deceptive appearance of a real current. We are persuaded, (and the results to be deduced from this Journal justify us in that opinion), that the currents, respecting which so much has been said, and which have given rise to so many fanciful speculations, are all of the same nature, and that no permanent or steady current exists in Baffin's Bay,

The sea, on the 17th of June, appeared to occupy the whole visible horizon; and the vessels were made fast, by means of their ice-anchors, to an iceberg, being detained in company with 45 ships employed on the whale fishery. The first important geographical observation respecting the land is here made; and a correction of 5° in longitude, and of 30 miles in latitude, was made in the Admiralty charts. This was to be expected, in consequence of the inadequate means and the inadequate hands from which former positions had been deduced; and, among other important fruits of this expedition to Geography, it will be seen, by consulting the appended chart, that a material change has been made in the position of the land wherever that had formerly been determined, either by dead reckoning, or by observations on the longitude.

After the usual difficulties in working through the ice, the Expedition reached Four Island Point, where a worthy disciple of Dr Spurzheim was found digging for skulls. Here the ships were put into a perilous situation by the motion of the ice; and the Alexander took the ground, but was relieved by the exertions of the crew, and those of some whalers that chanced to be in company. A detail is next given of an outrage committed on the Danish factory, by some sailors from a fishing vessel. We are happy to inform our readers, that the Admiralty very properly interfered after the return of this expedition, and that adequate remuneration has since been made to the injured. To sweeten the remembrance of this injury, a ball was given to the natives, a Shetland Orpheus forming part of the Isabella's establishment, and the Esquimaux interpreter Sackheuse conduct, ing the ceremonial.

Sackheuse's mirth and joy exceeded all bounds; and, with a good-humoured officiousness, justified by the important distinction which his superior knowledge now gave him, he performed the office of master of the ceremonies. An Esquimaux master of ceremonies to a ball on the deck of one of His Majesty's ships in the icy seas of Greenland, was an office somewhat new; but Nash himself could not have performed his functions in a manner more appropriate. It did not belong even to Nash to combine in his own person, like Jack, the discordant qualifications of seaman, interpreter, draughtsman, and master of ceremonies to a ball, with those of an active fisher of seals, and a hunter of white bears.'

This poor man, after the voyage was terminated, was sent to

this city, with the intention, as Captain Ross informs us in his Introduction, of being again appointed interpreter on the next expedition; and here he unfortunately died. He appears to have combined an unusual degree of intelligence and ingenuity, with much ardour for the acquisition of knowledge; a feature, if we judge from the reports of the Moravians, very prevalent among the Esquimaux of Labrador. He had narrowly escaped with his life, shortly after the ball, by the bursting of his overloaded gun.

The ice, which had so long formed a solid mass, and hitherto impeded the attempts of the expedition to work its way towards the North, began to break up on the 2d of July; and the vessels accordingly moved forward slowly, labouring through narrow and intricate channels, among mountains and loose pieces of field ice. To the westward the ice continued solid; and it soon appeared, that the only chance of effecting a further passage North, consisted in keeping near the shore.

This fact has been generally known to former navigators, as it is to the whalers within the limits of their experience in Baffin's Bay. The cause, however, has not been investigated. On narrowly examining Captain Ross's Journal, it will be found to be connected with the relative depth of water in the several parts of the Bay. Along the shore, the soundings are everywhere deep, ranging from 90 to 450 fathoms on the east side. But whenever, from the openness of the ice, it was possible, and for making way to the north necessary, to stand out into the Bay, the water was gradually found to shoal; averaging, wherever the observations were made, from 80 to 40 fathoms. It will certainly be singular if this extraordinary formation of the bottom should be found to prevail generally in this region. But if it should, it would at once enable us to account for the peculiar direction in which the ice breaks up, and its permanence in the middle of the Bay; where it is also maintained by the grounding of icebergs, in a direction transverse to the Bay, on certain shoals which are noticed in a subsequent part of the Journal. On the 16th, the Isabella seems to have been once more placed in a perilous situation, by being jammed in between two ice-floes, and lifted several feet out of the water.

No occurrence more interesting than the usual difficult progress through the ice, appears to have taken place till the 24th, when the Expedition reached a point, beyond which, as far as Cape Dudley Digges, land had not been seen by former navigators;' and here Captain Ross's geographical discoveries may properly be said to commence. The first important observation he made was, that the whales were as numerous and as tame as they were in the days of the Baffins and the Davises. We trust

our whalers will profit by the discovery. The wretched economy prevalent in the victualling of their ships is such, that they are often known to return nearly destitute of provisions; nor can they venture beyond the old beaten track, for fear of the consequences of an accidental detention. His voyage has proved, that even in a season of no peculiar mildness, and after a winter unusually severe, the whole Bay may be circumnavigated within that time in which a whaler may safely return; and that the unexplored parts abound in those fish which have been gradually, and for a long time, becoming scarce in the more frequented parts of this sea. Another remark may be made on the tameness of these whales. They appear never to have been disturbed, showing no fear of the ships or of the boats; a proof that they do not range far, though harpooned whales have been supposed to pass through the north-west passage from Spitzbergen into Baffin's Bay.

Here probably originated the thoughts of a passage towards the north and north-east round Greenland; although no direct intimation of this is given in the Journal. Probably Captain Ross may have suppressed his opinion on this head; as, by his instructions, he is directed to explore this part of the coast, after he had examined the eastern shore of America; rather a singular mode of proceeding, as he was to return for that purpose through the very route he had passed, when even the whole season was barely sufficient to carry him to Cumberland Straits: But these are points in navigation beyond the limits of our acquaintance on this subject, and we must leave the adepts in this science to settle it among them. Our judgment respecting his opinion, is founded on the description of high mountains of land and ice to the east of Melville Bay, forming an impassable barrier.

