104 The Norlhzoest Passage, ^c. 



*' A comparison of the magnetic influence near the pole, 

 with what it has been observed to be on the equator, might 

 lead to important results ; and the swinging of a pendulum as 

 near the pole as can be approached, to compare with the oscil- 

 lations observed in the Shetland Islands, and in the southern 

 hemisphere, would be a great point gained for science." 



We have no room in this Number to consider the probability 

 of success in this attempt, nor the question, whether the break- 

 ing up of the Greenland ice, and its passage to, and dissolution 

 in, the south, have been attended with a chilling influence on 

 the continents. That such a chilling effect might be exten- 

 sively exerted, is certainly credible. Approaching some of 

 the icebergs, in April 1805, on the shoals of Newfoundland, 

 we were rendered very sensible of the vicinity of such dan- 

 gerous neighbours, by the great chill in the air, long before 

 they were visible ; and when we had passed them, the weather 

 again grew milder. 



Perhaps it militates against the probability of finding the 

 northern polar basin free of ice, that Captain Cook, in his 

 approximation to the southern pole, in January, 1773, when in 

 latitude 67° 15' south, " could proceed no farther; the ice 

 being entirely closed to the south, in the whole extent from 

 east to west-southwest, without the least appearance of any 

 opening." The advanced season of the year did not, however, 

 permit Captain Cook to ascertain whether he could coast 

 around this ice — whether it was ultimately attached to land, or 

 was a part of a vast field extending to the south pole. This last 

 is however highly improbable, because being found about 23° 

 from the pole, it is hardly credible that it would occupy so 

 extensive a region as to embrace the pole, and, perhaps extend 

 as much farther beyond ; especially as in similar latitudes in 

 the opposite hemisphere, navigation is comparatively free, and 

 has been pushed even to more than 80° of north latitude. 



The scientific, as well as the commercial world, will wait 

 with no small impatience for the termination of the two grand 

 arctic expeditions, which are among the most original and 

 daring, and may he among the most interesting and momentous 

 hitherto undertaken by man. 



