Septemiser 17, 1908] 



^^A TURE 



479 



(he south of Victoria Land. A link of only some 

 200 miles (by the most direct channels) was all that 

 jcniained to be forged when Amundsen planned and 

 equipped his expedition in the G]6a. But these facts 

 ■lannot detract from the interest of the two volumes 

 before us; the length of the Gjoa's voyage, no less 

 (ban its historical importance, justifies the many 

 pages. 



There is no doubt that .Amundsen's expedition will 

 live in the annals of polar exploration in virtue of 

 ihe accomplishment of the north-west passage; but 

 that was only its secondary aim. " Our first and 

 foremost task was to obtain exact data as to the 

 Magnetic Pole," says Amundsen, and he repeats it 

 several times. It had long been his ambition to 

 (lavigate the north-west passage, but with a praise- 

 worthv self-denial he compelled himself to keep the 

 fulfilment of this feat of navigation subordinate to 

 his scientific researches in magnetism. .\nd yet in 

 perusing the pages of the book one feels that the 

 adventurous spirit of the Norseman was kept in 

 check with difficulty; the desire to accomplish the 

 passage '^vas uppermost in his 

 mind, and when once the greater 

 part of the magnetic work was 

 behind him his hearty enthusiasm 

 seems to have been redoubled. 

 However, in spite of this, Amund- 

 sen retained the Gjiia for nineteen 

 months in winter quarters on the 

 south-east of King William Land 

 so that he could fulfil his pro- 

 gramme of magnetic work, and this 

 notwithstanding the fact that he 

 saw open water ahead, and in all 

 probability no obstacle in his road 

 to the Pacific. That was an e.xhibi- 

 tion of devotion to scientific work 

 in face of the greater fascination of 

 an adventurous voyage which is 

 most commendable and by no 

 means common in polar exploration. 



The Gjoa — a vessel of only forty- 

 seven tons — left Christiania in 1903, 

 and traversing Lancaster Sound 

 and Barrow Strait reached Peel 

 Sound. Amundsen was fortunate 

 in finding Peel Sound open, r.s 

 Franklin did in 1846 (but not so 

 M'Clintock in 1858), and encoun- 

 tering no difficulties he sailed 

 down Franklin Strait and en- 

 tered Ross Strait to the east of King William 

 Land. Here he was in virgin w'aters, for although 

 M'Clintock had sledged down this strait in 1S58, 

 the Erebus- and the Terror had passed to the 

 west of King William Land in ignorance that there 

 was a passage to the east. It was Rae who discovered 

 the insularity of that land, and he held the opinion 

 — afterwards shared by M'Clintock — that the onlv 

 navigable passage was along its eastern and southern 

 coasts. The ice, pressing southward through Victoria 

 Strait, narrow and encumbered with islands as it is, 

 must always prove as insuperable an obstacle as it 

 did to the Erebus and the Terror. .Amundsen had 

 reason to congratulate himself on following Rae's 

 advice in this matter. Passing along Rae Strait the 

 Gjoa went into winter quarters in September in a 

 snug little harbour on the south-east of King William 

 Land, since christened Gjoa Haven. The situation 

 admirably suited the requirements of the work, which, 

 the author explains, demanded such a distance from 

 the magnetic pole that the inclination would be about 

 89°. From this base frequent excursions were made 

 NO. 2029 VOL. 78] 



in all directions, Amundsen himself sledging on one 

 occasion northward as far as the locality of the mag- 

 netic pole in Boothia Felix. By his observations he 

 proved tKe truth of the theory that the magnetic pole 

 has not a stationary position, but, on the contrary, is 

 in continual movement within certain limits. 



During .April, May, and June, 1905, Lieutenant 

 Hansen, accompanied by Ristvedt, made a sledge 

 journey to Victoria Land, and succeeded in charting, 

 as far as 72° N., the western shores of M'Clintock 

 Channel,, the supposed breadth of which he found 

 had been much exaggerated. The new coast was 

 named King Haakon VII. Coast. In addition, the 

 " land seen by Rae " in Victoria Strait, which proved 

 to be a group of many islands, was charted, though 

 the work seems to. have been done somewhat roughly. 

 These surveys included all the topographical work of 

 the expedition; nowhere else did the explorers touch 

 quite new land. In .August, 1905, the westward 

 journey was resumed, and after some tortuous naviga- 

 tion through an island group in the north of Queen 

 M;iud Sea, Cambridge Bay was reached — Ihe" farthest 



— King Point. Shore strewn with Driftwood. From "The North-West Passage.' 



east " of Collinson's Enterprise. Thence onwards 

 until King Point was made navigation w-as relatively 

 simple, but at that point the Gjiia was stopped by 

 ice, and compelled to pass a third winter. In the 

 summer :following she reached Nome City, and 

 ultimately San Francisco, where she now lies, wait- 

 ing, we. understand, for the completion of the Panama 

 Canal to return to Europe. 



.Amundsen thus accomplished the north-west 

 passage, and, moreover, found a route that would 

 probably be practicable for a small ship in any year 

 if only Franklin Strait could once be reached from 

 thi east.; The greatest difficulty in the whole passage 

 lies in entering Franklin Strait, for Peel Sound and 

 Bellot Strait, both of which .Amundsen found open, 

 mav just as likely be blocked with pack-ice, as 

 M'Clintock found them. Neither Ross nor Rae 

 Straits appear to give much trouble, though in thick 

 weather navigation in the vicinity of the magnetic 

 pole must be, as the Gjoa found it, somewhat 

 hazardous. The Esquimaux insist that Simpson 

 Strait breaks up every year, and while Queen Maud 



