^'^U e> .^.^ ^J^. ^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I 11.25 l^llilM 111125 •^ IM 1112.2 ;i: 1^ 12.0 - 6' 1.8 u mil 1.6 V] ^9 / d^^. >^ y Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliopraphically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D n Coloured covets/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur6e et/ou pelliculde I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque □ Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur D Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bieue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relid avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer de I'otttbre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines poges blanches ajoutdes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela dtait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6X6 filmdes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppldmentaires: L'institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la methods normale de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/oi Pages restaur^es et/ou pelliculdes Pages discoloured, stained or foxei Pages d6color6es, tachstdes ou piqudes Pages detached/ Pages d^tach^es I — I Pages damaged/ I — I Pages restored and/or laminated/ I — I Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ r~7T Pages detached/ r~7] Showthrough/ D Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ Qualitd in^gale de I'impression I I Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de faqon 6 obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indfqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X 12X 16X 20X / 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: IVIetropolitan Toronto Library Canadian History Department L'axemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce A la gAn6rosit6 de: IVletropolitan Toronto Library Canadian History Department The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet^ de Texempiaire fiimd, et en conformitd avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with th«» front cover and ending on tho last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont film6s en commen^ant par le premier plat et en terminant soit pat 19 dernidre page qui comports une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration. soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commen^ant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol -^ (meaning "CON- TINUED '), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), which tver applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent 6tre filmds d des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T.IE CUKW Ol rllE "1IAN8A" DKAGOISU TIIEIB I10AT8 ACROSS THE ICE. Set f.ttr JJ7. ■^.^ ,. ..^.^.... . .,.A^i.-..: ,. ^.^^ ...... ...■. j *li#M H »*lii T . -.wg w ■^irfu:.w';,aww^MaiWMBMiBi ■uM.ui..j^u4kuj«,iiiiiMjiiiiiiujiiiiui.t.. I iiiwmi THE ARCTIC WORLD ITS PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND NATURAL PHENOMHNA. 82Iith n Distoricnl Sketch of Jlrctic iiscobcru, DOWN TO THE BR'TISH • POLAR EXPEDITION: •875-76. . I'ikm. • liA< Ir- ilie bUiawa MUfen. aiid have: rnt. -COLB&IDCB LONDON: T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. ;4 {:>1)-) V •-.# P 11 E F A C E. JWT^CJNGLISHMEN have always felt a special interest in the regions of tiie icy North, from 11,^^ tlie days when Dr. Thome first proposed the search after a ptissage to the Polo, down to these present times, when the Expedition under Captains Nares and Stephenson has shown that such a passage is virtually impracticable. Tiio interest originally kindled hy commercial considerations has been maintained by purer and loftier motives,— by the thirst after knowledge, and the sympathy with the brave deeds of brave men. And it must be admitied thri our national virtues of resolute perseverance and patient courage have never been more happily displayed than in the prosecution of the great work of Arctic Discovery. ( )ur ex[)lorefs ha\'o refused to know when they were beaten ; and in defiance of a terrible climate, of icebergs and ice-floes, of hurricanes and driving snow-storms, of obstacles, dangers, and difficulties, have pressed onward, until the latest adventurers have crossed the Threshold of the Unknown Region, and confronted the immense plain of ice that extends for four hundred miles from the Pole. Their labours, indeed, have been attended by the shadows of melancholy disastei-s, and the long Arctic night closes over the graves of many whom England was loath to lose ; !jut in their successful issue they have brought us acquainted wifli the phenomena of a strange and wonderful world, and opened up to us a succession of sctiiios of the most remarkable character. There can be no question that in the frozeii wastes and snowy wildernesses lurks a powerful fascination, which proves almost irresistible to the advt .iturous sjjirit. He who has once entered the Arctic World, however great his sufferings, is restless until he returns to it. Whether the spell lies in the weird magnificence of the scenery, in the splendours of the heavens, in the mystery which still hovers over those far-off seas of ice and remote bays, or in the excitement of a continual struggle with the forces of Nature, or whether all these influences are at work, wo cannot stop to inquire. But it seems to us certain that the Arctic World has a romance and an attraction about it, which are far more powerful over the minds of men than tlie rich glowing lands of the Tropics, or the " Sumnior-isles of Kden lying iu dark-purple spheres of .sea," which are crowned with the bread-fruit and the palm, the spontaneous gifts of a liberal soil. We follow with far deeper interest the footprints of a Parry and ii Franklin than those of a Wallis, a Carteret, or even a Cook. 1^ i Jv IMiKFAfR. Thu yeneriil reader, then fore, may not be displun-sed at the attempt of the present writer to |)ut before him, with bohl touches, and in outline rather than in detail, a picture of that Polar World which is so awful and yet so fascinating. In the following pages he will find its principal ft'utures sketched, its chief characters legibly and clearly traced. They are not intended for the Bcien Ific, — though it is hoped the scientific, if they fall in with them, will find no ground for censure. They aim at describing the wonders of sky and sea and land ; the glories of the aurora ; the beauty of the starry Arctic night ; the majesty of iceberg and glacier ; the rugged drcaritiess of the hummocky fields of ice ; the habits of the Polar bear, the seal, and the walrus ; and the manners and customs of the various tribes which frequent the shores of the Polar seas and straits, or dwell on the border-land of the Frigid Zone. In a word, it has been the writer's object to bring together just such particulars as might enable the intelligent reader to realize to himself the true character of the world which extends around the North Pole. In carrying out this object, he haa necessarily had recourse to the voyages of numerous explorers and the narratives of sundry scientific authorities ; and he believes that not a statement has been ventured wliich could not claim their support. ,•5;' ,'V • ' 1 CONTENTS. rHAPI'EH I. VaHouH routes lietu'tjt-n tlie Atlantic ami V.'uific Orcaim (lt;.scril)e(l Advanta^eH of a North-Weal riusBage, if practicable— ».' at i« to b« tfuineil from further Arctic exploration— What zooloijy would i 'n —The problem of the mitfratiouof birds— About tlie Knots— Hound- aries of the North PoUr Regions— ITieir principal geographical featurea—Diviaions into two zones, or sections— Tlio stony tundras —The flora of the Nortli— The Siberian desert — Limits of pfriwtual snow- (leneral ch;u-aoter of life in thf Pohir World 9-21 OHAPTEU 11. , . .; An imaginary voyage — View of the lireunland coast — A Bplendid picture of land and sea—The winter night and its atmospheric phenomena— The aurora borenlis described— Its {wculiarities and [Missible causes- Winds and whirlwinds- -Phenomena of refraction — ITie *' ice-blink "— Characteristics of the Arctic night— Described by Dr. Kane— Hemarkable atmospheric conditions— Effect of pro- longed ring — A spring landscape described by Pr, Hayes — Summer in the North— The Northern heavens and the Pole-Star— List of Northern constellations— The Great Bear— Some conspicuous stars L'*_' 40 CHAFTER IIL The Polar seas -Fonnation of icebergs— Their dimensions and appear- ance — Description of colossal bergs— Their danger to navigation — Adventures with bergs- Quotations from various writers— Disaolu* tion of an iceberg— Icebergs in Melville Bay— How icebergs are formed— Reference to icebergs in the Alpine lakes— J*rofessor Tyn- dall quoted— Breaking up of a berg described by Dr. Hayes— A vision of icebergs- Their range— The "pack-ice" described— Ex- tent of the ice-fields—" Taking the pack"— An incident described by Admiral Beechey— Dangerous jKisitioa of Captain Paity's ships —Character of an ice-field— Crossing an ice-field— Its extraordinary dimensions ~ Animal life in the Polar seas —Walnis-hunting — Quotation from Mr. Lamont— A disagreeable process— Natural history of the walrus — The walrus and the Polar bear- Historical sketch of the walrus-fishery— Adventure with walruses— A walnis- hunt described— Hunting in an Arctic gale— The Phocidae family —Natural history of the seal— Different genera— Seal's flesh, and its uses— An incident in Dr. Kane's exi)edition— An Eskimo hut— An Eskimo seal-hunter— The whale, and all about it— ITie Green- land whale— What is whalebone ?—j?ood of the whale — The Nor- thern rorqual — Eskimo whale-fishers- About tiie narwhal— The black dolphin The ore, or grampus—The Polar Iwar -Bears an' seals Particulars of the huhils of the Polar bear -His vor .■•i'y-- Affection of the bear for her yoimg - An ep'-KHlo described— Battle with a bear The bear and the Eskimo dogs— it e Arctic ni^iht - Its various phases- Coming of the sun Hetuni of the birds- Guillemots and aulu' About the puttins 'L'he mergansers — Ths Mmew, or white nun— The eider duck described -Eider dueks in Iceland— CoUectin.'i eider down— The wild awaii- Fable« a)x>ut its death-song -The Arctic waters, and their teeming life — .Mi.:,Tations offish 1U107 (iHAn'KR IV. The fonnation of snow described- Snow -crystals Elfeets of the crys- tallizing force—Ice-Howers— Sir David Brewster's exi^riment with Is>lari8ed light— Regelation and moulding of ice - ('haracteristics of glacier-ice— Cleavage in compact ice— l'he aN|H)ctof glaciers— On the motion of glaciers— History of its discovery— Moraines de- scribed—Theory of glacier-motion — Quotation fnmi ProfesfMtr Tyndall— Glaciers of the Polar Rfgions Glacier in Bell Sound- Formation of icebergs— Icebergs in Baffin Buy— Glacier de«cril>«l by Dr. Hayes -The Greenland Mer de Glace— Ghicier of Henniat- sialik- The great Humboldt (ilacier— Discovered by Dr. Kane- Description of its features— Kane's theory of icelwrgs— Notes on the glacier >....10»-13< CHAFTER V. Red snow, what is it?— First forms of v^'etable life The lichens, their variety— Reindeer moss— Rock-hair— Rock trii»e, or tripe de rocfie — Used as food — Iceland moss and its proiHirties — llie mosses of the Arctic Regions — Scurvy -grass— The fly agaric— Microscopic vegetation— A memorial of Franklin -I'hienogamous plants of ths North- Cryptogamous plants— Vegetation ia Novaia Zumlaia~In Spitzbtrgen — In Kamtschatka — The Frilallaria sarrana — ITie wooded and desert zones— Forms of animal life- Natural history of the reindeer— His usefulness— His footl— Reindeer and wolves- Cunning of the Arctic wolf— Domesticity of the wolf-Tlie musk- ox described— Captain M'Clintock quoted-Tlie Arctic fox— His wariness— A fox-trap- The bear and the fox— The Arctic hare— The Alpine hare — The Hudson Bay lemming— 'l'he Mustelidn family— The marten— The sable — The iwlecat- About the gtuttuii, or wolverine— anecdotes of his extraordinary sagacity— A great enemy to thi? trapiwr— The biter bit— Arctio birds — The falcons — The crows— Distribution of animals 135-161 f CONTKNTS. ni AITKIl VI. Icplaml, iU i-xtcrit It« IjiriU.ry lu vul. luioi-" Mnkla ami it« ftup- liniiM Kni|.tioii of th« Sk;i|itii .'"kill 'Hie iffymn, nr l"iilin|{ uprinifn Tl»-ir irliwumicna ili-*Til>i'il AniMint nf tlif Htrcikr- CoMtH and vall.y" "' I'tIihhI 'I'Im' ■I'liiiiKViUlii :)i'»iri|itinii ol Raiklavik, the tapiul -Clmriu tir ■>( the Irvl.iii.l r Ilia Imyiiiak- iiig (iiwrfttlom -HU ilwolliiist ilencrilml— An Ki'liuulk- cliim:h- Icelanillo clergy -TravKlllng In Iceliinil - lU iniionvenlence" - K"n1in« llie «tTOiin» Fialiin^ hi Iri'lanil 102-174 CHAPTKK VII. I'lic lanil of ttu> i:»kimo!i -Itangc nf tho so-calli'd Arctic IIiKlilaiii|i.T!i- DaniHli Kcttleinint* in (Irecnlaml -Tiwrnavik ilcacrilwd -Jacolw- hav'n ■ (JciiUiavii Thnir K«kilno inlialiitantu -The .Moravian MinilniiH-("hariul.riitic» .if tlic nmnwlic KHkimiis -'I'hcir |ihy«ii-Bl iinalitiM Their nuMlii nf dretm -An Kitkiinn hut— The V'liino knvnk, nr rniioc -'I'licir weuiHrnn and ini|ili'liicntj*- HoHtlltty be- tween llic K«kiiiiiis ami lied IndiaiiH -Eskimo nettleni nt at Ana- toak IJikiiiKi ninKiiiK-Kooil of the K»I.iino!> -Dr. H.iye.i' inter- conmc with the Knkinion — The story of Hans the Hunter - "he Kskimn dii)pi- Anecdote of Toodla - The Eskimo sledj;c -Eiiiii| nient of the sledtfo— K'lnipmcnt of an Kskimo hunter— General cliaraclei of the KHkimoa 175-19fi CHAPTER VIII. Lapland, itji divisions, extent, and Iwundaries— Its climate -Its in- haliitaiitri — Tlieir physical characteriatica —Dress of the LapjiB — Their HiiiK'rstitioiiH - 'I'he Mountain I.apiis — Their nii},'rat<«ry hahila Their Imjurid, or huts, dcacrilioil— Milkinj,' tlie reindeer — .Sledjfiiij? and skating; -.-V I. M 47. 48 40. 60. 51. 62. 63 M. 50, 67. 58. 60. CO. CI. 02 (13. 04 05. .,0 07. 03. 09. 70. 71. THE HOODED SEAL, AN ESKIMO HEAL-HUNTKR, THE GREENLAND WHALE, NARWHALS, MALE AND FEMAI E, ... A SHOAL OF IHILI'HINH, ... POLAR BEABS, ... MtAU CATCHING A REAL, BEARS DERTIlOVINi; A CACHE, FIGHT WITH A WHITE BEAR (FULL PAGE), HTALKIMI A BKAR, HEA-BIRDS IN THE POLAR BKGIONS, THE (nil'.lT AUK—UAZOK-BII.LR -THE PUFFIN, PUFFINS, ,„ ... ... ... ••• »^ THE GOOSANDER, A BIRD "bazaar" IN NOVAIA ZEMI.AIA (FULL-PAGE), TllK BLACKB.VCKED GULL, ,„ ,.. ... ..V TllK EiDKR-DUCK, THE HAUNT OF THE WILD SWAN, ... VARIOUS FOBMB OF 8NOW-CRY8TAL.S, EXHIBITION OF KEFLOWEIIR BY PROJECTION, ICE-FLOWERS, MOULDING ICE, .. .„ u, A POLAR GLACIER, GLACIER, ENGLISH BAY, SPITZBEBUEN, GLACIER, BELL SOUND, SPITZBEBUEN, STEAMER "charging" AN ICEBERO, UPERNAVIK, liREKSLAND (FULL-PAGE), FORCING A PAS.fAOE THIIO'JGH THE ICE (FULL-PAGE), THE OLACIKR OF SERMIATSIALIK, GREENLAND (FULL-PAQK), ... PR0TO0O0CU8 NIVALIS, ... ... ... ,., .„ WILD BF.l.VDEER, ... .. ... ... THE MUSK OX, ... ... ... .- ARCTIC FOXES, ... A FOX TRAP, THE ERMINE, OR SABLE MARTEN, . . THE GLUTTON, OR WOLVERINE, PTARMIGAN, AN ICELANDIC LANDSCAPE, 7f 77 70 S2 88 84 80 8n 80 M 97 W ''» 100 lUl m 108 105 100 no 110 111 118 no 120 121 125 IS« '' W' 145 IM IM Ui lt« 167 too 103 MHT hK II.MIHTKATIONS. Tl MOUNT iini.A, rK'iM th« vai.ki nr hkvit*. 71 Till aimAT imrHiiii, 71. HAmHlDR or NCIKIAVIK, .. .■• 7> ICKI.ANI'IIUI rillllKO t"ll NAHWHAL, It ttl'KKNAVIK, OIICr.NI.ANII, 71 IIIHOO im.Allll, ORKRMI.ANIl, Til OonilAV'H, IIIHCil IKlAilll, (IHEKSIASI), 7» DAMioH nrrri.KMiiKT or jacoiwhav n, (iK«iim.A»n, aO nilll.lllXO AK IWKPMH HUT, ■I TIIK P.HKIMri KATAK, Bl TtlK RHKIMO OOHIAK, ., ... ... t(* Kl llH. IIAVm r\ I.S IN WITH HANK TIIR Hl'NTBH {rlM.I.PAOK), M rxKIMO IM)(1«, ... M ImKlMH (ILilKlK ANI' TFAll (HIM. PAOB), . m llltlNIIKKH IN I.AI'I.ANIl. »7 TIlAVr.I.I.INn IN I.API.ANO, Wl riHIlKIt I.AITH, . 80 HAHiUKIlK MIITH ON WAKIAT)! mi.AND, DO A HAMIUKOK FAMILY, «1. JAKCT HIINTKB ANI> PKAIl, W KAMTSCHATKANB, (a A KAMTHCHATKAN Kl.ienCK AND TRAM, ... M THE I.OH» or TIIK "bQIIIRIIEI,," ... Wl KHIP or TUB RRVeNTEENTH CgNTOBT, HB SrKNERT or .IAN MATEN, VI. THK "IHOLa" and "rUKV" WINTSRINO AT WISTEK ISLAND, W. THE "KURT" ABANDONKD DT PARRY, W DIHCOVERT or THE CAIRN OONTAINI.SO SIR .lOHN FKANKI.IN'a I'Al'BRH, 100 RELICS or THE PRANXLIN EXPEDITION BROUOIIT BACK TO ENQLANIl, ... ... M> ••• , 101 niHlOVKBT or ONK or THP BOATS OP THK FRANKLIN EX- PKDITION, ... lOi! THE "THREE BROTHER T0RBE1 " ... ... .<> 108 MORTON ON THE 8II0RB Or THE SUPPOSED POLAR OCEAN, ... 104 1)11. KANE PATINO A VISIT TO AN ESKIMO HUT AT ETAH, ... 106 TRVINO TO LASSO A BEAR (FrLL-PAOE), ... ... lOa THK MIDNIOHT HUN, OREESLANI), 107 A BEAR AT ANCHOR, 104 IIM lOO 100 1(^1 174 no 170 177 111. 17- 112 17S 113 181 114 182 IS* IIS \H1 110 nil 117. loa im 200 iin lul 120 t09 121. 300 122 210 123 !H 124 2ia I2S 215 126 224 127 »2S 128. 220 129. 2» 130 230 ISl. 132 •ai MX 134, iSH lilV ISO. 230 13;. 238 138. 240 139. 241 140 247 141. 240 141 24'J 143. HEATINO orP TIIK COAST OP OHERNI.ANII, SNOW LINNETS AND BUNTIKOB TISlTINd THE CMKW or THE "llAN^A," THE CREW or THE " HAHSA " BIVOUAOKIIIO ON THE ICE (rrLLPAOE), .« ... .. •» A BAKH INTRIllir.R. IIFAU HIISTINO, (IHEKNLANn, " INTO A WATEHOAP," .. THE (HEW OP THK " IIERMANIA " IN A SNOW-STORM (El LL- PAIIE), MArEUlALS E"R THE HOUSE, ATTACK ON A BEAU, HETTINO roX-TRAPH, HELIEVKM, EUNKRAL or CAPTAIN HALL (rULL-PAOE), AN ARCTIC SNiiWSTiiRM, THE CASTAWAYS ON THE ICE (PULLPAOE), ADRIFT ON THE ICE-PLOK, RECOVERY or THE BOAT BV CAPTAIN TYSON, I0I.0E8 CONBTIlUrTEn BV THE CASTAWAYS, HANS MISTAKEN FOR A BEAR, DIFPIOULT TBAVr.I.LINO (FULL-PAOE), THE nUinlNO LIOHT, DRAaalNO A SEAL, RETURN OF THE SUN (FULL-PAOE), ... ..t SHOOTINO NARWHAL, DKACIdlNa THE OOOJOOK, SUNLIOHT EFFECT IN THE ARCTIC HEOIOM (FULL-PAOE), ... FIRST BIOHT OF A WHALE, F.VOE TO F."'E WITH A POLAR BEAR, AN ARCTIC ICE-SCAPE (FUI.r.-rAOI.,, ... .«., , , ON BOARD THE B0.»;"; ... BREAKINO UP OF THE ICE, .lOE CAPTURES A SEAL, ... .. ... «. . A NIOIIT OF FEAR (PUI.LPAOF.), ... A "HELL OF W.VTERS," ... . DRAQOINO THE BOAT ON TO A FLOE, ... ... ... . CLINOINO TO THE BOAT (FULI.-PAOE), BAYED I (. ■;LL-PAaE), ... m 9M ?Ut MO 201 MO M7 268 JC 878 270 no 281 282 38> 984 M Wl 289 289 a9l 299 2flS 295 290 2OT 299 800 300 301 8W 800 •wmmmwrnrnm^mmmmm jiiiMKPlMIPlipimpiH immm '•pBJ»?N|*iS^«|«lptAJ)i!W ■•'■»,.. i^ ',•■.-. I '' i ' "* = r ■;« „. '». ■• 'v THE ARCTIC WORLD. CHAPTER I. THB NORTH POLE — TI1UE8II0LD OK TlIK UNKNOWN WOULD — THK CIllOUMPOLAR UKQIONS IIIK KLORA OF THE NORTH — LIKE IN TIIK POLAR WORLD -THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PAH8AOE8. EJi!?S|S the reader knows, the Poles are the two extremities of the axis round which tlie Earth DfA w revolves. It is to the North Pole, and the regions surrounding it, that the following Ir t Tt' i lB pages will bo devoted. The inhabitants of Western Europe, and more particularly those of the British Isles, have a peculiar interest in the North Polar Regions. Deriving their wealth and importance from their commercial enterjirise, and that commercial enterprise leading their ships and seamen into the furthest seas, they have necessarily a vital concern in the discovery of the shortest possible route from that side of the Earth which they inhabit to the other, or eastern side ; and vhis, more particularly, because the East is rich in natural productions which are of high value to the peoples of the West. Now a glance at the map will show the reader that the traders of Western Europe — the British, the French, the Dutch, the Scandinavians — are situated on the northern shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and that, to reach the Pacific Ocean or the Indian, only two routes are at present open. For instance, they may cross the Atlantic to the American coast, and, keeping southward, strike through Magellan's stormy Strait or round the bleak promontory of C'ape Horn into the Pacific, and then, over some thousands of miles of water, proceed to Australia or Hindustan or China ; or they may keep along the African coast to the Cape of Good Hope, its southernmost point, and so stretch across the warm Tropical seas to India and the Eastern Archipelago. A third, an artificial route, has indeed of late years been opened up ; and ships, entering the Mediterranean, may pass through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea. But this last-named route is unsuitable for sailing-ships, and all three routes are laborious and slow. How greatly the distance would be shortened were it possible to navigate the Northern Seas, and, keeping along the north coast of the American continent, to descend Behring's Strait into the Pacific ! In other words, w^/e that North- West Passage practicable, which, for three centuries, our geographers and explor >^ so assiduously and courageously toiled to discover ! But a still shorter route would be opened up, if we could follow a Une drawn from the British Islands r 10 KXTKNT OK THK UNKNOWN REGION. ' I stiaif^ht acrosH the North I'olu to Bohriiijf'H Sea and the Aleutian Archipelago. This line would not oxLotd 5000 inile.s in leiij^th, and would brinf» Japan, China, and India within a very shoi-t voyage from Great Britain. Wo should bo able to reach Japan in three or four weeks, to the obvious advantaj^e of our extensive commerce. Hitherto, however, all efforts to fallow out this route, and to throw open this great ocean- high .vay between Kurope and Asia, have failed. Man has been baffled by Nature ; by ice, and froht, and wind.s, and climatic intluenccs. With heroic perseverance he haa sought to gain the open sea which, it is believed, surrounds the Pole, but a barrier of ice has invariably arrested his [)rogrcss. Tlis researches have carried him within about 500 miles of the coveted point ; but he is na yet unable to move a stop beyond this furthest limit of geographical discovery. Immediately around the North Polo, within a radius of eight to ten degrees or more, according to locality, still lies ail Unknown Rogion, on the threshold of which Science stands expectant, eagerly look ing forward to the day when human skill and human courage shall penetrate its solitudes and reveal its secrets. 