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along the North Greenland coast, which was surveyed as far as Independence Bay, the point reached by Peary on his two great journeys across the inland ice-cap in 1892 and 1895. The winter months were spent partly at Fort Conger, partly at Meat Caches, 250 miles to the north.

Another attempt to reach the Pole in the spring of 1901 had early to be abandoned, as neither men nor dogs were in a fit condition to make any prolonged march. Peary accordingly made his way south, and on June 6 came across the Windward with Mrs. Peary and the explorer's little daughter on board. The Windward had gone north in search of Peary in the summer of 1900, and, failing to find him, had wintered in Payer Harbor near Cape Sabine. Here, too, in 1901, came the Erik in search of the Windward. Disappointment was naturally felt when it was found that Peary had failed to reach the Pole, or even to attain a higher northing than that of Nansen and Cagni in the Western Hemisphere. The strain of so long a sojourn in the Arctic regions had naturally been great upon a man of even Peary's physique and dauntless courage, but the explorer determined to make one last effort this year. Both the Windward and the Erik sailed south in August, 1901. So far as can be made out from the telegrams to hand, Commander Peary has followed, as far as practicable, the plans which he had laid down according to the information brought home by the Erik, which left him on August 29, 1901, in his temporary camp on the south side of Herschel Bay, on the west side of Smith Sound, about a dozen miles south-west of his permanent quarters at Payer Harbor, near Cape Sabine, about 78° 45 min. N. He was then stated to have been well provided with all necessaries, although the difficulty of taking sufficient food for the dogs was regarded as

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rather a serious one. It was also stated that he intended to take with him a "marine equipment," so as to be able to cross open water wherever it should occur. The telegrams to hand do not refer to a boat as part of the equipment, but, as open leads of water were met with, it is presumed that the expedition had some means of crossing them. The move northwards began with the advance party of six sledges in charge of Peary's faithful colored companion, Henson, on March 3, followed three days later by the main party with 18 sledges. These parties, no doubt, travelled northwards along the ice foot on the American side, close to the shore, the distance to Fort Conger on the north shore of Lady Franklin Bay, which was the headquarters of the Greely Expedition, being some two hundred miles. Fort Conger lies about 81° 50 min. N. Apparently little time was spent at Fort Conger, and a fresh start was made for Cape Hecla, which lies a little to the south of the 83rd parallel, to the north-west of the northern end of Robeson Channel. If, as is probable, the journey continued to be made along the ice foot, the distance to be covered was not far short of 100 miles. Evidently the water right across to Greenland in this channel was remarkably open, while open stretches of water were visible as far as could be seen to the north. From Cape Hecla a start was made on April 1 to face the serious task which Commander Peary had set before him-an advance northwards, if possible, to the Pole. Commander (now Admiral) Markham's furthest north, 83° 20 min. 26 sec., was reached on May 12, 1876, at 64° W. longitude. Markham started from Cape Joseph Henry in 82° 55 min. N. on April 10, so that he took one month to reach his furthest point about 30 miles to the north-west of his starting point. The difficulties which he met with in trying to surmount the hills of

palæocrystic ice which had been thrown up along his route seem to have been greater than even those encountered by Peary. And it should be remembered that Markham had no dogs, and only two sledges and 17 men. The same palæocrystic ice, due to pressure and the piling up of floe upon floe, seems to have been met with by Peary, although he encountered open leads of water and floes in motion. Although he only reached 84° 17 min. N., about 75 miles to the north-west of his starting point, in order to accomplish this he seems to have been compelled to make long detours. But, as further progress with the means at his disposal was utterly impossible, he had to give up, and was back at Cape Hecla again on April 29, and at his headquarters at Cape Sabine about a fortnight later. Although Commander Peary seems to have met with more open water than did Commander Markham, still the conditions here seem to have been essentially the same as they were in 1876. The vast masses of ice which come down from the north have no adequate exit south of 83° N., SO that they are bound to accumulate under the immense pressure that must take place, and so produce those palæocrystic ice ranges which seem to render advance impossible in this direction. It is possible that, had Commander Peary had more abundant means at his disposal, and been able to continue still further to the north, he might have found the conditions more favorable; but the record of this, as of previous attempts in the same direction, seems to confirm the opinion of distinguished Arctic authorities that the Pole is not to be reached by this route. No doubt Commander Peary will have an exciting story to tell, but those interested in the advance of knowledge will anxiously await details of the abundant scientific results, which he is reported to have accomplished.

