1879. | Geography and Travels. 723 
Columbia river in quantities sufficient to form white dunes on its 
shores by the action of the winds. Its falls were some 180 feet 
igh. 
`“ At Dalles a base line was measured and a series of triangles 
carried into Washington Territory. In summing up the capabili- 
ties of Oregon, which, west of the Cascades, are well known to 
be very great, it is observed that although to the east of that 
range the rain-fall is not great, the land is very fertile in the 
Deschutes basin, and the supply of water for irrigation abundant.” 
Arctic Expioration.—In 1880 Lieut. Weyprecht of the last 
Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition, intends starting for Novaya 
Zemlya, to remain at least one year, to take meteorological, hydro- 
graphical and other observations. The expenses are to be de- 
irayed by Count Wilczek, who may himself accompany the 
lieutenant. 
On June 3, 1879, the Dutch North Polar Expedition again 
sailed from Amsterdam on board the schooner Willem Barents. 
They will first visit Barentz’s Ice-haven and erect a suitable monu- 
ment to his memory. A voyage into the Kara sea will be 
attempted. Meteorological, zodlogical and other observations and 
deep-sea soundings will be made as on her previous voyage last 
season 
Capt. A. H. Markham left England early in May last for 
Tromsö, whence he sailed in the little yacht Zsġjörn to undertake 
an examination of the ice between Spitzbergen and Novaya Zem- 
lya, and ascertain the practicability of reaching the west side of 
Franz Josef Land and advancing further north along its coast. 
The steamer Jeannette sailed from San Francisco on July 8th 
for Behring strait. This vessel was formerly H. M. S. Pandora, 
and under Capt. Allen Young made two voyages to the Arctic 
regions. She is 420 tons burden, and has been most liberally 
equipped and supplied for her present voyage by her owner, Mr. 
James Gordon Bennett, at an expense of $300,000. By an act of 
Congress she has been enrolled as a vessel of the U. S. Navy, and 
the officers and crew are subject, therefore, to naval discipline. 
They are thirty-two in number. Lieut. George W. De Long is 
in command; he was, in 1873, the navigator of the Juniata that, 
with the Z7igress, went in search of the Polaris. Among the offi- 
cers are a meteorologist and a naturalist. The crew are picked 
men, and several of them have had experience in Arctic naviga- 
tion. The Jeannette arrived at Ounalashka in the Aleutian” 
islands on August 2d. After coaling there, she would proceed to 
St. Michael’s, Alaska, where dogs and sledges were to be shipped. 
_ The Franklin Search party landed from the ship Zoten on the 
north shore of Hudsons bay, near Depot island, on August 9, 
1878. During the following months careful surveys were made of 
the adjacent coast from Cape Fullerton to Marble island, and 
journeys taken into the interior. On April 1, 1879, the party 
