REGINALD, cardinal, and archbishop of Canterbury, a younger son of Sir Rich. Pole, Lord Montague, was born at Stoverton castle, in Staffordshire, in the year 1500. At seven years of age he was sent to a Carthusian monastery at Shene, near Richmond in Surrey; and thence, when he was about 12 years old, removed to Magdalen college in Oxford, where, by the instructions of the celebrated Linacre and Latimer, he made considerable progress in learning. In 1515 he took the degree of bachelor of arts, and was admitted to deacon's orders some time after: in 1517, he was made prebendary of Salisbury, and in 1519 dean of Wimborne and dean of Exeter. We are not surprised at this young nobleman's early preferments, when we consider him as the kinsman of Henry VIII. and that he was bred to the church by the king's special command.

Being now about the age of 19, he was sent, according to the fashion of the times, to finish his studies at Padua in Italy, where he resided some time in great splendour, having a handsome pension from the king. He returned to England in 1525, where he was most graciously received at court, and universally admired for his talents and address; but preferring study and seclusion to the pleasures of a court, he retired to the Carthusian convent at Shene, where he had continued about two years, when the pious king began to divulge his scruples of conscience concerning his marriage with Catherine of Spain. Pole foresaw that this affair would necessarily involve him in difficulties; he therefore determined to quit the kingdom, and accordingly obtained leave to visit Paris. Having thus avoided the storm for the present, he returned once more to his convent at Shene; but his tranquillity was again interrupted by the king's resolution to shake off the pope's supremacy, of which Pole's approbation was thought indispensably necessary. How he managed in this affair, is not very clear. However, he obtained leave to revisit Italy, and his pension was continued for some time.

The king, having now divorced Queen Catherine, married Anne Boleyn, and being resolved to throw off the papal yoke, ordered Dr Richard Sampson to write a book in justification of his proceedings, which he sent to Pole for his opinion. To this Pole, secure in the pope's protection, wrote a scurrilous answer, entitled Pro Unitate Ecclesiastica, and sent it to the king; who was so offended with the contents, that he withdrew his pension, stripped him of all his preferments, and procured an act of attainder to be passed against him. In the mean time, Pole was created a cardinal, and sent nuncio to different parts of Europe. King Henry made several attempts to have him secured and brought to England, but without effect. At length the pope fixed him as legate at Viterbo, where he continued till the year 1543, when he was appointed legate at the council of Trent, and was afterwards employed by the pope as his chief counsellor.

Pope Paul III. dying in 1540, Pole was twice elected his successor, and, we are told, twice refused the papal dignity: first, because the election was made in too great haste; and the second time, because it was done in the night. This delicacy in a cardinal is truly wonderful: but the intrigues of the French party seem to have been the real cause of his miscarriage; they started many objections to Pole, and by that means gained time to procure a majority against him. Cardinal Maria de Monte obtained the triple crown; and Pole, having kissed his slipper, retired to the convent of Magazune near Verona, where he continued till the death of Edward VI. in the year 1553. On the accession of Queen Mary, Pole was sent legate to England, where he was received by her majesty with great veneration, and conducted to the archbishop's palace at Lambeth, poor Cranmer being at that time prisoner in the Tower. He immediately appeared in the House of Lords, where he made a long speech; which being reported to the commons by their speaker, both these obsequious houses concurred in an humble supplication to be reconciled to They presented it on their knees to her majesty, who interceded with the cardinal, and he graciously condescended to give them absolution. This business being over, the legate made his public entry into London, and immediately set about the extirpation of heresy. The day after the execution of Cranmer, which he is said, though we believe falsely, to have advised, he was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. In the same year, 1556, he was elected chancellor of the university of Oxford, and soon after of Cambridge; both which he visited, by his commissioners. He died of a double quartan ague in the year 1558, about 16 hours after the death of the queen; and was buried in the cathedral of Canterbury.

As to his character, the Roman writers ascribe to him every virtue under heaven: even Bishop Burnet is extremely lavish in his praise, and attributes the cruelties of Mary's reign to the advice of Gardiner. In this Mr Hume agrees with the bishop, and represents Pole as the advocate of toleration. By every impartial account, he seems to have been a man of mild manners, and of real worth, though undoubtedly a zealous member of the church of Rome.—He wrote, Pro unitate ecclesiastica, De ejusdem potestate, A treatise on Justification, and various other tracts.

Mr Philips published a very well written, though a very partial account, of Pole's life, to which Glocester Ridley replied. This last work, which is entitled a Review of Mr Philips's Life of Reginald Pole, was published in 1766. It is a complete confutation of the former, and is a very learned and temperate vindication of the doctrines of the Reformation.

Astronomy, that point in the heavens round which the whole sphere seems to turn. It is also used for a point directly perpendicular to the centre of any circle's plane, and distant from it by the length of a radius.

Geography, one of the points on which the terraqueous globe turns; each of them being 90 degrees distant from the equator, and, in consequence of their situation, the inclination of the earth's axis, and its parallelism during the annual motion of our globe round the sun, having only one day and one night throughout the year.

It is remarkable, that though the north in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French, derives its name from gloom, obscurity, and darkness, the poles enjoy more light than any other part of the world. The ancients believed the north to be covered with thick darkness; Strabo tells us, that Homer, by the word ξαφος, which properly signifies obscurity or darkness, meant the north; and thus Tibullus, speaking of the north, says,

Illic et denfa tellus afsconditur umbra, Paneg. ad Miffel.

