The Sun.
London, England, 1818-11-14 00:00:00

LITERARY REVIEW.

41 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY of VOYAGES into the
-,NncTic REGIONS; undertaken chiefly for the onrp,ise
of Discovering a North East, North-West, or POLAR
*PASSAGE, between the ATLANTIC and PACIFIC . from
the earliest periods of Sandinavian Navigation, to the De
parture of the Recent F,XPEOTTIONS, under the Orders
of Captains ROSS and 131.TCHAN.—Ily JOIIN BAR-
'row, Esq.--(Conlinued.)

The retort) of the ships which so honourably to
the British Government have been employed in
pursuit of objects of great importance to the ci-
vilized world, induces us to rvcur to this admir-
able' compendium of all the attempts that have
been made to accomplish those objects. We
therefore now present our Readers with an ex-
trect rel.itint; to the last vuyatze of Old Flirts,

the Pilot, in the sevemeenth century, whose ac-

enricv in meat points hai been velitied by the re••

cent disco‘rries of Captain Ross.
Ent we shall previously introduce. the following
Extract of a Letter, with ‘vhicli we have been
favonred. in confirtnatioq of HAFtt DiSCOVe••
tieq. written in July hst by :an ()ffic•er of the
Isabella, trom lat. 73 , in her may np Doris' Strait,
N,,icti is so highly (avowable to the -accuracy of
this distingnished 0141 Nav4;algr, that the

we are sure, will be. gratifi,d in reading it
Yon will perceive that we have ascended the
S raits by keeping close to the Greenland shore:
this is the almost invariable • practice of the

Whalers, and it seems reasonable, for whenever I
we hive attempted to go off the land, we have
been always stopped by a barrier of ice, which runs
parallel to it, having a tolerably clear channel be-
tween the ice and the shore,• more or less wide,
front -100 miles in the lat. 67. to 60 (.r 70 miles,
or less, in nor present 1at.73. Just an did BAFFIN
find it 200 years ago ; aid were I called upon to
write a short histoty of our experience, which
should he placed in the hands of the explorers of
these regions 200 years hence, it would he, ay
nearly as possible, in his words, excepting only
In she much finer weather with wilch uve have
been favoured., The acuteness with which be
seized the striking features of the land, and the
accuracy of his description, enable us at once to
recovnize and identify his track ; sobilst, pee.
oared, as some of pis were, by a residence in simi-
lar climates, for the quick dissolution of the ice
aiiow we base all frequently found occasion
to particlriate in tits
what he terms its rapid consumption—is* term most
appropriately descriptive of a decay, most visible
its the rapidity of its progress, yet produced by
causes which are operating silently and almost
imperceptibly."

" ROI3PIt+ By LOT 4WD WILLIAM sArrtn. 1616.
"This is the fifth voyage made in the little
hark the Discovefy in search of a north-west pas-
sage, which ship was again fitted out by the sante
adventurers, who, we are now told, were the
Rit,ht Worshipful Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, Sir
aolley 7)igges, •Master John Wolsten-
!white, Eeq. Master Alderman Jones, with some
others. R.rbett Bylot was .again appointed Mas-
ter, and William Baffin Pilot. The instructions
yive•i for ir .nitlance have the merit of being
disti,,rt, and brief
:--
''r your course you mutt make all possible haste to the
Cape D...;olition; and from thence you,Wm.T3affin as pilot,keep
along the roast of Greenland arid up Fretum I)aviri, until
s•on come towrod the height of eighty degrees, if the land will
give you Then, for feare of inbayin7, by keeping tee
northerly n course, shape' your souse west and southerly. so
farce at von shall thinke it convenient, till you come to the
latitude of sixiie degrees: then direct your course to fall
with the land of Yedzo, &omit that height, leaving your far-
ther sayliog soothward to your ovine discretion, according as
the time of the year and windes wilt give you leave; although
our desires he, it your voyage prove so prosperous, that you
way have the year before you, that you got. so feare southerly
as that von may touch the north part of Japan, from whence,
or from Yedzo, if you can so comprise it without danger, we
would have you to bring home one of the men of the coup-
try; and so, God blessing you, with all expedition to make
your return home againe.'*
" On tlac 26th March theMitcovery, with seven-
teen persons on hoard, set sail frOm Gravttend ;
but the weather being boisterons, they were com-
pelled to seek shelter, first In .Dartmouth and then
in Plymouth. They got away front the latter
place on 19th April, anti,' after a good passage,
the first land we saw was in Fretum Davis, on the
coast of Greenland, in the latitude of 65 deg. 20
min.' They proceeded northerly, without
ob-
struction, to latitude 70 deg. 20 mitt., end an-
chored in a fair sound near the Londnn Coast of
Davis. The natives all ran away, leaving their
dogs behind them. Here the small rise of the
title being only eight or nine feet, gave BdfTin
' some dislike of the passage.'
On the 30th May they reached Hope San-
derson, the extreme point of Davis's progress,
lying between 72 'leg. and 73 deg.. and fell in
'veldt much which on the Ist June the)? got
clear of, and, the wind being contrary, put in among
a c'twer of islatots ; butt on the natives seting
their ship they fled away. leaving their tents be-
hind. They fooond several women, however, who
had hidden themselves among the rocks, some of
them young and others old, one of the latter be-
ing, from her appearance little less -than fourscore.
Tn this erottp they gave the name of Women's
Islands ; the latitook of that nearest which they
heios: 72 deg. 45 min., the title mill swill.
rind the fluml Iron, the south avert). The
inhabitants are describe if as very poor, living on
real's flesh, which they eat raw, and eliothing
thenoselyita with their skills. The faces of thou
tywneu w.'re ttintkrtl with black streaks. They
scented to worship the suit, pointing constantly

