340 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 
Spitzbergen are of identical value, for either local 
observations or as a base of operations, having the 
same investigations in view. 
It cannot be that the shores of North Greenland, 
once gained, would be safer for the parties engaged in 
subsequent observations, for the coast is peculiarly 
liable to the dangers arising from drift ice and ice¬ 
bergs, so that months may elapse before assistance 
could reach the explorers, or that they themselves 
could escape. A glance at the rugged nature of the 
packed ice will convince the most incredulous, of the 
utter impossibility of men on foot, or of sledge par¬ 
ties, aided with dogs, being able to make any real 
progress over the surface there. 
At Spitzbergen, on the other hand, the ice is almost 
smooth—at all events its surface is only rendered 
uneven by the scattered ice upon it, and the accumu¬ 
lation of snow which drifts by the force of the wind 
into little heaps over these trifling objects—there is no 
iceberg in these seas to render by its advent or de¬ 
parture additional solicitude to the traveller. Parry, 
in July of 1827, it may be remembered, was so 
heavily encumbered by boats unsuited for the purpose 
there is no longer any reason to wonder at his failure 
in getting further than the highest Arctic latitude yet 
attained ; but the wonder is rather that he got so far 
