''The Fur Country'' (french: Le Pays des fourrures) or ''Seventy Degrees North Latitude'' is an

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedi ...

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

in The Extraordinary Voyages series, first published in 1873. The novel was serialized in ''Magasin d’Éducation et de Récréation'' from 20 September 1872 to 15 December 1873. The two-volume first original French edition and the first illustrated large-format edition were published in 1873 by

Pierre-Jules Hetzel Pierre-Jules Hetzel (15 January 1814 – 17 March 1886) was a French editor and publisher. He is best known for his extraordinarily lavishly illustrated editions of Jules Verne's novels, highly prized by collectors today. Biography Born in Ch ...

. The first English translation by N. D’Anvers (pseudonym of Mrs. Arthur (Nancy) Bell) was also published in 1873.

Plot summary

In 1859 Lt. Jasper Hobson and other members of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

travel through the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Cape Bathurst Cape Bathurst (Inuit: ''Awaq'') is a cape and a peninsula located on the northern coast of the Northwest Territories in Canada. Cape Bathurst is the northernmost point of mainland Northwest Territories and one of the few peninsulas in mainland Nor ...

on the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

on the mission to create a fort at 70 degrees, north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. The area they come to is very rich with wildlife and natural resources. Jasper Hobson and his party establish a fort here. At some point, an earthquake occurs, and from then on, laws of physics seem altered (a total eclipse happens to be only partial; tides are not perceived anymore). They eventually realise that they are on an iceberg separated from the sea ice that is drifting south. Hobson does a daily measurement to know the iceberg's location. The iceberg passes the Bering Strait and the iceberg (which is now much smaller, since the warmer waters have melted some parts) finally reaches a small island. A Danish whaling ship finds them. Every member in Hobson's party is rescued and they all survive.

Publication history

*1873, UK, London: Sampson Low, Pub date November 1873; first UK edition, translated by N. D'Anvers (Mrs. Arthur (Nancy) Bell), as ''The Fur Country or Seventy Degrees North Latitude'' *1874, US, Boston: James Osgood, Pub date 1874; first United States edition *1879, UK, Routledge, Pub date 1879; translation by Henry Frith *1966, UK, London: Arco, Pub date 1966; abridged and edited by I.O. Evans in 2 volumes as ''The Sun in Eclipse'' and ''Through the Behring Strait'' *1987, Canada, Toronto: NC Press , Pub date October 1987; new translation by Edward Baxter *2008, UK, Classic Comic Store Ltd, Classics Illustrated (JES) #41 facsimile edition (JES13027), retitled "The Floating Island"

References

External links

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105 illustrations for ''The Fur Country''
by Jules Férat and Alfred Quesnay de Beaurépaire 1873 French novels Novels by Jules Verne Novels set in the Northwest Territories Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in French magazines Novels set in Canada Fur trade {{1870s-adventure-novel-stub