556 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



nearest the Pole is Cape Tcheliouskin, which is in latitude 77^2° north, or about 

 840 miles from the Pole. Franz Joseph Land to the east of Spitzbergen is in lati- 

 tude 82° north, and Nova Zembla is in latitude 97° north. Herald Island, to 

 the east of Wrangel Land, Is in latitude 72^° north. 



From these data it is seen that the centre of the unexplored region of the 

 Arctic Ocean is not the North Pole, but a point about 84° north latitude, between 

 the Pole and Wrangel Land. 



The reports of the past summer teach us, if they teach anything at all, that 

 in September, 1879, Lieut. DeLong may have found an opening in the ice north 

 of Wrangel Land. He was last seen steaming onward in an apparently open sea. 

 He was engaged in by far the most fascinating exploring expedition now possible 

 to navigators. His instructions were to go to the North Pole, if possible. 



If he found his way clear he did not spend even twenty four hours in con- 

 sidering the question of stopping at Herald Island or Wrangel Land. He went 

 through the opening without hesitation, trusting the rest to his good luck. He 

 was near Wrangel Land in the most favorable month of the year. If the sea was 

 open he could reach the goal of his ambition in as few as eight or ten days from 

 the time he was last seen. But once on the north side of the ice barrier he was 

 there not only for a few months, but, it may be, for years. He found the sun in 

 the southern horizon, and a few days later the long night of five or six months 

 shut him out of the possibility of retreat by way of his entrance into the polar 

 basin. Ice formed quickly around his little ship. If he found an island he land- 

 ed upon it, fixed up his winter quarters, and waited for the appearance of the sun 

 in 1881. 



In 1827 Capt. Parry found himself on ice moving south faster than he could 

 draw his boats upon it toward the north, and not only so, but the ice was thin- 

 ning so rapidly as to compel his retreat toward Spitzbergen. This fact seems to 

 indicate that the current of the Arctic Ocean, at least in some years, moves 

 across the Pole from the direction of Wrangel Land toward Spitzbergen, and that 

 it is, therefore, entirely within the limits of probability that DeLong may emerge 

 from the Arctic basin by way of Spitzbergen in 1882. He was provisioned for 

 three years, and he had, therefore, no reason not to take the greatest possible 

 advantage of his presence in this new and wonderful field of discovery. There 

 was no need of hurrying back to a more comfortable climate, even though his 

 exit from the Polar seas has been possible during the past summer. 



But whether the unexplored part of the Arctic Ocean be entirely free of land, 

 or whether it be an archipelago, there is no point in its circumference at which 

 DeLong may not make his appearance in 1882. His most likely point of exit is 

 Spitzbergen, but his final success in efforts to reach civilization once more must 

 depend upon his skill as a navigator in the midst of vast floating fields of ice. 

 He must go wherever the ice carries him. The only alternative which an exam- 

 ination of the most recent maps of the Arctic regions suggests is, that DeLong 

 and his ship went to the bottom in the autumn of 1879. We are not ready to 

 believe this to be the case, nor are we ready to conclude from the present condi- 



