THE NORTHERN SEAS. 295 



upou having remonstrated with the expedition upon the imprudence of 

 such a cruise along the fast ice, which always produces fog. Howevw, 

 our mariners, more skillful even thau imprudent, have returned, and 

 given us a beautiful volume, which does not contain the half of what 

 they could tell us. One thing is to be regretted, that is, the small num- 

 ber of soundings taken. The question of transatlantic communication 

 by means of a submarine telegraph renders very important the deter- 

 mination of the depth of localities where the cable may be laid. The 

 depths measured were generally great. 



Another voyage, that of an American, a visit to the people of the 

 north, would deserve more than a simple mention of it by me if science 

 held in it a more prominent place. Mr. Bi-ace's book possesses the rare 

 advantage of being written by a tourist who saw more thau the inside 

 of inns. He sought the people at liome^ to borrow a word from the 

 title of his book. It is interesting to view the Scandinavian country 

 through the eyes of a citizen of the United States, and I repeat that the 

 author has brought us more than any other in contact with the people 

 of every grade. "Paris seen in eight days" is the title of the guide- 

 book given to strangers. Could anything be more absurd"? Between 

 an excursion to Versailles and an exhibition at the Eoyal Theater, we 

 receive a visit from an English family, out of health, but with a fearful 

 amount of curiosity to satisfy. After a few words about their over- 

 whelming fatigue, they set out again to see more, if seeing it can be 

 called. An English tourist is reported to have said to a compatriot, on 

 coming out of the picture gallery of the Louvre, "Ah! my friend, what 

 an admirable collection ; I have taken an hour to see it, and you know 

 I walk fast." But joking aside, Mr. Brace's work deserves to be trans- 

 lated into French. It possesses all that can be favorably said of a book 

 of travels. The number of those who publish works of this kind is to 

 that of real observers, as the number of true poets is to that of mere 

 verse-makers. 



Let us now conclude this review of the voyage of La Eeine Hortense. 

 The captain of the vessel, and the officers supporting him, under the 

 direction of the head of the expedition, have given proof of a high degree 

 01 genius for arctic exploration. France should not allow such talent to 

 be dormant. We know iii what estimation jSTapoleon the First held lucky 

 men ; he considered them especially skillful. Now our mariners were 

 very lucky and also very skillful. Their ability ought to be employed, 

 and that in the line of their specialty. See what a very interesting 

 region remains to be explored. 



In entering into the glacial sea on our meridian, but on the other side 

 of the world, which is at noon when we are at midnight, through Beh- 

 ring's Strait, we find, by ascending to the north and west, in the Siberian 

 seas, a basin extending to the islands called New Siberia, which has 

 been but little explored. It is here that from time immemorial the race 

 analogous to tlie Esquimaux of Europe and America have sought, every 

 winter, the antediluvian ivory which rolls upon our billiard boards, in 

 conjuuctiou with that of the contemporaneous elephauts of Asia and 

 Africa. These islands were the catacombs of the primitive animal world. 

 I had hoped that Prince Demidoff, who promised us an expedition by- 

 land to Siberia, would have given us the key to this great enigma of 

 nature; but a maritime expedition would be much more efficacious. An 

 especial commission should be sent to Xijney-Kolymsk and the island 

 discovered by Liakof in 1770. Something ought to be added to the 

 knowledge obtained in 1804 of the mammoth preserved intact by the 

 cold. • Treasures of organic archajology are hidden in the three or four 



