, so that, after some yet
unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years,
which in the sight of the Omnipotent are but as one day, the human race
may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most
enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages,
prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's
possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in
earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the
pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present
culture may seem but a poor barbarism. If the triumphs and joys of the
battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet,
painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full
glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those
who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite
valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity.

It was believed by the Dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles
of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the
kingdoms of Cathay be effected by way of the north. It must be remembered
that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond the northern
headlands of Sweden. Delineations of continents, islands, straits,
rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were not
attempted even by the hand of fancy. It was perhaps easier at the end of
the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of a
practical path to China and India across the pole; for delusions as to
climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since
been dispelled. While, therefore, at least as much heroism was required
then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread
mystery of the North; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be
cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the
enterprise. Plancius and Maalzoon, the States-General and Prince Maurice,
were convinced that the true road to Cathay would be found by sailing
north-east. Linschoten, the man who knew India and the beaten paths to
India better than any other living Christian, was so firmly convinced of
the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the lead in the
first expedition. Many were the fantastic dreams in which even the wisest
thinkers of the a