THE PACIFIC OCEAN, 
^75 
point, I fhall beg leave to refer him to Obfervations made 
during a voyage round the world, by Dr. Forfter, where he 
will find the queftion of the formation of ice, fully and fa- 
tisfadlorily difcuffed, and the probability of open polar feas 
difproved by a variety of powerful arguments. 
. I fliall conclude thefe remarks with a fiiort comparative 
view of the progrefs we made to the Northward, at the two 
different feafons we were engaged in that purfuit, together 
with a few general obfervations relative to the fea, and the 
coaft of the two continents, which lie to the North of Beer¬ 
ing’s Strait. 
It may be obferved, that in the year 1778, we did not 
meet with the ice, till we advanced to the latitude of 70°, 
on Auguft 17th; and that then we found it in compadt 
bodies, extending as far as the eye could reach, and of 
which a part or the whole was moveable, fince, by its drift¬ 
ing down upon us, we narrowly efcaped being hemmed in 
between it and the land. After experiencing both how 
fruitlefs and dangerous it would be to attempt to penetrate 
farther North, between the ice and the land, we ftood over 
toward the Afiatic fide, between the latitude 69° and 70°, fre¬ 
quently encountering, in this tradt, large and extenfive fields 
of ice; and though, by reafon of the fogs, and thicknefs of 
the weather, we were not able abfolutely and entirely to 
trace a comiedted line of it acrofs, yet we were fure to meet 
with it before we reached the latitude of 70°, whenever we 
attempted to ftand to the Northward. On the 26th of Au¬ 
guft, in latitude 691°, and longitude 184°, we were obftrudted 
by it in fuch quantities j as made it impofiible for us to pafs 
either to the North or Weft, and obliged us to run along the 
edge of it to the South South Weft, till we faw land, which 
we afterward found to be the coaft of Afia. With the fea- 
N n 2 Ion 
