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$Title{Arctic Exploration
Artic Exploration By Albert Hastings Markham}
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Hear Admiral Richard E. Byrd*56250065.aud
Hear Sir Edward Schackleton*46260061.aud
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Title:       Arctic Exploration
Author:      Markham, Albert Hastings

Artic Exploration By Albert Hastings Markham

1895

     From the time when Sir Hugh Willoughby, in 1553, was fitted out with an
expedition by merchants in London, "for the discovery of regions, dominions,
and islands unknown," and went to his death in the frozen ocean, to the
present day there has been a constant interest in arctic exploration.  Even
now, when it has become certain that there is nothing of commercial value in
that high latitude, money never is lacking for sending a new expedition in
search of the pole.  The reader should remember that much of the northward
exploration has had no reference to the pole.  When it was not known how far
north the continent of North America extended, expeditions were sent out with
the hope of finding a northwest passage to the Pacific.  The last and most
famous of these was that commanded by Sir John Franklin, which sailed in May,
1845, and as last seen by a whaler in Melville Bay two months later.  Fifteen
expeditions were sent out, from England and from the United States, to search
for the explorers; but, except a trace of them on Beechey Island in 1850,
there was no result until 1857, when Captain Leopold McClintock, in a vessel
fitted out by Lady Franklin, found relics and a written record, which told him
that Sir John Franklin died in June, 1847, and the ships were deserted by the
crews in April, 1848.  In 1878 an expedition from the United States, commanded
by Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, found more relics and several skeletons of
Franklin's crew, and traced the course of the lost company. Since that time
all, or nearly all, arctic expeditions have had for their sole object the
reaching of the highest possible latitude.  As the south pole is apparently
surrounded by a wider icy barrier than the north pole, there has been little
effort to approach it until very recently.

[Hear Admiral Richard E. Byrd]
The noted Antarctic explorer discusses his expedition Dec. 8, 1954.

[Hear Sir Edward Schackleton]
On his expedition to the South Pole 1914-1917

Text

     The subject of polar research, more especially in the north, is, and has
been for more than three hundred years, one of world-wide, and consequently of
international, interest.  Nations have vied with one author in their laudable
endeavors to further the great cause of geographical discovery, and a very
friendly rivalry has existed between various countries, with the view of
advancing their respective flags over the threshold of the known region into
the interesting and mysterious unknown.

     Those nations which have in the past particularly interested themselves
in discovery in the north polar region - which covers nearly a million and a
half square miles - are Great Britain, the United States of America,
Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Holland, and Norway.

     Perhaps the merit of having delineated the greatest amount of coast-line
on our north polar maps rests with the United States, but it is only fair to
add that this satisfactory result is, in a very great measure, due to the
excellent geographical work that was achieved by those various expeditions
that were despatched by England, between 1849 and 1859, with the object of
searching for the missing Franklin expedition.

     The United States has, principally through the munificence and patriotism
of its citizens (nobly supported as they have been by the energy of those who
have been employed), been wonderfully successful in its laudable efforts to
reveal the hidden secrets of the unknown north.

     To Austria-Hungary we are indebted for the discovery of a large extent of
territory which has been called Kaiser Franz-Josef Land.  To Sweden, thanks to
that distinguished scientist and arctic explorer Baron Nordenskjold, belongs
the honor associated with the successful accomplishment of the northeast
passage along the north coast of Europe and Asia from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.  Germany has successfully traced the east coast of Greenland as far
north as Cape Bismarck, in latitude 77 degrees.  Russia has done admirable
work by a complete survey of the seaboard of Nova Zembla, as well as by the
delineation of the coast of the mainland from the Kara Sea, around Cape
Severo, to Bering Strait.  Holland has, by successive expeditions sent year
after year (the despatch of which was mainly due to the active exertions of
the late Admiral Jansen), done much to familiarize us with the condition and
drift of the ice in the Barents Sea, even as far as the shores of Franz-Josef
Land.

     And, finally, Norway claims Fridtjof Nansen as a countryman who won his
spurs as an arctic traveller by the indomitable pluck and energy he displayed
during his marvellous journey on snowshoes across the icy continent of
Greenland.