'i'iiis Unknown Ro^fion comprises an area of 2,500,000 square miles ; an immense portion of tlio terrestrial surface to bo shut out from the knowledge of Civilized Man. Its further explor- ation, if practicable, cannot but be rich in valuable results. Not only would it furnish the shortest route from the West to the East, from progressive Europe to conservative Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but it could not fail to add in a very important degree to our stores of scientific information. Sir Edward Sabine is surely right vhen he says, that it is the greatest goograjihical achievement which can be attempted, and that it will be the crowning enterprise of those Arctic researches in which England has hitherto hfid the pre-eminence. ' • We may briefly indicate to the reader some of the advantages which might be expected from exploration in the Unknown Region. It would unquestionably advance the science of liydrography, and lead to a solution of some of the more difficult problems connected with the I'^quatorial and Polar ocean-currents, those great movements of the waters of which, as yet, we know so little. A series of pendulum observations, it is said, at and near the North Pole, would be of essential service to the science of geology. We are unable, at present, for want of sufficient data, to fomi a mathematical theory of the physical condition of the Earth, and to ascertain its exact configuration. No pendulum observations have been taken nearer than 600 or 620 miles to the North Pole. Again : what precious information respecting the strange and wonderful pheaomena of magnetism and atmospheric electricity would certainly be acquired ! How much we have yet to learn in reference to the Aurora, which can be learned only in high latitudes, and at or near the point which apparently represents a magnetic focus or centre I It has also been pointed out by Mr. Markham that the climate of Europe is largely affected by the atmospheric conditions of the Polar area, in which the development of extremely low temperatures necessarily leads to corresponding extreme changes of pressure, asd other atmos- pheric disturbances, who.se influence extends far into the Temperate Zone. For the satisfactory appreciation of these phenomena, says Mr. Markham, a precise knowledge is required of the distribution of land and water within the Polar Region ; and any addition to our knowledge of its unknown area, accompanied by suitable conservations of ita meteorology, cannot fail to afford ■MM mmiiiKii PROBABLE RESULTS OF CONTINUED POLAR EXPLORATION. U improved means of understanding the meteorology of our own countrj', and of the Karth generally. There can be no doubt, too, that geology would profit, if we noukl push our retseiirohea nearer to the Pole, and force our way through the great barrier of the Polar ice. It ii hij^hly desirable, too, that we should know more of that interesting class of animals, the Mollusoa, both terrestrial and aquatic, fresh-water and salt-water. Again : what a wide field of inquiry is opened up by the Polar glaciei"s ; their extent, their elevation, their rargo, and tho eflbcts produced by the slow but continuous motion of those huge ice-rivers over the surface of the country. And the botanist has a right to calculate upon the discovery of many precious forms of vegetable life in the Unknown Region. The Arctic flora is by no means abundant, but it is peculiarly interesting. In Greenland, besides numerous mosses, lichens, algte, and the like, flourish three hundred kinds of flowering plants, all of which are natives of the Scandinavian peninsula; and Dr. Joseph Hooker remarks that they exhibit scarcely any admixture of American types, though these are found on the opposite coast of Labrador. It would seem probable that in the warm period which preceded the Glacial Age, the Scandinavian flora spread over the entire area of the Polar Regions ; but that during the Age of Ice it was gradually driven within its present limits, only the hardier types surviving the blight of the long lingering winter. And what would be the gain to the zoologist ? Why, it is a well-known fact that life abounds in the Arctic waters, and especially those minute organisms which play so important a part in the formation of sedimentary deposits, and help to build up the terrestrial crust. We have much to learn, moreover, of the habits and habitats of the fish, the echinodorms, the molluscs, the corals, the sponges of the extreme Northern Seas. There are questions connected with the migrations of birds which can be elucidated only by an exploration of the Unknown Region. Multitudes which annually visit our shores in the winter and spring, return in summer to the far North. This is their regular custom, and obviously would not have become a custom unless it had been found beneficial. Therefore we may assume that in the zone they frequent they find some water which is not alwfiys frozen ; some land on which they can rest their weary feet ; and an adequate supply of nourishing food. From Professor Newton we adopt, in connection with this consideration, a brief accoimt of the movements of ona class of migratory birds, — the Knots.* The knot, or sandpiper, is something half-way between a snipe and a plover. It is a very active and graceful bird, with rather long legs, moderately long wings, and a very short tail. It swims admirably, but is not often seen in the water; preferring to assemble with its fellows on the sandy sea-shores, where it gropes in the sand for food, or fishes in the rock-pools and shallow waters for the small cmstaceans. It is known both as the red and the ash-coloured sandpiper, because it changes the colour of its plumage according to the season of the year ; a bright red in summer, a sober ashen-gray in winter, Now, in the spring the knot seeks our island in inmicnse flocks, and after remaining on the coasts for about a fortnight, can be traced proceeding gradually northwards, until it finally takes leave of us. It has been noticed in Iceland and Greenland, but not to stay; the summer there would be too rigorous for its liking, and it goes further and * The Tringa canutut uf uruitliologUta. 13 THRESHOLD OF THE UNKNOWN WORLD. further no.th. WhitJicr? Whore does it build its nest, and hatch its young? Wo lose all trace of it for some weeks : wliat becomes of it ? Towards the end of summer back it comes to us in larger tiocks than before, and both old birds and young birds remain upon our coasts until November, or, in mild seasons, even later. Then it wings its flight to the south, and luxuriates in lilue skies and balmy airs until the follow- ing spring, when it resumes the order of its migrations. Commenting upon these facts. Professor Newton infers that the lands visited by the knot in the middle of summer are less sterile than Iceland or Greenland ; for certainly it would not pass over these countries, which are known to be the breeding-places for swarms of water-birds, to resort to regions not so well provided with supplies of food. The food, however, chiefly depends on the climate. Wherefore we conclude that beyond the northern tracts already explored lies a region enjoying in summer a climate more genial than they possess. Do any races of men with which we are now unacquainted inhabit the Unknown Kegion ? Mr. Markham observes that although scarcely one-half of the Arctic world has been explored, yet numerous traces of former inhabitiints have been found in wastes which are at present abai.- doncd to the silence and solitude. Man would seem to migrate as well as the inferior animals, and it is possible that tribes may be dwelling in the mysterious inner zone between the Pole and the known Polar countries. The extreme points reached by our explorers on the ice-bound Greenland coast are in J»out 82° on the west, and * u ^>xx t^'^ east side ; these two points lying about six hundred miles apart. As man has dwelt at both these points, and as they are separated from the settlements further south by a dreary, desolate, uninliabitable interval, it is not an extravagant conjecture that the unknown land to the north has been or is inhabited. In 1818 a small tribe was discovered on the bleak Greenland coa.st between 76° and 79° N. ; their southward range being bounded by the glaciers of Melville Bay, and their northward by the colossal mass of the Humboldt Glacier, while iidand their way is barred by the Sernik-sook, a great glacier of the interior. These so-called Arctic Highlanders number about one hundred and forty souls, and their existence " dei>ends on open pools and lanes of water throughout the winter, which attract animal life." Wlierever such conditions as these are found, man may be found. We know that tliero are or have been inhabitants north of the Humboldt Glacier, on the very threshold of the Unknown Region ; for Dr. Kane's expedition discovered the runner of a sledge made of bone lying on the beach immediately to the north of it. The Arctic Highlanders, moreover, cherish a tradition that herds of musk-oxen frequent an island situated far away to the north in an iculess sea. Traces of these animals were found by Captain Hall's expedition, in 1871-72, as far north as 81° 30'; and similar indications have been noted on the eastern side of Greenland. In 1823, Captain Clavering found twelve natives at Cape Borlase Warren, in lat. 79° N. ; but when Captain Koldewey, of the German expedition, wintered in the same neigh- bourhood, in 1869, they had disajipeared, though thei'e were traces of their occupancy, and ample means of subsistence. Yet they cannot have gone southward, owing to insuperable natural obstacles ; they must have moved towards the North Pole. We have thus indicated some of the results which may be anticipated from further researches in the Unknown Region. It is not to be forgotten, however, that "the unexpected always happens," and it is impossible to calculate definitely the consequences which may ensue from a MMHIIki LIMITS OF THE NORTH POLAR REGION. II more extensive investigation. " Columbus," it has been justly said, " found very few to sym- pathize with him, or perceive the utility of the effort on his part to go out into tlio unknown waste of waters beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, in search of a new country. Who can, at this time, estimate the advantages which have followed upon that adventure ? If now it should be possible to reach the Pole, and to make accurate observations at that point, from the relation which the Earth bears to the sun and to the whole stellar universe, the most useful results are very likely to follow, in a more thorough knowledge of our globe." The reader has now before him the particulars which will enable him to fonn an idea of the extent and character of the undiscovered region of the Pole. Roughly speaking, it is bounded by the 80th parallel of latitude on the European side, except at a few poii\ts where our A DESERT OF ICE IN TUK ARCTIC REOION. gallant explorers have succeeded in crossing the threshold ; on the Asiatic side it descends as low as 75°; and to the west of Behring Strait as low as 72°. Thus, it varies from 500 or GOO to 1400 or 1500 miles across. Below these parallels, and bounded bj' the Arctic Circle, or, in some places, by the 60th parallel, extends a vast belt of land and water which is generally known aa the Arctic or Circumpolar Regions. These have been more or less thoroughly explored ; and it is to a description of their principal features, their forms of animal and vegetable life, and their natural phenomena, that we propose to devote the present volume. It is important to remember that the northern shores of Europe, Asia, and America are skirted by the parallel of 70°, and that the belt between the 70th and 80th parallels, having Ijeen partially explored by the seamen and travellers of various nations, intervenes as a kind of neutral ground between the known and the unknown. We may, indeed, formulate our statement thus ; 14 OKOOHAPIIY OK THE NORTH POLAU UKOlONS. from the Pole to the 80th degree stretches the unknown ; from the 80th to the 70th, the [tartially known ; while, Houth of the 70th, we traverse the lands and seas which human enter- prim; has complctoly conquorod. The Circumiiolar Zone includes the northernmost portions of the three great continents, pjuroi)e, Asia, and America ; and by sea it has three approaches or gateways : one, through the Northern Ocean, between Norway and Greenland ; another, through Davis Strait,- both these being from the Atlantic ; and a third, through Behring Strait,— the entrance from the Pacific. It will bo seen that the Circunipolar Regions, as they are now understood, and as we shall describe thoin in the following ]' iges, extend to the south of that imaginary line drawn by geognaphoi's round the North Polt it a distance from it equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or 23' 30'. Within this circle, howev 'lore is a jjeriod of the year when the sun does not set; while there is another when he is never seen, when a settled gloom spreads over the face of nature, — this period being longor or shorter at any given point according as that point is nearer to or further from the Pole. But as animal and vegetable life are largely atte(!ted by climate, it may be justly said that wherever an Arctic climate prevails there we shall find an Arctic or Polar region ; and, hence, many countries below even the 60th parallel, such as Kamtschatka, Labrador, and South Green- land, fall within the Circumpolar boundary. The waters surrounding the North Pole bear the general designation of the Arctic Ocean. But here again it is almost impossible to particularize any uniform limit southward. It joins the Pacific at Behring Strait in about lat. 66° N., and consequently in this quarter extends fully half a degree beyond the Arctic Circle. At Scoresby Sound, as at North Cape, where it meets the Atlantic, it is intersected by the parallel of 71°, and consequently falls .short of the Arctic Circle by about 4° 30'. In the Old World, the Polar Ocean, if we include its gulfs, extends, in the White Sea, fully two degrees beyond the Arctic Circle ; while at Cape Severe, the northernmost point of Asia, in lat. 78° 25' N., it is 11° 55' distance from it. Finally, in the New World it is everywhere con- fined mthin the Circle; as much as 5° at Point Barrow, about 7° 30' at Barrow Strait, and about 3° at the Hecla and Fury Strait. We may add that, so far as temperature is concerned, the great gulfs known, in memory of their discoverers, as Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, and Hudson Bay, are portions of the Arctic Ocean. Of the more southerly area of tliis great ocean, the only sectioi? which has been adequately explored to a distance from the continent, and in the direction of the Pole, is that which washes the north-ea.st of America. Here we meet, under the collective name of the Polar i'l.rchipelago, with the following islands : — Banks Land, Wollaston Land, Prince Albert Land, Victoria Land, I'rince Patrick Island, Princess Royal Islands, Melville Island, Cornwallis Island, North Devoi., Beechey Island, Grinnell Land, and North Lincoln. Further to the east lie Spitzbergen, Jan Mayen Island, Novaia Zemlaia, New Siberia, and the Liakhov Islands. The chief straits and inlets are Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Smith Sound, Regent Inlet, Hecla and Fury Strait, Wellington Channel, and Cumberland Sound ; while further westward are Belcher Channel, Melville Sountl, M'Clintock Channel, Banks Strait, and Prince of Wales Strait. THK STONY TUNDKA8. 16 The Arctic Lands comprehend two well-defined sections, or zones ; that of the forests, and the treeless wastes. To the latter belong the islands within the Arctic Circle, and also a consitlerablo tract of the northern continents, forming the " barrens " of North America, and the " tundras " ar.d " steppes " of European Russia and Siberia. The treeless character of this vast area of wilderness is owing to the bleak sea-winds which drive, without let or hindrance, across the islands and level shores of the Polar Ocean, compelling even the most vigorous plant to bend before them and creep along the ground. Drearier scenes are nowhere presented than these stn the opposite coasts of Hudson Jiay they ^:'^^ H^ r ^^rp-''' ■ ■ ^H»iM^_~ 'j- ■ t, "A" :i]yn.} <':'::, .. - V',''i''' " 1 T ^'. ■■ ft-j* ' ■ ■■" i 1- - ^.' -- • wr ir\ ,.-.;^ --^^ • ,4 ^ ^^^ g^;. . '■-u.l' > THE SWAMPS OF THK OBI. rise as we jiroceed westward, until in the Mackenzie Valley we find tho tall forest growth reach- ing as far north as G8° or even 70°. Thence they recede gradually, until, on the bleak shore of liehring Sea, they do not rise higher than 65°. Crossing into the eastern continent, we find them begiiming, in the land of tho Tuski (or Tchi\ktcho), in G3°, and from thence encroaching gradually upon the tundras until, at the Lena, they reach as high as 71°. From the Lena to the Obi the tundras gain upon the forests, and in the Obi Valley descend below the Arctic Circle ; but from the Obi to the Scandinavian coast the forests gain upon the tundras, terminating, after many variations, in lat. 70°. The rt ;lt to w hicli this rapid survey brings us is, that the " tundras " or " barrens " of Europe, Asia, and America occupy an area larger than the whole of Europe. The Siberian wilderness is more extensive than the African Sahara or the South American Pampas. But of still vaster area are the Arctic forest regions, which stretch in an "almost continuous belt" THE FLORA oF TIFK NORTH. \9 throiiK TIIK SlItKHIAN Dl-XKUT whkI, a wide .sjtiiad aicii nf flcsulaticiii JstiitclioH hot'din us: Hult stoppoH, Htouy ; ' iiiH, IxiUIkIIubs swamps, and lakoH uf wilt aiui tresli water. So terrible ih the cold that the spoiif^y hoil \h per- petually fVi)zrii tci tin' d(;pth of suuie huiidrrd feet helow the surface ; and the surface iUteH', thouj^h not thawed until the end of .luni', is aj^ain ice-hound hy the middle oi' Septeniher. ()n(' of the most Lrra|ihic skitclics with wliicli we are acipiainted of the extreme Siiierian desert is furnished hv Admiral von Wraiij;"], who travelled iluring the winter from the mouth of the Kolyma to JJehriu),' Strait. Idle, he says, endle.sn Hnt>W8 and ice-crusted rocks bound the horizon ; Nature lies shrouded in all but perjietual winter; life is a constant conflict with ])rivation and with the terrors of cold and hnni,'er; the jrrave of Nature, containinf all ve;,'(tation. Lichens and ftrasses, on which the reindeer j,'ains its hardy suhsistentr, air fnind n. ar lat. 80'; even on the awful plains of Melville Island the snow melts at inidsuiiiint r ; and llif di serts nf New Siheria afford food for considerahle mnnhers of leniinini^M. As far as man has rt'aehed lS It A 0U)K10UH LANDHCAI'K AND SEASCAPE. 'J^ 4- We adopt the followin;,' description from tlu; vivid languajjjc of Dr. Haves, who di.splays a keen feeling for the beauties of tlie Polar world. The air was warm, he says, ahnost a.s a summer't* ni^lit at liome, and yet there \\i\v the icebergs and the bleak mountains, with which the fancy, in our own la?K? of green hills and wav- ing 'voods, can associate nothing but what is cold and repellent. Bright was the sky, and suit and strangely inspiring as the skies of Italy. The bergs had wholly lost their chilly asjdct, and, glittering in the blaze of the brilliant heavens, seemed, in the distance, like niiusses of burniHlud metal or solid flame. Nearer at hand they were huge blocks of I'arian marble, encrusted with colossal gems of pearl and opal. One in particular exhibited the perfection of grandiiir. Its t, \ t.