either side of Smith Sound to the northward; and hence still more the impossibility of there being land running right up to the Pole itself, as many thought was the case, and amongst them those who planned the English expedition of 1875.

Let any one imagine a glacier forty-five miles long constantly discharging into the waters beneath it baby icebergs of, say, a mile or two long each, and six or seven hundred feet thick, and he will have the scene before him which might be witnessed any time by a person standing in the vicinity of Humboldt Glacier. We now and then hear of one of our American

Grinnell Land on the west side of the Sound up to nearly 80° N. He left Boston in a sailing schooner, the United States, in the middle of 1860, very fairly equipped, and arrived safely at the entrance to Smith Sound, but here his troubles began. First he tried to force his ship past Cape Isabella, but was driven over to the east side, where eventually he took up his winter quarters in a small bay which he called Port Foulke, some little distance to the southward of Dr. Kane's winter quarters in the Advance. In the following spring he went on north with a dog sledge, but in forty-six days found himself stopped

liners coming over from New York to Liverpool sighting icebergs, which are described by passengers as being of most gigantic proportions. Well, these giants of the Atlantic are in all probability some of the baby icebergs born on Humboldt Glacier.

At Morton's furthest point he was able to discern on the opposite side of Smith Sound (Kennedy Channel) a lofty mountain which Dr. Kane named Mount Parry, and which he took to be in about 82° N.

The next American expedition was entrusted to Dr. Hayes, who stoutly held that the west side of Smith Sound, and not the east, gave the greatest promise of reaching a high northern latitude; he had himself when a member of Dr. Kane's expedition laid down the coast-line of

by open water, or rather by extensive cracks in the ice, in 81°35' N. From this point he beheld the mighty sugarloaf cap of Mount Parry, which Morton had seen from the opposite coast of Greenland at his furthest point, and beyond this his eye could trace a cape, which he thought was in nearly 83° N., and which he named Cape Union. It is worth noting that Dr. Hayes reports along the entire coast of Grinnell Land no glacier appears, presenting thus a striking contrast to Greenland," but he does not appear to have seen what this fact betokened, viz. that there was very little more land running up north, and that beyond Cape Union the land must trend away to the westward.

66

Another American expedition, that of Captain Hall of the Polaris, completed the

east side up to the northern end of Hall Land. The Polaris was a small steam ship, and her experience of the Smith Sound route to the Pole was utterly unlike that of any other vessels which had previously attempted to force their way up, for she in 1871, without the smallest difficulty, steamed right up, beyond the Cape Union of Dr. Hayes-which however was not in quite so high a latitude as Hayes imagined-and on to the highest northern point which had ever yet been reached by a ship, where she was checked by ice; but there were indications of water beyond; and in all human probability, had fear not taken possession of some of the crew, a very much higher latitude could and would have been reached that year.

the

At all events, the voyage of Polaris proves that in an open season there is water much further north than her furthest point, and probably extending almost, if not quite, up to the Pole. Against

this

theory there is of

course the experi

ence of the Eng

lish expedition of 1875, for here the Alert, the foremost ship, could not be pushed to any higher latitude than 82° 20' which was about the latitude reached by

the Polaris. But a mistake was made in hugging the land on the west side of Robeson Channel, under the erroneous impression that land and land ice extended up to the Pole itself.

When sledging parties, acting on this idea, attempted to get northward from the Alert's winter quarters they were only able with all their splendid sledge and boat equipment to get as far as latitude 83° 20' 26", and there they found the ice heaped up in such huge masses in every direction that they gave to the locality the name of the Palæocrystic Sea, and came home declaring an approach to the Pole via Smith Sound to be impossible. And yet only four years earlier the little

Polaris had found open water in the immediate vicinity. Had the Alert been as fortunate in her season as was the little American steamer, in all human probability we should now know all about the topography of the North Polar regions.

Since the British expedition of 1875 two Americans, Mr. Peary and Lieutenant Greely, have followed in the track of their discoveries, and each of them claims to have traced up the northern limits of Greenland beyond the furthest point reached by his predecessor, Peary claiming to have penetrated to N. latitude 82° W. longitude 34°; and Lieutenant Lockwood of Greely's expedition to 83° 24′ N, and about 48 miles further to the eastward

THE PALEOCRYSTIC SEA.

than Peary's furthest point. There must, however, be a mistake here in longitude, for Lockwood's furthest, as laid down in the latest chart, is only 40° W. longitude.

Undoubtedly, however, to Lieutenant Lockwood belonged the honour, before he died, of having penetrated to the highest northern point on the globe which has ever been reached by a human being, and also of having stood on the most northern land yet known to be in existence, for it has already been stated that Albert Markham and his handful of British tars fell short of Lockwood's highest latitude, while they, on the other side of Robeson's Channel, had left the land behind them.

Another English expedition has lately been arranged for the coming summer. The plan is to follow up the Austrian discoveries of 1872-4 and those of Mr. Leigh Smith, and to strike north with a sledging party from about the region of Oscar Land and Peterman Land, under the idea that another vast continent may there be discovered running perhaps almost, if not quite, up to the Pole itself. Peterman Land, however, will probably be found to be only a small island of a group, and of a certainty it will be found that the extensive land seen by the Austrians to the northward of Franz Joseph Land is only the eastern extremity of Greenland.

This expedition, however, will be by no means a very difficult or a very dangerous one, for both Mr. Peary and Dr. Nansen have already shown the ease with which Greenland in other parts can be completely crossed on sledges, and there is no great reason why the Jackson party should not safely traverse some three or four hundred miles across what they will find to be the north-eastern limb of Greenland, and then return by the way they went. Mr. Leigh Smith and others are also probably

right in thinking that in most seasons a well-equipped and strongly-built little steamer can reach Austria Sound, if not the coast of Oscar Land itself. The base of operations being here tolerably accessible, as well as easy to fall back upon, it would be most advisable that a good team or two of Esquimaux dogs should be obtained for a rapid dash across the northern land, and a speedy return when the Arctic Basin has been reached.

