The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-07-19 00:00:00

ment, which the shortness the navigating start;
in those seas made most particularly desirable ; ate/
indeed, there can he but little doubt, that the thee
Captious Parry lost in sinking for her at differvii,.
periods, would have rambled tam to attain the Ink
object of his itietiiry—if, in Lief, it be attaitiald..
at all in the direction in which it has
,hitherto been
sought. The sea to the westward- at first presenter
a very flotteritae appearance, being' nicer clear of
ice than it had been a nitstith later the preceding
year, and presenting a title. navigable channel of
two miles and a half to width, attach ems:tired Irons
the niast-head to continue n>E .far as eyeamilit
• reach, along shore to the westward. Pot on ream&
tog the point of Cape IPeatne, the wind broeiree
against them, Had a etroug'careent vatting tee
the eastward, wurtiettlieni tts argetiwonselves wit:,
patience fur a repetitien of ullabe.deleys mid diffi-
culties which they l?ad already exatereerieett;
these great danger wdv soon added, /rein the drift-
ing and pressure of the ire, which threatened the
Griper, in particular, with total destruction.
11'e have not mons to depulthare particulars, in-
teresting as they are, but Capt. L'urrjers aecottia
them sufficiently 'Mews how ousiotis he was I.ot ti,
abandon the final object of his exiiedition whilst s,
hope of attaining it eottirtid cherished. 'lry hid.
experienced, indeed; during the first half of the
navigable season,. such • continued series of vexa-
tions, disappointmeate, sod delays, accompanied by
such a constant state of donor to•the ships, that
he felt it would no longer be deemed justifiable in
Inni to persevere its all-witless attempt to go to the
westward.
Accordingly, Cher leaving beide council respect-
log the eligibility of 'spending another winter it
these dreary regions, and receiving an unanimous.
opinion as to the little chance, even at the expense•
of that sacrifice,' Cod the risk of faßing. short oI
fuel sod provisions, of being able tau start from a
more advanced station at a future person, Cap-
taM Parry determined to proeeed to England,
without further delay; runnier, back, along, the
edge of the ice to the eastward. in order to look out
he au opening- that might lead towards the Ameri-
can continent, and takitig with them the consolatory
reflection that they had prom-tiled farther ill the
Polar Sea, to the northward of that continent, that
any preceding navigators bad done. The aerie
awl bezveys taken nil the homeward comae suffi-
ciently attest their unwearied zeal in the Catl9e or
maritime scieuce.. The western side of Buffises
Buy, in particular, was most carefully explored ;
and here in latitude 71. 02. 42. they met with the
vessels belonging to the whale fisheries, which had
taken op- there station on this coast, hitherto cou-
iidered as inaceessilde. Their next encounter witls
the " human face divine" way in the persons of a•
group of Esquitnaux, in the inlet which wee-named
the River Clyde, in the Expedition of rare. We
regret that we have nut room to dwell on the ami-
able deportment of those intsoplaisticated childrett
ofitsture, who-appeared to possess a degree of deli-
cacy aticl principle far beyond any thing that the
same description of people can boast of in Nettle
Greenland ; but all our remasitieg space must he
devoted to Capt. Parry's remarks nit the probable
existence and sceomplishnient of a North-west-
Passage into the Pacific Ocean. Of the existence
of the passage itself he entertains not a doubt ;
but from the difficulties presented by the iiieveas-
iug breadth and thickness of the ice towards the
westward, after passing theasah Barrow's Strait,.
insomuch time it required tire weeks to traverse
from the entrance of Sir James Lancaster's Sou•itt
to the meridian of Winter Harbour,: and. only FIX
days to sail back through the Caine distance. added
to the shortness of the season, not exerrdiug seven
weeks, in which the Polar Sea can be navigated its
that part, he is inclined to think that an attempt
to effect the North-west Passage might be made
with a better chattier of success from Belatiug'a
Strait than from this side of America.. Still lie
acknowledges that there are circumstances which
render this mode of proceeding altogether imprac-
ticable for British ships; foremost among which are
the length of the voyage that must be performed
before arriving at the point where the grand un-
dertaking is to be commenced—the impossibility
of taking out provisions and fuel in sufficient quan-
tity to ensure the confidence necessary fur air eters-
prise, of which the nature must be so precarious
and uncertain—and the severe trial to which the
health of the crews would be subjected by goieg
at once from the beat of the Torrid Zone into the
intense cold of a lime winter, upon the northern
shores of America. The middle costive which he
recommends. between this choice of evils is, at once
to attempt to penetrate from the eastern coast of
America along its northern shore.
- " The question," says he, " which naturally
arises, in the next place, relates to the most likely-
means ofgetting to the coast of America, so as to snit
along its shores. It would, in this respect, he de-
ratable to find an outlet from the Atlantic into the
Polar Sea, as nearly as possible in the ;sandhi of
latitude in which the northern coast of Amerit.:l
may be supposed to lie; as, however, we do not
know of any such outlet from Baffin's- Bay, about
the parallels of 69. to 70. the attempt is, perhaps.
to he made with heifer clionce of fleeces' iu a stilt
lower latitude, especially as there is a considerable
portion of coast that rutty reasonably be supposed le
otter the desired communication, which yet re-
tnains unexplored. Comberlaed Strait, the pas-
sage called Sir Thomas Rowe'a Welcome, lye...
between Southampton Teland and Ow coast et.
America, and !lay, appear to be the point,
most worthy of atttittion; and, considerate the
state of uncertainty iu which the attempts of for-
mer navigators leave left us, with regard to the es-
teut amid communication of these openings, one
cannot bid entertain a reasonable hope, that our.
or perhaps each of them, may afford • practicable
passage into the Paler Ser."