2 OCTOBER 1830, Page 17

THE POLAR REGIONS.*

This is atothei of the numerous family of " cheap publications," as they are called. The principal advantage which these works " in little " present, is, that a reader may pick from among them what suits his taste or his purse, without cumbering his shelves with volumes which he is careless of perusing, or which he may find it inconvenient to purchase. A Library of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, formed out of these-cheap produc- tions, would prove more expensive than the largest Encyclopmdia, and it would be found to be but an imperfect substitute. But there are many thousands who cannot afford thirty pounds for an Encyclopmdia, who can afford thirty shillings for a portion of it. The Cabinet Libraries and Cabinet Cyclopwdice are extremely well-suited to this numerous class of book-buyers. The matter they contain. is not better—it is for the most part not so good—as that of their ponderous predecessors ; but it is presented in a more accessible shape. There is another advantage in the form of the minor Encyclopedim. In the progressive departments of science, the purchase of two or three additional volumes will com- plete a collection : under the old system, it would require the purchase of twenty or thirty quartos. Such seem to be their chief advantages. • Their chief defect is, that they tend to degrade the literature of the country, by taking away one of its grand incitements, the right of copy. The large Encyclopeilim, like the small, were compila- tions, but their high price prevented their seriously injuring any individual work. From the small, no work is safe. That which appears in a quarto to-day, and for which a large sum has been paid by an enterprising bookseller, is cut down into a duodecimo to-morrow by an interloping brother of the trade, who, though he had none of the risk of the original work, generally contrives to secure a large share of the profits. This practice has always sub- sisted in some degree ; but the multiplied series of compilations at present publishing have given it system, and converted what was an accidental injury into a permanent abuse. If every work that admits of such a process is to be passed as soon as produced through the alembic of re-compilation, and the quintessential re- sults offered to the public at one-fourth of the price of the primi- tive volume, it must inevitably follow, that original composition will become more and more rare, until it altogether cease, unless in works of imagination. We may still have original poems and original novels ; but our works of history and of science must in future be written by gentlemen authors, or be made up after the good old method mentioned by BURTON.

Having thus freed our soul, we shall now proceed to consider the first volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. It has often struck us, that while the metropolis generally sur- passes the provinces in the decoration of books, the provinces for the most part excel London in the material. The "Narrative of Disco- very and Adventure" in no respect falls short of the high character which the compilations of Edinburgh usually bear. It is most re- spectably "got up ;" the information it affords is multifarious and interesting, and solid withal ; and the style is generally plain, simple, and philosophical. It presents, indeed, in its research and in its language, a considerable contrast to the shallowness and fustian of some of its metropolitan competitors. To novelty it has few claims. We are not aware that it contains any fact that we have not met with before ; but it presents in a lucid order, and in a comprehen- sible form, the contents cf many volumes, some of them rare, some expensive, and all requirino- for their perusal facilities which few enjoy, and an abundance of leisure which fewer have it in their power to give. The volume consists of ten chapters. The first, on the Climate ofthe Polar Regions, is by Professor LESLIE; whose essay on the general subject of climate is so well known and highly esteemed by all who have studied that curious subject either popularly or scientifically. The chapter in question Contains a restatement of the parts of that admirable paper which have peculiar reference to very high latitudes, with numerous additional facts and arguments, written in the excel- lent Professor's best manner. The second chapter contains a correct and instructive account of the Animals and Vegetables of the "far North ;" the ninth chapter is dedicated to the history of the past and present state of the Whale-fishery ; the tenth, to the Geology of the Arctic regions ; the intermediate chapters contain a brief and well-written summary of the various voyages in the Arctic seas, mercantile and scientific, from the early attempts of PYTHE AS of Marseilles down to the yet unfinished voyage of Captain Ross. The geological notices are drawn up by Professor JAMIE- SON; the abridgment of the voyages and travels is made by Mr. HUGH MURRAY, whose excellent History of African Discovery had sufficiently proved how well fitted he was for such a task. The chapter on the Whale-fishery is replete with details, which the general reader may perhaps pass over, but by him who reads for 'profit they will be found extremely useful. Perhaps the arrangement might have been mended. The first and second chapters Would have been more in place at the end than at the beginning ; or if placed in the beginning, they would have been properly accompanied by the ninth and tenth. In the other chapters, we have "ancient voyages to the North," "voyages in search of a North-east passage,' early -Voyages towards the Pole ;" and after a couple of chapters, which give a history of the 7 *Edinburgh Cabinet Library, No. I. Narrative of Discovery and Adventnre in the Polar Seas and Regions. vital Illustrations of their Climate' ' Geolbsy and 14 aux al History, and an AccOunt of the Whale Fishery. By Profess or Leslie, Pro- fessor Jameson, and Hugh Murray, Esq. F.R.S. Edinburgh, 1830. early and recent voyages in search of a North-west passage, we have another entitled “. recent voyages towards the Pole." There is so much of what is common in the objects and adventures of all the navigators whose tract Mr. MURRAY has delineated, whe- ther they went " east or west, or to the crow's nest," that we ra- ther question the propriety of classing their labours by the point of the compass to which they were particularly directed ; but if such a classification be admitted, there seems no reason why all the voyages " towards the Pole " should not. follow in chronolo- gical order. An index or a short summary, instead of a mere title to each chapter, would add considerably to the value of the book. But we need not insist on these minutim. The work has our cordial approbation ; and whatever encouragement that approbation may give to the spirited publishers to go on as they have begun, soundly and well, we cheerfully offer them. We give a couple of extracts,—the first from one of the intro- ductory chapters ; the second from the chapter on the Whale- fishery. They will show, that even in the more didactic portions the editor has been careful to mingle the dalce with the utile.

