208 
NORTH POLE. 
rence, at the diftance of fix leagues, the land which forms 
the weft fide and the bottom of this bay was alfo diftindtly 
feen by Lieut. Robertfon and myfelf; and by thefe two 
obfervations the coaft is determined to be connected all 
round. At each of thefe periods this immenfe bay was 
difcovered to be covered with field-ice ; befides which, a 
vaft chain of large icebergs was feen to extend acrofs it: 
thefe were apparently aground, and had probably been 
driven on-ftiore there by foutherly gales. It was alfo ob- 
ferved, that the tide rofeand fell only four feet, and that 
the ftream of it was fcarcely perceptible. From thefe 
feveral confiderations, it appears perfectly certain that 
the land is herecontinuous, and that there is no opening at 
the northernmoft part of Baffin’s Bay, from Hakluyt’s 
Ifland to Cape Clarence. Even if it be imagined, by 
thofe who are unwilling to concede their opinions while 
there is yet a fingle yarn of their hypothefis holding, that 
fome narrow ftrait may exift through thefe mountains, it 
is evident that it mult for ever be unnavigable, and that 
there is not even a chance of afcertaining its exillence, 
fince all approach to the bottom of thefe bays is prevent¬ 
ed by the ice which fills them to fo great a depth, and 
appears never to have moved from its ftation.” 
How far the conclufions thus drawn by Capt. Rofs are 
founded on fufficient evidence, is a queftion of fome dif¬ 
ficulty to determine: to himfelf they were fo fatisfadlory, 
that, after taking accurate bearings of the headlands, and 
naming a remarkable cape in honour of the Duke of Cla¬ 
rence, he fteered to an apparent opening to the weftward, 
which proved to be the Alderman Jones’s Sound of Baffin. 
To follow our voyagers through the dry details of nauti¬ 
cal terms would be ufelefs ; it is therefore only neceffary 
to add, that after exploring the coaft to the l'outhward, 
and during which no new difcovery of importance was 
made, but the account of that Ikilful navigator Baffin, 
whole difcoveries had been “ expunged from the records 
of-geography, and the bay with which his name is fo 
fairly alfociated treated as a phantom of the imagination,” 
confirmed, captain Rofs found that, according to the 
jnftruftions of the admiralty as to the time of his leaving 
the ice, he had but “ eight days remaining to explore the 
remainder of Baffin’s Bay, a diftance of about four hun¬ 
dred miles,” and of which nearly two hundred miles had 
never been examined ; he therefore proceeded to that 
fpot where he was led to expert the current to be found, 
but where he did not find the leaft indication of a pafl'age. 
Ke then traverfed the remainder of the bay in a very cur- 
lory manner, (we think,) and came fomewhat precipi¬ 
tately to this conclulion; that, in proving the “exiftence 
of a bay from Difco to Cumberland Straight,” he has 
“ let at reft for ever the queftion of a north-weft pafl’age 
in that direction.” 
During the voyage homeward, on Friday the nth of 
September, the weather being fine, and there being but 
little wind, “Lieut. Parry alked permiffion to meafure an 
iceberg at a final 1 diftance from us : as it appeared to be 
longer than any we had yet feen in thefe regions, we were 
anxious to alcertain its fize. The requeft was granted ; 
but the objeft was nearly fruftrated by the inacceffible 
form of the berg. One of the Ifabella’s boats, which 
happened to be a Ihort diftance before the Alexander, 
went into a little creek, on one fide of it, which ap¬ 
peared to be the only place where it was poffible to get 
upon it, on the fide we firlt made. On examining this 
place, however, they confidered it too difficult for the 
attempt; fo that, without any further examination, the 
boats pulled right round the berg. This was a labour 
of fome hours; and, what was ftill more grievous, 
there was not a fingle place where we could poffibly at¬ 
tempt.to get up, the fides of the iceberg being as perpen¬ 
dicular as the walls of a houfe, and between forty and 
fifty feet high, at an average. After performing a cir¬ 
cuit round this enormous mafs of ice, we returned again 
to the above-mentioned creek, where, after fome diffi- 
3 
culty, one of our men fcrambled up: by the means of a 
line, which he made fall to the top, we all got up, and 
that without much lofs of time ; for the man who firft 
afcended, on looking round, obferved a white bear at a 
little diftance from liim. We prepared immediately to 
attack this formidable animal, fome with mulkets, and 
the others with lances and boarding-pikes. He at firft 
advanced towards us ; but, on perceiving that our ap¬ 
proaches were mutual, took to his heels towards the op- 
polite fide of the berg. As we were, however, acquainted 
with its height, as well on that as on every other fide, 
we made ourfelves quite lure of fecuring him ; and, in 
order to be more expeditious, divided ourfelves into two 
parties, for the purpofe of hemming him in : but, very 
much to our difappointment, and contrary to our expec¬ 
tations, we found that he had leaped off the berg, ‘at a 
place where we eftimated its height to be about fifty feet. 
