REMARKS.

Twelfth Month.--. Rainy. 2. Fine day: rainy night. 3. Fine. 4. Rainy. 5. Fine day ; between cight and nine, p. m. rain commenced with a very brisk wind from the SW, which increased during the night to a violent gale. 6. Very windy morning: cloudy. 7. Foggy. 8. Fine. 9. Cloudy. 10. Very fine morning: fine day. 11. Hoar frost: very foggy day : cleared off at night. 12. Hoar frost: fine day. 13. Fine. '14. Foggy. 15. Cloudy. 16. Raw cold: overcast. 17. Foggy. 18. Cloudy: atmosphere heavy. 19. A strong bleak wind. 20. Bleak, 21. Fine and clear. 22. Fine. 23, 24. Cloudy. 25. Cloudy and fine. 26. Fine: bright moonlight night. 27. Fine : clear. 28. Hoar frost. 29, 30. Fine. 31. A little snow in the afternoon.

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Memoir on the probable Situation and Prospects of the Expedition

under Capt. Parry. By Henry Edmonston, Esq.

(To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR,

Jan. 7, 1823. The last ships of the season have long since arrived from Davis's Straits, the year has closed, and time slips on; yet we hear no tidings of our countrymen, who, twenty months ago, sailed on the expedition for the discovery of a North West Passage. The public mind, seldom long alive to any thing, but lately awakened for a moment to this subject by the return of Capt. Franklin, seems again to have sunk into its usual state of repose. Did our adventurers but know how small a share of the general sympathy and attention their situation engrosses at any given period, it would not much tend to cheer the dulness of their long and dreary polar winter. But though in some measure forgotten by their country, they live in the hopes and fears of kindred and friends left behind, and in the anxieties of those who know how to estimate the magnitude and danger of the enterprise, and to do justice to their heroism and intrepidity. The indifference on the part of the public at large is peculiarly. ill-judged, for at no stage in the history of this extraordinary project, since it was first set on foot by Cabot, did it ever possess such an intensity of interest as it does at the present

Read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne..

New Series, Vol. V.

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moment. To every mind of reflection and sensibility, I do not doubt but that this sentiment will be sufficiently familiar. But for the purpose of rousing, and, if possible, of keeping alive, attention to the subject, it will be the business of the following remarks to place some of the circumstances connected with it in as prominent a point of view as the shortness of the time within which I have to prepare this article will allow. I obtrude no speculations on the importance of a north-west passage. This, together with the history of the various attempts made to effect it, are well known to all who are the least conversant with the study of maritime geography. I may, however, hazard one observation, that, setting aside every other consideration, it does appear to be, under suitable circumstances, an object worthy of the first maritime nation in the world, to take the lead in determining all questions of this kind, even though no other result should follow, than the ascertaining of a geographical fact. Such exploits are in strict accordance with many of our most interesting national associations and habits. Besides, to Great Britain belongs the glory of having first instituted voyages of discovery for the mere purposes of extending the boundaries of natural knowledge, and of benefiting mankind. Moreover, it belongs to the reign of George III. and will transmit that reign do posterity, with a lustre that will throw into shade many of the political events, singular as they have been, which have occurred during the sixty years that it lasted. Much, it is true, had been done previous to the accession of our late monarch towards perfecting the knowledge of the globe, but it had been done with selásh and sordid views, for the sake of national or individual emolument. It was reserved for this country, in our own times, to set an example of beneficence such as the world had never witnessed, vize the exploring of new and distant regions in order that civilization and happiness might be more widely diffused.* The north-west expedition then, had it no other claim to our regard, would be entitled to it on the ground of its having been sent out in furtherance of those laudable and enlightened designs. But it also has its own peculiar claims; such, indeed, as are calculated to call forth our utmost solicitude and admiration.

We know that a certain number of our countrymen have now been absent for a long period on a most perilous service ; that they have already encountered one hyperborean winter, and must now be amidst the hardships and privations of another; in regions, perhaps, never before visited, certainly never before resided in by Europeans, and under circumstances, though not altogether new, in the highest degree trying and difficult. We

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1823.] of the Expedition under Capt. Pärry. 163 know them to be bold and resolute ; zealous and persevering in the discharge of their duty, dreading nothing so much as failure. On the other hand, there is the experience of a former voyage; the prospects thence opened out, a certain share of national reputation hanging on the event, the honour that must accrue from success; nay, that must attach even to failure.