The Arabians call the northern ocean the dark sea; the Latins gave the name of Aquilo to the north wind, because aquilus signifies black; and the French call it la lyse, from bis, "black." According to the ancients, the Cimmerians lived in darkness, because they were placed near the north. But all this is mere prejudice; for there are no places in the world that enjoy light longer than the arctic and antarctic poles; and this is accounted for by considering the nature of twilight. In the torrid zone, and under the line, night immediately follows the setting of the sun, without any sensible twilight; whereas the twilight begins and continues increasing in proportion as places are distant from the equator, or approach the pole. To this long twilight we must add the aurora borealis, which appears in the northern regions, Greenland, &c., in clear nights, at the beginning of the new moon, calling a light equal to that of full moon. See Gaffendi, in the Life of Peyrefe, book iii. and La Perere in his Account of Greenland. There is also long moonlight at the poles during winter. See Astronomy. But though there is really more light in the polar regions than elsewhere, yet owing to the obliquity with which the rays of the sun fall upon them, and the great length of winter night, the cold is so intense, that those parts of the globe which lie near the poles have never been fully explored, though the attempt has been repeatedly made by the most celebrated navigators. Indeed their attempts have chiefly been confined to the northern regions; for with regard to the south pole, there is not the same incitement to attempt it. The great object for which navigators have ventured themselves in these frozen seas, was to find out a more quick and more ready passage to the East Indies; and this hath been attempted three several ways: * See Cook, one by coasting along the northern parts of Europe and the coasts of Asia, called the north-east passage; another, by sailing round the northern part of the American continent, called the north-west passage; and the third, by sailing directly over the pole itself.

We have already given a short account of several unsuccessful attempts which have been made from England to discover the first two of these. See North-West Passage, and North-East Passage. But before we proceed to the third, we shall make a few further observations on them, and mention the attempts of some other nations.

During the last century, various navigators, Dutchmen particularly, attempted to find out the north-east passage, with great fortitude and perseverance. They always found it impossible, however, to surmount the obstacles which nature had thrown in the way. Subsequent attempts are thought by many to have demonstrated the impossibility of ever failing eastward along the northern coast of Asia; and this impossibility is accounted for by the increase of cold in proportion to the extent of land. See America, No. 3—5. This is indeed the case in temperate climates; but much more so in those frozen regions where the influence of the sun, even in summer, is but small. Hence, as the continent of Asia extends a vast way from west to east, and has besides the continent of Europe joined to it on the west, it follows, that about the middle part of that tract of land the cold should be greater than anywhere else. Experience has determined this to be fact; and it now appears that about the middle part of the northern coast of Asia the ice never thaws; neither have even the hardy Russians and Siberians themselves been able north-east to overcome the difficulties they met with in that part of their voyage. In order to make this the more plain, and the following accounts more intelligible, we shall observe, that from the north-western extremity of Europe, called the North Cape, to the north-eastern extremity of Asia, called the Promontory of the Tchelutka*, is Cook's space including about 160 degrees of longitude, viz., Dicoveries, p. 109 and 118. gel lies in about 57 degrees east longitude, Nova Zembla between 70 and 95; which last is also the situation of the mouth of the great river Oby. Still farther eastward are the mouths of the rivers Jenisey in 100°; Piasida in 105°; Chatanga in 124°; Lena, which has many mouths, between 134° and 142°; Indigirka in 162°; and the Kovyma in 175°. The coldest place in all this tract, therefore, ought to be that between the mouths of the Jenisey and the Chatanga; and indeed here the unsurmountable difficulty has always been, as will appear from the following accounts of the voyages made by the Russians with a view to discover the north-east passage.

In 1734, Lieutenant Morzovief failed from Archangel towards the river Oby, but could scarce advance 20 degrees of longitude during that season. The next summer he passed through the straits of Wyegatzi into the sea of Kara; but he did not double the promontory which separates the sea of Kara from the bay or mouth of Oby. In 1738, the lieutenants Malygin and Shurakoff doubted that promontory with great difficulty, and entered the bay of Oby. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to pass from the bay of Oby to the Jenisey; which was at last effected, in 1738, by two vessels commanded by lieutenants Offizier and Kofkeff. The same year the pilot Feodor Menin sailed eastward from the Jenisey to the mouth of the Piasida; but here he was stopped by the ice; and finding it impossible to force a passage, he returned to the Jenisey.

In July 1735, Lieutenant Pronstiftcheff sailed down the river Lena, in order to pass by sea to the mouth of the Jenisey. The western mouths of the Lena were so choked up with ice, that he was obliged to pass through the most easterly one; and was prevented by contrary winds from getting out till the 13th of August. Having steered north-west along the islands which lie scattered before the mouths of the Lena, he found himself in lat. 70° 4′; yet even here he saw pieces of ice from 24 to 60 feet in height, and in no place was there a free channel left of greater breadth than 100 or 200 yards. His vessel being much damaged, he entered the mouth of the Olenek, a small river near the western mouth of the Lena; and here he continued till the ensuing season, when he got out in the beginning of August. But before he could reach the mouth of the Chatanga, he was so entirely surrounded and hemmed in with ice, that it was with the utmost difficulty he could get loose. Observing then a large field of ice stretching into the sea, he was obliged to sail up the Chatanga. Getting free once more, he proceeded northward, doubled the cape called Taimura, and reached the bay of that name, lying in about 115° east from Ferro; from thence he attempted to proceed westward along the coast. Near the shore were several small islands, between which and the shore the ice was immovably fixed. He then directed his course towards the sea, in order to pass round the chain of islands. At first he found the sea more free to the north of these islands, but observed much ice lying between them. At last he arrived at what he took to be the last of the islands lying in lat. 77° 25′. Between this island and the shore, as well as on the other side of the island which lay most to the north, the ice was firm and immovable. He attempted, however, to steer still more to the north; and having advanced about six miles, he was prevented by a thick fog from proceeding; this fog being dispersed, he saw nothing everywhere but ice, which at last drove him eastward, and with much danger and difficulty he got to the mouth of the Olenek on the 29th of August.

Another attempt to pass by sea from the Lena to the Of Char-Jenisey was made in 1739 by Chariton Laptieff, but ton Lap with no better success than that just mentioned. This voyager relates, that between the river Piasida and Tai-mura, a promontory stretches into the sea, which he could not double, the sea being entirely frozen up before he could pass round.

Besides the Russians, it is certain that some English Mr Coxe's and Dutch vessels have passed the island of Nova Zem, observable into the sea of Kara: "But (says Mr Coxe in his Account of the Russian voyages) no vessel of any nation has ever passed round that cape which extends to the north of the Piasida, and is laid down in the Russian charts in about 78° lat. We have already seen that no Russian vessel has ever got from the Piasida to the Chatanga, or from the Chatanga to the Piasida; and yet some authors have positively asserted that this promontory has been passed round. In order therefore to elucidate the Russian accounts, which clearly assert the contrary, it is pretended that Gmelin and Muller have purposely concealed some part of the Russian journals, and have imposed on the world by a misrepresentation of facts. But without entering into any dispute upon this head, I can venture to affirm, that no sufficient proof has been as yet advanced in support of this assertion; and therefore, until some positive information shall be produced, we cannot deny plain facts, or give the preference to hearsay evidence over circumstantial and well attested accounts."

