350 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEIIGEN. 
the long interval in which, owing to the causes which 
interfered with all the later Arctic expeditions, the 
question of Polar exploration has languished. Science 
has made enormous strides during this interval, and 
the food, clothing, ship's outfit and equipment, not to 
speak of the minor hut still vastly important contri¬ 
butions to the comfort and even enjoyment of any 
similar enterprise to be entered upon at the present 
date, deprive Arctic exploration of most, if not all, of 
its former desagremens. 
