INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1873. Ixv 



Nassau, Nova Zembla. We trust that the next communi- 

 cation will be of a successful enterprise in that unknown 

 region. No apprehension seems to be entertained of any 

 disaster to the party. 



In connection Avitli tlie problems of arctic discovery, tlie 

 occurrence of drift-wood in the northern seas, and the de- 

 termination of its origin and character, are matters of much 

 interest, this having been found by the Polaris party in con- 

 siderable quantity in Polaris Bay, and existing in very great 

 abundance on the shores of Nova Zembla. The first-men- 

 tioned specimens have not yet been critically examined ; the 

 last consist mainly of willow, although pieces of beech near- 

 ly a foot in diameter, and several species of pine, have been 

 observed. It is supposed that a large portion of this materi- 

 al must have been derived from the Petschora, Obi, and Yen- 

 isei rivers of Siberia, showing^ the existence of a current 

 from the mouths of those streams. None of it is believed 

 to have been furnished by the Gulf Stream. 



The first portion of the report of the great German expe- 

 dition to East Greenland in ISGO-YO, under Captain Kolde- 

 way, on board the Hansa and the Germania^ has been pub- 

 lished, and is devoted principally to the account of prepa- 

 rations for the voyage and the special history of the Hansa. 

 It will be remembered that this vessel was wrecked, and that 

 her crew had a somewhat similar experience to that of the 

 Polaris party, drifting for nearly the same period, from the 

 coast of East Greenland down nearly to its eastern extrem- 

 ity, covering, however, in the same time only about half the 

 number of miles. A second division of the report, including 

 the botany and the zoology, is about making its appearance. 



Dr. Neumayer, of Vienna, has continued his efforts to in- 

 duce the Austrian government to make an exploration of the 

 antarctic region, but little of any special moment having 

 been done in that j^art of the world since Ross' expedition 

 in 1842. 



It is more than likely that the transit of Venus in 1874 

 will be made the occasion on the part of several nations to 

 visit the antarctic regions. As preliminary to this and to 

 the transit work, an elaborate document has been printed by 

 the Board of Trade of Eno-land in reference to the meteorol- 

 ogy of the antarctic portion of the globe. 



