THE SECRET OF THE NORTH POLE. 103 



voyagers have made to the northward of Siberia. It 

 must be noticed, in the first place, that the coast of 

 Siberia runs much farther northward than that of the 

 American continent. So that on this side, indepen- 

 dently of sea explorations, the unknown arctic regions 

 are limited within very high latitudes. But attempts 

 have been made to push much farther north from these 

 shores. In every case, however, the voyagers have 

 found that the ice-fields, over which they hoped to make 

 their way, have become gradually less and less firm, 

 until at length no doubt could remain that there lay 

 an open sea beyond them. How far that sea may 

 extend is a part of the secret of the North Pole ; but we 

 may assume that it is no narrow sea, since otherwise 

 there can be little doubt that the ice-fields which 

 surround the shores of Northern Siberia would extend 

 unbroken to the farther shores of what we should thus 

 have to recognise as a strait. The thinning-off of these 

 ice-fields, observed by Baron Wrangel and his com- 

 panions, affords, indeed, most remarkable and significant 

 testimony respecting the nature of the sea which lies 

 beyond. This I shall presently have to exhibit more 

 at length ; in the meantime I need only remark that 

 scarcely any doubt can exist that the sea thus discovered 

 extends northwards to at least the eightieth parallel of 

 latitude. 



We may say, then, that from Wellington Channel, 

 northward of the American continent, right round 

 towards the west, up to the neighbourhood of Spitz- 

 bergen, very little doubt exists as to the general 



