National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-02
EHR ARorro Rxp1oRFRa

Il d
aiinston was made IN this Journal On estnsasg.,
Among the three passagaA Fhieh lately hsvo
been regarded - the best eAtesays 70 ths North
Pols, Il seems probsb.s, tudgins from All sfpE
Renee, that Smith Sound would best ausveftnsk
purpose. A channel Of almost thresS hundred
nautical miles1n length ana at some places nskflt
twenty. hvsmiles wide separates efssnland fsou,
Grinnell Land and the arehipeiEgo lying soafh
oft. AchkinsI % sihiisr natufscan scarcely
Do found n We connect with 10 BanlniS BayEahd
Davis Straits, unless We might wish 10 regard
The Red See Is the ouIy Known geogrsphleaI
honofogy. The discovery Of this channel date8
back e the stxteenth century. Al that sine,
.nsn Earcps.as sonss@PLstsd 70 enrich ,esm-
ent expeditions for the discovery OF Tie North
y Hs,ssgs ssis estsd ont I've srs,i saseks
and 5aHin, sailed through Davis Straits 10 To
north latitude IN July, iefe. On that ocoasion
ssS a.sv VS. S., ssS ,pS
ths ssst and west cape Of he sound Hsre rsrsrded
Moss sol vSsa John Ross i isls a.r,.S Al,
resultless expedition. neared thu sound, be
sesaesd = IN nis RIhllanes, map toward De
n ssSsd DSasias naSst.lH, nav lIusI 3 RsIs
1ngelasid, in 1854 was searching for the iT-faksd
Ssfs of III III. sound Ss ssiisS sSsusp ne
had ,ssSsss p. yos San;.1
Il
% ire 1s.iSsS IS sos sae
me most asrthstiy points tat wsr. ssssrnIssd
and. ieestsd BY him are: Pelham Point Of the
East and Great Sabine ofths West coast
mate, n latitude Ts0 81, without being able 70
The brilliant cruise Of Ingslnsid, which was
made daring few summer months persuaded
Kane to continue the researches dprinr the foi-
loving yssr, and ne reached with bis shlp the
O the spring Of ls54, Travelled to Cape Osustitus
tion, 500 - north, sighting land yet beyond me
Considered By Kane to be tie po,ns
Of GreenisnG which now, however, has been dis
proved 70 2 certainty.
reach tho North Pole by way Of SMITHS sound,
reached the boundary Of nayigabls water ct lati,
siIminssins any further Tesait but could only cor.
roborate the discoveries OF his predecessor.
More Fortunate than these was the late Captain
age Of . very favorable season, reached so 10,
and thereby has won the laurel for haylng fsken
hsar pgSs aas pre-
At CAPE oonst,rticn the lsna s3tsn$s Sogond tSs
asSd. s and So seems he = Se Os srea
importance, fnasmueh % thsrs ~ most d0u6tless
proof can be found demonstratins that Greenisnd
II. The entire tract q land nsutiousd, probably
shows siiurisn iimsstone, having i snaes stse1,
and almost perpendicular cliffs Of an average
height Of 800 fset 81 times, but rarely, forming
isriy Distributed hills aud mountains. not show
ing any range or systan. Whersyezt the tapo-
I,paissa and srSr sp saaEss, s .SHt' me
ssts In notified collection Of mtnersls and rocks
| OF B very characteristics nature, 30 thss their
identiheation with the original locality q an easy
We found, for instance. that garnsy oOpssssd
at that locality were identical with soe occurring
o. FirkeInsssst, about latitude s2e north. we
fnrther found very Characteristics white quartz
lts, banded with red, the original home Of which
u 81 Cape Alexander. Besides these We collected
dora olende rock, gneissc granite, sandstone and
| other specimens that are also found ID positu q
considerable distance south Of Polsris bay, even
labradorits from tbs coast Of Labrador. Several
/ Esquimaux from TIA, 10 whom ! showed specI-
mems obtained from this northerly place, 81 once
AZ certain Localities near TIA. In eonseonenee u
these observations Il 10 evident that the direction
| OF the drift Is nom 8. N. j t---tF
II We study the direction q the drift in this
country We dnd that the erratie material can be
Identified with rocks and minerals belonging to
more nertherly ATTITUDES !S similarly u can be
| parts ofthe North 9ermanp plain come from Sean
dinsyia; that the drift or Sweden and Lapiand
land produces debris which partly has is origin S
Y northeast Gresniand, partly N SpltIberyen.
taken place; that the direction Of the drftmotion
is opposite to those Just mentioned. Beyond .
