Jules Verne's The Fur Country, or, Seventy Degrees North Latitude (1859) takes us to the Arctic Circle and describes life during the polar winter. It criticises the incessant killing of animals for their fur and raises several environmental issues as well. Characters include officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, an astronomer, and a travelling Englishwoman and her companion. Like his other works, this one demonstrates the weakness of men in face of divine power and the determination that leads men to cross impossible hurdles.