PREFACE. 



PARADOXICAL as it seems, that portion of the globe we 

 inhabit which is most cheerless, dreary and desolate, which 

 is farthest removed from civilization, which produces but 

 little calculated to benefit mankind, which offers no attrac- 

 tions to the tourist, and which has proved the grave of 

 many hardy spirits who have endeavored to explore its 

 dark regions, has been for many generations past a local- 

 ity of deep and absorbing interest. We allude, of course, 

 to the northern zone or belt of the earth known as the 

 arctic or polar regions. A sort of interest approximating 

 to fascination has always been manifested in this icy re- 

 gion ; and at no former period in the world's history has 

 it commanded a greater share of attention than at the 

 present tune, when the problem of an open polar sea is 

 apparently nearing its solution. 



It will be the province of this work to give the reader 

 comprehensive and interesting accounts of the various 

 expeditions sent there in the interest of science generally, 

 and navigation in particular, from the days of the North- 

 men, in the ninth century, to the present tune, with a full 

 history of the "Polaris Expedition" under the late Cap- 

 tain Charles Francis Hall, and an exhaustive narrative 

 of the six months' unparalleled experience of the nineteen 

 human beings, isolated from the world and drifting about 

 at the mercy of the elements, guided alone by the great 

 arm of God. The work is the result of industrious 

 research, and only the most reliable material is used in its 

 production, while the most rigid care is exercised in 

 avoiding the slightest exaggeration. 



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