GEOGUAIMIY AND ANTIQUITIES. 341 



geographical discovery had never boon accomplished on the earth's 

 surface with so small an amount of human sacrifice. It was a super- 

 iicial view that Arctic exploration had done nothing hut add so many 

 miles of unprofitable coastline to our charts. The disco\eries made 

 in the various physical sciences during these expeditions were full of 

 practical importance. It was in the Arctic region that the, clue was 

 obtained of the laws of those mysterious currents which How through 

 the wastes of the ocean like two mighty rivers the Gulf Stream and 

 the Ice Stream. It was in Boothia that the two Rosses first reached 

 the magnetic pole, that central point round which revolves the mar- 

 iners compass over half the Northern hemisphere ; and the. mass of 

 observations collected by our explorers on all sides of that pole iiad 

 added greatly to our knowledge of the laws of magnetic declination 

 and dip. There were two routes to be considered in a project for 

 reaching the North Pole ; the one by Spitzbergen, and the other via 

 North Greenland. Hakluyt's Head, in Spitzbergen, is about GOO 

 miles from the Pole. Sailing ships have been in this direction within 

 5tK) miles of it, and Capt. Parry on the night of July 22, 1827, stood 

 upon floating ice exactly 435 geographical miles from the Pole. He 

 was constrained to give up the attempt, simply because the ice was 

 being swept faster to the south than his men could drag their boats to 

 the north. It was the height of the Arctic summer, and the experi- 

 ence of the last 20 years had shown that instead of starting on such a 

 journey in June, Parry ought to have wintered in Spitzbergen, and 

 started for the Pole in February. The Spitzbergen route, however, 

 has this objection that no northern land is known on its meridian to 

 give fixed points for the deposit of provisions. Smith's Sound, in 

 North Greenland, would be a better starting-point. It is 120 miles 

 nearer the Pole, and there is good ground for concluding that there 

 is a further extension of continent qr islands thence to the northward. 

 The nature of the ice-drift tends to prove this ; for it consists of ice- 

 bergs, which are creatures of the land and born of glaciers. Iceberffs 



O * ^J CI7 



abound in Smith's Sound, which would not have, been the case had 

 the land terminated abruptly near the Humbolt Glacier. These tell 

 us of great lands with lofty mountains and deep valleys, retaining the 

 moisture and snow-drift of ages, and promise that continuity of frozen 

 seaboard needed, to enable our explorers to reach the Pole. 



With respect to the distance to be traversed in going to the Pole 

 and back, Capt. Osborn stated, that we have ample data to show 

 that it has been frequently exceeded by our sailors over the most 

 sterile lands yet visited in the Arctic region. In 1853, Commander 

 M'Clintock's party made 1,220 miles in 105 days, and Captain Rich- 

 ards and the speaker 1,093 miles ; Lieutenant Hamilton even accom- 

 plished 1,150 miles with a dog-sledge and one man. All these dis- 

 tances are in excess of the 964 to be traversed in going from Cape 

 Parry to the Pole and back. Since 1853, still greater distances have 

 been accomplished. Thus, Lieutenant Mecham marched, in 1851 

 1,157 miles in only seventy days. 



The proposed expedition has the sanction of the Royal Society. 



During the past year the Swedish Diet has voted the mone^ 

 necessary to complete the survey for the measurement of an arc of 

 the meridian at Spitzbergen, and there is every reason to expect that 

 the practicability of the undertaking will be immediately settled. 



