“Summer-isles of Eden lying in dark-purple spheres of sea,” which are crowned with the bread-fruit and the palm, the spontaneous gifts of a liberal soil. We follow with far deeper interest the footprints of a Parry and a Franklin than those of a Wallis, a Carteret, or even a Cook. The general reader, therefore, may not be displeased at the attempt of the present writer to put before him, with bold touches, and in outline rather than in detail, a picture of that Polar World which is so awful and yet so fascinating. In the following pages he will find its principal features sketched, its chief characters legibly and clearly traced. They are not intended for the scientific,--though it is hoped the scientific, if they fall in with them, will find no ground for censure. They aim at describing the wonders of sky and sea and land; the glories of the aurora; the beauty of the starry Arctic night; the majesty of iceberg and glacier; the rugged dreariness of the hummocky fields of ice; the habits of the Polar bear, the seal, and the walrus; and the manners and customs of the various tribes which frequent the shores of the Polar seas and straits, or dwell on the border-land of the Frigid Zone. In a word, it has been the writer’s object to bring together just such particulars as might enable the intelligent reader to realize to himself the true character of the world which extends around the North Pole. In carrying out this object, he has necessarily had recourse to the voyages of numerous explorers and the narratives of sundry scientific authorities; and he believes that not a statement has been ventured which could not claim their support. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Various routes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans described--Advantages of a North-West Passage, if practicable--What is to be gained from further Arctic exploration--What zoology would gain--The problem of the migration of birds--About the Knots--Boundaries of the North Polar Regions--Their principal geographical features--Divisions into two zones, or sections--The stony tundras--The flora of the North--The Siberian desert--Limits of perpetual snow--General character of life in the Polar World 9–21 CHAPTER II.