236 Thirty Years 
son’s Bay is rendered more probable from the same 
kind of fish abounding on the coasts we visited, and 
on those to the north of Churchill River. I allude 
more particularly to the Capelin or Salmo Arcticus, 
which we found in large shoals in Bathurst’s Inlet, 
and which not only abounds, as Augustus told us, in 
the bays in his country, but swarms in the Greenland 
-firths. The portion of the sea over which we passed 
is navigable for vessels of any size ; the ice we met, 
particularly after quitting Detention Harbor, would 
not have arrested astrong boat. The chain of islands 
affords shelter from all heavy seas, and there are good 
harbors at convenient distances, I entertain indeed, 
sanguine hopes that the skill and exertions of my 
friend Captain Parry will soon render this question no 
longer problematical. His task is doubtless an 
arduous one, and, if ultimately successful, may Occupy 
two and perhaps three seasons ; but confiding as I do, 
from personal knowledge, in his perseverance and 
talent for surmounting difficulties, the.strength of his 
ships, and the abundance of provisions with which 
they are stored, I have very little apprehension of his 
safety. As I understand his object was to keep the 
coast of America close on board, he will find in the 
spring of the year, before the breaking up of the ice 
can permit him to pursue his voyage, herds of deer 
flocking in abundance to all parts of the coast, which 
may be procured without difficulty ; and, even later 
