xii Dedication. 



administrator should be one of the leading advo- 

 cates of Arctic discovery. 



Many of the names in the Arctic regions, espe- 

 cially those at the head of Baffin's Bay, including 

 that of the strait which will eventually lead us to 

 the Pole, recall memories of the founders of our 

 Indian Empire. 



Smith Sound is named after the first governor 

 of the East India Company ; Jones and Wolsten- 

 holme Sounds and Cape Dudley Digges are called 

 after the most active promoters of Indian trade ; 

 and Lancaster Sound after that gallant seaman 

 who made the first voyage to India for the old 

 company. 



Moreover, several of our predecessors in Arctic 

 exploration gave their lives for the service of the 

 East India Company. 



John Davis fell fighting for it in the Sea of 

 Japan, and that glorious old navigator Baffin was 

 killed whilst taking sights on an island in the Per- 

 sian Gulf. 



Indian and Arctic navigators united very heartily 

 in the olden times, and the connection between 

 India and the far north at the present day is, if pos- 

 sible, even more intimate. For the skilful seamen 

 with whom I was shipmate this summer, and the 

 ryots of Bengal, are engaged in two branches of 

 the same industry, the welfare of the one depending 

 very closely upon that of the other. 