     A glance at the map will at once reveal the fact that there are several
ways by which this large unknown area can be approached.  In the first place,
there is a route via Smith Sound, by which we have penetrated a greater
distance into this area than in any other direction.  There are also the
approaches by Jones Sound and Wellington Channel; the exploration of either of
these is likely to lead to important and valuable results.  Thirdly, there is
the way by Spitzbergen.  Fourthly, by Franz-Josef Land.  Then there is the
route selected and adopted by Nansen in the neighborhood of the New Siberia
Islands.  And, lastly, there is the way by Bering Strait.

     Spitzbergen consists of a group of islands easily reached during the
course of an ordinary summer cruise, even in vessels that are not specially
constructed for ice-navigation.  This ease of accessibility and comparative
immunity from danger from the ice are due to the warm water of the Gulf
Stream, which, flowing northward as far as the eighty-first parallel of
latitude, becomes absorbed in the north polar current.

     Although it is generally supposed that Spitzbergen was sighted by the
Dutch navigator William Barentz (who, however, supposed it to be a part of
Greenland), the credit of its discovery has invariably been awarded to Henry
Hudson; and the high latitude reached by him nearly three hundred years ago
was unsurpassed for more than two hundred years, until, in fact, that prince
of arctic navigators, Sir Edward Parry, reached, with the aid of boats and
sledges, 82 degrees 45' north, in 1827.

     There is a very marked difference between the nature and conditions of
the ice, as experienced by Sir Edward Parry and others, to the north of
Spitzbergen and the ice in other parts of the arctic regions in similar or
even in much lower latitudes.  North of Spitzbergen the ice-fields are of
great extent.  The floes are comparatively level and smooth, and consist
apparently of ice of only one season's formation, whereas the ice that has
invariably been met north of Smith Sound and Bering Strait and in the vicinity
of East Greenland and Franz-Josef Land has been as heavy and massive as that
to which Sir George Nares very appropriately applied the term palaeocrystic;
i.e., ice of ancient date, probaBbly the formation of centuries.  This leads
to the supposition that a very large extent of ice-covered sea exists to the
north of Spitzbergen - a sea, however, that receives the warm but gradually
cooling water of the Gulf Stream, and is therefore antagonistic to the
formation of heavy or perpetual ice.  But these large ice-fields are in a
measure dominated by the north polar current after the disruption of the pack
in summer and under the influence of this stream they are drifted bodily
southward.  This continuous southerly drift was the cause of Parry's failure
to reach a higher latitude than that which he succeeded in attaining, for he
fund, to his chagrin, that he was being drifted to the south with greater
rapidity than he was making progress to the north.

     Success in this direction, however, may be achieved by despatching
exploring-parties with sledges and boats in the early spring, before the
disruption of the pack had taken place.  But this would necessitate a ship
passing the winter on the north coast of Spitzbergen.  With Parry's valuable
experience to guide them, they would probably find no difficulty in surpassing
that great navigator's highest position, with every prospect, perhaps, of the
discovery of land to the northward.

     Mr. Leigh Smith has, in addition to other geographical work in this
neighborhood, attempted to circumnavigate the Spitzbergen group, but so far
this feat has not yet been achieved, nor has that somewhat mysterious island
named on our charts Gillis Land ever yet been reached.  It was sighted and
named in 1707 by the Dutch captain Cornelius Gillis (or Giles), but he did not
land on it.  Its position, as given by this navigator, was, however, placed on
Van de Kuelin's map published in 1710.  In 1864 it was reported to have been
sighted by Captain Tobiesen, but he was unable to effect a landing.

     We now come to Franz-Josef Land, which comprises a large territory, but
whether a continent or archipelago remains a geographical problem for further
solution.  The history of the discovery of this land by the Austro-Hungarian
expedition, under the joint command of Weyprecht and Payer, in 1873, reads
more like a romance than a commonplace, prosaic record of ordinary
geographical discovery.  Their ship, the Tegetthoff, was beset in the ice on
August 20, 1872, off the west coast of Nova Zembla on the very day and only a
few short hours after they had said farewell to Count Wilczek, Baron Sterneck,
and other friends on board the little sailing-cutter Isbjorn; and,
notwithstanding the powerful aid of steam with which their vessel was
provided, and the free use of gunpowder, they failed to release the imprisoned
Tegetthoff,and she remained immovably fixed in the fetters of her icy bondage,
drifting about in the floe at the mercy of winds and currents for two long
years.  Then suddenly, on August 31, 1873 - a year after their first besetment
- a mysterious dark land loomed up to the northwestward, and they thus became
unwittingly and without any exertions on their part the discoverer of a new
territory, the existence of which had hitherto been unknown, to which they
gave the name of Kaiser Franz-Josef Land.

