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Rh the edge of the pack in 77° 40′ N., and launched the boats. Eventually they were picked up by a Russian schooner and arrived at Varuo on the 3rd of September 1874.

One of the most interesting problems connected with the physical geography of the polar regions is the actual condition of the vast elevated interior of Greenland, which is one enormous glacier. In 1867 Mr Edward Whymper planned an expedition to solve the question, and went to Greenland, accompanied by Dr Robert Brown, but their progress was stopped, after going a short distance over the ice, by the breaking down of the dog-sledges. The expedition brought home geological and natural history collections of value. Dr H. Rink, for many years royal inspector of South Greenland and the most distinguished authority on all Greenlandic questions, also visited the inland ice. An important inland journey was undertaken by Professor A. E. Nordenskiöld in 1870, accompanied by Dr Berggren, professor of botany at Lund. The difficulty of traversing the inland ice of Greenland is caused by the vast ice-cap being in constant motion, advancing slowly towards the sea. This movement gives rise to huge crevasses which bar the traveller's way. The chasms occur chiefly where the movement of the ice is most rapid, near the ice streams which reach the sea and discharge icebergs. Nordenskiöld therefore chose for a starting-point the northern arm of a deep inlet called Auleitsivikfjord, which is 60 m. south of the discharging glacier at Jakobshavn and 240 north of that at Godthaab. He commenced his inland journey on the 19th of July. The party consisted of himself, Dr Berggren, and two Greenlanders, and they advanced 30 m. over the glaciers to a height of 2200 ft. above the sea.

The gallant enterprises of other countries rekindled the zeal of Great Britain for Arctic discovery; and in 1874 the prime minister announced that an expedition would be dispatched in the following year. Two powerful steamers, the “Alert” and “Discovery,” were selected for the service, and Captain George S. Nares was recalled from the “Challenger” expedition to act as leader. Commander Albert H. Markham who had made a cruise up Baffin Bay and Barrow Strait in a whaler during the previous year, Lieut Pelham Aldrich, an accomplished surveyor, and Captain Henry Wemyss Feilden, R.A., as naturalist, were also in the “Alert.” The “Discovery” was commanded by Captain Henry F. Stephenson, with Lieut. Lewis A. Beaumont as first lieutenant. The expedition left Portsmouth on the 29th of May 1875, and entered Smith Sound in the last days of July. After much difficulty with drifting ice Lady Franklin Bay was reached in 81° 44′ N., where the “Discovery” was established in winter quarters. The “Alert” pressed onwards, and reached the edge of the heavy ice named by Nares the palaeocrystic sea, the ice-floes being from 80 to 100 ft. in thickness. Leaving Robeson Channel, the vessel made progress between the land and the grounded floe pieces, and passed the winter oil the open coast and facing the great polar pack, in 82° 27′ N. Autumn travelling parties were dispatched in September and October to lay out depots; and during the winter a complete scheme was matured for the examination of as much of the unknown area as possible, by the combined efforts of sledging parties from the two ships, in the ensuing spring. The parties started on the 3rd of April 1876. Captain Markham with Lieut. Parr advanced, in the face of great difficulties, over the polar pack to the latitude of 83° 20′ N. Lieut. Aldrich explored the coast-line to the westward, facing the frozen polar ocean, for a distance of 220 m. Lieut. Beaumont made discoveries of great interest along the northern coast of Greenland. The parties were attacked by scurvy, which increased the difficulty and hardships of the work a hundredfold. The expedition returned to England in October 1876. The “Alert” reached a higher latitude and wintered farther north than any ship had ever done before. The results of the expedition were the discovery of 300 m. of new coast line, the examination of part of the frozen polar ocean, a series of meteorological, magnetic and tidal observations at two points farther north than any such

observations had ever been taken before, and large geological and natural history collections.

In the same year 1875 Sir Allen Young undertook a voyage in his steam yacht the “Pandora” to attempt to force his way down Peel Sound to the magnetic pole, and if possible to make the north-west passage by rounding the eastern shore of King William Island. The “Pandora” entered Peel Sound on the 29th of August 1875, and proceeded down it much farther than any vessel had gone since it was passed by Franklin's two ships in 1846. Sir Allen reached a latitude of 72° 14′ N, and sighted Cape Bird, at the northern side of the western entrance of Bellot Strait. But here ice barred his progress, and he was obliged to retrace his track, returning to England on the 16th of October 1875. In the following year Sir Allen Young made another voyage in the “Pandora” to the entrance of Smith Sound.

Lieut. Koolemans Beynen, a young Dutch officer, who had shared Young's two polar voyages, on his return successfully endeavoured to interest his countrymen in polar discovery. It was wisely determined that the first expeditions of Holland should be summer reconnaissances on a small scale. A sailing schooner of 79 tons was built at Amsterdam. and named the “Willem Barents.” In her first cruise she was commanded by Lieut. A. de Bruyne, with Koolemans Beynen as second, and she sailed from Holland on the 6th of May 1878. Her instructions were to examine the ice in the Barents and Spitsbergen seas, take deep-sea soundings, and make natural history collections. She was also to erect memorials to early Dutch polar worthies at certain designated points. These instructions were ably and zealously carried out. Beynen died in the following year, but the work he initiated was carried on, the “Willem Barents” continuing to make annual polar cruises for many years.

In 1879 Sir Henry Gore-Booth and Captain A. H. Markham, R.N., in the Norwegian schooner “Isbjorn” sailed along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya to its most northern point, passed through the Matochkin Shar to the east coast, and examined the ice in the direction of Franz Josef Land as far as 78° 24'N., bringing home collections in various branches of natural history, and making useful observations on the drift and nature of the ice in the Barents and Kara Seas.

In 1880 Mr B. Leigh Smith, who had previously made three Voyages to Spitsbergen, reached Franz Josef Land in the polar steam yacht “Eira.” It was observed that, while the Greenland icebergs are generally angular and peaked, those of Franz Josef Land are flat on the top, like the Antarctic bergs. The “Eira” sailed along the south side of Franz Josef Land to the westward and discovered 110 m. of coast-line of a new island named Alexandra Land, until the coast trended north-west. A landing was effected at several points, and valuable collections were made in natural history. In the following year the same explorer left Peterhead on the 14th of July, Franz Josef Land was sighted on the 23rd of July, and the “Fira” reached a point farther west than had been possible in her previous voyage. But in August the ship was caught in the ice, was nipped, and sank. A hut was built on shore in which Mr Leigh Smith and his crew passed the winter of 1881-1882, their health being well maintained, thanks to the exertions of Dr W. H. Neale. On the 21st of June 1882 they started in four boats to reach some vessels on the Novaya Zemlya coast. It was a most laborious and perilous voyage. They were first seen and welcomed by the “Willem Barents” on the 2nd of August, and soon afterwards were taken on board the “Hope,” a whaler which had come out to search for them under the command of Sir Allen Young.

Professor A. E. Nordenskiöld, when he projected the achievement of the north-east passage, was a veteran polar explorer, for he had been in six previous expeditions to Greenland and Spitsbergen. In 1875 he turned his attention to the possibility of navigating the seas along the northern coast of Siberia. Captain Joseph Wiggins of Sunderland was a pioneer of this route,