NEAR THE POLE.
New Land. By Otto Sverdrup. 2 vols. (Longmans and Co. 36s. net.)—The title of Captain Sverdrup's interesting record of travel does not strike one as being very happily chosen: it might with advantage have been replaced by the sub-title, "Four Years in the Arctic Regions." These handsome volumes describe a valuable, though not particularly sensational, piece of work. Captain Sverdrup, who had already placed his name high on the records of Polar exploration by the admirable fashion in which he handled the 'Pram' on Dr. Nansen's great voyage, sailed again for the Far North in the same staunch vessel in the middle of 1898, with fifteen companions, and did not return to the shores of Europe until the autumn of 1902, having thus completed four years in the inhospitable solitudes that guard the Pole. All but one returned safe and sound : by a curious irony of fate, it was the doctor of the expedition who perished,—apparently of over- strain. "The great mistake had been that, whereas all the other members of the expedition had undergone strict medical examina- tion, the doctor had never been examined." Captain Sverdrup rightly warns future explorers to be more careful in this respect, for on such an expedition it is extremely awkward to be deprived of the services of the medical man. Fortunately this loss had no further ill results. Captain Sverdrup writes agreeably, and shows the usual Scandinavian tendency to perceive the poetic aspects of Nature,—many passages of his book will quite bear comparison with those of Dr. Nausea in the same style. His story is full of interesting details, and is a modest record of daring endurance. The scientific results of the expedition are important, although no startling discovery has to be announced. It has done much to clear up the geographical problems of the district lying between North America and the Pole, and little now remains to be discovered about the topography of the Far North. Perhaps the most striking thing about the expedition was the economy with which it was conducted. A balance-sheet at the end of the second volume tells us that the total expense— including insurance of ship and crew, and the repairs to the 'Pram' which were necessary on her return—amounted to £12,014. If we compare this—for four years and a quarter—with the "little bills" of our own Polar expeditions, we shall admit that the hardy Norseman has scored again. The book is handsomely pro- duced, and contains numerous beautiful illustrations.
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