122 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



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 toward 

 the immediate neighborhood of the North Pole. Sin- 

 gularly enough, this evidence is associated not with a 

 sea-voyage, nor with a voyage across ice to the bor- 

 ders of some northern sea, but with a journey during 

 which the voyagers were throughout surrounded 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 " 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 

 plodded steadily onward, tracking their way over 