In these few statements of work done in the past, and proposed to be carried out in the future, we have a sketch of all that is known as regards an approach to the North Pole from any direction. Whether the Norwegian Dr. Nansen will break the record remains to be proved. At all events, he goes out on very possible lines; and with good luck, and an open season, it is quite on the cards that he and the stout little Fram may come through in the summer of 1894, and he may tell us that he steamed up to N. latitude 90° and found there absolutely nothing to mark the fact that he alone of living men had reached the North Terrestrial Pole.

ON THE DECK OF THE ATTILA."

RX

IT was late the next morning when thought and feeling came back to me, the blurred imagery of my dreams mingling strangely with the memories of the preceding night. Despite a slight headache, and a suspicion or two of giddiness, I felt as well as could be expected, and lying back snugly on my pillow began to meditate rising. For once my resolution was quick in the making. My uncle used to say that, all things considered, life was not worth the trouble of dressing. But on this particular morning it most certainly was. The apprehensions of the past night had given way to a hopeful spirit, while the interest of exploring this

aeronef thrilled me through and through. I was about to spring out of the berth in readiness for the labours of the toilet when Burnett looked in through the door.

"All right. Glad to hear it. Where are we? Over the North Sea. Take my advice, and get up sharp. The captain has asked to see you. You'll find me knocking about somewhere round here when you're ready."

But

Thoroughly alive to the situation, I was not long in getting into my clothes. my disgust was great on finding sundry half-dried splashes of blood on my coat, a souvenir of my luckless pursuer. In the excitement and darkness I had overlooked these hideous traces which now seemed to threaten me with the brand of Cain. Throwing aside the polluted garment, I stepped into the outer chamber, my pleasure quite overcast for the moment. Burnett was there, and a hearty breakfast was awaiting me, to which I

promised to do summary and sweeping justice. The room, but feebly apparent the foregoing night, was now flooded with the sunlight, but the height at which we floated rendered the air most chilly and penetrating. The silvery grey colour of the walls, floor, chairs, benches, tables, and even the dishes and mugs, wrought on me an impressive effect, curiously set off by the red cap worn by Burnett. Through the open doorway gleamed the same silvery grey livery of the flooring and bulwark of the passage already mentioned, and, framed, as it were, in silver, glowed a truly magnificent cloud-picture. This sky-scape, however, was unstable, mass after mass of mist, shaped into turrets, battlements, and mountains, rolled by in picturesque splendour, bearing artistic testimony to the speed at which we or they were moving. “Beautiful, isn't it?" said Burnett. "Here, eat your breakfast and then I'll show you round our cloud empire. Or perhaps you had best see the captain as soon as possible."

I said I thought that would be best. "But where's your coat, man? Oh, I remember. Wait and I'll fetch you one

of mine."

In a short time the missing garment was made good, and I was falling to with avidity :

"How do you manage your meals and service here? Have you cooks or servants?"

"Of course not. We are anarchists, and everything depends on private initiative. Every man is as good as another, and every man is a volunteer. Later on you will be expected to bestir yourself also."

"But how do you avoid chaos."

"There is no chaos to avoid. Outside the engine-room and conning tower there is little a man cannot quickly learn to do at need. We are very simple in our wants-that is part of our creed-and, consequently, have a deal of leisure. The watches are the worst part, for the captain is very particular." "Ah, wait a minute. has he?"

What authority

"The authority of the soul of this enterprise, and its best man. We would voluntarily support him in a crisis. Five days ago a couple of Italians turned rusty. He shot both where they stood, and the men in their hearts approved of it. But he is an iron man. Wait till you see him?"

"Is any one on the Attila free to go where he likes?"

"Yes, except into the captain's quarters. To pass there a permit is required to all except myself, Schwartz, and Thomas. The engine-room watchers pass through every three hours, and a passage runs from it to the conningtower and magazine below. You may guess what the latter contains." "How many men are aboard?" "Twenty-five, excluding ourselves. Eight are Germans, six Englishmen, four French, two Russians, one an Italian, and the others Swiss, some of those whom Hartmann employed at Berne."

"Berne; was that where the Attila was built?"

"That's it. Hartmann, Schwartz, and his Swiss workmen, put her together. He made money there, as you know, and this was his grand investment. It was kept beautifully dark in the wooded grounds of his villa. We are going there now, so you will see the place for yourself."

"But does any one know of the Attila?"

"No outsider probably who would be believed if he said anything. We have our friends down below, of course-never you fear but they are mum. The hour has not yet struck, but the preparations for the festival are being merrily carried out. The Attila is a secret for the present. To avoid being seen we take every precaution possible and never approach the ground except at night; in the daytime, well, there are clouds, and, if none, we simply mount higher, and then our colour is enough to conceal us."

But what if you met a balloon ? "

"Oh, there's very little chance of that. And if there was the balloonist might find cause to regret the meeting. But come, and I'll take you round to the captain. He is a better spokesman than I.”

66

Right you are."

We stepped out on to the passage, and rushing to the bulwark (if I may so call it) I gazed rapturously into the abyss below. It was indeed a glorious sight. The clouds hung around and below us, but here and there through their rents flashed the blue of a waste of rolling waters. Ever and anon these gaps would be speckled with rushing seabirds, whose cries, mellowed by the distance, broke on the ear like music. Above in the clear blue sky shone the sun at the keystone of his low winter arch, lighting up the cloud