506 The Arctic Expedition. (October, 
and of Northern Siberia, for the furtherance of commerce. 
(6). The search for the lost Evebus and Terror. (7). 
Rewards offered by governments or individuals. (Thus acen- 
tury ago a reward of £20,000 was offered by Parliament for 
the discovery of the north-west passage ; also a reward was 
offered for the first man who should sail beyond the 89° N. 
lat; and in 1818 Parliament offered £1000 to the first man 
who should sail beyond 83° N. lat., £2000 if he sailed to 
85°, £3000 to 87°, £4000 to 88°, and £5000 to 89°; again 
£10,000 was offered for the solution of the mystery which 
so long overhung the fate of Evebus and Terror). (8). The 
prosecution of scientific research, including geographical 
surveys and deap-sea soundings. (g). In the case of our 
expedition of 1875, the acquirement of ‘‘ important scienti- 
fic and commercial results” . . . ‘‘the importance of 
encouraging that spirit of maritime enterprise which has 
ever distinguished the English people,” . . . ‘ the dis- 
covery of the conditions of land and sea within the unknown 
area, and the investigation of all the phenomena in that 
region in the various branches of science.” (10). The dis- 
covery of the North Pole. 
We have put last on our list, and would fain have omitted 
altogether, that which many will regard as the primary 
object of Arétic research ; but in truth the expression “‘ dis- 
covery of the North Pole” is scarcely more than a phrase. 
The North Pole is in some respects of less interest than the 
magnetic pole discovered more than 40 years ago. The 
North Pole of the earth is merely a point terminating the 
axis of rotation of the earth. It is a spot on the earth’s 
surface where the altitude of the sun is equal to its declina- 
tion; .where the sun seems to revolve in a circle parallel with 
the horizon, and not to rise on one side of the horizon and 
set on the other, as with us. Nevertheless, if we like to 
make the discovery of this spot on the earth’s surface, our 
goal in the Arétic race, well and good; the phrase may be 
retained, because we well know that the pole cannot be 
reached without a considerable exploration of the land lying 
around it, and this is the real present object of Arctic 
research. It is a useful phrase because you cannot explain 
to the nation in general, and to the sailors of the expedition 
in particular, the results geographical, magnetical, elec- 
trical, thermal, hydrographical, geodetical, meteorological, 
geological, botanical, zoological, and ethnological, which 
may be expected to accrue from the observations of the 
expedition; while the phrase ‘discovery of the North 
Pole’ has in it a stimulating ring, a something tangible 
