principal information gained by this tide's work, was
the determining that all the low land, which we had supposed to be
an island or islands, was one continued tract, from the banks of the
great river to the foot of the mountains, to which it joined; and that
it terminated at the south entrance of this eastern branch, which I
shall distinguish by the name of _River Turnagain_. On the north side
of this river, the low land again begins, and stretches out from the
foot of the mountains down to the banks of the great river; so that,
before the river Turnagain, it forms a large bay, on the south side
of which we were now at anchor, and where we had from twelve to five
fathoms, from half-flood to high water.

After we had entered the bay, the flood set strong into the river
Turnagain, and ebb came out with still greater force; the water
falling, while we lay at anchor, twenty feet upon a perpendicular.
These circumstances convinced me, that no passage was to be expected
by this side-river anymore than by the main branch. However, as the
water, during the ebb, though very considerably fresher, had still a
strong degree of saltness, it is but reasonable to suppose, that both
these branches are navigable by ships much farther than we examined
them; and that by means of this river, and its several branches, a
very extensive inland communication lies open. We had traced it as
high as the latitude of 61 deg. 30', and the longitude of 210 deg.; which is
seventy leagues or more from its entrance, without seeing the least
appearance of its source.

If the discovery of this great river,[5] which promises to vie with
the most considerable ones already known to be capable of extensive
inland navigation, should prove of use either to the present or to any
future age, the time we spent in it ought to be the less regretted.
But to us, who had a much greater object in view, the delay thus
occasioned was an essential loss. The season was advancing apace. We
knew not how far we might have to proceed to the south; and we were
now convinced, that the continent of North America extended farther to
the west, than from the modern most reputable charts we had reason to
expect. This made the existence of a passage into Baffin's or Hudson's
Bay less probable, or at least shewed it to be of greater extent.
It was a satisfaction to me, however, to reflect, that, if I had not
examined this very considerable inlet, it would have been assumed, by
spec