Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1876-09-20

I 81
u y receive an answer to their PROPOSE
tiols
4fr-tic Discovery.
ne mania for Arctic explorations
seems to be persistent and enduring. ~
No consideration of any practical utility,
however remote, can be urged in behalf
Of the many costly expeditions that have
gone in quest of "the Northwest Pas
sage, or the open Polar Sea" Even if
the Northwest Passage should be found
no one expects to travel by it, and tue
discovery of the open Polar Sea will
never contribute a particle to the adj
yanGement of the commercial interests of
the world The yenturous nasiners
who shall enter that ice-sulrounded BODY
Of water will have merely the satisfaction
Of saying, like Coleridge's, Ancient
Marner:'
we were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
At the most Arctic discoveries will
only enable gcographors to settle certain
problems. They have a theory that
there must be an open Polar Sea, and in
orlSit foi'ey +hoir scientific predictions
would expepd treasure and haoarI l;fs.
Tba facts which lnalc~e~ the existence of
$50. =, sea about the pole arc tbus
sunA - ny Ny the latest writer on Are
e broken ice driven through clear
east oy strong wip!,, rom rom the north
mafetthc farther northward the Polaris
steamed in Robson Channel; the tread
Of the coast line Of Greenland away to
the east, indicating, as was originally
suggested by the scientific acumen of
Dr. Kane, its probably true cosmograph-
zeal existence rs a vast island rather than
as 4 continent jutting down from the
pole the prevalence to the northeast Of
Robson Channel Of denscly laden water
clouds, which could not well have been
there had the further expanse been Sc
curely ice-bound; the large herds of
game roaming the highest known north
crn lands the flight of birds away from
the more southern ice-felds, as if in
quest of genial atmospheric conditions
and sustenance at the north, and the
presence among their wicged coycys Of
species that brood upon islands for the
safety of their young, pointing fairly to
the existence of islands in open water
these and other definitely noted facts are
even more persuasive to further inyesti-
cation than the same order of data OBJ
served by Columbus could have been to
the search for the American continent. "
1t is singular fact that of all the I'M
know. regions of the globe, the North |
Pole is the object of the greatest zeal for
discovery. Africa offers tempting field |
for exploration, and the results to be ac-
complished are Of much more value than
any to be obtained from Arctic research.
The South Pole is utterly neglected by
the geographers, while they are constant
ly scheming and contriving in regard to
the North Pole, undeterred by the dan
gers which they survey from their easy
chairs, and which others ara sent to COM
fort. The latest scheme is to attempt to
discover a northeast passage to the pole
Hitherto the favorite passage is up BAT
fms Bay, between Greenland and North
America, and thence by one of the nu-
morous sounds opening towards the
north. 1t is now urged by some Dutch
geographers that the best route lies to
the north of Norway, and by Spitzber-
gen. 1t is argued that the Gulf Stream
pours into the Arctic Ocean by this
route, and that by following the course
of the warm current the explorer would
have the best possible chance of pene-
trating to the pole. Upon the Ameri-
can side Of the northern regions steady
current of cold water runs southwark
1T IS argued that there must be some
where corresponding currents flowing
north to preserve the equilibrium, and
that these currents can be none other
than those ofthe Gulf Stream A Dutch
geographer, Van Camper, is at present
earnestly urging the Government Of Hol-
land to fit out an expedition by the
Spitzbergen route, in order to explore
the possibilities Of reaching the open Po-
lar Sea in that direction. He expects
that such an expedition would eclipse in
its discoveries, the English expedition
recently fitted out and which goes by the
old route