572 NOTES. 
unexplored continent, Wrangle’s Land, whirled eastward into the 
Polar basin. Then uniting with the waters of the Gulf Stream, 
the southern currents were formed which swept through the straits 
leading into Baffin’s Bay and down upon the shores of Spitzbergen 
and Nova Zembla. The woods common to the shores of Siberia 
were found strewn upon the coasts of these islands, and confirmed 
the theory. A portion of the great Japan current branched off, 
M. Pavy said, to the south of Alaska, and produced the fine 
climate, enjoyed along this coast. Another evidence of an open 
polar sea, to the north of the ice-belt, was the fact that one species 
of whale, commonly passed northward at the approach of winter, 
seeking clear water and avoiding the perils of a frozen surface. 
M. Pavy said he expected to reach Wrangle’s Land by the 1st of 
September, and would occupy the time from that date until May 
1873, in crossing northward by means of sledges and dogs, over 
the continent, which he supposes Wrangle’s Land to be. On 
reaching the open sea, he will abandon his sledges, turn his dogs 
loose, and launch the India rubber raft, which he takes with him, 
set sail, and steer for the axle of the earth. Having achieved the 
triumph of reaching it, he will shape his course by that of the 
great polar currents, and steer southeast for Cape Alexander, 
passing through Smith’s Sound, down Baffin’s Bay, and out M 
the Atlantic Ocean. a 
Professor Davidson opposed some of M. Pavy’s theories. He : 
said that he would as soon expect to find an ice-cream moui- 
tain in Africa as a warm Polar basin. He said that his T 
Arctic explorations had shown a different state of facts yo ; 
cerning the direction of the currents, than that assumed by 
. Pavy. The Gulf Stream, he believed, flowed northward : 
between the sliores of Greenland, Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, 
and, rounding the Polar Sea, flowed southward again through the 
straits leading into Baffin’s Bay. He denied, also, ie 
any reason to believe Wrangle’s Land to be a continent. He had 
instances in which the “ false horizons” of northern latitudes, 4° — 
caused erroneous observations to be taken by explorers. H 
sidered the latest European charts of the Arctic regions, app 
through Behring’s Strait, erroneous in important particulars. 
thought that M. Pavy would meet with more difficulties pe 
had anticipated. He said that M. Pavy had greatly over pai 
ted the magnitude and effect of the current as it passed SHO" 
f 
