POLAR EXPEDITIONS.* WHEN the history of the nineteenth century comes

to be written by an impartial Lecky of the twenty-fifth century, it is a matter of curious speculation to think what he will say about Polar Expeditions. For they stand apart from other geo- graphical researches. A Livingstone travels through Africa, an Audubon and an Agassiz through. South America, and they bring back, at the cost of some labour and risk to life and limb, records of countries which may, at sometime, serve as outlets for colonisation or commerce. At all events, scienee is en- riched by the discovery of unknown plants, and animals, and natural phenomena. But when the cost and the gain of expeditions to the Poles have been weighed, what will be the estimate of our historian of the future ? Will he class them with the Crusades, the Alpine adventures of Whymper and Freshfield, and the ballooning expeditions of Captains Powell and Burnaby, or will he compare them with the voyages of Vasco de Gama, Columbus, and Magellan ? To our minds, since the time that the East and North-West Passages have been proved to be practically impassable, these attempts to reach the Pole have involved a reckless waste of valuable lives. It may be answered that the value of knowledge is not to be measured by its usefulness, and that the discovery of the fact that thousands of square miles are covered by hummocks of ice is worth the lives of such men as Franklin and De Long. But we maintain that there are others whose interests ought to be considered as well as those of the men who are tempted, by a love of the unknown and of peril for its own sake, to brave the awful climate, and the terrible suffering which is almost inevit- able in Arctic exploration. What of the mothers, the sisters, and the wives who are left behind, and who have to wait with patient anxiety for years without a word from those whom they love ? It seems that the only way by which a minimum of sorrow could be ensured, would be to pass a law that none but orphan widowers without children should be allowed to start for the Arctic or Antarctic Pole.

In the volume called Icepach and Tundra, we have the ex- periences of a*ship's crew who were sent from San Francisco to search for the survivors of the ill-fated ' Jeannette.' An object such as this secures our sympathy, which is not lessened by the

• Repack and Tundra: an deeount of the Search for the Jeannette; midst' Sledge Journey through Siberia. By William Gilder. London : Simpson Low, Marston, Searle. and Itivington. 1,013.

discovery of the remains of De Long and his party, and the frag- ments of a diary, in which these are the closing entries :—

" Friday, Oct.14.—Breakfast, willow-tea. Dinner, half-teaspoonful sweet oil, and willow-tea. Alexia shot one ptarmigan ; had soup. S.W. wind moderating. Sat., Oct. 15.—Breakfast, willow-tea and; two old boots ; conclude to move at sunrise. Alexia broken down also. Lee came to an empty grain-raft. Halt and camp. Signs of smoke at twilight. Alexia dying. Doctor baptised him. Read priiyers for sick. Collins's birthday, 40 years. About sunset Alexia died ; exhaustion from starvation."

" Friday, Oct. 21.—Lee died. Kaach found dead about midnight, between doctor and myself. Read prayers for sick when we found he was going. Sat.—Too weak to carry the bodies of Lee and Kaach out on the ice. The doctor, Collins,. and myself carried them round the corner out of sight. Then my eyes closed up. 133 day.— Eveiybody pretty weak. Slept or rested to-day, and managed to get• enough wood in before dark. Read part of divine service. Suffer- ing in our feet ; no foot-gear."

......... . . .

"138th day.—Iverson died during early morning. 139.-.Dressler died during the night. 140.—Boyd and Gaertz died during the night. Mr. Collins dying." ' "There," says Mr. Gilder, "the diary stops. When I had read it, I tried to tell the Cossack what it was, but I could not speak. In many passages of the narrative I recognised experiences of my own. For the first time in my life, I found it impossible to restrain my emotion before strangers, and buried my face in my hands for 10 or 15 minutes."

It is after the discovery of these remains that the real interest of Mr. Gilder's volume commences. The first three chapters are occupied with a description of the voyage from San Fran- cisco to Petropaulovski, on the Xamtschatka coast. It is not generally known that an attempt was made during the Crimean war to take possession of this far-off seaport by the combined fleets of England and France, consisting of six frigates. It is difficult to see what the English Government expected to gain by this foolish attempt, which resulted in the defeat of the

allies, with a loss of 120 men and most of the officers. The result of the Rodgers expedition was hardly more successful..

After exploring Wrangel Island, which lies to the north-west of Siberia, and which contains nothing of any interest to the geologist, the botanist, or the naturalist, the captain had the misfortune to lose his ship by fire, while anchored off Behring Straits, and the remainder of the expedition had to be performed by means of sledges and boats.

Beyond a few touches of humorous description, we find but little to notice in Mr. Gilder's narrative. The T.chouktchis,*as the people on the northern coast of Siberia are called, resemble the other folk of the Polar regions in their appearance and habits of life. We seem to have read about the bears and the seals and the reindeer tents before ; yet a word may be said for the illustrations, which are rough, but suggestive, some being taken from photographs and others from sketches by the author.

With chapter nineteen the journal of De Long begins, and though it has no scientific interest, one cannot help admiring the undaunted perseverance and courage of the crew, who, after the crushing of the Jeannette' between masses of ice, found themselves on a barren island, with many leagues of broken ice and water between themselves and the mainland. How the sledges were packed, how the camp was formed, how one after another fell sick and had to be helped by his com- panions, how again and again the treacherous ice-floes gave way and all but engulfed the whole party, is told with the direct simplicity of.a Defoe, and one feels ashamed to ask, cui bone ? in the face of such heroism and unselfishness.

There is deep pathos in the account which Mr. Gilder gives of

Ninderman and Norss, two men- who were sent forward by De- Long in the faint hope of procuring assistance. They arrived with great difficulty at Karnak Sera, on the month of the Lena.

where they tried in vain to explain their errand :—

" Sometimes it seemed as if they understood him [Nindermanj perfectly, and at others he felt convinced that they had not under- stood a single thing he bad told them. During the entire day, he kept talking to them by signs and illustrations on paper, but without avail. The next day he renewed his efforts, and resorted to every expedient to make them understand him. He did not ask them to go alone, but wanted them to go with him. Prostrated by famine and exposure, and weakened by dysentery,. he was in no fit condition to undertake such a task, but his anxiety was so great that he felt con- strained to go. This day, as on the day previous, he at times thought he had been understood, and again that it had been all a blank to them. They would sigh and look distressed when be described the sufferings and condition of the party on the delta ; but when he urged that assistance should be sent to them, the faces of his hearers were totally devoid of expression. Re then thought of his companions as dead or dying, looking to his return as their only hope of deliver- ance. Weakened by fatigue, exposure, and famine, and feeling how utterly powerless he was, when so much depended on him, the terrible strain was too much for him, and this strong, brave man,

who had faced death and endured unknown hardships without a quiver, sank into a corner and cried like a child." ,

On turning from this sad narrative to the map at the end of

the book, it is difficult to realise that such scenes of desolation could be found within such easy reach of civilisation.

Mr. Gilder relates his return journey, yid Irkutsk and Tomsk, in a pleasant way, and we take leave of him at Nishni Novgorod, with thanks for his interesting volume.