PREFACE. 



The interest which has been freshly awakened in 

 the progress of Arctic discovery by the recent expe- 

 ditions towards the North Pole has appeared to jus- 

 tify my exjDerienced publisher in issuing a new edi- 

 tion of this work, about which it may not be inap- 

 propriate to observe here, as in the Preface to the 

 former edition, that, rather than confine myself 

 strictly to a record of scientific investigations, I have 

 aimed, so far as the narrative would allow, to bring- 

 before the mind of the reader a general picture of 

 the strange life and sublime scenery of a quarter of 

 the world to which we have all been drawn, from 

 childhood, by the ever-powerful charm of the mys- 

 terious and unknown. 



