a 
I 
of reaching the North Pole. 321 
for a want of food, could have passed the winter in safety. The 
temperature of the hut sank rarely to zero, and was often as high 
as the freezing point, being kept thus elevated by the heat ra- 
diated from the persons of the occupants. 
I have already shown the importance of these northern lands 
as offering positions for observations upon the human and floraé 
life of the region; and lying almost in a direct line between the 
VO great magnetic centres, the great value of stations in the 
high latitudes of Grinnell Land for magnetic determination can 
ardly be overestimated. Our knowledge of the oceanic cur- 
Tents and tides of the extensive waters of the Polar Basin is en- 
presents a most important field for the completion of the hydro- 
graphic survey of the northern hemisphere. Indeed, there is no 
department of physical science or natural history to which the 
— could not be made to contribute. 
he collections of natural history made during the cruise of 
the “ Advance,” which were unfortunately abandoned with the 
vessel, exhibited a hitherto unknown feature in Greenland 
78° 40’. These animals seem to have become extinct on the con- 
nent of Greenland to the south of latitude 80°, but I have been 
assured by the Esquimaux that they still exist to the far north, 
and they speak of a large island in that direction upon which 
they live in great numbers. i : 
The northern range of the Cetaccea is not known, and it would 
be highly important to determine whether they inhabit the ex- 
treme northern limit of our planet. I conjecture that their central 
habitat is about the Pole. Whales struck in the Greenland § 
D SERIES, Vor. XXVI, No. 78.—NOV., 1855. 
