Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/232

204 named Ratmanoff, and is in latitude 65° 51′ N., and longitude 169° 63′ W.

After doubling Cape Prince of Wales, they were becalmed in Schismareff inlet. This broad sheet of water extends inland in an E.S.E. direction, and is backed by distant mountains. Saritcheff Island lies immediately before the opening, which is ten miles wide.

From this inlet they sailed northward, the coast being low and swampy, with small lakes inland; and entered Kotzebue Sound on the 22nd of July, nabbing a deep inlet on its northern shore, which had escaped Kotzebue's observation, Hotham Inlet, afterwards examined by Mr. Elson: As the object of the expedition was now to afford every assistance in their power to their countrymen engaged in exploring the arctic lands and seas, Captain Beechey proceeded directly to Chamisso Island, the point of rendezvous, which they reached on the 25th July, 1846, five days only after the appointed time,—subsequently examining the coast for a considerable distance to the N.E. in the Blossom, and in the ship's barge, which attained a western longitude of 156° 21′ at Point Barrow. The expedition was unsuccessful in obtaining any information of the proceedings of Captain Sir John Franklin in their first visit to the polar seas, and equally so on their return to the same latitude in the following year. The privations and suffering to which the crew of the ship were exposed during their arduous navigation, reflect the highest credit on their characters as sailors; and a careful and accurate examination of the coast was made under circumstances which demanded great fortitude and perseverance. The results of this examination we shall now point out, beginning at Kotzebue Sound, in which the Blossom was anchored on several different occasions. Cape Espenberg, its north-west extremity, is in latitude 66° 34′ N., and longitude 163° 36′ W. It is a narrow strip of land, on which are some high sand-hills, and a great many poles are placed erect upon it. The sea penetrates to the southward of this cape, but the entrance is closed by a bar which stretches all along the coast, extending to the inlet which Captain Kotzebue meditated to explore in baidars, and was very sanguine that it would lead to some great inland discovery. The extreme shallowness of the water prevented the examination of this inlet by the gig of the Blossom. The whole of the coast here is swampy, low, and intersected by lakes and rivers. The rounded hills which bound the horizon of the sound to the northward branch off inland at this point; and a distant range, of a totally different character, rises over the vast plain that extends to Cape Espenberg, and forms the whole of the western side of Kotzebue Sound. The !and on the south side of the Bay of Good Hope is higher, more rocky, and of a bolder