578 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
last voyage, may be considered as rather negative than positive, 
for he certainly determined where the North West Passage was 
not to be found, but he has thrown very little light as to the 
quarter where it is to be found. 
On this subject, it may not only be curious, but highly inte¬ 
resting, to take a view of the opinions of some very able nautical 
men, who were summoned before the committee of the House 
of Commons, particularly of the evidence of Capt. Beaufort, 
who, although the drift of the questions, that were put to him, 
was clearly discernible, gave some of his answers in a manner, 
that the friends of Capt. Ross did not expect, and, which gave 
them some reason to wish, that he had not been questioned at 
ail. Capt. Beaufort is asked, in the first place, Whether, in his 
opinion, the expedition undertaken by Capt. Ross, had been 
productive of any important advantage in matters of geography. 
To which, he answers, That it has added a short but important 
link to our knowledge of the geography of the northern extreme 
of America. 
“ Has it been productive of any important advantage, with 
respect to the navigation of the Arctic seas ?”—“It has only told 
us where we cannot go , by shutting up Prince Regent’s inlet, but 
it throws no further light on the navigation of the Arctic seas.” 
“ Do you think the voyage would go far towards the deter¬ 
mining the geographical curiosity ?”—“ The most interesting 
of all the voyages, must have been that, which showed the road 
in through Lancaster Sound; I think that none of the voyages 
can come into competition with that, which broke a passage 
through the west side of Baffin’s bay.’’ 
“ You allude to Capt. Parry’s first voyage?”—“ I do.” 
“ Do you consider that the closing up of Prince Regent’s 
inlet narrows the range, within which, a North West Passage 
may be found, within a short compass?”—“It only narrows it 
by one of the openings.” 
“ Does it not narrow the opening to something above 74 de¬ 
grees north latitude ?”—“ There are several openings from the 
end of Lancaster sound ; Prince Regent’s inlet was one of them, 
by closing that, Capt. Ross has removed one of the probable 