&mnosillV» OFF THE COAST OF GREENLAND. form was not unlike that of the Coliseum, and it lay so far away that half its height was buried beneath the line of blood-red waters. The sun, slow moving along its path of glory, passed behind it, and the old Roman ruin seemed suddenly to break into flame ! Nothing, indeed, but the pencil of the artist could depict the wonderful richness of this com- bined landscape and seascape. Church, in his great jiicture of " The Icebergs," has grandly exhibited a scene not unlike that we have attempted to describe. In the shadows of " e bergs the water was a ricli green, and nothing could, be more soft and tender than the gradations of colour made by the sea shoaling on the sloping tongues of some of these floating masses. The tint increased in intensity where the ice overhung the wat^M-s, and a deep cavern in one of them exhibited thi' solid colour of the malachite mingled with the trans 43 CONTIUSTS IN THE POLAR WORLD. parency of the emerald, while, in strange contrast, a broad belt of cobalt blue shot diagonally through its body. The enchantment of the scene was heightened by a thousand little casctides which flashed into the sea from the icebergs, the water being discharged from basins of melted sr.ow and ice which tranquilly reposed far up in the hollows of their topmost surface. From other bergs large bouldera were occasionall" detached, and those plunged into the water with •>. deafening din, while the roll and rush o ' the ocean resounded like the music of a solemn dirge through thnir broken archways. r, •;;^ The contrasts and combinations of colour in the Polar world are, indeed, among its jmrti- cular attractions, and of their kind they cannot be surpassed or imitated even in the gorgeous realms of the Tropics. The pale azure gleam of the ice, the dazzling whiteness of the snow, the vivid verdure of the sunlit plains, the deep emerald tints, crossed with sapphire and ultramarine, of the waters, would in themselves afford a multiplicity of rich and beautiful effects ; but to these we must add the magical influences of the coruscations of the Arctic heavens, with the glories of the midni<'ht sun and the wonders of the Aurora. HOUNLIOHT IN THE POLAR WORLD. Even moonlight in the Polar world is unlike moonlight anywhere else ; it has a character all its own, — strange, weird, supernatural. Night after night the sky will be free from cloud or shadow, and the radiant stars shine out with a singular intensity, seeming to cut the air like keen swords. The moonbeams are thrown back with a pale lustre by ice-floe and glacier and snow-drift, and the only relief to the brightness is where the dark cliffs throw a shadow over the iMMM I IN THE LONG WINTEK-NIOHT l» landscape. Gloriously beautiful look the snow-clad mountains, as the moonlight pours upon them its serene splendour, interrupted only by the occasional passage of a wrcatli of mist, whiih is soon transformed into sparkling silver. The whole scene produces an impression of awe on the mind of the thoughtful spectator, and he feels as if brought face to face with the visible presence of anothei world. The prolonged winter night is in itself well calculated to aft'ect the imagination of the Euro- pean. He reads of it in travels and books of astronomy ; but to know what it is, and what it means, he must submit himself to its influence, — he must " winter" in the Polar Regions. Not to see sunrise and sunset, and the changes they bring with them, day after day, enlivening, inspirit- ing, strengthening, is felt at first as an intolerable burden. The stars shining at all hours with equal brilliancy, and the lasting darkness which reigns for twenty days of each winter month when the moon is below the horizon, become a weariness and a discomfort. The traveller longs for the reappearance of the moon ; and yet before she has ran her ten days' course, he feels fatigued by the uniform illumination. But sometimes a relief is supplied by the phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis. We inha- bitants of the United Kingdom know something of the rare beauty of the " northern lights," when the heavens kindle with a mysterious play of colours which reminds us of the strange weird radiance that occasionally kindles in our dreams; yet these are poor and trivial when compared with the auroral display. Let us endeavour to realize it from the glowing description painted by one of the mjst eloquent and observant of Arctic explorers. He was groping his way among the ice-hummocks, in the deep obscurity of the mid-winter, when suddenly a bright ray darted up from behind the black cloud which lay low down on the horizon before him. It lasted but an instant, and, having filled the air with a stiange illumina- tion, it died away, leaving the darkness even greater darkness than before. Presently an arc of coloured light sprang across the sky, and the aurora became gradually more fixed. The space enclosed by the arc was very dark, and was filled with the cloud. The play of the rays which rose from its gradually brightening border was for some time very capricious, modifying the burst of flame from what seemed a conflagration of the heaver to the soft glow of early morn. Gradually the light grew more and more intense, and from irregular bursts it settled into an almost steady sheet of splendour. This sheet, however, was far from uniform, and may best be described as " a flood of mingling and variously-tinted streaks." The exhibition, at first tame and quiet, developed by degrees into startling brilliancy. The broad dome of night seemed all a-blaze. Lurid fires, fiercer than those which reddened the heavens from burning Troy, flashed angrily across the zenith. The stars waned before the mar- vellous outburst, and seemed to recede further and further from the Earth ; " as when the chariot of the sun, driven by Phaeton, and carried from its beaten track by the ungovernable steeds, rushed madly through the skies, parching the world and withering the constellations. The gentle Andromeda flies trembling from the flame ; Perseus, with his flashing sword and Gorgon shield, retreats in fear ; the Pole-Star is chased from the night ; and the Great Bear, faithful sentinel of the North, quits his g .ardian watch, following the feeble trail." The colour of the light was chiefly red, but this was not permanent, and every hue mingled in the wonderful display. Blue and yellow streamers shot athwart the lurid fire ; and, sometimes starting side by side % 28 A VISION OF MANY COLOURS. ! \ from tlio wide fx pause of the illumined arc, they melted into each other, and flung a weird f^laro of j^rocn over the landscape. Ai,'ain this fjreen overcame the red ; blue and yellow blended with each other in their swift fli^'lit ; violet-tinted arrows flashed thri>Uf,d» a liroad j^low of orange, and countless tongues of wliiti' flame, fiirincd tif Muse uniting streams, rushed ahjft and clasj)ed the skies. The effect of the many-colnurtd lustre upon th(! surrounding objects was singularly wonderful. The weird forms of inimmorable icebergs, singly and in clusters, loomed above the sea, and around their Hummits hovered the strange gleam, like the fires of Vesuvius over the villas and temjiles of T'^tVi. «.»*w».«ap' TUR AURORA noREALtS. Pompeii. .Vll along the white sui-faoe of the frozen sea, upon the mountain-peaks and the lofty clifTs, the I'jjht glowed and dinunod and glowed again, as if the air were filled with graveyard meteors, flitting wildly above some vast illimitable city of the dead. The scene was noiseless, yet the senses were deeeivetl, for sounds not of earth or sea seemed to follow the swift coruscations, and to fall upon the ear like '• The trend Of pliaiituiuM ilrend, , ,- . Witli bnuuer, aud sjiear, .iiid iliime." Though the details, so to speak, are not always the same, the general character of the aurora changes very slightly, and, from a comparison of numerous accounts, the gradation of the pheno- menon would seem to be iis follows : — The sky slowly assumes a tint of brown, on which, as on a background, is soon developed a nebulous segment, bordered by a spacious arc of dazzling whiteness, which seems incessantly •i. i ' :■{ ■ CHANGES OF THE AURORA BOREALIS. tl agitated by a tremulous motion. From tliis arc an increilible number of sluift.s and lays of li<4lit Knip upwards to the zunitii. These luminous columns pass tlirou;;ii all tlie hues of the raiiiliow, — from softest violet and intensest sapphire to green and purple-red. Sometimes tlu; rays issue from the resplendent arc mingled with darker flashes ; sometimes they rise simultaneously at different points of the horizon, and unite in one broad sea of (lame pcrvaiKiI by rapid undulations. On other occasions it would seem as if invisible hands were unfurlin<^ tiny dnzzliii'.,' b.imn is, to THE AURORA RORKALIS — THE CORONA. stream, like meteors, in the troubled air. A kind of canoj)y, of soft and tranquil li,y:bt, wiiicii is known as the corona, indicates the close of the marvellous exhil)itioii , and shortly after its appearance the luminous rays begin to decrease in splendour, tlie richly-colouiod arcs dissolve and die out, and soon of all the gorgeous spectacle nothing remains but a whitish cloudy haze in those parts of the finuament which, but a few minutes before, l)lazed with the mysterious fires of the aurora borealis. The arc of the aurora is only part of a broad circle of light, which is elevated considerably above the surface of our globe, and the centre of which is situated in the vicinity of the Polo. It is not difficult, therefore, to account for the different aspects under whiili it is pre.sentefl to observers placed at different angles to f,he focus of the display. A person some degrees si>iith of the ring necessarily sees but a very small arc of it towards the north, owing to the interposition of the earth between him and it ; if he stood nearer the north, the arc would appear larger and 30 I'HKNOMENA OF THE AUKORA. highor ; if iinincdiatcly below it, ho would hco it apparently traversing the zenith ; or if within tlio riiij,', and Htill furtlior north, he would sec it culminating in the south. It has been supposed that the centre of the ring corresponds with the magnetic north pole in the island of Boothia Felix. Generally the phenomenon lasts for several hours, and at times it will be varied by peculiar features. Now it will seem to present the hemispherical segment of a coloasfd wheel ; now it will wave and droop like a rich tapestry of many-coloured light, in a thousand prismatic folds ; and now it exhibits the array of innumerable dazzling streamers, waving in the dark and intense sky. The arc varies in elevation, but is seldom more than ninety miles above the terrestrial sur- face. Its diameter, however, must be enormous, for it has been known to extend southward to Italy, and has been simultaneously visible in Sardinia, Connecticut, and at New Orleans. According to some authorities, the phenomenon is accompanied by noises resembling the discharge of fireworks, or the crackling of silk when one piece is folded over another ; but this statement is discredited by the most trustworthy observers. Mrs. Soinerville's description is worth quoting, as taking up more emphatically some points to which we have already alluded : — The aurora, she says, is decidedly an electrical (or, more strictly speaking, a magneto- electrical) phenomenon. It generally appears soon after sunset in the form of a luminous arc stretching more or less from east to west, the most elevated point being always in the magnetic meridian of the place of the observer ; across the arc the coruscations are rapid, vivid, and of various colours, darting like lightning to the zenith, and at the same time flitting laterally with incessant velocity. The brightness of the rays varies in an instant ; they sometimes surpass the sj)lendour of stars of the first magnitude, and often exhibit colours of admirable transparency, — blood-red at the base, emerald-green in the middle, and clear yellow towards their extremity. Sometimes one, and sometimes a quick succession of luminous currents run from one end of the arc or bow to the other, so that the rays rapidly increase in brightness ; but it is impossible to say whether the coruscations themselves are actually affected by a horizontal motion of transla- tion, or whether the more vivid light is conveyed from ray to ray. The rays occasionally dart far past the zenith, vanish, suddenly reappear, and, being joined by others from the arc, form a magnificent corona or immense dome of light. The segment of the sky below the arc is quite black, as if formed by dense clouds ; yet M. Struve is said to have seen stars in it, and so it would appear that the blackness of which several observers speak must be the effect of contrast. The lower edge of the arc is evenly defined ; its upper margin is fringed by the coruscations, their convergence towards the north, and that of the arc itself, being probably an effect of perspective. The aurora exercises a remarkable influence on the magnetic needle, even in places where the display is not visible. Its vibrations seem to be slower or quicker according as the auroral light is quiescent or in motion, and the variations of the compass during the day show that the aurora is not peculiar to night. It has been ascertained by careful observations that the disturbances of the magnetic needle and the auroral displays were simultaneous at Toronto, in ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMKNA DESCRIBED. It Canada, on thirteen days out of twenty-four, the remaining days having been oloudiil ; r.nd contemporaneous observations show that in these thirteen days there were also niagnetii' dis- turbances at Prague and Tasmania; so that the occurrence of auroral phenomena at Tnninto on these occasions may be viewed as a local manifestation connected with magnetic etfeits, wliich, whatever may have been their origin, probably prevailed on the same day over (he irhule surface of the globe. Among the atmospheric phenomena of the outer world we are justified in reckoning the Winds, which are remarkable for their variability. Their force is considerably diminished when they pass over a wide surface of ice ; sometimes the ice seems even to beat back the breeze, and turn it in a contrary direction. The warm airs from the south grow cool as they sweep across the frozen expanse, and give up their moisture in the form of snow. In a region so bleak and chill it is not often that clouds are created, the atmospheric vapours being condensed into snow or hail without passing through any intermediate condition. Whirlwinds of frozen snow are formidable enemies to the seaman forced to traverse the itte on foot, or in a sledge drawn by Eskimo dogs. Dense showers lash and sting the unfortunate traveller's face, penetrate his mouth and nostrils, freeze together his very eyelids, and almost blind him. His skin assumes a bluish tint, and bums as if scarred by the keen thongs of a knout. An optical illusion of frequent occurrence in the P6lar liegions makes objects apj)ear of dimensions much larger than they really possess. A fox ossnmes the proportions of a bear ; l(tw banks of ice are elevated into lofty mountains. The eye is fatigued by dwelling upon the horizon of lands which are never approached. Just as in the sandy deserts of the Sahara the distances of real objects are apparently diminished, so the Arctic explorer, misled by the aerial illusion, advances towards a goal which seems always near at hand, but is never attained. Another source of error, common both to the Arctic and the Tropical deserts, is the mirage, a phenomenon of refraction, wliich represents as suspended in air the images of remote objects, and thus gives rise to the most curious illusions and fantastic scenes. Dr. Scoresby one day perceived in the air the reversed representation of a ship which he recognized a.s the Fame, commanded by his father. He afterwards discovered that it had been lying moored in a creek about ten leagues from the point where the mirage had played with his imagination. Again, in approaching a field of ice or snow, the traveller invariably descries a belt of resplendent white immediately above the horizon. This is known as the " ice-blink," and it reveals to the Arctic navigator beforehand the character of the ice he is approaching. At times, too, a range of icebergs, or of broken masses of ice, will be reflected in colossal shadows on the sky, with a strange and even weird effect. But, after all, the special distinction between the Arctic lands and the other regions of the globe is their long day and longer night. Describing an immense spiral curve upon the horizon, the sun gradually mounts to 30°, the highest point of its course ; then, in the same maimer, it returns towards the horizon, and bids farewell to the wildernesses of the North, slowl}' passing away behind the veil of a gloomy and ghastly twilight. When the navigator, says Captain Parry, finds himself for the first time buried in the silent shadows of the Arctic night, he cannot conquer an involuntary emotion of dread ; he feels M A .MOONLiailT NIOIIT IN THE NOHTH. ATUOSrilERIC rnENOMENON IN TIIK ARCTIC UEOIONS : — REFLECTION OK IC'KUERUS. transported out of the sphere of ordinary, coninionplaec existence. The deadly and sombre deserts of the Polo seem like those uncreated voids which ^lilton has placed between the realms of life and death. The very animals arc affected by the profound melancholy which saddens the face of Nature. Will) can read without emotion the following passages from Di'. Kane's Journal ? — " October 28, Friday. — The moon has reached her greatest northern declination of about 25° 35'. She is a glorious object ; sweeping around the heavens, at the lowest part of her curve she is still 14" above the horizon. For eight days she has been making her circuit with nearly unvarying brightness. It is one of those sparkling nights that bring back the memory of sleigh- bells and songs and glad communings of hearts in lands that are far away. " The weather outside is at 25' below zero." A few days later, and the heroic explorer writes : — -SBS SINGULAR ATMOSPHEHIC CONDITIONS. 3| '' iVoreiitbi-r 7, ^fo^H^^tl/.--'^'he darkness in coniini,' on with insidious stt-adinoss, nnd its advanws can lio jioiwivid only by coniparini,' onu day with its iMIow of soini- tini.- hack. Wo still read tho tliernionit'ter at noonday witliout a hjjfht, and tlio hlack nia.sHcs (.f tlic hills aiv plain for about fivo liours with their ghu'wg patches of snow ; but all the rust is darkness. Lanterna are always on the spar-deck, and the lard-hinips never e.\tinj,'uished below. The stars of the si.xth magnitude shine out at noonday. "Our darkness has ninety days to run before we shall ,t,'et back again even U, the cc.ntested twilight of to-day. Altogether, our winter will have been sunless for one hundred and forty days." Here is another significant passage ; yet all its significance can scarcely be appreciated by the dwellers in temperate climes : — •'Xovember 37, Sumla)/.-— The thermometer was in the neighbourliMod ol' 10 bi-Iow zero, and the day was too dark to read at noon." "December 15, Thursdai/.—We have lost the last vestige of (jur midday twilight. Wo caimot see print, and hardly paper : the fingers cannot be counted a foot from the eyes. No.jn- day and midnight are alike ; and, except a vague glimmer on the sky that seems to define the hill outlines to the south, we have nothing to tell us that this Arctic world of ours has a sun." On the 11th of -January (1854), Dr. Kane's thermometer stood at 49° below zero; and on the 20th the rango of those at the observatory was at - G 4° to - 07'. On the 5th of February they began to show an unexampled temperature. They ranged from 60° to 75° below zero, and one very admirable instrument on the tatfrail of the brig stood at - G5°. The reduced mean of the best spirit-standards gave - G7°, or 97° below the freezing-point of water. At these temperatures chloric ether became solid, and caiefully prepared chloroform exhi- bited a grarudar film or pellicle on its surface. Spirit of naphtha froze at - 54', and oil of sassafras at - 49°. 