omenak's noRD. 
CHAPTER VII. 
It will be readily seen, that of the voyages to Lan- 
caster Sound, or indeed any of the northwestern seas 
of Baffin's Bay, the transit of the middle ice is the 
essential feature. Its several "crossings" have heen 
divided into the South, the Middle, and the Northern 
passages. By the first of these, vessels reach the 
American side south of 68°. Any passage between 
this parallel and 74° is called a "Middle" passage; 
while the " Northern," which, early in the season, is 
the almost universal track, skirts the coast of G-reen- 
land, and, passing the accumulated shore ices of Mel- 
ville Bay, bears to the westward through a compara- 
tively iceless area, known as the North Water. 
The Southern passage is not unfrequently resorted 
to for the fisheries of the American coast. It is the al- 
ternative of the whalers late in the season, when they 
have failed to reach their western cruising grounds by 
the North Water. 
Instances of the Middle passage are rare. Old le- 
gends, preserved at Uppernavik, speak vaguely of a 
period when a direct communication existed between 
