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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



THE ACTIVITIES OF MR. BRYCE 



And while others were exerting them- 

 selves in far-off lands, most of us Wash- 

 ingtonians were staying at home, anxious 

 for news, but very quiet in this beautiful 

 city. Some exceptions there were, how- 

 ever, one being my British colleague, 

 who was present at the other dinner and 

 is also with us tonight ; he did not re- 

 main dormant ; it is not his fashion. Sure 

 it is that he has in the interval increased 

 the number of his travels, of his books, 

 of his speeches, but not, to all appear- 

 ances, the number of his years. 



Between the dates of the two dinners 

 memorable deeds have been accom- 

 plished, causing the unique event which 

 we are going to Avitness to be possible. 

 Those hands will clasp before us that 

 have planted the flag of their country at 

 the extremities of the world. 



We went yesterday to the Masonic 

 Temple, holding tickets in our hands. 

 The carefully devised inscription on 

 them read: "Admit to the South Pole," 

 and we were indeed admitted there. 

 With his clear, plain, straightforward 

 manner of expressing himself. Captain 

 Amundsen truly led us to the pole. We 

 took part in his undertaking, his dog- 

 breeding establishment, his clever prepa- 

 ration, and his long, long journey across 

 unknown solitudes, till at last the goal 

 was reached. Queen Maud's Land was 

 baptized, and Norway's flag planted 

 where no man had set his foot before. 

 The orator spoke calmly ; we can scarcely 

 do the same when talking of what he 

 has achieved. 



In its kindness the National Geo- 

 graphic Society has desired to associate 

 a French name to the famous ones we 

 are honoring tonight, the name of Dr. 

 Jean Charcot. 



THE EARLY FRENCH EXPLORERS IN 

 AMERICA 



In the dash to the pole, France, it is 

 true, took no decisive part. There is, 

 however, some dash, I dare say, in my 

 nation, but the kind of discoveries which 

 have ever been the special aim of her 

 sons are the inland ones. While others 

 were exploring coasts we, from the first, 

 have taken a particular pride in assum- 



ing the often hard task of exploring the 

 interior of countries. This was con- 

 spicuously done on this continent when 

 those singularly bold expeditions of our 

 early explorers took place which are 

 just now the subject of admirable arti- 

 cles by President Finley. The valley of 

 the Mississippi was as a whole first ex- 

 plored by French people, and the names 

 of Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans first 

 appeared on French maps. The same in 

 Asia with Bonvalot, Dutreuil de Rhins, 

 Pavie, Lefevre-Pontalis, and all the 

 others ; the same in Africa with Fou- 

 reau, Lamy, Brazza, and their peers. 



We did not, however, entirely neglect 

 the polar regions; witness those sailors 

 whose names have just been recalled by 

 that good judge in such matters, Ad- 

 miral Peary, witness especially the work 

 done before Charcot by Dumont d'Ur- 

 ville, with his tiny frigates, the Astrolabe 

 and the Zelce, and his visit, toward the 

 end of 1837, to the Great Barrier. As 

 he sailed along he sighted a rift and 

 drove his ship through the narrow 

 chasm, which closed behind him. For 

 five days he* was there a prisoner, with 

 no apparent hope for his life and that of 

 his crew, when a lucky storm caused a 

 cleavage in the ice which, with the help 

 of saws and axes, they were able so to 

 increase as to bring the ships safe again 

 to the open sea. 



THE FRENCH IN THE ANTARCTIC 



On a second expedition, in 1840, he 

 explored vast antarctic regions yet un- 

 known, some still bearing on every map 

 the names he gave them ; in particular 

 that of his dearly admired wife, Adelie, 

 the god-mother of Adelie Land. On his 

 return, in 1841, he was presented with a 

 medal by our Geographic Society, the 

 same medal which the same society pre- 

 sented the other day to Captain Amund- 

 sen in Paris. 



Dr. Jean Charcot has proved a worthy 

 successor to Dumont d'Urville, and I 

 offer on his behalf sincere thanks for the 

 way in which you tonight so kindly show 

 your appreciation of what he has done. 

 What he wanted was at all risks to be 

 useful, and he succeeded in perfecting 

 our knowledge of an unknown part of 



