Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the GlobeBingley, William
History
Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the Globe
Bingley, William
Canada -- Description and travel; Mexico -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
The tents which constitute the summer habitations of these Esquimaux,
are principally supported by a pole of whalebone, about fourteen feet
high. This pole stands perpendicularly, and has four or five feet of it
projecting above the skins which form the roof and sides. The length of
the tent is about seventeen feet, and the breadth from seven to nine;
and the bed occupies nearly one-third of the whole apartment. The
covering of the tent is fastened to the ground by curved pieces of bone.
Captain Parry, after taking leave of these his new acquaintance,
directed his course towards England; and arrived in the river Thames
about the middle of November.
* * * * *
With regard to the probable existence and accomplishment of a north-west
passage into the Pacific Ocean, this indefatigable and accomplished
officer remarks, that, as to the existence of such a passage, he does
not entertain a doubt; but that he is not sanguine as to its ever being
accomplished. The difficulties that are presented by the increasing
breadth and thickness of the ice to the westward, after passing Barrow's
Strait, added to the excessive severity of the climate, and the
shortness of the season in which the Polar Sea can be navigated; these
are circumstances which render almost hopeless any attempt to pass from
the Atlantic westward. Captain Parry seems inclined to think that there
is more probability of being able to effect the passage, by sailing from
Behring's Strait, eastward, than from Baffin's Bay towards the west.
But, in this case, it would be an impracticable passage for British
ships. The great length of the voyage, the impossibility of taking out a
sufficiency of provisions and fuel, and the severe trial to which the
health of the crews would be subjected, by suddenly passing from the
heat of the torrid zone, into the intense cold of a long winter, seem to
render hopeless all our efforts to effect the voyage in this direction.
Twenty-seventh Day's Instruction.
LABRADOR AND GREENLAND.
On the south-western side of Davis's Strait is the wild, extensive, and
uncivilized country of _Labrador_. Its coast was first discovered by the
Portuguese navigators; but the frigidity of its climate is such, that no
settlements of any importance have ever been fixed upon its shores. Even
the extent of the country has been but imperfectly ascertained; for all
the knowledge we have hitherto obtained respecting it, relates only to
the coast. The inland territory remains yet unexplored.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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