324 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



simultaneous observations. Synchronous obser- 

 vations on the Arctic and Antarctic borders 

 would help much to clear up the subject of 

 terrestrial magnetism and the theory of the 

 aurora borealis; important meteorological 

 facts might also be gathered. The other sci- 

 ences might not be advanced by simultaneous 

 observations, though much valuable research in 

 geography, natural history, and physical sci- 

 ence would be conducted at each of the sta- 

 tions. 



W. Lord Watts, an Englishman, took a sledg- 

 ing journey, in 1876, across the Vatna Jokull, 

 the vast glacial tract in Iceland, 3,000 square 

 miles in extent, by a course nearly coinciding 

 with the meridian 17 20' W. longitude. It 

 is a plateau, all the valleys being filled with 

 ice. There is every indication that this vast 

 glacier is constantly rising ; and the view that 

 it is encroaching on the outer country, both to 

 the north and south, is confirmed by Mr. Watts. 

 There is every reason to believe that the interior 

 of Greenland is also one vast, impenetrable 

 glacier, which is growing in the same manner. 



Although the desired government donation, 

 for the equipment of a polar colony after Cap- 

 tain Howgate's plan, was not granted by Con- 

 gress, nevertheless the pioneer expedition, fitted 

 out by the private subscriptions of Captain 

 Howgate and others, set sail on the 16th of 

 August in the stanch schooner Florence, of 53 

 tons burden, 64 feet long, with 19 feet beam, 

 and drawing 7 feet of water. The proposition 

 brought before the last session of the 44th 

 Congress was for an appropriation of $50,000 

 to provide for one or more expeditions to the 

 polar regions, and to establish a temporary col- 

 ony at some point near the shore of Lady 

 Franklin Straits. The present expedition, in 

 the whaling vessel Florence, intends to push up 

 to Cumberland Island, or some point beyond, 

 and there to go into winter-quarters, after 

 making up a cargo of whalebone and oil. 

 The promoter of the scheme, Captain H. W. 

 Howgate, of the United States Signal Service, 

 started with the expedition. The ship's officers 

 are : Captain George E. Tyson, master ; William 

 Sisson, first mate ; Dennison Burroughs, second 

 mate; Eleazor Cone, steward; the crew con- 

 sists of six men. Orray Taft Sherman and 

 Ludwig Kumlien accompany th'e expedition, 

 the first as photographer and meteorologist, the 

 latter as naturalist. The Signal Service Bureau 

 have furnished instruments for meteorological 

 observations. The wintering station is to be 

 known as the Howgate Polar Colony. They 

 are provided with food to last for a year. The 

 plan is to establish a series of stations, with 

 abundant supplies and within communication- 

 distance from each other, extending northward, 

 each nearer one serving as a base from which 

 the advance is to be made to the one next 

 beyond, or, if necessary, as~a^gbal of retreat. 

 The colonists, while becoming acclimated and 

 experienced in Arctic life, shall, at the same 

 time, be making the meteorological, zoological, 



and geological researches, which are really the 

 chief benefits to be gained from Arctic explora- 

 tion. Captain Tyson is an old whaler, and was 

 a member of the ill-starred Polaris expedition. 

 These pioneer colonists are to engage the ser- 

 vices of some dozen Esquimaux families, to 

 provide a supply of native clothing and of the 

 best dogs for sledges. As the ice breaks in the 

 summer, the Florence is to run over to Disco 

 and transfer the explorers and the stores to the 

 vessel, which, it is expected, will be there in 

 June to meet them, and which shall convey 

 them to Lady Franklin Straits. The prophy- 

 lactic on which Captain Tyson relies is plenty 

 of fresh blood. The combined raft and sledge, 

 invented by Commodore Ammen, is expected 

 to do good service in explorations; balloons 

 will probably be tried for reconnoitring pur- 

 poses. 



Thomas A. Barry, a whaler, reports that 

 while wintering in Hudson's Bay in 1876-'77, he 

 fell in with a party of Esquimaux, who told a 

 story of a company of white men coming 



AN ESQUIMAUX HUNTEB. 



among them many years ago, while they were 

 settled at Cape Inglefield, who afterward per- 

 ished of cold and famine. They showed some 

 relics of the lost voyagers, among which were 

 spoons marked with the crest of Sir John 

 Franklin. They offered to conduct the whalers 

 to the spot where these last survivors of the 

 Erebus and Terror were buried, with their 

 books and papers, beneath mounds of stones, on 

 Cape Inglefield. Mr. Barry is expected to start, 

 in the spring of 1878, in charge of an expedition 

 for the recovery of the records of the Franklin 

 expedition, upon the information thus unex- 

 pectedly obtained. 



Selah Merrill, of the American Palestine 

 Exploring Expedition, speaks with admiration 



