The professional artist Edward Seago (1910–1974) travelled to the Antarctic Peninsula, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia in the 1956/57 austral summer. Although firmly rooted in the English, and in particular the East Anglian, tradition of landscape painting, Seago was able to portray polar landscapes, which he had not previously experienced, with vigour and delight. He went to Antarctica with a firmly established skill in using oils to capture the essence of a landscape, and, despite being on or near the Antarctic Peninsula for only about three days, he produced about 18 oil paintings, predominantly of landscapes and icescapes. In addition, he painted at least a further 17 works of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the whaling industry, and icebergs in the Southern Ocean. Seago had an excellent memory and was able to ‘reproduce’ earlier works, an ability that has caused some confusion. Examples of these counterparts are discussed. A catalogue of his known Antarctic works is given.

Cryolite is a rare mineral which is only mined in Greenland and is one of the most important assets in- Greenland economy. It is grey-white and translucent, almost like ice when wet, a fluoride of sodium and aluminium with the chemical formula Na3AlF6. The only commercial source is at Ivigtut in south-west Greenland, whilst the only two other known occurrences—at Pikes Peak, Colorado, and Miass in the Urals—are both small and impure. Lately, however, the Russians have claimed that the geological structure of Kol'ski Poluostrov (Kola Peninsula) would indicate the likelihood of cryolite being found there, and there are also reports of a mine in active production in East Siberia on the Manchurian border.

It has been said that scientific truths begin as heresies and end as myths, enjoying a period of orthodox acceptance in between. It must be rare, if this is so, for a myth to be imposed upon the public as a “truth”, to be accepted immediately as such, and then to suffer excommunication as heresy. Such a case is at hand in the matter of the sea-life area of the Atlantic Salmon in Davis Strait and of the start of a new pelagic fishery.

The Polar Record, No. 5, January, 1933: Page 24. For Simarik read Simavik.

Samuel Hearne is best known to students of polar history because of his famous overland expedition of 1770–72, when he became the first European to reach the northern coast of North America at the mouth of the Coppermine River. Fewer know of his other notable journeys, in which he established Cumberland House as an inland trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company; fewer still may be aware of his capture, while Governor of Prince of Wales' Fort on Hudson Bay, by the French naval commander la Pérouse in 1782. That Hearne was an attractive and interesting character emerges clearly from his own account of his major expedition (a classic in exploration literature) and his other writings. However, he was also a figure of controversy, both during his life and subsequently, and this lends interest to his story.

On 13 June 1988 a US party including Alaskan Natives and business, political and media representatives flew from Nome, Alaska to Provideniya, Siberia, on a ‘friendship flight’ arranged by the State of Alaska and Soviet authorities. In August of the same year MV Society Explorer, a US-operated cruise ship, made a 20-hour port call in Provideniya. On 7 September the Soviet research vessel Dmitri Laptev paid a return visit from Provideniyato Nome with a party of Yupik natives and Soviet officials. These visits represent the first formal contacts between neighbouring communities across Bering Strait for over 40 years.

Igloo is one of the few Eskimo words that most white people understand, and shares with kayak and oomiak the distinction of appearing in almost all English dictionaries and occasional cross-word puzzles. The great majority of Eskimos, however, have never seen a snow house and it is only among the Central tribes (roughly those living in Canada east of the Mackenzie) that it has reached its fullest development. One result of this is that it has seldom been adopted by white travellers except in this region, though here it has been shown time and again during the last hundred years to be the most suitable form of dwelling for winter travel. It does not necessarily follow that the snow house would be as satisfactory in other polar regions, but I think that there are occasions when it could be used by expeditions to their advantage. Certainly all serious travellers should know how to build one in emergency. This is by no means so difficult as it is reputed to be, and two or three days' practice should give a reasonable proficiency. First I shall describe the normal building method of the Igloolik tribe, and then give various modifications which may be preferred according to individual taste.