/ ported By ice, and not BY glaciers, through che
agency Of swimming ice-felds or BY ieeberys.
Among great many specimens that have
| found Q single piece that showed -, and
this piece was silurian limestone, Identified With
that sSnPo'Sng iss immediate Vicinity 100 shsT
| srrstic blocks Of this limestone further south
nom the original deposit for the very reason that
ind specimen q Il between 7ss and 80, 6at nv
pains were taken In vain.
For paleontal reasons, as we'll as on aecount Of
4 hsra the conclusion presents itself that America
and Greenland In former geological ages we're
Known, an island. We know, however. that
Islands can only be formed in three different ways,
and that n . separation Of piece Of land from
the two parts WI be comparatively shallow, par
ticuarly II the width Of the 6 not very con-
sd Ru S,sy ;as ssSS5Sn: :. ps S,
| ought to be expected. Some time ago Mr. Sehott
| computed BY Airy's formula, the average depth
Otter had the Kindness to supply me With ) nun
/ Der OF soundings every 90 Of latitude. The
greatest dspsh Re obtained vas go nsnoIs IN
between lstitudes o7o ~ N and fAo o. N amounts
| 10 20 fathoms, agreetng we'll with Schotts COM
| into account two more seundlngs, one By Ross &C
80 s las. 100 N, long no w, and the other prob
ably made b. The Advance in 2ss fatAOms' lat.
The curfens system Of Davis straits and its
northern continuation are Of such . nature that
along the east coast Of the channel q narrow
\ 81 o mean velocity Of OF miles per hour. This
current turns 70 the west Of Jonss sound, and is
carrsnt Tbs velocity Of ne latter differs accord
tny r. locality and season, but never amounts to
more than twelve miles per day. In Smith
served northefly drift with > velocity Of sl2-
miles In twenty four hours, and when Tngelneld
o. ssGrsn5 r9 ns 5 sSy'h n. re assns si;e
marez IN lat. fes N, he evidently can only mean
local eddy occurring quite near the coast an
although partly by the sctl0n Of the wind, was
/ carried rapidly TO the northward. At all other
localities the current lows south; that this cur
Trent cannot carry any drift material from south
! sun We and between latitude so and $40 min
\ non South Greenland Consequently the cur
| rsnt must az one time Just have had the opposite
direction, because We mentioned above that The
sos@sS als as bean rom south g north
he separation Of Greenisnd nom ArIsricS must
have occurred 10 the same dirse,ien that the cur
rent flowed: Had We not our drift to strengthen
10 the outlines aad form Of Davis stFaIt. That
the southern end Of the strait IL older than the
northern one Is apparent from the fact that the
southern portion Of 10 u evidently broader than
| the northern. Besides that the nords On the
southwest coast Of Qreenland are by far more nu-
merous aud deeper than farther horth.. This can
easily be explained II We construct IDEAL cur
rent chart OF that period OF which both countries
were united; yet, according TO the theory, warm
tcurrent must have moved along the east coast Of
1 America; Il must have entered Bafan'I bay and
| the unWeakened strength Of the current had full
scope In washing that end Of Bafins bay; thereby
considerable atmospheric precipitation Was pro-
dueed, which excelorated the growth Of the
! gisciera These glaciers moved on towards the
valleys and formed spars, and the mentioned
/ lords we must consider as the former beds Of
| these latter spars, 10 ot srtss-.
/ BY what agent the separation was caused can
/ only BE- surmised; there are, however. only two
probabilities via: either the channel is dEsure,
which gradually widened, owing to the influence
OF the Current ort has been created By the action
| Of giaeier TIE end OF which gradually melted
| down. This latter hypothesis ssems % be the
more probable Of the two, and we might regard
the channel as an immense former hord. But Nc
| know the soundings in every nord follow certain
| laws Wis they are more shallow At the mouth
than at the head. live Examine the Dawn strait
and It's northern continuation, with yfsW 70 ind
this law verified, We ind precisely tho reverse
the greatest depths are found ~ It's entrance in
reality, however, nothing else can Be expected. &
As we know, the bottom Of the north Atlantic 10
gradually but continually sinking ever since the
miooene period. Thia 10 demonstrated clearly
for lnstAnee-by the fact that the Bermuda Islands
resi- on . coral foundation. This motion reaches
far north, and part Of north Greenland takes
mart a IN IlIEcou for instance. the colonial