goal; in fact, only two well-directed British expeditions have aimed at it, viz. the recent one under Captain Nares, and one in 1827 under Parry, which will be noticed in their proper places. We are indebted mainly for our knowledge of the Arctic regions to those adventurous spirits who, during the last 300 years, have endeavoured to discover what is known as the North-West Passage, and to which allusion will be made in these lessons again and again. Much information, however, has been obtained from those Arctic whalers and seal fishers whose voyages extend over two or three years at a time.

In the minds of most people, Arctic discoveries are not dated back more than 300 or 400 years; but the Norwegian sagas inform us that so remote as the 9th or 10th century—that is, a thousand years ago the Northmen had discovered unknown countries in the south and west of Greenland. We shall not stay to notice these accounts, but begin our story somewhere about the close of the 15th century; just, however, noting that 200 years before Columbus was born, parts of the American continent were known to the ancient Scandinavians.

Every reader of history will know that towards the close of the 15th century, by the extravagant stories of the wealth of the East Indies and China, and by the monopoly which the Spanish and Portuguese ships had of the Cape of Good Hope route to those countries, eager attention was turned to find out a north-west passage. Here we notice that a different spirit began to actuate voyagers in this direction. The old Northmen had undertaken their perilous enterprises from a spirit of adventure (and possibly of plunder), but the new sailors were actuated by motives of trade and com

merce. In later times the object has again changed; men have gone these long dreary voyages, not so much for financial gain as to extend the domains of knowledge and add to their country's fame.

The work of Arctic exploration may be said to have been commenced in the year 1553, by Sir Hugh Willoughby. The futile attempts of the

Cabots and some others, about fifty years before, to find a passage to India by the north-west, induced a company of London merchants to fit out three vessels, under the command of Willoughby and Richard Chancellor, to find out a passage to that country of riches by the north-east. The ships were separated. That of Chancellor reached Arch

angel, where he laid the foundation of that commercial intercourse between this country and Russia which has continued to increase ever since; but the frozen bones of Sir Hugh Willoughby, and all his crew, were found, a year afterwards, on the bleak ice-bound shores of North Russia. This expedition is not an unfair sample of scores of others which have been organised. The story opens with great enthusiasm and high hopes, but the sequel is one of peril, suffering, hardships, and death, but not unmixed with good.

The sad end of Sir Hugh had a depressing effect on the spirits of sailors for some time, but about twenty years afterwards anxiety exhibited itself to solve the mystery of the North-West Passage. Martin Frobisher, from 1576 to 1578, made no less than three voyages, the results of which may be summed up in one sentence: he penetrated to the entrance of Hudson Strait, and gave his own name to the strait a little to the north of it. Some glittering mineralogical specimens which he picked up, and which raised high the hopes of the gold-seekers, turned out to be of no value at all except as ballast. One remarkable fact is worth mentioning-some of the relics left by Frobisher in these regions were picked up in a fair state of preservation nearly 300 years afterwards by Captain Hall. The preservative power of cold is something wonderful, as we shall have occasion to notice by and by.

Except for a very remarkable saying which an American poet (Longfellow) has perpetuated in connection with the event, we should pass over without notice the melancholy termination of an expedition, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with a view to colonize Newfoundland. Every schoolboy has read how

'Eastward from Campobello

Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed;
Three days or more he seaward bore,
Then, alas! the land-wind failed.
'Alas! the land-wind failed,

And ice-cold grew the night;
And never more, on sea or shore,
Should Sir Humphrey see the light.

'He sat upon the deck,

The Book was in his hand;

"Do not fear! Heaven is as near,'

He said, "by water as by land."

Captain John Davis was the next to make the attempt to cross the threshold of the ice realm. Like Frobisher, he made three voyages, and carried his discoveries 250 miles farther north than any of his predecessors, that is, to 72° N. lat., in the year 1587. He gave his name to that strait which is the highway to the Polar Sea, and made considerable discoveries along the west coast of Greenland.

We must pass over several expeditions sent out by the Dutch and others, and just notice briefly the name of Hudson. His discoveries were of real and vast importance. He undertook four voyages. During the first he proceeded due north as far as 81; his second attempt was less fortunate. During his third voyage (undertaken in the Dutch service) he discovered the river which bears his name. His last voyage, which was in other respects the most successful, ended in his death. Having entered the great inland sea called after him, his crew broke out into mutiny, cast Hudson, his son, and seven seamen, into an open boat, which was never heard of again. A couplet says:

"Of all the sea-shapes death has worn, may mariners never know

Such fate as Hendrick Hudson found in the labyrinth of snow.'

William Baffin, who made voyages in 1614 and 1616, is the next name of importance. He headed his ships into the waters known as Baffin Bay, and made the important discovery of a water passage or open sea course leading still farther north. This he named Smith Sound, after Sir Thomas Smith, the governor of the East India Company.

His statement of this open passage was generally disbelieved at the time, and for a hundred years after; but subsequent voyages have redeemed his credit, and proved the truthfulness of his account. Your attention is specially called to this Smith Sound, because geographers are now pretty well agreed that this is the only practicable approach to the North Pole.

It is perhaps well to explain one fact here. On a map of this region you will find many places marked by the name of Fox. Now, as we shall have to mention that name later on,-it being the name of the ship in which M'Clintock sailed in search of Franklin,-it might be surmised that these places were named after the gallant little ship. Such, however, is not the case; they bear the name of a navigator (Luke Fox) who visited these regions about the year 1630.

For about a hundred years after this period very little was done in the way of Arctic discovery, until interest was aroused by the British Government offering a reward of £20,000 to any one who should discover the North-West Passage. Several journeys were made overland to the American shores, during