The other part of this north-east passage, viz. from the mouth of the Lena to Kamtschatka, though sufficiently difficult navigation and dangerous, is yet practicable; as having been once performed, if we may believe the accounts of the Rus-ka Kamtschat-ians. According to some authors indeed, says Mr Coxe, ka this navigation has been open a century and a half; and several vessels at different times have passed round the north-eastern extremity of Asia. But if we consult the Russian accounts, we shall find that frequent expeditions have been unquestionably made from the Lena to the Kovyma, but that the voyage from the Kovyma round Tchutkoi Nefs into the Eastern ocean has been performed but once. According to Mr Muller, this formidable cape was doubled in the year 1648. The material incidents of this remarkable voyage are as follow:

"In 1648 seven ketches, or vessels, sailed from the mouth of the river Kovyma, in order to penetrate into Delneff, the Eastern ocean. Of these, four were never more heard of: the remaining three were commanded by Simon Defneff, Gerasim Ankudinoff, and Fedot Alexeeff. Defneff and Ankudinoff quarrelled before their departure concerning the division of profits and honours to be acquired by their voyage; which, however, was not so easily accomplished as they had imagined. Yet Defneff in his memorials makes no mention of obstructions from the ice, nor probably did he meet with any; for he takes notice that the sea is not every year so free from ice as it was at that time. The vessels sailed from the Kovyma on the 20th of June, and in September they reached the promontory of the Tchutki, where Ankudinoff's..." Ankudinoff's vessel was wrecked, and the crew distributed among the other two. Soon after this the two vessels lost sight of each other, and never joined again. Delnoff was driven about by tempestuous winds till October, when he was shipwrecked considerably to the south of the Anadyr. Having at last reached that river, he formed a scheme of returning by the same way that he had come, but never made the attempt. As for Alexeef, after being also shipwrecked, he had died of the fever, together with Ankudinoff; part of the crew were killed by the savages, and a few escaped to Kamtschatka, where they settled.

From Captain Cook's voyage towards the northeastern parts of Asia, it appears that it is possible to double the promontory of Tchutchki without any great difficulty; and it now appears, that the continents of Asia and America are separated from one another but by a narrow strait, which is free from ice; but, to the northwards, that experienced navigator was everywhere stopped by the ice in the month of August, so that he could neither trace the American continent farther than to the latitude of 70°, nor reach the mouth of the river Kovyma on the Asiatic continent; though it is probable that this might have been done at another time, when the situation of the ice was altered either by winds or currents.

On the whole, therefore, it appears that the insurmountable obstacle in the north-east passage lies between the rivers Piaida and Chatanga; and unless there be in that space a connection between the Asiatic and American continents, there is not in any other part. Ice, however, is an effectual obstruction as land; and though the voyage were to be made by accident for once, it never could be esteemed a passage calculated for the purposes of trade, or any other beneficial purpose whatever.

With regard to the north-west passage, the same difficulties occur as in the other. Captain Cook's voyage has now assured us, that if there is any strait which divides the continent of America into two, it must lie in a higher latitude than 70°, and consequently be perpetually frozen up. If a north-west passage can be found then, it must be by failing round the whole American continent, instead of seeking a passage through it, which some have supposed to exist at the bottom of Baffin's bay. But the extent of the American continent to the northward is yet unknown; and there is a possibility of its being joined to that part of Asia between the Piaida and Chatanga, which has never yet been circumnavigated. It remains therefore to consider, whether there is any possibility of attaining the wished-for passage by sailing directly north, between the eastern and western continents.

Of the practicability of this method, the Honourable Daines Barrington is very confident, as appears by several tracts which he published in the years 1775 and 1776, in consequence of the unsuccessful attempts made by Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave. See NORTH-EAST PASSAGE.—In the tracts now alluded to he influence a great number of navigators who have reached very high northern latitudes; nay, some who have been at the pole itself, or gone beyond it. These instances are, 1. One Captain Thomas Robertson assured our author, that he had been in latitude 82°, that the sea was open, and he was certain that he could have reached the latitude of 83°. 2. From the testimony of Captain Cheyne, who gave answers to certain queries drawn up by Mr Dalrymple concerning the polar seas, it appears that he had been in the latitude of 82°. 3. One Mr Watt informed our author, that when he was 17 years of age, at that time making his first voyage with Captain McCallum, a bold and skilful navigator, who commanded a Scotch whale-fishing ship, as during the time that the whales are supposed to copulate no fishing can be carried on, the captain resolved to employ that interval in attempting to reach the north pole. He accordingly proceeded without the least obstruction to 83°, when the sea was not only open to the northward, but they had seen no ice for the last three degrees; but while he still advanced, the mate complained that the compass was not steady, and the captain was obliged with reluctance to give over his attempt. 4. Dr Campbell, the continuator of Harris's voyages, informed Mr Barrington, that Dr Dallie, a native of Holland, being in his youth on board a Dutch ship of war which at that time was usually sent to superintend the Greenland fishery, the captain determined, like the Scotchman above mentioned, to make an attempt to reach the pole during the interval between the first and second fisheries. He penetrated, according to the best of Dr Campbell's recollection, as far as 88°; when the weather was warm, the sea free from ice, and rolling like the bay of Biscay. Dallie now pressed the captain to proceed; but he answered, that he had already gone too far, and should be blamed in Holland for neglecting his station; upon which account he would suffer no journal to be kept, but returned as soon as possible to Spitzbergen. 5. In the year 1662-3, Mr Oldenburg, then secretary of the Royal Society, was ordered to register a paper, entitled "Several Inquiries concerning Greenland," answered by Mr Gray, who had visited these parts." The 19th of these queries is the following: How near hath any one been known to approach the pole? The answer is, "I once met upon the coast of Greenland a Hollander that swore he had been half a degree from the pole, showing me his journal, which was also attested by his mate; where they had seen no ice or land, but all water." 6. In Captain Wood's account of a voyage in quest of the north-east passage, we have the following account of a Dutch ship which reached the latitude of 89°. "Captain Goulden, who had made above 30 voyages to Greenland, did relate to his majesty, that being at Greenland some 20 years before, he was in company with two Hollanders to the eastward of Edge's island; and that the whales not appearing on the shore, the Hollanders were determined to go farther northward; and in a fortnight's time returned, and gave it out that they had sailed into the latitude 89°, and that they did not meet with any ice, but a free and open sea, and that there run a very hollow grown sea like that of the bay of Biscay. Mr Goulden being not satisfied with the bare relation, they produced him four journals out of the two ships, which testified the same, and that they all agreed within four minutes." 7. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1675 we have the following passage: "For it is well known to all that sail northward, that most of the northern coasts are frozen up for many leagues, though in the open sea it is not so, nor under the pole itself, unless by accident." In which passage the having reached the pole... pole is alluded to as a known fact, and as such stated to the Royal Society.—8. Mr Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary, mentions the voyage of one Captain Johnson, who reached 88 degrees of latitude. Mr Barrington was at pains to find a full account of this voyage; but met only with the following passage in Buffon's Natural History, which he takes to be a confirmation of it. "I have been assured by persons of credit, that an English captain, whose name was Monson, instead of seeking a passage to China between the northern countries, had directed his course to the pole, and had approached it within two degrees, where there was an open sea, without any ice." Here he thinks that M. Buffon has mistaken Johnson for Monson.—9. A map of the northern hemisphere, published at Berlin (under the direction of the Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres), places a ship at the pole, as having arrived there according to the Dutch accounts.—10. Moxon, hydrographer to Charles II., gives an account of a Dutch ship having been two degrees beyond the pole, which was much relied on by Wood. This vessel found the weather as warm there as at Amsterdam.