'J'he oil of winter-green assumes a floccident appearance at - 50°, and solid at - G3° and - G5°. Some further details, borrowed from Dr. Kane's experiences, will illustrate still more power- fully the singular atmospheric conditions of the Arctic winter. The exhalations from the surface of the body invested any exposed or partially-clad part with a wreath of vapour. The air had a perceptible pungency when inspired, but Dr. Kane did not undergo the painful sensation described by some Siberian travellers. When breathed for any length of time it imparted a sensation of dryness to the air-passages ; and J)r. Kane observed that all his party, as it were involuntarily, breathed gradually, and with compressed lips. It was at noon on the 21st of January that the first glimmer of returning light became visible, the southern horizon being touched for a short time with a distinct orange hue. The sun had, perhaps, afforded them a kind of illumination before, but if so, it was not to lie distin- guished from the "cold light of stars." They had been Hearing the sunshine for thirty-two days, and had just reached that degree of mitigated darkness which made the extreme midnight of Sir Edward Parry in lat. 74° 47'. We have already alluded to the depressing influence exercised by the jn-olonged and intense darkness of the Arctic night, and we have referred to the singular eflect it has upon animals. S4 C'llAUAfrrKlilSTICS OV TMK AltCTIC WINTKI!. Dr. Knne'H dogn, tho ijjli inoHt of tlitm wore luitivuH of the Arctic Circle, proved unable to bear up ttfjaiimt it. Most of tliom diod IVdim an aiioinalouH form of cliseaHe, to which the absence of lij,'ht would Hoeni to have contributed an much as the extreme cold. This circumstance seems worthy of fulltn- notice, and wc (|uote, therefore, Dr. Kane's observation upon it : — " JuniKirif -20. — Tiiis morninjf at five o'clock — for 1 am so afflicted with the iVisowmium of tliis eternal nii,'ht, that I rise at any time between midnif,'ht and noon— I went upon deck. It was absolutely dark, the cold not permitting,' a swinj^ing lamp. There was not a glimmer came to me through the ice-cru.sted window-panes of the cabin. Whihi I was feeling my way, hah puzzled as to the best method of steering clear of whatever might be before mc, two of my Newfoundland dogs |)ut tiuir cold noses against my hand, and instantly commenced the most exuberant antics of satisfaction. It tlien occurred to me how vely dreary and forlorn must these poor animals be, at atmo.sj)heres + 1 0° in-doors and - 50' without, — living in darkness, howling at an accidtintal light, as if it reminded them of the moon, — and with nothing, either of instinct or sensation, to tell tiiem of the passing hours, or to explain the long-lost daylight." The etfect of the j)rolonged daikness upon these animals was most extraordinary. Every attention was jjaid to their wants ; they were kept below, tended, fed, cleansed, caressed, and iloctoird ; still they grew worse and worse. Strange to say, their disease was as clearly mental as in the case of any human being. There was no physical disorganization ; they ate voiaciously ; they slept soundly, they retained their strength, ^^ut first they were stricken by epilepsy, and this was followed by true lunacy. They barked .nziedly at nothing; they walked in straight and curved lines with anxious and unwearying })erseverance. They fawned on the seamen, but without seeming to appreciate any caresses bestowed upon them ; pushing their head against the fiiend who noticed them, or oscillating with a strange pantomime of fear. Their most intelligent actions seemed of an automatic character ; sometimes they clawed at their masters, as if seeking to burrow into their seal-skins ; sometimes they preserved for hours a moody silence, and then started off howling, as if pursued, and ran to and fro for a considerable period When spring retunied Dr. Kane had to mourn the loss of nine splendid Newfoundland and thirty-five Eskimo dogs ; of the whole pack only six survived, and one of these was unfit for draught. Having dwelt at some length on the characteristics of the Arctic winter, we now turn to consider those of the Arctic spring. This begins in April, but does not exhibit itself in all the freshness of its beauty until May. The temperature rises daily in the interval ; the winter fall of snow, which has so long shrouded the gaunt hills and lain upon the valleys, rolls up before the rays of the rising sun ; and the melted snow pours in noisy torrents and flashing cascades through the rugged ravines and over the dark sides of the lofty cliffs : everywhere the air resounds with the din of falling watei-s. Early in June the traveller sees with delight the signs of returning vegetation. The willow-stems grow green ^vith the fresh and living sap ; mosses, and poppies, and saxifrages, and the cochlearia, with other hardy plants, begin to sprout ; the welcome whirr of wings is brought upon the breeze ; the cliff's are alive with the little auks ; flocks of stately eider-ducks sail into the creeks and sounds ; the graceful tenis scream and dart over the sea ; the burgomasters and the gyifalcons move to and fro with greater dignitj' ; the long-tailed duck fills the echoes with its shrill voice ; the snipes liover about the fresh-water A I'OLAH I.ANDSCAl'K IN Sl'HIN(i. (wols ; the sparrows chirp from rock to rock ; loiijf linuH of ciickliii!^ gccso sail in tlio blue cluar- rioss ovcrlu'nfi on tlicir witv to a niiiotfr north ; tliu wuhiis i nd the soul hank on the i('t>-flo«^n Al>VKSr UK HI'lll.Nd IN TlIK I'UI.AIl IlKlllUNS. which have brokoii up into small rafts, and drift lazily with the currents ; and a Hcet of icebergs move southwards in solemn and stately procession, their spires and towens flashing and coruscating: in the suidisht. We transcribe a sketcli of a spring landscape in the Polar world from the pages of Dr. Hayes : — We arrived at the lake, lie says, in the midst of a very enlivening scene. The snow had mainly disappeared from the valley, and, altlKJUgh no flowers had yet aj^peared, the early vegetation was covering the banks witii green, and the feeble growths opened their little leaves almost under the very snow, and stood alive and fresh in tlie frozen turf, looking as glad of the spring as their more ambitious cousins of the warm South. Numerous small herds of reindeer had come down from the mountains to fatten on this newly budding life. Gushing rivulets and fantastic waterfalls mingled their pleasant nmsic with the ceaseless hum of birds, myriads of which sat upon the rocks of the hill-side, or were perched upon the cliffs, or sailed through the air in swarms so thick that they seemed like a dark cloud passing before the sun. These birds were the little auk, a water-fowl not larger than a quail. The swift flutter of their wings and their constant cry filled the air with a roar like that of a storm advancing among the forest trees. The valley was glowing with the sunlight of the early morning, v hich streamed in over the glacier, and robed hill, mountain, and plain in brightnes,s. Spring passes into summer, and all nature seems endowed with a new life. The death- like silence, the oppressive darkness, the sense of fear and despondency, all have passed away ; M AlloUT TIIK Nonril lol.K. ami raitli mill . :tli'i° i tlin v\ iili rlifii fill viiii'i.'s, llii' lanilM(-ii|iL' i.s liiitlii-t iiii|M)itiiiit .luA conspii'iious. NUUTII KIIN t.uMlTICLLATIONII. OonmiAnovi. ITrsn Minor, llip r.e»»i.r lliur I'rsa Mnjnr. thr (!mit IWnr PtTBiMn, luiil llciul (if MmliuK AuriK'ifc, tlie \Va^'K'"m■r Dui>tett, tlio llvnUiiittn ,,... Uratn, the Drn^rnn ... . Ci'iiheus ^ ^ Caiif, Voimli.i, thn (irivli"iin.l, Char* and Aateria.. (W ( 'iipiili, Ilcurt cif ( 'luu-l,.., It Trinntjuliiiii. IIil' Trian;(lu Trlnii|,'iiliini Minu.i, tlm Ia-mit Triansla Miii4i-H, the Kly Lynx .-.q Loti Minor, the LemT TJon Coma liiTfnIiT.H, Ik'rcnice'H Itair .. r'anii'li'opanlalln, the (itrairH ,., Monn .Mcriflaus, Mount Mtni'lam forona liori'ali'.. tho Xorthirn Crown Ht-riK'nH, tilt! HeriMtnt . Suutnni Sol)ioj.ki, Holiii^aki's Shield Hert'iiK-K. with Ccrlu-ruH Ser|«intariiM, or (l|iliiuchii«, thu Herpent-licarer . TauriiH 1'oniatowi.lii. or thf Hull of Ponlatowski I.yra, tliu Harp Vnlpftulu.i ft AnsiT, the Fox and tlio Gouse Sa^'ittn, thu Arrow ...,_ Acpiila. the Kai;h', with Antiuoua Delphinus, thu Dolphin C'yt'niH. thiiHwan Oaasio|)fia, the La/ly in hur Chair Kquulua, the Home's Ij 'ad I.acerta, thu I.i/anI Peganus, the Flying Horw Andromeda Turandua, the Uuindeer No or 8r«iu. Almtiu. 21 Aratiu. f7 Aratiu. 59 Arntna. nil Aratiia. I'll Aratna. M Arotua. M Hevvlina, 23 Hnlley. 3 Aratua. 16 Ileviliua. 10 IlMle. A Heveliu.H. 41 Heveliua. U 'ry< ho llrahe. 4.1 Heveliua, M lleveliila. 11 Aratim. 21 A rati] M, 04 Hevelius. S AratiiM. 11. 1 Aratu--*. 74 Poezohat. 7 Aratun. •h} Heveliuif. a7 Aratiw. 18 AratuB. 71 Aratud. 18 AratuH. M AratuK. W Ptolemy. 10 Hevelin*. 10 ArattiH. Ml Ar.atn.-. di Lemonnier. 12 P«iiiar«i Staw Pularia, 2. l)ul>he, 1 : Alloth, 2. Alxenib, 2; Algol. 2. Ca|wlla, 1. ArcturiH. 1. lta<«tal>i'n, 'A. Alileramln. it, ll.ui Aluratha. S. Ihut Aliiigua, 2. \'cf!a, 1. AlLiir, 1. Deneli, 1. Afarkab, 2. Altnooc, 2. A few remark.s in reference to some of these con.stellations, and the glorious orbs which they help to indicate to mortal eyes, may Ktly close this chapter. We have already alluded to Ursa Major, which forms one of the most conspicuous objects of the northern heavens. It has borne diflereut names, at different times, and among different peoples. It was the "ApKro, ^ey,i\n of the Greeks ; the " Septem triones " of the Latins. It is known in some parts a.s David's Ciiariot ; the Chinese cull it, T< ficuu-pei/. Night and day this constellation watches above the northern horizon, revolving, witii sl.nv and majestic march, around Polaris, in four and twenty hours. The quadrangle of stu in the body of the Great Bear forms the wheels of the chariot;, the triangle in its tail, the ch^riot-pole. Above the second of the three latter shines the small star Alcor, also named the Horseman. The Arabs call it Saidak, or " the Test," because they use it to try the range and strength <^f a person's vision. This brilliant north-^rn constellation, composed, with the excepticjii of S, of stars of the second magnitude, has frequently been celebrated by poets. We may paraphrase, for the advantage of our readers, a glowing apostrophe from the pen of the American Ware :— With what grand and majestic steps, he says, it moves forward in its eternal circle, following among the stars its regal Avay in a slow and silent splendour ! Mighty creation, I salute thee 1 S8 THE "POETRY OF HEAVEN." I lovo to sec thoe wiuidorinrolongation in a southerly direction we come to that glorious mass <>[ stai-8, not very frei,uent!y above the Polar horizon, the Pleiads. These were held in evil repute among the ancients. Their appearance was supposed to be ominous of violent storms, and Valerius Flaccus speaks of them as fatal to ships. Algol, or Medusa's Head, known to astronomers a^ Perseus ^, belongs to the singular class of Variable Starb. Instead of shining with a constant lustre, like other orbs, it is soinethnos very brilliant, and sometimes very pale ; passing, apparently, from the second to the fourth magni- tude. According to Goodricke, its period of variation is 2 days 20 hours 48 minutes. This phenomenal chara'-ter was fiist observed by Maraldi in 1GK4 ; but the duration of the change vas determined by Goodricke in 1782. For two days and fourteen hours it continues at its brightest, and shines a glory in the heavens. Then its lustre suddenly begins to wane, and in thice hours and a half is reduced to its minimum. Its weakest period, however, does not last more than about fifteen minutes. It then begins to increase in brightness, and in three houis and a half more it is restored to its full splendour ; ■ iius passing through its succession of changes in 2 days 20 hours 48 minutes. This singular periodicity suggested to Goodricke the idea of some opaque body revolving around the star, and by interposing between it and the Earth cutting off a portion of its light. Algol is one of the most interesting of the welcome stars which kindle in the long Arcti<' darkness. The star ^ in Perseus, situated above the " stormy Pleiads," is double ; that is, a binary star. ^ in Ursa Major is also a twin-star ; and so is Polaris, the second and smaller star appear- ing a mere speck in comparison with its companion. KRBUl.A IS ASBROKBDA. These are the principal stars and starry groups in the Circumpolar Regions of the heavens, on one side ; let us now turn our attention to the other. For this purpose we must again take the Great Bear as our starting-point. Prolonging the tail in its curvature, the Arctic traveller notes, at some distance from it, a star of the fir- "^ -nagnitude, Arcturus, or Bootes a. This star, though without any authority, was at one time considered the nearest to the Earth of all the starry host. About 10° to the north- east of it is Mirac, or e Bootes ; one of the most beautiful objects in the heavens, on account of the contrasted hues, yellow and azure, of the two stars composing it. Unfortunately, the twin-orbs cannot be distinctly seen except with a telescope of two hundred magnifying power. 40 VIKW OK TllK NOUTHKUN CONSTELLATIONS. J. A Kinull liii!,' of Htar« to tlie left of Booths is appropriately known as Corona liorealis, or the Nortliern Crown. The (u.nstellation of Bootes forms a pentagon ; and the stars coniposiug it are all of the third nrngnloude, with the exception ..f a, which is of the Hrst. Arcturus, a. we have said, was anciently considered the star nearest to the Earth. It is, at all events, one of the nearest, and belongs to the small number of those whose distance our astronomers have succeeded m calculat ing. It is 61 trillions, 712,000 millions of leagues from our planet ; a distance of which we can form no appreciable conception. Moreover, it is a coloured star; on examining it through a telescope we see that it is of the same hue as the " red planet Mars." By carrying a line from the Polar Star to Arcturus, and raising a pei-pendicular in the middle of thi.s line, opposite to Ursa Major, the observer of the Arctic skies will discover one of the most lumin..us orbs of night, Ven>,'st tin in ; and ( 'aptain Parry and his crew conLjratulated theniselvoa that they were sutticiently far from the seme to witness its sublimity without being involved in its danger. Icebergs chieHy abound in Baffin Bay, and in the gulfs and inlets connected with it. They are particularly numerous in the great indentation known as ^felville Bay, tho whole inte- rior of the country bordering upon it being the seat of immense glaciers, and these are constantly "shedding off" icebergs of the largest dimensions. The greater hulk of thes(! is, as we have explained, below the water-line ; and the conseijuent depth to which they sink when floating ICEBEllO AND ICEFIELD, MELVILLE BAY, UllKK.Sl.ANU subjects them to the action of the deeper oceiin-currents, while their broad surface abcjve the water is, of course, acted on by the wind. It happens, therefore, as Dr. Kane remarks, that they are found not infrequently moving in difl'erent directions from the floes around them, and preventing them for a time from freezing into a united mass. Still, in the late wintei-, when the cold has thoroughly set in, Mebille Bay becomes a continuous mass of ice, from Cape York to the Devil's Thumb. At other times, this region justifies the name the whalers h.ave bestowed upon it of " Bergy Hole." Captain Beechey, in his voyage with Buchan, in 1818, had an opportunity of witnessing the formation of a " berg," or rather of two of these innnense masses. In Magdalena Bay he had [MliiiiililMaMllib 40 A COLOSSAL ICEUKRO. taken the ship's launch near the shore to examine a magnificent glacier, when the discharge of a gun cau.sed an instantaneous disruption of its bulk. A noise resembling thunder was heard in the direction of the glacier, and in a few seconds more an immense piece broke away, and fell headlong into the sea. The crew of the launch, supposing themselves beyond the reach of its influence, quietly looked upon the scene, when a sea arose and rolled towards the shore with such rapidity tiiat the boat was washed upon the beach and filled. As soon as their astonish- ment had subsided, they examined the boat, and found her so badly stove that it was necessary to repair her before they could return to their ship. They had also the curiosity to measure the distance the boat had been carried by the wave, and ascertained that it was ninety-six feet. A short time afterwards, when Captain Beechey and Lieutenant Franklin had approached one of these stupendous walls of ice, and were endeavouring to search into the innermost recess of a deep cavern that lay near the foot of the glacier, they suddenly heard a report, as of a cannon, and turning to the quarter whence it proceeded, perceived an immense section of the front of the glacier sliding down from the height of two hundred feet at least into the sea, and dispersing the water in every direction, accompanied by a loud grinding noise, and followed by an f)utflow of water, which, being previously lodged in the fissures, now made its escape in innu- merable tiny fla.shing rills and cataracts. The mass thus disengaged at first disappeared wholly under water, and nothing could be seen but a violent seething of the sea, and the ascent of clouds of glittering spray, such as that which occurs at the foot of a great waterfall. But after a short time it re-appeared, raising its head fully a himdred feet above the surface, with water streaming down on every side ; and then labouring, as if doubtful which way it should fall, it rolled over, rocked to and fro for a few minutes, and finally became settled. On approaching and measuring it, Beechey found it to be nearly a quarter of a mile in circumference, and sixty feet out of the water. Knowing its specific gravity, and making a fair allowance for its inequalities, he computed its weight at 421,660 tons. In Parry's first voyage he passed in one day fifty icebergs of large dimensions, just after crossing the Arctic Circle ; and on the following day a still more extended chain of ice-peaks of still larger size, against which a heavy southerly swell was violently driven, dashing the loose ice with tremendous force, sometimes flinging a white spray over them to the height of more than one hundred feet, and accompanied by a loud noise " exactly resembling the roar of distant thunder. ' Between one of these bergs and a detached floe the Hecla, Parry's ship, had nearly, as the w hiilei-s say, been " nipped," or crushed. The berg was about one hundred and forty feet high, and aground in one hundred and twenty fathoms, so that its whole height must have exceeded eight hundred feet ; that is, it was of a bulk equal to St. Catherine's Down in the Isle of Wight. In his second voyage Parry speaks of fifty-four icebergs visible at one time, some of which were not less than two hundred feet above the sea ; ajid again of thirty of these huge masses, many of them whirled about by the tides like straws on a mill-stream. IceL3rgs can originate only in regions where glaciers abound : the foi-mer are the offspring of the latter, and where land unsuitable to the production of the latter does not exist, the former are never found. Hence, in Baffin Bay, where steep cliffs of cold granite frown over almost fathomless waters, the " monarch of glacial fonnations " floats slowly from the ravine which has (ILAOIEHH AND ICEBEHOS. 47 been its biith-pluce, until iliirly Inunchcd into tlvo depths of ocean, and, "after Ion<,' years," drifts into the wanner reffions of the Atlantic to assist in the preservation of Nature's laws of equilibrium of temperature of the air and water. There was p time when men of science, and, amongst otl ers, the French i)lulo8opher St. Pierre, believed that icebergs were the snow and ice of ages accunndated ujton an Arctic sea, which, forming at the Poles, detached themselves from the jiarent nia.-ts. Such an hy]>othcsis naturally gave rise to many theories, not less ingenious than startling, as to the eft'ect an incessant accmnulation of ice must ])'oduee on the globe itself; and St. Pierre hinted at the possibility of the huge "domes of ice" — which, as he supposed, rose to an immense height in the keen frosty heavens of the Prdes— suddenly launching towards the Equator, dissolving under a trojjical sun, and resulting in a second deluge ! In simple language Professor Tyndall furnishes an explanation of the origin of icebergs, which we may transfer to these pages as supplementary to the preceding remarks. What is their origin ? he asks ; and he rej)lies, as we have done, the Arctic glaciers. From the mountains in the interior the indurated snows slide into the valleys, and fill them with ice. The glaciers thus created move, like the Swiss ones, incessantly downward. I3ut tlie Arctic glaciers descend to the sea, and even enter it, frequently ploughing up its bottom into submarine moraines. Under- mined by the continuous action of the waves, and unable to resist the pressure of their own weight, they break across, and discharge enormous masses into the ocean. Some of these drift on the adjacent shores, and often maintain them- selves for years. Others float away to the southward, and pass into the broad Atlantic, where they are finally dissolved. But a vast amount of heat is demanded for the simple liquefaction of ice, and the melting of icebergs is on this account so slow that, when large, they sometimes maintain themselves till they have been drifted two thousand miles from their place of birth. Icebergs, then, are fresh-water formations ; and though they are found on a colossal scale only hi the Polar seas, yet they are by no means uncommon among the lofty Alpine lakes. The monarch of European ice-rivera is the great Aletsch glacier, at the head of the valley of the Khonc. It is about twenty miles in length, and collects its materials from the snow- drifts of the grandest mountains of the Bernese Oberland— the Jungfrau, the Monch, the Trug- berg, the Aletschhorn, the Breithorn, and the Gletscherhorn. From the peak of the ^ggischhorn the Alpine traveller obtains a fine view of its river-like coui-se ; and he sees beneath him, on the right hand, and suiTounded by sheltering mountains, an object of almost startling beauty. " Yonder," says Tyndall,'' " we sec the naked side of the glacier, exposing glistening ice-cliflPs sixty or seventy feet high. It would seem as if the Aletsch * Tyndall, " Forms of Water," p. 137. ORIOIN OF ICEBERns — EXTENSION OF A OLACIEB SKAWAnDS, 48 (a.ACIKK.S IN SWrrZKItLAND. THE At.KTHCII Ut.AriKR, BWITZKRl.ANn, FtlOM TUB .K(i(ll SOU HORN, SIIOWINO ITS MOnAlNK-". here so; the The were I'li^fmid ill the vain attini|pt tu thnist an arm thrDUgh a lateral valley. It onee did hnt the arm is now incessantly inokfn idl' close to the body of the glacier, a great space formerly covered hy the ice being oecui)ied ^ by its water of li(|iiefaction. In this way a lake of the lovidiest bine is formed, wliich reaches (|nite to the base of the ice-clirts, saps them, as the Arctic waves sa|) the Greenland glaciers, and receives from tliem the broken masses which it has nnderniined. As we look down upon the lake, small icebergs sail over the ^_^^_J tranquil surface, each resembling a snowy swan accompanied by its shadow." This lake is the Miirjelen Sea of the Swiss. Professor Tyndall goes on to describe a spectacle which he witnessed, and which, as we have seen, is of frequent occurrence in the Arctic seas. A large and lonely iceberg was floating in the middle of the lake. Suddenly he heard a sound like that of a cataract, and on looking towards iceberg could see the water teeming from its sides. Whence came the water? berg had become top-heavy through the melting underneath; it was in the act TIIK MAHJKI.KX SKA, SWITZERLAND. llJiKAKfNd IP OK A HKI!