184 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



and their disappearance remains unexplained. They may 

 have wandered northwards, mingled with the Esquimaux, 

 and have left descendants in this unknown world. If any 

 of Franklin's crew crawled far enough they may still be 

 with them, unable to return. 



In reference to these possibilities it should be noted that 

 a barrier fringe of mountainous land like that of Green- 

 land and arctic America would act as a condensing ground 

 upon the warm air flowing from the south, and would there 

 accumulate the heavy snows and consequent glaciers, just 

 as our western hills take so much of the rain from the 

 vapor-laden winds of the Atlantic. The snowfall imme- 

 diately round the Pole would thus be moderated, and the 

 summer begin so much earlier. 



I have already referred to the physical resemblances of 

 Baffin's Bay, Smith's Sound, etc., to the Baltic, the Gulf 

 of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland. These are frozen every 

 winter, but the Arctic Ocean due north of them is open all 

 the winter, and every winter. The hardy Norse fishermen 

 are gathering their chief harvest of cod fish in the open sea 

 around and beyond the North Cape, Nordkyn, etc., at the 

 very time when the Russian fleet is hopelessly frozen up in 

 the Gulf of Finland. But how far due north of this frozen 

 Baltic are these open-sea fishing banks? More than 14 

 degrees more than double the distance that lies between 

 the winter quarters of some of our ships in Smith's Sound 

 and the Pole itself. This proves how greatly physical 

 configuration and oceanic communication may oppose the 

 climatic influences of mere latitude. If the analogy be- 

 tween Baffin's Bay and the Baltic is complete, a Polar sea 

 will be found that is open in the summer at least. 



On the other hand, it may be that ranges of mountains 

 covered with perpetual snow, and valleys piled up with 

 hiige glacial accumulations, extend all the way to the Pole, 

 and thus give to our globe an arctic ice-cap like that dis- 

 played on the planet Mars. This, however, is very im- 

 probable, for, if it were the case, we ought to find a circum- 

 polar ice-wall like that of the antarctic regions; the Arctic 

 Ocean beyond the North Cape should be crowded with ice- 

 bergs instead of being open and iceless all the year round. 



