GEOGRAPHICAL EXPWRATWX AXD THE MUSEUM 165 



from New York untler the coiniiiaiid of Captain WiiiHeld Scott Scliley. 

 The Peary expedition of 190") and the Peary expedition of 1908 both 

 sailed from New York. 



Of these seven expechtions the Mnseum is identified more or less directly 

 with three. An honorable part of the history of the institution however, 

 is formed by the f^eoji;raphical work it has accomplished through expedi- 

 tions other than polar. In the years 1805 to 18()8 Professor Albert S. 

 Bickmore visited the South Sea Islands and China, and was probably the 

 first American to cross Sil)eria. In 1900 to 1902 ]\Iessrs. Bogoras and 

 Jochelson on the Jesup North Pacific expedition, in connection with their 

 investigations of the tribes in eastern Siberia explored the regions visited. 

 In 1898 to 1899 Mr. Andrew J. Stone secured important information about 

 the general character of the cotmtry east of the mouth of the Mackenzie 

 and corrected gross errors in the current maps of the region. Captain 

 George Comer spent many winters in the Hudson Bay region and has 

 recently published in the Bullcfin of the American Geographical Society a 

 corrected map of Southampton Island. 



There have also been many American Museum expeditions of a semi- 

 geographical character. Dr. E. O. Hovey visited the West Indies and the 

 Chihuahua district of Mexico to study volcanoes. Professor Henry E. 

 Crampton has conducted three expeditions to Tahiti and the South Sea 

 Islands, and a recent expedition to British Guiana and Mount Roraima. 

 Mr. Frank M. Chapman has covered more than 65,000 miles in collecting 

 materials for the Museum bird groups, and more recently has visited the 

 United States of Coloml)ia. Many of the expeditions of the department of 

 vertebrate palaeontology have yielded more or less important geographical 

 facts. 



In addition the Museum's Arctic expedition in the field the past two 

 years under the leadership of Messrs. Stefansson and Anderson has traversed 

 the unexplored area between Cape Parry and the Coppermine River; and 

 during the same years, the Congo expedition in charge of Messrs. Lang 

 and Chapin has l)een working through little-known jungles of Africa. 



Every time a man extends our knowledge of the unknown, his example 

 raises the whole human race a little higher than it was before and places 

 all the present generation and all future generations in his debt. The 

 meml)ers of the American Museum and of the American Geographical 

 Society give their warm support to the young men who are planning to 

 start out on the Crocker Land expedition. We l)elieve in the great objects 

 of their journey to the north polar sea; W(> ha\e the utmost faith in them, 

 in their courage, their high purpose and their intelligence; and we shall do 

 our best to supply them with the sinews of exploration — namely, funds 

 sufficient to care for them, their P'skimo and their dogs, as well as to enable 

 them to make scientific observations, records and collections. 



