ARCTIC DISCOVERY.

Once again news reaches us from the far North of that mysterious silent sea which lies round the Arctic pole, and into which no vessel has ever yet made her way. As far back as the days of Barenlz, in 1596, open wafer was seen to the eastward of the northernmost capes of Nova Zembla. The Dutch fishermen above and around Spitsbergen have frequently pushed their way through the ice into large open spaces, varying 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 Wrangell, when forty miles from the coast of Arctic Asia, sighted what he 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 82deg 27min N., Mr Morton, pressing his way due north, found that «he land-ice and snow which had hiiherto served as a pathwtiy 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 un. known 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 milis, 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 whale 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 luxuriance. 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 Wrangell, by Penny and Inglefield. " Coming as it did," writes Kane, " a mysterious fluidity in the midst of vast plains of solid ice, it was well calculated to arouse emotions of the highest order ; and 1 do* not believe there was a man among us who did not long for the means of embarking upon its bright and lovely waters." Now for the second time news reaches us of what we feel tempted to call the MortoD Ocean. The following interesting account of the progress of the expedition to the North Pole, under the young and wealthy Frenchman, M. Pavy, has appeared in the " Courrier des Etats Unis ':— " 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 Robins, a portion of the dispatches addressed by our countryman, M. Pavy, to the French Geographical Society respecting his expedition to the North Vole. The dispatches are dated from the eastern coast of "Wrangel's Land, 23rd August. The following is tho analysis of these interesting documents, which have been brought by the Cadmus. The expedition composed of M. Octave Pavy, commnnder, 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 Holjnchin. On the 22nd theexplorers reinforced by eleven natives, started in an easterly direction along the northern hank of the Liberia, after having obtained a supply of sleighs and dogs. On the 17th of July they reached the mouth of the river Petrolitz. From this point they met with immense fields of ice moving towards the N.E. They crossed one field 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 tyf, Pavy respecting the con. centration and the augmentation in rapidity of the branch of the great Japanese current, called Ku-ifco-Sirod, which passes through Behiihg S f ,Tait and flows toward the east awf>^ f rom the coast of Siberia, The Vceraft made oi caoutehouo Backs £',lea with air, was launched ! from, time to time to cross the sheets 0t running water, varying it breach from 80 to 60 miles. The expWing parry reached the coast o; Wran gel's Land, at the mouth of f great river coming from the north-west, which is not laid down on any map This discovery con6rms M. Pavy'i theory that th^re exists a vast polar con tinent which stretches far to the north the tem'^eyatm-e of which is warn enough, % 0 me ]t Bnow j n Bum mer. Th< cun 7<}nt of this unnamed river turns t< *.*ie east, and follows the coast with i velocity of six knots an hour. M. Pav; ' and his companions followed the curren s of the river towards the north, a dis t tance of 230 miles. Its bed is uni il formly horizontal ; its breadth varie ;* from 50 t* 60 miles, and it is bordere< e by mountains of great height, will *' several perpendicular peaks. At 8' f_ miles from the mouth the explorer a found on the plain some vestiges c n mastodons, and on clearing away th

i snow from a spot whence emerged the tusks of one of that extinct race, thej I brought to light its enormous body, in s perfect state of preservation. The skin was covered with black stiff hair verj long and thick upon the back. The , tusks measured lift Bin in length, and went back about the level of the eyes. The fore leg was bent, resting on the knees, and the posterior parts were s deeply sunk in the snow, in a posture l indicating that the animal had died I while trying to extricate itself from a ! watery or snowy slough. Professor f Newman had not discovered sufficient t characteristics on the body of the mas- : todon to justify his classing it of a difi ferent species from the elephant of our i day. From its stomach were taken i pieces of bark and grasses, the nature f of which could not be analysed on the s spot. Over an area of many miles the i plain was covered with the remains of • mastodons— indicating that a numerous ' herd of these gigantic animals must , have perished there through some 1 eanvulsion of nature. This region s abounds with polar bears, which live on the remains of the mastodons. At i 120 miles from the coast and a half a league from the river, rise a vast i block of ice 1 000ft high, the bose of which is surrounded by gravel and stones, dpeply sunk in the soil. ' The polish of these stones, and their 1 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 over both of its banks. At the date ol his despatches M Pavy was preparing to winter in the 75th degree of latitude, 1 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 new route, and been rewarded with the sight of a new continent. He is, however, 15 degrees, or about 1000 miles from the North Pole, and is as yet 7£ degrees below the highest latitude attained bj Dr Kane, who reached 82deg 30min., or within 519 miles of the poles. But from that point one of his men saw open sea far to the north, still further corroborating M. Pavy's theory.