Baffin and Davis both
mention that the northern parts of Baffin's Bay were clear of ice when they
were there, so that it is probably generally the case. On the 29th a wide
opening was descried in the land; this they entered on the following day.
"On each side was a chain of high mountains; and in the space between, W.
S.W., there appeared a yellow sky, but no land was seen, nor was there any
ice on the water, except a few icebergs; the opening therefore took the
appearance of a channel, the entrance of which was judged to be forty-five
miles; the land on the north side lying in an E.N.E. and W.S.W.
direction, and the south side nearly east and west." "As the evening
closed, the wind died away, the weather became mild and warm, the water
much smoother, and the atmosphere clear and serene."
Even those who are little acquainted with the symptoms which in this high
latitude indicate an open sea, must be struck with the wide difference
between these circumstances and those which had met the navigators in
almost every other part of their voyage, since they had approached the
place where a passage might possibly exist and be found. Yet, even at this
time and place, when expectation must have been high, and not without good
reason, and when we are expressly informed by Captain Ross that much
interest was excited by the appearance of the sound, the attempt to
ascertain, by close and accurate investigation, whether this sound was
really closed at its extremity, or led into another sea, was given up,
after having sailed into it during the night, and till three o'clock the
following day.
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