ain Ross returned down the western side of Baffin's Bay. On the 21st an
opening was seen, which answered to the description of Alderman Jones
Sound, given by Baffin; but here again the ice and fog prevented them from
approaching near; as if the fog might not have cleared up in a day or two,
and the ice might not either have been drifted off in as short a space, or,
if it could not, have been passed by the crew, so far, at least, as to have
gained a nearer and better view of this sound.

Baffin describes this sound as a large inlet, and adds, that the coast
tended to the southward, and had the appearance of a bay. This is confirmed
by Captain Ross; for he informs us that the land was observed to take a
southerly direction. On the 28th of August the sea became more clear of
ice, and no bottom was found with three hundred fathoms of line: in the
afternoon of that day they succeeded in getting completely clear of the
ice, and once more found themselves in the open sea. 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