Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-11-25
THE SEA AROUND THE POLE.
Not tho NIosty Delightful Country In sh
World 10 Winter or Summer Iu.

Not tho NIosty Delightful Country In the
World 10 Winter Or summer In.
Additional details from the returned
Arctic expedition show yet more clearly
tho difficulties encountered. A new
name is proposed for the ocean that il
supposed to surround the pole-the
Paleocrystic seat. g., the SEQ oi
ancient ice. The belief Of the explorers
Ia that the ice there has been accumu.
lating for years il not for centuries, and
that the sea is never free from it. The
dcscrip ion given Of this ice shows that
ii is quite different from that which is
found forming each winter in high lati-
tudes and breaking up and floating
southwerd with every open summer.
At its lowest point the ice of that north
ernmost seq Aoated fifteen feet above
water level it resembled low icebergs
IN places 1tA tniCkness won frvIu 400 tv
2OUfeet. The accounts Indicate, though Ia
they do not distinctly state, that this ice
is in motion, and map in Nature gives
the direction of the drift as to the east
ward. That the ice is in separate masses
is further presumable from tho fact that
soundings were obtained at the highest
latitude reached by the sledges, proving
that the depth of the sea at that point
WAS only seventy fathoms. 1t is pos
sible, however, that the soundings were
obtained through hole in the ice, made
by blasting.
The obstacles which this ice present
cd to sedge travel can now be better
understood. Its masses had been
jammed together so as to create an
utterly irregular surface, which could
only be reduced so that sledges were
drawn over it by making road with
tho pickax. Tho actual advance made
to the northward, with the greatest
labor, was only seventy-three miles from
the place where the Alert was harbored,
but nearly four times that distance was
passed over by the sledge party in drag
ging their loads by installments, and
seventy two days were consumed in the
effort. It is evident that the task Of
sledging along the shore was much less
arduoua than that of advancing north
ward over the frozen sea. The party
that went to the westward made three
or four times the progress, and the party
to the eastward more than twice as
much, rs that which went northward.
The route OF the western coast party
after rounding Cape Joseph Henry was
nearly due west for the first half of their
course, and south of west for the latter
half, ending in lat. eighty-two deg. ten
min., and long. eighty-six deg. thirty
min. That route has been spoken of in
telegrams as along the north coast of
the continent, particularly in specifying
the position Of Cape Columbia, lat.
eighty-three deg. seven min., long.
seventy deg. thirty min., the highest
land discovered but Mr.. Richard A.
Proctor, commenting upon the news,
says this land on the western side of
Smiths sound isa range Of islands. The
eastern coast party traced the western
shore Of Greenland in northeasterly
direction up to lat. eighty-two deg.
fifty min. and long. forty-eight deg.
thirty MN. The highest point reached
by the expedition is now exactly speci-
fed at eighty-three deg. twenty min.
twenty six sec.
Before q determinate opinion can be
formed rs to whether these results pre-
clude further attempts by the Smiths
sound route, it will have to be shown
whether the thick ribbed ice of the
" Palnoorystic sea" is permanent OR
changing in its position at the head of
Smiths sound. If it drifts at all, there
il a possibility that in some years it may
move southwark. English writer's,
since the return of the expedition. seem
to regard tho gate by Smiths sound as
closed. They generally
speak of the Spitzbergen route as the only
Mr.. Proctor makes the re-
suit an occasion for expressing hope
that Antarctic rather than Arctic re-
search will next be attempted. Ger
tainly the results Of tho British expedi-
tion cannot be called encouraging to
polar explorers, though it has furnished
with nearly six hundred
miles of the southern boundary Of
hitherto unknown sea.-1ribune.