The New York herald., 1877-03-02
TIE RESULTS OF THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION OF 1876
From the London Atheneum.l


From the London Atheneum.l
In spite OF steam, lar as the attainment by means
OF slips OF the highest latitudes is concerned,
seem TO have arrived almost at the utmost verge OF
what is attainable In Polar expeditions. and
traordnary results, such as those obtained by the
petitions OF Hall and Mares indicate than tho
possibility OF oversepping the limit already reached
under the most favorable circumstances
East Greenland is considered inaccessible in higher
aitudes than 73s deg 10 rs deg north. Tho small
tent Of coast water there and strong
charged with pack ice at tho time OF the two German
Polar expeditions prevented them from penetrating
further north In the north OF spitzbersen and In the
Behrng Straits close upon hity expeditions, and In
Vulnerable whale fisheries, besides forty cxpe-
ditions on their wayto the Northeast Passage have
been arrested In their progress by the imperative
Plus ultra through the masses Of ice. Everywhere tho
nsuaiciency OF the time dsposable for nav CATION rom
dercd impossible to with the great extent Of
way, barred, as it is, by insuperablc obstacles.
The way by Smith Sound, SO strongly recommended
by all Polar navlgators the best Tor reaching the
Pole, has proved deusive, leading, as Il does into
region OF pack ice
Although the region oil pack leo may be considered
as liable 10 change any other part Of the sea-
the possibility OF It's breaking up from time in
our chance OF arriving at the North Pole only
IN theory. In reality vessel going repeatedly by
way OF smith sound apart from the extraordinary
dangers and catastrophes 10 which would be exposed,
would experience something like the following The
year 1873 VAS generally speaking, favorable
for navigating in Smith Sound, and for this reason
the expedition conducted by Captain Mares
have been ai the moro astonishcd TO
find such extensive masses Of pack ice in the north
OF Grant Land 1t may. however, ana will happen,
that during some future favorable summer, and also
Il n mn break IN
such extent as to render navigation practicable In
that case vessel would lind, rhaps further south,
thick masses OF impenctrablc ice. But even II the
navigation OF Smith sound and the break ing up
ice were TO happen simultaneously, the certainty o
even the probability OF our reaching tho North Pole
by no means follows matter OF course; Tor get
as lar north as 81 or SO degrees cxhausts all
periencc shows, the whole Of the time available for
navigation and in itsell presupposcs concurrence OF
the favorable conditions ship that reaches 50
degrees In the beginning Of autumn has risked much
dare. 1t seek coufn itsel open water
the anxietcs OF wnicring outw eighing, OF course,
every other consideration. But snip that has
been favored by circumstances up to that time
penetrating into the Lincoln Sea, which, though
flied with ice, IS stll vigabe, would, AS tho
advanced, either be icebound-the most likely thing
that could happen 10 t-0r. II land exists further
NORTH pass the winter under SO 81 degrees OF lal
lade. VIII the unprecedenty favorable circumstances
in respect 10 the ice occur again In the following year,
and permit the vessel that has forced It's way
either TO push forward TO the Pole, to turn back
Is II likely that thcro will be repetition oil these
extremely favorable circumstances Tor two, three or
iour years, or only after and SO many decenna-
answer as 10 the possibility or impossibty OF reach
ing tho North Pole. They questions that DEFY
all crltlclsln and arc beyond the sphere Of expo
ricnce for reason and conjecture are alike unable
TO solve them u this be-, as suppose, the true
meaning of the two words, "Poe inpractcable" then
| am o! precisely the opinion Captain Mares
Although we are not Justified In asserting that tho
attainment Of the Pole 'impracl icable, we may
regard us So and exclude It from our Arctic cxpora.
