CHAPTER XIX. 



THE EARLIEST POLAR EXPLORATIONS. 



Perhaps it is because of the obstacles and perils of polar investigation, 

 rather than in spite of them, that the north has had a special fascination for 

 men of daring. Certain it is that ever since modern history began, and even 

 before that, explorers have been trying to push into the land of ice. 



Some historians believe that in the dim days before America or even 

 Europe was populated, a strange race of men found the North Pole, and even 

 dwelt there part of the year. They may have been some of the prehistoric 

 peoples who penetrated many quarters of the globe, including America, and left 

 traces of their life in buried cities and monuments. Perhaps in the years to 

 come, when many men have been to the North Pole, some evidence of the ear- 

 liest exploration in the region may come to light. But in our day nothing 

 authentic is known of what was done in those times. 



It has been definitely enough established, however, that for more than 

 four hundred years the pole has lured on men of all nations to suffering and 

 death. 



The white races of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were 

 eager for a new and speedier route to India than the one then made use of. 

 These same races believed a speedier route to China existed. Columbus was 

 only a searcher for this route. There is no positive historical evidence that 

 he sought more than this when he left Spain. And he was preceded by scores 

 of searchers braver and worthier than he in this quest. 



Those who came after him for decades did not accept America as a con- 

 tinent with an entity of its own. Jean Nicollet, coming in 1634 to what is 

 now northern Wisconsin, dressed himself in the robes of a Chinese mandarin 

 when he met the Menomini because he believed he was on the road to China 

 and was about to confront one of the rulers of that country. 



In this chase for the royal road to the celestial empire it came about that 

 the first lines of the tragedy of the North Pole were written — the last are yet 

 to be inscribed, The white men from Europe were not alone content tg 



