306 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



most favorable route, and expects to take it in the 

 spring of 1897. 



Referring to the criticisms upon Payer's map, 

 Dr. Wichmann says in " Petcrmann's Mitteilun- 

 gen " : " In these attacks upon Payer, Jackson has 

 overlooked the one important fact that Payer never 

 was in Markham Sound, and did not touch the 

 south coast of Zichy Land,bordering on that sound, 

 but only the east coast, bordering on Austria 

 Sound. His observations were taken from that 

 point, and the probable outlines of the land were 

 sketched into the map. Capt. Jackson's position 

 in Markham Sound is about 100 kilometres from 

 Austria Sound ; and observations made at such a 

 distance can have no topographical exactness." 



In regard to the possible routes to the pole, Lieut. 

 Peary says: "Nansen's drift of thirty-five months 

 through the Sibero-arctic segment without dis- 

 covering any signs of land or finding his trans- 

 polar current has definitely eliminated that region 

 from further consideration as a possible polar route. 

 There remain, then, the Franz Josef Land and 

 Greenland routes, on neither of which has the land 

 limit been reached. On the former, Jackson is 

 working with dogged determination, but if he has 

 achieved no very considerable northing in two 

 seasons' work, he is scarcely likely to make an ex- 

 traordinary spurt in the third. There is left the 

 Greenland route. Lockwood, standing on his island, 

 in 83 24', saw the broken coast extending still 

 northward, not knowing it to be detached lands. 

 Standing on the cliffs overlooking Independence 

 Bay, in 81 37' and 81 47' in 1892 and 1895, I 

 saw the other side of those same detached land 

 masses extending northeastward until hidden be- 

 low the horizon. Here, then, is land, the most 

 northerly known, extending certainly to 84 or 85 D , 

 and more than probably beyond this, to serve as a 

 point of departure. But how to reach this? With 

 an ample supply of provisions at Sherard Osborne 

 fiord (and the chances of forcing a ship there are 

 as good as to Discovery Harbor), a party of two 

 white men and the remainder of my faithful, 

 hardy, and loyal friends from Whale Sound could, 

 by the close of the season in which the ship reached 

 the fiord, have the shores of that archipelago 

 largely determined, and a station as high as 85 or 

 86 from which to start across the ice northward 

 or follow the islands, as the case might be, in the 

 spring. The relief ship need only come to Whale 

 Sound, for the retreat across the ice cap from the 

 head of Sherard Osborne fiord with light sledges 

 could be accomplished in two weeks or less." 



The Peary relief expedition returned with Lieut. 

 Peary and his companions in September, 1895. Of 

 his work during his sojourn in the north, Prof. R. 

 D. Salisbury, who was with the expedition, said : 

 " Lieut. Peary, besides accomplishing a large 

 amount of work of general scientific import, both 

 as to geography and geology, has authentically es- 

 tablished the northern limits of Greenland, made 

 an accurate chart of 1,000 miles of the west coast, 

 discovered 11 hitherto unknown islands, collected a 

 series of valuable meteorological records, and ob- 

 'tained more knowledge of the native inhabitants 

 than has ever been secured." 



Prof. Salisbury's own work is thus described : 

 " The coast of Greenland was examined at close 

 enough range to study its geological features to 

 advantage from 64 to 78 45'. Stops were made 

 at many points between 74 45' and 77 45'. At 

 these points geographical and geological studies 

 were carried on. The pastern coast of America 

 was also seen between 78 and 18' J 45' continuously 

 from Ellesmere Land to Dexterity Harbor, in 71 

 30'. Also much of Disco poast. Many glaciers be- 

 tween 74 45' and 77 45' were studied in detail, and 



some determinations of importance concerning 

 glacier motion were made. A considerable body of 

 evidence was gathered in reference to the former 

 extension of the Greenland ice cap. Determina- 

 tions were also made at several points regarding 

 recent land changes, some of which amounted to 

 500 feet. No evidence was found of any great ex- 

 tension of the Greenland ice cap toward America in 

 former ages. The Jacopshaven glacier wasexamined 

 in detail, and fossils were found at Atenikerdleukus. 

 Both the American and Greenland coasts are un- 

 equaled as fields for the study of glacial geology. 

 The line of snow is found much lower and the ice 

 comes much lower down on the American than on 

 the Greenland coast." 



Lieut. Peary made another expedition to the north 

 in the summer of 1896, intending to bring home the 

 40-ton meteorite that he discovered at Cape York. 

 He was accompanied by Profs. Alfred Burton and 

 George H. Bartan, of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology; G. H. Putnam, assistant in the United 

 States Coast and Geodetic Survey; Prof. Ralph S. 

 Tarr, of Cornell University ; Prof. M. C. Gill ; several 

 students of Cornell University, and others. Obser- 

 vations were taken and valuable and interesting 

 collections were brought back, but no geographical 

 discovery was made, with the exception, perhaps, of 

 a mountain, which the Cornell party named Mount 

 Schurman, in honor of their president. Of the great 

 meteorite Lieut. Peary says: 



" Returning to Cape York on Aug. 23, the ice had 

 broken up enough to allow the ' Hope ' to penetrate 

 Melville Bay and reach the site of the great meteor- 

 ite. We were fortunate in effecting a landing, but 

 2 hydraulic jacks were rendered useless in trying to 

 tear the iron monster from its frozen bed. A third 

 attempt a few days later succeeded in moving the 

 meteorite, but before it could be embarked the 

 'Hope' was compelled by ice to retreat." 



The arctic expedition, led by Sir Martin Conway, 

 accomplished the first crossing of the mainland of 

 Spitzbergen from sea to sea, going from Advent 

 Bay to Agardh Bay on the eastern coast and back, 

 examined the glacial phenomena, and passed around 

 Spitzbergen to the Seven Islands and through Hin- 

 lopen strait to the vicinity of King Karl Land. The 

 complete circumnavigation of the island was pre- 

 vented by great masses of ice in the Stor fiord. 

 Three of the party climbed the highest peak in the 

 island, Hornsund mount, 1,400 metres high. 



Antarctic Regions. C. E. Borchgrevink, the 

 Norwegian explorer, gives an account of his ant- 

 arctic experiences in an article illustrated by him- 

 self, in the " Century Magazine " for January, 1896. 

 He describes the first landing on the antarctic con- 

 tinent as follows : 



" We landed at Cape Adare that night (Jan. 23, 

 1895), being the first human creatures to put foot 

 on the mainland. A peculiar feeling of fascination 

 crept over each of us, even to the most prosaic na- 

 tures in our boat, as we gradually drew near to the 

 beach of this unknown land. Some few cakes of 

 ice were floating about, and looking over the side 

 of the boat I even discovered a jelly fish, apparently 

 of the common light-blue, transparent kind. 



"I had painted a Norwegian flag on a large box, 

 which we fastened on a strong pole near the place 

 where we landed, and leaving the rest of the crew 

 to be entertained by the penguins I proceeded alone 

 to investigate the peninsula and to make collections. 

 I found seaweed on the beach. Our landing place 

 was a sort of peninsula gently sloping down from 

 the steep rocks of Cape Adare until it ran into the 

 bay as a long, flat beach covered with pebbles. The 

 peninsula forms a breakwater for the inner bay. 



" 1 believe that Cape Adare is the very place where 

 a future scientific expedition might stop safely even 