     The drift of the Tegetthoff, during the period she was beset in the ice,
was no less remarkable than it was instructive.  Her position when first
caught by the ice, in August, 1872, was in latitude 76 degrees' 22 and
longitude 62 degrees 3' east.  Six months afterward she was in latitude 78
degrees 45' and longitude 73 degree 7, showing that the whole body of the pack
in which she was beset had been carried steadily during that period in a
northeasterly direction.  For the next nine months her drift was in a north
and northwesterly direction, until the ship became permanently stationary by
the adherence of the ice to Wilczek Island.  Altogether the drift of the ship,
and thus of the pack, was somewhat more than two hundred miles to the
northeast between August, 1872, and February, 1873, and about the same
distance in a northwesterly direction from the last-named date until the ice
remained fixed by attachment to the shore on November 1, 1873.  Some of this
drift may be attributable to the wind, but the real movement was assuredly due
to the influence of current alone.  During the sixteen months that the ice was
in motion - i.e., from August 1872, until November, 1873, inclusive - I find
that for a period of six months the prevailing wind was from the southeast,
for five months it was from the northeast,for two months from the northwest,
and for three months from the southwest.  During the six months she was being
drifted in a northeasterly direction the prevailing winds were from the
southwest and southeast, and during the last nine months of her drift the
winds may be described as all around the compass.  Therefore the conclusion is
that the wind had but little effect on the drift of the ice, with regard
either to rapidity of motion or direction.  What, then, was the cause of this
marvellous drift to the northward?  We know very well that the general drift
of the north polar current is in a southerly direction.  We have had
convincing proofs of it in a remarkable manner down the east coast of
Greenland, down Smith Sound and Davis Strait, into Baffin Bay, and through
Bering Strait.  The inference must therefore be that the movements of the ice
in which the Tegetthoff was beset must have been influenced,and in no slight
degree, first of all by that warm current of water which I have already
alluded to as expending itself along the west coast of Spitzbergen, and a
portion of which must find its way into the Barentz Sea; and, secondly, by the
large volumes of water which are discharged from those great Siberian rivers,
the Yenisei and the Obi.

     The discovery of the Austrians was of the greatest geographical
importance,and the value of it was materially enhanced by the plucky
sledging-expedition that was carried out by Payer during the spring of 1874. I
say plucky, because when Payer left his ship for a contemplated absence of
thirty days he was not sure he would find the Tegetthoff in the same position
as that in which he left her.  A gale of wind or the disruption of the ice
during his absence would probably occasion the drifting away of his ship,
which would render his chances of escape small indeed.  Fortunately no such
accident occurred, and he returned to the Tegetthoff rich in geographical and
other scientific information.  During his journey he succeeded in ascending
Austria Sound, between Zichy and Wilczek Lands, to the latitude of 82 degrees
5' in Crown Prince Rudolf Land, about one hundred sixty miles from the
position in which he had left his ship.  From this position land, called
Petermann Land, after the celebrated geographer of Gotha, consisting of high,
conical hills, apparently of volcanic formation, was seen to the northward,
and estimated to be in about or beyond the eighty-third parallel of latitude.

