sting of
precipices of limestone, forty or fifty feet high, with three or four
fathoms of water at the base. In the evening, having reached a
projection which appeared to be the western pitch of the cape, we
encamped in a bay near a remarkable perforated rock, having come
twenty-six miles since leaving Point Stivens. In the course of the day's
voyage we had to make our way through some pretty extensive streams of
ice, composed of pieces which rose eight or ten feet above the water;
and we saw a considerable quantity of what is termed sailing ice to
seaward, being such as a ship could make her way through. I had now the
gratification of naming the extensive bay we had been coasting for three
days, after my friend and commanding officer; and to the several inlets
on its eastern side I assigned the names of Wright, Cracroft, and
Sellwood, in honour of his near relatives. A group of islands to the
northward was named Booth Islands on the same account.

In bestowing the name of Franklin on this remarkable bay, I paid an
appropriate compliment to the officer, under whose orders and by whose
arrangements the delineation of all that is known of the northern coast
of the American Continent has been effected; with the exception of the
parts in the vicinity of Icy Cape discovered by Captain Beechey. It
would not be proper, nor is it my intention, to descant on the
professional merits of my superior officer; but after having served
under Captain Franklin for nearly seven years, in two successive voyages
of discovery, I trust I may be allowed to say, that however high his
brother officers may rate his courage and talents, either in the
ordinary line of his professional duty, or in the field of discovery,
the hold he acquires upon the affections of those under his command, by
a continued series of the most conciliating attentions to their
feelings, and an uniform and unremitting regard to their best interests,
is not less conspicuous. I feel that the sentiments of my friends and
companions, Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall, are in unison with my
own, when I affirm, that gratitude and attachment to our late commanding
officer will animate our breasts to the latest period of our lives.
After this feeble but sincere tribute of respect and regard, in which I
hope I have not overstepped the proper bounds of a narrative, I hasten
to resume the details of the voyage.

The country in the neighbourhood of the encampment consisted entirely