HOW LATITUDE IS RECKONED 331 



while another shows the explorer starving when he stumbled upon a preceding 

 explorer's cache. Friends of Bradley, however, estimate that his outlay on 

 the Brooklyn man's account was in the neighborhood of $15,000. 



It is unfortunate for Dr. Cook that Commander Peary's adherents make 

 so superior a showing. The chief contributor to the fund for his last voyage 

 was Zenas Crane of Dalton. Toward the preceding voyage the late Morris K. 

 Jesup of New York, president of the Museum of Natural History and in- 

 heritor of many other honors as well deserved, gave $50,000. Moreover be- 

 lieving in himself, Commander Peary "backed himself," and, on the authority 

 of Maj. J. B. Pond, surpassed the record of any other American lecturer, speak- 

 ing 168 times in ninety-six days, and thereby earning $13,000, which he de- 

 voted to his own enterprise. 



Does the reader weary of large figures? It is granted that they have a 

 repellant effect when they stand for sums that have to be given, and enthusi- 

 asts who would like to pose or to think of themselves as angels of the Arctic 

 may well regret that they did not live in earlier and simpler days. When Capt. 

 Hall planned his first expedition, in i860, all the actual cash he received from 

 admirers and well wishers — who were naturally shy until he proved himself — 

 was $980. Henry Grinnell gave $343, Augustus H. Ward of New York gave 

 $100 and there were a few subscriptions of $50, among them one by Cyrus 

 W. Field. Yet there were friendly souls besides who wished to aid. Capt. 

 Hall gratefully printed a long list of such, which contributions "in kind" 

 ranged from twenty-two pounds of hardware to a pound of tea. So, after all, 

 it is easy to be an angel of the Arctic. One can conceive of circumstances in 

 which, the pound of tea would be worth more to a traveler in the polar region 

 than twenty-two pounds of hardware — or money. 



Much interest must forever attach to the discovery of the compass, and 

 especially now that the useless device has been instrumental in the discovery 

 of the North Pole. For a period the honor of the invention was ascribed to 

 Giola, a pilot, born at Pasitano, a small village situated near Amalfi, about the 

 end of the thirteenth century. His claims, however, have been disputed. Much 

 learning and labor have been bestowed upon the subject of the discovery. It 

 has been maintained by one class that even the Phoenicians were the inventors ; 

 by another that the Greeks and Romans had a knowledge of it. Such notions, 

 however, have been completely refuted. One passage, nevertheless, of a 

 remarkable character occurs in the works of Cardinal de Vitty, Bishop of 

 Ptolemais, in Syria. He went to Palestine during the fourth crusade, about 



