IX THE SEA 367 



red stretching round the whole heavens. 

 Gradually as the sun retreated deeper and 

 deeper, the sky became a marvellous golden 

 curtain, in front of which the gray clouds 

 coiled themselves into weird forms before 

 dissolving into space. . . ." 



THE POLES 



The Arctic and Antarctic regions have 

 always exercised a peculiar fascination over 

 the human mind. Until now every attempt 

 to reach the North Pole has failed, and the 

 South has proved even more inaccessible. 

 In the north, Parry all but reached lat. 83 ; 

 in the south no one has penetrated beyond 

 lat. 71.11. And yet, while no one can say 

 what there may be round the North Pole, and 

 some still imagine that open water might be 

 found there, we can picture to ourselves the 

 extreme South with somewhat more confidence. 



Whenever ships have sailed southwards, 

 except at a few places where land has been 

 met with, they have come at last to a wall of 

 ice, from fifty to four hundred feet high. In 



