ARCTIC TEMPERATURES AND EXPLORATION. 653 

 ARCTIC TEMPERATURES AND EXPLORATION. 



BY STUAET JENKINS. 



AT the recent annual meeting of the Association of Ontario 

 Land Surveyors, held in the city of Toronto, the statement 

 was made that, if the Canadian Government determined to run 

 a meridian to the north pole, Canadian surveyors would carry 

 the work through. As a proof of the faith that is in them, they 

 have appointed a committee to consider and report upon the 

 matter. 



The assertion is not as wild as it may seem, and I think it will 

 prove interesting to the public to show what Canadian surveyors 

 have already done, and compare their methods and experience 

 with those of arctic explorers. 



The extreme cold of the arctic regions is generally looked 

 upon as the principal bar to exploration in that direction, not- 

 withstanding the fact that men have endured its rigors for years 

 without injury. Take some of the cases on record. In 1743 four 

 seamen went ashore on the island of Spitsbergen from a Russian 

 vessel. A heavy storm drove the ship away before they could 

 rejoin her, and they were left with nothing but a gun and enough 

 ammunition to kill twelve deer. That was their entire outfit, yet 

 they managed to live and keep their health for six years, when 

 three of them were rescued, the fourth having died. No properly 

 organized polar expedition would have to submit to the hard- 

 ships which they must have endured. 



In 1819-'20 Parry wintered on Melville Island in latitude 74 

 26'. The greatest cold was experienced in February, when the 

 thermometer fell to 55 F., and for fifteen hours was not above 

 54 F. The expedition was absent eighteen months, and out of 

 two ships' crews only one man died of a disease in no way refer- 

 able to the hardships of the voyage. 



Between 1853 and 1855 Dr. Kane passed two winters in Smith's 

 Sound in latitude 78, and he records the mean temperature of 

 the three summer months as + 33 F., and of the nine winter 

 months as 16'8 C F. As to the possibility of traveling under 

 the conditions existing in these high latitudes, it may be consid- 

 ered as established by the experience of McClintock, who in 1851 

 reached one of the western points of Melville Island, distant from 

 his winter quarters three hundred and sixty miles in a direct line, 

 a journey which required eighty days going and returning for 

 its accomplishment. Among the things said to have been expe- 

 rienced by arctic explorers three may be mentioned : 1. That 

 men issuing suddenly from their shelter into a temperature of 

 60 F. fell senseless. 2. That a man rushing out bare-handed 