(i. (9 of jJL'rformiiijf a Honiomuilt, iiiui in rollini,' nvcr fiiriitd with it ii vii.st qunntity <>\' wator, wliifh ruHlied like a watorfall down itn nitlcs. And tlie ii't'l)oiXi wliirli, hut a nioini-nt hulori;, wiw mmwy white, now I'xhilited tlic (h-licate hliu' (•(•Iniir charaftcristic of ('iiniitaft it•^^ It wnnld smm, how- ever, he rendered white aj;aia l>y tliu action of the fsun. Wo may eontrant this picture of tlio solitary icelierj^ in the centre of the dark hlue lake with one which Dr. Hayes dcscrihes in his jjicturesijuo voyage in the ojien Polar Sea. After passing' Upernavik ho wvw a heavy lino of icehergH lyiiif; acnms hin course, and haviii;,' no alternative, shot in ainoni; them. 8onu^ of them proved to lu' of immenwo nize — upwaidw of two hundred I'eet in height, and a mile in length ; otherH were not larger than the .schooner which wound her way amongnt them. Their forms were as various as thi'ir dimensions, from solid wall- sided masses of dcotl whiteness, with waterfalls tumlding from them, to an old weather-worn accunmlution of Gothic spires, whcso crystal jiiaks and sharp angles meltiil into the hlue sky. They seemed to he endless and innumerahle, and so close together that at a little distance tiny appeared to form upon the sea iui unhroken canoj)y of ice. Dr. Hayes records an adventure which may serve to give the reader an idea of the nature of the perils encountered hy the Arctic explorer. The ocean-current was cariying his schooner towards a lahyrinth of icebergs at an uncomfortahly rapid rate. A hoat was therefore lowered, to moor a cable to a berg which lay grounded at about a hundi'ed yards distant. While this was being done the schooner absolutely grazed the side of a berg which rose a hundred feet above her topma.st,s, and then slipped past another of smaller dimensions. But a strong eddy at this nK>.iient carried her against a huge floating mass, and though the shock was slight, it proved sutfic'jut to disengftg some fragments of ice largo enough to have crushed the vessel hod they stride her. The bt.g then began to revolve, slowly and ponderously, and to settle slowly over the threatened ship, whoso destruction .seemed a thing of certainty. 1'. >rtunatoly, she was saved by the action of the berg. An immeii.se mass broke off from that part which lay beneath the water-surface, and this colo.s.sal fragment, a dozen times larger than the schooner, came rushing up within a few yards of them, sending a vast volume of foam and water flying from its sides. This rupture arrested the rotatory motion of the berg, which then began to settle in another directif)n, and the schooner was able to .sheer off. At this moment the crew were startled by a loud report. Another and another followed in quick succession, until the din grew deafening, and the whole air seemed a reservoir of chaotic sounds. The opposite side of the berg had .split off", piece after piece, toppling a vast volume of ice into the sea, and sending the berg revolving back upon the ship. Then the side nearest to them underwent the same singular process of disruption, and came plunging wildly down into the sea, sending over thorn a shower of spray, and raising a swell which rocked the sh.,j to and fro as in a gale of wind, and left her grinding in the debris of the crumbling ruin. " The ice wiw here. The ice was Iheiv, Tlie ice wiw .'ili aroiiiH] ; It cre.iked and prowleil, Aud roared and howled. Like demons iii a swoiiud." It is im possible, we should say, for any one who has not had actual experience of tho conditions of the Arctic world, to comprehend or imagine the immense (luantitv of ice upborne (0 A VIHION OK Ii'KHKICIH. (Ill iU (Mild hlciik wiitciM. Till' iii.ic ••iiuiiicriitioii of tin- tlofitinij htirgs lit tiiuoH di-tles tlie rmvii,'at(ir. I )i. llnyi.'M oncf cuiintoil as t'lir as five liuii(!i d, niid tlifii ^'avo up in di'sfmir. Near hy tln'V htiMid Dut, lie HiiyH, in nil tlit' nijfncd liarMiiiierfs of tiieir sliiirj) mitiincs ; and from this, w.riJiiiiiir witli tlic di.Htanco, tiicy melted awftv into tho dear gray Hky ; and there, far off upon the HI a (if li<|uiil HJivt r, tin' iina>,'inution uonjured up the Htrangost and mo8t wonderful groups and olijeitH. Iiirdsand hoiiHt.s and liumaii forma and architectural designs took shape in the dintant iiia.sscs of hliie anil white. Tin; dome of St. Peter's was reeognizable here ; then the Mpire of a sillage eliuicli rosr ,'eiks upon a brilliant sui-face. Icebergs, great and small, crowded through the chamiclH which divided them, until in the far distance they appeared massed together, termi- nating agaiii.st a snow-ii)vere' , '^ViHHHH^H|& 'V^ Cl.'f-l/ :,;^-^'^\lSs^fe I^^l 1 H ,^ r J 1 <^ ^ ' '■ ' ■'■■ .^<<>M vr^-^i >'; '^J^^iBiiv .:X^5^P ..'■•w^^ 'HigSfcL^ r' oh.;^ -■ ■ .- ^^*< *4^^ ■ ''\\ V'W. ^■'V ^^-^ ^=^^^'mS^0l^^' ^Hfi^r '^ i-t ^^^^Km^^s^^ ■ ■ « - f y ' ' . »^ ^"^^^ ' ■ -^ ^.^i..^..-,-.J.-:;--.;~:^vi^^'.'i3-J-- PERILS OF I'ACKlCa 93 position streugthened by another fact, that tho vast ice-fields off Spitzbeigen sliow no signs of ever having been in contact with land or gravel. Another difficulty which besets the Arctic navigator id the " pack-ice." In winter, the ice from the North Pole descends so far south as to render the coast of Newfoundland inaccessible; it envelops Greenland, sometimes even Iceland, and always sur- rounds and blocks up Spitzbergen and Novaia Zemlaia. But as the sun comes north this vast frozen expanse, which stretches over several thousands of square miles, bieaks up into enormous masses. When these extend horizontally for a considerable distance they are called ice-fudds. \-» AN ICE I'ACK, MKI.VII.I.E IIAV. Kfloe is a detached portion of a field ; a large area of floes, closely compact together, is known as pachi'ce ; while drift-ice is loose ice in motion, .and not so firmly welded as to prevent a ship from forcing her way through the yielding fragments. This " pack-ice," however, is the great obstacle to Arctic exploration ; and frequently it pre- sents a barrier whicli no human enterprise or skill can overpass. At times, it luis been found possible to cut a channel througli it, or it breaks up and opens a water-way through which the bold adventurer steers. In 1800, Captain Scoresby forced his ship through two liundrtd and fifty nriles of pack-ice, in inmiinent jaril, until he reached the parallel of 81° 50, his nearest approach to the Pole, in 1827, Sir Edward Parry gained the latitude of 82° 45', by dragging 54 THE ICE-FIELDS OF THE NORTH. a Ixjiit over the ico-fiolds, but was then conipollcd to abandon his daring and hazardous attempt, because the current carried the ice soutliward more rapidly than he could traverse it to the north. In warm summers this mass of ice will suddenly clear away and leave an open streak of silver sea alonjj the west coast of Spitzbergcn, varyinjj in width from sixty to one hundred and fifty miles, and reaching as high as HO or 80' W N. latitude. It was through this channel that Scoresby bore is ship on the expedition to wliich we have just alluded. A direct course from the Thames, CH.\!fSEL IN AN ICE-FIELD. across the Pole, to Behring Strait is 2,570 geographical miles ; by Lancaster Sound it is 4,GG0 miles. The Russians would saved a voyage of 18,000 geographical miles could they strike across the Polo and through Reining Strait to British Columbia, instead of going by Cape Horn. Ice-fields, twenty to thirty miles across are of frequent occurrence in the great Northern Ocean ; sometimes they extend fully one hundred miles, so closely and solidly packed that no opening, even for a boat, intervenes between them ; they vary in thickness from ten to forty or even fifty feet. At times these fields, which are many thousand millions of tons in weight, acquire a rajiid rotatory motion, and dash against one another with a fury of which no words can give an accurate idea. The reader knows what awful results are j)roduced by the collision of two railway trains, and may succeed, perhaps, in forming some feeble conception of this still nore appalling scene when he remembers the huge dimensions and solidity of the opposing forces. The waters seethe and foam, as if lashed by a tremendous tempest ; the air is .smitten into still- ness by the chaos of sounds, the creaking, and rending, and cracking, and heaving, as the two i' the danger. When Buchan found that this could not be efibcted by his ship, a slow and heavy sailer, he resolved on the desperate expedient of " taking the jiack," in preference to falling, broadside on, among the roaring breakers and crashing ice. "Heaven help them !" was the involuntary cry of those on board the Trent, and the prayer was all the more earnest fiom the conviction that a similar fate would soon be their own. The Dorothea wore, and, impelled by wind and sea, rushed towards what seemed inevitable destruction ; those in the Trent held their breath while they watched the perilous ex])loit. The suspense lasted but a moment, for the vessel, like a snow-flake before the storm, drove into the a-'\'ful scene of foam, and spray, and broken ice, which formed a wall impenetrable to mortal eye- sight. Whether she was lost or saved, the gallant hearts on board the Trent would never know until they too were forced into a manoeuvre which appeared like rushing into the jaws of deatli. But it was inevitable ; and when Franklin had made all his preparations, he gave, in firm, decisive tones, the order to " put up the helm." No language, says Admiral Beechey, who was then serving as a lieutenant on board tlie Trent, can convey an adequate idea of the terrific grandeur of the effects produced by the collision of the ice and the tempestuous ocean. No language, on the other hand, can convey an idea of the heroic calmness and resolution of Franklin and his crew. As they ai)proached the terri'ule scene, Franklin watched for one opening less hazardous than another ; but there was none. Before them stretched one long line of frightful breakers, immense blocks of ice heaving, rearing, and hurtlino- ao-ainst one another with a din which rendered the loud voice of the gallant commfinder almost inaudible. On the crest of a huge billow the little Trent rushed into the horrible turmoil ; a shock, which quivered through the ship from stem to stern, and the crew were flung up(m tlie deck, and the masts bent like willow wands. "Hold on, for your lives, and stand to the helm, lads!" shouted Franklin. "Ay, ay, sir," was the steady response from many a heroic heart. A billow came thundering against the stern of the brig ; would the brig be engulfed, or would she drive before it ? Hapi)ily, she forged ahead, though shaking like a spent race-horse, and with every timber straining and creaking. Now, thrown broadside on, her side was remorselessly battered by the floe pieces ; then, tosscrl l>y the sea over ice-block after ice-block, she seemed like a plaything in the grasp of an irresistible power. V^n- some houi-s this severe trial of strength and fortitude endured ; then the storm subsided as raj)idly as it had arisen, and their gratitude for their own escape was mingled with joy at the safety of the Dorothea, which they could see in the distance, still afloat, and with her crew in safety. 50 PEUILOUS POSITION OF PARKY'S SHIPS. On ('iiptiiiii I'iirry's socoiid oxpodition, in 1822, his ships, tho Ilecla und tho Fury, were j)hico(l ill a position < it' scarcely loss ilanifor. Thus wu read of tho Ilt'clu, which at tho tiiiio had boon made fast by moans of cables to the land it-o, that a very iioavy and oxtonsivc flou cauj^iit hoi' on lior broadside, and, being backed by unotlicr laij^o Ixxly of ice, giaihially lifted her s<>ern as if by tho action of a wedge. The weight every moment increasing, her crow were obliged to veer on the hawsers, whose friction was so giviit as nearly to cut through the bitt-hoads, and ultimately set them on tiro, so that it became i('i|uisito to pour upon thorn buckets of water. Vt length the pressure proved irresistible; the cables snapped ; but as tho .sea was too full of ico to allow tho ship to drive, the only way in wliicii .she could yield to the enormous burden bidught to bear upon her was by leaning over the land-ice,. while her stern at the same time was lifted clean out of the water for fully five feet. Had another floe backed the one which lifted her, the ship must inevitably have lolled broadside over, or lieeii rent in twain. But tho pressure which had boon so dangerous eventually proved its safety ; for, owing to its incroasing weight, tho floe on which she w.-is carried burst upwards, unable to resist its force. The I/ech( then righted, and a small channel opening up amid tho driving ice, she was soon got into comparatively smooth water. On the following day, shortly before noon, a heavy floe, measuring some miles in length, came down towards the Fiiri/, exciting the gravest apprehensions for her safety. In a few minutes it came in contact, at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, with a point of the land-ice, breaking it up with a tremendous roar, and forcing numberless innuense masses, perhaps many tons in weight, to tho height of fifty or sixty feet ; whence they again rolled down on the inner or land side, and wore (juickly succeeded by a frosh supply. While they were compelled to remain ])assivo spectators of this grand but terrific sight, being within five or six hundred yards of the point, the danger they incurred was twofold : first, lost the floe shoulil swing in and serve the ship in the .same unceremonious manner ; and, secondly, lest its pressure should detach the land-ice to which they were secured, and cast tlieni adrift at the mercy of the tides. Fortunately, neither of those terrible alternatives occurred, the floe remaining stationary for the re.st of the tide, and setting off with tho ebb when tho tide sotni afterwards turned. Tho reader must not imagine that an ice-field is a smooth and uniform plain, as level as an Knglish meadow ; it is, on tho contrary, a rugged succe.ssion of hollows, and of protuberances called " hiiinmoeks,"' interspersed with pools of water, and occa.sionally intersected by deep fissures. In many parts it can bo com})ared only to a promiscuous accumulation of rocks closely packed together, and piled up over the extensive dreary space in groat hea])S and endless ridges, leaving scarcely a foot of level surface, and compelling the traveller to thread his way as best he can among the perplexing inequalities ; .sometimes mounting unavoidable obstructions to an elevation of ten, and a''ain more than a hundred foot, above the sjenoral level. Tho interspaces between tho.si! closely accunudated ice-masses are filled up to some extent with drifted snow. Now, iet tho reader endeavour to form a definite idea of the scene presented by an ice-field. Let him watch the slow progress of the sledges as they wind through the labyrinth of broken ice- tables, tho men and dogs pulling and pushing up their respective loads, iis Napoleon's soldiers may have done when drawing their artillery through the rugged Alpine passes, or Lord Napier's -1 ■'•ft *# FniiMATIOK OK AN ICK I'l.OK. RQ heroes when they scaled thf steep Abyssinian lieij^hts. He will sco them clambering over the very summit of lofty ridges, where no gap occurs, and again descending on the other side, the sledge frequently toppling over a precipice, sometimes capsizing, and sometinics l)rcaking. Again : he will see the adventurons party, when liaHlcd in their attemjit to cross or find a pass, breaking a track with shovel and handspike ; or, again, unable even with these appliances to accomplish their end, they retreat to seek an easier route. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to discover a kind of gap or gateway, and upon its winding and uneven surface accomplish a mile or so with comparative ease. The snow-drifts sometimes prove an assistance, but more fre- quently an obstruction ; for though their surface is always hard, it is not always Hrm to tlu' foot. Then the crast gives way, and the foot sinks at the very moment when the other is lifted. But, worse than this, the chasms between the liummocks may be overarched with snow in such a manner as to leave a considerable space at the bottom void and empty ; then, when everything looks auspicious, down sinks one of the hapless explorers to his waist, another to the neck, a third is " lost to sight," the sledge gives way, and all is confusion worse confounded I To educe order out of the chaos is probably the work of hours ; especially if the sledge, as is often the case, must bo unloaded. Not unfrequently it is necessary to carry the cargo in two or three loafls ; tlie sledges are coming and going continually : and the day is one " endless pull and haul." Dr. Hayes speaks of an ice-floe, crested with hummocks, and covered with crusted snow, the solid contents of which he estimated, in round numbers, at 6,000,000,000 of tons, its depth being about one hundred and sixty feet. All around its border was banked up a kind of rampart of last year's ice, the loftiest pinnacle of which rose fully one hundred and twenty feet above the sea- level. This ice-tower consisted of blocks of ice of every shape and size, piled one upon an- other in the greatest disorder. Numerous other towers, or bastions, equally rugged, though of less elevation, sprang from the same ridge, and from every part of this desolate area ; and " if a thousand Lisbons were crowded together and tumbled to pieces by the shock of an earthquake, the scene could hardly be more rugged, nor to cross the ruins a severer task," We must date the origin of a floe like this back to a very remote period. I'robably it \vaa cradled, at the outset, in some deep recess of the land, where it remained until it had accun)ulatod to a thickness which defied the summer's sun and the winter's winds. Then it would grow, as the glacier grows, from above ; for, like the glacier, it is wholly composed of fresh ice — that is, of frozen snow. Thus it will be seen, to quote Dr. Hayes once more, that the accumulation of ice upon the mountain-tojis is in nowise ditferent from the accumulation which takes place upon these floating field,s, where every recurring year marks an addition to their depth. Vast as they are to the sight, and pigmies as they are compared with the inland Mer de Glace, yet, in all that con- cerns their growth, they are truly glaciers, dwarf floating glaciers. That only in this manner can they grow to so great a depth will at once be conceded by the reader, if he recollects that ice soon reaches a maximum thickness by direct freezing, and that its growth is arrested by a natural law. Necessarily, this maximum thickness varies according to the temperature of the locality : but the ice is in itself the sea's protection. The cold air cannot absorb the warmth of the water through more than a certain thickness of ice, and that thickness attains a final limit long before the winter has reached its close. The depth of ice formed on the first night is greater than that formed on the second ; on the second is greater than on the third ; on the third greater than on flO VVALHUHHUNTINO. the fourth ; mid ho it coiitinufs, until tho iucronHo no longer takes jihice. In other words, the ratio of increase of tlie tiiiekness of ico is in inverse proportion to the duration of the period of freezin;,'. There ciinies ii time when the water V)eneath tiu; ice no lon<(er conj,'eals, hecause the iee-cru.st ahove it protects it from the action of the atmo.spiiere. J)r. Hayes asserts tiiat he never saw an Arcti<" m-ta.