The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-02-27

and fro at the will of tie winds and currents.
PLANTING THE FLAG IN LATITUDE 81 DEG. MIN
It now only remained for US to plant our flag
in token Of our discovery, and TO deposit a
record in proof Of our presence. The flags
were tied to the whip-lash, and suspended be-
tween two fall rocks, and while we were build
ing a cairn, they were allowed to tiutter IN the
breeze: then, tearing leaf from my note
book, wrote on it as follows: ,
"This point, the most northern land that
has ever been reached, was visited by the I'M
dersigned May 9 and 19, 1861, accompanied
by George F. Knoor, travelling with dog
sjedoc. We arrived here after tollsome
march of forty-six days from my winter har-
Dor, near cape Alexander, at the mouth of
Smith Sound Ny observations place us IN
latitude 81 deg. IS min., longitude 70 deg.
80 min, w Our further progress was stop
ped by rotten ice and cracks. Kennedy Chan
mel appears to expand into the Polar Basin;
and satisfied that it is navigable at least during
the months of July, August and September, l
90 hence to my winter harbor, to make another
trial to get through Smith Sound with my
vessel, after the ice breaks up this summer.
inlay 10, 1861. L. l. HAYES.
This record being carefully secured in a
small glass vial, which l brought for the pur-
pose, it was deposited beneath the cairn; then
our faces were turned homcwards. But |
quilted the place with reluctance. Itpossessed
a fascination for me- and it was with no ordl-
nary sensations that | contemplated my sltua-
ton. with one solitary companion, IN that
! hitherto untrodden desert; while my nearness
! to the carth's axis, the consciousness Of stand
inc upon land far beyond the limits Of pre-
! vious observation, the reflections which crossed
nv mind respecting the vast ocean which lay
/ spread out before me, the thought that these
| ice girdlcd waters might lash the shores OF
distant islands where dwell human beings OF
an unknown race, were circumstances calcu-
| lated to invest the very air with mystery, to
deepen the curiosity,- and to strengthen the
resolution to perseyere in my determination tc
sail upon this sea and to- explore its furthcst
limits: and as I recalled the struggles which
had been made to reach this sea-through the
ice and across the ice-by generations o
brave men, it seemed as if the spirits Of these
old worthless came to encourage me, as thel1
experience had already guided me; and L tel
that had within my grasp "the great ant
. notable thing" which had inspired the zeal o
sturdy Frobisher, and that [ had achieved thu
hope of matchIess Parry.
The flags planted upon the crag were
} small United States boats ensign, which hat
f been carried to the South Sea expedition c
! Capt. Wilkes, and afterwards in the Artic ex
| pcditions by Lieutenant Commanding behave
/ and DR.. Kane; little United States flag whlc
-. had been committed TO Mr.. Sonntag by til
n ladies of the Albany academy; two dmlnutlv
r. masonic flags entrusted to DR.. Haycs-one b
the Kane Lodge of New York, and the othe
- BY the Columbia Lodge of Boston; and tn
- expedition signal flag bearing the emblem {
Y a crimson star on white field. Dr.. Haye
: SAYS: "Deing under the obligation of a sacre
l. promise to unfurl all these flags at the mo
J. northern point attained, it was my duty
1t carry them with me-a duty rendered nor
l. the less pleasing by the circumstance that, It
gether, they did not weigh three pounds"
r. DR.. Hayes theory concerning tie OPT
ID Polar Sea is as follows: "Wilh the warm tlo(
n of the Gulf Stream pouring northward, al
re keeping the waters of the Polar Sea at ten
n. pcratuTe above the freezing point, while Il
IS winds, blowing as constantly under the Arct
70 as the tropic sky, and the ceasclcss currents
e. the sea, and the tide-fow Of the surface, ke'
,e the waters ever in movement, it is not pos:
- bic that even any considerable portion Of tt
&c extensive sea can be frozen over. Atno poi
81 within the Arctic circle has there been -four
% an icc-belt extending, either in winter or
b. summer, more than from fifty to hundr
I'd miles from land And even in the narrt
be channels separating the islands of the Par
&c Archipelago, in Baffin's Bay, in the MOI
of Water and the mouth of Smith Sound-evcl
he where, indeed, within the broad area Of t
tn rrinid zone, the waters will not freeze exec
re. when sheltered by the land, Or when an il
I'm pack, accumulated by a long continuance
ey winds from one quarter, affords the same P
tcctiOn."
his He contends, further, that the boundaries
he the Polar Basin are sufficiently we'll defined
av enable us to form a rational estimate OF
he unknown coast lines of Greenland and Grim
DIV Land-the only parts of the extensive clrc
Of remaining unexplored. The trend OF
A northern coast line of Greenland IS apprt
yes malely defined by the reasonable analogleS
to of physical geography; and the same proc
Nv of REASONING forbids the conclusion that GI
h ! nell Land extends yond the limit Of his
,ns Dloration, He holds, as Inglefeld did bel
hat Basin. -.
ion The results of this extraordinary expedi
cts arc questonaby valuable to science, G
or should some of DR.. Hayes theories faI
endure the test of critical examination.
hat evidently believes fully in the speculatlon$
on. puts forward, and the spirit with which
and prosecuted his investigations in the face OF
a stacles apparently insurmountable, is VOL
TIL of all praise. His narratives Of adventure,
ion. ccpting those which relate to the latter pan
his his Journey, substantially repeat what
ter. been said by Kane and other explorers,
the add but little to our knowledge; but the
1dj count of his discoveries in the high laut1
still is singulal1y fresh and lively.
the PETER FORCE AND His L1BRART.-Ihe
ter librarian of the Congressional Library, IS
was gagged three hours each day in cataIogu,n E
Celebrated private book collection of ?
gcd Force, ESD, Of this city. The latter La