Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/675

 POLAR SEAS 655 navigators suppose that further N. it forms only a barrier in summer, with comparatively open water beyond. In Davis strait drift ice and icebergs are very abundant on the Labrador side, and are carried in spring and summer over the banks of Newfoundland, sometimes as far S. as lat. 40. The Beh- ring strait current carries ice as far as the Aleutian islands. Although water communi- cation is known to exist through the various channels in the North American archipelago, they are so obstructed by ice that no vessel has yet penetrated from sea to sea through the famous northwest passage ; the ice, though in motion, becomes gorged in the narrower parts. Temperature observations show that in win- ter there are two poles or regions of greatest cold, the one among the islands north of Amer- ica, the other in northern Siberia. The milder region between the two, about the earth's pole, would thus appear to be chiefly occupied by water. In summer this middle part is the coolest, on account of the greater accumula- tion of ice and the greater absorption of the sun's heat by the land. Wherever observa- tions have been made in winter, calm days have been found to exceed in number the windy days, and to be accompanied by clear weather and greater cold. Wind from any quarter raised the temperature and brought clouds and snow. To the traveller the im- pression is the reverse, as a greater degree of cold is more endurable in a calm than a lesser when the air is in motion. The arctic lands and seas support a considerable number of animals, which furnish man with food, cloth- ing, and fuel. On land the reindeer, the arctic fox,, the arctic hare, and the lemming are found in the northern parts of all the conti- nents and adjacent islands, and even on islands so isolated as Spitzbergen. The musk ox is confined to the American polar regions, in- cluding Greenland. The polar bear, although found also on land, is more generally found on the ice where he can capture the seal, his ordinary prey. Of the latter several species are found, and together with the walrus form the object of a lucrative pursuit, expeditions being fitted out in Newfoundland and the ports of northern Europe. Numerous cetaceans in- habit the water, of which the narwhal is the most peculiar. The right whale was formerly found in great abundance in the Greenland seas and inside of Behring strait, but indis- criminate persecution has reduced the number so that its pursuit has almost ceased to be profitable. Aquatic birds frequent the polar seas in summer in immense numbers, for the purpose of breeding. Fish is found every- where, but not of a size or in quantities suffi- cient to be an article of commerce; of late, however, Norwegian fishermen have paid some attention to and derived profit from the cap- ture of the arctic shark off the N. E. coast of Lapland and near Bear island. The lower ani- mals, crustaceans, mollusks, and radiates, are represented by fewer species than in warmer seas, but in compensation the number of indi- viduals is very large, and even in great depths the dredge finds undiminished numbers. Re- cent Explorations. The scientific and explo- i ring expeditions which from time to time have ! been made into the Arctic ocean are traced plorers there referred to. That article brings the history of arctic exploration down to the unfortunate expedition of the American Cap- tain Hall (1871-'3), described in still further detail in the article HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS. The history of arctic exploration since that expedition will be briefly given here. The year 1872 began with several minor expedi- tions, generally undertaken at private cost, and each contributing, though in minor matters only, to a knowledge of the best paths to be pursued in more important undertakings. They were nearly all carried out by seamen of north- ern Europe. Thus in the early summer Capt. Altmann, a Swede, sailed his yacht, the Elvine Dorothea, along the entire E. coast of Spitz- bergen, found the sea free from ice, and visit- ed Wiche's Land or King Charles Land. Capt. Nils Johnsen (of Tromso), in the Lydiana, and Capt. Johannes Nilsen, in the Freia, also land- ed in this long un visited region in the summer of 1872. All these, by their reports of the freedom of the passage from ice, contributed to the growing opinion in favor of an eastern path to more northern latitudes. Dr. Leigh Smith, an English savant, spent a part of the summer in scientific investigation of the seas N. of Europe, and Capt. David Gray cruised for some time off the E. coast of Greenland. Later in the year the Norwegians Capt. Jen- sen and Svend Foyn, the latter a well known whaler, undertook expeditions, but without noteworthy result. The Norwegian govern- ment also sent out a winter expedition to Spitzbergen, hoping to relieve 17 Norwegian sailors who were known to be cut off there by the ice ; but the vessel was driven back by the severity of the weather. A private expedition followed, with like result. On Jan. 28, 1873, Herr Eosenthal of Bremerhaven, well known for his efforts in this direction (see ARCTIC DISCOVERY, vol. i., p. 680), sent out a steam- er for Spitzbergen with the same object, but, like the Norwegians, without success. In June, 1873, when the island was reached by Capts. Tellefsen and Mack, the 17 men were found to have died of starvation. While these minor expeditions were in progress, a party had been organized in Sweden to spend the winter on Spitzbergen, in order to begin from that point a sledge expedition toward the pole. The steamers Polhem and Onkel Adam, and the brig Gladan, with Prof. Nordenskjold, the leader of the expedition, Capt. Palander, Drs. Erwall and Wijkander, and others, and a large crew, arrived at Green Harbor, on the W. coast of Spitzbergen, Aug. 4, 1872. Being
 * to a late period in the article ARCTIC Discov-
 * EBY, and in the biographies of the various ex-