Besides these, there are a great number of other testimonies of ships which have reached the lat. of 81, 82, 83, 84 (A), &c.; from all which our author concludes, that if the voyage is attempted at a proper time of the year, there would not be any great difficulty of reaching the pole. Those vast pieces of ice which commonly obstruct the navigators, he thinks, proceed from the mouths of the great Asiatic rivers which run northward into the frozen ocean, and are driven eastward and westward by the currents. But though we should suppose them to come directly from the pole, still our author thinks that this affords an undeniable proof that the pole itself is free from ice; because, when the pieces leave it, and come to the southward, it is impossible that they can at the same time accumulate at the pole.

The extreme cold of the winter air on the continents of Asia and America has afforded room for suspicion, that at the pole itself, and for several degrees to the southward of it, the sea must be frozen to a vast depth in one solid cake of ice; but this Mr Barrington refutes from several considerations. In the first place, he says, that on such a supposition, by the continual intensity of the cold, and the accumulation of snow and frozen vapour, this cake of ice must have been increasing in thickness since the creation, or at least since the deluge; so that now it must be equal in height to the highest mountains in the world, and be visible at a great distance. Besides, the pieces broken off from the sides of such an immense mountain must be much thicker than any ice that is met with in the northern ocean; none of which is above two yards in height above the surface of the water, those immense pieces called ice mountains being always formed on land.

Again, the system of nature is so formed, that all parts of the earth are exposed for the same length of time, or nearly so, throughout the year to the rays of the sun. But, by reason of the spheroidal figure of the terrestrial globe, the poles and polar regions enjoy the sun somewhat longer than others; and hence the Dutch who wintered in Nova Zembla in 1672 saw the sun a fortnight sooner than they ought to have done by astronomical calculations. By reason of this flatness about the poles, too, the sun not only shines for a greater space of time on these inhospitable regions, but with less obliquity in the summer-time, and hence the effect of his rays must be the greater. Now Mr Barrington considers it as an absurd supposition, that this glorious luminary should shine for six months on a cake of barren ice where there is neither animal nor vegetable. He says that the polar seas are assigned by nature as the habitation of the whales, the largest animals in the creation; but if the greatest part of the polar seas are for ever covered with an impenetrable cake of ice, these huge animals will be confined within very narrow bounds; for they cannot subsist without frequently coming to the top of the water to breathe.

Lastly, the quantity of water frozen by different degrees of cold is by no means directly in proportion to ice formed by the intensity of the cold, but likewise to the duration of it. Thus, large bodies of water are never frozen in any temperature of short duration, though shallow bodies often are. Our author observes, that as much of a given mass of water was frozen in five hours of a temperature 12° below the freezing point, as was frozen in one

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(a) See M. Bauche's Observations on the North or Ice Sea, where he gives an account of various attempts made to reach the pole, from which he is convinced that the sea is there open, and that the thing is practicable. M. de Pages, in his Travels, vol. iii. informs us, that he wished to take a voyage to the north seas, for the purpose of bringing under one view the various obstacles from the ice, which have impeded the researches of navigators in those seas; and for this purpose he was prepared to continue his voyage to as high a latitude as possible, and that he might be able to say whether any land actually exists north from the coast of Greenland. He failed without any encouragement from his court (France) on the 16th of April 1776 from the Texel, in a Dutch vessel bound to Spitzbergen. On the 16th of May he was a little way north of 81°, the highest latitude he reached.

"Being now (says the author) less than 180 leagues from the pole, the idea of so small a distance served effectually to awaken my curiosity. Had I been able to inspire my fellow-voyagers with sentiments similar to my own, the winds and currents which at this moment carried us fast towards the pole, a region hitherto deemed inaccessible to the eye of mortals, would have been saluted with acclamations of joy. This quarter, however, is not the most eligible for such an enterprise: here the sea lying in the vicinity of those banks of ice, so frequent a little farther to the west, is much too confined. Nevertheless, when I consider the very changeable nature of the shoals under whatever form, even in their most crowded and compact state; their constant changes and concussions which break and detach them from one another, and the various expedients that may be employed for freeing the ship from confinement, as well as for obviating impending danger—I am far from viewing a voyage to the pole as a chimerical idea." one hour of the temperature 50° below it; and that long duration of the temperature between 20 and 32 is, with regard to the congelation of water, equivalent to intensity of cold such as is marked 0 and below 0 in Fahrenheit, but of short duration. See Cold and Congelation.

