. It was in
Siberia that this excellent method of locomotion was first applied
to the service of polar exploration. Already in the 17th and 18th
centuries the Russians undertook very extensive sledge journeys, and
charted the whole of the Siberian coast from the borders of Europe
to Bering Strait. And they did not merely travel along the coasts,
but crossed the drift-ice itself to the New Siberian Islands, and
even north of them. Nowhere, perhaps, have travellers gone through
so many sufferings, or evinced so much endurance.

In America, too, the sledge was employed by Englishmen at an early date
for the purpose of exploring the shores of the Arctic seas. Sometimes
the toboggan or Indian sledge was used, sometimes that of the
Eskimo. It was under the able leadership of M'Clintock that sledge
journeys attained their highest development. While the Russians had
generally travelled with a large number of dogs, and only a few men,
the English employed many more men on their expeditions, and their
sledges were entirely, or for the most part, drawn by the explorers
themselves. Thus in the most energetic attempt ever made to reach high
latitudes, Albert Markham's memorable march towards the north from the
Alert's winter quarters, there were 33 men who had to draw the sledges,
though there were plenty of dogs on board the ship. It would appear,
indeed, as if dogs were not held in great estimation by the English.

The American traveller Peary has, however, adopted a totally different
method of travelling on the inland ice of Greenland, employing as
few men and as many dogs as possible. The great importance of dogs
for sledge journeys was clear to me before I undertook my Greenland
expedition, and the reason I did not use them then was simply that
I was unable to procure any serviceable animals. [2]

A third method may yet be mentioned which has been employed in the
Arctic regions--namely, boats and sledges combined. It is said of the
old Northmen in the Sagas and in the Kongespeilet, that for days on
end they had to drag their boats over the ice in the Greenland sea,
in order to reach land. The first in modern times to make use of
this means of travelling was Parry, who, in his memorable attempt
to reach the Pole in 1827, abandoned his ship and made his way over
the drift-ice northward with boats, which he dragged on sledges. He
succeeded in attaining the highest latitude (82 deg. 45') that had yet been
reached; but here the c