rays of an unclouded sun. ‘The roaring of the mountain cataract,’ which constitutes a principle feature of the sublime in scenery of this magnificent nature, was here almost deafening; and as we were able to approach the head of the fall even as close as a single yard, the very rock seemed to suffer a concussion under our feet. The basin that receives the water at the foot of the fall is nearly of a circular form, and about 400 yards in diameter, being rather wider than the river immediately below it. The fall is about three-quarters of a mile above our landing place, or two miles and a quarter from the entrance of the river.
“After remaining nearly an hour, fixed as it were to the spot by the novelty and magnificence of the scene before us, we continued our walk upwards along the bank; and after passing the two smaller cataracts, found the river again increased in width to above 200 yards, winding in the must romantic manner imaginable among the hills, and preserving a smooth and unruffled surface fur a distance of three or four miles that we traced it to the S.W. above the full. What added extremely to the beauty of this picturesque river, which Captain Lyon and myself named after our mutual friend, Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty, was the richness of the vegetation on its banks, the enlivening brilliancy of a cloudless sky, and the animation given to the scene by several reindeer that were grazing beside the stream. * * * The eider ducks were here tolerably numerous, and we also met with some black-throated divers, golden plovers, and snow-buntings. * * * On our return down the river. Captain Lyon landed on the opposite side, for the purpose of making a drawing of the fall in the best point of view; and we then returned on board, after the most gratifying visit we had ever paid to the shore in these regions. The entrance of this river lies in lat. 67° 18' 05", and in long, by chronometers, 81° 26' 20".”
The remainder of this season was spent in examining the coasts and some small islands to the northward of Barrow ’s River. On the 13th September, having entered a strait leading to the westward, the ships were in lat. 69° 48' W, and longitude 83° 29' 27"; the variation of the magnetic needle was 89° 18' 19"; and the dip 88° 21' 21". “The view of the strait from this position,” says Captain Parry, “was calculated to impress us with the idea of its being a magnificent passage into the Polar Sea.” On the 15th, Lieutenant Reid returned on board, after an absence of six days, during which he travelled beyond the meridian of 80° W., and satisfactorily ascertained their immediate junction with one another. This opening was named the Strait of the Fury and Hecla; the land to the southward of it, Melville Peninsula; and that to the northward, Cockburn Island.
