INTRODUCTION 35 



and necessary stores to search for the nearest current, in 

 order to drift in the manner before mentioned. 



" How long may we suppose such a voyage to occu- 

 py ? As we have ah-eady seen, the reHcs of the Jcan- 

 nette expedition at most took two years to drift along 

 the same course down to the Soth degree of latitude, 

 where we may, with tolerable certainty, count upon get- 

 ting loose. This would correspond to a rate of about 

 two miles per day of twenty-four hours. 



" We may therefore not unreasonably calculate on 

 reaching this point in the course of two years ; and it is 

 also possible that the ship might be set free in a higher 

 latitude than is here contemplated. Five years' provi- 

 sions must therefore be regarded as ample. 



" But is not the cold in winter in these regions so 

 severe that life will be impossible. f* There is no prob- 

 ability of this. We can even say with tolerable cer- 

 tainty that at the Pole itself it is not so cold in winter 

 as it is (for example) in the north of Siberia, an inhabit- 

 ed region, or on the northern part of the west coast of 

 Greenland, which is also inhabited. Meteorologists have 

 calculated that the mean temperature at the Pole in 

 January is about —33° Fahr. ( — 36° C), while, for exam- 

 ple, in Yakutsk it is —43" Fahr. ( — 42° C), and in Ver- 

 khoyansk — 54° Fahr. ( — 48° C). We should remember 

 that the Pole is probably covered with sea, radiation from 

 which is considerably less than from large land surfaces, 

 such as the plains of North Asia. The polar region 



