Chap. I. INTRODUCTION. 13 



Polar Sea ; and already, in our time, the opening 

 of Lancaster Sound by Parry has extended the 

 whale-fishery into that sound. 



But the knowledge that has resulted from these 

 later voyages is not less valuable, less durable, or 

 more evanescent, nor can it be too highly appre- 

 ciated. Let any one cast an e}~e only over the best 

 charts of the northern regions, previous to the re- 

 cent Arctic expeditions, and compare them with 

 what they now are. Let him inquire what was 

 then known, or described, of that Polar sea, or 

 indeed of the whole northern shore of the Ameri- 

 can continent, and the answer will be, a blank ; 

 which however he will now find filled up. Let him 

 ask, what was the value or amount of the geogra- 

 phical and physical knowledge then possessed of 

 the regions of the globe within the Arctic circle, 

 and the reply would be, little or nothing ; whereas 

 the objects of Nature, which the late voyages have 

 furnished to the British Museum and other deposi- 

 tories, are numerous and novel. Let any one turn 

 over that extraordinary collection of engravings 

 and descriptions of subjects in every department of* 

 natural history, filling up no less than four large 

 quarto volumes, whose general titles are as under — 



1 . The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Quadrupeds. 



2. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Birds. 



3. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Fishes. 



4. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Insects. 



