e salt, well known by
the name of alum. The moistening of the strata by the sea-spray
accelerates the process. In some alum-works, where nature has not been
so favourable as in the cliffs of Cape Bathurst, a deficiency of the
bituminous matter requisite to keep up the proper intensity of
combustion, is supplied by brush-wood, which is strewed in alternate
layers with shale that has been previously much divided by long exposure
to the weather, and the whole is then moistened with salt-water. A
further account of these cliffs is given in page xl. of the Appendix.

In the forenoon we passed the mouths of two small rivers, which were
designated after Sir Henry Jardine, Bart., King's Remembrancer in the
Court of Exchequer for Scotland; and Dr. Burnett, Commissioner of the
Victualling Board. A meridian observation was obtained in latitude 69
degrees 38 minutes N.

In the afternoon the wind blowing more on the shore, caused a tumbling
sea. We sailed amongst much stranded ice, and, following the line of
coast, were gradually led into a deep bay, whose east side, having a
northerly direction, was formed by low land, and so much broken by
numerous and extensive inlets, as to look more like a collection of
islands than a part of the main land. We were now, reckoning by degrees
of longitude, fully half way from Point Separation to the Coppermine
River, and the coast from Cape Bathurst had been so exactly in the
proper direction, as to excite high hopes of a short and prosperous
voyage: it was, therefore, no pleasant sight to us to behold land
running out at right angles to our course, and we were willing to
believe that a passage existed betwixt it and the main. This opinion was
supported by the direction of the high land, which had hitherto skirted
the shore, continuing to be south-easterly, until lost to the sight at
the distance of fifteen or twenty miles. We, therefore, endeavoured to
find a passage, but the first opening that we came to, led into a
circular basin of water, apparently land-locked, and about five miles in
diameter. We halted at its entrance to cook our supper, and, during our
stay, perceiving that the ebb-tide set out of it, we determined on
searching for a passage elsewhere. This inlet is six fathoms deep at its
entrance, and would prove an excellent harbour for a ship, only for the
sand-banks, which skirt this part of the coast, and which render the
passage into it too intricate for vessels having a greater d