In short, a thousand considerations all of them most deeply interesting, and tending powerfully to fix on this expedition the notice of the world, and assuredly to engage our warmest sympathies on behalf of those who have embarked in it. A few conjectures then, respecting the probable situation and condition at present of this brave band, and also as to their prospects for the future, will not, we hope, be considered mistimed at this season; to us one of rejoicing and festivity, to them, probably, one of dreari: ness and darkness.

Next to the honour of participating in their hazardous pursuit, is the pleasure we derive from following them in our mind's eye, dr from tracing their fancied route on the map; joining in their labours, and entering into their difficulties. While thus employed, we feel, as if by taking a part, we lightened their toils; and we at all events discharge the duty we owe them of taking a lively concern in their affairs, the belief of which on their part, we may be assured, helps, perhaps, more than any thing else, to cheer the dull monotony of their abode, and corstitutes one of the principal means of enabling them to bear up under the pressure of hardships or misfortunes. Let us then endeavour to follow them, and, if possible, to find them out.

Various situations present themselves in which we may imagine them to be placed, some of them more or less difficult'; some of them dangerous. Before pointing these out, however, we shall attempt to assign the limits so far as respects latitude and longitude, within which their course must have lain, and within which they must in all probability be, if alive, and their object still unattained. In doing this, although there be few data of any kind, and still fewer upon which we can approximate with any thing like precision to the spot that they are likely to be now occupying, we can at least say with some certainty where they are not; and even this negative knowledge, in the absence of something better, is not wholly unimportant.

It is not easy to guess accurately where the entrance from the North Atlantic has been made. The experience, however, of the former.voyage--the fact of their not having been traced or heard of by any of the whalers—the views of Capt. Parry himself--and other considerations-lead to the belief that the place of entrance has been sought for, and found, either through Hudson's, Frobisher's, or Cumberland Straits, and thence northward by either Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, Repulse Bay, or Fox's Farthest. It will save some trouble if we at once take this for granted.

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Cape Chidley in 60° north latitude, at the south entrance of Hudson's Straits, and Possession Bay at the south entrance of Lancaster Sound, will consequently be their utmost distance in latitude; while their space in longitude will not here considerably exceed 20°, which, at this distance from the equator, is not much. It is not till they reach the latitude of 66° or 67° that their longitude becomes considerable, extending to Icy Cape, or probably to Cape Prince of Wales; that is, as far as the 168th degree of west longitude, and comprising not less than from 800 to 90°; while the latitude suffers a corresponding diminution, not including, at the furthest, more than 6° or 7. This is owing to the particular direction of the land and water, Within the boundaries denoted by these rough numbers, our navigators, in all probability, must be. But we may, if we choose, very much circumscribe these limits; and, for the sake of aiding our speculations, it may be well to do so. We shall

, therefore, confine them between the parallels of 66° and 72°; and between 80° and 168° west longitude. In this estimate it is assumed, that Capt. Franklin has given to the Copper Mine River a lower latitude than Hearne did; and we may venture to do this with safety, both from what has transpired respecting his voyage, and from a conjecture hazarded with great foresight by Capt. Parry in his Journal. It will also stretch as far north as Prince Regent's Inlet, explored in the last expedition.

On casting the eye over the map, there is one thing that cannot fail to strike the most superficial observer, viz. the near correspondence in latitude (or at least within a very few degrees of each other) of four cardinal points, now ascertained to exist; namely, Fox's Farthest, the mouth of the Copper Mine River, the mouth of Mackenzie's River, and Icy Cape. From well authenticated facts, as well as from many circumstances of a conjectural character, such as the probable direction of currents, tides, &c. it amounts to almost a certainty, that between the latitudes of 67° or even lower, and 75°, and for the whole longitude already mentioned, there is an extensive surface of water more or less open. Whether continuously so from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific, or whether permanently obstructed by land or ice, remains to be seen. So far as Capt. Parry's former survey goes, there has not yet been discovered any æstuary communicating with it between Cumberland Strait and Lancaster Sound, though it might be expected that a body of water of such magnitude would make itself known by an outlet not liable to doubt or mistake. We are not, however, to lay too much stress upon this; the Sound and the Straits of Gibraltar being familiar examples to the contrary. Still, no passage having been found, full liberty is allowed to presume thạt Hudson's Bay through Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome and the neighbouring passages, forms the prolongation eastward of this vast expanse, and that Hudson's Straits generally, as comprehending Frobisher's and

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