On the other hand, Mr Forster, in his Observations, takes the contrary side of the question with no little vehemence. "I know (says he) that M. de Buffon, Lomonosof, and Crantz, were of opinion, that the ice found in the ocean is formed near the lands only, from the fresh water and ice carried down into the sea by the many rivers in Siberia, Hudson's bay, &c.; and therefore, when we fell in with such quantities of ice in December 1772, I expected we should soon meet with the land from whence these ice masses had been detached. But being disappointed in the discovery of this land, though we penetrated beyond the 67° twice, and once beyond 71° south latitude, and having besides some other doubts concerning the existence of the pretended southern continent, I thought it necessary to inquire what reasons chiefly induced the above authors to form the opinion that the ice floating in the ocean must be formed near land, or that an astral land is absolutely requisite for that purpose; and having looked for their arguments, I find they amount chiefly to this: 'That the ice floating in the ocean is all fresh; that salt water does not freeze at all; or if it does, it contains briny particles.' They infer from thence, that the ice in the ocean cannot be formed in the sea far from any land; there must therefore exist astral lands; because, in order to form an idea of the original of the great ice masses agreeably to what is observed in the northern hemisphere, they find that the first point for fixing the high ice-fields is the land; and, secondly, that the great quantity of flat ice is brought down the rivers." I have impartially and carefully considered and examined these arguments, and compared every circumstance with what we saw in the high southern latitude, and with other known facts; and will here infer the result of all my inquiries on this subject.

"First, they observe the ice floating in the ocean to yield, by melting, fresh water; which I believe to be true. However, hitherto it has by no means been generally allowed to be fresh: for Crantz says expressly, that 'the flat pieces (forming what they call the ice-fields) are salt, because they were congealed from seawater.' The ice taken up by us for watering the ship was of all kinds, and nevertheless we found it constantly fresh: Which proves, either that the principle of analogy cannot be applied indiscriminately in both hemispheres; and that one thing may be true in the northern hemisphere which is quite otherwise in the southern, from reasons not yet known or discovered by us; or we must think that Crantz and others are mistaken, who suppose the ice floating in the ocean to be salt.

"The next remark is, That salt water does not freeze at all; or if it does, it contains briny particles. M. de Buffon tells us, 'that the sea between Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, under the 79° north latitude, does not freeze, as it is there considerably broad: and that it is not to be apprehended to find the sea frozen not even under the pole itself; for indeed there is no example of having ever found a sea wholly frozen over, and at a considerable distance from the shores; that the only instance of a sea entirely frozen is that of the Black sea, which is narrow and not very salt, and receives a great many rivers coming from northern regions, and bringing down ice: that this sea therefore sometimes freezes to such a degree, that its whole surface is congealed to a considerable thickness; and, if the historians are to be credited, was frozen, in the reign of the emperor Constantine Copronymus, 30 ells thick, not including 20 ells of snow which was lying on the ice. This fact, continues M. de Buffon, seems to be exaggerated: but it is true, however, that it freezes almost every winter; whilst the high seas which are 1000 leagues nearer towards the pole do not freeze; which can have no other cause than the difference in saltness, and the little quantity of ice carried out by rivers, if compared to the enormous quantity of ice which the rivers convey into the Black sea." M. de Buffon is not mistaken when he mentions that the Black sea frequently freezes. Strabo informs us, that the people near the Bosphorus Cimmericus pass this sea in carts from Panticapaeum to Phanagoria; and that Neocleopatra, a general of Mithridates Eupator, won a battle with his cavalry on the ice on the very spot where he gained a naval victory in the summer. Marcellinus Comes relates, that under the consulship of Vincentius and Fravita, in the year 401 after Christ, the whole surface of the Pontus was covered with ice, and that the ice in spring was carried through the Propontis, during 30 days, like mountains. Zonaras mentions the sea between Constantinople and Scutari frozen to such a degree in the reign of Constantine Copronymus, that even loaded carts passed over it. The prince Demetrius Cantemir observes, that in the year 1620-1 there happened so intense a frost, that the people walked over the ice from Constantinople to Izkodar. All these instances confirm M. de Buffon's assertion. But as this great natural historian says that the Black sea is the only instance of a sea being entirely frozen (B), I must beg leave to differ from him; for it is equally well attested that the Baltic is sometimes entirely frozen, according to Caspar Schutz's account. In the year 1426, the winter was so severe, that people travelled over the ice across the Baltic from Dantzig to Lubeck; and the sea was likewise passable from Denmark to Mecklenburg; and in the year 1459 the whole Baltic was entirely frozen, so that persons travelled both on foot and on horseback, over ice, from Denmark to the Venetian Hans-towns, called Lubeck, Wismar, Rostock, and Stralsund, which had never happened before; people likewise travelled across the Baltic over ice.

(B) In the year 860 the Mediterranean was covered with ice, so that people travelled in carts and horses across the Ionian sea to Ycnice; (Hermannus Conraclus ap. Pylor. Script. tom. ii. p. 236). And in 1234 the Mediterranean was again thus frozen, that the Venetian merchants travelled over the ice with their merchandise to what place they chose; Matt. Paris, p. 78. ice from Revel in Estland to Denmark and to Sweden, and back again, without the least danger (c). But, according to Sæmund Frode, even the great German ocean between Denmark and Norway was frozen in the year 1048, so that the wolves frequently ran over the ice from one country to the other. The great northern ocean is likewise most certainly sometimes frozen to a great distance from any land: for Muller relates, that in the year 1715 a Coffack called Marhoff, with some other persons, was sent by the Russian government to explore the north sea; but finding it next to impossible to make any progress during summer on account of the vast quantities of ice commonly filling this ocean, he at last determined to try the experiment during winter. He therefore took several sledges drawn according to the custom of the country by dogs, which commonly go about 80 or 100 versts per day, 105 of which make a degree; and on March the 13th, old style, with this caravan of nine persons, he left the shores of Siberia at the mouth of the river Yana, under the 71° of north latitude, and proceeded for seven days together northward, so that he had reached at least the 77° or 78° north latitude, when he was stopped by the ice, which there began to appear in the shape of prodigious mountains. He climbed up to the top of some of these ice-mountains: but seeing from thence no land, nor anything except ice as far as the eye could reach, and having besides no more food for his dogs left, he thought it very necessary to return; which he with great difficulty performed; on April the 3rd, as several of the dogs, which had perished for want, were employed to support those that remained alive. These facts, I believe, will convince the unprejudiced reader, that there are other seas besides the Black sea which really do freeze in winter, and that the ice carried down the rivers could not at least freeze the German ocean between Norway and Denmark, because the rivers there are so small, and bear a very inconsiderable proportion to the immense ocean, which, according to experiments made by Mr Wilke, is very fast, though near the land, in the Swedish harbour of Landskrona.

