, 1876-11-16

formed barrier inside which tho ship wna COM
sts sss tss ons Mss ss. BE- o, osss ID. I
e'lgcs broken 10, tho crushed pieces arc tsftel
W tbc psessure Into high, long, wall-lIkc edge
"Whcn two Of the ancient foes Of the Polar
lie which may happen 10 be floating about be-
tween them alone snffers; It Ia pressed up be-
tween the two closing maAses 10 a ETcat height,
producing cfaotk WiltiefneaB Of angular blocks
fifty feet above water, and frequently covering
an arca upward 0f mile IN diameter. Such an
ity foau, which VIVA aurc to be continuous, de-
stroyca all hope Of the Pole itself being tcschcd
hy Fletlgct. Nevertheless It was determined by
Cant. Narca to nI!anyc ns fnr "a possible, and
!lurtng the spring nf this year 4 party, headed
by Commander Markham and Lieut.. Fasr, mnde
most gallant nn'l determined attempt. They
o. tln 18th os May succeeded In planting tho
British fay In latitude 81 degrees ~ minutes
md 4} socuuts north. From this position there
was was NJ J., appearances % o. land to The north.
W9F, nut, eHr1ousy fo,,' s'9ag', ti'o arptl,
two fathomt. Owing TO ts,s extraordinary
nature Ut tho prcssed-up ice ran.lway hal 10
ne formed " psfk91es @ Tor nearly half The ds-
safely made, even with light loatIs; this ren.
loads forwa ard by nsaalitnents, and therefore 10
Journey over the aatIlc r1ad several times. Tho
advance WAS consequently very slow, and nnly
averaged about one aud onc-quarter miles daily
In fact much tho same ratio attained By Sir
+. Parry In his somewhat similar attempt
in tho summer Of 1877. Although the distance
.nalu good was only tercnty.thrcc miles frum
the ship, 80 mile" were Travelled over. u nccoru-
p;lsA It. The result Of ther severe lab0r proves
thu uttcr inlprnetirability OF travelling over the
1o1ae Sen to ai,y great distance fro1n land, and
also that Baron von tranKlc waa perfectly cor
rect In Ills expressed opinion that before tho
North fu1c tan be reached It Is first necessary 10
discover continuous coast luallny towards it.
Lieut.. Aldric'l, engaged fs' p!ol'Gcring tho
way Tor The main marty. which was led by COM
li,andcr Markham, on tllu 9Th Of September
ry'a 1nost n1Ithlen position, and from tnotn-
tain 1900 feet high sighted lant towards tho
wcst.tlnrthwest, extending to latitude - deg.
min. Nh land WIS seen to tho i,ortfiwcst. Thus
,eryconccrn,g the ''opcn Polar Sea y wus cleared
up. The Alert, advancing to the limit ofnariGaton
had rcaciedla higher northern latitude than any
ship had previously BEEN able to attain, and q
tue posit'on gained By 50 much labor md prisa-
ton BY the gallant msl, commanded by sir
Edward Parry and Sir j. Ross. The Union Jnck
planted by them pns.f1Ig into the guard and
HssRag q hfr IS s0ut'ysn ynns to r. b. a2a" @
turing the carly spring was consider
ably greater than tlat In tnore southcrly regions,
and quite puts MI et,d to the idea that " - war1
s,nuiry EXISTS ut the Pole, tee1n'nG with iiic."
Tllc loves, temperature observed was e 1rg.
below zero Of Fahrenheit, or l04 deg. bclnw
freezing point. The. mean temperature for
thirteen consecutive days was 81 deg. below
cnced before, md tho mercury was frozcn forty
scvcn days during the winter. Capt. Stephen.
son, besidcs locking after hts own division,