Nearest the Pole 



447 



forward with anticipation to detailed ex- 

 plorations of new land discovered. Added 

 to this also is the definite determination 

 of the insularity of Greenland — the arctic 

 problem which Sir Clements Markham, 

 President of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety, characterized as being second in 

 importance only to the attainment of the 

 Pole itself. 



To the zoologist comes the discovery of 

 the beautiful white Arctic reindeer, rang- 

 ing to the very limit of the most northern 

 lands, from Robeson Channel westward 

 to the one hundredth meridian, and the 

 bringing home of a complete series of 

 some fifty skins of this species ; the se- 

 curing of the first specimens of the beau- 

 tiful salmon trout of Lake Hazen, and 

 a wider extension of the known range 

 and abundance of the musk-ox, the Arctic 

 hare, the fox, and the existence of ani- 

 mal life, as represented by seals, to the 

 very highest' latitude reached, within 

 some two hundred miles of the Pole. 



The oceanographer has for his share 

 a new series of tidal observations, sam- 

 ples of the bottom obtained from sound- 

 ings off more than half of the north 

 Grant Land coast and down Smith Sound 

 to Cape Alexander ; a cross-section of the 

 American outlet to the Polar Sea at its 

 narrowest point, and new information in 

 regard to the character and movements 

 of the ice in the Central Polar Sea, re- 

 sulting in the demolition of the paleo- 

 crystic sea theory. 



For the glacialist there are the numer- 

 ous inert or comatose glaciers of the 

 North Grant Land coast which Aldrich 

 took for snow-covered points of land, and 

 the great glacial fringe of North Grant 

 Land from Hecla westward, which when 

 its features are known will appeal very 

 strongly to investigators in this field. 



To the geologist the discovery of fos- 

 sils at Cape Hecla and at the most west- 

 ern point attained will be of interest. 



For the ethnologist there is a new and 

 complete census of the entire tribe of 

 Whale Sound Eskimos for supplement- 

 ing and comparison with previous cen- 

 suses made during the past sixteen 



years ; also additional photographs and 

 measurements of these people, and an 

 extension of the known range of their 

 ancestors in the high northern latitudes. 



To the practical explorer, particularly 

 those who will yet wrest their final se- 

 crets from Arctic and Antarctic regions, 

 the experience of the expedition, its free- 

 dom from sickness and death, especially 

 scurvy, which has been the bane of so 

 many expeditions, even up to some of 

 the later Antarctic ones ; its methods and 

 equipment, its rapidity of travel, and its 

 evolution of what I believe will be the 

 type ship for Arctic and Antarctic 

 work — able to fight or drift or sail 

 equally well, as circumstances may de- 

 mand — afford valuable lessons. 



For the meteorologist have been ob- 

 tained thermometric, barometric, and 

 allied observations, carried on through 

 what was undoubtedly a distinctly ab- 

 normal season. 



In view of the above, and the fact that 

 the work has defined the most northern 

 land in the world, and fixed the northern 

 limit of the world's largest island, was 

 that work a useless expenditure of time, 

 and effort, and money? Neither the 

 club nor I think so. The money was 

 theirs, the time and effort mine. 



To the popular mind, and especially 

 my enthusiastic friends of the press, the 

 fact that the Stars and Stripes are in the 

 lead is the one that appeals with instant 

 strength; and I do not wonder at it, for 

 they and you and I are aware that any 

 record that represents a manly test of 

 brains and body is a distinct asset to any 

 nation ; and they and you and I know 

 that when the wires tell the world that 

 the Stars and Stripes crown the North 

 Pole, every one of us millions, from child 

 to centenarian, from farm laborer and 

 delver in the mines, up to the "first gen- 

 tleman" in the land, will pause for a mo- 

 ment, from consideration of his own in- 

 dividual horizon and life interests, to feel 

 prouder and better that he is an Amer- 

 ican and by proxy owns the top of the 

 earth. 



But the scientific results are the imme- 



