23G ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



gion but the bare shore -line, and even that is fragmentary. 

 So far, then, from its being true that "surveys there have 

 already been completed," as Captain Howgate urges, there 

 is no quarter of the globe where more work is demanded, 

 or where the result could be turned to better account. And 

 Captain Ilowgate's plan must be j^laced upon a broader ba- 

 sis, if the expedition would expect to compete in any way 

 with those fitting out by other nations. 



Captain Howgate's faith in the ultimate approval and 

 support by Congress of his plan of exploration has led him 

 to fit out a preliminary arctic expedition to prepare the way 

 for the main party, which, it is hoped, will organize the 

 present year, and reach the Greenland coast by the middle 

 of August at latest. This preliminary party sailed from New 

 London in the Florence, a schooner of fifty-six tons, on the 

 2d of August, and reached Cumberland Gulf on September 

 13. Advices from them at the end of September announce 

 their intention of moving at once into winter-quarters at the 

 head of the gulf, near latitude G7N. The party consists of 

 thirteen persons, including a meteorologist and photographer, 

 Mr. O. T. Sherman ; and a naturalist, Mr. L. Kumlein, sent out 

 by the Smithsonian Institution. They are expected to bring 

 together ten Esquimau families, with their dogs and sledges, 

 and fur clothing sufficient to supply fifty persons for three 

 years, with other stores in readiness for the main party next 

 year. They will also make meteorological observations and 

 collections in natural history. When, next year, they have 

 turned over the colony's outfit to the new party, they expect 

 to capture and bring home a cargo of bone and oil sufficient 

 to defray a part, at least, of the expenses of the trip. Not- 

 withstanding, then, the failure of Captain Howgate's plan be- 

 fore the last Congress, we have an American party, with scien- 

 tific men attached, stationed this winter within the Arctic 

 Circle. 



