POLAR BEAR 



POLAR EXPLORATION 



275 



of Polish literary activity, several young men united, 

 with Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) at their head, 

 in a crusade against the still dominant French 

 school of literature. After a short stay in Russia, 

 Mickiewicz emigrated and spent the latter part of 

 his life at Paris. He died at Constantinople, 

 whither he had gone on a political mission at the 

 time of the Crimean war. We have only space 

 to mention some of his chief works, his Ballads, 

 Sonnets, Konrad Wallenrod, and Pan Tadeusz ; the 

 last probably the most popular poem in the Polish 

 language. Anton Malczewski ( 1792-1826), remem- 

 ciered by \nsMaria, a pathetic story of the Ukraine, 

 Iwas a prominent poet of what has been called 

 the Ukraine school; Goszczyn.ski (1806-76) was 

 author of the narrative poem Zamek Kaniowski ; 

 liolidun Zaleski, author of Duch od Stepu; others 

 are Odyniec, the friend of Mickiewicz, Siemienski, 

 ( ;arczynski, Gaszynski. The two names most 

 worthy to be placed by the side of that of Mickie- 

 wicz are those of Sigismund Krasinski (1812-59), 

 author of the strange poem Nieboska Koinedya 

 (the 'Undivine Comedy'), and Julius Slowacki 

 (1809-49). Most of these men belonged to what 

 was called the ' Polish Emigration,' whose head- 

 quarters were at Paris. Of the Polish novelists 

 we have only space to mention the prolific Jozef 

 Ignacy Kraszewski ( 1812-87), whose works amount 

 to 312, and Henrik Sienkiewicz. The most original 

 writer for the stage whom the Poles have produced 

 is Count Alexander Fredro (1793-1876); he is a 

 thoroughly national writer ; although French in- 

 fluence is visible in hi- pieces, the characters are 

 Polish. Many distinguished historical writers 

 belong to this later period, of whom we may 

 mention Joachim Lelewel (1786-1862), the author 

 of many works of the greatest value, Szujski, 

 Schmitt, Szajnocha, and Michael Bobrzynski, 

 professor in the university of Cracow. By these 

 men the history of Poland has l>een treated in all 

 ite details with great vigour. Among later poets 

 may be mentioned Pol, Ujejski, and Lenartowicz ; 

 Adam Asnyk, the most popular of recent Polish 

 poets ; and the poetesses Gabriele Zmichowska 

 (1825-78) and Marya Konopnicka. 



The history of Polish literature has been written by 

 Bentkowski and Wiszniewski. Mention may also be 

 made of Nitschmann's Qetchichte der Polniscken Litera- 

 tur (1884), and the present writer's Early Slavonic 

 Literature (1883) and Poland (1893). 



Polar Bear. See BEAR. 

 Polar Circle. See ARCTIC. 



Polar Exploration. In scientific geography 

 nitirh of the best work done in the 19th century 

 is due to discoveries made in the Arctic and Ant- 

 arctic regions. In the former, more especially, not 

 only have new lands been surveyed, but large and 

 important accessions have been made to several 

 branches of natural science. The original motive, 

 however, in England at least, for exploring the 

 Arctic seacoasts was to discover a route to the 

 wealthy countries of eastern Asia, and to share in 

 the traffic monopolised by Spain and Portugal when 

 at the height of their power. Thus arose a double 

 series of attempts, either to coast eastward along 

 the north of Europe and Asia, or to sail westward 

 across the Atlantic; the latter being afterwards 

 modified into attempts to coast westward along 

 the north of America. Hence arose the terms 

 ' North-east Passage ' and ' North-west Passage.' 



Some have traced the history of Arctic explora- 

 tion to the time of King Alfred, who, in his trans- 

 lation of Orosius (q.v.), inserted an account of the 

 voyages of Othhere and Wulfstan, narrated to him 

 by Othhere himself, who seems to have sailed ronnd 

 the North Cape to Lapland. The voyages of the 

 Norsemen toGreenland (q.v.)and the opposite coasts 



of America in the 10th and following centuries may 

 be regarded as to some extent coming within early 

 Arctic attempts. Cabot's discovery in 1497 of 

 Newfoundland and Labrador might, however, be 

 termed the h'rst step in the exploration of American 

 polar regions for the earlier expeditions claimed 

 on behalf of Portugal must be regarded as mythical. 