     Since the discovery of Franz-Josef Land our knowledge of it has been much
increased by the results of the voyages of Mr. Leigh Smith in his steam-yacht
the Eira.  Without encountering very much opposition from the ice he succeeded
in sighting the land on August 14, 1880, on about the fifty-fourth meridian of
east longitude; that is to say, about sixty miles to the westward of Wilczek
Island.  Steaming to the westward, exploring the coast carefully as he
proceeded, Mr. Leigh Smith passed the south point of land, and succeeded in
crossing the forty-fifth meridian of longitude, when he found that the coast
bore away in a north westerly direction, certainly as far as the eighty-first
parallel of latitude.  His further progress was stopped in latitude 80 degrees
19 by ice, and he was compelled to abandon his research in that direction.
During the voyage Mr. Smith discovered and explored at least a hundred ten
miles of new coast-line, besides obtaining a very interesting and valuable
collection of natural-history specimens from a portion of the globe that, in a
scientific sense, was almost unknown. Several peculiarities were observed in
the physical conditions of the country, differing in some respects from other
arctic lands.  For instance, the islands seen were in almost all instances
crowned with ice-caps, while the icebergs that were observed were invariably
flat-topped.  Mr. Smith, after leaving Franz-Josef Land, made a gallant
attempt to reach Wiches Land from the eastward, but he found the ice so
densely packets as to defy all efforts to penetrate it, so he returned to
England.  In the following year he made another voyage to Franz-Josef Land,
with the object of continuing his exploration of the previous year, but
unfortunately his little vessel was crushed by the ice off Cape Flora, in
latitude 79 degrees 56', and he and his men were compelled to pass the winter
in those inhospitable regions.  They found it a comparatively barren and
sterile shore, but fortunately bears and walruses were obtained, which very
materially supplemented the provisions they succeeded in saving from the
wreck.  When the ice broke up the following year, with the aid of their
sledges and boats, they happily succeeded in reaching the coast of Nova
Zembla, where they were succored and brought home by the steamer Hope, which
had been despatched in quest of them under the command of Sir Allen Young.

     With regard to what may be called the region to the east of Nova Zembla,
no one has done more to advance geographical science in this direction than
that distinguished Swedish arctic explorer Baron Nordenskjold.  By dint of
several expeditions that he made to Spitzbergen, and by tentative voyages of
reconnoissance through the Kara Sea and as far as the mouth of the Yenisei
River, he qualified himself to achieve what has so long baffled the navigators
of earlier ages, the accomplishment of the northeast passage. This he did in
1878 and 1879, by rounding the most northern point of the Old World, sailing
along the northern coasts of Europe and Asia, and thus passing by sea from the
Atlantic to the Pacific.  This splendid achievement must be regarded as one of
the greatest geographical feats of the present century; not only was it of
exceptional interest from a geographical standpoint, but it proved to be of
the utmost value and importance to every other branch of science.  A knowledge
of the geological formation of the various countries situated in high
latitudes is indispensable, in order to enlighten us with reference to the
early history of the earth. Nordenskjold's researches in this particular
branch of science, together with his observations on physical geography,
ethnology, natural history, meteorology, and terrestrial magnetism, are
replete with interest.

     Nordenskjold sailed, in the summer of 1878, in the steamship Vega, under
the command of Lieutenant Palander of the Swedish Navy, who had been his
companion in some of his former expeditions.  On August 19th they reached Cape
Severo, the extreme northern point of the Old World, where he found the depth
of the water to increase somewhat rapidly to one hundred twenty-four meters at
a distance of about eight miles from the cape.  On the 27th he passed the
mouth of the Lena, and three days later sailed to the southward of the New
Siberia Islands.  Eastward of this the sea was so free of ice that for three
days they were able to push on at the rate of one hundred fifty miles a day.
On September 3d they passed Bear Island, and on the 6th Cape Chelagskoi was
reached; thence their progress was much impeded by loose ice. On the 12th they
were abreast of North Cape, but from this time great difficulties were
experienced in forcing their way through the ice, besides their being
seriously handicapped by the gradually shortening days and correspondingly
lengthening nights.  On the 28th they had to acknowledge, to their great
mortification, that further progress for that year was impossible, and the
ship was accordingly secured in winter quarters, although they were aware that
only a few miles of sea - but, alas! it was an ice-blocked sea - lay between
them and the open water in Bering Strait.  They had been running a race
against time, and had been beaten only by a few days - indeed, it may be said,
by a few hours.  Two days after the Vega was released the following year, she
passed East Cape and steamed into the Pacific Ocean.

     In reviewing what has been accomplished in this particular part of the
arctic regions, we must not forget the valuable services that have been
rendered to geography as well as to commerce by Captain Joseph Wiggins, who
has made, since 1874, several voyages along the northern shores of Europe and
Asia to and from the Obi and Yenisei rivers.  The persistent endeavors of
Captain Wiggins to establish trade between Europe and Central Asia by way of
the Kara Sea deserve the highest commendation.

