MADE BY CAPTAIN BACK DURING HIS LATE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 415 
least as near an approach was made to the northern pole of verticity as at Padliak or 
Cape Isabella ; and because the observations at Rock Rapid, the last point where, 
probably, the direction of the magnetic meridian could be ascertained with something 
like precision, would assign a position to this pole different from that assigned to it 
by Captain James Ross. As, however, I propose on some future occasion, investi- 
gating the positions which the observations on the continent and in the archipelago 
of North America would assign to the poles of verticity and convergence, I shall not 
now pursue the subject further. 
I cannot conclude this discussion of Captain Back’s highly interesting observations 
without expressing my own obligation to him for having placed them at my disposal, 
and, at the same time, my sense of the zeal he has shown in the prosecution of scien- 
tific inquiry. The undivided responsibility which rested upon Captain Back during 
the expedition, and particularly during the progress from Fort Reliance to the sea, 
by a navigation of unparalleled danger, was of no ordinary kind ; and it was scarcely 
to be expected that, under such circumstances, any other observations than those 
absolutely requisite for the prosecution of the voyage would have been made. We 
however find that during this perilous and unknown navigation, Captain Back availed 
himself of every opportunity for making observations, necessarily tedious in their 
nature, and requiring much care and attention, but which he considered requisite for 
the attainment of particular scientific objects ; and I feel I should be committing 
injustice were I not to express that I consider science is greatly indebted to him for 
the zeal and ability he has manifested in its cause. 