THE POLAR BEAR.—The annals of the North are filled with accounts of the most perilous and fatal conflicts with the Polar bear. The first and

one of the most tragical, was sustained by Barentz and Heemskerke, in

1596, during their voyage for the discovery of the north-east passage. Havins.° anchored at an island near the strait of Waygatz, two of the sailors

landed, and were walking on shore, when one of them felt himself closely

hugged from behind. Thinking this a frolic of one of his companions, he called out in a corresponding tone, " Who's there ? pray stand off." His

comrade looked, and screamed out, " A bear ! a bear !" then running to the ship, alarmed the crew with loud cries. The sailors ran to the spot, armed with pikes and muskets. On their approach the bear very coolly quitted the mangled corpse, sprang upon another sailor, carried him off, and plunging his teeth into his body, began drinking his blood at long draughts. Hereupon the whole of that stout crew, struck with terror, turned their backs, and fled precipitately to the ship. On arriving there they began to look at each other, unable to feel much satisfaction with their own prowess. Three then stood forth, undertaking to avenge the fate of their countrymen, and to secure for them the rites of burial. They advanced, and fired at first from so respectful a distance that all missed. The purser then courageously proceeded in front of his companions, and taking a close aim, pierced the monster's skull immediately below the eye. The bear, however, merely lifted his head, and advanced upon them, hold- ing still in his mouth the victim whom he was devouring ; but seeing him

soon stagger, the three rushed on with sabre and bayonet, and soon despatched him. They collected and bestowed decent sepulture on the mangled limbs of their comrades, while the skin of the animal, thirteen feet long, became the prize of the sailor who had fired the successful shot.

The history of the whale. fishers records a number of remarkable escapes from the bear. A Dutch captain, Jonge Kees, in 1668, undertook, with two canoes, to attack one, and with a lance gave him so dreadful a wound in the belly, that his immediate death seemed inevitable. Anxious, there- fore, not to injure the skin, Kees, merely followed the animal close, till he should drop down dead. The bear, however, having, climbed a littre rock, made a spring from the distance of twenty-four feet upon the cap-- tam, who, taken completely by surprise, lost hold. of the lance, and fell beneath the assailant, who, placing both paws on his breast, opened two rows of tremendous teeth, and paused for a moment, as if to show him all the horrors of his situation. At this critical instant, a sailor rushing forward with only a scoop, succeeded in alarming the monster, who made off, leaving the captain without the slightest injury. In 1788, Captain Cook of the Archangel, when near the coast of Spitz.- bergen, found himself suddenly between the paws of a bear. He instantly called on the surgeon who accompanied him to fire, which the latter did with such admirable promptitude and precision, that he shot the beast through the head, and delivered the captain. Mr. Hawkins of the Ever- thorpe, in July 1818, having pursued and twice struck a large bear, had raised his lance for a third blow, when the animal sprang forward', seized him by the thigh, and threw him over his head into the water. Fortunately it used this advantage only to effect its own escape. Captain Scoresby mentions a boat's crew which attacked a bear in the Spitzbergen sea ; but the animal having succeeded in climbing the sides of the boat, all the sailors threw themselves for safety into the water, where they hung by the gunwale. The victor entered triumphantly, and took pos- session of the barge, where it sat quietly till it was shot by another party. The same writer mentions the ingenious contrivance of a sailor, who, being pursued by one of these creatures, threw down succesively his hat, jacket, handkerchief, and every other article in his possession, when the brute pausing at each, gave the sailor always a certain advantage, and enabled him finally to regain the vessel.