     The discovery of that solitary island called Einsamkeit, by Captain
Johannesen, situated in latitude 77 degrees 40' and in 86 degrees east
longitude, is of the greatest importance and significance, as indicating the
presence of land hitherto unknown in that direction.  Although it received the
name it now bears from Captain Johannesen, a name signifying "lonely" or
"solitary," it seems exceedingly unlikely that it will prove to be so isolated
as is supposed.  Bears, walruses, and seals, besides many kinds of birds, were
seen on this island, which would lead to the assumption that it might be the
southern termination of a chain of islands eastward of Franz-Josef Land.

     In 1893 Fridtjof Nansen sailed with the object of reaching the north
pole, having conceived what, in the belief of the majority of arctic
authorities, was a novel method of carrying out his views.  Having carefully
studied the direction of the currents in the north polar regions, especially
the drift experienced by the Austro-Hungarian expedition in 1873, and that of
the United States ship Jeannette, which was caught by the ice in latitude 71
degrees, to the southeast of Wrangel Land, in 1880, and also those various
well-known drifts in a southerly direction through Smith Sound and along the
east coast of Greenland, he arrived at the conclusion that if the currents
flow from the north pole in the direction of Greenland they must, in a
corresponding degree, flow toward the north pole on the opposite side of the
northern hemisphere; and if vessels have on various occasions been carried by
the ice to the southward, other ships similarly situated must, other things
being equal, be drifted to the north if they can only reach the current at the
proper locality.  This if is, of course, the crux of the whole matter. By an
elaborate reasoning, Nansen assumes that a ship jammed into the ice in the
immediate neighborhood of the New Siberia Islands would drift bodily with the
pack to the northward, over the north pole and thence to the south, eventually
to be released on reaching the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of the east
coast of Greenland.  Nansen boldly set out in his little Fram in order to test
the accuracy of his theory.  It is, however, a theory that does not find favor
with men of science in this country or with arctic authorities generally, who,
from practical experience, have laid down certain axioms connected with
ice-navigation which, in their opinion, should not, if possible, be departed
from.  Nansen has set these at defiance, for one of the most important of
these rules, connected with the exploration of high latitudes, is to adhere to
the coast and to keep away from the pack.  Nansen has done exactly the
contrary.

     Not only was Nansen guided, in forming his ideas, by the well-known drift
of ships, and of parties of men who had drifted for many hundreds of miles on
ice-floes after the destruction or loss of their vessels, but he enforced his
arguments by accepting as a fact the reputed discovery of various articles on
the southwest coast of Greenland which were supposed to have been lost from
the Jeannette, and which, if this supposition is correct, could have reached
the position where they were found only by drifting across that point situated
on this terrestrial sphere where the axis of our globe has its northern
termination.  But even, for the sake of argument, admitting that Dr. Nansen's
conjecture regarding the oceanic drift of the northern region is correct, the
presence of land, and it need only be a small island, directly in his path,
would suffice to upset his plans, and put an end to the drift of his vessel in
the same way that Wilczek Island put a stop to the further drift of the
Tegetthoff.

     Very interesting information respecting the New Siberia Islands has been
culled by Baron Toll, who paid a visit to that little-known group in the
spring of 1892.  Leaving the mainland on May 1st, and accompanied only by one
Cossack and three natives, he travelled over the ice in sledges drawn by dogs,
and reached the south coast of Lyakhov Island.  Here some very interesting
discoveries were made.  Under what is described as the "perpetual ice" they
found not only fragments of willow and the bones of post-Tertiary mammals, but
also complete trees of Alnus fruticosa fifteen feet in length, with leaves and
cones adhering, thus proving that during the mammoth period tree-vegetation
had reached the seventy-fourth degree of latitude, three degrees farther north
than it is found at the present time.  The "perpetual ice," Baron Toll
asserts, is not due to the accumulation of snow, but must be considered as
originating from the ice during the glacial period, representing, in fact,
remains of the old ice-cap.  His account of the islands, their geological
formation, natural history, etc., is extremely interesting, more especially
with regard to those great masses of buried ice, in which have been found in
incredible quantities the bones and tusks and indeed whole skeletons of the
mammoth, rhinoceros, and even the musk-ox, and in such a wonderful state of
preservation that the tusks so found cannot be distinguished from the very
best and purest ivory.

