198 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Left alone at tlie mercy of the winds and waves, with boats which they 
had little or no opportunity of using, and with a supply of provisions so 
small and precarious as to render the utmost care imperative, the position of 
the unfortunate party on the floe, consisting of nine of the Polaris’ men, and 
ten Esquimaux, appeared almost hopeless. At times remaining stationary,, 
at others moved backwards or forwards by the ever-varying winds and cur- 
rents, with ice on every side of them packed so closely that progress in the 
boats became impossible, almost without wood for fires, and presently so 
short of provisions that uncooked seal meat, with the skin and hair attached, 
was greedily devoured, and the men on watch were so demoralized by want 
and privation that they stole from the small remaining stock of food, while 
their comrades endeavoured to forget in sleep the perils of their situation, 
nothing was needed to increase their despair and hopelessness, when, in the 
spring of 1873, the ice began to break up and the miserable party found 
themselves on the mere remnant of the immense floe upon which they had 
taken refuge. For more than a month they remained in this situation, hesi- 
tating whether to trust themselves to the ice-floes which were now occasion- 
ally washed by the sea waves, or to their only remaining boat, when on the 
27th April their hopes were raised by the sight of a steamer, which appeared 
to acknowledge the signals of the sufferers, but which did not in fact perceive 
them, and disappeared in the darkness, leaving them for two more weary 
days to the mercy of the elements, when they were observed and rescued by 
the Tigress, on the 30th April, and were carried back to civilized life. 
Being only a record of the progress of the expedition, taken from the 
various journals of the different members of the staff, there is little of a 
definitely scientific nature in this work, but the narrative is clear, and in the 
main interesting, though savouring somewhat of official red-tape. It is 
illustrated by numerous maps and engravings, the latter of which are well 
executed, and convey to the mind a most vivid realization of Arctic scenery. 
We have already had occasion to speak in high terms of the admirable man- 
ner in which works published by the American Government departments are 
got up ; and this is no exception to the rule : the type, printing, and paper 
are all excellent, and if the book is at times perhaps a trifle uninteresting to 
the general reader, owing to the minuteness of detail, it may on this account 
prove of all the more service to future explorers in Arctic regions, conveying- 
a true, if not a very lively, idea of the difficulties which are met with, in 
language which, if it cannot be commended for absolute elegance, is, at least,, 
free from affectation, and from the high flown or “ slangy ” style too com- 
mon amofigst authors on the western shores of the Atlantic. 
THE BARENTS RELICS.* 
T HE translation of Mr. De Jonge’s report upon the relics of the Arctic- 
Explorer, William Barents, lately recovered by Mr. Gardiner, from 
Nova Zembla, with a brief explanatory preface by the translator, Mr. Van 
Campen, has produced a little volume of considerable interest, not only to 
* “The Barents Relics: recovered in the Summer of 1876, by W. C. L. 
Gardiner. Described and explained by J. K. J. De Jonge.” Translated, with, 
a Preface, by S. R. Van Campen. 8vo. Triibner & Co., London, 1877. 
