The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1868-12-30

most admlraole Spectacies tnat can Oe seeu-
Each little piece of ice, in melting away,
is surrounded by sort Of little pond of
fresh water, which does not mix with the
salt water, and when the rays of the sun
pass through these diminutive pools, they
are all irisated, and reproduce on an i'm
mense scale, the phenomenon of Newton's
eolored ring, in rejecting all the shades of
the solar spectrum, but so lightly that the
charm soon vanishes away, leaving pain
ful and lugubrious impression it seems,
at times, as if Nature was seen through
the folds of cloud of gauze. These are
the embryo ice-felds, and the ice they are
composed offs Opaque, and of white,
milky hue, and with it are never fonnd de-
bris of rocks, or vegetable detritus, as is
the case at the Antarctic Pole.
The last. but not the least, proof is that
derived from the reports of the navigators
who have seen the Polar Sea at distance;
and We may also mention the notable and
suggestive difference existing between the
climates of the two zones formed by the
islands extending to the westward of
Greenland. In the zone nearest to the
continent, animal life seldom manifests it.
self, while proceeding northward it multi
plies TO an extent that can be called ex-
uberant, and seems to warn the traveller
that he will soon come to the limits of the
ice-covered regions.
This fact, Coupled with the observations
made of line of maximum cold, extend
ing from CSC to 75o latitude, is of the
utmost Importance, as it is intimately con-
nected with the existence of an open basin
at the Pole.
The English expeditions of 1850 and
1851 have furnished US with many inter-
esting documents in that respect AT
that time, Lieut.. Austin had established
his winter quarters south of CORVALLIS
Land, while Capt. Penny was stationed at
little distance from the entrance to We'll
lington's Straits. As soon as the long
polar days began to shine, it was decided
that Austin's party should visit the outer
boundary of Mellville's basin, while PEN
ny's crew should move onward through
Wellington's Channel. Austin accord
ingly started with fourteen sleighs and I04
men, and the Ommaney division went in a
southerly direction to reconnoitre North
Somerset. For sixty days the courageous
sailors endured all kinds of priyation. and
the most bitter cold. q In those regions"
writes their heroic leader, we had before
us the same monotonous, snowy horizon,
where We could not discover anything to
relieve our wearied eyes. Our presence in
that desolate region looked as if it were
a discordance and an intrusion"
During the time that 0mmaney was
thus exploring the mournful deserts of
North-Somerset, McClintock was making
many discoveries north of Melyilles Basin,
and meeting innumerable focks of birds
as early as the first days of May. The
snow was already disappearing from the
hill-sides, and the moss, the grass and the
saxifrage were timidly peeping ont. In
the first days Of the spring of 1851, Capt.
Penny likewise began his explorations
He advanced to the northward of Yelling
toms Channel, and detached Lieut.. Stew
art to survey the western coast of North
Devon. On the Both of May, Lieut..
Stewart, having reached, by means of
sleighs, the northern extremity of the
straits formed by Hamilton Island on one
side, and North-Devon on the other, per-
ceived, right before him, an open sea, the
shores Of which were covered with birds.
Capt. Penny, a few days later, land after
a hard journey of 80 leagues through
desert of iee), had also the pleasure of
resting his eyes on that animated scene.
He hastily returned to headquarters, had
boat built at once, and on the 18th Of
June, in latitude n, he named, after Sir
John and Lady Franklin, the two remotest
points of the Straits bearing his own
name. The sea was then extending before
him, beyond the horizon, and tempting as
Siren, but prudence at last conquered,
and he returned. Sir Edward BeIcher was
able, the following year, to force his way
through the icebergs that generally pre-
clude the entrance to Wellington's Straits,
and to take up his winter quarters in zee
So. In the Spring of 1853, he went as
far as Johns Straits, but was stopped by
an icy mountain that was drifting to the
southwark. 1t was then the 10th of May,
and as far as the eye could reach from the
top Of that eminence, no land could be
seen an open sea was rolling, far away, its
waves of dark blue color If all the
explorers who have gone as far as the nth
degree of latitude, northeast of Parry's
Archipelago, have been able to ascertain
the existence Of an open sea, the same
result has not been so easily attained west
of Greenland, as it is necessary to pene-
trate the crowded. icebergs Of Smiths
Straits, to leave the ship in about the 18th