THE SECRET OF THE NORTH POLE. 109 



The first was that the island of Spitzbergen is con- 

 nected with Scandinavia by a submarine bank; the 

 second was the circumstance that to the north and 

 west of Spitzbergen the Atlantic is more than two 

 miles deep ! 



We come now to the most conclusive evidence yet 

 afforded of the extension of the Atlantic Ocean 

 towards the immediate neighbourhood of the North 

 Pole. Singularly enough, this evidence is associated 

 not with a sea-voyage, nor with a voyage across ice 

 to the borders of some northern sea, but with a journey 

 during which the voyagers were throughout sur- 

 rounded as far as the eye could reach by apparently 

 fixed ice-fields. 



In 1827 Sir Edward Parry was commissioned by 

 the English Government to attempt to reach the 

 North Pole. A large reward was promised in case 

 he succeeded, or even if he could get within five 

 degrees of the North Pole. The plan which he 

 adopted seemed promising. Starting from a port in 

 Spitzbergen, he proposed to travel as far northward 

 as possible in sea-boats, and then, landing upon the 

 ice, to prosecute his voyage by means of sledges. 

 Few narratives of arctic travel are more interesting 

 than that which Parry has left of this famous f boat- 

 and-sledge' expedition. The voyagers were terribly 

 harassed by the difficulties of the way ; and, after a 

 time, that most trying of all arctic experiences, the 

 bitterly cold wind which comes from out the dreadful 

 north, was added to their trials. Yet still they 



