"But there is no smoke issuing from any of them," added the Sergeant.
"That proves nothing; your pipe is not always in your mouth, and it is just the same with volcanoes, they are not always smoking."
"I see," said the Sergeant; "but it is a great puzzle to me how volcanoes can exist at all. on Polar continents."
"Well, there are not many of them !" said Mrs Barnett.
"No, madam," replied Jaspar, "but they are not so very rare either; they are to be found in Jan Mayen's Land, the Aleutian Isles, Kamtchatka, Russian America, and Iceland, as well as in the Antarctic circle, in Tierra del Fuego, and Australasia. They are the chimneys of the great furnace in the centre of the earth, where Nature makes her chemical experiments, and it appears to me that the Creator of all things has taken care to place these safety-valves wherever they were most needed."
"I suppose so," replied the Sergeant; "and yet it does seem very strange to find them in this icy climate."
"Why should they not be here as well as anywhere else, Sergeant? I should say that ventilation holes are likely to be more numerous at the Poles than at the Equator !"
"Why so?" asked the Sergeant in much surprise.
"Because, if these safety-valves are forced open by the pressure of subterranean gases, it will most likely be at the spots where the surface of the earth is thinest, and as the globe is flattened at the poles, it would appear natural that-but Kellet is making signs to us," added the Lieutenant, breaking off abruptly; "will you join us, Mrs Barnett?"
"No, thank you. I will stay here until we return to the fort. I don't care to watch the walrus slaughtered!"