3 26 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



until you know that your depot of pi'ovisions is actually established. (Com- 

 modore G. W. Melville, U. S. Navy.) 



An expedition ought to provide for a successful retreat. This you have 

 done by placing your supply depot in the line of the Scotch whaling ves- 

 sels. There can be no question but that the region which you propose to 

 explore is i-ich in animal life. In 1872 and 1873, at Lifeboat Cove, Eski- 

 mos told me that west of the mountains there were large quantities of deer 

 and musk oxen. (R. W. D. Bryan, astronomer to Hall's Polaris expedition.) 



I consider the exploration of the west cost of Ellesmere Land by the 

 mode suggested in your paper not only entirely practicable but certain to 

 obtain most valuable results with the minimum expenditure of money. 

 (Colonel H. W. Feilden, naturalist to the Nares expedition.) 



Stein is evidently on the right track. (Admiral Sir George S. Nares, 

 commander of the British expedition of 1875-'76.) 



I hail with delight your plan of systematic exploration of the arctic 

 lands. Since it looks forward to an indefinite future, you can wait quietly 

 till the work grows of itself, not only areally, but also in minuteness. (Dr. 

 A, Supan, editor Petermann's Mitt eilun gen.) 



I congratulate you on your selection of Jones Sound as the route of ad- 

 vance, since that is a far less dangerous avenue than many others. (Elisee 

 Reclus, author of Nouvelle Geographie Universelle ) 



The most important idea in your plan, and one which will mark a new 

 epoch in arctic exploration, is the idea of a permanent camp at the en- 

 trance of Jones Sound, where it will be in constant communication with 

 the outer world through the whalers. The wonder is that so simple and 

 inexpensive a measure was not thought of long ago. Had it been adopted, 

 say fifty years ago, it is entirely probable that arctic history since then 

 would have remained unclouded by a single disaster. (Lieutenant D. L. 

 Brainard, U. S. Army, of the Greely party, who, with Lockwood, reached 

 the highest north ever attained, 83° 24 "5'.) 



Your project is in every way well conceived, and will no doubt yield 

 the best results. Attempts to reach the pole have not met with results com- 

 mensurate to the efforts made. Far more fruitful to science is the me- 

 thodical exploration of an arctic land. The American archipelago is as yet 

 unknown to the west of Ellesmere Land. To American naturalists be- 

 longs the task of revealing to science this terra incognita, and your pro 

 ject seems to me to be the most rational method. (Charles Rabot, explorer 

 of Lapland, Spitzbergen, Iceland, and Greenland.) 



You have hit upon one of the best routes for further discovery, and I 

 am pleased to see that you are impressed with the necessity for a safe de- 

 pot. (Clements R. Markham, C. B , President Royal Geographical Society 

 of London.) 



Mr. Koldewey, Councilor to the Admiralty, is df opinion that your 

 project, which is well worked out in all its details, deserves to be received 

 with interest by all friends of polar research. (Geographic Society of 

 Hamburg.) (Captain Koldewey commanded the two German arctic expe- 

 ditions of 1868 and 1869.) 



