Conclusion. 431 



CONCLUSION OF THE NARRATIVE. 



It will not be expected that Hall's biography will be found here. 

 His three Expeditions, together with the weary labors of the years of 

 preparation which preceded each, are his true memorials. The Nar- 

 ratives of his first voyage and of his third (the Polaris) sufficiently dis- 

 prove the idea which has been sometimes hastily expressed that he 

 was an ignorant and visionary dreamer; and the impress on the minds 

 of any who may inspect the precise and often graj^hic journals of the 

 years with which the present Narrative has had to deal, will be that 

 which the evidences of a frank truthfulness create : the manifestation 

 of an indomitable will, energy, and perseverance in the devout pursuit 

 of a single object. He believed it attainable, and believed himself 

 called to it as to his life-work. 



The testimony of one who, next to the late Mr. Grinnell, could 

 most justly estimate his character, is emphatically clear on the points 

 that "Hall was a single-minded trusting man, who believed that others 

 were like himself His enthusiasm concerning his favorite objects was 

 extreme and abiding, and gave tone and color to all his words and 

 acts. His very want of general knowledge and his defiencies in spe- 

 cial departments of science made him more fit for an explorer than a 

 scholar or scientist could have been. He looked upon explorations 

 and all which appertained to the increase of geographical knowledge 

 ns far above all else; and this childlike or single purpose explains the 

 man's career. The more information he could gather, the happier he 



