Captain Parry's intended Expedition to the North Pole. 99 



From what has been said, it would appear that the breaking 

 up of the ice commences in the Northern Atlantic in February 

 or March, and that all lying to the eastward progressively fol- 

 lows. Much disappears every season, but the season is far advan- 

 ced before the eastern ice joins the train ; and long ere that has 

 reached the Greenland seas, it is arrested by returning winter, 

 so that leaving out the interception of land, and the impediment 

 of adverse winds, the ice generated on the nofth-east of Asia 

 may see many a summer before it is laved by the sea of Spitz- 

 bergen ; indeed the disposition to move reaches the longitude of 

 the Lena in August, and scarcely clears Skelatskoi Noss by 

 October. Now, it is very probable that it may also extend to 

 high northern latitudes, from the ancient fields that are some- 

 times met with. The farther from their source the more scat- 

 tered will these masses be, and consequently the freer the navi- 

 gation ; but remote regions become more and more hampered, 

 till all becomes fixed as terra firma. 



Much light may be thrown on the nature of this country by 

 the projected expedition, which no doubt will be equipped with 

 all due deliberation, on that plan which past experience sug- 

 gests. It is to consist of two sledges, capable of containing 

 twelve men each, built of light materials, and of such a con- 

 struction, that if water comes in the tract, they may be used as 

 boats. These are to be provisioned for three months, which, 

 with short stages, will allow the party to travel from Spitzber- 

 gen to the Pole, and back. In dragging these vehicles along 

 the ice, dogs or rein- deer are to be used, which may be fed, 

 partly on fish caught by the way, and, in case of scarcity, may 

 serve for provision. 



This plan is a modification of that proposed some years ago in 

 the Werneriaii Society ^ by Mr William Scoresby Jwmor *, who, 

 during many voyages to the Spitzbergen sea, had ample op- 

 portunities for making observations on the peculiarities of the 

 Greenland ice. He, like every judicious theorist who indul- 

 ges his fancy on the probabilities of executing his project, first 

 conceives the nature of the tract over which he has to pass, 



• The very interesting details of Mr Scoresby's plan are given in the 2d 

 volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Socety, p. 325. 

 et seq. 



g2 



