122 SEA AND LAND 



several children of that people, drifted away to the southward, 

 and for the time between October 15th and April 29th found 

 refuse on the lloe-ice, and were carried onward toward the 

 open Atlantic. As they came into the wider waters the waves 

 swept over the Hat surface of the ice and broke the original 

 wide field into small patches, each a few acres in extent, so 

 that they had from time to time to select a new refuge. 

 Their sufferings were considerable, but with the couraire and 

 hopefulness characteristic of our sailors, they undauntedly 

 met their difficulties, each dutifully caring for the other, so 

 that when rescued by a passing ship every meml)er of the 

 party was alive. The chronicle of this wonderful adventure 

 is one of the most picturesque stories of bitter experience and 

 fortitude which the literature of Arctic adventure affords. 



In the regions about the Southern Pole, because of the 

 vast area of ice which is gathered there, the climate in sum- 

 mer is much less calculated to melt ice than in the region 

 about Greenland. The large area of this southern ice-cap is 

 caused by the failure of the warm currents from the tropics 

 to attain the Antarctic Circle? ; this is brought about by the 

 absence of any distinct land-bounded pathway of the waters, 

 as exists in the North Atlantic lands, which, in a way, serves 

 to confine; the; (iulf .Stream and lead it to the Arctic regions. 

 Moreover, the southern currents, which are diverted toward 

 the Antarctic Sea, are less strono; than those which flow north- 

 wardly from the equatorial parts of the oceans. Owing to the 

 frigid condition of the summer climate of the southern ice-dis- 

 trict, and the absence of warm water to melt the ice, the floes of 

 that region are thicker and form more extended fields than those 

 with which explorations of the Greenland district have made 

 us acquainted. Fortunately there are in the Antarctic district 



