Ohthcre, a Norwegian or the ninth century, a man of enterprise and wealth, instigated, it would appear, by the first of these motives, curiosity, undertook a coast ing voyage from Drontheim towards the north, and was the first adventurer, of w hoot we have ally account, who crossed the Arctic circle : his voyage extended beyond the North Cape of Norway to the entrance of the White Sea. Iceland was discovered by a Scandinavian pirate about the same period ; and the south of Greenland was discovered about the year 970, by one of the colonists of Iceland. But these arc tracts of country which lie without our limits, excepting a small promontory of the former, and the northern continuation of the latter.
The popular idea of a northern passage to India,— which was suggested by John Vaz Costa Cot tereal, or according to a more general opinion, by John Cabot, the father of the celebrated Sebastian Cabot, about the middle, or latter end of the fifteenth century,—was the occasion of a number of voyages being undertaken into the Arctic Sea, from which, with sonic considerable dis coveries made by the whale-fishers, almost the whole of our knowledge of Arctic lands has been primarily de ived.
Though many attempts were made to find a north western or western passage to India before the middle of the sixteenth century, there is no well-authenticated ac count of any of these voyagers having extended %hell' re searches within the Arctic circle. Sir Hugh Willough by, therefore, who discovered .Vova Zembla in the year 1553, and perished soon afterwards with the crews of two ships, on attempting to winter in Lapland, may be considered as one of the first discoverers within the frigid zone. He was succeeded by Stephen Burrough, who discovered the island of Weigats, and visited Nova Zembla ; and by Frobisner and several others in voyages towards the north-west, whose researches did not ex tend so far as the polar circle. John Davis, however, passed this circle in the year 1585, and in the course of this and subsequent voyages discovered the strait named after him, and the greater part of the coast on both sides of Davis's Strait, as high as the latitude of 72° 12' north, Barentz, a Dutch navigator, discovered Spitz bergen, together with Bear or Cherie Island, in the year 1596, the investigation of the coasts of svtich, as far almost as at present known, was completed `)y the English whalers between 1611 and 1620. The first land seen within the Arctic circle, on the east coas of Greenland, was by Henry Hudson, in 1607, who °is covered Younett Cute, Hold with Hope, and other lants as high as latitude 73°. In Hudson's fourth voyage, in which he discovered the strait and bay distinguished by his name, this brave navigator was forced by a mu tinous crew into a boat, and, with eight of his adher ents, abandoned to perish. The celebrated William Baffin, in the year 1616, discovered the bay bearing his name, and circumnavigated, in a solitary little ves sel, this extensive and ice-encumbered sea, into which the most adventurous navigators have not ventured to follow him until within the present century.
Considerable navigations of the Frozen Sea, on the northern face of Asia and Europe, were made by the Russians in 1636 and the ten following years, in which establishments were formed, on the banks of the Lena, ; and the rivers Jana, Indighirsa, Alasei, Kovima, tec. were discovered. The celebrated, but still doubtful voyage of Semoen Deschnew, round the great promon tory of the Tchuktchi, to the east side of Kamtchatka, was undertaken in the year 1648 from the Kovima ; and the discovery of Behring's Strait by the navigator of that name, was accomplished in 1728. This strait has since been passed by Capt. Cook, who reached the latitude 44', the highest ever attained in that region, in the summer of 1778. Capt. Clerke, the successor of this extraordinary navigator, in 1779, Joseph Billings, in 1790, and Lieut. Kotzebue, in 1816, all passed Belt ring's Strait ; but none of them reached the extent to which Cook attained. Subsequently, however, in an investigation by land, Capt. Cochrane, we understand, has traced the whole of the Tchuktchi Noss, and de termined its pcninsularity.
The greater part, almost the whole indeed, of the northern coast of Russia, between Archangel and the Tchuktchi Noss, was traced by interrupted detail in the years 1734 to 1740, by the Russians ; and some other researches since that period, have been accom plished by the same nation in the Frozen Sea.
The journey of Hearne to Copper-mine River, in 1772, and of Alexander Alackensie in 1789, to the Fro zen Ocean, bring us down to the period of the recent voyages of Captains Ross and Parry towards the north west, and of the overland expedition of Capt. Franklin. Sonic of the whale fishers frequenting Davis' Strait, penetrated in the year 1817 to an unusual height into Baffin's Bay ; and some of the Spitzbergen whalers also penetrated to within sight of the ice-bound coast of East Greenland. This uncommon permeability of the polar ices, with a representation of one of the captains, that a great quantity of ice had disappeared out of the polar seas, and that circumstances were very favour able for discovery, was the occasion, we believe, of the recent voyages having been undertaken. Captain Ross, in the year 1818, circumnavigated the Bay of Baffin, corrected its geography, and expunged from the maps the supposed land lying in the centre of the straits, called James's Island. As the time allowed to Captain Ross did not permit him to complete the examination of this bay, there appeared to the government some reason to believe, that Lancaster Sound, of Baffin, was an outlet into the Hyperborean Sea, Captain Parry, well provided for wintering in these seas, was sent out the year following for the purpose of pursuing this supposed opening, and determining its limits towards the west. This was accomplished in the ablest manner ; no particular difficulty indeed occurred, until the expe dition reached the longitude of 110° west, but coming then on the coasts of a large island, which was named Melville Island, the ice was found gradually to ap proach, and ultimately to form a junction with the shore. After every exertion, and after exposing the ships to considerable risk, advanced to the longitude of 112° 51' vest, in latitude 74° 22 north, where the ice became an impervious wall. The winter now beginning to set in, they returned a few leagues to the eastward to a secure place in Melville Island, which they named Winter Har bour, where they remained in great quietness and safety, firmly !cozen up until the middle of the next summer. Being fatly released on the 1st of Aug. 1820, they re newed the attempt to penetrate to the westward ; but after pressing with uncommon perseverance between the ice and the coast, in a dangerous and dubious chan nel, as far as longitude 46' west, (in latitude 74° 26' 25') they found it impracticable to proceed far ther, and therefore returned to search for a more fa vourable situation for pursuing the investigation. In this, however, they were not successful, the ice forming a barrier to the westward wherever they went. They arrived in England in the beginning of November, after having penetrated 520 miles, or of longitude far ther to the westward than any former navigator in this parallel, and discovered various barren islands extend ing from Lancaster Sound to Melville Island. To the chain of islands they met with on the north side, which were nearly continuous, the occurrence of the open sea, (wherein they made such considerable progress to the westward) is to be attributed. This uncommon degree of success called for further research ; and Capt. null:, whose judicious management of the people under. his charge, u hose persevering zeal in the cause had distin guished him as admirably calculated for such a service, was accordingly dispatched again on a similar service, and in a state of the best possible equipment, on the 8:h of May, 1821. He returned safely in the month of October, 1823, after two years and a half spent in laborious though fruitless exertions to obtain a passage through the northern part of Hudson's Bay, round the north-eastern extremity of the American continent.