326 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY IN 1876. 



32.4 Fahr. in 400 fathoms, 31.8 in 500 fath- 

 oms, and 29.8 at the bottom. Thermometri- 

 cal observations, at a station west of 10 15' 

 west, showed a bottom-temperature of 46.2 

 Fuhr. A visit to the Westman Islands, off the 

 south coast of Iceland, revealed there an an- 

 cient crater, and another, more recent, 770 

 feet above the sea, formed of loose stones, 

 with a base of lava. These islands are en- 

 tirely volcanic. Off the south coast of Ice- 

 land there is a strong flow to the eastward, 

 and between Cape Skagi and Reikiavik the 

 force of the current is terrific. The stormy 

 weather allowed the opportunity to take in- 

 teresting meteorological observations, but in- 

 terfered with all others. A stop was made' a- 

 Reikiavik. After several days spent in magt 

 netic base observations, they sailed, taking the 

 course south from Iceland, and then northeast 

 off the coasts of Norway. The difference be- 

 tween the warm Atlantic water at the bottom 

 and the icy arctic waters east of Iceland was 

 very marked. On the course to Namsen Fiord, 

 a depth was found of 1,800 fathoms in latitude 

 64 5', midway between Iceland and Norway. 

 The temperature at the bottom was always 

 under 32 in these waters. The nearer they 

 approached the Norwegian coast, the warmer 

 was the surface-water. The fauna of the deep 

 sea here was not rich, but was very evenly 

 distributed. The bottom was mud, filled with 

 tiny round shells. The weather was too rough 

 to study the captured specimens alive. Sev- 

 eral stations were well explored on this line. 

 From Namsos they took a course due west, 

 and sounded for 100 nautical miles before 

 reaching the depth of 300 fathoms. The line 

 of the ice-cold water only commences beyond 

 this point ; it is the extent of these banks 

 which explains the mild climate of Northern 

 Norway. Off Romsdal the line between the 

 cold and warm water approaches nearer the 

 coast. Soon the depth began to increase up to 

 400 fathoms final depth, and 30 bottom-tem- 

 perature. The fauna had been in the lesser 

 depth mostly Atlantic, but was here entirely 

 arctic. 



ARCTIC EXPLORATION. The English Polar 

 Expedition, in the naval steamers Alert and 

 Discovery, Captain Nares commanding, re- 

 turned safely, sailing into Queenstown har- 

 bor on the 30th of October, after a voyage of 

 seventeen months. Although the results of 

 the expedition fell far short of the expectations 

 of the more sanguine geographical students, 

 and cannot he said to have solved in any satis- 

 factory way the question of the open Polar 

 Sea, yet they have furnished important infor- 

 mation upon the natural conditions of the 

 arctic regions. The explorers have convinced 

 themselves and the majority of geographers 

 that the inner arctic basin is filled with peren- 

 nial ice ; still, many believe that the ice block- 

 ade which filled the entrance to the Polar Sea 

 was only an exceptional phenomenon, trusting 

 in the more auspicious promises of the Amer- 



ican expedition. The Alert and Discovery 

 reached Cape Sabine, where they were first 

 impeded by the ice, on the 30th of July, 1875. 

 From this point, latitude 79 north, their prog- 

 ress was a ceaseless struggle. It took twenty 

 days to ply through the ice which covered 

 Kane Basin. In Kennedy Channel, which was 

 only partly frozen over, a swifter advance was 

 possible. The vessels left Bessel's Bay, on the 

 coast of Greenland, latitude 81 north, on the 

 24th of August, and reached the northern 

 shore of Lady Franklin Bay, which is on the 

 west side of Robeson Channel, where, between 

 Bellot Island and Grant Land, latitude 81 44' 

 north, the Discovery lay in for the winter. 

 The Alert proceeded on her lonely northward 

 course, taking Lieutenant Rawson and seven 

 men from the Discovery's crew, on the 26th. 

 Along the western coast of Robeson Channel 

 she had to bore her way through a thick crust 

 of ice, until a strong south wind opened a pas- 

 sage from one to three miles broad. She liad 

 passed around Cape Union, having therefore 

 entered the basin of the central Polar Sea, 

 when an impenetrable ice-pack forbade further 

 navigation. Captain Nares then let the anchor 

 he cast on the 3d of September, in latitude 82 

 27' north. A belt of high icebergs prevented 

 the ice from packing closer around the vessel, 

 and made their winter-quarters secure. Upon 

 the shore hard by they constructed a comfort- 

 able building out of chests and barrels, and 

 sent out several sledge-parties before winter to 

 supply depots with provisions for the benefit 

 of the expedition-parties which were to start 

 on their explorations in the spring. One of 

 these expeditions, under Commander Mark- 

 ham, with Lieutenants Parr and May and 

 twenty-one men, lasted from September 25th 

 to October 15th. They ascended to latitude 

 82 41' north, or 3' higher than the point 

 reached by Parry in 1827. On the llth of 

 November the sun went down, to rise again 

 only after a polar night of 142 days on the 

 29th of February of this year. During this 

 time the officers and men amused themselves 

 as best they could with theatrical and scien- 

 tific entertainments ; and, meanwhile, the ob- 

 servations were prosecuted in a systematic 

 manner. When the spring came, the excur- 

 sions commenced with a fruitless attempt by 

 Lieutenants Egerton and Rawson to establish 

 communication with the Discovery. They 

 started out March 12th, the thermometer 

 standing at 40 C., but had to return unsatis- 

 fied in the severest cold, not turning about 

 soon enough, however, to save the life of their 

 dog-driver, the veteran Nils Christian Peter- 

 son, who was prostrated by the frost, and died 

 soon after they rejoined their comrades. On 

 the 3d of April, in the harshest weather, three 

 expeditions started out simultaneously to ex- 

 plore the northern regions. One of these, un- 

 der Markham and Parr, composed of fifteen of 

 the strongest and toughest men in the crew, 

 took the course due north, with provisions for 





