SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. 203 



had really succeeded in reaching the sea. 

 Franklin, however, did taste the water ; 

 and, though perfectly fresh, was not the 

 less certain, from the great expansion of 

 water to the northward, and the sudden 

 diverging of the shore, that, at this point, 

 he had in fact entered into the Polar Sea ; 

 and he states that he was the more con- 

 firmed in this opinion by the appearance of 

 a seal* sporting about the boat. 



Franklin, however, with a determination 

 to leave no doubt remaining as to the fact, 

 pushed on towards an island much farther 

 out, which looked blue from its distance ; 

 and, " under its shelter, the boat passed a 

 line of strong ripples, which marked the 

 termination of the fresh water, that on the 



* The presence of these animals, however, is by no 

 means a test of the presence of the ocean : they have 

 no objection to fresh water; as is proved by the 

 abundance that are found in the lake Baikal, which 

 is more than a thousand miles from the sea. That they 

 sometimes visit fresh-water rivers was not unknown to 

 Virgil : 



. . . " insolitae fugiunt in flumina phocae." 