\)\(! Jhrmcd hij diri'ct frcezinfj i\mi exceeded eighteen feet; and he justly adds, that were it not for this all-wise provision of the Deity, — this natural law, as our men of science term it, — tlio Arctic waters would, ages ago, have heen solid seas of ice to their pro- foundest depths. Having said tlais nnich about the various forms which the ice assumes in the Polar seaa, — ahout till ir ieuhergs and ice-fields, pack-ice and drift-ice, and the thick belt of ice which surrounds tlieir sliores, — we n)ay now direct the remlcr's attention to their Animal Life ; to the creatures wliieli inliabit them, walrus and seal and whalo, the fishes, the molluscs, and even minuter organisms. And first wo shall begin with the Walrus, which finds a congenial homo in the Arctic wildernesses. ;■''.' ^ - .,";■; n ini'li side : these fit info little racks of painted canvas, so that their keen |ioints and edt,'es may not 1k^ hlunted, and to prevent them from injurinpr the men. The liarpoons serve ecpially well for seal and Widrus, and, simple as they seem and are, answer a(lniiral)ly th(^ purpose for which tiiey are desi^fued. The weapon is thrust into the animal ; its struggles tii^iilen the lino ; tlie larfje outer harh then catches up a loop of its tenacious iiide. or the tousfh reticulated fibres containing' its hlulilur; HUNTING THE WAI.BDS. while the small inner barb, like that of a fisli-hook, prevents it from being detached or loosened, When a walrus has lieen properly struck, and the line hauled taut, it rarely escapes. To catih hai'poon a line of twelve or fifteen fathoms long is attached : a sufficient length, as the Avalrus ia seldom found in water more than fifteen fathoms deep ; and even if the water should exceed that depth, it cannot drag the boat under, because it is unable to exert its full strength when subjected to the pressure of twelve or fifteen fathoms of water. Besides the harpoons, each boat is provided witli four or five enormous lances ; the shaft being made of pine-wood, nine feet long, and one inch and a half thick at the handle, increasing upwards to a thickness of two inches and a half where it enters the iron socket. This would seem fi2 ■ . A i>is.\(;i;kk.\i;i.i; ri;i»('(:H«, * ., ::,«■ u iunuiUublc WLMiiKiii, anil foriiiitlalili.' it is in tlio Mtmit lititnU ot'u Nor«u harpooneor; yet, fiL'(|ueutly, tlio iron Hliank is l)i iit (lfnt rusistaneu of tlic sia liorsc ; and, tlicrt lure, to pruvent tiu: licad Ipcin^j lost, it is tiistcned to the shaft by a doiililv llmn;^ of raw >• 'al-skin, tied roinxl t\u- sliank and nailed to the handle for about throe feet lip. 'riie shaft may >eeni of disproportionate leni,'tii, hut it is necessary to give the buoyancy HuHiiient for tloatiiif,' the heavy iron sficar if it should fall into the water. This spear, or lance, is ni>< used for seals, bc'cause it would spoil the skins. Xotwithstiindini,' tlie destruction itferted liy the yearly expeditions of the walrus-hunters, the sea-horses are still found in laii,'e herds in many ]iarts of the Polar world. Mr. Lamont describes a eurious and exciting .spectacle, where four large flat icebergs were seen to be so closely packed with these animals that they were sunk almost level with the water, and presented the appear- ance of "solid i.slands of walrus I" The walrus lay with their heads reclining on one another's bai'ks and hind-(iuarters, just as rhinocenwes lie asleep in the dense shade of the African forests, or, to use a more commonplace but familiar comparison, as hogs slumber and wallow in a British farmyard. Such a sight was a temptation not to be withstood by a walrus-hunter, and Mr. Laniont and his h.ti]MM)iieer speedily disturbed the repo.se of the monsters, which chiefly consisted of cows and young bulls. After slaying their victims, and getting them on board, came the disagreeable but tuicessary task of separating the blubber from the skins to stow it in the barrels; a process which is j)erfornicd in the following manner ; — Across the ship's deck, immediately aft the hatchway, is erected a kind of framework or stage of stout timber, about four feet in height, but sloping down at an angle of about sixty degrees, with the deck at the forward side: on the other side it is perpendicular, and there the two specli-nioiiirr.'i (or " blubber-cutters ") post themselves, clad, not in armour, but in oil-skin from top to toe, and armed with large keen knives, curved on the edge. Then the skins are hoisted out of the hold, and, two at a time, are suspended across the frame, with tlie blubber side uppermost : the fat, or blubber, is next removed by a kind of moiviny motion of the knife, which is held in both hands, and swayed from left to right. Only long practice, and great steadiness of wrist, can give tlie dexterity requisite for the due peiformance of this difficult operation. Even in skinning a walrus, skill is imperative. As tlie blubber is mown off, it is divided into slabs, weighing twenty or thirty pounds each, and flung down the hatchway, where two men are stationed to receive it, and pack it into the casks, which when full are securely fastened up. The skin, which is taken off the animal in two longitudinal halves, is a valuable commodity, and sells at the rate of from two to four dollars per half skin. The principal purchasers are the Russian and Swedish merchants, and its principal uses are for harness and sole leather. It is also twisted into tiller ropes, and employed to ])rotect the rigging of ships from friction. The ()lubber is valued on account of the oil ; but neither has the walrus so much blubber, in propor- tion to its size, as the seal, nor does the blubber afford so good an oil. A seal of 600 lbs. will carry 200 to 250 lbs. weight of fat ; an ordinary walrus, weighing 2000 lbs., will not carry any more. The most profitable portion of the unfortunate sea-hoi-se is its tusks, which are composed of vory hard, dense, and white ivory. This ivoiy is not so good, and consequently does not com- ABOUT I UK WAI.UI'S M luand Hi) high a pricu, an ulophiuit ivory, l)tit is in hii,'h ii-jiiito for the inauufactun! of falHo tocth, cheHHinon, unilirella handles, whistles, and otlier small artielis. The tusks are not an extra pair of teeth, but a develoj)inent and modification of thr canines. For about six or seven inches of their length they are solidly set in the mass of hard bone which forms the animal's upper jaw. So far as they are imbedded in the head they are hollow, but mostly filled up with a cellular osseous substance containing much oil ; tlu; remainder of tlie tusk is hard and solid throughout. The young walrus, or calf, has no tusks in its first year of existence; but in its second, when it is about the size of a large seal, it has a pair of mucii the same size as the canines of a lion. In the third year the tusks measure about six inches in length. In size and shape they vary greatly, according to the animal's age and sex. A good pair of bull's tusks, says Mr. Laniont, will be twenty-four inches each in length, and four pounds each in weight; but larger and heavier specimens are f)f frequent occurrence. Cows' tusks, it is said, will avoraco fidly as long as those of the Ijulls, because less liable to be broken, but seldom weigh more than three pounds. They are generally set nmch closer together than the bull's tusks, sometimes even overlapping one another at the points ; while those of the bull will often diverge as much as fifteen inches. ■Tt ^n^ ^^.'SSA In scientific language the walrus, morse, or sea-horse (Trichecun), belongs to a genus t)f amphibious mammals of the family Phocuhe, a family including the well-known seals. It agrees with the other members of that family in the general configuration of the body and limbs, but distinctly differe from them in the head, which is remarkable, — as we have seen, — -for the extraordinary development of the canine teeth of the upper jaw, as also for the protuberant or swollen appearance of the muzzle, — due to the size of their sockets and the thickness of the upper lip. This upper lip is thickly set with strong, transparent, bristly hairs, which measure about six inches in length, and are as thick as a crow-quill. The terrific moustache, with the long white curving tusks, the thick projecting muzzle, and the fierce and bloodshot eyes, give Rosmarus trichccus a weird and almost demoniacal aspect as it rears its head above the waves, and goes far to account for some of the legends of sea-monsters which embellish the Scandinavian mythology. The walrus has no canine teeth in the lower jaw. Its incisors are small, and ten in number ; six in the upper and four in the lower jaw. The molars, at first five on each side in each jaw, 6 THE WALRUS, OR MOR8R. fit THE WALRUS AND THE POLAR BEAR. but fewer in the adult, are Mimide and not larj^o ; their crowuH are obliquely worn. The noHtrilH would Heeni to be diHpiaced by the Hockots of the tuskn ; at leant they both open alinont directly ujtwardH at Home diHtaiice from the nmzzle. 'I'h<' even iirc small, but savage ; tlitie are no external ears. The Arctic walrus in the sole known species of the genus. It is a gregarious aninuil, alwavH assembling in large herds, which occasionally leave the water to take their rest upon the A WAUIUS K.MIII.V. shore or on the ice ; and it is at such times the hunters chiefly attack them, since their move- ments out of the water arc very laborious a-id awkward. They defend themselves against their enemies, of which the Polar bear is chief, with their for- midable tusks ; and these they also use in their herco combats with one another. They fight with great determination and ferocity, using their tusks niuch in the same manner as game-cocks use their beaks. From the unwieldy appearance of the animal, and the position of its tusks, an inexperi- enced spectator would suppose that the latter could be employed only in a dowmvard stroke ; but, on the contrary, it turns its neck with so much ease and rapidity that it can strike in all directions with equal force. Old bulls very frequently have one or both of ^i^^t^^^^^^^^^^^m ilHHI^I^^^"^'^t HH^^^^^^^^^^I !■■ ^n^ ^m\ jwbi ^^^^^H^^^S^^fe* ii^, ^j^'-' ^^^^^ ,^»)iw(#?tOTH^>WiJ ^^Hl^t-~-' '^-"^ IHH^MHI FIUIIT IIKTWKKS A WALlltS AND A POLAR DKAR. 1 V: EARLY HISTORY OF THE WALKUS-FISHERY. 67 their tusks broken ; w hieh may arise either from fighting or from using tliem to assist in scaling the rocks and ice-floes. But these broken tusks are soon worn down again and sharpened to a point by the action of the sand, as the wah'us, like tlie elephant, employs its tusk.s in digging its food out of the ground, — that is, out of the ocean-bed. Its food princii)ally consists of starfish, shrimps, sandworms, clams, cockles, and algce ; and Scoresby relates that he has i'ound the remains of young seals in its stomach. In reference to the gradual decay, or, more correctly speaking, ext>;rmination of the wall us, the following particulars seem to be authentic. When the pursuit of the walrus was first systematically organized from Tronisiic and Ham- mcrfest, much larger vessels were employed than are now in vogue ; and it Wivs usual for them to obtain their first cargo about Bear Island early in the season, and two additional cargoes at Spitzbergen before the summer passed away. This regular and wholesale slaughter drove away the sea-horse herds from t'eir haunts about Bear Island ; but even afterwards it was not a rare occurrence to procure three cargoes in a season at Spitzbeigen, and less than two full cargoes was regarded as a lamentable misha]). Now, however, more than one cargo in a sea-son is very seldom obtained, and many vessels return, after four months' absence, oidy half full. It is estimated that about one thousand walrus and twice that number of bearded seals {Phoca harhata) are annually captured in the seas about Spitzbergen, exclusive of those which sink or may die of their wounds. Some idea, therefore, may be formed of the number of sea- horses which still ride the waves of the I'olar seas. But it is ([uite clear that they are under- going a rapid diminution of numbers, and also that they are gradually withdrnwing in*" the inaccessible solitudes of the remotest North. We learn from the voyage of Ohthero, which was undertaken tun centuries ago, that the walrus then aboimded even on the very coast of Finmarken. They have abandoned that region, however, for some centuries, though individual stragglere were captured up to within the la.st forty yeai-s. After their desertion of Finmarken, they retreated to Bear Island; thence they were driven to the Thousand Islands, Hope Island, and Ryk-Yse Island ; and thence, again, to the banlcs and skerries to the north of Spitzbergen. It is fortunate for the persecuted walrus that the lat*"" districts are accessible only in open seasons, or perhaps once in every threr or four summers ; so that they obtain a respite and t; :;« to breed and replenish their numbers. Other- wise the end of the present century would mark also the total extinction of the walrus on the island-shores of Northern Europe. We agree with Dr. Kane that the resemblance of the walrus to man has been absurdly overstated. Yet the notion is put forward in some of our systematic treatises, and accompanied by the suggestion that we are to look fur the type of the mennan and mermaid in this animal. I L" we look we shall not find. The walrus has a square-shaped head, with a fi-ontal bone presenting i a steep descent to the eyes, and any likeness to humanity must exist in the imagination of the "f spectator. Some of the seals exhibit a much greater resemblance : the size of the head, the I regularity of the facial oval, the di Doping shoulders, even the movements of the seal, remind us % impressively of man. And certainly, when seen at a distance, with head raised above the waves, it affords some justification for the fanciful conception of tlie nymphs of ocean, the mermaids who fignre so attractively in song and legend. eS ADVKXTUKKS WITH WALRUSES. Dr. Kane remarks that the instinct of attack, which is strong in the walrus, though so f'oeJilc in the seal, and is a well-known characteristic of the pachydeiTOs, is interesting to the naturahst, as assisting to estal)li.sh the affinity of the walrus to the latter. When wounded, it rears its body high out of the water, plunges heavily against the ice, and strives to raise itself upon the surface by uieiins of its fore-flippers. As the ice gives way under its weight, its countenance assumes a truly ferocious expression, its bark changes to a roar, and the foam poure out from its jaws till it froths its beard. _____ Even when not excited, the walrus manages its tusks bravely. So strong are they that they serve as grappling-irons with which to hold on to the surface of the steep rocks and ice-banks it loves to climb ; and thus it can ascend rocky islands that are sixty or a hun- dred feet above the sea-level. It can deal an opponent a fearful blow, but it prefers to charge, like a veteran warrior ; and man, un- less well armed, often comes off second best ii^, the contest. Governor Flaischer told Dr. Kane that, in 1830, a brown walrus — and the Eskimos say that the brown walruses are the fiercest — after being speared and wounded near Upernavik, put to flight its numerous assailants, and drove them in fear to seek help from the Danish settlement. So violent were its movements as to jerk out the harpoons that were launched into its body. The governor slew it with much difficulty after it had received several rifle-shots and lance-wounds from his whale- boat. '"^^"^it"'^'-'', " .iiiJili^ ^^" another occasion, a young and adven- ^ "^'--^s/^Is^ImPhX^ *'"'"""'" !'!""'* plunged his nalcgeit into a brown KioiiT WITH A wAi.iii's. walrus ; but, alarmed by the savage demeanour of the beast, called for help before using the lance. In vain the older and mo.'e wary hunters advised him to forbear. " It is a brown walrus : •• they cried : " A,h-nk-kaiok ! Hold bad: ! " Finding the caution disregarded, his only brother rowed forward, and hurled tlie second harpoon. Almost instantaneously the infuriated beast charged, like the wild boar, on the unfortunate young Innuit, and ripped open his body. Here is a description oi' a walrus-hunt : — On first setting out, the hunters listen eagerly for some sounds by which to discover the habitat o\' tlie animal. The walrus, like amateur vocalists, is partial to its own music, and will lie for hours enjoying the monotonous vocalization in which it is accustomed to indulge. This is described m something between the nooing of a cow and the deepest baying of a mastiff; ver,' MaiiHBa AN ESKIMO HUNTER. W round and lull, with its " barks " or " detaciied notes " repeated seven to nine times in rather quick succession. The hunters hear the bellow, and press forward in single file ; winding behind ice-hunmiocks and ridges in a serpentine approach towards a group of "pond-like discolorations," recently frozen ice-spots, which are surrounded by older and firmer ice. .: - In a few minutes they come in sight of the walrus. There they are, five in number, rising at intervals through the ice in a body, and breaking it up with an explosion which sounds like the report of heavy ordnance. Conspicuous as the leaders of the herd are two large and fierce- looking males. Now for a display of dexterity and skill. While the walrus remains above water, the hunter lies flat and motionless ; when it begins to sink, behold, the hunter is alert and ready to spring. In fact, scarcely is the tusked head below the water-line before every man is in a rapid run ; while, as if by instinct, before it returns all are prone behind protecting knolls of ice. They seem to guess intuitively, not only how long it will be absent, but the very point at which it will reappear. And, in this way, hiding and advancing by turns, they reach a plate of thin ice, scarcely strong enough to bear a man's weight, on the very brink of the dark pool in which the walrus are gambolling. The phlegmatic Eskimo harpooneer now wake:is into a novel ccjndition of excrement. His coil of walrus-hide, a weil-trimmed line of many fathoms length, lies at his side. He attaches one end to an iron barb, and this he fastens loosely, by a socket, to a shaft of unicorn's horn ; the other end is already loosed. It is the work of a second ! He has grasped the harpoon. The water eddies and whirls ; puffing and panting, up comes the unwieldy sea-horse. The Eskimo rises slowly ; his right arm thrown back, his left hanging close to his side. The walrus looks about him, and throws the water off his crest ; the Eskimo launches the fatal weapon, and it sinks deep into the animal's side. Down goes the wounded awah, but the Eskimo is already speeding with winged feet from the scene of combat, letting his coil run out freely, but clutching the final loop with a desperate grip. As he runs, he seizes a small stick of bone, roughly pointed with iron, and by a swift strong movement thrusts it into the ice ; he twists his line around it, and prepares for a struggle. The wounded walrus plunges desperately, and churns the ice-pool into foam ; meantime, the line is hauled tight at one moment, and loosened the next ; for the hunter has kept his station. But the ice crashes ; and a couple of walrus rear up through it, not many yards from the spot where he stands. One of them, a male, is excited, angry, partly alarmed ; the other, a female, looks calm, but bent on revenge. Down, after a rapid survey of the field, they go again into the ocean-depths ; and immediately the harpooneer has chosen his position, carrying with him his coil, and fixing it anew. Scarcely is the manoeuvre accomplished before the pair have once more risen, i)reaking up an area of ten feet in diameter about the very spot he loft. They sink for a second time, and a second time he changes his place. And thus continues the battle between the strength of the beast and the address of the man, till the former, half exhausted, receives a second wound, and gives up llie contest. The Eskimos regard the walrus with a certain degree of superstitious reverence, and it is their belief that it is under the guardianship of a special representative or prototype, who does ta ; • ak akctic galk. not, indeed, interfere to protect it from being hunted, but is careful that it shall be hunted undei tolerably fair conditionH. They assert that near a remarkable conical peak, which rises in the solitudes of Force Bay, a great walrus lives all alone, and when the moon is absent, creeps out trey, tliough the seals are omnivorous in their habits, and will partake both of vegetable and animal food. There are either six or four incisors in the upper, and four or two in the lower jaw ; the canines are invariably large and strong ; and tiie molars, usually five or six on either side, in each jaw, are .sharp-edged or conical, and bristle with points. The seal is fond of swallowing large stones : for what purpose is not certain, but, probably, to assist digestion. Seals live in herds, more or less numerous, along the frozen shores of the Arctic seas : and on the lonely deserted coasts they bring forth their young, over which they watch with singular affection. They swim with much rapidity, and can remain a considerable time under water. They arc migratory in their habits, and at least four species visit our British waters. ( )n the northern coasts of Greenland they are observed to take their departure in July and to return again in September. Tiiey produce two or three young at a time, and suckle them for six or sever weeks in remote caverns and sequestered recesses ; after which they take to the sea. The young exhibit a remarkable degree of tractability ; will recognize and obey the maternal summons ; and assist each other in distress or danger. Many, if not all, of the species are polygamous, and the males frequently contend with desperate courage for the possession of a favourite female. There is not much difference in the habits of the different genera or species of the Phocidue ; but while the great Arctic seal dives like the walrus, making a kind of semi-revolution as it goes down, the common seal {Phoea vituUna), called by the huntei-s the stein-cohhe, from its custom of basking on the rocks, dives by suddenly dropping under water, its nose being the last part of its body which disappears, instead of its tail. ; The common seal has a very fine spotted skin, and weighs about sixty or seventy pounds. It is much fatter, in proportion to its size, than the bearded seal, and its carcass, consequently, having less specific gravity, floats much longer on the water after death. A third kind of seal found in the Spitzbergen seas is, probably, the Phoca hispida, though the hunters know it only by the names of the " springer," and Jan Mayen seal. In the spring months it is killed in large numbers by the whalers among the vast ice-fields which encircle the solitary rocks of Jan Mayen Island. Mr. Lamont observes that these seals, though existing in such enormous numbers to the '^mmmmmmmm THE J'lfOCA IlISl'IDA, OR "SPRINtiKR." T8 ^^=^^ west, are not nearly so numerous in Spitzltorgen as the great, or even as the much less abumlaiit common seal. They are gregarious, wliicli neither of the other varieties is, and geneially consort in bands of fifty to five hundred. They .Te extremely difficult to kill, as during the summer months tjicy very seldom go ujkhi thc^ ice; they seem much less curious tliMU the othei- seals, and go at such a rapid pace through the water as to defy pui-suit from ,-.