82 OrEN POLAR SEA. 



remarkable ice-fjords, which require a longer time to travel through 

 and examine, have more or less escaped attention. Kane had thus 

 either not seen these ice formations, or only had an occasion of 

 seeing them from a great distance, before he came to the place 

 where he was frozen in and had to pass two winters. Humboldt 

 glacier does not even seem to belong to the most remarkable among 

 them, as even in the very southernmost of our Greenland districts, 

 at Julianehaab, we have opportunities of observing just as remark- 

 able phenomena of this kind. 



With respect to the second point — namely, the Open Polar Sea, 

 discovered by Morton the steward and the Greenlander Hans — 

 the manner in which Morton's journey is described by Petersen, 1 

 the Dane, who accompanied the expedition as interpreter, seems 

 to give a clearer picture of its result than that which Kane lias 

 sketched. 



This discovery of an Open Sea gives Kane occasion to make a 

 comparison with other Polar expeditions, and he goes as far back 

 as the days of Barentz in 1596, and " without referring to the 

 earlier and more uncertain chronicles," he mentions the Dutch 

 whale fishers, Dr. Scoresby, Baron Wrangel, Captains Penny and 

 Inglefield, and shows how they have all spoken about large open- 

 ings in the ice around the North Pole. He shows likewise how 

 these have all been found to be " illusory discoveries," and antici- 

 pates the objection that " his own may one day pass within the 

 same category " by extolling the far larger scale on which his Open 

 Sea has been observed. Petersen confines his remarks on this 

 subject to the following : — 



" The Greenlander, Hans, was sent after them with the dog-sledge in order to 

 continue the journey still farther towards the N., and when he reached their 

 sledge (i. e. a drag-sledge that had heen sent out earlier), he and the steward 

 Morton proceeded onwards. They reached the Sound of which the Esquimaux 

 had spoken. This Sound was open ; probably cut up by the strong current 

 they had observed there. It was, however, Midsummer, so that the sun had 

 perhaps aided the current in getting away the ice. After this expedition no 

 other such was attempted." 2 



It is a known fact that, here and there under the coast of North 

 Greenland, places are found which, on account of the strong 



1 See vol. i. pp. 280-310. Petersen is a man well known to me. He was ap- 

 pointed foreman in the trading service at Upernivik. His communications bear 

 the full impression of truth, and are written in a clear and simple style, without 

 boasting and self-praise, although he has been of great service to the expeditions 

 that he accompanied as interpreter — viz. Penny's and Kane's. He is now serving 

 with Capt. M'Clintock. 



- See ' Erindringer fra Polarlanderne,' p. 12. 



