THE SECRET OF THE NORTH POLE. HQ 



one part is attracted more than another, a wave is 

 formed. That this may happen, the ocean must be one 

 of wide extent. In the vast seas which surround the 

 Southern Pole there is room for an immensely powerful 

 " drag," so to speak ; for always there will be one part 

 of these seas much nearer to the moon than the rest, 

 and so there will be an appreciable difference of pull 

 upon that part. 



The reader will now see why we have been so care- 

 ful to ascertain the limits of the supposed north-polar 

 oceap, in which, according to Captain Maury, tidal 

 waves are generated. To accord with his views, this 

 ocean must be surrounded on all sides by impassable 

 barriers either of land or ice. These barriers, then, 

 must lie to the northward of the regions yet explored, 

 for there is open sea communicating with the Pacific 

 all round the north of Asia and America. It only 

 requires a moment's inspection of a terrestrial globe to 

 see how small a space is thus left for Captain Maury's 

 land-locked ocean. We have purposely left out of 

 consideration, as yet, the advances made by arctic 

 voyagers in the direction of the sea which lies between 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen. "We shall presently see 

 that on this side the imaginary land-locked ocean must 

 be more limited than toward the shores of Asia or 

 America. As it is, however, it remains clear that, if 

 there were any ocean communicating with the spot 

 reached by Dr. Kane, but separated from all commu- 



