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CHAPTER XV.
Stupendous bay, broken into minor bays, and bordered by countless islands.—Discovery of the Strait of Boothia.—Back's Point Ogle doubled in a fog.—Deposit found on Montreal Island.—Cape Britannia, and discoveries to the eastward.—Progress arrested by gales.—Return.—Nearest approach to Ross's Pillar and the Magnetic Pole.—Southern shores of Boothia and Victoria Land explored.—Passage of a magnificent strait.—Winter sets in.—Re-entry of the Coppermine River.
Our course was first directed to the highest island of the Minto groupe seen by me the previous season, from whence we now obtained a commanding prospect of the bold rocky indented shores, running away much farther southward than I could have anticipated, and skirted by numerous islands. I at the same time discovered, that what I had before taken for the opposite side of the great bay that so aptly bounded our pedestrian journey, was only the outer end of a very large island, which afterwards formed a prominent object for several days, and was distinguished by the name of the prime minister of
