GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 117 
room for storage. When completely fitted out the little vessel will be closely packed 
with material and subsistence stores, and it is expected her complement of offi- 
cers and crew will aggregate upward of 4o souls. 
In addition to steam power the Gulnare carries main and foremasts, which 
have been put in new, with new spars, cordage, etc. The rigger is J. W. Will- 
ams, 106 Thames street, Baltimore. Pollard & Padgett, sailmakers, Alexandria, 
Va., have made duplicate sets of new sails entire. The vessel is square-rigged 
forward, square foresail, topsail and gallantsail, lug 4% foresail; the main is 
schooner-rigged and gaff topsail. No pains or expenditure has been spared to in- 
sure the best outfit and the most serviceable material. 
The station to be established in the Arctic region will be on the north side 
of Lady Franklin bay, in 81° north latitude, near a coal deposit found by Nares’ 
expedition. The landing party will be in charge of an officer of the United 
States Army. The expedition will be commanded by United States navy officers, 
and the crew will be selected also from this branch of the public service. Capt. 
Howgate, whose idea is being put in practice, will remain here at the base of sup- 
ply to look after the sinews of war and to direct operations in the advance on 
the heretofore sealed region of the north pole, which will be made with a steady 
and systematic persistency which must win in the end, and finally gain for our 
countrymen the renown of having overcome the frozen barriers with which na- 
ture has hemmed in this interesting and forbidden region. 
When the men and material which the Gulnare now carries out have been 
landed and their house has been put up and supplied this summer, the steamer 
will return to the temperate zone for more supplies and men to replace those who 
may have become disheartened or disabled. From the colony first planted, ex- 
peditions will be sent out and a series of continuous advances made by planting 
camps further and further northward, until at last the main object is attained. 
But the glory of reaching the north pole over all obstacles, and over all other 
peoples who have striven for many years in this fascinating adventure, is not 
alone the object of the Howgate expedition. There are other and higher aims in 
the interests of science and knowledge, the fruition of which will be developed in 
the future of that intelligent corps of public servants, whose ceaseless watch and 
scientific industry already enable us to protect some of the most important pur- 
suits in life, as well as the individual health and comforts. While the struggle to 
advance further over the frozen steppes and icebergs of the north will never 
cease, the time consumed will not be lost otherwise. Each day will have its du- 
ties peculiar to the region, in the fight to live as well as in the observation and 
recording of natural phenomena, and in practical siege of the north pole, which is 
to be instituted in this system of steady and gradual approaches.— Baltimore Sun. 
