1815.]} Wernerian Society. 145 
known as.one of the most enterprizing and intelligent captains in 
the Greenland trade) penetrated as high as 812° N. a distance of 
only 170 leagues from the pole. Even when north winds had pre- 
vailed for days, Mr. Scoresby did not find the cold of 80° much 
different from that of 70° N. With woollen clothing, therefore, he 
thinks the cold would not be overwhelming, and an external gate 
ment of varnished silk would protect the body from moisture. It 
would be impossible to accomplish a journey of 1200 miles (600 
going and 600 returning) without the assistance of some fleet quad 
rupeds accustomed to harness. Rein-deer or dogs are the only ani« 
mals that could be employed, and they must be procured from the 
countries where they are trained. Dogs are most hardy and tract- 
able, and would on the whole be preferable. Drivers must also be 
procured from the same countries. The sledges must be light, and 
in the form of boats, in case of spaces of open water occurring. 
Between a month and six weeks, Mr. Scoresby thinks, would suffice 
for the journey. To avoid the retarding effects of soft snow, he 
suggests that the party should set out by the close of April. When the 
aid of the magnetic needle as a director should be lost, by its pole 
being directed to the zenith, the sun would be the only guide. A 
chronometer would be an indispensable instrument. With a chro- 
nometer adjusted to the meridian of north-west Spitzbergen, the 
bearing of the sun at the time of noon (provided this could be accu- 
rately ascertained very near the pole) would afford a line of direc- 
tion for the return; the position in regard to longitude being cor- 
rected twice a day. White bears are the only living enemies to be 
expected; but they are not likely to occur iff numbers very far 
north, as their food must necessarily be scarce. Mr. Scoresby has 
little expectation of mountainous /and occurring, and he thinks it 
highly improbable that the sea will be found free from ice at the 
pole, as the Dutch navigators have asserted it to be. Mr. Scoresby’s 
ample experience convinces him, that thick weather is only to be 
dreaded as the accompaniment of southerly winds, which occur but 
seldom and at distant intervals.—Such a journey must necessarily 
be hazardous ; but great difficulties have in former times been over- 
come in travelling the northern ice. In the Spring of 1715, 
Alexei Marcoff, a Cossack, travelled from Siberia, in a sledge 
drawn by dogs, near 400 miles northward, over a surface of packed 
ice. He was obliged to stop about the 78th degree, on account of 
the provisions for his dogs falling short ; by killing some, and feed- 
ing the others with the carcases, he effected his return in safety. 
But if the party were to reach the pole either by means of reiri-deer 
or dogs, and these entirely to fail through cold and fatigue, it is at 
least possible that they might be able to accomplish their return on 
foot, drawing their provisions in a sledge; a large party of the 
crews of the Dutch Greenland fleet wrecked in 1777 having tra~ 
versed the ice for a hundred leagues, amid the severity of the arctic 
winter, and actually reached the settlements of the Danish mission- 
aries, without any suitable preparations for such a journey. 
Vor, VI, N° i. K 
