EDITOR'S TABLE. 



557 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE BENNETT EXPEDITION TO THE 

 NORTH POLE. 



THE unknown spaces of the earth's 

 surface are being rapidly narrowed 

 by the enterprise of indefatigable ex- 

 plorers. Some considerable patches re- 

 main that have not been penetrated, 

 but their collective area is relatively 

 small. There is a large region in the 

 interior of Australia that has not been 

 traversed, owing to the absence of water 

 and vegetation. Central Africa is tne 

 field where the geographical discoverer 

 has recently made his most brilliant 

 conquests, both by narroAving the out- 

 line of the unknown region, and by the 

 importance of the knowledge that has 

 been gained. Less than half a century 

 ago inner Africa was supposed to be in 

 a great measure an arid and unproduc- 

 tive desert; but the explorations of 

 Livingstone and Stanley have proved 

 it to be well watered, fertile, and dense- 

 ly populated. There has been less suc- 

 cess with Arctic exploration, though it 

 has been vigorously pushed for the last 

 fifty years. Latitude 83 26' is the 

 northernmost point hitherto reached 

 by any explorer. This leaves an im- 

 penetrated blank surrounding the north 

 pole which at the narrowest point is 

 about 800 miles across. There is little 

 promise of any commercial utility that 

 can come from getting access to this 

 frigid region, but it is enough that it 

 is a mystery which the whole civilized 

 world has determined, if possible, to 

 clear up, and in doing this the rivalries 

 of national enterprise have been called 

 into active play. 



It is fortunate for geographical prog- 

 ress that the proprietor of the " New 

 York Herald," Mr. James Gordon Ben- 

 nett, not altogether satisfied with the 

 excitements of yacht-racing, has devel- 



oped an ambition in the direction of 

 exploring unknown tracts of the earth's 

 surface. He has spent a good deal of 

 money on mid-Africa with highly sat- 

 isfactory results, and now turns the 

 princely revenues of his newspaper into 

 a channel for the promotion of Arctic 

 research. It is an expensive business, 

 as the cost of Arctic expeditions has 

 increased from $30,000, three hundred 

 years ago, to $4,166,665 for the Frank- 

 lin expeditions of 1848-'54. Mr. Ben- 

 nett, after furnishing the necessary 

 funds, and preparing the expedition, has 

 made it a national affair by request- 

 ing the United States Government to 

 take charge of it. By act of Congress it 

 has been put in control of naval offi- 

 cers, and is cared for by the Navy De- 

 partment. Besides these peculiarities 

 of the project, it is novel as being the 

 first Arctic expedition fitted out from 

 the west coast of the continent, and 

 which proposes to push forward to 

 the north pole by the way of Behring 

 Strait. According to Lieutenant De 

 Long, commander of the Jeannette, 

 which carries the exploring party, no 

 vessel has penetrated farther north by 

 this route than latitude 71. Beyond 

 that parallel the explorers will encoun- 

 ter a hitherto unobserved region. 



A new element comes into play in 

 this venture which has been thus far 

 regarded by Arctic navigators as one of 

 peril. In the other routes that have 

 been taken to reach the pole the cur- 

 rents set downward, so that if the ad- 

 venturers have to abandon their ship and 

 take to the ice they have a chance of 

 being brought back, as wasmarvelously 

 exemplified by the ride of Tyson's party. 

 But on the Pacific side there is a cur- 

 rent of water known as the Kuro Shiwo, 

 or Japanese Warm-Stream, a branch of 



