UNDISCOVERED LAND IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN 61 



5. It may be well here to call attention to the dividing line between 

 the east-going and west-going drifts. Amongst the islands constituting the 

 Arctic Archipelago, the general drift is easterly or southeasterly and here 

 northwesterly winds prevail. Off the northern coast of Alaska the drift is 

 westerly or somewhat to the north of west and the prevailing wind is from 

 the east-northeast. It is probable, for reasons already given, that the pre- 

 vailing drift on the Beaufort Sea proper is westerly. The eastern boundary 

 of this sea appears to lie upon or near the dividing line between the east- 

 going and west-going drifts. The proximity of one corner of the unknown 

 land to either Banks Island or Prince Patrick Island would seem to harmo- 

 nize with the approximate location of the divide. 



Some of the facts which indicate the existence of a corner of the unknown 

 land to the northwest of Grant Land are the following: 



1. The sighting of Crocker Land by Peary, June 24, 1906, from an 

 altitude of about two thousand feet. 



2. The eastward progression of the semidaily tide along the northern 

 coast of Grant Land, indicating that the tide derived from Lancaster and 

 Jones Sounds, which progresses northerly through the channels to the 

 westward of Axel Heiberg Island does not become exceedingly small when 

 the northern coast of Grant Land is reached, as would probably be the case 

 did not the unknown land approach Grant Land and so form the northern 

 boundary of a channel of moderate width. 



3. On his northward journey to the Pole, Peary found fox tracks a little 

 below the 87th parallel and bear tracks just below laiitude 86|°. On his 

 return march he found fox tracks somewhat north of the 87th parallel and 

 bear tracks at latitude about 85^°. 



4. On the northward march of the Peary expedition, Marvin obtained 

 in latitude 85 J 23' a sounding of 310 fathoms — a depth much less than 

 was found at the two preceding sounding stations. 



Assuming for reasons already given, the existence of a corner or cape 

 lying northward from Bennett Island and similarly, of a corner lying north- 

 westward from Grant Land, it is natural to suppose that a poleward, or 

 European, side of this unknown land exists which connects in some fairly 

 continuous manner the two corners just mentioned. The unexpectedly 

 large range of tide at Bennett Island is a reason for drawing this boundary 

 as near the Pole as known facts seem to permit; for in this way the tidal 

 area between the unknown land and Europe is kept down as much as possible, 

 thus helping to explain this unexpectedly large range of tide. It may be 

 noted that the diurnal tidal forces acting upon the deep basin lying between 

 this assumed boundary of the unknown land and Spitzbergen and Franz 

 Josef Archipelago, give from theory a range and time of diurnal tide at 

 Teplitz Bay very nearly equal to the range and time found from actual 

 observation at that place. 