On looking over the precipice at this part, I oblerved 
feveral large fragments of ice floating at the bottom, on 
one of which he is luppofed to have fallen, and to have 
been killed, as we did not fee him afterwards. Afterour 
fruitlefs chafe of the bear, we proceeded to meafure the 
iceberg, the dimenfions of which, and the refult of the 
obfervations made on it, are as follow. 
“ Size, weight, and folid contents, of an iceberg mea- 
fured on the nth of September, 1818, in Davis’s Straits, 
lat. 70. 36. 40. N. Ion. 67. 27. 45. W. Its length and 
breadth were obtained by adtual meafurement, and its 
thicknefs by comparing its adlual height above the fur- 
face of the lea with the portion of a cube made from it 
above the furface of the lea-water, when floating on it. 
Its weight was eftimated by weighing a cube made from 
it, a folid inch having been found to weigh 240 grains. 
Length 2 miles, 649 yards; or 12,507 feet. 
Breadth, 3869 paces, eftimating each pace at two feet 
nine inches; 2 miles, 26 yards, 1 foot, 9 inches; or 
10,639 feet, 9 inches. 
Thicknefs, allowing fifty-one feet to be the average 
height above the furface of the lea, as was found to be 
the height of the place where it was meafured; 367 
feet, 2 inches, 4 lines. 
Solid content, 48,863,800,913 feet, 691-^ inches; or 
84,436,647,978,355-5- inches. 
Weight, 1,292,397,673 tons, 2 cwt. 3 qrs. 1 lb. 5 oz. 2 dwt. 
5 Togrs- 
For the fake of amufement, it was calculated what 
fpace the quantity of ice in this iceberg would cover, if 
reduced to the thicknefs of fix inches, which it was pre¬ 
fumed would be fufficiently ftrong for the purpofe of 
Ikaiting. From the refult of this calculation it would 
appear to be fufficient to cover a fpace equal to 3505 
fquare miles, 31 fquare furlongs.” Journal, p. 80. 
Nothing material occurred during the remainder of 
the voyage home. On the 30th of October the two fliips 
again reached Lerwick in Shetland, having been exactly 
fix months abfent. Capt. Rofs then wrote home by a 
Lerwick packet, “ that neither of the fliips had loft a man, 
or had either officer or man lick ; nor had one inftance of 
punilhment occurred.” They left Shetland on the 7th 
of November, and arrived at Deptford on the 21ft. 
On the 7th of December, the curiofities brought home 
by the Ifabella and Alexander were landed at Whitehall- 
flairs from the boats of thofe (hips. There were four 
dogs and two bitches, the former larger than the latter; 
three almoft black, one black and white, and two brown- 
ilh, and appearing nearly of the fame fpecies as thofe of 
Kamfchatka, with heads and tails refembling a fox; 
their Ikins exceedingly thick, with long hair: they are 
very docile, and reprelented as of great ftrength. Among 
the curiofities was an amazingly large Ikin of a white 
bear, about feven feet in length; a fledge of bone about 
five feet long and two feet high, with the whip, Sec, ufled 
by the newly-difcovered inhabitants; fpecimens of mine¬ 
ralogy 
