proceed till they reached the latitude at 87%, where, under similar circumstances, they might leave a second sledge in charge of four men, with as much provision as would serve these and the returning party, till they reached the first establishment. The third sledge could be left at the 89th degree, with five men, whilst the three remaining with their hand-sledges, blankets, and provisions, disburdened of every other incumbrance, might trudge on to the Pole.

In such a journey, the assistance of dogs or rein-deer would be a very sensible advantage. These might be taken even as far as the second establishment, and if land fortunately lies in such a quarter, they might be kept to assist the returning expedition, otherwise the want of provision would render it necessary to destroy them, for it is not very probable that many fish can be caught there for food to them.

The advantages of such arrangements, if they could be effected, would be very sensibly felt; for fresh assistance would be derived from the lengthened journey. The first sledge, with a load of provision, is left in charge of only three men, consequently not only is the burden of the other two lightened, but two additional hands are added to drag these along. A diminution of burden takes place also at the second establishment, when four men are left in charge. The remaining eight with the last sledge proceed to take up the position just sixty miles from the Pole: three of the company travel the rest, with scarce any cumbrance at all. Thus the burden diminishes whilst the ability to bear it increases; and, as the party returned, they would more sensibly feel the benefit of such management, as each detachment, refreshed and strengthened, would be in good condition to yield their much-needed help to their weary associates.

Further, if the unaccustomed toil should unfortunately disable any one, rest might be obtained till health was re-established, and the expedition relieved of any incumbrance which might frustrate all their endeavours.

But, perhaps, the idea of a firm continent of ice is chimerical. Mayhap there is not an island, not even a rock, above water, between Spitzbergen and the Pole: well, but most likely there are such things, and if there are none, having such provisions in store, the views of the expedition can be prosecuted as easily

with them as without them. The only untoward circumstance is, that Parry would be confined to the same track in returning, by which means his sphere of observation would be more contracted; but then the chance of encountering difficulties unprepared for, on his road homeward, might involve him and his party in ruin.

If the Pole is surrounded by ancient ice, may it not, like the polar glaciers, be fissured all over, much to the inconvenience of the expedition ?

Far to the north, among these icy realms, the still atmosphere may enjoy perpetual serenity, a matter of the first magnitude in promoting the interests of this undertaking; for though, in the latitude of Spitzbergen, during June, July, and August, the air is so often obscured by dense raw fogs, yet, in the interior ice it is always clear; if it were otherwise, our adventurers would be exposed to the most imminent peril; for though recent improvements in the compass exclude the influence of such a state of the air on its movements, yet continued obscurity would not only cover the sun from their view, but conceal all the circumjacent country, rendering their observations very unsatisfactory.

Hitherto the general opinion has been very inimical to undertakings of this nature, and all northern voyages have been condemned, on account of the impracticability of reaching the object of pursuit, and the inutility of such, even though it were attained. But the opinions of cui bono philosophers are unworthy of consideration. We feel convinced that all these expeditions have contributed much to our knowledge of the globe; and we hesitate not a moment in affirming, that every one having a right feeling of what constitutes the character of a great nation like ours, will agree with us, that the bold and daring enterprize in which Captain Parry is soon to embark, is worthy the marine of Great Britain, honourable to the science of the country, and a proof, if any were wanted, of the liberal and enlightened views of our Government. Though the enterprize of Parry may not enable us to solve the grand geographical problem which has for so long a period engaged the attention of mankind, though the secrets of the Pole may ever remain unrevealed, yet the interests of science, and the not less important

one of the whale-fishery, now so impoverished, may be much promoted.

Many alterations have taken place in the physical distribution of whales, originating probably in the persecution with which they have been so vigorously followed during the last 200 years. Some think that the present scarcity is caused by the numbers captured having over-reached the breeding of that animal; but the perspicuous view we have in Mr Scoresby's chronological account of the whale-fishery, would rather suggest the idea that captures are now more rare, on account of the scattered haunts to which persecution has driven it. About 200 years ago they were taken in abundance on the shores and in the bays of Jan Mayen Island; now even a straggler is scarce ever seen in that situation. As soon as they were expelled from thence, they abounded in the bays of Spitzbergen, where they were slain in vast numbers, till, alarmed by their foes, they fled, and are now scattered abroad among the ice; and their former haunts, which have been relinquished for a hundred years, are now occupied only by the tremendous razor-back and ugly sea-horse.

