438 REVIEWS 



valuable feature of the book is that important facts have been culled 

 out from a mass of unimportant material ; and by no means least in 

 its commendable qualities is the fact that it is actually readable ; even 

 the botanical or geological layman may enjoy it if he cares for such 

 things at all. Everyone who reads the first volume will anxiously await 

 the appearance of the second. 



Henry C. Cowles. 



Northward Over the " Great Ice" : A Narrative of Life and Work 



along the Shores and upon the hiterior Ice- Cap of Northern 



Greenland in the years 1886 and i8qi-i8qj. By Robert E. 



Peary. 2 vols. Illustrated. Frederick A. Stokes Co., 



New York. 1898. 



In these two volumes, embracing nearly 1200 pages, Lieutenant 



Peary has given a graphic account of his entire Arctic work. ' The 



story begins with a reconnaissance of the inland ice of Greenland in 



1886. The objects and results of this reconnaissance he summarizes 



as follows : 



Objects. — To gain a practical knowledge of the obstacles and ice condi- 

 tions of the interior of Greenland ; to put to the test of actual use certain 

 methods and details of equipment ; to make such scientific observations as 

 may be practicable ; and to push into the interior as far as possible. (Paper 

 read before National Academy of Sciences at Washington, U. C, April 23, 

 1886.) 



Results. — Attainment of greater elevation tban ever before reached on 

 the inland ice ; penetration a greater distance than any white man previously ; 

 attainment for first time of the real interior plateau of unchanging snow ; 

 determination of ruling characteristics of the inland ice from border to inte- 

 rior (see article in Bulletin Am. Geog. Soc, No. 3, 1887, pp. 286-288); secur- 

 ing an invaluable fund of definite practical knowledge and experience of 

 actual ice-cap conditions and necessary equipment, as well as practical knowl- 

 edge of Arctic navigation and a familiarity with a considerable extent of the 

 Arctic coasts ; inception of ideas of pronounced future value, as odometer, 

 sails, etc. The following deductions : Attacks upon the inland ice should 

 be made at a point as far above level of sea as possible, and where the pres- 

 ence of large and rapidly discharging glaciers indicates a rapid ascent to 

 high elevations in close proximity to coast ; party should be small, and thor- 

 oughly accustomed to snowshoes and ski ; surface of inland ice offers impe- 

 rial highway to east coast, and, in case the ice-cap is coextensive with the 



