LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
579 
means of getting to the westward, but there are three still 
open, in which success is just as likely as in the other.” 
“Will you specify their names?”—“One is, going out by the 
Wellington channel to the north-west, that is, going northward 
of the chain of islands discovered by Capt. Parry, and approx¬ 
imating the pole; another, proceeding by Melville island, in 
the same direction, that Capt. Parry previously tried ; and the 
third, would be by getting to the south-west as soon as the 
vessel has passed the cape, which Capt. Ross supposes to be 
the northern extreme of America, and then endeavoring to get 
over to the shore, laid down by Capt. Franklin and Dr. Rich¬ 
ardson : all those three are still open to future enterprise.” 
“ Do vou consider that the closing the most southerly outlet, 
closes that, supposed to be the most likely to be practicable ?”— 
“ No, for that is not the route 1 should have taken, if employed 
on that service .” 
Notwithstanding this answer, so unfavourable to the judg¬ 
ment of Capt. Ross, the members of the committee appeared 
most anxious to obtain from Capt. Beaufort, an admission, that 
Capt. Ross was not in error, when he selected Prince Regent's 
inlet as the most advisable route, for the discovery of the 
passage. The members, therefore, shape their questions in the 
following manner: 
“Was the passage by Prince Regent’s inlet considered, before 
this expedition, as one of the most likely ?”—“ There was always 
a great difference of opinion upon that subject, amongst those, 
who pursued the enquiry.” 
“ It was one, which, if the British government had pursued 
that object of discovery, they might have very probably directed 
their attention to ?”■—“ It is very likely, hut it would have de¬ 
pended a good deal upon whom they employed, and what was 
the prevailing opinion amongst those best informed.” 
“ Was that Capt. Parry’s opinion?”—“ I really do not recol¬ 
lect; I had not much conversation with him upon that part of the 
subject.” 
At the conclusion of this part of the evidence, one of the 
most sapient of the members enquires, “ // the sea had been 
