Geographical Exploration 



sea and land ; they carried out fully the 

 international program of scientific ob- 

 servations, increasing largely our 

 knowledge of the physics of Arctic 

 regions ; by a boat voyage of hundreds 

 of miles they brought through a dense 

 polar icepack their complete records, at 

 the price of bodily suffering and dimin- 

 ished chances of life. Finally they so 

 comported themselves that under most 

 untoward, prolonged and desperate cir- 

 cumstances, their courage, discipline 

 and subordination were almost invari- 

 ably maintained. As a result the unity 

 of the command continued through 

 nine months of continuous hunger, and 

 five months of polar cold and Arctic 

 darkness. Such moral qualities are the 

 bases of fidelity and honor, so that per- 

 haps it is not too much to say that the 

 work they wrought, the courage and 

 devotion they showed, may long live in 

 the memories of men. 



RECENT GEOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS 



It is needless to here outline the ex- 

 plorations by English, French, and 

 Americans, which have led to the evo- 

 lution of civilization in North America. 

 They are well known parts of our his- 

 tory. Cartier, Hudson, Champlain, Al- 

 louez, Joliet, Marquette, Iberville, La 

 Salle, Tonti, Hennepin, Carver, Gray, 

 Mackenzie, Lewis, Clark, Pike, Long, 

 and others were the pioneers. 



The material results on the conti- 

 nents of America alone are so vast as to 

 defy summary. Suffice it to say that 



they now involve twenty-two nations, 

 150,000,000 population, and various 

 forms of wealth that aggregate many 

 billions of dollars. 



In the last half century other geo- 

 graphical problems have been settled 

 with constantly increasing efficiency by 

 Canadian and American scientists. 

 Their explorations are not alone in 

 finding agricultural, forestal and min- 

 eral resources, but also in connection 

 with the characteristics of plant and 

 animal life, together with the proper- 

 ties of climate and soil affecting their 

 competitive life-struggles and success- 

 ful evolution. 



That the moral results of political 

 geography are keeping pace with ma- 

 terial advancement, and that there are 

 corresponding uplifts in the life of the 

 masses yearly entering our national 

 domain, I cannot clearly discern though 

 looking optimistically to the future. 



Marked though the phases of geo- 

 graphic evolution have often been in 

 America by disregard of the rights of 

 aboriginal tribes and at the expense of 

 their development, yet the final out- 

 come has been for the benefit of man- 

 kind in general. This is especially true 

 as to the spirit of individual freedom, 

 which, crossing the Atlantic and per- 

 meating the despotic strongholds, to- 

 day re-echoes and chronicles joyfully 

 the birth of a new nation — Russia — 

 self-assertive, intensely violent, but 

 ultimately to be self-respecting and 

 self-governing. 



THE FLORIDA KEYS 



By John Gifford 



EXCLUDING of course our dis- 

 tant tropical island possessions, 

 there are three tropical regions 

 in the United States. One is along 

 the Colorado River, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Yuma ; another is the southern- 



most part of Texas, near the mouth of 

 the Rio Grande, and the other, which 

 is by far the most extensive and at- 

 tractive, is the southernmost part of the 

 peninsula of Florida. 



Florida, like a great finger fully 400 