9 Pun:130.5'4 Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 842.

tet it 'anti stroking their breast's, and calling butt at
the sittne time Ilyout4; The used and dogs Are .ho"
ried in the saute manlier,. each having a heap of
stones piled over them.
" Departing trom hence they stood away to the
northward, between the ice Hod the land, being
its a clottmel as it were of seven or eight leagues
wide, .4il they came.to the latitude 74 deg. 4 min.
when they found themselves snitch pestered with
the ice; and here they dropped anchor near three
small islands, which appeared to be occasionally
visi•ed by the people of the neighbouring coast.
They then tried to make their way to the west-
ward, but the ice was too firm to let them pass;
and therefore they retort.ed to sonic islands in la-
titude 73 deg. 45 min. to wait till the ice (which
they observed to cotisume very last) should dis-
appear. Doting their stay at this place, some
forty of the natives came in their boats awl ex-
changed seal's skins, sr's worse teeth, and uni-
corn's horns, for small pieces of iron, glass bends,
mind such To this place they gave the name
of Horn Sound.
g' On tide 18 It, on perceiviog that much-of the
ice had already wasted, they proceeded northerly;
but the weather wen! eat, emely cold with much
corm:, awl Baffin says, it hoar so hard, ' that oit
Midsommer-day our shrowds, rinspes and sades,
were so frozen, that we could sa ,rce handle them.'
By the Ist July, being the') its tat. 75 dag.4o
they hail got into all open sea, ' says Baf-
fin, anew revived the hope of it passage.' Ott the
second they roand a fair. cape or headland, which
they named Sir Dudley Digges Cape, its lat. 76
deg. 35 min. and 12 leagues beyond this a fair
siamd, having an island in the !utast, making two
eotranees. To this sownd they gave the. 'none of
WoWenliolnie Sound ; it is described as haVing
many inlets or smaller s'ati in it, and as a fit
plics for the killing of whales.
4, On the 4,h, the weather being stormy, they
found themselves emhayetl in a large sound, in
is Inch they SAW So many it hal, s that they named it
Who/cSoand: it lies in lat. 77 deg. 30min. Between
two area, sounds was an island, which they called
liacklnyt't Island, ind ktier sound Sir-Tkomas
Srhith's Sound, which ronneth to the north of ;8
deg., and is admirable in one respect, became in
it is the greatest variation in the cons passe of any
part of the world known ; for, by divers good ob•
servations, 1 found it to be above five points or
56 deg. varied to the westward.' To a cluster of
islands Bailin gave Cite name of, Carey's islands,
but he does not give their position, observing that
• all which swim's and islands the map (loth truly
describe.' Of this.ulap of Btflin hereafter.
" The wind being favourable, they stood to the
south-west watt!, in at) (welt sea, and with et stilf
gale of wind, till site lOth, when it became calm
and foggy ; they were Oleo neat the land, is the
entrance of a fair sound, evhich they 114111Vd Alder-
man Jones's Sound. The boat was sent on shore,
hitt it bowl returned, on account of the bad
weather ; no mien of people were seen, but abuit•
dance of sea morses among the ice. Standing on
to the westward, they opened out, on, the 12,h,
another crest sound it, 74 ,lee. 20 min., which they
named Sir James Lancaster's &rind. • litre,' says
-• g .ult• hope ot passage began to be lesse every
day than other,
ward wee had it ledge of ice between the shoare
Anil us, but eleare to the seaward ; Ave kept close
by this ledge of ice till the 14:11 day in the atter.
!twine, by w hich time wee were hi -the latitude of
71 deg 16 WM., and plainelv p'ereeived the lima
to the southward of 70 deg. 31 mitt. ; then wee,
basing; so much ice round about us, were forced
to stand more eastward ;' and du this direction
they ran amongst the ice threescore leagues, nor
could they approach the land till they came to
about 68 deg., and being then unable to get to
die shore on account of time ice, they drifted
down to 05 deg. 40 min, Then,' says•
wee left off seeking to the west .shoare,- because
wee were in the indraft of Cumberland's Isles, and
should know no certaintie and hope of passage
could be none.' He adds, ' Now seeing that wee
had made an end of our discovery, and time year
being too farre spent to goe for the bottotate of
the hay to search for drest filmes,* therefore wee
determined to goe for the coast of GrOneland, to
ice if we could get some refreshing for our men.'
'Their crew, it seems, was very weak and sickly,
one had died and three laid up in their hammocks.
'fbey therefore stood for the shore, and anchored
in a place called Cockin Sound, in latitude.6s deg.
4. min. And here, on a little island, they found
abundance of scurvy grass, which they boiled in
beer, and !nixing it ivith sorrel and orpen, both
very plentiful, made good sallads ; the men in the
course of eight or nine days perfectly recovered.
They also received, after continuing a few days,
' salmon peak' from the natives. ft is also stated,
that in this sound ' were such great scales of sal-
mon swimming to and fro, that it is much to be