-«,^ •-_ ' * a boat. On coming up to breathe, these %i • li . ■ seals do not, like their congeners, take a deliberate breath and a leisurely survey, but the whole troop make a sort of sinndtaneous flying leap through the air like a shoal of porpoises, as they go along, and reappear again at an incredible distance from their preceding breathing - place. • Hence the name of " springers " given to them by the whalers. The Jan Mayen seal weighs from 200 to 300 lbs., and is described as the fattest and most buoyant of the Arctic mammals. We have spoken of seal's flesh as an important article of subsistence to the Eskimo tribes. Our Arctic voyagers and explorers have frequently been glad to nourish themselves upon it, and speak of it as somewhat resembling veal in flavour. Not once or twice, but several times, it has saved the hardy pioneer of civilization from destruction, and the discovery of a stray seal has been the means of preserving a whole expedition. There is a very striking incident of this kind in the narrative of Dr. Kane. He and liis party had reached Cape York on their way to the Danish settlements, after their long but fruit- less search for Sir John Franklin. They were spent with fatigue, and half-dead from imnger. A kind of low fever crippled their energies, and they were unable to sleep. In their frail and unseaworthy boats, which were scarcely kept afloat by constant bailing, they made but slow progress across the open bay ; when, at this crisis of their fortunes, they descried a large seal floating, as is the wont of these animals, on a small patch of ice, and apparently asleep, — a seal 80 large that at first they mistook it for a walrus. Trembling with anxiety, Kane and his companions prepared to creep down ujion the monster. One of the men, Petersen, with a large English rifle, was stationed in the bow of the boat, and stockings were drawn over the oars as muftlers. As they approached the animal, their excitement became so intense that the men could hardly keep stroke, That no sound might be heard, Dr. Kane communicated his orders by signal ; and when about three hundred yards off" the oars were taken in, and they moved on, stealthily and silently, with a single scull astern. The seal was not asleep, for he reared his head when his enemies were almost within rifle- shot ; and long afterwards Dr. Kane could remendier the hard, careworn, almo.^t despairing I'HK COMMON SliAL. 74 DR. KANE'S NARRATIVE. expression ot' the inen'H hiij^gaid faces as they saw him move ; their lives depended ou his capture. Dr. Kane lowered his hand, as a signal ibr Petersen to fire. M'Gorry, who was rowing, hung, ho says, upon liis oar, and tlie boat slowly but noiselessly forging ahead, did not suem within range. Looking at Petersen, he saw tliat the poor fellow was paralyzed by his anxiety, and was s'ainly seeking to find a rest for his gun against the cut-water of the boat. The seal rose on his (iippor.H, gazed at his antagonists for a moment with mingled curiosity -and alarm, and coiled himself fur a i)lunge. At that moment, simultaneously with the crack of the rifle, he relaxed his iiuge hulk on the ice, and, at the very brink of the water, his head fell helplessly on one si'le. SHOOTING A REAL. Dr. Kane would have ordered another shot, but no discipline could have controlled his men. With a wild yell, each vociferating according tt) his own impulse, they urged both boats upon the does. A crowd of hands seized the precious booty, and bore it up to safer ice. The men seemed half crazy, tlicy had been so reduced by famine. They ran over the floe, crying and laughing, and brandishing their knives. Beibre five minutes had elapsed, each man was sucking his streaming fingers or mouthing long strips of raw blubber. ■■ - \ ; " - , Not an ounce of this seal was wasted 1 The intestines found their way into the soup-kettles without any observance of the pre- liminary home-processes. The cartilaginous parts of the fore-flippers were cut off" in the vielce, and passed round for the operation of chewing ; and even the liver, warm and raw as it was, bade fair to be eaten before it had seen the pot. That night, on the large halting-floe to which, in contempt of the dangers of drifting, the happy adventurers had hauled their boats, two entire planks of the Red Eric were devoted to the kindling of a large cooking-fire, and they enjoyed u bountiful and savasje feast. A SAy tlic luToic men wlio go forth to do thi' \\iiri< nf Science and Civiliaitioii. Returninji; to the senls, we may remark that, according to a Hcientific authority, tlif angle of weedy rock on whidi ;. plioca iH acfustninia, thi» inuTV»y 11 lint? oiic! L'liil of wliifli is twisted round a Hpiar driven into tho ico. In tlio caHo of tlie heardt'd hwiI, or oijitka, the lino is ooilod round tiic Iimittr's Icj^ or arm ; for a wairuH, round hiH hoily, tho foot boing at tho waiuo tinio firmly iilantcd a;,'ainMt a hunnnock of ice, so as to inc'reaw the capaliiiily of roHiHtanec. A hoy of fifteen ciin kill a iieitid; Itut tho larger aninialw can be nia.stiired only by a robuMt and experienced adult. We come now t(» speak of tho Whale, which, in size, is the Hovereign of tho Arctic seas, and tho grandest type of marine life. Wliales (Cftdci'd) are, as nicst persons now-a-day« know, an order of aquatic mammals, distinguished b}- their fin-like anterior extremities, and by the peculiarity that the place of the posterior extremities i.s supplied by a large horizontal caudal fin, or tail ; while tho cervical bones are so compressed that tho animal, externally at least, seems to have no neck. The general form of the whale, notwithstanding its position among the Mammalia, is similar to that of the lislies, and the horizontal elongation of the body, tlie smooth and rounded surface, tho gradual attenuation of the extremities of ^he trunk, and the magnitude of the fins and tail, are sjiecially adapted to easy and swift motion in the water. The arrangement of tho bones composing the anterior limb is very curious. The whole of the fin consists of exactly the same parts as those which we find in the human hand and arm ; but they are so concealed beneath the thick cutaneous or integumentary envelope, that not a trace of bone is visible. In this respect an intermediate organization is shown by the fore limbs of the seal. The posterior extremity, in all the Cetacea, is either absolutely deficient, or else rudimentary. If rudimentary, its sole vestige consists of certain small bones, tho imperfect representation of a pelvis, suspended, an it were, in the flesh, and unconnected with the spinal column. Here we n>ay observe a remarkable difference between the whale and the seal : in the latter, as we have seen, there is a short tail, and the posterior extremities perform the office of a true caudal fin ; in the former this important organ of progression consists, to use Mr. Bell's words, of " an extremely broad and powerful horizontal disc, varying in figure in the different genera, but in all con- stituting the principal instrument of locomotion." In fishes the tail is set vertically, but in whales horizontally ; and it has been well said that the admirable adaptation of such a peculiarity in its position to the requirements of the animal forms a fresh and beautiful illustration of the infinite resource and foresight of the Creative Wisdom. " f ''s, : Thus : the fishes, respiring only the air contained in the dense liquid medium in which they live, require no access to the atmosphere ; and, therefore, their progression is chiefly confined to the same region. But the whales, breathing atmospheric air, must necessarily come to tho surface for each respiration ; and hence they need a powerful instrument or lever, the position of which shall apply its impulse in a vertical direction, so as to impel their colossal bulk from the lowest depths of ocean to the surface every time the lungs require to receive a fresh supply of atmospheric air. The greatest rapidity of motion is effected by alternate strokes of the tail against the water, upwards and downwards ; but the usual progression is accomplished by an obliciue lateral and downward impulse, first on one side and then on the other, just as a boat is propelled by a man with a single oar in the art of " sculling." The extent of the tail in some of TIIK iilti:K.NI,ANH WIIAl.K. Vi tho luiKor rt|iucioti \h roally iiniuoiiHo; tliu suiwrticius boiii^' no li-ss tlmii abiMit iv liiimlri'd w|unre foot, iind its breotUh coiwidi nildy t'X('oelo oil and scarctdy lesH valualilo baliH'ii. Thin wlialo seldom oxrocdrt fifty to sixty twt in Icnj^'tli, or tliiity to forty in ijirlli, and, tlicio- foio, is l)y no nioaiiH tin; head of its family. Ah in othor spi'iMcs, the Ixidy is thick and bulky forwards, lai>,'eHt about tiio middle, and tapers suddenly tears ; and this process is repeated until the exhausted whale rises more and more fre- q. ■ .itly to the surface, is finally killed, and towed ashore. Captain M'Clure fell in with an Eskimo tribe off C pe Bathurst which hunted the whale in this primitive fashion, but the females, as well as the men, engaged in tliUT TIIK NAl;w;iAI,. lino is (Imwn acrDss liis i'nw uvor tlie l-iid-ri' ut' liis iiosu. This is tiio )iii,'hust honour known to tiio lierocs of Ciii)C Biitiiurst ; but it carries alonj; with it tiie i)rivilego of the decorated individual being allowed to take unto liiniself a second wife I In the waters c.t No\aia Zendaia, Greenland, and Spitzbergen is found the narwhal, or sea unicorn (Moiiodon uioiiocero.s), which was at one time the tlienie of so many extravagant legends. It belongs to the (Atacca, but differs from the whale in having no teeth, properly so called, and in being armed with a formidai)le horn, projecting straight forward from the upper jaw, in a direct line with the bcidy. This horn, or tusk, the use of which has not been satisfactorily ascer- tained, is harder and wliiter than ivory, spirally .striated from base to point, tapers throughout, and mea.snn;8 from si\ to ten feet iti length. IMr. Bell remarks that it would lie a strange anomaly rrJK-- '^m '% t !>j^- SAItWIlAl.s. MAl.K ANn FKMAt.K. if the apparent singleness of this weapon were real. In truth, both teeth are invariably found in till' jaw, not only of tiie male, but of the female also; but in ordinary (thougli not in all) ca.ses one only, and tliis in the male, is fully developed, the other remaining in a rudimentary condition — even as both do in the female. The narwhal, from moutli to tail, is abmit twenty f(!et long, though individuals meas iring thirty feet are sonii'times met witli. Its head i.s short, and the upper jiart convex; its mouth small : its s])ii'acle, or resjiiratory vent, duplicate within ; its tongue long ; the pectt)ral fins small, '{'he back, which is convex and rather wide, has no fins, and siiarpens gr.adu.Uly towards the tail, whidi, as in other C'etacea, is horizontal. The food of the narwhal, whose habits are remarkably |)acific, consists uf medus.e, the smaller hinds of flat fisli, ant' other marine animals. A striking .spectacle which fretpiently greets the eye of the voyager hi the Arctic .seas is tliat of a shod of dolphins gambolling and leaping, as if in the ve.y heyday of enjoyment. The '.M^uga, sometimes called the white whale {Dv^phinus leucos), attracts attention by tl' ; dazzling whiteness of its body and the swiftness of its -noversents. It fiequer.ts the estuaries of the Obi ^■"^'^ T(1E BLACK DOLPHIN. 83 and the Irtish, the Muokt'iizio ami the Coppermine, wliieh it sometimes ascends to a considerable distance in pnrsiiit of tlie salmon, its len<,'th varies from twelve tn twenty feet : it ha.s no H8ible to surprise an iuiiiual so viermitted, the entire construction was most effective and resisting. Yet these " tiofers of the ice" seemed tf have scarcely encountered an obstacle. Not a morsel of pemmican (preserved meat) re- mained, excei)t in the iron cases, which, l)eing round, with conical ends, defied both claws and teetii. These they had rolled and pawed in every direction — to.->sing them about like foot-balls, although upwards of ei'ditv iiounds in weight. An alcohol-case, strongly iron-bound, was dashed into small fragments ; and a tin can of liquor twisted almost into a ball. The bears' strong claws had perforated the metal, and torn it up as with a chisel. But the Ijurglars were too dainty for salt meats. For ground cofi'ee they had evidently a relish ; old canvas was also a favourite, — dc (jtistibit.s non ent dispi.itandum ; even the flag which bad been reared " to take possession " uf the icy wilderness, was gnawed down to the very .staff'. It seemed that the bears had enjiiyed a regular frolic; rolling the bread-barrels over the ice-fout and into the broken outside ice ; and finding themselves unable to masticate the heavy India-rubber cloth, tliey liad amused themselves by tying it up in unimaginable hard knots. The she-bear displays a strong pftection for her young, which she will not desert even in the extremity of peril. The explorer already (juoted furnishes an interesting narrative of a iJUi-suit of UKjther and cub, in which the former's maternal (jualities were toucliingly exhibited. On the appearance of the hunting jiarty and their dogs, the bear fled ; but the little one being unable either to keep ahead of the dogs or to niaintai;> the same rate of speed as its motlier, 'he latte" turned back, and putting luu' head under its haunches, threw it .some distancf" forward. The cub being thus safe for the moment, she would wheel rounil and face the dogs, so as to give it a chance to run away ; lutt it always sti>pped where it had alighted, until its mother riK.illS PKSTi:()VIN(; A CACilE. i; I ' \ THK UKAICH MATKKNAI, AFKKOTION 91 caino up, mul ^aw it another forward iiiipulHe ; it Huoint'tl to expect her aid, and wouUl not go forward without it. Soinctinies the mother wouhl run a few yards in advance, as if to coax her cuh >ip to her, anil wlicn the doi,'s approacfied she would turn fiercely upon them, and drive tlu>n\ hack. Then, a,s they dodged her lilown, .slie would rejoin the cuh, and jiush it on,— Hometimes putting hor head under it, Homotimes seizing it in her mouth hy the nape of its nock. For some time she conducted her retreat with equal skill and ceKrity, having tlie two hunters far in the rear. They had sighted her on the land-ice ; hut she led the dogs inshore, uji a small stony valley which penetrated into the interior. After going a nule and a half, however, her pace slackened, and, the little one being spent, she soon came to a halt, evidently determined not to desert it. At this moment the men were only half a mile behind ; and, running at full speed, they soon reached the spot where the dogs were holding her at l)ay. The fight then grew d<^ '^ 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation \ \\ o'^ ■*> '% 6^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. US80 (716) fc72-4503 ^ ^ I 9S A HATTLE WITH A HEAR. of the pat;k, luadf lui uxtraordinary somerset of nearly fifty feet, and alighted senseless. Old Whitcy, a veteran comhatant, stanch, but not "bear-wise," had been foremost in the battle; w>on he lay yelping, helj)lcssly, on the snow. It seemed as if the battle were at an end ; and nannooi v.ertainly thought so, for she turned aside to the beef-ijarrels, and began with the utmost composure to turn them over, and nose out their fatness. A bear more innocent of fear does not figure in the old, old stories of Barents and the SpitzbtTgen explorers. Dr. Kane now lodged a jiistol-ball in the side of the cub. .A.t v-^nce the mother placed her little one between her hind legs, and, shoving it along, made her way to the rear of the store or " beef-housL'." As she went she received a rifle-shot, but scarcely seemed to notice it. By the unaided ctfortw of her fore arms she tore down the barrels of frozen beef which made the triple walls of the storehouse, mounted the rubbish, and snatching up a half barrel of herrings, carried it down in her t«eth, and prepared to slip away. It was obviously time to arrest her movements, (ioing up within half pistol-range, Dr. Kane gave her six buck-shot. She dropped, but instantly rose, and getting her cub into its former position, away she sped ! And tl'.is time she would undoubtedly have effected her escape, but for the admirable tactics of Dr. Kane's canine Eskimo allies. The Smith Sound c'ogs, he says, are educated more thoroughly than any of their more southern brethren. Next to the seal and the walrus, the bear su]ii)lies the staple diet of the tiibes of the North, and, except the fox, furnishes the most important element of their wardrobe. Unlike the dogs Dr. Kane had brought with him from liafhn Bay, the Smith Sound dogs were trained, not to attack, but to embarrass. They revolved in circles round the perplexed bear, and when pursued would keep ahead with regulated gait, their comrades accomplishing a diversion ry somersets which it involved, not a dog suffered seriou-.ly. He expected, from his knowlcdj.