Introduction.

In the whole history of Geographical Discovery, there is certainly no more striking or more interesting feature than that remarkable fever for Arctic exploration, which first showed itself in the voyages of the early Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese navigators; which, during the Middle Ages, affected more or less all the maritime nations of Western Europe, developing at last into a perfect craze for the discovery of a navigable sea-passage round the northern coasts of North America or Asia to the rich spice-bearing countries of the Far East; and which continued with increased, rather than abated, strength even to our own times.