about us now which rise two hundred feet above the water s level there are above head plenty of birds ashore or on the ice are bears and in the sea there are innumerable animals we shall not see so much life near the north pole that is certain it would be worth while to go ashore upon an there near bang o i � a ns o the ducks notes of travellers nests are so abundant that one cannot avoid upon them when the duck is driven by a hungry fox to leave her eggs she covers them with down in order that they may not during her absence and moreover the down into a ease with a supplied to her by nature for that purpose the deserted eggs are safe for that has an very disagreeable to the intruder s nose we still sail northward among sheets of ice whose boundaries are not beyond our vision from the mast head � these are between them we find easy way it is sailing ice in the clear sky to the north a streak of white light is the reflection from an icy surface that is ice in the language of these seas the glare from snow is yellow while open water gives a dark reflection northward still but now we are in fog the ice is troublesome a gale is rising now if our ship had they would crack and if she had a bell it would be if we were shouting to each other we should not hear the sea is in a fury with wild force its dash against a heaped up wall of broken ice that and strains and battles fiercely with the water this is the pack the edge of a great ice field broken by the swell it is a perilous and an exciting thing to push through pack ice in a gale now there is ice as as eye can see that is an ice field masses are forced up like colossal on all sides our sailors call them here and there the broken ice large holes of water shall we go on upon this field in with his men north pole if that should be possible with and boats they on through snow and over i xx � l c the world here and there or their boats over the larger holes of water with stout hearts by toil or danger they went boldly on though hy degrees it became clear to the leaders of the expedition that thej were almost like upon a tread mill cage making a great expenditure of leg for little gain the ice was floating to south with them as they were walking to the north still they went on sleeping by day to avoid the glare and to get greater warmth during the time of rest and travelling by night � days and nights for it was all one day the men soon were unable to distinguish noon from midnight the great event of one day on this dreary waste was the discovery of two flies upon an ice these says became at once a topic of ridiculous importance presently r twenty three miles walking they only had gone one mile forward the ice having floated twenty two miles in the opposite direction and then after walking forward eleven miles they foimd themselves to be three miles behind the place from which they started the party accordingly returned not having reached the pole not having reached the eighty third parallel for the of which there was a reward of a thousand pounds held out by government they reached the parallel of eighty two degrees forty five minutes which was and still is the most point trodden by the foot of man from that point they returned in those high they met with a phenomenon common in regions as well as at the pole red snow the red colour being caused by the abundance of a minute plant pf low development the last on the borders of the vegetable kingdom most interesting to the sailors was a fat she bear which they killed and devoured with a zeal to be repented of for on sea and pushing in their to table island notes of travellers some stones were left found that the had eaten their whereon the men agreed that was now square with them an next to table island � they are both mere rocks is the most northern land discovered therefore applied to it the name of lieutenant � now sir james � this compliment sir james has acknowledged in the most emphatic manner by discovering on his part at the other pole the most southern land yet seen and giving to it the name of it very probably would not be difficult under such as sir w has since recommended to reach the north pole along this route then especially if it be true as many believe that there is a region of open sea about the pole itself we might find it as easy to reach s straits by travelling in a straight line over the north pole as by the strait and north of america we turn our course until we have in sight a portion of the eastern coast of island somewhere about this spot in the seventy fifth parallel is the most northern part of that coast known to us colonel � then captain � in the was landed there to make and other observations for the same purpose he had previously visited that is where we from our fore they hardy seaman to encounter peril for the search of gold ore or for a near road to but our peril is encountered for the gain of knowledge for the highest kind of service that can now be rendered to the human race before we the northern sea we must not omit to mention the voyage by northward in of 