"Now, if six or seven degrees of latitude, containing from 360 to 420 sea-miles, are not to be reckoned a great distance from the land, I do not know in what manner to argue, because no distance whatsoever will be reckoned far from any land. Nay, if the Coffack Marhoff, being mounted on one of the highest ice-mountains, may be allowed to see at least to the distance of 20 leagues, the extent alluded to above must then be increased to 480 English sea-miles; which certainly is very considerable, and makes it more than probable that the ocean is frozen in winter, in high northern latitudes, even as far as the pole. Besides, it invalidates the argument which these gentlemen wish to infer from these, that the ocean does not freeze in high latitudes, especially where there is a considerably broad sea; for we have shown instances to the contrary.

"But M. de Buffon speaks of ice carried down the rivers into the northern ocean, and forming there these immense quantities of ice. "And in case, says he, we would suppose, against all probability, that at the pole it could be so cold as to congeal the surface of the sea, it would remain equally incomprehensible how these enormous floating ice-masses could be formed, if they had not land for a point to fix on, and from whence they are fevered by the heat of the sun. The two ships which the India Company sent in 1739 upon the discovery of the austral lands, found ice in 47° or 48° south latitude, but at no great distance from land; which they discovered, without being able to approach it. This ice, therefore, must have come from the interior parts of the lands near the south pole; and we must conjecture, that it follows the course of several large rivers, washing these unknown lands, in the same manner as the rivers Oby, the Yenisea, and the other great rivers which fall into the northern sea, carry the ice-masses, which stop up the straits of Waigats for the greater part of the year, and render the Tartarian sea inaccessible upon this course." Before we can allow the analogy between the rivers Oby, Yenisea, and the rest which fall into the northern ocean, and those coming from the interior parts of the austral lands, let us compare the situation of both countries, supposing the austral lands really to exist. The Oby, Yenisea, and the rest of the Siberian rivers,

(c) In 1296 the Baltic was frozen from Gothland to Sweden. Incerti autoris Annales Denor. in Westphalia monument. Cimbr. tom. i. p. 1392.

In 1306 the Baltic was, during fourteen weeks, covered with ice between all the Danish and Swedish islands. (Ludwig. reliquiae, MSS. tom. ix. p. 170.)

In 1323 there was a road for foot passengers and horsemen over the ice on the Baltic during six weeks. (id. ibid.)

In 1349 people walked over the ice from Stralsund to Denmark. (Incerti aut. cit. ap. Ludwig. tom. ix. p. 181.)

In 1408 the whole sea between Gothland and Oeland, and likewise between Rostock and Gezoer, was frozen. Id. ibid.

In 1423 the ice bore riding from Prussia to Lubeck. (Crantzi Vandal. lib. x. c. 40.) The whole sea was covered with ice from Mecklenburg to Denmark. (Incerti aut. cit. ap. Ludwig. tom. ix. p. 125.)

In 1461 (says Nicol. Marquallus in Annal. Herul. ap. Westphal., tom. i. p. 261.), "tanta erat hyems, ut concreto gelu oceano, plaustris millia passuum supra CCC merces ad ultimam Thylen (Iceland) et Orcades veherentur e Germania tota pene bruma."

In 1545 the sea between Rostock and Denmark, and likewise between Fionia and Sealand, was thus frozen, that the people travelled over the ice on foot, with sledges to which horses and oxen were put. (Anonym. ap. Ludwig. tom. ix. p. 176.)

In 1294 the Cattegat or sea between Norway and Denmark was frozen; that from Oslo in Norway, they could travel on it to Jutland. (Strelow Chron. Jutland, p. 148.) rivers, falling down into the northern ocean, have their sources in 48° and 50° north latitude, where the climate is mild and capable of producing corn of all kinds. All the rivers of this great continent increasing these great rivers have likewise their sources in mild and temperate climates, and the main direction of their course is from south to north; and the coast of the northern ocean, not reckoning its sinuosities, runs in general west and east. The small rivers which are formed in high latitudes have, properly speaking, no sources, no springs, but carry off only the waters generated by the melting of snow in spring, and by the fall of rain in the short summer, and are for the greatest part dry in autumn. And the reason of this phenomenon is obvious, after considering the constitution of the earth in those high northern climates. At Yakutsk, in about 62° north latitude, the soil is eternally frozen, even in the height of summer, at the depth of three feet from the surface. In the years 1685 and 1686, an attempt was made to dig a well; and a man, by great and indefatigable labour, continued during two summer-seasons, and succeeded so far in this laborious task, that he at last reached the depth of 91 feet; but the whole earth at this depth was frozen, and he met with no water; which forced him to desist from so fruitless an attempt. And it is easy to infer from hence how impossible it is that springs should be formed in the womb of an eternally frozen soil.

