ARCTIC DISCOVERT.

(From the London Colonial News.) Once again newt reaches us from the far North of that mysterious silent sea which lies round the Arctic pole, and into which no vessel has ever jet made her way. As far back as the days of Barentz, in 1596, open water was seen to I the eastward of the Northernmost capes of Nova Zembla. The Dutch fishermen above and around Spitzbergen have frequently pushed their way through the ice into large open spaces, Tarying in size and form with the season and the winds. Dr Scoresby, from observation of the manner in which, as the explorer approaches nearer and nearer to the Pole, the floe becomes capricious, and tends to melt away, was led to infer that there lies round the Pole a large expanse of clear, warm water, from which sets a continuous current towards the Equator. Baron Wrangel, when forty miles from the coast of Arctic Asia, sighted what he 1 described as " a vast ocean ;" and, still later, Captain Penny saw open water to the north of Wellington Sound. But it was by Mr Morton, who accompanied Kane in his so-called Grinnell expeditions, that this open sea — the existence of which had long been suspected — was first actually viewed under circumstances that left no longer any room for doubt. Off Cape Constitution, in latitude 82 deg. 27 min. N., Mr Morton, pressing his way due North, found that the land-ice and snow which had hitherto served as a pathway for his dogs began to crumble and melt, and that large pools of water began to appear. Still holding his course, he found himself, after a weary struggle over some miles of boulders, treading the beach of an unknown sea, which, like the familiar waters of the south, dashed in billows at his feet. Scaling a high cliff, he looked out from an eminence of 840 feet, which commanded an horizon of almost 40 miles, upon a vast expanse of ocean. Far below him the waves, free of ice, moved by a heavy ground swell, dashed in wreaths of white surf against a rockbound shore. Nor was this all. The open waters teemed with life. The whales wallowed and spouted. Ducks, gulls, and petrel of all kinds wheeled and screamed overhead ; and vegetation — of a * low order, it is true, yet indicating a

comparatively temperate and equable climate — flourished in rich luxurianCs Nor could there be the least doubt that the unknown ocean whose waters rolled at Mr Morton's feet was none other than that open Polar Sea of which glimpses had been caught by Barentz and Wrangel, by Penny and Inglefield. " Coming as it did,"' writes Kane, " a , mysterious fluidity in the midst of vast plains of Bolid ice, it was well calculated to arouse emotions of the highest order ; and I do not believe there was a man among us who did not long for the means of embarking upon its bright and lovely waters." New for the second time news reache* us of what we feel tempted to call the Morton Ocean. The following interesting account of the progress of the expedition to the T^orth Pole, under the young and wealthy Frenchman, M. Pary, j has appeared in the Courrier des Stats Utiis : — " The three-masted ship Cadmus has arrived at San Francisco, on her | return from the Arctic Ocean, where she had gone to pick up the wrecks of the shipwrecked whalers On the 28th of September this vessel received, through the captain of the whaler, George Bobbins, a portion of the despatches addressed by our countryman, M. Pavy, to the French Geographical Society respecting his expedition to the Nortk Pole. The despatches are dated from the eastern coast of Wrangel's Land, 23rd August. The following is the analysis of these interesting documents, which have been brought by the Cadmus. The expedition, composed of M. Octave Pavy, commander, of Professors Thomas Newcombe and Henry Edwards, of San Francisco, of M. Jean Brull, and four sailors, landed on the 18th of June, on the eastern shore of the Bay of Holynchin. On the 22nd the explorers, reinforced by eleven natives, started in an easterly direction along the northern bank of the Liberia, after having obtained a supply of sleighs and dogs. On the 17th of July, they reached the mouth of the rivsr Petrolitz. From this point they met with immense fields of ice moving towards the north-east. They crossed one field which was sixty miles broad. The observations indicated a deviation of 18 miles, caused by the movements of the ice, a fact tending to confirm the theory of M. Pavy respecting the concentration and the augmentation in rapidity of the branch of the great Japanese current, called Ku-Ko-Sirod, which passes through Behring Strait, and flows toward the east away from the coast of Siberia. The iceraft, made of caoutchouc sacks filled with air, was launched from time to time to cross the sheets of running water, rarying in breadth from 30 to 60 miles. The exploring party reached the coast of Wrangel's Land, at the mouth of a great river coming from the north-west, which is not laid down on any map. This discovery confirms M. Pavy's theory that there exists a vast polar continent whieh stretches far to the north, the temperature of which is warm enough to melt snow in summer. The current of this unnamed river turns to the east, and follows the coast with a velocity of six knots an hour. M. Pavy and his companions followed the current of the river towards the north, a distance of 230 miles. Its bed is uniformly horizontal ; its breadth varies from 50 to 60 miles, and it is bordered by mountains of great height, with several perpendicular peaks. At 80 miles from the mouth the explorers found on the plain some vestiges of mastodons, and on clearing away the snow from a spot whence emerged the tusks of one of that extinct race, they brought to light its enormous body, in a perfect state of preservation. The Bkin was covered with black stiff hair very long and thick upon the back. The tusks measured lift. Bin. in length, and were bent back about the level of the eyes. The fore legs were bent, resting on the knees, and the posterior parts were deeply sunk in the snow, in a posture indicating that the animal had died while trying to extricate itself from a watery or snowy slough. Professor Newman had not discovered sufficient characteristics on the body of the mastodon to justify, his classing it of a different species from the elephant of our day. From its stomach were taken pieces of bark and grasses, the nature of which could not be analyzed on the spot. Over an area of many miles the plain was covered with the remains of mastodons — indicating that a numerous herd of these gigantic animals must have perished there through some convulsion of nature. This region abounds with polar bears, which live on the remains of the mastodons. At 120 miles from the coast, and half a league from th« river, rißes a vast block of ice I,oooft. high, the base of which is surrounded by gravel and stones, deeply sunk in the soil. The polish of these stones, and their rounded form, prove that they were formerly at the bed of a river, whence they were ejected by some unexplained phenomenon. The Arctic animals are very numerous in this | valley, and myriads of birds fly above the river and ovsr both of ita banks. At the date of hie despatches M. Pavy was pre- | paring to winter in the 75th d«gree of latitude in the valley of the great river of the polar continent. He had begun to | collect provisions and fuel. He, as well as his companions, were in perfect health and full of courage, and he considered himself certain to arrive in the next season at a polar sea of moderate temperature at the northern extremity of the continent. The explorers calculate on afterwards reaching the Atlantic through Melville Strait. The scientific observations mentioned in M. Pavy's despatches will not be given to the public until after the French Geographical Society shall have examined them." It is observed that if the foregoing communication be authentic, M. Pavy has successfully struck out a Dew route, and been rewarded with the sight of a new continent. He is, however 15 deg. or about 1,000 miles from the North Pole, and is as yet 7i below the highest

latitude attained by Dr Kane, who reached 82 dep;. 30 min. or within 519 : miles of the Pole. But from that point one of his men saw open sea far to the north, still further corroborating M. Pavj's theory.