On the 7th of August the vessels experienced a severe gale of wind, and were in extreme danger. We shall give the description in Captain Ross's own words.

A floe on one side of the Isabella appeared to be fixed, while another, with a circular motion, was passing rapidly along. The pressure continuing to increase, it became a trial of strength between the ship and the ice; every support threatened to give way; the beams in the hold began to bend; and the iron tanks settled together. At this critical moment, when it seemed impossible for the ship to sustain the accumulating pressure much longer, she rose several feet; while the ice, which was more than six feet thick, broke against her sides, curling back on itself. The great stress now fell upon her bow, and, after being again lifted up, she was carried with great violence towards the Alexander, which ship had hitherto been, in a great meature, defended by the Isabella. Every effort to avoid their getting foul of each other failed; the ice-anchors and cables broke one

after another, and the sterns of the two ships came so violently into contact, as to crush to pieces a boat that could not be removed in time. The collision was tremendous, the anchors and chain-plates being broken, and nothing less expected than the loss of the masts: but, at this eventful instant, by the interposition of Providence, the force of the ice seemed exhausted; the two fields suddenly receded, and we passed the Alexander with comparatively little damage. The last things that hooked each other were the two bower anchors, which, being torn from the bows, remained suspended in a line between the two ships, until that of the Alexander gave way.'

By this, as well as by the circumstance formerly mentioned, it appears, that the Isabella had been better adapted to the ice than was originally supposed; and that to her unusual strengthening she was indebted for the escape she had made.

On the cessation of this gale, land was seen; and the first discovery was made of that colony of Esquimaux, respecting which the public has already heard nearly all that Captain Ross has to say; and to whom he has given, with somewhat of national affection, the name of Arctic Highlanders. By the intervention of the Esquimaux interpreter, a communication was soon established, which was maintained at intervals for six days; when the opening of the ice, and the positive nature of his instruction on the main object of the expedition, compelled him to take leave of Prince Regent's Bay. Captain Ross informs us these Esquimaux conceived the ships to be living and flying creatures; a much more natural mistake where whales are familiar objects, than in many other situations where we understand it to have occurred. During the conversation which was held with the interpreter Sackheuse, I had been employed' (Captain Ross states) with a good telescope, in observing their motions; and beheld the first man approach with every mark of fear and distrust, looking frequently behind to the other two, and beckoning them to come on as if for support. They occasionally retreated, then advanced again with cautious steps in the attitude of listening, generally keeping one hand down by their knees, in readiness to pull out a knife which they had in their boots; in the other hand they held their whips with the lash coiled up; their sledges remained at a little distance, the fourth man being apparently stationed to keep them in readiness for escape. Sometimes they drew back the covering they had on their heads, as if wishing to catch the most distant sounds; at which time I could discern their features, displaying extreme terror and amazement, while every limb appeared to tremble as they moved. They were requested to cross a chasma which separated them from the interpreter, by a plank; but appeared still much alarmed, and requested that Sackheuse only should come over; he accordingly passed to the opposite side, on which they earnestly besought him not to touch them, as, if he did, they should certainly die. After he had used many arguments to persuade them that he

was flesh and blood, the native who had shown most courage, ventured to touch his hand; then pulling himself by the nose, set up a shout, in which he was joined by Sackheuse, and the other three. The presents were then distributed, consisting of two or three arti cles of clothing, and a few strings of beads. After which, Sackheuse exchanged his knife for one of theirs.

Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry then went on the ice; and, by the time they reached it, the whole were assembled; those who had originally been left at a distance with their sledges, having driven up to join their comrades. The party now, therefore, consisted of eight natives, with all their sledges, and about 50 dogs, two sailors, Sackheuse, Lieutenant Parry, and myself; forming a groupe of no small singularity, not a little increased, also, by the peculiarity of the situation on a field of ice far from the land. The noise and clamour may be easily conceived, the whole talking and shouting together, and the dogs howling, while the natives were flogging them with their long whips to preserve order. Our arrival produced considerable alarm, causing them to retreat a few steps towards their sledges; on this, Sackheuse called to us to pull our noses, as he had discovered this to be the mode of friendly salutation with them. This ceremony was accordingly performed by each of us, the natives during their retreat making use of the same gesture, the nature of which we had not before understood.'-Presents were then made, and, on seeing their faces in the glasses, their astonishment appeared extreme, and they looked round in silence, for a moment, at each other, and at us: Immediately afterwards they set up a general shout, succeeded by a loud laugh, expressive of extreme delight, as well as surprise, in which we joined, partly from inability to avoid it, and willing also to show that we were pleased with our new acquaintances.' Confidence shortly after became established, and uncovering of heads was substituted for pulling of noses; the natives appearing to comprehend the nature of this ceremony, more quickly than the seamen did the other, and probably not considering it a much more reasonable, although a more inconvenient testimony of respect. They were then invited to the ship, to which one of them thought proper to address a speech, pausing between every question, and pulling his nose with the utmost solemnity.' All the wonder to be expected was here excited: but the quantity of the wood and iron appeared to be the chief objects of surprise.

Their knowledge of wood seemed to be limited to some heath of a dwarfish growth, with stems no thicker than the finger, and accordingly they knew not what to think of the timber they saw on board. Not being aware of its weight, two or three of them, 'successively, seized on the spare top-mast, evidently with the view of carrying it off; and as soon as they became familiar with the people around them, they showed that desire of possessing what they admired, which is so universal among savages. The only thing they looked on with