ELISHA KENT KANE. 97 



and dashing against the rocks upon the shore. This 

 was certainly a mysterious phenomenon. Here was a 

 fluid sea in the midst of whole continents of ice ; 

 and that sea seemed to lave the Pole itself. The 

 eye of the explorer surveyed at least forty miles of 

 uninterrupted water in a northern direction. The 

 point thus reached in this exploring expedition was 

 about five hundred miles distant from the Pole. 

 Had the party been able to convey thither a boat, 

 they might have embarked upon the bright and 

 placid waters of that lonely ocean. But, having been 

 able to make this journey only with the sledge, 

 further explorations were of course impossible. The 

 most remarkable development connected with this 

 discovery was that the temperature was here found 

 to be much more moderate than that farther south. 

 Marine birds sailed through the heavens. Eippling 

 waves followed each other on the surface of the 

 deep. A few stunted flowers grew over the barren 

 and rocky coast. The inference which may be drawn 

 from these and other facts is, that this open sea, 

 termed the Polar Basin, stretches to the Pole itself; 

 or at least continues a great distance until its course 

 is interrupted by other projections of the terra firma. 

 These are mysterious inquiries, still the great deside- 

 rata of Arctic travel; which will remain unanswered 



until some more successful adventurer, gifted with 

 G 9 



