452 PLANS POSTPONED, NOT ABANDONED. 



few years. The facilities which I had acquired, and 

 the advantages which I had gained, have been in a 

 great measure sacrificed since my return to Boston 

 in October, 1861, and I cannot therefore speak with 

 confidence as to the time when the exploration will be 

 renewed. The scheme has not, however, been aban- 

 doned, nor are my views in any respect changed. I 

 still contemplate the execution of my original design, 

 and hope at an early day to carry into effect the plan 

 of discovery indicated in the concluding chapters of 

 this narrative. It is still my wish to found at Port 

 Foulke such a colony as I have hitherto described, 

 and, with a corps of scientific associates, to make that 

 the centre of a widely extended system of exploration. 

 The value of such a centre will be evident to every in- 

 structed mind without illustration, and the availability 

 of the situation is shown by the experience of my own 

 party. The project has the more interest at this time 

 in connection with the effort by way of the Spitzber- 

 gen Sea, contemplated by the Prussian government, 

 the inception of which is due to the eminent geogra- 

 pher, Dr. Augustus Petermann. As with my own en- 

 terprise, that of Dr. Petermann has temporarily given 

 place to the necessities of war ; but I have been in- 

 formed that the expedition is contemplated for the 

 coming spring. The organization of this expedition is 

 founded upon, I think, a correct assumption that the 

 Open Sea and the North Pole may be reached with 

 steam-vessels by pushing through the ice-belt to the 

 west and north of Spitzbergen. This route possesses 

 some advantages over that of Smith Sound, while it 

 has some disadvantages. The temporary colonization 

 at Port Foulke gives to the Smith Sound route its 

 chief claim over the other, to the consideration of the 

 explorer. 



