82 THE VALVE OF POLAR EXPEDITIONS. 



new exploring parties and fresh appropriations for their support. As will 

 be seen by Professor Looniis' letter quoted from below, "there is scarcely a 

 problem relating to the physics of the globe which can be fully understood 

 without a knowledge of the phenomena within the polar regions." The 

 poles and the equator are undoubtedly the most important points on the 

 earth's surface for scientific observation. Meteorologists and astronomers, 

 geologists and students of natural history all acknowledge this, and are 

 eager to see the day when the bold navigators of some nation shall plant 

 its standard on the land, water or ice of that raysterious Pole. 



As is well known to all of our readers. Captain Howgate, of the Signal 

 Service Bureau, U. S. army, has proposed a scheme for not only reaching 

 the North Pole, but for making it a permanent point of observation in the 

 future, or at least as long as such observations may be found desirable or 

 valuiable. Captain Howgate's plan, which has met with the approval of 

 most scientific men of the day, consists in brief in planting a colony on the 

 shore of Hall's Basin or Lady Franklin's Bay for a period of three years, 

 during which time the party will learn how to live in an Arctic region, 

 familiarize themselves with the country, the seasons, the movements of the 

 ice and other phenomena which will enable them to select the most favor- 

 able time for making successful explorations. The scheme contemplates 

 the erection of suitable buildings for the shelter of the party, proper sup- 

 plies of food, apparel and such other articles as experience proves useful 

 and necessary, to be furnished annually by vessels sent out for the purpose, 

 the employment of certain Esquimaux as guides and hunters, and above all 

 that the men comprising the party shall be energetic, hardy and experi- 

 enced men, who are to be still further hardened by rigid and intelligent 

 discipline by a competent naval officer and corps of assistants to take the 

 observations and direct ^pialler expeditions from time to time. 



Congress has been petitioned to permit the use of one of the smaller 

 naval vessels and to appropriate the sum of $50,000 for the outfit and main- 

 tenance of the exj)edition, and it is probable that before another year passes 

 the Howgate exploration party will be on its wa}^ to Discovery Harbor. 



In opposition of the views of Captain Nares, who represents that a sea 

 of ancient and never broken ice lies between the highest attained latitude 

 and the Pole itself, Dr. I, I. Hayes, formerly surgeon to Dr. Kane, declares 

 that the circumpolar sea is always open, that no large body of water like 

 Baffin's or Hudson's bay is ever frozen over, even at the lowest tempera- 

 tures, and he believes firmly that in 1861 he reached beyond the land belt 

 of ice and with a boat could have gone to the Pole. He states positively ■ 

 that in the Arctics the temperature ©f the sea water generally remains at 

 about 29°, but even at that temperature it does not freeze, unless the air is 

 perfectly calm, and he further says : "I have seen waves rolling at 50° 

 below zero without a particle of ice in sight." 



Hiram J. Penrod, of the Signal Service Bureau, writes to the JSTew York 

 Graphic as follows: 



