334 GREENLAND OR POLAR ICE. 



(c.) From the facts stated in pages 319, 320 of 

 this paper, I think we derive a sanction for calcu- 

 lating on clear weather at all times but with south- 

 erly storms ; and, as these occur but rarely, the pro- 

 gress of the journey would not probably be sus- 

 pended by an obscure sky, except for short periods 

 and at distant intervals. 



Notwithstanding I have now distinctly con- 

 sidered every obvious objection and difficulty to 

 be surmounted, I am nevertheless sensible, that in 

 the realising of any project for discovery, whether 

 at sea or on land, there will occur many adventi- 

 tious circumstances which may tend to mar the 

 progress of the best regulated expedition. There- 

 fore, it may not be improper to confirm and 

 strengthen the whole, by directing the attention, 

 to what has been done, in journeying under dif- 

 ficulties which may bear a comparison with the 

 undertaking here alluded to, and occasionally un- 

 der circumstances the most unfavourable for suc- 

 cess. 



1st, When treating of icebergs, I alluded to 

 the journey of Alexei Markoff, in which it ap- 

 pears, that he performed near eight hundred miles 

 across a surface of packed ice, in the spring of 

 1715, in a sledge drawn by dogs; and conse- 

 quently, that he might be supposed to have en- 

 countered the principal difficulties that could bq 

 expected in the proposed scheme, whilst we have 

 the advantage of improving by his experience. 



