the ice, we perceived a regular rise
and fall of the water, though it amounted only to seven inches, except
on the night of the 24th, when the rise was two feet; but the direction
of the flood was not yet ascertained. We found a greater proportion of
birch-wood, mixed with the drift timber to the westward of the Babbage
than we had done before; between the Mackenzie and that river it had
been so scarce, that we had to draw upon our store of bark to light the
fires. Some lunar observations were obtained in the afternoon of the
25th, and their results assured us that the chronometers were going
steadily. At midnight we were visited by a strong S.W. breeze,
accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning. This weather was succeeded
by calm, and a fog that continued throughout the next day, and confined
our view to a few yards. Temperature from 41 degrees to 43 degrees.
[Sidenote: Wednesday, 26th.] On the atmosphere becoming clear about nine
in the evening of the 26th, we discovered a lane of water, and
immediately embarking, we pulled, for an hour, without experiencing much
interruption from the ice. A fresh breeze then sprung up from the N.W.,
which brought with it a very dense fog, and likewise caused the ice to
close so fast upon us, that we were compelled to hasten to the shore. We
had just landed, when the channel was completely closed. We encamped on
the western side of a river about two hundred yards broad, which, at the
request of Lieutenant Back, was named after Mr. Backhouse, one of the
under Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs. It appeared that the
water that flowed from this channel had caused the opening by which we
had travelled from our last resting-place; for beyond it, the ice was
closely packed.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 27th.] Some heavy rain fell in the night, and the
morning of the 27th was foggy; but the sun, about noon, having dispersed
the fog, we discovered an open channel about half a mile from the shore.
No time was lost in pushing the boats into it. By following its course
to the end, and breaking our way through some streams of ice, we were
brought, at the end of eight miles, to the mouth of a wide river that
flows from the British range of mountains. This being the most westerly
river in the British dominions on this coast, and near the line of
demarcation between Great Britain and Russia, I named it the Clarence,
in honour of His Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral. Under a pile of
drift timbe