Though the voracity of the bear is such, that he has been known to feed on his own species, yet maternal tenderness is as conspicuous in the female as in other inhabitants of the frozen regions. There is no exertion which she will not make for the supply of her progeny. A she-bear, with her two cubs, being pursued by some sailors across a field of ice, and finding that, neither by example, nor by a peculiar voice and action, she could urge them to the requisite speed, applied her paws and pitched them alternately forward. The little creatures themselves as she came up, threw themselves before her to receive the impulse, arid thus both she and they effected their escape. Bears are by no means devoid of intelligence. Their schemes for entrap. ping seals, and other animals on which they feed, often display consider- able ingenuity. The manner in which the Polar bear surprises his victim is thus described by Captain Lyon :—On seeing his intended prey, he gets quietly into the water, and swims to a leeward position, from whence, by frequent short dives, he silently makes his approaches, and so arranges his distance, that at the last dive he comes to the spot where the seal is lying. If the poor animal attempts to escape by rolling into the water, he falls into the paws of the bear ; if, on the contrary, he lies still, his destroyer makes a powerful spring, kills him on the ice, and devours him at leisure. Some sailors, endeavouring to catch a bear, placed the noose of a rope under the snow, baited with a piece of whale's flesh. The bear, however, contrived, three successive times, to push the noose aside, and to carry off the bait unhurt.

AFFECTING SHIPWRECK OF THE JEAN OF PETERHEAD.—This vessel sailed on the 15th March 1826, having on board. only twenty-eight men, but reeeived at Lerwick a complement of twenty-three natives of Shetland ; awing to which arrangement, as well as by contrary winds, she was detained till the 28th. From the evening of that day to the 1st April, the ship en- countered very, stormy weather, which she successfully withstood, and

was then steered into those western tracts of the Greenland sea which are the most favourable for the capture of the seal. On the 14th, in the lati. ttule of 68°, the fishery began most prosperously. In one day the seamen lulled 1138 seals, and the entire number caught in five days exceeded 3070. This scene, however, could not be contemplated without some painful impressions. The seals attacked were only the young, as they lay fearlessly reposing on the ice, before they had yet attempted to plunge into the watery element. One blow of the club stunned them completely. The view of hundreds of creatures bearing some resemblance to the human form writhing in the agonies of death, and the deck streaming with their gore, was at once distressing and disgusting to a spectator of any feeling. However, this evil soon gave way to others of a more serious nature.

On the morning of the 18th April the sailors had begun their fishery as usual ; but a breeze sprung up, and obliged them by eleven o'clock to suspend operations. The gale continually freshened, and was the more unpleasant from their being surrounded with loose ice, which a dense and heavy fog made it impossible to distinguished at any distance. The mari- ners took in all sail, but did not apprehend danger till six in the evening when the wind, which had been continually increasing, began to blow with tenfold fury. All that the narrator had ever heard, of the united sounds of thunder, tempest, and waves, seemed faint when compared with the stunning roar of this hurricane. At eight the ship was borne upon a stream of ice, from which she received several severe concussions; the consequence of which was, that at ten the water began to enter, and at twelve no exertion in pumping could prevent her from being gradually filled.

At one in the morning she became completely waterlogged. She then fell over on her beam-ends, when the crew, giving themselves up for lost, clung to the nearest object for immediate safety. By judiciously cutting away the main and foremasts, they happily enabled the ship to right herself, when being drifted into a stream of ice, she was no longer in clanger of immediate sinking. The whole hull, however, was inundated and indeed immersed in water, except a portion of the quarter-deck, upon which the whole crew were now assembled. Here they threw up an awn- ing of sails to shelter themselves from the cold, which had become so in- tense as to threaten the extinction of life. Those endowed with spirit and sense kept up the vital power by brisk movement ; but the natives of Shetland, who are accused on such occasions of sinking into a selfish despondency, piled themselves together in a heap, with a view of deriving warmth from each other's bodies. Those in the interior of the mass ob- tained thus a considerable temperature, though accompanied with severe pressure ; and blows were given, and even knives drawn, to gain and to preserve this advantageous position. On the 19th, one Shetlander

died of cold, another on the 20th, and a third on the 21st,—events felt by the others as peculiarly gloomy, chiefly, it is owned, as forming a presage of their own impending fate.

