List of Illustrations

The Stella Polare Nipped in the Ice[Frontispiece]
W. E. Parry's Attempt to Reach the PoleFacing page [28]
An Immense Iceberg" " [48]
An Addition to the Explorers' Supply of Provisions" " [78]
Shooting Musk Ox in the Arctic Regions" " [116]
Group of Smith Sound Eskimo" " [152]
Two North Greenland Hunters" " [160]
Map of the Arctic Regions Showing Route of Nansen and the Fram" " [172]
The Fram in the Ice" " [184]
Nansen and Johansen Start on their Dash for the Pole" " [198]
The Meeting of Jackson and Nansen" " [216]
The Front Edge of King's Glacier, Western Spitzbergen" " [230]
Eskimo Arms and Tools" " [240]
Eskimo Visitors to the Fram in Night Attire" " [256]
One of the Difficulties Encountered by the Stella Polare" " [272]
Sketch Map Showing Captain Agni's Farthest North" " [280]
The Southern Cross in the Ice Pack" " [304]
The Aurora Australis" " [310]
Emperor Penguins" " [312]
Polar Outfit Used by the Belgica Expedition" " [320]
Map of South Polar Regions" " [338]
The Discovery Lying in Winter Quarters, Frozen in" " [340]
The Farthest South Sledge Party in a Blizzard" " [344]
A Drifting Ice Floe Attached to the Discovery by a Rope" " [348]

The Romance of Polar
Exploration

CHAPTER I THE ARCTIC REGION

The Mystery of the North Pole—The First Explorer—"The Great Dark Wall at the End of the World"—"Frost-Smoke"—The Lights and Sounds of the North—The Aurora Borealis—Mock Moons—The Early Adventurers: Willoughby, Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, Baffin, Ross, and Parry—The North-West Passage.

In all the range of romantic adventure to be found in the history of man, there is, perhaps, none which appeals so strongly to the imagination as the search for the Poles. In all the tales of daring courage and patient, persistent bravery, two qualities which stand foremost in the admiration of every English-speaking boy, the tales of the fearless explorers who have faced the terrors and the mystery of the frozen regions are without a rival.