     The cruise of the Jeannette in this particular locality did not add very
much to geographical knowledge of the arctic regions, but this much was
accomplished, namely, the penetration, by way of Bering Strait, to a greater
distance into the unknown area than had ever been reached in that direction
before.  The Jeannette was beset in the ice on September 6, 1879, to the
northward of Herald Island, in 71 degrees 35' north latitude and in 175
degrees west longitude.  In this pack she remained helplessly fixed until she
was crushed by it in June, 1881.  During this long period her drift was
somewhat remarkable.  For the first twelve months of her imprisonment she
drifted about one hundred fifty miles in a north-northwest direction, and
during the last nine months the current had carried her no less than two
hundred fifty miles to the northwest.  It is also a curious fact that between
April 26, 1880, and November 3d of the same year she was carried about in such
an erratic manner, due probably to strong tidal action, that she was almost in
the same position on the last-named date that she occupied in April,
notwithstanding the fact that during those six months she was never
stationary, always drifting with a greater or less rapidity in one direction
or another, sometimes even at the rate of four knots an hour.  During the
entire drift of more than four hundred miles the Jeannette was in a
comparatively shallow sea, of a uniform depth of thirty to forty fathoms, but
occasionally a depth of seventy and even eighty-five fathoms was recorded, the
bottom consisting usually of soft mud.  The greatest pressure of the ice was
invariably experienced at the change of moon, and it was considered that this
pressure was in a great measure due to the action of tides.  Although the ice
was apparently as massive as the so-called palaeocrystic sea to the north of
Smith Sound, yet one of the greatest inconveniences from which the expedition
suffered was caused by the impurity of the ice, the water made from which was
so salt as to be quite undrinkable, and they were consequently compelled to
obtain their fresh water by distillation.  One of the results of drinking this
water was that it produced excessive diarrhoea in those who drank it.
Dredgings were occasionally obtained during their drift, but the results were
comparatively valueless.

     The most important geographical work accomplished by this expedition was
the discovery of Henrietta, Jeannette, and Bennett islands, which, I think,
may be regarded as part and parcel of the New Siberia group.  Round the shore
of the last-named island a strong tide, estimated at three knots an hour, was
observed, and its rise and fall were found to be two and half feet.  Tracves
of reindeer were seen on the island to the eastward by Captain De Long and his
party, and bituminous coal, which burned readily, was found and actually used
by them, on Bennett Island.  Glaciers were also seen on the island.

     One of the ships despatched by the United States Government (the Rodgers,
under the command of Lieutenant Berry) to search for the missing Jeannette
made a very complete exploration of Wrangel Island, which must be regarded as
a great geographical achievement.  This island had long been wrapped in
obscurity, if not in mystery.  Wrangel himself endeavored, but without
success, to reach it with dog-sledges in 1822 and 1823.  Captain Kellett, in
the Herald, sighted it in 1849, but no one (with the exception of the captain
of the Corwin, who succeeded in landing on it a fortnight earlier) had ever
reached it or fixed its position, except approximately. Thanks to the efforts
of Lieutenant Berry, it is now well known, and its position accurately
determined.  From Wrangel Island Berry pushed to the north, but was eventually
stopped by impenetrable ice in latitude 73 degrees 44" and in longitude 171
degrees 30" west.  Returning to the southward, he made another attempt farther
to the westward, viz., on the meridian of 179 degrees 52', but only succeeded
in reaching the latitude of 73 degrees 28', when he was again stopped by the
ice. Berry made tidal observations off Herald Island, and found that the flood
tide set to the northwest and the ebb in the opposite direction.  At high
water and low water no current was perceptible.