On the 22nd the sun began to appear amid showers of snow ; and the 23rd was ushered in by fine weather and a clear sky. The opinions of the crew were now divided as to what course they should steer in search

of deliverance. Two plans were suggested. They could either stretch northward into the fishing stations, where they might expect sooner or

later to meet some of their countrymen, by whom they would be received on board ; or they might sail southward towards Iceland, and throw themselves on the hospitality of its inhabitants. The former plan was in several respects the more promising, especially as a vessel had been in sight when the storm arose. But its uncertainties were also very great. They might traverse for weeks those vast icy seas, amid cold always in- creasing, and with imminent danger of being swallowed up by the waves. Iceland was distant, but it was a definite point ; and upon this course they at last wisely determined. Several days were spent in fitting out their two remaining boats—all the others having been swept away—and in fishing up from the interior of the vessel every article which could be turned to account. During this operation, the weather continuing fine, they could not forbear admiring the scene by which they were sur- rounded. The sea was formed as it were into a beautiful little frith, by the ice rising around in the most varied and fantastic forms, sometimes even assuming the appearance of cities adorned with towers and forests • of columns. Continual efforts were necessary, meantime, to keep the wreck on the icy field ; for had it slipped over into the sea, of

which there appeared a strong probability, it would have gone down at once. By the 26th the boats were completely ready, having on board a small stock of provisions, and a single change of linen. At half-past one in the morning of the 27th the =liners took leave, with some sorrow, of the vessel, which " seemed a home even in ruins," leaving the deck strewed with clothes, books, and provisions, to be swallowed up by the ocean as soon as the icy floor on which it rested should melt away. The two boats, having received forty-seven men on board, lay very deep in the water ; so that when a smart breeze arose, the men were obliged to throw away their spare clothing and every thing else which could he wanted, and soon saw their little wardrobe floating on the face of the sea. The leaky state of one of the barges entailed the necessity of hauling it on a piece of ice to be repaired. The seamen were frequently obliged also to drag them both over large fields, arid again to launch them. However, a favourable wind in ten hours enabled them to make forty-one miles, when they came to the utmost verge of the icy stream, and entered upon the open ocean. Their fears were not yet removed ; for if a heavy gale had arisen, their slender barks must soon have been overwhelmed. There blew in fact a stiff breeze, which threw in a good deal of water, and caused severe cold ; however, at seven in the evening, they saw, with inexpressible pleasure, though dim and distant, the lofty and snow-capped mountains of Iceland. But these were still fifty miles off, and much might intervene ; so that the night which soon closed in, passed with a mixture of joy and fear. Fortunately the morning was favourable ; and about four they saw a black speck on the surface of the ocean. It proved to be an island, naked, rocky, and seemingly unin- habited; yet to set foot on any shore, however wild and desolate, promised a temporary relief. On turning a promontory, what was their joy to see a boat pushing out to meet them I and they were received by the natives of Grimsey (the name of the little islapd) with every mark of kindness and compassion. The seamen were distributed among the half-subterra- aeons abodes, and received a portion of the frugal and scanty fare on which the inhabitants subsisted. They were long without any means of communication by speech; but at length the clergyman appeated, who was able to converse in Latin with Mr. Cumming. The latter, inquiring bow his countrymen could best reach the mainland, was informed, that the islanders would assist in conveying them to Akureyrit a small town,

the residence of the nearest Danish governor, though situated at the distance of sixty-eight miles. Accordingly, at seven in the morning of the 2nd May, they set sail, and, after a tedious voyage, reached at nine in

the evening the coast of Iceland. They rowed along the shore, touching -at-various points, where they were hospitably received ; till on Thursday, 4th May, they saw a cluster of irregular wooden structures, which, to their surprise, proved to be Akureyri, the capital of this quarter of the island. They were here also received with the most humane hospitality, and remained three months before they could obtain a passage home; during which delay unfortunately they lost nine of their number, chiefly from mortification and other morbid affections occasioned by extreme cold. In the middle of July they procureda passage in a Danish vessel, which brought them and their boats near to the coast of Shetland. Having landed at Lerwick, they were conveyed by his Majesty's ship In- vestigator to Peterhead, where they arrived on the 5th August.

The particulars of this shipwreck were furnished by one of the survivors,—Mr. CUMMING, the surgeon. This first number of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library is embel- lished with a very neat map of the Polar Regions, and fourteen well-executed wooden cuts.