the dilution of the water of that current consequent upon 

 its burden of comparatively freshwater ice. Again, the exception at 



* Compare Forchhamraer's Observations on the Cun-ents and Salinity of the 

 Polar Seas in the Reports and Transactions of the British Association, 1846, 



Y 2 