admired.'
" They left this bay on the 6th Angust, and on
the 25th of the same month cane in sight of the
coast of Ireland, am) on the 30th anchored safely
in •Dover Road, ' for the which,' says Baffin,' and
all other his blessings, the Lord make us thankful.'
" This voyaze, which ought to have been, end
indeed may still be, considered as the most inte-
resting and important either before or since, is
the most vague, indefinite, and unsatisfactory of
all others, and the account of it tt►ost unlike the

‘vriting Of WilliAin B4ffin. in all his other
journals, we have not only the latitude and longi-
tude noted down, but the observations of the

heavenly bodies from which they were deduced,
and the arithmetical operation inserted ; the lon-
gitude, the variation and declination of the mag-
netic needle, the courses steered, and a variety of
varliculars entered on the proper day ; bat in this
most important voyage, purporting to have reached
many degrees of latitude beyond any preceding
voyage, and to have skirted the coasts and islands of
America, where the passage must have been sound,

if it has any existence, we have neither course,
nor distance, nor variation of the compass, ex-
cept one, and no longitude whatever; SD vague
and indefinite indeed is every infottnatioo
which could be itseftd, that each succeeding geo•

erapher has drawn.' Baffin's Bay' on his chart as
hest aceor►le(l With his fancy. In would almost
seem as if HAI' was averse from discovery or.
this voyage; for when tliev had reached. Daly the

La:clioue.

latitudi of 70 dc::: 20 'ran:,
,beyonri which even
Davis had been, be conceived Itoinie dislike of the
passage ;' and the slovenly manner in which be
runs oi:er the noinerons sounds,' in a verY high
degree of lstitade, is trite vex itions.; -indeed.
from the multitude of whales, which he describes
to choke -op those sounds, they were perhaps no-
thing more than ()prologs between tinge ice• bergs,
or at any rate passages made by an archipelago of
islands. Baffio is so much aware of this, that in
his letter to Mr John Wolstenholnie he observes.
some may object and aske why We sought that
coast no better ?' to which he allegeS, in answer,
the badness of the weather, the hiss of anchors,
the weakness of the crew, and the advanced sea•
son 01 the year.
" Pnrchas, however, is blatrieahle to a certain
degree, for the meagreness of Baffin's journal, and
the suppression of H chart which accompanied it ;
for he admits, in a marginal note, that ' this map
of the author's, for this and the former voyage,
with the tables of his jouroali and sayling, were
somewhat troublesome, and too costly to
It may be observed, that Baffin drew off froM the
main 1411(1 of America to the eastward, froth the
very spot tirlit.re of all others 14 passage is most
likely to he room! ; but he is not to blame for not
then possessittg that knowledge which Cook and
Hearne, and Mackenzie, have since supplied.**

• Pnrclias's Pilgrims, col. iii. p. 6.17.—" Parchas," says
Dalrymple, " has unpardonably omitted pittilishing Battin's
original map, -which, as well as his journal, he had in his
possession. Nor eau the low state of the art of engravitt4 at
that time I,e pleaded as all excuse, since that vay.anle origi-
nal melited his attention more than the die scraps be has
gd ea from FI It d of a Map of the Lauds arOtlittl
the whisk Pole.