     All reports relative to the nature of the ice north of Bering Strait
coincide with regard to its massiveness and impenetrability.  De Long was
beset in the same heavy ice.  Collinson made several efforts to penetrate the
pack in various directions, but without success, and he was at length
compelled to return to the lead of open water that is invariably found during
the summer along the coast of arctic America.  This navigable channel is due
to the grounding of the heavy polar pack in the shallow water that extends for
a considerable distance off the land.  In this ice-free channel Collinson and
McClure sailed along the entire American coast to the east, enabling the
former to reach the one hundred fifth meridian of west longitude, thus
overlapping Parry's discoveries to the westward by a considerable distance.
But both these navigators, skilfull and daring as they were, were never able
to penetrate what we may fairly designate as the palaeocrystic ice, which they
met when they attempted to push to the northward beyond the seventy-sixth
parallel of latitude.

     Collinson says that some of the floes were as much as thirty feet baove
the water.  Taking the ordinary flotation of ice as having seven-eights
immersion, we thus have the thickness of the ice-floes established as more
than two hundred feet.  This was about the thickness of the ice, as estimated
by similar deductions, over which I travelled in 1876 to the north of Smith
Sound.  Captain McClure encourtered the same kind of ice.  He describes it as
of stupendous thickness and in extensive floes from seven to eight miles in
length, the surface not flat, but rugged with the accumulated snow, frost, and
thaws of centuries.  Off the west coast of Banks Land the surface of the
oceanic ice-floes was undulating, a hundred feet from base to summit, rising
in places as high as the lower yards of the Investigator.  The current
experienced along the coast of North America was invariably in a northeast and
east-northeast direction.  The current in Prince of Wales Strait is attributed
by Collinson to wind.

     The next portion of the unknown with which I will deal is that large
tract of land called Greenland, and seas adjacent.  In this direction the
highest latitude has so far been reached, and this has been accomplished
solely in consequence of the extension of land in a northerly direction.
Although much has been done in this region, much yet remains to be
accomplished.

     The connection of Cape Bismarck on the east coast with Cape Kane
(Lockwood's Farthest) on the north coast is of the greatest important, as
setting at rest the question of the boundaries of Greenland and the
determination of its insularity.  The amount of coast-line to be explored and
the distance to be travelled in order to solve this geographical problem are
not very great, probably not more than four hundred fifty or five hundred
miles, but of course much time and trouble must be expended in reaching either
of the above-mentioned positions before starting on new ground.  Civil
Engineer Robert E. Peary, of the United States Navy, has shown us what can be
done in the way of travelling in the interior of Greenland by an energetic and
persevering explorer.  He, it will be remembered, established himself during
the summer of 1891 in McCormick Bay, in 78 degrees north latitude, at the
entrance to Smith South.  During the following year he travelled across the
entire breadth of Greenland, from his headquarters in Murchison Sound to a
large bay which he reached on the northeast coast of Greenland, and named
Independence Bay, on about the thirty-fourth meridian of west longitude.
During this somewhat remarkable journey, the explorers reached an altitude of
over eight thousand feet above the sea-level.  Departing from the usual method
of carrying out exploration in the arctic regions, namely, adhering to the
coast-line, they pushed boldly into the interior, utilizing the inland ice as
the roadway on which their sledges were drawn by dogs.  It is significant, as
illustrating the severe nature of the travelling experienced, that although
they set out with twenty-five dogs, only fourteen were alive when they reached
their most northern position, and only five survived the whole journey, the
remainder having succumbed to the hardships of the work in dragging the sledge
or been killed in order to supply the party with food. During the outward
journey Peary estimated the distance he travelled at about six hundred fifty
miles, at an average rate of sixteen and a quarter miles for each day of
sledging.  The weather experienced was, on the whole, mild, the lowest
temperature being - 5 degrees Fahrenheit, although at an altitude of eight
thousand feet.  The information supplied by Peary relative to his observations
in this part of Greenland is extremely interesting.  He found, beyond the
glaciers and fords that intersect the west coast of Greenland, large glacial
basins extending into the interior to a distance of thirty to fifty miles.
These basins are separated from one another by ranges of hills varying in
height from five thousand to six thousand feet, and at least two thousand feet
above th basin plateau.  Peary says that the north end of the great inland
ice-cap terminates in about 82 degrees north latitude.  He followed its edge
about sixty miles along this parallel, and observed it extending in an
easterly and westerly direction for a considerable distance. He has
established the fact that musk-oxen inhabit those dreary regions, and he found
excellent pasturage in the sheltered valleys, where about twenty of these
animals were observed browsing.  From Independence Bay to the position reached
by Lockwood in Greely's expedition is comparatively a short distance. At
Peary's most northerly position, at a height of three thousand eight hundred
feet, he observed land at an estimated distance of about sixty miles in a
northeast direction.  This land showed no sign of being capped by ice, and is
possible a portion of an archipelago of unknown extent.  It is a noteworthy
fact that, in addition to the well-known fauna found in high latitudes, two
humblebees and several butterflies were seen.

