TIDJiiS AND CURRENTS. C69 



This suggests that probably the extreme cold of Van Rens- 

 selaer, as experienced by Dr. Kane and also by Dr. Hayes in 

 1861, may be due to the extensive glaciers on the high lands to the 

 east as well as to the exposure to the N.W. 



The Humboldt Glacier, in latitude 79° 12' N., with a sea face 

 45 miles long and from 330 to 500 feet high, bounded by precipices 

 of Old Red Sandstone and Silurian limestone from 100 to 1,400 

 feet high, sends off icebergs in lines which fill up the eastern side 

 of Kane Basin, and are drifted by the prevailing winds (and the 

 current, if there be any, in Kennedy Channel) into Smith's Sound 

 and Baffin's Bay. 



A comparison of the six maps of the Smith's Sound route in 

 ** The Threshold of the Unknown Regions " scarcely bear out Mr. 

 Clement Markham's statements with regard to the accuracy of 

 Morton's statements on page 165, or the statements of Captain 

 Markham in his '* Whaling Cruise," page 192, as to the coast line 

 laid down by Hayes in 1853-54 and again in 1860-61. These 

 remarks are of course founded on conversations with Dr. Bessels 

 on the voyage. 



Morton stated that he went 76 miles farther (than Dr. Kane ?). 

 Dr. Kane did not cross the front of the glacier ; thus, according 

 to Morton's statement, he would only have gone about 30 miles, 

 or half a degree of latitude, beyond Cape Jackson, which is rightly 

 placed by Morton in Kane's map in latitude 80° N. and longitude 

 nearly 66"" W. 



From his extreme point about a distance of 90 miles, or 1° 30' of 

 latitude, directly north, is marked in Dr. Kane's map as open sea up 

 to Mount Parry. This entirely agrees with the discoveries of the 

 " Polaris." Throughout the whole of this region, according to Dr. 

 Bessels, there is an open sea or basin extending over a space of 3° of 

 longitude by 1° of latitude, with four broad channels leading out in 

 four directions, where the ice was insignificant, and where there was 

 a magnificent water-sky to the northward ; where also the ice floes 

 seldom exceeded 5 feet in thickness, and were all of one year's 

 growth. He also states that the heavier ice probably drifts up 

 Lady Franklin Strait. 



This seems to agree exceedingly well with Morton's statement 

 that he found open water extending in an iceless channel to the 

 western shores, and the fact that the northern tide reaches south- 

 wards to Cape Fraser favours Morton's statement that the heavy 

 surf was beating against the rocks. Morton was very near to, and 

 rather to the north of, the point where the northern and southern 

 flood tides meet, and in an open sea there would be that disturbance 

 of the water which was noticed by Morton, but which was not 

 noticed at Cape Fraser by the " Polaris " or by Dr. Hayes along 

 the western shore, because of the ice. 



There is one point in which Morton may have been wrong, viz., 

 he may have overestimated the distance he had travelled in a 

 direct line northwards; but with this exception it seems that 

 Morton's statements are fairly trustworthy. According to Dr. 

 Bessels' observations, Morton must have gone about 76 miles 

 beyond Dr. Kane to reach Cape Constitution. 



