ARCTIC EXPLORATION.
Arctic Exploration. By J. Douglas Hoare. Illustrated. (Methuen and Co. 7s. 64. net.)—There are few more interesting stories than that of the gradual extension of our geographical knowledge towards the North Pole, which is fully and pleasantly told by Mr. Hoare. A comparison of the Arctic map of 1694 which Mr. Hoare has reproduced at the outset of his book with that embodying the latest results which he prints at the end of it shows how slow and painful the task has been. There is still a great stretch of undiscovered country around the Pole itself, and only three expeditions—those of Dr. Nausea, the Duke of the Abruzzi, and Commander Peary—have crossed the parallel of 86° N. lat. The difficulty of the advance seems to increase in geometric pro- portion as we draw nearer to the Pole. In the thirteenth century the hardy Vikings, in their open and ill-found galleys, nearly reached the seventy-sixth parallel. Nearly four hundred years passed away before a notable advance was made by Hudson, who crossed the eightieth parallel. Quite recently a tourist steamer, with no special preparation, succeeded in advancing to 81° 32' N., which Mr. Hoare rightly calls "an amazing record for such a boat." After Hudson the advance was slow and arduous. The offer of £5,000 reward for reaching the eighty-ninth parallel, made by the British Government in 1776, and repeated in 1818, has not yet found a claimant. In 1827 Parry got as far north as 82. 45'. For nearly fifty years the search for traces of Franklin's expedition and for the North-West and North-East passages absorbed most of the effort spent in Arctic exploration, to the great advantage of geography, but to the neglect of the actual " race for the Pole." In 1876 Markham reached 83° 20' 26", and six years later that record was beaten by the American Lockwood —by about four miles ! Then came the remarkable achievement of Nansen, who in 1895 attained the latitude of 86° 13' 86"; and even this record was broken on April 25th, 1900, by a sledge party sent out by the Duke of the Abruzzi under Captain Cage!, who got thirty miles farther north than Nansen—to 86' 33' N. lat. Now we learn that the American Commander Peary has attained 87° 6', the highest latitude yet reached by any civilised man, or probably by any human being. Thu story of all this adven- turous travel, with its attendant hardships and gallantry, Is admirably narrated by Mr. Hoare, who condenses into a single volume the essence of a whole library of Polar litera- ture. He gives a brief description of the various expeditions now being organised for further advance towards the Pole, of which Mr. Wellman's courageous intention of imitating Andree and utilising a balloon is the most interesting. It is a remarkable feet that the death-rate among Polar explorers has never exceeded the average death-rate in the British Navy, whilst the risks attending their arduous task have now been reduced to a minimum by the advance of science.
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