Meantime, although he holds the record on the American side of the Polar area, on the other side he has been surpassed by Captain Cagni by over two degrees about 150 miles.

With regard to Captain Sverdrup. who left Godhavn, in Greenland, on August 8 and has just arrived in Norway, it is evident that he has been quite unable to carry out his somewhat ambitious programme, which, besides getting as far north as possible, included a survey of the north-east coast of Greenland. When last seen, in 1899, the Fram was making for Jones Sound, and to that region he seems to have devoted his attention during the past three years. On the north of Jones Sound lies Ellesmere Land, about which we know but little. Captain Sverdrup has apparently surveyed the south and west coasts of that region, and if he has carried his explorations far enough north and west to connect with the results of previous expeditions he will have accomplished a fair amount of good work. But unless he has done much more it can hardly be said that he has fulfilled the expectations of his many admirers and friends. In Jones Sound he certainly selected a region of which our knowledge is slight and defective. In a memorandum on the subject, by Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society, some interesting information is given as to the progress of our knowledge in this particular region. Jones Sound was discovered by Baffin in 1616, but no other expedition approached it until that under the command of Sir John Ross in 1818. In 1848 a Scotch whaler sailed up the Sound for a hundred miles, until stopped by ice. In 1851 it was explored by Admiral Sir Horatio Austin, who was stopped by ice about 60 miles from the entrance. In 1852 he was followed by Captain Inglefield, and from their explorations it became

clear that Jones Sound was a channel leading to the Polar Sea, and not a mere bay or inlet. Possibly that is the reason which induced Captain Sverdrup to make his way into it with the Fram; but, as the Polar ice comes crowding down from the north among the numerous islands which seem to stud the sea to the west of Ellesmere Land, it is doubtful if a route in this direction is practicable.

Now that Peary and Sverdrup and Baldwin have all three returned from their abortive attempts to reach the Pole, the only expedition left in the Arctic region is that under Baron Toll, the well-known Russian explorer, who is at work in the direction of the New Siberian Islands, in search of what is known as Sannikoff Land, which is supposed to exist still further to the north. Of Captain Bernier's proposed North Polar expedition nothing has recently been heard.

In conclusion, Commander Peary's work in the interior of Greenland before his last great expedition ought not to be forgotten. His additions to our knowledge of the Greenland ice-cap are very important, seeing how little is known of the interior of the country. Geological investigations carried out by Giesecke in 1806-14 along the west coast of Greenland from 60° N. to 73° N. form the basis of our knowledge of the geology of this vast island. The Danes have done much useful work along the south-west and southeast coasts, and the comparatively narrow strip of territory between the sea and the ice-cap is very well known from the 66th parallel on the east coast round to the 75th parallel on the west. Attempts to cross Greenland from west to east were early made. In 1728 Major Pars even set out at the 'head of an armed mounted force. But for long all attempts failed. Dalager, Rae. Brown, and Whymper were un

The London Times.

