POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



715 



ways well to have some objective point in 

 view to reach, and among the pleasantest 

 desert trips with tents and camels are those 

 to the Sinaitic Peninsula, to the Natroon 

 Lakes, to the Fayum, and to several other 

 oases to the west of the Nile. Probably the 

 warmest and driest for an invalid would be 

 that from Assiut, Girgeh, or Esneh to the 

 Great Oasis. But one may camp on the edge 

 of the desert, traveling southward along the 

 Nile, in that way having the advantage of 

 more interesting surroundings ; for some 

 people might find the desert monotonous." 

 On a trip to Wadi Natroon, where they spent 

 ten days, " we were a party of three, and 

 had eight camels with their drivers, a drag- 

 oman (interpreter), desert guide, cook, 

 hunter guide, and a boy ; two tents, three 

 folding bedsteads with mattresses, two fold- 

 ing tables, chairs, rugs, cook-stove, fuel, 

 water, rifles and shot-guns, and provisions 

 for all the party, camels included. Camel- 

 riding becomes easy after a time. One can 

 assume almost any position, even lying down 

 and going to sleep, and one can read with 

 ease. Ladies are not at all debarred from 

 taking such trips. Everything necessary can 

 be procured in Cairo, and the expense should 

 not be over five or seven dollars per day for 

 each traveler." 



The River from the Lucie Glacier. — The 



most novel and interesting feature in the 

 Lucie Glacier, Alaska, as described by Mr. 

 Israel C. Russell, is a glacial river which 

 bursts from beneath a high archway of ice 

 and flows for about a mile and a half through 

 a channel excavated in the ice, then to enter 

 the mouth of another tunnel and become lost 

 to view. The stream is swift, and its waters 

 are brown and heavy with sediment. Its 

 breadth is about one hundred and fifty feet. 

 For the greater part of its way, where open 

 to sunlight, it flows between banks of ice and 

 over an icy floor. Fragments of its banks and 

 portions of the sides and roof of the tunnel 

 from which it emerges are swept away by 

 the swift current or stranded here and there 

 in midstream. The archway under which 

 the stream disappears is about fifty feet high, 

 and the tunnel retains its dimensions as far 

 as one can see by looking in at its mouth. 

 Where the stream emerges is unknown ; but 

 the emergence could no doubt be discovered 



by examining the border of the glacier some 

 miles southward. No explorer has yet been 

 bold enough to enter the tunnel and drift 

 through with the stream, though possibly 

 this could be done without great danger. 

 The greatest risk in such an undertaking 

 would be from falling blocks of ice. While 

 the author was standing near the mouth of 

 the tunnel there came a roar from the dark 

 cavern within, reverberating like the explo- 

 sion of a heavy blast in the chambers of a 

 mine, that he did not doubt marked the fall 

 of an ice mass from the arched roof. At the 

 mouth of the tunnel there are always con- 

 fused noises and rhythmic vibrations to be 

 heard in the dark recesses within. The air 

 is filled with pulsations like deep organ notes. 

 It takes but little imagination to transform 

 these strange sounds into the voices and 

 songs of the mythical inhabitants of the 

 nether regions. 



Nansen's Plan for reaching the Pole. — 



The main principle of Dr. Fridtjof Nansen's 

 plan for reaching the north pole, as it was 

 described by him recently at a meeting of 

 the Royal Geographical Society, is that of 

 working with the forces of Nature rather than 

 against them. In this view the shortest and 

 most certain route to the pole is probably to 

 be found in the ocean current running north 

 from Siberia and south by Greenland. The 

 existence of such a current seems to be 

 proved by the floating of relics of the Jean- 

 nette from where she sank in the waters 

 north of Siberia apparently across the polar 

 sea to the vicinity of the southwest coast of 

 Greenland, and by the frequent appearance 

 of Siberian objects in Greenland waters. Dr. 

 Nansen's ship has been built with especial ref- 

 erence to its resisting the pressure of the ice. 

 It is as small as possible consistently with its 

 carrying the coal and stores that will have 

 to be taken along. It is shaped, avoiding 

 perpendicular lines and angles, so that in 

 case of an ice crush it can not be nipped, but, 

 with regularly sloping sides, shall permit the 

 ice to glide under it and lift it up. It will be 

 one hundred and twenty-eight feet long over 

 all, with thirty-six feet greatest beam, a 

 draught of twelve feet with light cargo, and a 

 bearing capacity of three hundred and eighty 

 tons of coal and cargo. It will be built almost 

 solid, and will be rigged as a three-masted 



