The most useful, however, of all the Arctic animals is the reindeer. Indeed it is as indispensable to the Laplander, the Siberian, and the Esquimaux, as the camel is to the Bedouin, or the mule to the Peruvian, or as the cocoa-nut palm—the tree of a hundred uses—is to the islanders of the Indian Ocean. Living and dead, he renders to the busy Lapp all the services which it requires three or four animals—the horse, the cow, and the sheep or the goat—to render to the inhabitants of temperate climes. He is tractable and easily tamed. He even saves his master the trouble of providing him with food. For the most remarkable circumstance about him is the unerring instinct with which he discovers his favourite moss, even when the snow covers it to the depth of several feet. As the camel is the "ship" of the ocean of sand, so assuredly is the reindeer the camel of the desert of snow!
對于人類來說，馴鹿是所有北極動物當中用處最多的，對拉普蘭人、西伯利亞人和愛斯基摩人來說更是必不可缺，就如同駱駝和貝多因人、騾子和秘魯人以及有著上百種用途的椰子樹和印度洋上的居民一樣密不可分。不管是活著的馴鹿還是死去的馴鹿都對拉普蘭人大有用處，一頭馴鹿能為溫帶氣候的居民提供相當于三到四只馬、牛、綿羊或者山羊所提供的服務。除此之外，馴鹿性格好且容易馴服，甚至還不需勞煩主人為自己提供食物，因為馴鹿有一種極其突出的才華，即他能依靠本能準確無誤地找到自己最愛吃的苔蘚，即使它們被雪埋藏在地下數英尺的地方。正如駱駝是沙漠中的“船”，而馴鹿無疑是沙漠中的“駱駝”！
The Antarctic regions are far more desolate than the Arctic. There no energetic hunters like the Esquimaux chase the seal or the walrus; no patient herdsmen like the Lapps follow their reindeer to the brink of the icy ocean: all is one dreary, cheerless waste, uninhabited and uninhabitable, except by migratory birds,—the petrel, the albatross, the penguin. No plant of any description is found on any part of the Antarctic continent; no land quadruped lives there; everywhere the snow-line descends to the water's edge.
南極比北極要荒涼得多。在南極，沒有像愛斯基摩人那樣精力充沛的獵人去追逐海豹或海象；也沒有像拉普人那樣耐心十足的牧民會跟隨他們的馴鹿來到冰冷的海洋邊緣：到處都是慘淡、毫無生機的荒野，除了像海燕、信天翁這種候鳥和企鵝之外，這里無人居住，也不宜居住。此外，南極大陸上沒有絲毫植物生長的痕跡，也沒有陸地四足動物生活的痕跡，整個南極除了水就是雪。
Certainly the grandest feature which nature presents in these regions is the Parry mountain-chain, about 1700 miles south of New Zealand. The most conspicuous object of the chain is Mount Erebus, an active volcano, of which Sir James Ross—the greatest of Antarctic explorers—had the good fortune to witness a magnificent eruption in 1841. The enormous column of flame and smoke rising 2000 feet above the mouth of the crater, which is elevated 12, 400 feet above the level of the sea, together with the snow-white mountain-chain and the deep blue ocean, formed a magnificent scene. The South Pole was first reached on December 10, 1911, by a Norwegian expedition under Captain Amundsen, which was favoured in crossing the ice by exceptionally good weather. Little more than a month later it was also reached under the most adverse conditions by Captain Scott, who perished on the return journey.
當然，南極也有令人驚嘆的美景，其中最出類拔萃的就是距離新西蘭南部1700英里的帕里山脈，而帕里山脈下最引人注目的則屬埃里伯斯火山，埃里伯斯火山是一座活火山，偉大的南極探險家詹姆斯·羅斯爵士曾于1841年有幸目睹了該火山噴發時的壯觀景象：巨大的火柱和濃煙在火山口上方2000英尺處隆隆躥起至高出海平面12400英尺的地方，再加上雪白的山脈和深藍色的海洋，那景觀怎一個壯觀了得！1911年12月10日，一支由阿蒙森船長率領的挪威探險隊第一次到達南極，由于天氣尚好，他們的探險進程格外地順利。一個多月之后，斯科特船長也在最惡劣的條件之下到達了南極，不過在回程途中不幸罹難。
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