134 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



added millions upon millions of dollars every year to the wealth 

 of the world all these have been opened up by hardy Arctic 

 explorers. But not yet has the world learned to appreciate 

 the great work that has been done by the soldiers of science, 

 or their bloodless victories, of vaster importance to the race 

 than a Waterloo or a Sedan. The records of their victories are 

 known only to the few, are unheeded by the many. The man 

 of blood is still the world's hero. In England to-day the sol- 

 dier who has won the greatest honors, and applause, and great 

 wealth, has done little else than to slaughter some savage men 

 and make them bow to a foreign yoke ; but he has spilled 

 human blood, and so his name has resounded from shore to 

 shore. For, as in the old gladiatorial days, the thumbs of the 

 cruel populace are still reversed, and the sacrifice of human 

 blood is demanded as the price of its applause. Not yet have 

 the great soldiers of science received their meed of apprecia- 

 tion ; but when "the war-drum throbs no longer, and the 

 battle-flags are furled," then will the world more fully under- 

 stand the debt it owes to such men. 



It is no vain ambition that leads the explorer into far north- 

 ern latitudes, but a higher motive a desire to comprehend 

 the vast economy of this planet, to read its geological history, 

 and to give the results of his labors to his fellow-men. Until 

 the thirst for knowledge and the love of adventure is dead in 

 the human heart, the Arctic regions will still attract explorers 

 to its vast silences. 



