Besides these arguments, which proceed upon an admission of the hypothesis, that the ice in those seas comes from the rivers, there are others which give great room to suspect the truth of the hypothesis itself.  Captain Cook, whose opinion respecting the formation of ice had formerly coincided with that of the theorists we are now controverting, found abundant reason, in the present voyage, for changing his sentiments.  We found the coast of each continent to be low, the soundings gradually decreasing toward them, and a striking resemblance between the two; which, together with the description Mr Hearne gives of the copper-mine river, afford reason to conjecture, that whatever rivers may empty themselves into the Frozen Sea, from the American continent, are of the same nature with those on the Asiatic side, which are represented to be so shallow at the entrance, as to admit only small vessels; whereas the ice we have seen rises above the level of the sea to a height equal to the depth of those rivers, so that its entire height must be at least ten times greater.

The curious reader will also, in this place, be led naturally to reflect on another circumstance, which appears very incompatible with the opinion of those who imagine land to be necessary for the formation of ice; I mean the different state of the sea about Spitsbergen, and to the north of Beering’s Strait.  It is incumbent on them to explain how it comes to pass, that in the former quarter, and in the vicinity of much known land, the navigator annually penetrates to near 80 deg.  N. latitude; whereas, on the other side, his utmost efforts have not been able to carry him beyond 71 deg.; where, moreover, the continents diverge nearly E. and W., and where there is no land yet known to exist near the Pole.  For the farther satisfaction of the reader on this point, I shall beg leave to refer him to Observations made during a Voyage round the World, by Dr Forster, where he will find the question of the formation of ice fully and satisfactorily discussed, and the probability of open polar seas disproved by a variety of powerful arguments.[32]

I shall conclude these remarks with a short comparative view of the progress we made to the northward, at the two different seasons we were engaged in that pursuit, together with a few general observations relative to the sea, and the coasts of the two continents, which lie to the north of Beering’s Strait.

It may be observed, that in the year 1778 we did not meet with the ice till we advanced to the latitude of 70 deg., on August 17th, and that then we found it in compact bodies, extending as far as the eye could reach, and of which a part or the whole was moveable, since, by its drifting down, upon us, we narrowly escaped being hemmed in between it and the land.  After experiencing both how fruitless and dangerous it would be to attempt to penetrate farther north, between the ice and the land, we stood over toward