he shores of
North Devon."

GEORGE. "In the New Archipelago, north of Barrow's Straits, are the
Georgian Isles. They are numerous, and the principal are Cornwallis,
Bathurst, and Melville. The latter is the largest, being 240 miles
long, and 100 miles in breadth."

MR. BARRAUD. "Here is another dreary land where no tree or shrub
refreshes the eye. The climate is too cold for any person to live
there; and, from its vicinity to the magnetic meridian, the compass
becomes useless, remaining in whatever position it is placed by the
hand."

EMMA. "Prince Regent's Inlet will lead us into Bothnia Gulf, thence
through Fury and Hecla Straits,[11] which are between the peninsula
of Melville and Cockburn Island, we can enter Foxes Channel, pass
through Frozen Straits, and launch on the great waters of Hudson's
Bay."

[Footnote 11: So named because these two vessels were here frozen up
from October 20th, 1822, to August 8th, 1823.]

MRS. WILTON. "We enter Hudson's Bay on the north, close by
Southampton, a large island inhabited chiefly by Esquimaux. Nothing
can exceed the frightful aspect of the environs of this bay. To
whichsoever side we direct our view, we perceive nothing but land
incapable of receiving any sort of cultivation, and precipitous
rocks that rise to the very clouds, and yawn into deep ravines and
narrow valleys into which the sun never penetrates, and which are
rendered inaccessible by masses of ice and snow that seem never to
melt. The sea in this bay is open only from the commencement of July
to the end of September, and even then the navigator very often
encounters icebergs, which expose him to considerable embarrassment.
At the very time he imagines himself at a distance from these
floating rocks a sudden squall, or a tide, or current, strong enough
to carry away the vessel, and render it unmanageable, all at once
hurries him amongst an infinite number of masses of ice, which
appear to cover the whole bay."

MR. WILTON. "Sixty years after the intrepid navigator Hudson had
first penetrated the gulf that bears his name, the British
Government assigned to a company of traders to those parts (by the
title of the Hudson's Bay Company) the chartered possession of
extensive tracts south, and east of Hudson's Bay, to export the
productions of the surrounding country."

GEORGE. "Are there any whales in Hudson's Bay?"

MRS. WILTON. "No, all attempts at the whale fishery have been
unsuccessful: indeed, there a