44 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCKLAND. 
r ch. ii. 
And the collection, adds Buckland, “ is becoming one 
of the most valuable in Europe.” 
Among the specimens with which his friends enriched his 
collection were treasures gathered from the Arctic regions 
by adventurous explorers. In the progress and results of 
the various Polar expeditions he was keenly interested. 
With most of the officers who were engaged he was 
personally acquainted ; to more than one he had given 
valuable assistance in the preparation of geological 
reports ; and in the classification and arrangement of 
their collections his aid was often invoked. It was there¬ 
fore an appropriate tribute to his geological services when 
his name was bestowed, by Captain Beechey, on a new¬ 
found island and a newly discovered river. 
Of Captain Ross’s expedition he writes, on December 
14th, 1818, a long account to Lady Mary Cole at Penrice 
Castle :— 
“ The philosophical world here,” he says, “ is much oc¬ 
cupied with the question of the Polar expedition ; Captain 
Ross and his under officers give different accounts, and 
three books are in preparation. I saw Captain Ross a 
few days ago at Sir Joseph Banks’, and was at the British 
Museum on the arrival of the animals and boxes of 
specimens. Captain Ross had a chart of Baffin’s Bay 
corrected by daily soundings and observations. At the 
extreme point which they reached, after sounding in 
calm water 1,000 fathoms, the sea shallowed gradually 
to 300, and a lofty ridge of mountains on the right, as 
they sailed forward, seemed to close round and shut up 
the end of the bay. Of this he had little doubt ; but 
his officers thought otherwise, and they sailed in at 
evening, hoping to establish the fact. But at night a gale 
came on, and they were obliged to turn back, and were 
