336 North Polar Exploration. 



started too late in the season. There can be no doubt that 

 had he set out in February, when the ice is fixed, instead 

 of the middle of summer, he would have been far more 

 successful. As it is, no European has ever yet reached so 

 high a northern latitude as Sir Edward Parry. 



One more expedition requires notice, although it was in a 

 totally different direction. After Hudson had ascertained the 

 ice barrier between Greenland and Nova Zembla to be impene- 

 trable, that worthy old pilot Baffin, in his little vessel, the 

 <e Discovery/' of fifty-five tons, made an attempt further to the 

 west, entered the bay which bears his name, pushed through 

 the middle pack in twenty-two days, and discovered the en- 

 trance of Smith Sound in 1616. This, and not the Polar 

 pack, is the true portal for future North Polar Exploration; 

 but hitherto, only one expedition has attempted to explore 

 it. Dr. Kane, in the little schooner "Advance," wintered 

 there, from 1853 to 1855, and one of his travelling parties, 

 pushing north along the Greenland coast, reached the lati- 

 tude of 80° 40' N., came to an open iceless sea, and saw 

 land trending away to the northward, as far as the eye could 

 reach. These Americans were undoubtedly the discoverers of 

 the most northerly known land in the world. Dr. Hayes, a 

 companion of Dr. Kane, has since wintered in Smith Sound, 

 but no account of his proceedings has yet been published. 



This completes the enumeration of expeditions which have 

 attempted to penetrate into the North Polar region. The 

 English Government has sent three expeditions to the edge of 

 the ice between Greenland and Nova Zembla, those of Wood, 

 Phipps, and Buchan, during as many centuries, and Parry's 

 boat journey took place in 1827. No attempt has been made 

 since the latter date. 



Let us now consider what this vast unknown region is, and 

 what results may be derived from its exploration. If we look 

 at a North Polar chart, we shall see a blank space from 80° to 

 the Pole, only very slightly nibbled at its circumference by 

 Dr. Kane's party, who got forty miles beyond the 80th parallel 

 in Smith Sound, and by Parry, who travelled over the ice into 

 this unknown region for a distance of 165 miles. Here, then, 

 is a vast circular tract of land, and sea, and ice, which is abso- 

 lutely unknown, with a diameter of 1200 miles, and an area of 

 1,131,000. square miles. 



Our complete ignorance of this large portion of our planet 

 is in itself a strong reason for exploring it. Even if men of 

 science were unable to specify any positive result beforehand, 

 it might fairly be urged that the examination of this vast 

 region must inevitably increase the store of human knowledge, 

 and thus bear rich fruit. But, in truth, we have the highest 



