THE POLAR SEAS. 49 



The expedition of Dr. Kane entered Smith's Strait in 1853, and 

 advanced towards the north upon sledges drawn by dogs ; the mean 

 temperature, which ranged between thirty degrees and forty degrees 

 below zero, fell at last to fifty degrees. At eleven degrees from the 

 Pole they found two Esquimaux villages, called Etah and Peterovik, 

 then an immense glacier. A detachment, conducted by Lieutenant 

 Morton, discovered, beyond the eightieth degree of latitude, an open 

 channel inhabited by innumerable swarms of birds, consisting of 

 swallows, ducks, and gulls, which delighted them by their shrill, 

 piercing cries. Seals (plioca) enjoyed themselves on the floating ice. 

 In ascending the banks, they met with flowering plants, such as 

 Lychnis, Hesperis, &c. On the 24th of June, Morton hoisted the 

 flag of the Antarctic, which had before this seen the ice of the 

 South Pole, on Cape Independence, situated beyond eighty-one degrees. 

 To the north stretched the open sea. On the left was the western 

 bank of the Kennedy Channel, which seemed to terminate in a chain 

 of mountains, the principal peak rising from nine thousand to ten 

 thousand feet, which was named Mount Parry. The expedition re- 

 turned towards the south, and reached the port of Uppernavick 

 exhausted with hunger, where it was received on board an American 

 ship. Dr. Kane, weakened by his sufferings, from which he never 

 quite recovered, died in 1857. 



We cannot conclude this rapid sketch of events connected with the 

 expeditions to the Arctic Pole without noting a geological fact of great 

 and singular interest. When opportunities have presented themselves 

 of examining the rocks in the regions adjoining the North Pole, it has 

 been found that great numbers belong to the coal measures. Such is 

 the case in Melville Island and Prince Patrick's Island. Under the 

 ice which covers the soil in these islands coal exists, with all the fossil 

 vegetable debris which invariably accompany it. This shows that in 

 the coal period of geology, the North Pole was covered with the rich 

 and abundant vegetation whose remains constitute the coal-fields of 

 the present day ; and proves to demonstration that the temperature of 

 these regions was, at one period of the earth's history, equal to that 

 of equatorial countries of the present day. What a wonderful change 

 in the temperature of these regions is thus indicated ! It is, indeed, 

 a strange contrast to find coal formations under the soil covered by 

 the polar ice. Let us suppose that human industry should dream of 



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