1865.] ' Geography. 293 



no land is known to exist — according to Dr. Peterman, an advantage ; 

 according to Captain Osborn, a drawback, inasmuch as no fixed points 

 for depositing provision can be depended on. Greenland is known to 

 extend 120 miles nearer the Pole than Spitzbergen, and there is every 

 probability that it runs much farther. As far as it has yet been 

 traced, icebergs are observed to come down the coast, a sure indication 

 of extensive glaciers, which, like rivers, their representatives in 

 warmer regions, demand a great extent of land in order to become 

 large. Besides, extensive mountains were seen by Mr. Morton to the 

 north of the Humboldt glacier and Cape Constitution. We may well 

 conclude, then, that land runs far north, and that expeditions might 

 safely deposit their provisions for their return portion of the 968 miles' 

 sledging, which would be all that would be required in order to go 

 from Cape Parry to the Pole. Much more than this has been done on 

 many occasions by arctic voyagers. Commander M'Clintock's party 

 in 1853 went 1,220 miles 'in 105 days ; Commander G. Richards, 

 1,012 miles in 102 days ; Lieutenant Mecham, 1,203 miles ; Captains 

 Richards and Sherard Osborn, 1,093 miles; Lieutenant Hamilton, 

 1,150 miles, with a dog-sledge and one man; in 1854 Lieutenant 

 Mecham, 1,157 miles in only 70 days ; Lieutenant Young, 1,150 miles ; 

 and Captain M'Clintock, 1,330 miles. 



One great source of interest in these journeys would be the manners 

 and customs of any races living in these distant regions. Sir John 

 Ross discovered a tribe, named by him Arctic Highlanders, in lat. 

 75° 35'. They were hearty, strong, well-made men. A well-fed and 

 well-disposed tribe is known to exist in Smith's Sound, and traces of 

 inhabitants have been found between Humboldt Glacier and Cape 

 Constitution, though the Esquimaux know nothing beyond the former 

 barrier. The condition, civilization, and customs of such people 

 must be highly interesting, and might throw much light upon the 

 period when our ancestors were dependent on stone and bone for their 

 implements, and when our predecessors in this land were more closely 

 allied to tribes in the far north than they are at present. 



The means to such expeditions as are required for these purposes 

 are not to be found, according to Captain Osborn, in private enter- 

 prise. It was this which ruined Dr. Kane's * attempt. It only 

 requires sufficient pressure to be exerted by the scientific and educated 

 world upon the Governments to induce them to fit out for this service 

 some of those fine vessels which now lie rotting in our dockyards. 

 Two small screw-steamers, with 120 officers and men, would not 

 appear as a large item amongst the 50,000 men annually voted for the 

 Navy ; and such employment as this would be better training and less 

 expensive of life and money than small warlike preparations against 

 Ashantee, Japan, or New Zealand. 



Besides the ethnological, geographical, and physical observations 

 referred to above, there is one of great practical value, — the measure- 

 ment of an arc of the meridian in these high latitudes. The speaker 



* We would remind Captain Osborn that Sir L. M'Clintock's successful voyage 

 was not under Government patronage. 



