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much fhorter and eatier than any of thofe by the North-weft or 

 North-ealt; that it would be more healthy for the feamen, and 

 attended with fewer inconveniences ; that it would probably open 

 a paffage to new countries; and, finally, that the experiment 

 might be made with very little hazard, at a fmall expence, and 

 would redound highly to our national honour, if attended with 

 fuccefs. It may be then demanded, why it has not hitherto been 

 attempted, and , what objections have retarded a fcheme fo vifibly 

 advantageous ? Thefe objections, as far as they can be collected, 

 are the fear of perifhing by.excerlive cold, the danger of being 

 blocked up in ice, and the apprehenfion that there could be no 

 certainty of preferving the ufe of the compafs under or near the 

 Pole. 



In refpect to the firit, we have already mentioned that the 

 ancients had taken up an opinion, that the feas in the frigid 

 zone were impafTable, and the lands, if there were any, unin- 

 habitable. The philofopher.s of later ages fell into the fame 

 opinion, and maintained that the Poles were the fources and 

 principles of cold, which of coyrfe increafed and grew exceffive 

 in approaching them r . But when the lights of experience were 

 admitted to guide in fuch refearches, the truth of this notion 

 came to be queftioned, becaufe from facts it became probable, 

 that there might be a diverfity of climates in the frigid as well 

 as in the torrid zone. Charlton Ifland, in which Captain James 

 wintered, lies in the bottom ; that is, in the molt Southern part 

 of Hudfon's Bay, and in the fame latitude with Cambridge, and 

 the cold there was intolerable. The fervants of the Hudfon's 

 Bay Company trade annually in places ten degrees nearer the 



r In the language of thofe times, the Pole was filled Primwn Frigidum\ 

 and it was by fueli groundlefs phrafes that men pretended to account for 

 the operations of nature, without giving themfelves the trouble of ex- 

 perimental enquiries. 



Pole, 



