THE LOST JEANNETTE. 591 



low cobble-stone wall now all in ruins, and noticeable only from their regular 

 ridge-like form. Occasionally we find stone circles, stone mounds, though very 

 small, but all regularly disposed on an uniformly conceived plan. In Idaho 

 Territory we found some low stone mounds on the top of numerous high hills and 

 mountains, but they represent no present use, except to mark signal stations, or 

 occasionally a lone grave covered with the surrounding detritus and rounded 

 boulders. — Proceedings Davenport Academy of Sciences. 



THE LOST JEANNETTE. 



At the meeting of the Boston branch of the United States Naval Institute, 

 Saturday, Lieut. C. P. Perkins, of the Alliance, which ship went in search of the 

 Jeannette, read his paper on the cruise, as asked for by the Institute. In allud- 

 ing to the Jeannette, he spoke as follows : Whatever may be thought of the ad- 

 visability of sending the Alliance into those waters in search of the Jeannette, 

 subsequent events seem to have shown the wisdom of the proceeding, if for no 

 other reason than a general knowledge of ice affairs in the Polar basin. When, 

 on reaching civilization, news was heard on board of the Alliance of the high 

 condition of the ice on the opposite hemisphere, the theory, or supposition, im- 

 mediately adopted was that the whole Polar ice mass had moved over this year. 

 Such a low condition of ice in the Atlantic has not been known before for forty 

 years. Since this is the first year that Wrangel Land has been circumnavigated, 

 it seems quite safe to say that the ice has never been so high on the opposite side. 

 Is it not fair evidence that the mass has moved ? While in contact with the ice 

 during the entire month of August about Spitzbergen, the water temperature was 

 never below 33°. Pools of water could be seen in the floating ice; snow and 

 ice were melting on land, forming huge streams, running down the mountain 

 sides. It is safe to say that miles of the ice was disappearing daily, and yet the 

 place occupied by it was taken by other ice from the north. 



In 1827 Parry made a sledge journey to the north from Spitzbergen, hoping 

 to reach the pole. That journey, commenced June 21st, must have been similar 

 to the one undertaken by the Jeannette party this year. Going over the same 

 grounds many times he succeeded in making 100 miles by water, and 192 miles 

 over the ice in thirty-one days, a total of 292 miles. Unfortunately the ice was 

 drifting south all the time, so that the distance accomplished from his base of 

 supplies, the Hecla, was only 172 miles. The height of latitude was 82° 45'. 

 Where does this ice come from ? It seems to me the question can be best met 

 by the answer that it is by the drift of the entire ice mass. It is ray impression 

 that the northwest current found by the Rodgers and Corwin is the commence- 

 ment of a vast one, which, going to the north, is deflected partiafly by the cur- 

 rent to the east, found by Nordenskjold close to the continent, and continues in 

 a northwest direction, taking the ice with it until it strikes Franz Josef Land, 

 when it is deflected still more to the right, meeting Spitzbergen on the northeast 