"The argument, therefore, is now reduced to this, That salt water does not freeze at all; or, if it does, the ice contains briny particles. But we have already produced numberless instances, that the sea does freeze; nay, Crantz allows, that the flat pieces of ice are salt, because they were congealed from sea-water. We beg leave to add a few decisive facts relative to the freezing of the sea. Barentz observes in the year 1596, September the 16th, the sea froze two fingers thick, and next night the ice was as thick again. This happened in the middle of September; what effect then must the intense frost of a night in January not produce? When Captain James wintered in Charleton's isle, the sea froze in the middle of December 1621. It remains, therefore, only to examine, whether the ice formed in the sea must necessarily contain briny particles. And here I find myself in a very disagreeable dilemma; for during the intense frost of the winter in 1776, two sets of experiments were made on the freezing of sea-water, and published, contradicting one another almost in every material point. The one by Mr Edward Nairne, F. R. S., an ingenious and accurate observer; the other by Dr Higgins, who reads lectures on chemistry and natural philosophy, and consequently must be supposed to be well acquainted with the subject. I will therefore fill venture to consider the question as undecided by these experiments, and content myself with making a few observations on them: but previously I beg leave to make this general remark, that those who are well acquainted with mechanics, chemistry, natural philosophy, and the various arts which require a nice observation of minute circumstances, need not be informed, that an experiment or machine succeeds often very well when made upon a smaller scale, but will not answer if undertaken at large; and, vice versa, machines and experiments executed upon a small scale will not produce the effect which they certainly have when made in a more enlarged manner. A few years ago an experiment made on the dyeing of fearlet, did not succeed when undertaken on a small scale, whereas it produced the desired effect when tried at a dyer's house with the large apparatus; and it evidently confirms the above assertion, which I think I have a right to apply to the freezing of salt water. It is therefore probable, that the ice formed in the ocean at large, in a higher latitude, and in a more intense degree of cold, whereof we have no idea here, may become solid, and free from any briny particles, though a few experiments made by Dr Higgins, in his house, on the freezing of salt water, produced only a loose spongy ice filled with briny particles.

"The ice formed of sea-water by Mr Nairne was refuted of very hard, three inches and a half long, and two inches diameter: it follows from thence, that the washing experiments on the outside of this ice in fresh water, could not affect the inside of a hard piece of ice. This ice when melted yielded fresh water, which was specifically lighter than water which was a mixture of rain and snow water, and next in lightness to distilled water. Had the ice thus obtained not been fresh, the residuum of the sea-water, after this ice had been taken out, could not have been specifically heavier than sea-water, which, however, was the case in Mr Nairne's experiment. It seems, therefore, in my opinion, evident from hence, that salt water does freeze, and has no other briny particles than what adhere to its outside. All this perfectly agrees with the curious fact related by Mr Adanson (D), who had brought to France two bottles of sea water, taken up in different parts of the ocean, in order to examine it, and to compare its saltness, when more at leisure; but both the bottles containing the salt water were burnt by being frozen, and the water produced from melting the ice proved perfectly fresh. This fact is so fairly stated, and so very natural, that I cannot conceive it is necessary to suppose, without the least foundation for it, that the bottles were changed, or that Mr Adanson does not mention the circumstance by which the sea water was thus altered upon its being distilled: for as he expressly observes the bottles to have been burnt, it is obvious that the concentrated briny parts ran out, and were entirely drained from the ice, which was formed of the fresh water only.

"The ice formed by Dr Higgins from sea water, consisted of thin laminae, adhering to each other weakly. Dr Higgins took out the frozen ice from the vessels wherein he exposed the sea water, and continued to do so till the remaining concentrated sea water began to form crystals of sea salt. Both these experiments, therefore, by no means prove what the Doctor intended to infer from thence; for it was wrong to take out such ice, which only consisted of thin laminae, adhering to each other weakly. Had he waited with patience, he would have obtained a hard ice as well as Mr Nairne, which, by a more perfect congelation, would have excluded the briny particles intercepted between the thin laminae, adhering to each other weakly; and would have connected the laminae, Pole. minæ, by others formed by fresh water. The Doctor found afterwards, it is true, thicker and somewhat more solid ice: but the sea water had already been so much concentrated by repeated congelations, that it is no wonder the ice formed in it became at last brickish; it should seem, then, that no conclusive arguments can be drawn from these experiments.

"There are two other objections against the formation of the ice in the great ocean. The first is taken from the immense bulk and size of the ice masses formed in the ocean, which is the deepest mass of water we know of. But it has been experimentally proved, that in the midst of summer, in the latitudes of $55^\circ$, $55^\circ 26'$, and $64^\circ$ south, at 100 fathoms depth, the thermometer stood at $34^\circ$, $34^\circ 50'$ and $32^\circ$; and that in all instances, the difference between the temperature at top and 100 fathoms depth never exceeded four degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, or that the temperature of the air did not differ five degrees from that of the ocean at 100 fathoms deep. If we now add to this, that beyond the $71^\circ$ south the temperature of the air and ocean must be still colder, and that the rigours of an antarctic winter are certainly more than sufficient to cool the ocean to $28^\circ$, which is requisite for congealing the aqueous particles in it; if we moreover consider, that these severe frosts are continued during six or eight months of the year, we may easily conceive that there is time enough to congeal large and extensive masses of ice. But it is likewise certain, that there is more than one way by which those immense ice masses are formed. We suppose very justly, that the ocean does freeze, having produced so many instances of it; we allow likewise, that the ice thus formed in a calm, perhaps does not exceed three or four yards in thickness; a storm probably often breaks such an ice-field, which Crantz allows to be 200 leagues one way and 80 the other; the pressure of the broken fragments against one another frequently sets one upon the other piece, and they freeze in that manner together; several such double pieces, thrown by another pressure upon one another, form at last large masses of miles extent, and of 20, 40, 60, and more fathoms thickness, or of a great bulk or height. Martens, in his description of Spitzbergen, remarks, that the pieces of ice cause so great a noise by their shock, that the navigators in those regions can only with difficulty hear the words of those that speak; and as the ice-pieces are thrown one upon another, ice-mountains are formed by it. And I observed very frequently, in the years 1772 and 1773, when we were among the ice, masses which had the most evident marks of such a formation, being composed of strata of some feet in thickness. This is in some measure confirmed by the state in which the Cossack Markoff found the ice at the distance of 420 miles north from the Siberian coasts. The high masses were not found formed, as is suspected in the Second Supplement to the probability of reaching the north pole, p. 143-145, near the land, under the high cliffs, but far out at sea; and when these ice mountains were climbed by Markoff, nothing but ice, and no vestiges of land, appeared as far as the eye could reach. The high climates near the poles are likewise subject to heavy falls of snow, of several yards in thickness, which grow more and more compact, and by thaws and rain are formed into solid ice, which increase the stupendous size of the floating ice mountains.

