GEOGRAPHIC NOTES. 



THE DUKE OF ABRUZZI. 



THE Duke of the Abruzzi will 

 despatch from Christiania in the 

 spring a relief party to search for 

 the three members of his North Polar ex- 

 pedition who were lost in March, 1900. 

 These were Lieutenant Ouerini, a Nor- 



Lieut, Franco Querini. 



wegian engineer, and an Italian machinist. 

 Captain Cagni's party set out from Tep- 

 litz Bay, 82° 4', where the Stella Polare 

 was blocked, March i ith, and during the 

 first nine days advanced 43.5 miles. As 

 the party was too numerous for rapid ad- 

 vance, he determined at this point to send 

 back the three men whom he judged were 

 least able to stand the strain of march- 



ing. It had been agreed when Cagni and 

 the Duke separated that only those most 

 enduring and competent should con- 

 tinue with Cagni on the march. The 

 three were started back in good spirits, 

 good health, and abundantly provided 

 with provisions, but they were never 

 heard from again. Captain Cagni be- 

 lieves that they must have fallen into a 

 chasm and perished. Letters were left 

 at Teplitz Bay with instructions for the 

 men to proceed to Cape Flora. Provi- 

 sions sufficient for twenty men for three 

 years were also left with the letters and 

 enough more for three men for four years 

 at Cape Flora. 



The preliminary report of the expedi- 

 tion recently published by the Duke of 

 Abruzzi in the Italian Militare e Ma- 

 rina has added but little to the account 

 already given in the NATIONAL GEO- 

 GRAPHIC MAGAZINE (vol. xi., pp. 

 411-413). The advance of Cagni is espe- 

 cially remarkable for the speed which his 

 party was able to maintain. For days they 

 averaged 9.5 miles in twenty-four hours, 

 a phenomenal rate of advance over polar 

 ice and snow. Latitude 86° 33' was 

 reached April 26th. No land was here in 

 sight, nothing but ice in a state of thaw. 

 Petermann's Land, which Payer believed 

 he saw, did not exist where he stated or 

 Cagni would surely have seen it early in 

 his journey. The same must be true of 

 King: Oscar Land. 



TRANS-SIBERIAN 

 WAY. 



RAIL- 



WORK will be resumed on the 

 branch of the Trans-Siberian 

 railway from Stretensk to 

 Khabarovsk. This route was abandoned 

 for a more direct line to the Pacific 

 through Manchuria when Russia acquired 



