Geographic Notes 



2 93 



ried out by Baron von Richthofen thirty 

 years ago. The plans are comprehensive 

 in purpose, including the study of the 

 successions of rocks — that is, stratig- 

 raphy, the problems of structure in- 

 volved in the mountains, and the history 

 of mountain growth as expressed in the 

 existing valleys and heights, and the 

 paleontology of the various strata which 

 may be encountered. 



The party will consist of Mr Bailey 

 Willis, geologist in charge, and Mr Eliot 

 Blackwelder, paleontologist. 



Mr Willis is a member of the National 

 Geographic Society, and has been ac- 

 credited its representative in China, with 

 authority to make investigations on its 

 behalf should opportunity occur. 



These gentlemen will leave this coun- 

 try in July, and, proceeding by way of 

 Europe, will confer with Baron Von 

 Richthofen and other eminent European 

 scientists. During the early part of Sep- 

 tember they will travel from St Peters- 

 burg to Peking by the Siberian Railway, 

 and as soon as possible after their arrival 

 in Peking will enter upon geological 

 field work. The detail of operations 

 during their sojourn in China depends 

 upon conditions which can not now be 

 exactly foreseen. It is expected that 

 they will return to the United States in 

 the summer of 1904. 



THE NORWEGIAN EXPEDITION TO 

 THE MAGNETIC NORTH POLE BY 

 ROALD AMUNDSEN 



THE following information regard- 

 ing this interesting and impor- 

 tant expedition is derived from Mr 

 Amundsen's article in the March issue 

 of Terrestrial Magnetism : 



The leader, Amundsen, has taken 

 part in the magnetic observations of the 

 Belgica South Polar Expedition, and so 

 has already had some experience in 

 magnetic work in polar regions. His 

 ship, the Gj'da, which has been especially 

 built for Arctic exploration, is 70 feet 



long, 20 feet broad, and has a tonnage 

 of about 48. She is provided with a 

 small petroleum motor, and makes 

 about four knots an hour. She will 

 carry 30,000 liters of petroleum stored 

 in iron vessels to serve for heating, 

 cooking, and to furnish the motive 

 power. The vessel will be provisioned 

 for four or six years and carry a crew, 

 with officers, of 8 men. 



Mr Amundsen's instruments, which 

 will serve for making both absolute and 

 relative magnetic observations, were 

 constructed and tested under the direc- 

 tion of Professor Neumayer while di- 

 rector of the "Deutsche Seewarte." 

 His outfit also includes two sets of self- 

 registering instruments. 



He proposes to start north during 

 the early summer of this year, stopping 

 at Godhavn, Greenland, for dogs. 



His first base station will probably be 

 in the vicinity of North Somerset, in 

 Leopold Harbor, from which he hopes 

 to send news of his work in 1904 by 

 means of whale hunters. There he pro- 

 poses to make absolute magnetic obser- 

 vations, and also operate his self-regis- 

 tering instruments for a time. From 

 this base station he likewise proposes to 

 make sledge trips, on which magnetic 

 observations will be made. In the sum- 

 mer of 1905 he may locate his base sta- 

 tion on King William Island, and again 

 set up his self-registering instruments. 

 The following summer (1906) he will 

 attempt to locate his base station at 

 Herschel Island, and open communica- 

 tions with Fort McPherson, of the Hud- 

 son Bay Company. His return trip will 

 be made by way of Bering Strait, and 

 he proposes to stop at Sitka and make 

 his final observations there at the U. S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey magnetic 

 observatory for the determination of in- 

 strumental constants. 



Mr Amundsen thus contemplates 

 making a complete and systematic mag- 

 netic survey of the region about the 