^o of the hugging i)ropensity of tiie plantigrades, that the animal would rear, or if she did not rear, would at least use her fore arms ; but she invariably seized the dogs with her teeth, and after disposing of them for a time, refrained from following up her advantage, — probably because she hail her cub to take care of. The Eskimos state that this is the habit of the hunted bear. One of the Smith Sound dogs made no exertion whatever when he was seized, but allowed himself to be flung, with all his muscles relaxed, a really fearful distance ; the next instant he rose and renewed the attack. According to the Eskimos, the dogs soon learn this " possum-playing " liabit. It would seem that the higher the latitude, the more ferocious the bear, or that he increases in ferocity as he recedes from the usual hunting-fields. At Oominak, one winter day, an Eskimo and his son were nearly killed by a bear that had housed himself in an iceberg. They attacked him with the lance, but he boldly tumod on them, and handled them severely before they could make their escape. The continued hostility of man, however, has had, in Dr. Kane's opinion, a modifying influence upon the ursine character in South Greenland ; at all events, the bears of that region never attack, and even in self-defence seldom inflict injury upon, the hunters. Many instances have occurred where they have defended themselves, and even charged after having been wounded, but in none of them was life lost. A stout Eskimo, an assistant to a Danish cooper of Upernavik, fired at a she-bear, and the animal closed at the instant of receiving the ball. The man had the presence of mind to fling himself prone on the ground, extending his arm to protect his head, and afterwards lying perfectly motionless. The beast was deceived. She gave the arm a bite or two, but finding her enemy did not stir, she reti-ed a few paces, and sat vipon her haunches to watch. But her watch was not as wary as it should have been, for the hunter dexterously reloaded his rifle, and slew her with the second shot. It has been pointed out that in approaching the bear the hunters should take advantiige of the cover afforded by the inequalities of the frozen surface, such as its ridges and hillocks. These vary in height, from ten foot to a hundred, and frequently are packed so closely together as to leave scarcely a yard of level surface. It is in such a region that the Polar bear exhibits his utmost speed, and in such a region his pursuit is attended with no slight difficulty. And after the day's labour comes the night's rest ; but what a night ! We know what night is in these temperate climos, or in the genial southern lands ; a night of stars, with a deep blue sky overspreading the happy earth like a dome of sapphire : a night of brightness and serene glory, when the moon is high in the heaven, and its soft radiance seems to touch tree and stream, hill and vale, with a tint of liver ; a night of storm, when the clouds hang low and heavily, and the rain descends, and a wailing rushing vfind loses itself in the recesses of the shuddering 94 THK AKC'TIC NKiHT. woods; wo kiK.w wluit iii^'ht is, in these temperate regions, under all its various aspects,- now mild and l)eatitii'ul, now frlooniy and sad, low ffrand and tempestuous ; the long dark night of winter with its fmsty airs, and its drooping shadows thrown hack by the dead surfa'-e of the snow ; tlu; brief bright niglit of summer, which fomis so short a pause between the evening of one day and the morning of anr.ther, that it seems intended only to afford the busy earth a breath- j„jr.ti,i,o ;— but we can form no idea of what an Arctic Niyht is, in al! its mystery, magnificence. 1111(1 wonder. Strange stai-s light up the heavens ; the forms of earth are strange ; all is unfami- har. and ahiiust uiiint(;lligible. STALKINU A UEAR. It is not that the Arctic night makes a heavy demand on our physical faculties. Against its rigour man is able to defend himself; but it is less easy to provide against its strain on the moral and intclloetual faculties. The darkness which clothes Nature for so long a period reveals to tlu! senses of the European explorer what is virtually a new world, and the senses do not well adapt themselves to that world. The cheering influences of the rising sun, which invite to labour ; the soothing influences of the evening twiligjlit, which beguile to rest ; that quick change fiom day to night, and night lo day, which so lightens the burden of existence in our temperate clime to mind and soul and body, kindling the hope and renewing the courage, — all these are wanting in the Polar world, and man suflTers and languishes accordingly. The grandeur of Natiirc, says Dr. Hayes, ceases to give delight to the dulled sympathies, and the heart longs con- 1 ITS VA1UOU8 PHASES. 95 tinually for now associations, new hopes, new objects, new sources of interest ami plousure. The solitude is so dark and drear as to oppress the understanding; ; the inaa<;ination is haunted by the desolation which everywnere prevails ; and the silence is so absolute as to become a terror. The lover of Natuie will, of course, fird much that is attractive in the Arctic ni<;'\t; in the mysterious cora.scations of the aurora, in the flow of the moonlight over the hills and iceberfrs, in the keen clearness of the starlight, in the sublimity of the mountr.ins and th'' gla. lers, in the awful wildncss of the stonns ; but it must be owned that they speak a language which is rough, rugged, and severe. All t lings seem built up on a colossal scale in the Arctic world. Colossal are those dark and tempeHt-benter cliffs which oppose their grim rampart to tlie ceaseless roll and rush of the ico clad waters. Colossal are those mountain-peaks which raise their crests, white with unnunibeied winters, into the very heavens. Colossal are those huge ice-rivers, those glaciers, which, born long ago in the depths of the far-.off valleys, have gradually moved their pondei ;)us masses down to the ocean's brink. Colossal are those floating islands of ice, which, outrivalling the puny arclii- tecture of man, his temples, palaces, and pyramids, drift away into the wide waste of waters, as if abandoned by the Hand that called them into existence. Coir 'isal is that vast sheet of frozen, frosty snow, shimmering with a crystalline lustre, which covers the icy plains for countless leagues, and stretches away, perhaps, to the very border of the ea that is supposed to encircle the unattained Pole. In Dr. Hayes' account of ais voyage of discovery towards the North Pole occurs a fine pa.s- sage descriptive of the various phases of the Arctic night. " 1 have gone out often," he says, " into its darkness, and viewed Nature under different aspects. I have rejoiced with her in her strength, and communed with her in her repose. I have seen the wild burst (>f her anger, have watched her sportive play, and have beheld her robed in silence. I have walked abroad in the darkness when the winds were roaring through the hills and crashing over the plain. I have strolled along the beach when the only sound that broke the stillness was the dull creaking of the ice-floes, as they rose and fell lazily with the tide. I have wandered far out upon the frozen sea, and listened to the voice of the icebergs bewailing their imprisonment ; along the glacier, where forms and falls the avalanche ; upon the hill-top, wiiere the drifting snow, coursing over the rocks, sung its plaintive song ; and again, I have wandered away to some distant valley where all these sounds were hushed, and the air was still and solemn as the tomb." Whoever has been overtaken by a winter night, when crossing some snowy plain, or making his way over the hills and through the valleys, in the deep drifts, and with the icicles pendent from the leafless boughs, and the white mantle overspreading eveiy object dimly discernible in the darkness, will have felt the awe and mystery of the silence that then and there prevails. Both the sky above and the earth beneath reveal only an endless and unfathomable quiet. This, too, is the peculiar characteristic of the Arctic night. Evidence there is none of life or motion. No footfall of living thing breaks on the longing ear. No cry of bird enlivens the scene ; there is no tree, among the branches of which the wind may sigh and moan. And hence it is that one who had travelled much, and seen many dangers, and witnessed Nature in many phases, was led to say that he had seen no ej^pression on the face of Nature so filled with terror as the silence of the Arctic night. 00 ADVENT OF THE SUN. But by degrees the darkness grows less intense, and the coming of the day is announced by the prt(valence of a kind of twilight, which increases more and more rapidly as winter passes into spring. Tliere are signs that Nature is awakening once more to life and motion. The foxes come i>ut upon ihr. hill side, both blue and white, and gall»)]i hither and thither in search of food, — following ill tli(^ track of the bear, to feed on the refuse which the " tiger of the ice" throws aside. Thr walrus and the seal come more frcfpiently to land ; and the latter begins to assemble on tile ice-floes, and select its breeding-places. At length, early in February, bniad daylight comes at iKHiii, and then the weary explorer rejoices to know that Jhe end is near. Flocks of Hjicckird birds iinivc, mid sliclter tlieiiiselvos under the lee of the shore ; chiefly (lovc-kii's, as they are called in Soiithe.n Greunland—the Uria (jrijlle of the naturalist. At last, on the 18th or litth of February, the sun once more makes its appearance above the southern horizon, and is welcomed as one welcomes a friend wht) has been long lost, and is found again. Upon the crests of the hills light clouds are floating lazily, and through th^sc the glorious orb is pouring a stream of golden fire, and all the southern sky (piivers, as it were, with the shooting, shifting spleii(!our.s of the coming day. Presently a soft bright ray breaks through the vaporous haze, kindling it into a purple sea, and touches the silvery sunmiits of the lofty icebergs until they Hoem like domes and jiinnaclcs of flame. Nearer and nearer comes that auspicious .-ay, and widens a» it comes ; and that ])urple sea enlarges in every direction ; and those domes and ^.iimacles of flame multiply in quick succession as they feel the passage of the quickening light ; and the dark red clitls are warmod with an indescrilmble glow ; and a mysterious change passes over the face of the ocean ; and all Nature acknowledges the presence of the sun ! •' The ])areut of light and life everywhere," says Dr. Hayes, " he is the same within these solitudes. The germ awaits him here as in the Orient ; but there it rests only through the short hours rif a summer night, while here it reposes for months under a sheet of snows. But Jifter a whilf the bright sun will tear this sheet asundei-, and will tumble it in gushing fountains to the sea, and w ill kiss the cold earth, and give it warmth and life ; and the flowers will bud and bloom, and will turn their tiny faces smilingly and gratefully up to him, as he wandeis over these ancient hills in the long summer. The very glaciers will weop tears of joy at his coming. The ice will loose its iron grip upon the waters, and will let the Avild waves play in freedom. The reindeer will ski; gleefully over the mountains to welcome his return, and will look longingly to him for the green pastures. The sea-fowls, knowing that he will give them a resting-place for their feet on the rocky islands, will come to seek the moss-beds which he spreads for their nests ; and the sparrows will come on his life-giving rays, and will sing their love-songs through the endless day." With the sun return the Arctic birds, and before we quit the realm of waters we propose to glance at a few of those which frequent the cliffs and shores during the brief Polar summer. Among the first-comers is the dove-kie or black guillemot {Uria grylle), which migrates to the temperate climates on the approach of winter, visiting Labrador, Norway, Scotland I, and even descending as far south as Yorkshire. In fact, we know of no better place where to observe its habits than along the immense range of perpendicular cliffs stretching from Flam- borough Head tc Filey Bay. Here, on the bare ledges of this colossal ocean-wall, the guillemot O'JILLBMOTS ANM) AUKS »T lays its eggs, but without the protection of a nest ; some of them parallel with the edge of the shelf, others nearly so, and otiiers with thtir blunt and sharp ends indiscriniinately pointing to the sea. They are not affixed to the rock liy any glutinous matter, or any foreign substance whatever. You may see as many as nine or ten, or sometimes twelve, old guillemots in a line, so near to each other that their wings almost touch. The eggs vary greatly in size and shape and colour. Some are largo, others small ; some exceedingly sharp at one end, others rotund and globular. It is said that, if undisturbed, the guillemot never lays more than one egg; but if that be taken away, she will lay another, and so on. But Audubon a.s.'^erts that he has seen these birds sitting on as many as three 3ggs at a time. BEA-BIKDS IN TUB rOLAK REOIONo The black guillemot differs from the foolish guillemot {Uria troile) only in the colour of its plumage, which, with the exception of a large white patch on the coverts of each wing, is black, silky, and glossy ; the feathers appearing to be all vinwebbed, like silky filaments or fine hair. The bill, in all the species, is slender, strong, and pointed ; the upper mandiblo bending slightly near the end, and the base covered with soft short leathers. The food of the guillemot consists of fish and other marine products. The Alcidw, or auks, are also included amongst the Arctic birds. The little auk (Arctica (die) frequent.s the countries stretching northwards from our latitudes to the regions of perpetual ice, and is found in the Polar Regions both of the Old Worl'^ nd the New. Here, indeed, they congregate in almost innumerable flocks. At early morn they sally fort^ to get their breakfast, which consists of different varieties of marine invertebrates, chiefly crustaceans, with which the Arctic waters teem. Then they return to the shoie in immense swarms. It would be impos- ATKH AND STARAKIR fiiblu, Kiiys till Arctic v(iyag«r, to convey an adequato idea of the nunibera of theHO birds wliiih Hwanncd around bini. Tlio Hloi.e . >i Ix.th niduH of the valley in which ho liad pitclied his camp rose at an an},'h! of nl)out forty-fiv- doffrees to a distance of from 300 to 500 feet, where it met the cUfis, wliich Htood about 700 feet higher. Tiiese hill-sides are comi)osed of the loose rocks detached from tiie ditfs by the action of the frost. The birds crawl anions these rocks, winding far in through nan'ow places, and there deposit their eggs and hatch their young, secure from their great enemy the Arctic fox. On one occasion, they were congre- gated along a slope, fully a mile in length, and over this slope rushed a constant stream of birds, only a few feet above the stones ; and, after making in their rapid flight the whole length of the hill, they returned higher in the air, performing over and over again the com- plete circuit. Occasionally a few hun- dreds or thousands of them would drop down, as if follow ing some leader ; and in an instant the rocks, for a space of several rods, would swarm all over with them, their bliuL backs and pure white breasts speckling the hill very prettilj^ Though quantities are destroyed by the crews of vessels as well as by the Eskimos, their numbers never seem to decrease. Their flesh is both wholesome and delicate, and affords a welcome change of diet to the mariner weary of salt meat and pemmican. They are very tame, and easily captured, — in some places being actually caught in hand-nets, like moths or butterflies ; and they pass a gi"eat portion of thei' time on the ocean, where they disport themselves with equal grace and self- possession. The starakis {Plmlendince) inhabit the archipelagoes which lie between China and North America. They assemble in small flocks, and swim about in quest of the crustaceans, molluscs, and other marine animals on which they feed. At nightfall they return to land, where they find shelter imder the ledges of the rocks, or in burrows dug with their bill and feet. The female lays a solitary egg. The auks abound in the high northern latitudes. They are all ocean-birds, and are never found, like the divers, in fresh-water streams and lakes. Those species which possess the power of flight nestle on the rocky cliffs and icebergs, where they lay a single egg, of conical form ; a shape which prevents it from rolling away, or moving, except within a very narrow circle, on the bare rocky ledge where it is deposited. The puflSns (Fraten-ola), which in winter abound on our own shores, live chiefly on the water. They dive and swim with dexterity, but, owing to the shortness of their wings, are capable only 1. TIIK I.^KAT AUK.- 2. RAZOR-BILLS.— 8. THE PUFFIN. I'UFFINS AND ME150ANSEUS. 09 of limited flight. Their pluiuago is thick, smooth, and dense, and so completely throws oft' the water that it is quite imjjervious to wet ; while their deep, compressed, and pointed beak, resembling exactly a double keel, is i 'mirably adapted as an instrument for cutting the waves when the bird wishes to dive. The puffins live principally upon sprats and other small fishes ; and the fo \ intended for their young they retain until partially digested, when they disgorge it into their mouths. Like all the auks, the mother-bird lays but one egg. The appearance of an island or iceberg frequented by these birds is very vividly skctchc*) by Audubon, than whom no naturalist has ever more completely attained a thorough acquaint- ance with the Bird- World. He tells us that on every crag or stone stood a puffin, at the entrance of every hole another, and yot the sea was covered and the air filled with them. The burrows were all inhabited by young birds, of different ages and sizes; and clouds '^f puffins flew over us, each individual hold- ing a small fish by the head. The burrows all conniiunicated with each other in vari(jus ways, so that the whole island sgemed to be perforated by a multitude of subterranean labyrinths, over which it wap mipossible to run without the risk of falling at almost every step. The voices of the young sounded beneath the traveller's foot like voices from the grave, and the stench was exceedingly disagreeable. Something must next be said of the mergansers {Meryinob), a sub-family of the palmipeds, which also belong to the Polar wo.'ld. Their principal characters may thus be stated : a straight bill, much compressed on the sides, .and convex towards the tip, which is furnished with a broad and much-hooked nail ; the wings are moderate, and pointed ; the tail is short and rounded ; the tarsi are short, and the toes moderate, the outer being as long as the middle, the three anterior ones united by a full web, while the hind toe is moderate, elevated, and provided with % broad web on its margin. From these characters it is easy to infer that the bird is aquatic in its habits ; that it can swim and dive well ; that it is also capable of strong, swift flight ; and that its food \n\l consist chiefly of fishes. The dun diver or goosander (Mergus merganser) is widely distributed throughout the Polai Regions both of the eastern and western continents. During its southern migration, it ::» 100 THE WHITE MERGANSER. TIIK nOOSANDER. vi«itH tlio Unitffl Stuten. hh wt-ll hh Kniii.v, Hnllmul. and Germany; but on the ii|.i.roach of mininuT it rutiroH to Siburiii and Kaintsclintka, I.x-land, Greenland, and the Arcti.- Hhores of North America. In these loealiti.'« it coiiHtnict.s itn nest -alvvayn near the cd^e <'<" the water; huihlinf,' it up of irnvHH, roots, and similar materials, with little rej,'ard to symmetry, and lining it with down. It is placed sometimes among the mossy, weedy stones ; and sometimes it is concealed in the long grass, or under the cover of hushes, or in the stumps or hollows of decayed trees. The female lays from twelve to fourtt-eii eggs, of a cream-yellow colour ; tluir form is a long oval, both ends being (■(jually obtuse. The goosander may be said to spend its time in the air and on the water ; and in truth, on the land it moves but laboriously and awk- wardly, owing to the backward position of its legs. It rises with difficulty from the jxround ; but when once on the wing, its course is swift, strong, and steady. As it lives mainly upon fish, its flesh is oily and ill-flavoured ; a circumstance which goes far to compensate the s])ortsman for the frecpient failure of his attempts to captui'e it. It is a wild and wury bird, and as it swims witli rapidity and dives with ease, it generally effects its escape from all but the most experienced hunters. Anotlier species which abounds in northern latitudes is the smew (Mergtis alhelhis), also known as the white mm or white merganser. This palmiped is about the size of a widgeon ; is of elegant form ; and its plumage beautifully coloured with black and white. Its bill is of a dusky blue, nearly two inches long, tiiickest at the base, and tapering into a slenderer and more nariow shaj)e towards the point. An oval black patch, glossed with gnjen, marks each side of the head ; the under part of the crest is black ; but all the rest of the head and neck, as well as the graieful breast and the belly, are white as snow, with the exception of a curved black line on each side of the upper i)art of the breast, and similar marks on the lower part ; the back, the coverts on the ridge of the wings, and the primary quills are black ; the secondaiies and greater coverts are white-tipped ; while the sides of the body, under the wings to the tail, exhibit a curious variegation of dark wavy lines. The le,