The sea adjoining Spitzbergen is the usual resort of what are called the Greenland fishermen. Their fortune depends on their success during the two early months of the voyage, for whales all disappear by the middle of June. It is, I think, not improbable that this migration may happen as soon as the ice is open in more eastern seas, where a successful fishery might be prosecuted during the late months, if these remote regions can be safely navigated: a point of much importance, the practicability of which will be ascertained during the present voyage; for the Hecla being stationed at Cloven Cliff to wait the return of Captain Parry and his party, the rest of the crew are to be occupied with the boats in surveying the eastern shores of Spitzbergen, concerning which all our knowledge is derived from the Dutch, whose accounts of other parts in the Frozen Ocean have been found dangerously erroneous.

Boats, or very small vessels, appear best adapted for examining the sea east from Spitzbergen, being best qualified for navigating the narrows among ice-fields; and, from their portability, are not only less liable to besetment, but may escape the ruin in which they would otherwise be involved, from the approxima

tion of large masses of ice. In the sea south from Spitzbergen, light boats would be useless; for it being strewed with the wreck of fields, which, from its various dispositions, acquires the name of packs, streams, or floes, the process of boring is requisite, which can be accomplished only with heavy vessels. But, in high eastern latitudes, such a process may be seldom required ; and so far as these little vessels can proceed, they may traverse with tolerable freedom, rendering them the fittest means of seeking the highest northern latitude, or the greatest eastern longitude.

General Observations on the former and present Geological Condition of the Countries discovered by Captains Parry and Ross. By Professor JAMESON *.

THE observations made during the four Arctic Expeditions, viz. that under Captain Ross, and the three under Captain Parry, afford the following general facts and inferences :

1. That the regions explored abound in primitive and transition rocks; that, although the secondary rocks occupy considerable tracts, still their extent is more limited than that of the older formations; that the alluvial deposites are not extensive; that true or modern volcanic rocks were nowhere met with; and that the only traces of the tertiary strata were found in the sandstones and clays connected with the secondary traps of Baffin's Bay.

2. That the primitive and transition islands were, in all probability, at one time connected together, and formed a continuous mass with the continental parts of America; and that, in the plains and hollows of this land were deposited the secondary limestones, sandstones, gypsum, and coal, and upon these again the tertiary rocks.、

3. That, after the deposition of these secondary and tertiary rocks, the land appears to have been broken up, and reduced either suddenly or by degrees, or partly by sudden and violent action, and partly by the long continued agency of the atmo

* From Parry's Third Voyage.

sphere and the ocean, into its present insular and peninsular form; and that, consequently, the secondary and tertiary formations were formerly, in those regions, more extensively distributed than they are at present.

4. That, previous to the deposition of the coal-formation, as that of Melville Island, the transition and primitive hills and plains supported a rich and luxuriant vegetation, principally of cryptogamous plants, especially the ferns, the prototypes of which are now met with only in the tropical regions of the earth. The fossil corals of the secondary limestones also intimate, that before, during, and after, the deposition of the coalformation, the waters of the ocean were so constituted as to support polyparia, closely resembling those of the present equatorial seas.

5. That, previous to, and during, the deposition of the tertiary strata, these now frozen regions supported forests of dicotyledonous plants, as is shewn by the fossil dicotyledonous woods met with in connection with these strata in Baffin's Bay, and by the fossil wood of Melville Island, Cape York, and Byam Martin Island.

6. That the boulders or rolled blocks met with in different quarters, and in tracts distant from their original localities, afford evidence of the passage of water across them, and at a period subsequent to the deposition of the newest solid strata, namely, those of the tertiary class.

7. That nowhere are there any discoverable traces of the agency of modern volcanoes; and we may add, that, in the Arctic Regions, the only appearances of this kind are those in Jan Mayen's Island, described by Scoresby.

8. That the only intimations of older volcanic action are those afforded by the presence of secondary trap-rocks, such as basalt, greenstone, trap-tuffa, and amygdaloid.

9. That the black bituminous coal, the coal of the oldest coalformation, which some speculators maintain to be confined to the more temperate and warmer regions of the earth, is now proved, by its discovery in Melville Island, far to the west, and in Jameson's Land, far to the east, in Old Greenland, to form an interesting and important feature in the geognostical constitution of arctic countries.