CHAPTER IV 
ULTIMA THULE 
The first tidings of the existence of the Arctic Regions 
that reached the civilised world were due to the 
voyage of a Greek navigator of great knowledge and 
ability. The people of the Ionian city of Phocaea in 
Asia Minor, scorning to submit to Median domination, 
had formed a very flourishing commercial colony at 
Massilia, near the mouth of the Rhone, on the southern 
coast of Gaul. Strange products reached them from 
unknown regions to the north, coming over great dis- 
tances and then down the river Rhone. These products 
included tin and amber. The interest of the able and 
imaginative Greeks of Massilia was aroused, and a strong 
desire was felt that the regions whence this tin and 
amber came should be discovered. Fortunately the colony 
possessed a man eminently fitted to conduct an exploring 
expedition, in the person of Pytheas, an astronomer and 
mathematician. As it is alleged by Polybius that 
Pytheas was in poor circumstances, it is probable that 
the voyage he undertook was not his own venture, but 
that he was placed in command of a government expedi- 
tion. It is certain that he prepared for his perilous 
enterprise with great care. He first carefully fixed his 
point of departure at Massilia by erecting a large gnomon 
divided into 120 parts. Observing its shadow at noon 
of the day of the solstice he found that its length was 
42 parts of the gnomon, less one-fifth, that is 4ifths to 
120, or 209 to 600. This proportion gave 70 0 47' 50" 
for the altitude of the sun. The length of the longest 
day was 15 hours 15 minutes. The obliquity of the 
ecliptic was found to be 23 0 51' 15", which was deducted 
from the altitude. The complement of the result was the 
latitude of the place less the semi-diameter of the sun. 
