ck--black as me," muttered Butterface, as he approached and laid
fresh viands before the party.

It ought to be told that Butterface had suffered rather severely in the
recent glissade on the snow-slope, which will account for the gloomy
view he took of the future at that time.

"Listen," said the Captain, with a look of sudden earnestness; "as it is
highly probable that a day or two more will decide the question of our
success or failure, I think it right to reveal to you more fully my
thoughts, my plans, and the prospects that lie before us. You all know
very well that there is much difference of opinion about the condition
of the sea around the North Pole. Some think it must be cumbered with
eternal ice, others that it is comparatively free from ice, and that it
enjoys a somewhat milder climate than those parts of the Arctic regions
with which we have hitherto been doing battle. I hold entirely with the
latter view--with those who believe in an open Polar basin. I won't
weary you with the grounds of my belief in detail, but here are a few of
my reasons--

"It is an admitted fact that there is constant circulation of the water
in the ocean. That wise and painstaking philosopher, Maury, of the US
navy, has proved to my mind that this grand circulation of the sea-water
round the world is the cause of all the oceanic streams, hot and cold,
with which we have been so long acquainted.

"This circulation is a necessity as well as a fact. At the Equator the
water is extremely warm and salt, besides lime-laden, in consequence of
excessive evaporation. At the Poles it is extremely cold and fresh.
Mixing is therefore a necessity. The hot salt-waters of the Equator
flow to the Poles to get freshened and cooled. Those of the Poles flow
to the Equator to get salted, limed, and warmed. They do this
continuously in two grand currents, north and south, all round the
world. But the land comes in as a disturbing element; it diverts the
water into streams variously modified in force and direction, and the
streams also change places variously, sometimes the hot currents
travelling north as under-currents with the cold currents above,
sometimes the reverse. One branch of the current comes from the Equator
round the Cape of Good Hope, turns up the west coast of Africa, and is
deflected into the Gulf of Mexico, round which it sweeps, and then
shoots across the Atlantic to England and Norway. It is known as our
Gulf Stream.