successful in their efforts to explore the ice-cap. In 1870 Baron A. E. Nordensklöld could only penetrate some 35 miles inland from the head of Auleitsivik Fiord, to an elevation of 2,200 feet. In 1878 Lieutenant Jensen reached a point 47 miles inland from Frederikshaab, where he found the ice 5,000 feet above sea level. In 1883 Nordenskiöld again visited Greenland, and made 15 marches on the inland ice from the same point as before. He himself penetrated only a little way, but the Lapp ski-runners whom he had taken with him mounted the ice for 140 miles, reaching an elevation of 6,600 feet. At last Nansen effected the crossing from east to west. Umivik, the starting point, in 64° 45 min. N. latitude, was reached only after many hardships on August 10, 1888. By August 27 he and his companions, five in number, had ascended 7,000 feet, but only advanced 40 miles. The icecap, however, was found to terminate in a broad flat plateau from 8,000 feet to 9,000 feet high, and over this such rapid progress was made that the west coast was reached, some 50 miles south of Goothaab, on September 29. Peary's crossings were effected in the reverse direction, and across the northern end of Greenland. After a preliminary journey from Disco Bay in 1886, Peary made his first attempt from McCormick Bay early in 1892, and, striking due north-east, came out on the north coast at Independence Bay. This journey was repeated in 1894, and briefly Peary may be said on these occasions to have determined the relief of an exceptionally large area of the inland ice, to have delineated the northern extension of the great interior ice-cap, to have demonstrated the insularity of Greenland, and to have proved the existence of detached land masses to the north. A valuable account was also obtained of the Smith Sound Eskimo.

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not for an individual, but for a syndicate. In addition to his forthcoming book on "James the Sixth and the Gowrie Mystery" and his "Romance Book" for Christmas, he has written .a new novel, "The Disentanglers", which the Longmans have in press. His intervals of leisure he occupies with writing "At the Sign of the Ship" for the magazine which he edits, and with light and clever literary contributions to the daily and weekly press.

The duplication of titles continues to be an embarrassment both to authors and readers. The title of George Horton's novel, "Like Another Helen" appeared this summer in an English story of Indian life. Arthur Morrison's story "The Hole in the Wall" recalls Miss Alcott's "A Hole in the Wall." Mr. Henry James's title of "Passionate Pilgrim" has been borrowed by another writer, and was not original with Mr. James any way. Now it appears that the title of Mr. Crawford's forthcoming novel "Cecilia" repeats that of one published by Mr. S. V. Makower a few years ago, to say nothing of Fanny Burney's novel which was published in 1792. 1

1

Mr. Edward S. Morse's "Glimpses of China and Chinese Homes" (Little, Brown & Co.) is precisely what its name indicates, not a pretentious or even a very well-ordered study of China and the Chinese in their political or other serious aspects, but just a series of snap-shots of them in their streets and homes, taken by a hasty visitor, but one who knows well a cognate people, the Japanese, and is able to make interesting comparisons. Illustrated by the author's pen-and-ink drawings, these cheerful and rapid sketches have a vivid quality which makes them pleasing. The reader may get nearer to the real Chinaman in these few pages than by reading many

a more impressive and bulky vol

ume.

The attention attracted by that brilliant compromise between fact and fiction, "The Conqueror," gives special timeliness to the republication by the Macmillan Co. of an earlier book of Gertrude Atherton's, "Before the Gringo Came." Appearing now with revision and enlargement under the title of "In the Splendid, Idle Forties." these stories of Old California give vivid glimpses of that picturesque period when officers in United States blue-and-gold came to vie with Spanish caballeros for the smiles of their green-eyed señoritas. Distinctly of the romantic type, they are none the less true to the life which they portray.

In "The Heart of the Doctor" Houghton, Mifflin & Co. add another to their notable list of novels dealing with problems of philanthropy and economics. Its hero a laborious and resolute young doctor, working among the Italians in the "North End" of Boston, the book describes with the minuteness born of knowledge and sympathy the strange mingling of waste and industry, squalor and display, greed and self-sacrifice, superstition and faith, mirth and despair which mark that exotic life. The plot is not well knit, and the inevitable romance is of too conventional a type, but there is real talent in the story, and it will repay reading. Mabel G. Foster is its author.

The personal and critical elements are well combined in Thomas Wentworth Higginson's volume on Longfellow in the American Men of Letters series. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) Colonel Higginson, in his younger days, knew Longfellow in the relations of student and teacher at Harvard: later he was his neighbor and close friend

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