-

UNDER this head, the foremost place in this department inust, indisputably, be assigned to the expedition returned from the northern seas, and from discoveries made, as it were, beyond the boundaries of nature herself. An almost unprecedented interest had been excited relative to this voyage, both in the public, and among all the circles of science. The daring career with which the expedition had rushed into the depth of the frozen regions, the mysterious manner in which it had disappeared, and been, as it were, buried among them; its sudden re-appearance, after hope had almost expired, gave to its narrative all the interest of romance. Science and navigation looked to it for the solution of some of their most interesting problems, and for the examination of nature, under an aspect which she never presented, unless to those daring mortals, who thus thrust themselves into her most awful recesses.

A decided scepticism had prevailed

at the Admiralty, and in other naval circles, as to Lancaster Sound being a bay enclosed by land, the belief of which had induced Captain Ross to return without exploring that inlet. Lieutenant, now Captain Parry, being also of this opinion, and entertaining confident hopes of finding it a passage into the Arctic ocean, was selected for the conduct of a new expedition. In fitting this out, nothing was omitted which could render it efficient for so arduous an object.

Two vessels were prepared, one called the Hecla, of 375 tons, built originally for a bomb vessel, and carrying a company of fifty-eight persons; the other, called the Griper, a twelve gun brig of 180 tons, with a crew of thirty-six men. The first was commanded by Captain Parry himself; the other, by Lieutenant Liddon. Both had the whole of their outside covered with an extra lining of oak plank, and their bows defended by strong plates of iron. A large

stock of coals was lodged as ballast, and every care was taken to supply the crew with warm clothes and fresh provisions.

The expedition, thus equipped, and furnished with every kind of scientific instruments, set sail from Deptford on the 4th May, 1819. On the 4th July, they were nearly in the latitude of Lancaster Sound, but on the opposite side of Baffin's Bay, the whole centre of which consisted of one unbroken mass of ice. Unwilling to lose time by making a circuit of the bay, as on the former voyage, Captain Parry determined upon an effort to work his way across this barrier. Accordingly, the crews set to work, warping and heaving their way between the floes; but the obstacles were so great, that they were obliged, in many cases, to saw their way, through the ice, an operation never before attempted. By these efforts, and by the aid of a strong easterly wind, they forced their way across in the course of six days. On the 2d of August, they found themselves at the mouth of Lancaster Sound; and had the gratification of noticing, that this was a month earlier than in 1818, though they had sailed a fortnight later.

On the 3d, the expedition entered the Sound; and on the 4th, they had completely passed that mountain barrier, which, under the influence of visual deception, had been supposed to bar all farther passage. An extraordinary exultation was felt at overcoming this obstacle, and at entering into a depth of unknown seas, where every hour's sail would be a discovery, and where, from the early season of the year, they might hope to effect much. The rocks here were particularly rugged and precipitous, resembling immense walls in ruin.

On leaving Lancaster Sound, the ships entered Barrow's Strait, which

seems to be with difficulty distinguished, its channel being merely a continuation of the other. After advancing a certain space, however, to where the left side was diversified by some small islands, to which the name of Prince Leopold was given, they found it completely blocked with ice, and were obliged to seek a passage down a broad inlet, called Prince Regent's inlet; but in a short time they found it also blocked up, and were obliged to return to the first channel. Happily, the ice there was found to be dissolved, and they were able to proceed in a due westerly course. They now passed a succession of islands, making an almost continuous coast on their right; while on the left, or to the south, the open Polar sea extended. At length they came to an island larger than any of the rest, to which they gave the name of Melville Island. On the 4th September, they crossed the meridian of 110°; and Captain Parry was able to announce to the exulting crew, that they had earned the reward attached by government to the attainment of that longitude. They proceeded about three degrees farther west, to Cape Providence; but the ice then set in with such intensity, that it became absolutely necessary to return to a secure harbour, which they had passed, and which, as it behoved them to spend the winter there, they named Winter Harbour. The entrance was now guarded by a field of ice two miles and a quarter broad, which it was necessary to cut through with a saw, and then, with great labour, to float away the fragments. This afforded two days and a half of hard labour to both the crews. Having thus brought the ships into a secure position, they dismantled the whole. of the masts except the lower one, deposited the boate, yards, masts, and rigging, in a shade erected for

