SUMMARY OF ARCTIC EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 739 



vast plain, rising only a few score yards, and never, as far as we know, more than a 

 few hundred feet above the level of the icy sea. It was probably the first portion of 

 the globe where dry land appeared above the waters ; for, geologically speaking, all 

 mountains and hills are of recent formation. They have risen from the ocean ; and if 

 the present order of things continues for a sufficient number of millions of years, they 

 will, by natural laws now in operation, be removed and cast into the depths of the sea. 

 Every drop of water which falls upon a mountain and thence makes its way to the 

 ocean, bears with it some part of the solid rock ; and so, in the course of ages, the 

 Alleghanies and the Alps, the Andes and the Himalayas, will all be worn away. Great 

 rivers flow sluggishly through this vast Arctic plain, and often spread out into shallow 

 lakes. It is only by observing their course that we know that there is any water- 

 shed. So closely do their head waters interlock, that with hardly a mile of portage a 

 canoe starting from a river falling into Hudson's Bay, might descend the Mackenzie^ 

 whose mouth is on the Arctic Ocean, or the Yukon^ which falls into Bering's Sea, a 

 part of the Pacific. 



Leaving out of view the aborigines, of whom no man knows when or whence they 

 came, the Icelanders were the first Arctic explorers in America. As early as 982, 

 A. D.,^ and perhaps still earlier, they discovered Greenland, and in the course of the 

 next century founded a colony which flourished for many years. They penetrated, 

 as far as Lancaster Sound, and built churches and convents, the ruins of which still 

 exist along the coast of Greenland. It is evident that the climate was then far milder 

 than it now is, probably not more severe than that of Norway or Canada in our day.* 

 Apparently the increase of cold has been going on steadily within the last two and a 

 half centuries, for Hudson and Davis seem to have found no difficulty in penetrating 

 nearly as far to the north as recent explorers have been able to do even with the aid 

 of steam. 



There is no record that the Phoenicians, the earliest navigators, ever approached the 

 Arctic zone. The earliest Arctic voyage on record is that made in 1380 by two Venetian 

 navigators named Zeni ; but it is uncertain how far or even where they went. In 

 1497 and subsequently the two Cabots projected a voyage to the North pole, and went 

 as high as the middle of Davis Straits.* Three-quarters of a century passed before 

 another Arctic voyage was made in America, for the Cortereals, in 1500 hardly 

 reached latitude 60°, and Willoughby in 1553 did not touch even Greenland.^ 



In 1576-8 Frobisher made three voyages, and discovered the straits bearing his 

 name, leading into Hudson's Bay.'' These voyages are notable as the first in which 

 there is any account of scientific observations being made. Davis, in 1585-7 made 

 discoveries more important than had as yefc been accomplished. He discovered the 

 great strait that bears his name, and surveyed portions of the coast of Greenland.^ In 

 1596 Barentz, after having made two voyages to Nova Zembla, attempted the north- 

 west passage from the west. He perished off the coast of Alaska, having barely 

 penetrated the Arctic Ocean. ^ 



The great object of Arctic voyages was now the discovery of a north-west passage, 

 so that the nations of northern Europe might share in the rich commerce with India ; 

 for Spain claimed, and was then powerful enough to make the claim good, the sole 

 right of traversing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in that direction. In 1607 Henry 



IP. 17. 2P. 278. 3P. 382. 4 P. 29, 5P. 835, 379. 6 P. 336. 7P.337 



8 P. 337. 9r. 138. 342. 



