GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



pheric electricity, the growth, structure, and 

 motion of ice, the physical properties of sea- 

 water, etc. It is also recommended that sam- 

 ples of air should be collected for analysis, be- 

 sides collections in the departments of zoology, 

 botany, geology, etc. 



Successful observations, made by several of 

 the International Polar Expeditions just de- 

 scribed, have been reported. Among the mem- 

 bers of the Austrian expedition not a trace of 

 scurvy, or any other disease, was found during 

 their long exile of sixteen months at Jan Mayen 

 Land. Wholmuth, the commander, has tele- 

 graphed that his observations have been per- 

 fect, his collections rich, and his photographs 

 numerous. Capt. Dawson, who commands 

 the English expedition at Fort Rae, reports 

 excellent work by his party. The auroras, he 

 says, have not been of remarkable brilliance, 

 though the spectroscope observations have 

 been very satisfactory. From the Finnish sta- 

 tion at Sodankyla, Herr Sophus Tromholt 

 sends accounts of startling novelties. He has 

 experimented on a gigantic scale with the 

 aurora borealis. By means of an ingenious 

 arrangement of batteries and wires along the 

 face and up the summit of a lofty hill (1,000 

 feet high) he has been able to produce an arti- 

 ficial aurora differing in no respect in appear- 

 ance and spectroscopic analysis from the genu- 

 ine aurora. This phenomenon is one that has 

 puzzled investigators for centuries, and even 

 now the most diverse opinions are entertained 

 as to its origin and nature. These experiments 

 of Tromholt, when combined with the simulta- 

 neous observations of various investigators, are 

 likely to go a long way toward the final settle- 

 ment of the question. Dr. Tromholt has com- 

 pletely failed in obtaining any photograph of 

 the delicate phenomenon, even by using the 

 most sensitive dry plates. Thus, brilliant as 

 the northern lights are, the actual amount of 

 light contained in them is apparently small. 



The great interest of the year in Arctic ex- 

 ploration has centered about the efforts made 

 for the relief of Lieut. Greely and his party 

 at the meteorological station in Lady Franklin 

 Bay. This officer had sailed for that point in 

 June, 1881, to establish a colony in accordance 

 with an agreement ma^e by the United States 

 Government, as narrated above. It was ex- 

 pected to maintain this post until 1884, and 

 Lieut. Greely was to be visited by a vessel car- 

 rying supplies in 1882 and 1883. If not visited 

 in 1882, he was ordered to abandon his station 

 not later than September 1, 1883, and retreat 

 southward by boat, following closely the east 

 coast of Grinnell Land. In 1882, July 8th, an 

 expedition sailed from St. JohnX Newfound- 

 land, but was obliged to return without com- 

 municating with the party at Lady Franklin 

 Bay. In 1883 a more determined effort was 

 made for this purpose. The same vessel which 

 carried Greely and his associates, the Proteus, 

 was chartered for this service. The United 

 States ship Yantic was ordered to accompany 



the Proteus as far as Littleton island, render- 

 ing such aid to the relief vessel as might be 

 necessary. The officers of the Proteus were 

 as follow : Lieut. E. A. Garlington, U. S. A., 

 commanding ; Albert G. Colwell, U. S. N., 

 lieut.-commander ; Dr. J. S. Harrison, sur- 

 geon ; Sergeant John Kenny, Corporal Frank 

 Ewell, and six other men, all being detailed 

 for the expedition on account of their service 

 in the Northwest, where they had become in- 

 ured to the extreme cold. (See GEEELY RELIEF 

 EXPEDITION.) 



The British Circumpolar Expedition, under 

 the command of Capt. Dawson, reached Fort 

 Rae August 30, 1882. This station is on the 

 northern arm of the Great Slave lake. The 

 party, consisting of Capt. Dawson and three 

 soldiers of the artillery, arrived at their desti- 

 nation from Winnipeg, by ascending the Sas- 

 katchewan to Prince Albert settlement, cross- 

 ing the prairie to Green lake, proceeding by 

 way of Buffalo lake and Methy lake, and down 

 the Athabasca river to Lake Athabasca, and 

 then descending the Slave river to Fort Reso- 

 lution on the Great Slave lake. 



The Dutch steamer Varna and the Danish 

 steamer Dijmphna, which had gone out to ex- 

 plore the Kara Sea, utterly failed in their mis- 

 sion. The former was wrecked in the Kara 

 Sea, while the latter narrowly escaped. The 

 ill success of this expedition is thought to dis- 

 pose of the notion that there is a practicable 

 northeast route for merchant - vessels from 

 Norway to Bering strait. The Dutch ex- 

 ploring vessel, William Barents, left Amster- 

 dam on the 5th of May in searcli of the Varna 

 and Dijmphna. This was her sixth Arctic 

 voyage. The William Barents was heard from 

 at Archangel on the 21st of June. While she 

 was in the Dwina the weather was beautiful, 

 the thermometer registering over 70 in the 

 shade, and at midnight the temperature was 

 not much lower. Bees hummed through the 

 rigging of the Barents, and butterflies lighted 

 on her decks ; while the mosquitoes were ac- 

 tively engaged in every corner of the ship. 



Capt. M. S. Healy, of the United States 

 steamer Corwin, detached Ensign G. M. Sto- 

 ney on an expedition to explore a large river 

 reported by the natives to debouch into Ho- 

 tham's inlet, Alaska Territory. A dinghy, with 

 two men armed and equipped with ten days' 

 rations, was placed under Ensign Stoney's com- 

 mand. Proceeding some twenty-three miles 

 along the northwestern shore of the inlet, Sto- 

 ney at length struck the mouth of a river of 

 considerable size. Ascending this in a south- 

 easterly direction for two days, he struck the 

 main stream, which proved to be a river three 

 quarters of a mile in width, -having nowhere 

 less than two and a half fathoms of water. He 

 ascended the river fifty miles from its mouth. 

 The banks were generally thickly timbered 

 with birch, alder, and spruce, some of the trees 

 attaining a height of forty feet, with twelve 

 inches diameter at the base. The natives re- 



