OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



487 



1 1 on ate reception we had experienced ; and being still favoured by the wind * 823 - 



1 _ _ . , p T1 • . , / . October, 



were abreast 01 Buchaness the loilowmg evening. It was my intention to v^vw- 



have put into Leith, in order to procure anchors and pilots previously to 

 venturing upon the English coast, but the wind breaking us off on the morn- 

 ing of the 15th, prevented our approaching that part of the coast, and we Wed. 15, 

 continued our course to the southward. On the 16th, being off Whitby, I Thur. 16. 

 went on shore there, accompanied by Mr. Fisher the astronomer, and after 

 receiving the cordial greetings of a great number of the worthy inhabitants 

 of Whitby, who had assembled to meet us on landing, set off for Lon- 

 don and arrived at the Admiralty on the morning of the 18th. The ships, 

 after touching at the Hum be r for pilots, arrived in the River Thames shortly 

 afterwards, and were paid off at Deptford on the 14th of November. 



Having thus concluded the Narrative of this our second attempt to disco- 

 ver a North-West Passage, it may be proper for me to offer a few remarks on 

 its probable existence and practicability. That such a passage exists, and 

 that its outlet on the western side will be found at Bhering's Strait, the dis- 

 coveries of the last six years, combined with the previous researches of 

 Cook and Hearne and Mackenzie, have scarcely left a doubt ; indeed, the 

 various points at which the northern coast of America has now been satis- 

 factorily laid down, from Icy Cape on the west to the shores of Melville 

 Peninsula on the east, afford a strong presumption in favour of the opinion 

 that this Continent does not in any part extend far beyond the 70th or 71st 

 parallel of latitude. 



While the probability of the existence of the Passage has been greatly 

 strengthened by the efforts of our various Expeditions by land and sea, as 

 well as by those of the Russians about Icy Cape, the hope of its ultimate 

 accomplishment has, notwithstanding our late failure, received no inconsi- 

 derable encouragement. That the sea is sometimes navigable upon the 

 northern shores of America is no longer a matter of speculation or con- 

 jecture, but stands recorded upon the authority, and to the honour, of our 

 distinguished countryman Captain Franklin and his brave companions. A 

 single view of the drawings accompanying his description of their extraor- 

 dinary canoe-navigation along these desolate shores, must at once convey to 

 the minds of those who are interested in the accomplishment of this long- 

 sought object, a degree of encouragement which the most sanguine could 



