vi PREFACE. 



from my diary all that did not appear as immedi- 

 ately relevant to the scene; and, indeed, where the 

 occasion appeared to require concentration, to aban- 

 don the diary altogether, and use the more concise 

 form of descriptive narrative. 



The reader will observe that I have not attempt- 

 ed, in any sense, to write a work of Science. True, 

 the purpose of the voyage was purely a scientific 

 one, — its chief object and aim being to explore the 

 boundaries of the Open Polar Sea ; at least to de- 

 termine if such a sea did exist, as had been so often 

 asserted ; but while I have given a general discus- 

 sion of the conditions of the Polar waters and the 

 Polar ice, and have recorded many new facts in vari- 

 ous departments of physical and natural science, yet 

 I have desired to treat the subject in a manner which, 

 as it seemed to me, would be most acceptable to the 

 general reader, rather than to the scientific student, 

 — preferring to direct the latter to those more strictly 

 scientific channels where my materials have been or 

 are about being published. 



Soon after returning from the North, my principal 

 records were placed at the disposal of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution at Washington ; and I have employed 

 such leisure as I could command in their elaboration 

 and discussion, — the principal labor, however, falling 

 upon Mr. Charles A. Schott, Assistant, United States 

 Coast Survey, who brought to the task the best fac- 

 ulties of a well-stored mind, and unusual powers 

 of patient investigation ; and papers, giving a full 