     Interesting ethnological observations were made at the winter quarters,
and much valuable information relative to glacial geology in that particular
locality was obtained.

     Although Lieutenant Peary was engaged last year in continuing his
researches in North Greenland, a journey was made by Mr. Astrup, one of the
members of his expedition, round Melville Bay, resulting in some highly
interesting observations relative to the glaciology of that part of Greenland
and a more accurate mapping of the coast-line in that vicinity.

     In the large archipelago west of the continent of Greenland, and north of
Lancaster Sound and Barrow strait, we have a most interesting region, new to
the explorer, which may be regarded as virgin territory.  Its edge has been
lightly touched by Peary, McClure, and McClintock to the west; by Franklin,
Sherard Osborn, and Belcher to the south; by Greely and Aldrich to the north,
and by Kane, Hayes, Hall, and Nares to the east.  It is impossible to conceive
anything more interesting or more valuable, in a geographical sense, than the
connection of McClintock's discoveries in Prince Patrick Island with Aldrich's
Farthest along the north coast of Grinnell Land.

     No one has yet succeeded in penetrating to any great distance in this
direction, but then no serious effort has ever been made to do so.  Whalers
have occasionally looked in, but, finding it blocked with ice and therefore
inaccessible to whales, have not persevered in pushing on, but have continued
their journey to Barrow Strait and Prince Regent Inlet, where whales are known
to abound.  Sherard Osborn, in the Pioneer, ascended the sound for some
distance, until stopped by ice.  He reports the scenery on either side as
magnificent: long winding glaciers pour down the valleys and project into the
deep blue waters of the strait.  Traces of Esquimaux were discovered, but of
supposed ancient date; and vegetation, quite as luxuriant as was seen farther
to the southward, was found.

     Two gallant Swedish gentlemen, Bjorling and Kalstenius, sacrificed their
lives in the interest of geographical science.  They set out in 1892 with the
intention of exploring that practically unknown country situated on the
northwest side of Baffin Bay, called by Admiral Inglefield Ellesmere Land.
They purchased a small and somewhat unseaworthy schooner, named the Ripple,
and, with a crew of only three men, sailed from St. John's, Newfoundland, on
their adventurous voyage.  Godhavn was reached in safety, and they left that
port on August 3d, since which time nothing has been seen of them, but the
wreck of their little craft was found by a whaler the following year on the
southeast island of the Cary group.  Not far from the wreck was the body of a
dead man, buried under a heap of stones.  Some letters from Bjorling were also
discovered concealed in a cairn adjacent.  From the contents of these the
probability is that the Ripple reached the Cary Islands on August 16th, only
thirteen days after leaving Godhavn, but was, unfortunately, wrecked the
following day while taking on board the provisions deposited there by Captain
Nares in 1875.  The party remained several weeks on the island, but eventually
left in an open boat for Cape Clarence or Cape Faraday, on the west side of
Baffin Bay, in the hope of falling in with the Esquimaux supposed to be in
that neighborhood.  The date of the letter is October 12, 1892, and a
significant statement was made in it to the effect that their provisions would
not last beyond January 1st.  Their numbers were then undiminished, but one
man was dying.  This is the last news that has been received of these gallant
and enthusiastic young explorers.  Careful search was made for them in the
Cary Islands, at Clarence Head, Cape Faraday, and along the north shore of
Northumberland Island, as well as the entrace to Jones Sound, during the
summer of 1894, but, alas! with an unsuccessful result, and it seems more than
probable that they lost their lives while attempting to cross from the Cary
Islands to Cape Clarence, a distance of about fifty miles, in a frail and
probably leaky boat.