PREFACE. 



The interest which has been freshly awakened in 

 the progress of Arctic discovery by the recent German 

 and Swedish expeditions towards the North Pole, 

 has appeared to justify my experienced publishers in 

 issuing a new edition of this work, about which it 

 may not be inappropriate to observe here, as in the 

 preface to the former edition, that, rather than con- 

 fine myself strictly to a record of scientific investi- 

 gations, 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 mysterious and unknown. 



If my publishers prove to be right in their estimate 

 of public feeling, I shall accept it as conclusive evi- 

 dence that the time is ripe for the renewal of my 

 proposal to continue the exploration on the American 

 side of the Arctic Ocean, beyond the point where this 

 narrative leaves it. 



New York. January, 1869. 



