GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 235 



has nothing to do with our own territory, possesses an inter- 

 est peculiar to itself. I refer to the north-polar expedition 

 organizing by Captain Howgate, of our army. His plan is 

 to establish a colony of fifty men, under military discipline, 

 including three commissioned officers, two surgeons, an as- 

 tronomer, and two or more naturalists, upon some point 

 north of the eighty-first degree of latitude, on or near the 

 shore of Lady Franklin Bay; to provision this party for at 

 least three years, sending them annual supplies and recruits, 

 and thus to make the colony the base of expeditions towards 

 the pole. This differs from preceding plans, in leaving the 

 party with no means of return until their work is accom- 

 plished ; the only use of the ship being in transporting the 

 men and supplies. They are to burn their bridges behind 

 them. The advance to the pole is to be made with dog- 

 sledges, and the men are to live like the Esquimaux. 



This plan would certainly merit our heartiest commenda- 

 tion, did it not overestimate the importance of one single 

 point reaching the north pole. "From the post so form- 

 ed," says Captain Howgate, speaking of his proposed colo- 

 ny, "no time will be spent in needless quest along the shore, 

 either east or west." The colony will " have their work nar- 

 rowed down to a common focus the pathway due north." 

 This is certainly a fatal error. It is of little consequence to 

 geographical or any other science whether the pole be ever 

 reached, however much the stimulus of adventure towards 

 the pole may be needed to tempt men to explore high lat- 

 itudes. But the knowledge which may be accumulated 

 through such a colony, by explorations in every direction, 

 would be of incalculable value, and, under proper direction, 

 might form an addition to our knowledge of geology and 

 terrestrial physics such as could never be gained elsewhere. 

 Nowhere else can we so readily study the phenomena of the 

 glacial epoch, the infiuence of which still shapes our lives 

 and modifies all our surroundings. In no other quarter of 

 the globe, as Professor Loomis has pointed out, can we make 

 observations on the phenomena of magnetism, of atmospheric 

 electricity, of the currents and varying temperatures of the 

 air and water, which would possess so much importance in 

 solving meteorological and other problems ; while as to 

 geography proper, nothing whatever is known of that re- 



