ice-blocked sounds to the westward, and
tapering off into Smith Sound in the north-east. The widest channel
of the three lies between Greenland and Europe, and this is bisected
just south of 80 deg. North by the island group of Spitzbergen.

The whole region is one of severe cold, and the sea is frozen for
the greater part of the year, land and water becoming almost
indistinguishable, but for the incessant movement and drift of the
sea-ice. In summer the sea-ice breaks up into floes which may drift
away southward and melt, or be driven by the wind against the
shores of continents or islands, leaving lanes of open water which
a shift of wind may change and close in an hour. Icebergs launched
from the glaciers of the land also drift with tide, current, and
wind through the more or less open water. Possibly at some times the
pack may open and a clear waterway run through to the pole, and old
whalers tell of many a year when they believed that a few days'
steaming would carry them to the end of the world, if they could have
seized the opportunity. At other times, routes traversed in safety
time after time may be effectively closed for years, and all advance
barred. Food in the form of seals or walrus in the open water,
reindeer, musk ox, polar bears or birds on the land, may often be
procured, but these sources cannot be relied upon. Advance northward
may be made by water in a ship, or by dog-sledge, or on foot, over
the frozen snow or ice. Each method has grave drawbacks. Advance by
sea is stopped when the young ice forms in autumn, and land advance
is hampered by the long Arctic night which enforces months of
inaction, more trying to health and spirits than the severest
exertion.

Smith Sound has been the channel by which most recent Arctic explorers
have pushed north. Thus Markham reached latitude 83 deg. 20' North, in
1876, and in 1882 Lockwood got four miles farther north, coming nearer
the pole than any other man. From his farthest point an express train
could cover the intervening distance in ten hours, but the best ice
traveller would require months, even if the way were smooth. This
route has been by common consent abandoned, at least for advance by
water. No high latitude has been reached from Bering Strait nor along
the east coast of Greenland. For ships the most open way to the north
lies to the west of Spitzbergen, as Parry found two generations ago.
Neither of the two projected expeditions from Europe is, ho