June 25, I860.] ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 239 



has been named Washington ; and the bay which interposes between it and 

 Greenland I have named after Mr. Peabody. This bay gives exit at its 

 western curve (latitude 80° 12') to a large channel. This channel expands to 

 the northward into an open and iceless area, abounding in animal life, and pre- 

 senting every character of an open Polar Sea. A surface of 3000 square miles 

 was seen at various elevations, free from ice, with a northern horizon equally 

 free. A north wind, 52 hours in duration, failed to bring any drift into this 

 area ! " — Kane's Official Jleport. 



Captain Parry, when near latitude 83°, discovered that a current of water 

 setting to the south was strong enough to prevent his proceeding farther 

 towards the north, and defeated the main object of his voyage. Now the 

 water thus found, we have seen reason to believe, may have been a return 

 current of water, which had previously been forced above its natural level by 

 a wind blowing over some other meridian from the south. The part near 

 Nova Zembla, already described, is the only one where such a wind is found ; 

 in that part, therefore, it may be presumed that a southern oceanic current 

 exists. 



It may be thought that the evidence which has been brought forward is not 

 suflBcient to wairrant the belief that such a stream as that alluded to, flowing 

 from the south, is in existence ; but candid inquirers will admit that analogy 

 gives strong countenance to the belief. Over every part of the ocean, where 

 a decided wind blows, it puts in motion the water, and produces a current 

 proportioned to the strength and continuance of the wind. The great perma- 

 nent trade-winds create oceanic currents, as do also the monsoons or season- 

 winds during their period of action. Tropical west winds blow towards the 

 great East Indian Archipelago, the coasts of Guinea and Panama, and western 

 oceanic currents attend them. When winds blow over the ocean a current of 

 water is always found to follow them, of a strength proportioned to the strength 

 of the wind, and the constancy of this association is evidence of the connexion 

 that exists between them. In the Northern Atlantic wind blows from the south- 

 west into the Arctic Ocean, and water goes with it, as far as has been traced, 

 from warmer to cooler latitudes. In the southern hemisphere a wind blows 

 from Victoria Land across the Southern Ocean, to Tierra del Fuego, and it 

 creates a current sufficiently strong to impel water towards the Western 

 American coast, which, when helped forward by another wind, takes it near 

 to the Equator. On the eastern side of South America, along the coast of 

 Brazil, a current runs from about the 8th to the 50th degree of south lati- 

 tude, and this is in the opposite direction to the current that is found on the 

 western side ; but both are put in motion by winds. Analogy therefore 

 authorises lis to believe that the south-west winds, which prevail between 

 Iceland and Norway, and which blow in the Arctic Ocean between Spitzbergen 

 and Nova Zembla, take with them a current of warm water ; and we may 

 infer that the water and the warm moist air will have influence on the climate 

 and general state of the Arctic Ocean. 



We may then draw the general conclusion, that to the east of Spitzbergen 

 there probably is, in the summer of the northern hemisphere, an open sea 

 extending towards the North Pole, which may possibly be navigated by a 

 ship that has been properly prepared for the voyage. The particular line over 

 which the prevalent southern wind generally p)asses in the summer, m^^ be 

 ascertained from persons the most capable of giving information on th^sub- 

 ject ; and along the line navigators might ])roceed towards the Pole at the 

 proper season. The kind of ship best suited for the purpose would, of course, 

 be determined by those most competent to decide on the point, but it is to be 

 presumed that steam would be used to propel it. 



From the latitude of 83°, which has been already approached, to the Pole, 

 is only 7*^, or 420 miles ; and if no serious obstruction were encountered, this 



