STRANDED ON NOVA ZEMBLA 13 From an old print THE “RACEHORSE” AND THE “CARCASE” IN THE ICE 28 From a picture by J. Clively CUTTING A PASSAGE INTO WINTER HARBOUR 42 From a sketch by Lieut. Beechey CROSSING THE BARREN GROUNDS 56 From a drawing by Capt. Back THE WALRUS AS SEEN BY OLAUS MAGNUS 68 THE DISRUPTION OF THE ICE ROUND THE “TERROR” 100 From a drawing by Capt. Smyth BOATS AMONG THE ICE 134 From a drawing by Capt. Back FAST IN THE ICE 154 From a sketch by Lieut. Beechey THE FRANKLIN RECORD 174 ESKIMO ARCHITECTS 192 From a drawing by Capt. Lyon A BEAR HUNT 212 From an old print ESKIMOS SLEDGING 248 From a drawing by Capt. Lyon PEARY’S TRAVELLING EQUIPMENT 266 By kind permission of Messrs F. A. Stokes Co. THE MEETING BETWEEN JACKSON AND NANSEN 274 By kind permission of Capt. Jackson and Messrs Harper Bros. MAP OF FRANZ JOSEF LAND 277 MAP OF SPITZBERGEN 286 IN THE SLUSH 288 By kind permission of Sir Martin Conway and Messrs J. M. Dent & Co. ANDRÉE’S BALLOON IN ITS SHED 292 From a photograph THE “POLAR STAR” UNDER ICE PRESSURE 304 By kind permission of Messrs Hutchinson & Co. CHART OF THE NORTH POLAR REGIONS _Attend_ ARCTIC EXPLORATION CHAPTER I EARLY VOYAGES The story of the first few centuries of Arctic exploration can, of course, never be written. The early Norsemen, to whom must go the credit for most of the first discoveries, were a piratical race, and their many voyages were conducted, for the most part, in a strictly business-like spirit. Occasionally one of them would happen on a new country by accident, just as Naddod the Viking happened upon Iceland in 861 by being driven there by a gale while on his way to the Faroe Islands. Occasionally a curious adventurer would follow in the footsteps of one of these early discoverers, but no serious attempt was made to widen the field of knowledge thus opened up, unless the Norsemen saw their way to entering upon commercial relations with the natives, to the great disadvantage of the latter. [Illustration: AN OLD MAP OF THE POLAR REGIONS FROM NARBOROUGH’S “VOYAGES” (1694) _The erroneous intersection of Greenland by Frobisher’s Strait should be especially noted_]