230 The Polar Colonization Plan. [ April, 
particular instance a matter of absolute necessity, as it is sure to 
result disastrously, and seems to have been one of the causes of 
failure of the Nares expedition. The expedition from the colony 
to the Pole may consist of eight sledges, with six men to each 
sledge, the distance to be traveled being some four hundred 
miles, divided into eight stages of fifty miles each. At the end 
of the first stage one sledge could be sent back. A portion of 
the provisions which it originally carried would have been con- 
sumed, and the rest would have been deposited in a cache in the 
ice secure from Arctic animals. At the end of the second stage 
the second sledge would be’sent back ; at the close of the third 
stage the third sledge would take up its homeward journey, and 
following out this plan only a single sledge would remain. The 
returning sledges being but lightly freighted, and traveling, 
moreover, a route already pioneered, several of their hands could 
be retained’so as to man the eighth sledge with ten or more ex- 
plorers. This last sledge with its full complement would perform 
the most important work of all. It would press forward, reach 
the Pole, make the necessary observations, and then return. 
Upon its homeward journey it would follow the route already 
made in the forward journey, and would find provisions at each 
successive cache. 
During the summer there are probably long lanes of water 
free of ice from the upper end of Smith’s Sound, and following 
these, against the downward-flowing current, a pathway will 
surely be found, practicable for boats, during some favoring sea- 
son. Such favoring season and such a practicable pathway can 
be found only by men colonized as proposed at a point where 
—half the journey already safely completed — they will be 
ready, healthy, vigorous, acclimated, and unwearied by a long 
and perilous voyage; they will be ready and eager to seize the 
proffered opportunity. Failing such an opportunity, a chance 
barely possible, the alternating of sledge journeys still remains, 
and sledge journeys undertaken under better and more favorable 
auspices than any which have been as yet attempted. ; 
The severity of the climate on Lady Franklin Bay and in the 
neighboring regions has been much exaggerated. To pe 
he summits of 
Colorado, as stated by a former member of one of Dr. ‘Haye. 
expeditions, who has since served a year upon the summit 
last-named mountain. The report on the Polaris expedition 
