266 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820 . eastward, the wind continuing fresh directly down Barrow’s [Strait, except 
just after passing Prince Leopold’s Islands, where it drew into Prince Regent’s 
Inlet, and as soon as we had passed this, again assumed its former westerly 
direction ; affording a remarkable instance of the manner in which the wind 
is acted upon by the particular position of the land, even at a considerable 
distance from it. The islands were incumbered with ice to the distance of 
four or five miles all round them, hut the Strait was generally as clear and 
navigable as any part of the Atlantic. 
Having now traced the ice the whole way from the longitude of 114° to 
that of 90° without discovering any opening to encourage a hope of pene- 
trating it to the southward, I could not entertain the slightest doubt, that 
there no longer remained a possibility of effecting our object with the 
present resources of the Expedition; and that it was, therefore, my duty to 
return to England with the account of our late proceedings, that no time 
might be lost in following up the success with which we had been favoured, 
should His Majesty’s Government consider it expedient to do so. Having 
informed the officers and men in both ships of my intentions, I directed the 
full allowance of provisions to be, in future, issued, with such a proportion 
of fuel as might contribute to their comfort ; a luxury which, on account of 
the necessity that existed for the strictest economy in this article, it must be 
confessed, we had not often enjoyed since we entered Sir James Lancaster’s 
Sound. We had been on two-thirds allowance of bread between ten and 
eleven months, and on the same reduced proportion of the other species of 
provisions, between three and four ; and, although this quantity is scarcely 
enough for working men for any length of time, I believe the reduction 
of fuel was generally considered by far the greater privation of the two. 
We ran along the south shore, at the distance of four or five leagues, with 
a fresh westerly wind, and fine clear weather ; a bay on that coast, a little 
to the westward of Cape York, was named after my friend. The Honourable 
Mr. Eardley. We noticed a striking similarity in the geological character 
of this part of the coast, as far as we could judge at a distance, to that on 
the opposite shore of Barrow’s Strait, both being remarkable for that but- 
tress-like structure, which has before been observed to resemble the works 
of art, and which gives this land a magnificent and imposing appearance* 
such as it is impossible to describe. The shores were covered with ice to 
the distance of four or five miles, and the first solitary iceberg was seen in 
the course of the afternoon ; but the Strait was, in other respects, perfectly 
