[ *4 ] 



flopped by a mofl unfortunate ...barrier, of ice (of great extent, 

 indeed), "but which was only temporary, and not perpetual. 



If fuch a wall of ice hath been conftantly fixed in this lati- 

 tude, and muft continue to, he So* tbjere js an end to all dis- 

 coveries to be made to the Northward of Spitzbergen ; but if it 

 is only occafional, the attempt may be reSumed in fome more 

 fortunate year k . 



The point therefore being, of So, much importance to geogra- 

 phy, I hope the Society will pardon me, if I more fully enter into 

 the Subject than I did in my former paper. 



The Englifh have long taken the lead in geographical diScove- 

 ries. One of our mips of war is lately . returned, after having 

 penetrated into the Antarctic circle ; and is it. not rather a, reflec- 

 tion upon a Scientific nation, that more is not known .with regard , 

 to the circumpolar regions of our own hemifphere, than can be 

 collected from maps made m the time of Charles, I. efpecially 

 when the run from the mouth of the Thames to the N.,Pole is 

 not a longer one than from Falmouth to the Cape de Verde 

 ifiands ? 



Though I have the honour to be a Fellow of a Society infti- 

 tuted for the promotion of Natural Knowledge, the prejudices of 

 an Englifhman are fo Itrong with me, that I cannot but wifh the 

 difcoveries to be made in the Polar feas may be atchieved by my 

 countrymen ; but if we are determined to abandon the enter- 

 prize, Science is to be honoured from whatever quarter it may 

 come, and it hath therefore given me great Satisfaction to hear, 



h Upon the firft return of the King's Ships from the Polar Voyage, this 

 notion of a perpetual barrier of ice at N,Lat* 80 ^ had prevailed fo 

 much, that fome very diftinguilhed Philofophers of this country had 

 fhewn thoughts of proceeding to the Pole over the ice, in, fuch a wind 

 boat as the Dutch have fometimes made ufe of. 



that 



