646 THE UNIVERSE. 



minded navigator, and it was during the expeditions fitted 

 out everywhere for this purpose that the passage round the 

 north of America was discovered by Captain M'Clure. Be- 

 ing a man of great resolution, he exclaimed at starting, " I 

 will discover Franklin or the passage ! ' and he kept one of 

 his two promises. 



Men had dreamed of the existence of a polar sea, but it 

 was thought to be completely blocked with eternal ice. 

 Captain Parry, when he started from Spitsbergen with 

 sledges, promised himself that he would reach the pole 

 and plant the flag of Great Britain upon the axis of the 

 globe. But in proportion as the expedition advanced to- 

 wards the north over the frozen sea, he found, to his great 

 astonishment, more and more openings in the ice which 

 were not frozen over, and it became necessary to return, as 

 they were equipped for travelling on the ice, not for navi- 

 gating an ocean. 



In course of the researches made in the north of America, 

 with the view of discovering the remains of Franklin's com- 

 pan ions, it was found out that this region is formed solely 

 of a congeries of large and small islands, separated by tor- 

 tuous channels. The voyages undertaken for this purpose 

 have revealed a host of surprising facts, and among others 

 the existence of an immense and furious sea, the waves 

 of which extend over all the pole, till then believed to be 

 only an icy desert. 



All navigators have drawn striking pictures of the polar 

 latitudes. Though sometimes on all sides only a luminous 

 sea was to be seen, over which rose fairy and splendid col- 

 onnades of ice, letting their rigid stalactites droop on all 



