GEOGRAPHY. 573 



34,508 square miles ; Keu Mecklenburg (New Ireland), 3,398-8 square 

 miles ; Neu Pommern (New Britain), 9,348-8 square miles ; the Bismarck 

 Arcliipelago, 15,201-6 square miles ; in all about 65,512 English geo- 

 grapbical square miles. The same authority estimates the area of New- 

 Guinea taken under British protection as 65,517-76 square miles, or 

 about the same as the total of German annexations in the Pacific, and 

 in each case the area acquired is rather more than twice that of Ire- 

 land. 



ARCTIC REGIONS. 



In a communication to the New York Tribune last February, Lieu- 

 tenant Greely advocates the route by Franz Josef Land to the Pole, and 

 gives his reasons for so doing at some length, confirming the opinion 

 previously expressed by Chief Engineer Melville. Captain Sorensen — 

 who speaks from large experience and after close observation of the ice 

 drift in that vicinity, suggests that Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land 

 form parts of a vast archix)elago, and not two wholly distinct territories, 

 as has hitherto been believed. 



When the "Corwin" returned from Bering Sea to San Francisco in 

 June for some repairs, she reported the ice unusually far south in April 

 and May in that sea. The same state of affairs existed in the Atlan- 

 tic. The captains of several Norwegian steamers dispatched to Green- 

 land for seal-hunting, report that in consequence of the enormous ice 

 masses on the east and south coasts no seals had been killed by any 

 vessel. The state of the ice this summer seems to have been just the 

 reverse of that of last year, when the coast was unusually free from 

 ice. If the recently promulgated theory that this is an evidence of mild 

 weather in the polar regions is at all correct, it is unfortunate that no 

 expedition is in the field to take advantage of it. 



Four Arctic expeditions are said to be projected for next year : two 

 organized in Portugal, one in Holland, and one in Denmark. They all 

 propose to visit the islands of the glacial ocean which belong to Eussia; 

 but the Danish expedition will specially explore the Kara Sea and the 

 northern coast of Siberia, to define if i)0ssible the unknown region 

 which is supposed to lie to the northeast of Novaya Zemlya. 



In the latter half of 1883, Dr. F. Boase visited the German polar sta- 

 tion in Cumberland Sound, and made several excursions in the neigh- 

 boring region and along the coast. The results are briefiy told by him 

 in a paper in numbers 5 and 6 of the Verhandlungen of the Berlin Geo- 

 grai^hical Society for this year (accompanied by map), in which many 

 important corrections are made in the existing admiralty charts of these 

 coasts. 



At the meeting of the Naval Institute, which was held in Annapolis 

 October 9, Lieut. J. W. Danenhower, of the " Jeannette" expedition, pre- 

 sented an essay on the advisability of further Arctic explorations, and 

 expressed himself as opposed to further work north of the 85th paral- 



