GEOGRAPHICAL I'RoGUKSS AND DISCOVKKY. 





While drifting northward Nan sen took soundings 

 of 3.000 to 3.500 metres. Tin- fact that then 

 sudden increase of depth north of the seventy- 

 ninth parallel above the Asiatic coast is evidence 

 of deep water at the pole." 



(ireat interest has Wen felt in the project of S. A. 

 Andn'e to cross the polar sea in a balloon. 

 Swedish Academy of Science and the Swedish So- 

 of Anthropology and Geology recommended 

 Prof. Andn'e V plan and promised to bear a share 

 of the expense. King Oscar of Sweden, Alfred 

 I, and Oscar Diekson also subscribed for the 

 - . >f the expedition, and the Foreign Ministry of 

 Sweden sent a notice to Russia, Denmark. Great 

 Britain, and the United States with reference to 

 the projected balloon voyage to the north pole, 

 asking the co-operation of the countries whose ter- 

 ritories have coasts on the polar seas : they also 

 asked these countries to distribute thousands of 

 leaflets asking for information from any one who 

 might chance to secure it. of the time the balloon 

 was seen and the direction of the wind at the 

 time. 



The balloon was made in Paris, and combines ex- 

 treme lightness with great durability. It contains 

 4,500 cubic metres and has a diameter of 22*5 metres ; 

 it is provided with a waterproof covering. It was 

 taken to Spitzbergen and rilled, but Prof. Andree 

 was obliged to defer the expedition till another year, 

 having waited in vain this summer for favorable con- 

 ditions until it was too late to venture. 



Discoveries in Fran/ Josef Land have been made 

 by the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, which went 

 there in 1894 under the lead of F. G. Jackson. The 

 story of their experiences in 1894-'95 was told by 

 their London representative as foil* 



" It appears, then, that on Sept. ?. 1894. the expe- 

 dition safely made the coast of Franz Josef Land. 

 in the locality of Cape Flora. On the 10th of that 

 month they began to discharge the ship's valuable 

 and carefully selected cargo, and two days later the 

 ice closed round the ' Windward ' and she was frozen 

 in for the winter. By November the two large Rus- 

 sian log houses had been built, treble-walled houses, 

 which had been taken from England, erected, and 

 all the stores, instruments, equipments, dogs, and 

 ponies safely landed and housed. Everything had 

 been done, as we had hoped would be done, and the 

 expedition was established in comfort and complete- 

 nes.; at it base on the coast of Franz Josef Land. The 

 crew, it seems, remained on the ship, but while sepa- 

 rated from the exploring party as to its domicile, it 

 shared in the results of the activity of Mr. Jackson 

 and his colleagues in procuring fresh meat for food. 

 No fewer than 60 polar bears were killed. 



"On Feb. 23 the sun returned, and Mr. Jackson 

 and his small party started on their northern jour- 

 ney on March 10. They went forward with a quan- 

 tity of stores, and made their first depot, returning 

 to the base for more provisions on the 16th. Again 

 starting with all the sledges heavily loaded in April, 

 they once more returned for a final load in May. 

 Traveling had now become exceedingly heavy owing 

 to the softness of the snow, and when the Wind- 

 ward ' started on her southern journey the explorers 

 were preparing to advance northward again, but on 

 this occasion they were going to utilize their 1 

 The most northern depot which had been made was 

 in latitude 81 : 20'. or about 100 miles from camp. 

 A short time after Mr. Jackson first marched north 

 scurvy made its appearance among the crew. On 

 July 3 the 'Windward' began her southern jour- 

 ney, and at once entered on a series of adventures 

 of great peril. The ice pack proved to be about 300 

 miles wide and unusually formidable. The floes were 

 much heaped up. and exceedingly thick and heavy. 

 The efforts to break through them used up immense 



VOL. xxxvi. 20 A 



quantities of coal and fuel. and. finally, nearly every- 

 thing on board that would burn was utili, 

 up steam. Even the ship herself was laid under 

 requisition, and all detachable portions that could 

 be spared were broken up and burned. For sixty- 

 five days this >trug<rl? with the ice continued, and 

 then at last the 'Windward' broke out of the pack 

 and open water lay before her. The inn-Mint labor. 

 and the lack of fresh food told severely on the men. 

 One after another they became victims of scurvy, 

 until 12 were invalided. But they appear to have 

 behaved nobly, and to have volunteered for and to 

 have actually performed most arduous task> when 

 they were scarcely able to stand. On Sept. 6 they 

 broke out of the ice. but. having exhausted their 

 fuel and meeting with constant head winds, shaped 

 their course for Vardo, the nearest port, and arrived 

 there on Sept. 10." 



The work done in the summer of 1895 is described 

 briefly in one of Mr. Jackson's letters: 



" We have entirely altered the map and character 

 of a great portion of Franz Josef Land, and have 

 found a sea and islands where mainland was sup- 

 posed to exist. We have also carefully mapped 

 Markham Sound, and, of course, laid down our 

 route to the farthest point we reached. 81 : 2<i 

 north. Markham Sound and the country farther 

 north are totally different from what Payer's map 

 represents them to be. and the character of the small 

 portion of Zichy Land, which borders on Markham 

 Sound, is absolutely unlike the description published 

 in the narrative of the Austro-IIungarian expedi- 

 tion. Moreover, the mountains in that work can 

 not be observed even on the clearest day." 



In this journey north Mr. Jackson took with him 

 a sufficient quantity of stores to form three well- 

 equipped depots, and deposited as far north a> M 

 21' 2 boats for use at the latter end of the summer. 



In another letter he says of the summer of 1896 : 



"We went on a month's expedition to the north- 

 west in a little boat, the 'Mary Ilarmsworth,' and 

 discovered a large tract of land westward of hitherto 

 unknown limits, and a magnificent headland, com- 

 posed of ice from its summit to its foot and having 

 at its base a huge, unsightly rampart of ice. We 

 named it Ilarmsworth cape, and only approached 

 the base of the headland with the greatest difficulty, 

 owing to surging masses of heavy ice and furious 

 gales. We landed on the coast as often as | 

 ble and ascended the high peaks and made numer- 

 ous geological and botanical collections. Far up 

 Cambridge Bay we discovered an ice headland, and 

 named it Cape Fridtjof Nansen. There our beat 

 was nearly lost, owing to her sea anchor having been 

 carried away, and a huge block of ice which was 

 swerving around stove in several of her planks. 

 But we managed to bail her out. and then rigged 

 another anchor. 



"This spring has been phenomenally mild. Al- 

 though we marched north a great distance, using 

 16 dogs and a pony, we met after a fortnight open 

 water reaching from the face of a huge glacier 

 east to the precipitous end of another huge glacier 

 west. Advance by sledges was thus cut off. We 

 then struck southeast, down Markham Sound, and 

 added greatly to our discoveries . f '\^'.'~>. But we 

 were again stopped by open water reaching entirely 

 38 the sound, so we turned westward and ex- 

 plored the entire western shores. During April ter- 

 rible snowstorms, coupled with rises in the tempera- 

 ture, broke up the ice and prevented marching, but 

 we took valuable photographs." 



The great sea discovered was named Queen Vic- 

 toria Sea. and a channel passed through to reach it 

 from Markham Sound was called the British Chan- 

 nel. Mr. Jackson thinks the sea extends within 

 about 3 degrees of the pole. He regards it as the 