 Three years after Cabot, Caspar Cortereal and his 

 brother made three separate voyages in the same 

 direction, sailing northwards by Labrador, where 

 they were stopped in 60 N. lat. The expedition 

 commanded in 1553 by Sir Hugh Willoughby led 

 the way to the North-east Passage. Willoughby 

 sighted Nova Zembla, but lie and his men ulti- 

 mately perished on the coast of Lapland. Chancellor, 

 who accompanied him, landed in Russia near Arch- 

 angel. Other Englishmen followed, Burroughs. 

 (1556), Pet and Jaekman (1580), Henry Hudson 

 ( 1608-9), Wood (1676), but none succeeded in get- 

 ting much beyond Nova Zembla, though they did 

 food work in exploring the north coast of Europe, 

 pitzbergen, and other islands in these seas. In 

 1594-97 Barentz, a Dutchman, led three expedi- 

 tions, wintering on the north-east coast of Nova 

 Zembla, 1596-97 ( see BARENTZ ). After the failures of 

 Hudson and Wood in the 17th century, the attempt 

 to sail eastwards came to be considered quite hope- 

 less. In 1607 Hudson succeeded in reaching 81 30' 

 N. in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen. 



Meanwhile some exploration of the Arctic parts 

 of America had been going 'on. Frobisher first 

 sailed in 1576, and in 1585-88 the great navigator 

 Davis sailed up the strait bearing his name 

 to 72 41' N. and coasted the west of Greenland, 

 'the land of desolation.' In a tract of Davis', 

 published in 1595, there are arguments for a North- 

 west Passage. Hudson, who had tried the North- 

 east Passage, discovered in 1610 the strait and 

 great bay which bear his name. From the size 

 of the latter he concluded it to be part of the 

 Pacific ; but that was disproved by Button, the 

 next English explorer (1612). In 1615-16 Baffin, 

 who went out at first under Bylot, had had some 

 scientific training, proved himself as skilful a 

 navigator as Davis. He found the great northern 

 outlet to Baffin Bay, and recorded some import- 

 ant magnetic observations. After the expedition 

 of Fox and James in 1631, which only led to the 

 partial exploration of what then was named Fox 

 Channel, tne North American coast was neglected 

 for more than a century. 



Russia was naturally interested in the explora- 

 tion of the Siberian coast, and from Peter the 

 Great's time took her proper share in the mari- 

 time discovery. Behring, after receiving instmc- 

 tions from Czar Peter on his death-bed, sailed 

 from Okhotsk, and discovered the straits which 

 bear his name. In a second voyage ( 1741 ) he sailed 

 from Petropaulovski and explored part of north- 

 west America. Another Russian expedition in 

 1742 found (but did not succeed in rounding) tlie 

 most northerly point of Siberia, named from the 

 discoverer Chelyuskin (or Severo); and an earlier 

 one sailed from the Yenisei to 75 15' N. In 1765 

 Tchitsakoff sailed to Spitzbergen, and finally 

 reached 80^ N. The New Siberian Islands were 

 explored by Hedenstrom in 1809-11, by Anjou in 

 1823, and in 1884-87 by Bunge and Toll. Wrangel 

 explored the Siberian coast between Cape Chelag- 

 skoi and the Kolyma in 1820-23, and in 1843 Mid- 

 dendorf laid down the unvisited coast in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cape Chelyuskin. In the reign of 

 George III. there was a new revival of English zeal 

 in naval adventure. Captain Phipps (afterwards 

 Lord Mulgrave) sailed in June 1773 to Spitzbergen, 

 where the heavy pack-ice kept him nearly a month 

 from proceeding farther north. Finally he reached 

 80 48' N., and Cook, who next made the attempt, 



