156 Account of the Expedition to BafirCs Bay. 
one wliich existed in this part of the bay, was completely shut 
up with ice, so that no farther hopes were entertained of a 
north-west passage in this direction. 
The ships of discovery had now reached the latitude of 76° 
55', and longitude, 74° 56' 48" west, and began to descend the 
western coast of BafSn'’s Bay. Jones’ Sound was seen on the 
21st, completely blocked up with ice, and on the 23d, a piece 
of hr wood was picked up with nails in it, and bearing the 
marks of the plane and adze. On the 31st the expedition en- 
tered Lancaster’s Sound. At a litde before four o’clock a. m. 
the land was seen at the bottom of the inlet, by the officers of 
the watch, but before Captain Boss got upon deck, a space of 
about seven degrees of the compass was obscured by the fog. 
I his land was a high ridge of mountains extending directly 
across the bottom of the inlet. At twelve o’clock, Mr Beverly, 
who went up to the crow’s nest, reported that he had seen the 
land across the bay, except for a very short space ; but even 
this uncertainty was removed about three o’clock, when Cap- 
tain Ross went on deck, and at the distance of about eight 
leagues, distinctly saiv the land round the bottom (f the hay^ 
forming a connected chain (f mountains with those which ex- 
tended along the north and south sides. Captain Ross also 
saw a continuity of ice., at the distance of seven miles^ extending 
from one side of the bay to the other. 
The testimony of Captain Ross thus distinctly given, has 
been called iii question, in an indirect manner, by Captain Sa^ 
bine, who accompanied the expedition ; and who still holds out 
expectations of a north-west passage through one or other of 
the Seven Sounds in Baffin’s Bay % We have no hesitation in 
* When speakincj of the inlets or sounds discovered, by Btiffin, Captain Sabine 
says, “ It is partly on these inlets that the hopes of persons who have thought 
since then -on the probability of a passage, have been fixed. It has been expected, 
that one or more will be found to communicate with the northern ocean. They 
have remained unexplored, and still remain so. There are altogether seven 
sounds, of which five only .are interesting, from bi°ing on the northern and wes- 
tern coasts. Of these, the first is Wolstenholm Sound, the entrance of which we 
passed at a few miles distance, sufficiently near to identify it, by “ the island in 
the midst, which maketh two entrances.” Of Whale Sound, we could just dis- 
<iern the opening in the coast, being thirty or forty miles distant from us. Of 
Smith’s Sound, “ the greatest and longest in' all this bay, and which runneth to 
the north of 78^,” w’e can say nothing, as our extreme north was in 76® 53'« 
