GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



NEW EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE. 



A NEW project of an expedition to reach the North Pole, has been pro- 

 posed in England by Capt. Osborn, distinguished for his connection with 

 former Arctic explorations. He proposes that his vessels shall sail in the 

 spring of 1866, and reach Cape York in August. One vessel would then 

 be secured in or about Cape Isabella, leaving only 25 persons in charge ; 

 the other, with 95 men, would be pressed up the western shore in the 

 direction of Cape Parry, taking care not to exceed a distance of 300 

 miles from her consort. During the same autumn, the southern ship 

 would connect herself by depots with the northern vessel, and the north- 

 ern vessel would place our depots towards the Pole, ready for spring 

 operations. In the two following years 1867, 68 sledge and boat op- 

 erations should be directed towards the Pole and over the unknown polar 

 area; and in 1869 the expedition would retire, thus spending only two 

 winters and three summers in the Arctic Zone. In an address before the 

 Royal Society, Captain Osborn pressed warmly the advantages to the 

 physical sciences which would accrue from such an expedition. There 

 was an area of 1,131,000 square miles around the Pole, at present ablank 

 on our maps, and it was of the highest geographical interest to ascer- 

 tain whether this space was a silent, frozen solitude, or, as some main- 

 tained, an area of lauds and waters teeming with life. Thu ethnolog- 

 ical problems were no less interesting, for it was extremely probable 

 that man would be found existing much further north tiian was at 

 present believed ; and his mode of existence in 'these regions would 

 be very similar to that of our remote ancestors in Europe, who used 

 flint weapons during the period when an Arctic climate prevailed over 

 Britain and a great part of the Continent. There were also many 

 meteorological problems of the highest interest, which could only be 

 solved by a series of accurate observations, made by skilled persons 

 in very high latitudes. But one of the most important services which 

 such an expedition could render to science would be the measurement 

 of an arc of the meridian in the Arctic zone. This great service a 

 measurement of 4 of the meridian could be well performed by a 

 party from the ship, which was proposed to be left near Caps Isabella 

 during 1 IK- summer season, while the northern expedition was on its road 

 to the Pole. As regards the risk of polar explorations, Capt. Osborn 

 stated, that from 1SLS to 1854, England lost only two ships and 12S 

 men out of 42 successive expeditions. Forty thousand miles had 

 been traversed by foot parties in the search of Franklin alone, and 

 yet not one of these parties had been ever lost. An equal amount of 



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