348 THE RETURN OF WELLMAN 



able course of the hurricane were sent to all Weather Bureau 

 stations in the West Indies from Barbados to Cuba; and as the 

 hurricane moved westward signals were ordered and advices were 

 telegraphed to all Weather Bureau stations in the threatened 

 districts and to Atlantic coast and Gulf ports and there given the 

 widest possible dissemination. In fact, the warnings foreran 

 the storm by a period which varied from a few hours at the east- 

 ernmost Leeward islands to 36 and 48 hours at points along the 

 South Atlantic coast and Gulf ports of the United States. That 

 the warnings were prompt, accurate, and of almost incalculable 

 value is universally acknowledged by owners and masters of- ves- 

 sels who b}^ holding their vessels in port avoided a hurricane 

 which, by the evidence of disasters and reports of disasters, was 

 one of exceptional violence. 



THE RETURN OF WELLMAN 



By J. Howard Gore, 

 Professor of Mathematics and Geodesy in the Columbian University 



In the short article that appeared in The National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine for July, I mentioned three obstacles that 

 might stand in the way of Mr Wellman's success in his attempt 

 to reach the ultimate north. From the meager accounts that 

 have reached us it appears that all three of these hindrances 

 were encountered : a high latitude was not reached last year, 

 the greater part of the expedition spending the winter at or near 

 the point of debarkation and only two members of the party 

 advancing northward ; death carried away one of the best and 

 strongest men and the leader himself was incapacitated by a 

 serious accident ; and, finally, a breaking up of the ice on which 

 they were encamped caused a loss of a considerable part of the 

 equipment. 



Fortunately we are assured that some important discoveries 

 were made in the neighborhood of Freedom island ; possibly 

 this means that the four or five islands already known were 

 more accurately located and perhaps better delineated. It is 

 to be hoped that magnetic observations were made during their 

 winter sojourn, and that aurora displa}^s were carefully noted. 

 Such a series of observations might yield an adequate return 

 for the outlay of capital, labor, and suffering. 



