TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XV. 

 THE EARLIEST POLAR EXPLORATIONS. 

 North Pole a lure of mankind for many centuries — Was it once peopled with a race hardier 

 than ours? — The ancient explorers and their crude theories — Commercial advance the 

 first incentive of search — Sporting blood inspires the chase of the earth's axis 165 



CHAPTER XVI. 



TRAGEDY OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 

 The brave English officer who determined to find the pole — Sets out with two ships and 

 ^ large party of men — Ostensible aim to find the north passage, but secret ambition 

 to discover the pole — The long silence following entry of the ships into the ice-bound 

 north — Searching parties find proof that Franklin and all his companions perished.. 177 



CHAPTER XVII. 



KANE, THE MODEL OF PEARY. 



Expedition to the far north in 1853 — Battle with ice and storm in Melville Bay — Long 

 hours without water or food — Frozen into sleeping-bags — Rescue and return to 

 Greenland — Great value of discoveries 191 



CHAPTER XVin. 

 GEN. GREELY'S EPOCH-MAKING TRIPS. 



Envoy of United States government to try for farthest north — Passes through the perils 

 and sufferings that fell to the lot of all — Reaches far northern point, but is forced to 

 turn back 200 



CHAPTER. XIX. 



RESCUE OF THE GREELY PARTY. 



Valuable scientific discoveries of the Greely expedition — His name enrolled among those 



of the bravest and most reliable of polar travelers 206 



CHAPTER XX. 

 FRIDTJOF NANSEN, THE MODERN VIKING. 

 Nansen, the hardy Norseman, determines to find the pole — Fitting up of the Fram, one 

 of the sturdiest ships that had battled with ice-bound seas — Start of a drifting voy- 

 age through the polar ocean — Beset by huge bergs and hummocks — Party forced to 

 subsist on poor food, and facing starvation — Turns back, after attaining "farthest 

 north," before Peary 216 



CHAPTER XXL 

 TWO BALLOONISTS WHO FAILED. 

 Wellman conceives the idea of sailing to the pole in a dirigible balloon — His two attempts, 



ending in failure of the airship to proceed more than a few miles 221 



CHAPTER XXn. 

 LIFE AMONG THE ESKIMOS. 



Little-known facts about a hardy people — Are they intelligent, or the reverse? — Their 

 means of getting food — Their cunning devices against the rigors of frost — What it 

 means to live in a below-zero climate the year round 224 



