Vol. XIV, No. 12 



WASHINGTON 



December, 1903 



/rnl 



Or 



ATHONAIL 

 ©(SEAMED 



MBAZE 



IrH 



-o 



THE VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION* 



By Commander Robert E. Peary, U. S. N. 



IT is entirely appropriate that the 

 first public exposition of the pres- 

 ent phase of Arctic exploration 

 and my own plans for the coming season 

 should be given in the National Capital 

 and under the auspices of the National 

 Geographic Society. It is unnecessary 

 for me to note here the continued and 

 unfailing interest in and courtesy to- 

 ward my Arctic work which has been 

 shown by this Society during the past 

 twelve years. You are well aware of it; 

 I am well aware of it. 



I shall endeavor to place clearly before 

 you tonight the plan of my campaign, 

 and the means by which I hope to ac- 

 complish the object which you all know 

 that I have before me. I hope that I 

 may be fortunate in sending every one 

 of you away with definite ideas, which 

 will enable him or her to keep in touch 

 with events as they materialize during 

 the next two or three years. 



EARLY PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY 



Before taking up present plans, let us 

 go back a bit. Some forty-five centu- 

 ries ago the known world lay within a 

 little circle whose circumference touched 



the Black and Caspian seas, the head of 

 the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and 

 the eastern end of the Mediterranean. 

 Centuries later the fearless Phoenicians 

 had dared the terrors of the infinite 

 ocean which lay beyond the Pillars of 

 Hercules, and sailed along the coasts 

 both north and south. East they had 

 pioneered the way to India. The fabled 

 voyages of Ulysses and Jason dwindle 

 beside their splendid distances. Still 

 later came the work of the great explorer- 

 conquerors, Alexander and Csesar, open- 

 ing up far-distant lands as the Phoeni- 

 cians opened up far-distant seas. 



Then came that great burst of explo- 

 ration, the principal facts of which we 

 know so well. Vasco de Gama to the 

 south; Othere and the Vikings to the 

 north, Erik and Leif, Columbus and 

 Cabot to the west, lifted Africa, the 

 northern headlands of Europe, and the 

 western world from the mists. 



Magellan, following close upon their 

 heels, circled the globe, and the world, 

 as we know it now, lay revealed in its 

 rough, broad masses. 



Since then exploration has, of neces- 

 sity, been a work of large details, baring 



*An address before the National Geographic Society, October 24, 1903. 



