1 22 CA NA L FR OM A TLA NTIC TO MEDITEBEA NEA A^ 



more than 5,000 feet above sea-level, we scooi)ecl a hollow in the snow, 

 pitched a shelter tent over it, using sledges and snow-shoes as supports, 

 and banked the whole with snow. Snow was melted and food cooked 

 over a " Primus" oil stove, and soon afterward, with the midnight 

 sun brightl}' shining, we lay down to rest — we just filled the little 

 shelter — and the natives ke[)t warm by stretching themselves out l)e- 

 tween our sleeping-bags. 



The next afternoon, as we started on our return, the vast exi»anse 

 of the ice-cap S|)arkled brilliantly. In due time the ice-edge was 

 reached. Jumping on the sledges, all hands enjoyed a royal coast to 

 the land-level. The i)art of the inland ice traversed b}' us had never 

 before, I believe, been traveled over by human beings. The Eskimo 

 told us that no natives ever went there. Early on the morning of 

 August 26, a tired party, we broke our way in the large boat through 

 a thin coating of ice in Olriks Bay, and later on walked into our 

 camp on the shore. We were told l)}^ our steward that Lieutenant 

 Peary, who had been cruising about on the Diann, had visited the 

 camp during our absence. 



We were picked up by the Diana. August 28, near the lower nar- 

 rows of Olriks Ba3^ In Baffin Ba}' it was discovered that our coal 

 was giving out. Fortunately, we were soon able to obtain enough 

 from an outcropping seam on the shore of Disko Island to carry us 

 to Battle Harbor, I>abrador. There more coal was purchased, and on 

 September 12 we landed at Sydney, Cape Breton, after a voyage which 

 had been most successful, and which demonstrated the possibility of 

 a summer hunting trip to the Arctic regions. 



A CANAL FRO.W THE ATLANTIC TO THE MEDPrERRANEAN 



For the past twenty years the construction of a canal across the 

 Iberian Peninsula to connect tiie Atlantic Ocean with the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea has been strongly advocated in France. A bill urging its 

 construction and signed by 130 members was introduced last year into 

 the Chamber of Deputies, and is at present being considered In- the 

 Naval Committee of the Chamber, with a prospect, sa3's Le Tour de 

 Monde, of a favorable report. The strategic importance to France of 

 such a canal in case of war with England is apparent. P]ngland's 

 presence at Gibraltar could no longer prevent France from uniting her 

 Mediterranean and Atlantic squadrons. 



