8 PREFACE. 



In covering thoroughly so large a field, we of course 

 confine ourselves to facts that possess lasting interest, espe- 

 cially in telling of the earlier expeditions. We believe 

 the work is written in a style to please the most fastidious 

 taste, and yet to command the interest of all who peruse 

 its well-stored pages. It is not a series of disjointed 

 sketches of the successive expeditious, but a connected, 

 consecutive narrative, showing how, step by step, the dif- 

 ficulties environing Arctic navigation have been met and 

 overcome, and discoveries have been made which have 

 unraveled, one by one, many of the wonderful secrets of 

 that region of mystery which surrounds the North Pole. 

 The credit of each discovery is given impartially to the 

 explorer who made it, and in every other particular full 

 justice is done to each hardy, enterprising leader and to 

 their sturdy followers who have bravely encountered the 

 fearful perils which have appeared to envelop completely 

 every attempt to penetrate the Polar Zone. 



There have ever been, and ever will be, gallant adven- 

 turous spirits who are impelled to, rather than deterred 

 from, enterprises by the hazards, the dangers and the 

 sufferings, that stand in the way. And whatever some 

 may think of the wisdom of those who thus brave trial, 

 suffering, peril and death itself in their striving to 

 fathom the mysteries of the Arctic Circle, none can fail 

 to admire the daring men themselves or suppress a warm 

 interest in their wonderful exploits. 



If those who read these pages find in the events, the 

 incidents, the experiences, the perils and remarkable 

 escapes, the actual disasters, and the results of the re- 

 searches, herein recorded, a tithe of the absorbing interest, 

 the absolute fascination, which has held the writer's mind 

 enchained to his subject throughout, and caused him to 

 forget the labor in the pleasures of the chronicler's task, 

 the book will serve its purpose the amusement and the 

 instruction of the public. We believe that none will 



