THE SECRET OF THE NORTH POLE. m 



some neighboring planet, and direct the searching 

 power of their telescopes upon this terrestrial orb. 

 For this is one of those cases referred to by Humboldt, 

 when he said that there are circumstances under which 

 man is able to learn more respecting objects millions 

 of miles away from him than respecting the very globe 

 which he inhabits. 



If we take a terrestrial globe, and examine the 

 actual region near the North Pole which has as yet 

 remained un visited by man, it will be found to be far 

 smaller than most people are in the habit of imagining. 

 In nearly all maps the requirements of charting result 

 in a considerable exaggeration of the polar regions. 

 This is the case in the ordinary " maps of the two 

 hemispheres " which are to be found in all atlases. 

 And it is, of course, the case to a much more remark- 

 able extent in what is termed Mercator's projection. 

 In a Mercator's chart we see Greenland, for example, 

 exaggerated into a continent fully as large as South 

 America, or to seven or eight times its real dimen- 

 sions. 



There are three principal directions in which ex- 

 plorers have attempted to approach the North Pole. 

 The first is that by way of the sea which lies between 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen. We include under this 

 head Sir Edward Parry's attempt to reach the pole by 

 crossing the ice-fields which lie to the north of Spitz- 

 bergen. The second is that by way of the straits 



