284 ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. 



been rendered to geography as well as to commerce by Capt. Joseph 

 Wiggins, who has made, since 1874, several voyages along the northern 

 shores of Europe and Asia to and from the Ob and Yenesei rivers. 

 The persistent endeavors of Captain Wiggins to establish trade between 

 Europe and Central Asia by way of the Kara Sea, are deserving of the 

 highest commendation. 



The discovery of that solitary island called " Einsamkeit," by Captain 

 Johannesen, situated in latitude 77° 40' and in 86° east longitude, is of 

 the greatest importance and significance, as indicating the presence of 

 land hitherto unknown in that direction. Although it received the 

 name it now bears from Captain Johannesen, a name signifying 

 "lonely" or " solitary," it seems to me exceedingly unlikely that it will 

 prove to be so perfectly isolated as it is supposed to. Bears, walruses, 

 and seals, besides many kinds of birds, were seen on this island, which 

 would lead to the assumption that it might be the southern termination 

 of a chain of islands situated to the eastward of Franz Josef Land. It 

 is almost a pity that Johannesen did not venture to explore in a north- 

 erly direction after the discovery of this island, instead of steering to 

 the northwest, more especially as he reports that there was very little 

 ice about. Perhaps our knowledge of this particular neighborhood 

 will be added to, and we will hope considerably, on the return of Nan- 

 sen, who has now either commenced his return journey, or else is think- 

 ing of making the necessary preparations for passing his third winter 

 in the far north. 



It will be in the recollection of all at this Congress that in 1893 

 Fridtjof Nansen sailed with the object of reaching the North Pole, hav- 

 ing conceived what, in the belief of the majority of Arctic authorities, 

 was a very novel method of carrying out his views. Having carefully 

 studied the direction of the currents in the north polar regions, espe- 

 cially the drift experienced by the AustroJJungarian expedition in 

 1873, and that of the U. S. S. Jeannette, which was caught by the ice in 

 latitude 71° to the southeast of Wrangel Land in 1880, and also those 

 various well-known drifts in a southerly direction through Smith Sound 

 and along the east coast of Greenland, he arrived at the conclusion 

 that if the currents flow from the North Pole in the direction of Green- 

 land they must, in a corresponding degree, flow toward the North 

 Pole on the opposite side of the Northern Hemisphere; and if vessels 

 have on various occasions been carried by the ice to the southward, 

 other ships similarly situated must, cseteris paribus, be drifted to the 

 north, if they can only hit off the current at the proper locality. Tbis 

 if is, of course, the crux of the whole matter. By a very elaborate but 

 somewhat one-sided reasoning, hardly, I opine, borne out by established 

 facts, Nansen assumes that a shi[ jammed into the ice in the immediate 

 neighborhood of the New Siberia Islands would drift bodily with the 

 pack to the northward, over the North Pole, and thence to the south, 

 eventually to be released on reaching the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity 



