GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1873. 311 



and who were in the same situation, was due 

 to their constant employment, discipline, and 

 active bodily exercise. They lost but two 

 men ; the remainder returned in good health. 

 This admirably organized expedition were nn- 

 ablf to approach nearer to the pole than about 

 78 20'. It adds but another proof to the dif- 

 ficulties that exist in that direction. The 

 scientific results of the voyage, however, are 

 considerable. By dredging and by magnetic, 

 meteorological, botanical, and geological ob- 

 servations, they gathered a large amount of 

 information throwing light on the nature of 

 organic life in the arctic and npon the physi- 

 cal changes which that region has undergone. 



The other arctic expeditions, the Austro- 

 Ilungarian of Payer and Weyprecht, the Rus- 

 sian, and the private Norwegian and Scottish 

 excursions, the exploring tonr of Mr. Leigh 

 Smith to Spitzbergen, and the visit of Captain 

 A. II. Markham to Smith's Sound on a whaling- 

 steamer, have not added much to our knowl- 

 edge of these northern seas and lands. Payer 

 and Weyprecht were ice-bound on the coast of 

 Novaia Zeinlya; and the Norwegians, though 

 they circumnavigated these great islands, and 

 explored their coasts, and the coast-line of 

 mountains very thoroughly, adding materinlly 

 to our knowledge, both of the islands and the 

 Sea of Kara, were unable to reach a more 

 northern point than the seventy-eighth degree. 

 The indications of the last six years of explora- 

 tions in these seas, at the north of Europe and 

 Asia, seem to point to the fact of lands in the 

 circumpolar region here, as well as to the 

 north of the American Continent. It is not 

 necessary to suppose that the cold increases 

 with each degree till the pole is reached. On 

 the contrary, the maximum winter temperature 

 registered at the winter-quarters of the Polaris, 

 81 38', was 48 Fahr., while the maximum at 

 Kane's winter position, 180 miles farther south, 

 was 69" F. The pole of greatest cold seems to 

 be nearer to the arctic circle than to the pole 

 of the earth. In the comparatively mild climate 

 between 81 and 82 north latitude, the crew 

 of the Polaris found fifteen species of plants, and 

 the herbage was sufficient to sustain herds of 

 musk-oxen, twenty-six of which were shot by 

 the crew. Seals of three kinds were found as 

 far north as 82 16', besides foxes and lemmings 

 (the Norway rat), ptarmigan and seventeen 

 other species of birds. They found evidence 

 of inhabitants in this far northern region, in 

 portions of boats supported by whales' ribs, 

 and other manufactured articles drifting down 

 from the extreme north. 



I. From this region of ice let us now turn to 

 the AMERICAN CONTINENT, and I. To NORTH 

 AMERICA. 1. Greenland. Mr. R. H. Major, 

 the secretary of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety, made, in the spring of 1873, a very elab- 

 orate investigation in regard to the old Scan- 

 dinavian colony in Greenland, and incidentally 

 the colonies on the coast of North America. 

 In this investigation he vindicated the authen- 



ticity of the letters, narrative, and maps of the 

 Venetian navigators, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, 

 who, between A. D. 1389 and 1400, were in the 

 employ of Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and 

 Caithness, as pilots of his fleet, and in that ca- 

 pacity repeatedly visited Greenland, the Faroe 

 Islands, Iceland, and probably, once, the east- 

 ern coast of North America. "With the narra- 

 tive of these Venetians he coupled the testi- 

 mony of a Greenlander, Ivar Bardsen, who in 

 the fourteenth century was steward to the 

 Bishop of Garda, in what he called the East 

 Bygd of Greenland. Mr. Major identifies the 

 various localities spoken of by these writers, 

 and showed very conclusively that the colonies, 

 both in Greenland and on the North American 

 coast, were in a flourishing condition in the 

 fourteenth century. 



In British America there have been no geo- 

 graphical explorations of special interest. 



The Boundary Commission, of which Mr. 

 G. M. Dawson is geologist, have completed a 

 survey of the Lake of the Woods, and its neigh- 

 borhood; Messrs. Selwyn and Bell have been 

 engaged in the regions watered by the North 

 Saskatchewan ; and Mr. Richardson has been 

 on the other side of the Rocky Mountains in 

 British Columbia. 



There have been some explorations of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and of St. George's 

 Bank and the adjacent waters, but rather in 

 the interests of hydrography and zoology than 

 of geography proper. One fact, however, of 

 some importance seems to have been settled, 

 viz., that over the banks the Gulf Stream ex- 

 erted but a moderate influence, and that the low 

 surface temperature of the Bay of Fundy is 

 largely due to its geographical position, and to 

 the powerful tides which bring up constantly 

 the cold water from the bottom of the sea to 

 mix with that of the surface. 



2. The United States. The activity in geo- 

 graphical exploration which was manifest in 

 1872 continued and increased in 1873. There 

 were eleven distinct expeditions in the field in 

 1873, seven of them sent out by some depart- 

 ment of the Government, one a State expedi- 

 tion, and three by private parties. Besides 

 these there were the reports of the Yellowstone 

 Park superintendent, and of other explorers, of 

 the work of the previous year ; the report of 

 the Adirondack Park Commissioners to the 

 New York Legislature, etc., etc. Of the Gov- 

 ernment exploring expeditions, that of the new 

 Geographical Bureau, under the lead of the 

 veteran Prof. F. V. Hayden and Mr. James F. 

 Gardner, in Colorado, is first in importance 

 and interest. (See TEBEITORIES Colorado.) 



In the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for the year 

 1872 we gave some account of Lieutenant 

 George M. Wheeler's (U. 8. Engineers) expe- 

 dition for the examination and determination 

 of the physical and natural history of the re- 

 gions west of the hundredth meridian. This 

 expedition was sent out by the War Depart- 

 ment, and during 1873 was busily employed in 



