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They were also to make navigational recordings, including currents and tides, and were to collect whatever specimens they could find. Barrow’s orders, however, made it very clear that their main objective, by far, was “to endeavor to ascertain the practicability of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean along the Northern Coast of America.”
    By the middle of June, the pair had entered Davis Strait, and, like Buchan and Franklin had been, Ross and Parry were dazzled by the colors, shapes, and colossal size of the icebergs and frozen mountains they drifted past. Some of the bergs, with their tall columns supporting icy slabs, reminded Parry of the mysterious structure at Stonehenge. A deeply religious man, he would later write that the magnificence of the landscape around him immediately caused him to ponder “upon the immensity of the creator who could call these enormous masses of ice into being.” To th explorers’ amazement, they discovered that they were not alone. After sailing a few miles up the strait, they encountered a fleet of thirty-six British whaleships whose crew cheered their arrival. But the whalers also had dire warnings for the explorers: The ice, they told them, was building up faster and earlier than in previous winters.
    Sobered by the warnings, Ross and Perry moved on along the Greenland coast, picking their way through steadily mounting ice floes, constantly surrounded by dense fog. Then, near-disaster struck. Without warning a vicious gale erupted, causing the ships to collide, tearing apart spars, rigging, and lifeboats. When the storm abated the pair resumed their search, aware that a similar event could take place at any time.
    Two days later, they made their first discovery—the Netsilik people, an Inuit culture that was completely unknown to the outside world. The Netsilik had never seen a white man. They had no knowledge of ships or boats and, in fact, thought that the vessels were alive. When one of the British officers showed the Inuits his watch, they thought that it, too, was a living being. They were particularly astounded at the sight of John Sacheuse, the native interpreter from South Greenland whom Ross had brought along on the voyage. They had no idea that other people like them existed.
    The Englishmen were just as ignorant about the natives. When Parry’s landing boat touched shore he had one of his officers carry a white flag with an olive branch painted on it—the universal sign of peace. The natives had no idea of what it meant. Not only had they never seen a flag; they had never seen a tree. But, thanks to Sacheuse’s interpreting skills and Ross’s desire to make friends with whatever natives he encountered, a rapport with the Inuit was established. Later, Ross described how this was accomplished in his 1819 published journal, descriptively titled
A Voyage of Discovery, Made Under the Orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty’s Ships
Isabella
and
Alexander,
for the Purpose of Exploring Baffin’s Bay, and Inquiring into the Probability of a North-West Passage:
    [The Eskimos] now began to ask many questions; for, by this time, they found the language spoken by themselves and Sacheuse, had sufficient resemblance to enable them to hold some communication. They first pointed to the ships, eagerly asking, ‘What great creatures [are] those?’ ‘Do they come form the sun or the moon?’ ‘Do they give us light by night or by day?’ Sacheuse replied, ‘They are houses made of wood.’ This they seemed to discredit, answering, ‘No, they are alive, we have seen them move their wings, ‘… Our arrival produced a visible alarm, causing them to retreat a few steps towards their sledges; on this Sacheuse called to us to pull our noses, as he had discovered this to be the mode of friendly salutation with them. This ceremony was accordingly performed by each of us, the natives, during their