them on shore, and raised a housing over the deck, as a covering for their winter habitation. The sun still threw a few uncertain beams from the southern horizon; but they had the gloomy prospect of losing his light for nearly three months, and being left to the dim twilight of an Arctic winter.

In this situation, where the spirits of the crews would have been so apt to flag, Captain Parry displayed equal judgment and ingenuity in contriving amusement and occupation for them. He set on foot a weekly paper called the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, of which Captain Sabine was editor; and twenty-one numbers were composed within the Polar circle. Plays were also composed and acted by such of the officers as felt themselves inspired by any of the dramatic and histrionic talent. Excursions abroad were kept up as much as possible; and the officers usually rambled out two hours in the day, unless when prevented by the drift, to escape the dangers of which they were obliged never to remove above a mile or two from the vessel. Captain Parry complains, however, of the dull and tedious monotony of the scene, which, day after day, presented itself. "To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hummocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land afford much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground in some exposed situ. ations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm and clear days which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce contem

plation, which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen, on which the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where the ships lay, and where our little colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the prospect; and the sound of voices, which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us,-a silence far different from that peaceful composure which characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country; it was the death-like still ness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence."

One of the most remarkable of the observations here made, was the excessive intensity of the cold. From the 5th November to the 22d April, the thermometer was constantly below zero. The average of November was 20 degrees below zero; of December, 21; of January, 30; of February, 32. The average of the year was 1.33 above zero, which is 30 degrees below the freezing point, whereas, according to calculations founded on its place upon the globe, it ought to have been 36. Yet the inconvenience experienced from this intense cold, was surprisingly little; and, indeed, the greatest cold which they experienced was quite tolerable in calm weather. Two of the sailors had, at different times, their hands so frost-bitten, that it was necessary to cut off the fingers. The cold produced a remarkable effect on the mental faculties, and gave often the appearance of stupid intoxication. The sufferers spoke thick and indistinctly, and could not return a rational an

swer till the returning circulation restored the faculties. The only other painful sensation was that of snowblindness, resembling what is felt when sand or dust gets into the eyes. It was cured by a solution of sugar of lead.

The observations on the variation of the needle were among the most important made during this voyage, As they proceeded westward from Baffin's Bay, the deviation produced by the ship's action increased uniformly and rapidly. On the 7th August, in lat. 73°, they witnessed, for the first time, the curious phenomenon of the directive power of the needle becoming so weak as to be completely overcome by that action, the needle pointing to the north pole of the ship. About the 102d degree of west longitude, the variation changed from westerly to easterly, so that this point, which they passed on the 27th of August, must have been a few degrees to the north of the great magnetic pole.

The Aurora Borealis was observed much less frequently than had been expected. Some striking halos, parhelia, and paraselenae, were seen. One of the most remarkable observations was on the transmission of sounds, which took place so perfectly, that persons were heard distinctly conversing in their ordinary tone of voice at a mile, and sometimes at a greater distance. This phenomenon seems satisfactorily traced in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal to the uniform density of the air, which presented nothing to divide or interrupt the sonorous undulations.

On the 1st August, the two vessels were able to leave Winter Harbour, and entertained sanguine hopes of making farther important discoveries. They were disappointed, however, after a few days' sailing, to find the sea so completely obstructed with

ice as to make it impossible to proceed westward; and, after beating about for some time, they had no alternative but to turn and direct their course homewards. On the 29th October, they touched at Peterhead, and, on the 3d November, arrived in the Thames.

