AKCTIC EXPLOBATIONS. 



By Bear- Admiral A. H. Markham. 



The subject on which I have been deputed to address you to-day is 

 that connected with arctic explorations. It is, I venture to assert, a 

 very fitting and appropriate one to discuss before an International Geo- 

 graphical Congress such as this, because the question of polar research, 

 more especially in the north, is, and has been for more than three hun- 

 dred years, one of world-wide, and consequently of international inter- 

 est. Nations have vied with each other in their laudable endeavors to 

 further the great cause of geographical discovery, and a very friendly 

 rivalry has existed, and I am pleased to think still continues to exist, 

 between various countries, with the view of advancing their respective 

 flags over the threshold of the known region into the interesting and 

 mysterious unknown. This is a spirit that should be fostered and 

 encouraged, for it is one that has done much in the past to promote 

 the interests of geographical science all over the world. 



It is not my intention to occupy your time and attention with a 

 detailed narrative of geographical events connected with the arctic 

 regions as they have occurred in regular chronological order, or of the 

 results that have been achieved by the various successive expeditions 

 that have been dispatched with the object of exploring those regions, 

 for these are oft- told tales, and are sufficiently well known to those 

 who are interested in polar research. My object to-day will be briefly 

 to survey the threshold of the unknown region — a region, let me 

 remind you, that embraces nearly a million and a half square miles, to 

 dwell lightly on the latest work that has been accomplished up to that 

 line of demarcation that separates the known from the undiscovered 

 area, and to review generally the prospects of success of future arctic 

 exploration, concluding with a short summary of the various scientific 

 results likely to accrue by the continuance of such work. 



I will preface my remarks by alluding briefly to those nations which 

 have in the past particularly interested themselves in north polar dis- 

 covery. They are Great Britain, the United States of America, Austria- 

 Hungary, Sweden, Germany, Bussia, Holland, and Norway. 



Address before the Sixth International Geographical Congress, London, July 26- 

 August 3, 1895. Printed in Report of the Congress, pp. 177-201. 



SM 96 18 273 



