332 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF 1861. 



destroyed. It was a substantial structure and 

 difficult to rebuild, owing to the scarcity of 

 timber. Gen. Cox's report, under date of July 

 29th, was as follows : 



" The Kanawha Valley is now free from the 

 secession troops. Most of the forces raised by 

 Wise in this valley left him between Charles- 

 ton and this place. I had sent them assurances 

 that if they laid down their arms they might 

 go quietly to their homes, and many have done 

 so, asserting that they were cheated into the 

 rebel service. I regret to have to say that 

 Wise, in his retreat, has burned a number of 

 valuable bridges, and carried off most of the 

 wagons and teams of the people of the valley. 

 All parties denounce him for his vandalism. I 

 congratulate you on the success of this expe- 

 dition." 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF 

 1861. At the commencement of the year, the 

 highest hopes were entertained that before its 

 closes large number of the yet unsolved problems 

 of geographical science would have become fa- 

 miliar facts to the world. At no former period 

 had so many and so important expeditions been 

 undertaken, and never before did it seem so 

 certain that Africa at least was to remain no 

 longer an unknown land, and that the veil, 

 which had so long hid from eager eyes the 

 sources of the Nile and the great lakes and 

 snow-clad mountains of its interior, was to be 

 removed. 



The results attained have been less satisfac- 

 tory than, could have been hoped ; yet more 

 has been accomplished than in some previous 

 years, and the aggregate of human knowledge 

 of the surfece of the earth has been materially 

 increased. 



Commencing with the arctic regions, to 

 which four expeditions were sent, part of them 

 the previous year, we have but meagre results 

 to report. Two of these expeditions were from 

 the United States, the first that of Dr. J, J. 

 Hayes, the companion of Dr. Kane in his sec- 

 ond expedition. Dr. Hayes sailed from Boston 

 on the 10th of July, 1860, in the schooner 

 United States, 140 tons, which had, mainly by 

 the liberality of Henry Grinnell, Esq., been 

 fitted up for the service. His scientific asso- 

 ciates in the expedition were Messrs. Sonntag, 

 McCorrnick, Dodge, Radcliff, Knorr, and Starr. 

 On the 12th of August he reached Upernavik, 

 and sailed from thence on the 16th. On the 

 23d of the same month he entered Melville 

 Bay, and on the 25th reached Cape York. Here 

 he encountered some Esquimaux, and among 

 them Hans, who had run away from Dr. Kane, 

 and whom, with his wife and child and Esqui- 

 maux dogs, he took on board. After repeated 

 attempts to enter Smith's Strait, which was 

 obstructed by ice, and several narrow escapes 

 from being crushed by the closing of the pack, 

 in one of which his rudder was seriously in- 

 jured, he was forced to make his winter harbor 

 at PortFoulke, lat. 78 17' 41" N., and long. V2 

 30' 57" W., about 20 miles further south than 



Dr. Kane's winter-quarters. The repeated galea 

 and boisterous weather through the month of 

 October prevented the freezing of the waters of 

 the harbor and rendered sledge expeditions im- 

 possible till the dark season, when they were 

 attended with more danger ; but the harbor and 

 adjacent coast, as well as " John's Glacier," ob- 

 served by Dr. Kane, were surveyed. The party 

 succeeded in capturing upwards of 200 reindeer, 

 which kept them abundantly supplied with food ; 

 but their dogs were attacked with an epidemic, 

 which resulted in the death of all but 11 of 

 them, and in an expedition undertaken on the 

 22d of December, for the purpose of purchas- 

 ing a further supply of the Esquimaux of 

 Northumberland Island by Mr. Sonntag and 

 Hans, the former lost his life from the exposure. 

 He was the second in command, and an accom- 

 plished astronomer, and his loss was severely 

 felt. Hans procured no dogs, but some weeks 

 later the Esquimaux visited the vessel and sold 

 them eight. With these and all his crew but 

 three men, Dr. Hayes started northward on 

 the 4th of April, taking his metallic life-boat 

 with him, and on reaching Fog Harbor found 

 that their progress was so slow that they would 

 consume the whole summer. He therefore sent 

 all but three of his companions and two sledges 

 back, and kept on northward amid constantly 

 increasing difficulties till the 18th of May, 

 when, having reached latitude 81 35', a higher 

 point than any other explorer except Sir Ed- 

 ward Parry, he was compelled to turn back. 

 Returning to Port Foulke, he remained there 

 six weeks, making further observations and 

 surveys, photographing the scenery, and col- 

 lecting specimens of natural history. On the 

 14th of July he set sail on his return, and on 

 the 14th August reached Upernavik, where he 

 remained ten days. On the 1st September he 

 entered the harbor of Lievely, where he was 

 detained by S. W. gales till the 17th, and on 

 his way to Halifax his vessel received serious 

 injuries, which compelled him to put into that 

 port for repairs. The chief results attained by the 

 expedition were : the completion of the survey 

 of Smith's Sound ; the discovery of a new chan- 

 nel at the westward of Smith's Strait ; the deter- 

 mination of the magnetic dip arid declination at 

 many points within the arctic circle ; surveys 

 of glaciers, by which their rate of movement is 

 determined ; pendulum experiments, &c. 



The second expedition from the United States 

 was an individual one. Mr. C. F. Hall, an edi- 

 tor from Cincinnati, embarked in the summer 

 of 1860 on board the whale ship George Henry 

 from New London, Conn., passed the winter 

 on board that ship in a harbor south of Cum- 

 berland Straits, and in the spring of 1861 di- 

 rected his course towards the straits of Fury 

 and Hecla. He discovered before leaving Cum- 

 berland Strait that Frobisher's Strait was only 

 an inlet or arm of the sea. 



Captain Parker Snow, an English navigator 

 who had attained considerable reputation by 

 his previous discoveries on the coast of Pata- 



