TERRORS AND MYSTERIES OF THE POLAR REGION 229 



"If one would gain an adequate idea of the true aspects of 

 such voyaging he must turn to the original journals, penned in the 

 great White North by brave men whose 'purpose held to sail beyond 

 the sunset/ In those volumes will be found tales of ships beset not 

 only months, but years, of ice packs and ice fields of extent, thick- 

 ness and mass so enormous that description conveys no idea; of 

 boat journeys where constant watchfulness alone prevented instant 

 death by drifting bergs or commingling ice floes; of land marches 

 when exhausted humanity staggered along, leaving traces of blood 

 on snow or rock; of sledge journeys over chaotic masses of ice, 

 when humble heroes straining at< the drag ropes struggled on be- 

 cause the failure of one compromised the safety of all; of solitude 

 and monotony, terrible in the weeks of constant polar sunlight, but 

 unsettling the reason in the months of continuous Arctic darkness; 

 of silence awful at times, but made yet more startling by astounding 

 phenomena that appeal noiselessly to the eye; of darkness so con- 

 tinuous and intense that the disturbed mind is driven to wonder 

 whether the ordinary course of nature will bring back the sun or 

 whether the world has been cast out of its orbit in the planetary 

 universe into new conditions; of cold so intense that any exposure 

 is followed by instant freezing; of monotonous surroundings that 

 threaten with time to imbalance the reason ; of deprivations wasting 

 the body and so impairing the mind ; of failure in all things, not only 

 in food, fuel and clothing and shelter for Arctic service fore- 

 shadows such contingencies but the bitter failure of plans and 

 aspirations, which brings almost inevitably despair in its train." 



The Arctic regions are not solely scenes of terror or awe- 

 inspiring marvels, they have their visions of beauty and pictur- 

 esque grandeur as well. The supernal charm of the aurora, already 

 spoken of, is not confined to the Arctic seas, but here it offers its 

 grandest displays, and glows in beauty until the -very vales of 

 Paradise seem opened. Many striking accounts of its varying 

 beauty have been penned, from which we extract one by Dr. Hayes. 



