After we had entered the bay, the flood set strong into the river Turnagain; the 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, any more 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° 30ʹ, and the longitude of 201°; which is seventy leagues, or more, from its entrance, without seeing the least appearance of its source. If the discovery of this great river[74], 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 Bays less probable, or, at least, showed 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 speculative fabricators of geography, as a fact that it communicated with the sea to the north, or with Baffin’s or Hudson’s Bay to the east; and been marked, perhaps, on future maps of the world, with greater precision, and more certain signs of reality, than the invisible, because imaginary, Straits of de Fuca, and de Fonte. In the afternoon I sent Mr. King again, with two armed boats, with orders to land on the northern point of the low land, on the south-east side of the river; there to display the flag, and to take possession of the country and river in his Majesty’s name; and to bury in the ground a bottle, containing some pieces of English coin, of the year 1772, and a paper, on which were inscribed the names of our ships, and the date of our discovery. In the mean time, the ships were got under sail, in order to proceed down the river. The wind still blew fresh, easterly; but a calm ensued not long after we were under way; and the flood-tide meeting us off the point where Mr. King landed (and which thence got the name of _Point Possession_), we were obliged to drop anchor in six fathoms water, with the point bearing south, two miles distant.