570 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



the spot which she had chosen as the centre of one of her 

 greatest powers. 



" As soon as I had satisfied my own mind, I made known to 

 the party the gratifying result of all our joint labor ; and it was 

 then that, amidst mutual congratulations, we fixed the British 

 flag on the spot and took possession of the North Magnetic 

 Pole and its adjoining territory in the name of Great Britain 

 and King William the Fourth. We had abundance of materials 

 for building, in the fragments of limestone which covered the 

 beach ; and we therefore erected a cairn of some magnitude, 

 under which we buried a canister containing a record of the 

 interesting fact, — only regretting that we had not the means 

 of constructing a pyramid of more importance and of strength 

 sufficient to withstand the assaults of time and the Esquimaux. 

 Had it been a pyramid as large as that of Cheops, I am not 

 sure that it would have done more than satisfy our ambition 

 under the feelings of that exciting day. The latitude of this 

 spot is 70° 5' 17", and its longitude 96° 46' 45" west from 

 Greenwich." 



We must remark in this connection that the fixation of the 

 latitude of the Magnetic Pole was the only important element 

 of this discovery ; for, as the Magnetic Pole revolves about the 

 North Pole at the rate of IV 4" a year, it consequently changes 

 its annual longitude by that amount. A quarter of a century 

 has elapsed since its longitude was settled for the year 1831 ; 

 and this lapse of time involves a change of place of between 

 four and five degrees. It requires no less than eighteen hun- 

 dred and ninety years to accomplish the cycle of revolution. 

 The latitude of the Pole of course remains unchanged. It will 

 always be sufficient glory for Ross to have stood upon the spot 

 where the Pole then was : the fact that the spot then so mar- 

 vellous has since ceased to be so is assuredly no cause for 

 detracting from his merit. After this discovery the party 

 returned to the ship. 