"The second objection against the freezing of the ocean into such ice as is found floating in it, is taken from the opacity of ice formed in salt water; because the largest masses are commonly transparent like crystal, with a fine blue tint, caused by the reflection of the sea. This argument is very specious, and might be deemed unanswerable by those who are not used to cold winters and their effects. But whosoever has spent several winters in countries which are subject to intense frosts, will find nothing extraordinary or difficult in this argument: for it is a well-known fact in cold countries, that the ice which covers their lakes and rivers is often opaque, especially when the frost sets in accompanied by a fall of snow; for, in those instances, the ice looks, before it hardens, like a dough or paste, and when congealed it is opaque and white; however, in spring, a rain and the thaw, followed by frosty nights, change the opacity and colour of the ice, and make it quite transparent and colourless like a crystal; but, in case the thaw continues, and it ceases entirely to freeze, the same transparent ice becomes soft and porous, and turns again entirely opaque. This I believe may be applicable to the ice seen by us in the ocean. The field-ice was commonly opaque; some of the large masses, probably drenched by rain, and frozen again, were transparent and pellucid; but the small fragments of loose ice, formed by the decay of the large masses, and soaked by long-continued rains, we found to be porous, soft, and opaque.

"It is likewise urged as an argument against the formation of ice in the ocean, that it always requires land, in order to have a point upon which it may be fixed. First, I observe, that in Mr Nairne's experiments, the ice was generated on the surface, and was seen shooting erythals downwards: which evidently evinces, in my opinion, that ice is there formed or generated where the intensest cold is; as the air sooner cools the surface than the depth of the ocean, the ice shoots naturally downwards, and cools the ocean more and more, by which it is prepared for further congelation. I suppose, however, that this happens always during calms, which are not uncommon in high latitudes, as we experienced in the late expedition. Nor does land seem absolutely necessary in order to fix the ice; for this may be done with as much ease and propriety to the large ice mountains which remain undisturbed floating in the ocean in high latitudes; or it may, perhaps, not be improper to suppose, that the whole polar region, from $80^\circ$ and upwards, in the southern hemisphere, remains a solid ice for several years together, to which yearly a new circle of ice is added, and of which, however, part is broken off by the winds and the return of the mild season. Wherever the ice floats in large masses, and sometimes in compact bodies formed of an infinite number of small pieces, there it is by no means difficult to freeze the whole into one piece; for amongst the ice the wind has not a power of raising high and great waves. This circumstance was not entirely unknown to the ancients; and it is probable they acquired this information from the natives of ancient Gaul, and from the Britons and other northern nations, who sometimes undertook long voyages." The northern ocean was called by the ancients the frozen, the dead, the lazy, and immovable sea; sometimes they give it the name mare cronium, the concrete sea, and moriorumam*, the dead sea. And, what is very remarkable, in all the northern cold countries the frost sometimes is so intense, that all the waters become suddenly coagulated into a kind of paste or dough, and thus at once congeal."

On this reasoning of Mr Forster's, however, we must observe, that it cannot possibly invalidate any fact which Mr Barrington has advanced. The best concerted and most plausible theory in the world must yield to experience; for this is in fact what must judge all theories. Now, from what we have already related, it is demonstrated, that in the space between the mouths of the rivers Piafida and Chatanga more ice must be formed, and more intense colds generated, than in any other part of the world; consequently, for a considerable space both on the east and west side of that, the sea must be more full of ice than anywhere else. Now, between these two rivers there is the promontory of Taimura, which runs out to the latitude of 78°, or near it, and which of necessity must obstruct the dispersion of the ice; and that it actually does so is in some degree probable, because in one of the Russian voyages above mentioned the eastern mouth of the Lena was quite free, when the western ones were entirely choked up with ice. Now the mouth of the Yana lies several degrees to the eastward of the Lena; consequently, when the ice comes eastward from the cape of Taimura, it must necessarily fill all that sea to the latitude of 78° and upwards; but the Cossack Markoff, if he proceeded directly north, could not be farther than the promontory of Taimura, and consequently still enveloped among the ice. Besides, we are certain, that the sea in 78° is not at all frozen into a solid cake in some places, since Lord Mulgrave, in 1773, reached 81°. Mr Forster's argument, therefore, either proves nothing, or it proves too much. If it proves, that about the middle of the eastern continent the cold is so intense that a sufficient quantity of ice is formed to obstruct the navigation for several hundred miles round, this proves nothing; because we knew before that this must be the case: But if it proves, that the sea must be unnavigable by reason of ice all round the globe at 78° north latitude, this is too much; because we certainly know, that in 1773 Lord Mulgrave reached the latitude of 81°. However, though it should be allowed that the sea is quite clear all the way to the pole, it must be a very great uncertainty whether any ship could by that way reach the East Indies; because we know that it must fall down between the continents of Asia and America, through that strait whose mouth must often be blocked up with ice driving eastward along the continent of Asia.

The fourth pole is still more inaccessible than the north pole; for the ice is found in much lower southern than northern latitudes. Upon this subject M. Pages speaks thus: "Having in former voyages (says he) visited many parts of the terraqueous globe in different latitudes, I had opportunities of acquiring a considerable knowledge of climate in the torrid as well as in the temperate divisions of the earth. In a subsequent voyage I made it my business to be equally well informed respecting the reputed inhospitable genius of the South Seas; and upon my return from that expedition I entertained not the smallest doubt that there exists a peculiar and perpetual rigour in the southern hemisphere." (See his Travels round the World, vol. iii., translated from the French, and printed at London, 1792, for Murray.) This superior degree of cold has by many been supposed to proceed from a greater quantity of land about the south than the north pole*; and the notion of a vast continent in these regions prevailed almost universally, insomuch that many have sought for it, but hitherto in vain. See the articles Cook's Discoveries, No. 38—49, and No. 68, and 69. SOUTH Sea, &c., and Terra Australis.

Magnetic Pole. See Magnetism.

North Pole. See Pole.