-oxen there. But
there is another creature, and a much bigger one than any Eskimo, bigger
even than Chingatok, who bears his testimony to an open Polar sea,
namely, the Greenland whale. It has been ascertained that the `right'
whale does not, and cannot, enter the tropical regions of the Ocean.
They are to him as a sea of fire, a wall of adamant, so that it is
impossible for him to swim south, double Cape Horn, and proceed to the
North Pacific; yet the very same kind of whale found in Baffin's Bay is
found at Behring Straits. Now, the question is, how did he get there?"

"Was born there, no doubt," answered Benjy, "and had no occasion to make
such a long voyage!"

"Ah! my boy, but we have the strongest evidence that he was _not_ born
there, for you must know that some whalers have a habit of marking their
harpoons with date and name of ship; and as we have been told by that
good and true man Dr Scoresby, there have been several instances where
whales have been captured near Behring Straits with harpoons in them
bearing the stamp of ships that were known to cruise on the Baffin's Bay
side of America. Moreover, in one or two instances a very short time
had elapsed between the date of harpooning on the Atlantic and capturing
on the Pacific side. These facts prove, at all events, a `North-west
Passage' for whales, and, as whales cannot travel far under ice without
breathing, they also tend to prove an open Polar sea.

"Another argument in favour of this basin is the migration of birds to
the northward at certain seasons. Birds do not migrate to frozen
regions, and such migrations northward have been observed by those who,
like ourselves, have reached the highest latitudes.

"Captain Nares of the _Alert_, in May 1876, when only a little to the
southward of this, saw ptarmigan flying in pairs to the north-west,
seeking for better feeding-grounds. Ducks and geese also passed
northward early in June, indicating plainly the existence of suitable
feeding-grounds in the undiscovered and mysterious North.

"We have now passed beyond the point reached by Captain Nares. My last
observation placed us in parallel 84 degrees 40 minutes, the highest
that has yet been reached by civilised man."

"The highest, uncle?" interrupted Leo. "Yes--the highest. Scoresby
reached 81 degrees 50 minutes in 1806, Parry 82 degrees 45 minutes in
1827--with sledges. That unfortunate and heroic American, Captain Hall,
ran his vessel, the _