F. GEOGRAPHY. 187 



The polar pack in this part of the arctic seas has usually been 

 found in 7G; but occasionally, when the heavier fields have 

 not drifted down during the summer, vessels have, toward 

 the end of the season, found open water as far north as 82. 

 Thus Scoresby, in 1806, reached the latitude of over 81, and 

 Captain Gillis, in 1807, attained the same degree. This is 

 simply because the heavy polar pack had not drifted south 

 as usual, while the looser floes had been cleared away by the 

 unusual prevalence of particular winds. 



Mr. Markham also remarks that the true route for polar 

 exploration is not the one taken by Payer and Weyprecht, 

 but up Smith's Sound ; and that two Avell-equipped gun-boats 

 moving in that direction, with officers instructed by men like 

 Osborne, M'Clintock, or Koldeway, would explore all the 

 Greenland coast, reach the north pole, and settle most of 

 these arctic problems in one season. He, however, makes no 

 mention of the movement of Captain Hall in that same direc- 

 tion, entirely ignoring the American polar expedition. 13^4, 

 December 1,1871,538. 



RESULTS OF THE BRITISH PALESTINE EXPEDITION". 



The first results of the labors of the British Palestine ex- 

 ploring expedition have been received in three sheets of an 

 ordnance map of the country, on the scale of one inch to a mile, 

 based on an accurate trigonometrical survey, including the 

 district between Jaffa and Jerusalem, and the country north 

 of Jerusalem toward Xablous, and embracing an area of 560 

 square miles. The survey has been already completed over 

 an area of about 1000 square miles, and further sheets may 

 be soon expected. 12 A^November 14, 1872, 35. 



PROFESSOR MARSH'S EXPLORATIONS. 



We find in the College Courant a detailed history of the 

 late exploring expedition of Professor Marsh to the Rocky 

 Mountains. This consisted, in addition to Professor Marsh, of 

 Messrs. Russell, Hill, Hoppin, and M'Naughton, the party con- 

 centrating at St. Louis, and proceeding to Fort Wallace by 

 way of Kansas City. Here they received an escort of eight 

 soldiers, under command of Lieutenant Pope, with army wag- 

 ons and mules, and started for the Smoky Hill Fork, where 

 they remained twenty-five days. They were surrounded most 