In the following year, (1821,) a new expedition was fitted out under the same enterprizing commander. The existence of an ocean to the north of America being established, there was reason to suppose, that it might be more advantageously entered from the unexplored sounds on the north of Hudson's Bay, which, there was every reason to believe, must communicate with it. The expedition would thus sail in a lower latitude, and would avoid that chain of islands, which, stretching along the tract explored by Captain Parry, formed a perpetual nidus of icebergs. Two years have now elapsed since the sailing of this expedition, and we still await its result.

In the summer of 1819, contemporaneously with Captain Parry's first departure, a land expedition had been sent under Captain Franklin, for the purpose of proceeding from the Hudson's Bay factory, and tracing the coast of the Northern ocean. It arrived at the factory too late in the season to proceed till the commencement of the following summer. It then set out, but the difficulties of the route were so great, and the season of the year during which travelling was possible so short, that they were obliged to spend the winters of 1818-19 and 1819-20, in log-houses belonging to the company upon the lakes. Some notices were, during that time, transmitted; but we need not anticipate the more full detail since received.

While Britain was making these

extraordinary efforts to perform the circuit of the American coast from the west, another power was striving to effect the same object on an opposite side. Russia, which claimed the territory bordering on, and partly included in, the unknown world of the north, fitted out, in 1815, the Rurick, commanded by Lieutenant Otto Von Kotzebue, to penetrate through Behring's Straits, ascertain the separation of the two continents, and penetrate as far east as possible. The Rurick left Plymouth in October, 1815; and, after passing Cape Horn, proceeded across that now beaten tract, the Pacific. The chief novelty occurred at the solitary spot of Easter Island, where the formerly peaceable inhabitants were seen coming out to meet them with their faces painted red, white, and black, and making the most furious and menacing gestures. The Russians avoided landing, but afterwards learned the cause of this indignation, which was, that an American vessel had carried off twenty-two of the inhabitants, to people a new colony formed at Masafuero. Kotze bue passed several detached islands, which he put down as discoveries, though it seems doubtful if they did not belong to formerly explored groups.

On the 30th July, the expedition entered its sphere of discovery, being at Prince of Wales Cape, on the American side of Behring's Strait. Beyond this Cape was a long tract of low land, covered with luxuriant verdure. The few natives whom they saw were filthy and disgusting in their appearance; whenever approached, they uttered piercing cries, and assumed threatening attitudes. All the habitations at which the Russians landed were deserted, and only dogs remaining; but they were built with a good deal of neatness, having wooden partitions formed from the vast quantity of drift wood brought down the Ame

rican rivers, and wafted hither by the current. After passing an island seven miles long, they entered a deep inlet, running eastward into the continent. Kotzebue spent thirteen days in exploring this inlet, but without 'being able to discover any passage, except one on the western side, and another on the south eastern shore, apparently communicating with Norton Sound. It seems doubtful, however, if he examined with sufficient care to ascertain that there really was no communication with the Arctic ocean. The inhabitants of this bay looked at the Russians with much wonder, having never before seen Europeans; but they were friendly and peaceable, excessively eager for tobacco. The aspect of the country was singularly genial; everything was green; here and there were flowers in blossom; and no snow was seen but on the tops of the mountains at a great distance. The vegetation is described as richer than in the interior of Laurence Bay. There is something, indeed, very singular in the difference of temperature of the two opposite continents. "Ice and snow," says Kotzebue, "have maintained their rule here (on the Asiatic side) since last year; and in this state we find the whole coast; while in America, even the summits of the highest mountains are free from snow; there the navigator sees the coast covered with a green carpet, while here, black, massy rocks, frown upon him, with snow and icicles."

Kotzebue, on coming out of this inlet, instead of proceeding eastward, as the objects of his mission would have dictated, employed the rest of the season in surveying the opposite coast of Asia. Having spent the winter in the South Sea, he returned next season to the vicinity of the Straits; but, moved by the broken state of his health, and by other circumstan