The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-02-19
DIR. HAYES LECTURE.

expedition under the late DIR. Kane, and was now
engaged in the task of organizing another for the
purpose of visiting those northern ATTITUDES His
object in visiting our city at this time and in de-
iverng the course of lectures, was to raise funds
to assist in fitting out this expedition
DR.. Hayes then proceeded to the delivery of hi.
lecture. He began by saying that it was little
more than three years since DR.. Kane returned
from his visit to the northern latitudes announcing
the discovery of Arctic open sea- This discovery
had been made, however, at period in the cruise
which prevented futher explorations being pursued
In the present lecture he intended to confine
himself to description of the great Ice Belt of the
Northern regions and explain its nature formation
and movements. From natural causes the geop.
raphy of the Arctic regions had been developed Slow
ly, and much, very much, still remained in ysterv
The lecturer then referred to the attempts which
had been made by early navigators to discover a
phere to the other, which had always been frustra
ted by encounterng the great ice belt surrounding
the entire sea.
The speaker here, by the aid of a large map
gave concise and interesting description of thi:
great Ice Belt, which rested upon the northern
shore of Europe, Asia and America The area oc-
cupied by it was equal to 5000 600 of square miles
Attempts had been made by several parties of explo
rers to reach the Pole through certain openings which
to be found upon the Southern EDGE Of the ire
These efforts had always been previously frustrated
by meeting with what was supposed to be a solid
barrier OF frozen water After referring to the at
tempts made by other parties, he alluded to the ex
petition of DR.. Kane across the solid ice Kan,
made use of dog sledges, as did the Russian
explorers in 1910, but failed from several causes tC
go beyond latitude 500; later, however William
Morton and Hans Hendrick, the Esquimaux, taking
a course due North, and overcoming all the dancer,
and difficulties which beset them discovered new
channel, which now bore the name of that
Secretary of the Navy and citizen of Baltimore
who exerted all his influence, officially and per,
sonally, towards the organization of the exnedtion
Morton reached latitude SO ~ and s.there, ;" in
the language Of DR.. Kane, "from height of 4SC
feet, which commanded an horizon of 40 miles, his
ears were gladdened by the novel music of dashne
waters; and surf breaking in among the rocks al
his feet, stayed his further progress
Although the explorations covered only com.
paratively small area yet their results were har.
monous and pointed to the result, viz: That there
was an open sea within the boundary of the ice
barrier. Assuming the existence of this sea- il
would be understood why the term belt was applied
to the barrier. The ice which conioined the bel,
was of two kinds, viz Field or foe ice and berg
ice. This last was formed upon the land of frozen
snow, and launched into the sea; the other wa.
formed upon the surface of the sea. During the
SIMMER the southern border of this barrier was
broken up, al masses detached of every conceiy-,
BILE shape and size, the thckest of any one winters
freezing being about Is feet, though sometimes il
exceeded 60 or 70 feet He could best rive an ides
OF the field by rude calculation. berg $50 feet
above the water, would have l.75O feet beneath
| thus giving total depth of 1000 feet two miles
| in circunie ference, and containing IA 600 900 OOC
cubic feet. The danger of collision with these i'm
mense masses was illustrated by reference to the
"Reease" of Captain Hartstein whilst in search for
DR.. Kane. These bergs were almost Transparent
giving to them rich, deep, marine blue and a
feeling of awe and almost terror invested the lee.
! turer when he first gazed upon one of them
| The lecturer then described the glaciers of the
Northern regions, which were called the parent
stems OF ice and also the manner of formation OF
the icebergs, their antiquity and the character OF
the ice foot, called by the Danes. He dwet in
an interesting manner upon the geological charac
ter of the Arctic region, and referred to an excur-
sion made by Mr.. Wilson and himself with a
| weight of 80 lbs upon his shoulder for MANY miles
over rough and rocky surface, there being in
! those regions no soil. After great labor and toll
they finally perceived the great glacier of the Arc
tic continent when the great truth dawned slowly
| upon him. There before him was in reality the
counterpart OF the river system of Arctic Asia and
America, and far back behind the granite hills Law
the concealed DRAWINGS of the interior water sheds
the atmospheric precipitatons of ages pouring out
| through every gap in the mountains, swallowing w
the rocks, hllng the valleys, submergng the hills
in an onward, irresistible crystal tide swelling to-
| ward the ocean, Deep, dark and unfathomable in
the foreground, it vanished in perspective into mere
way lines The mountains which stood like giant
gate posts on either slde overapped and par
TALLY submerged. From its face ran multtudes OF
little rivulets, which drained either down the gut
tiers already mentioned gurged out from under
meath Ice IN strange contrast. There grew green
rich beds OF moss and tufts of willows. Some were
| clustered together, others crouched among the
grass and sheltered by the leaves, and feeding Oh
the bed of tchens.
The most important and interesting feature of the
&c: pelt was the immense Heating fields of ice of
which 1T was almost wholly constituted These
hoatlng fields render the navigation of the Arctic
seas extremely hazardous and embarrassing and
In the more northern regions, where they become a
continuity, navigation is completely retarded. The
lecturer then spoke of the floating ice fields of Baf
Inns Bay, which, of late years, aas excited consd-
cradle interest. This ice is continually moving to
the South, both in winter and in summer. The
northward passage through Melville Bay was next
referred to. In the spring. the ice here was almost
solid and vessels obliged to pursue their
ses through narrow cracks, which, by sudden chan
ges OF the wind, were liable to close up, rendering
the passage one of great peril. Sometimes, when
vessel could not find safe harbor, it was neces-
sary to cut artificial one which was done by the
use OF immense ice saws, and by this means sort
of dock was formed where vessel could ride Sc
curely from the storm. To these immense fields
OF Ice, driven flercey by the sudden rising of the
wind, was sight fearfully grand. The lecturer
attributed the safety of the advance" Zone of
DR.. kane's vessels, in this passage. to her pecu-
har build. Her sides were Of immense strength,
and her bottom rather fiat, so that when the
ice closed around her, she always rose upon
1t, and instead of crushing her the ice
passed under her and she lay out of wa ter,
resting entirely upon the ice. The lecturer then
gave an interesting narrative of several expeditions
which had gone to the Arctic Seas; including those
OF Sir John Franklin, DR.. Kane, Lady Franklins
Expedition and that of Dr. Kane, also the one under
command of Belcher in 1852. In concluding, he
said that what DR.. Kane had not been able to ac-
complsh by his vessel, had been done with sledees
BY these the ice belt of Smiths Strait was ira
yelled over, and the long dreamed of open sea was
discovered to the Northward. The means by which
this discovery effected the value of the discoye
ry, the grounds which are based the theory of
this great open sea, beyond and about the pole tae
advantages necessities and facilities for further ex-
poration, and to show the practcability of reach
ing this sea by boats and with them sailing to the
Pole WOuld tuta he for I