tions until, instead OF employing tho fragile vessel
with which we navigate tho SEAS able to steer
through the air to tho hitherto unattanabe object OF
our desires
But, apart from tho comparative failure OF tho
English expedition To the North Pole. geographical
paramount object of Polar expedition. II should
give place, Tor some time to como, tho
exploration OF objects OF natural history. Lieutenant
Wcyprecht expresses himself strongly IN iavor Of
this He also expresses the wish all civil
zcd naons would unite their cdor,s IN favor OF stimuli
taneous Arctic expeditions Tor tho advancement OF
magnetism, electricity and mcteOrology. What
wanted IN order to Obtain valuable scientific results
Is series OF simultaneous expeditions distributed
ovcr various points vi the Arctic REGION whose object
should be 10 take annually simultaneous observations
with the same kind OF Instruments
Incidental to the return oi tho English Polar Expe-
don, we have seen that the phantom vi open Polar
sea, although combated for nturies. has still many
adierents that consider the expedition performed
an undoubtedly useful work when furnished us with
additional reasons Tor rejecting this theory Htherowe
nave been as little able TO prove tho
existence OF an open Polar by direct and actual
discovery 10 show The practcabiliy reaching the
also been contradIcted experience merely since
tho return OF the English expedition but since tho
has shown itself to be incapable eradication
because It's adhorcpts IN the lace OF hundred Signs
u tue contrary nave always been able TO transfer the
arena OF dispute TO spot where no has yet
becn-vz, TO the North Pole
Apart from the discoveries It made and the contro-
versies II has raised, the expedition presents with
many interesting details, among whch'we may u
ton the sporadical appearance Of animal lie observed
~ the extreme north, phenomenon equally observed
BY Kane, Hayes and Hall In the south OF Smith Sound.
Kane and Mares found very little OF animal life IN the
places where they wintered but Stephenson, Hayes
nh IN unda
reference To the extreme north, tho Discovery ap-
peais in fact TO nave winlered IN sort OF earthly para
disc for While Its crew killed less than nifty -our
head OF musk oxen In tho course OF the year, tho
Alert obtained only six. Nevertheless, Grant Land
seems to te much more pr0llhc In land auimas than
Franz-Jose Land, inasmuch IN the latter with
the exception OF traces OF foxes ana hares, there
apparently utter absence Of land animals The ice
bears. which were found IN great numbers, had there,
every where esc the adjacent Polar Lc-
cullar home The lack OF animal lilo generally IN the
vicinity OF the Alert shows that closely adjacent pack
ice, and the consequent absence OF open water IS
condition of lie for b'rds seas and bears
The expedition discovered no land lying toward the
north, and repudiates the existence Of Presidents
Land, which tho Halifax expedition imagiped 1t had
discovered In fact frequently happens IN the Arctic
region that the vapory masses which collect at Tho
horizon counterfeit the forms OF distant elevated OBJ
Jects because the nconsiderabe height TO which they
are able 10 rise IN the cold atmosphere lends sharp
moss 10 their outlines. The American exped ion may
have been deceived by this condition OF tho atmosphere
On the other hand the too frequent OF low
vapory masses IN the Polar region often The
reason why land close ut hand, only at short dis.
tdnCe, IS oltcn Hluucn from our view. ibis
may have been the the occasion OF BcanmonL's
Greenland slcdgc expedition, so that Grceuiand on
the other eide OF Cape Britannia In the sense OF Peter
manns hypothesis, stretches still iurthor toward the
north.
Mares asserts that long journeys pack ice with
boat are impractcabie, and he Is perfectly right
Markbam's Improbable attempt To reach the North
Pole pack ice is similar the endcavors of tho
Hungarian Expedition TO force their way south
from FranzJosci Land with heavy slcdgcs and boats
when, II 1t had been for tho navigable channels
which enabled them TO make their escape, they must
inevitably have pcrsbcd Similar marches were at
tempted by Parry and Nordenskj0d, IRON SptzbergcD
norlhward, and were equally unsuccess uI.
Tho further tho expedition went northward tho
larger they found the &c Hoes, until last they ar
rived at region whcie they are stated 10 have been
from 50 10 IN feet thick This statement has becn
orroneously interpreted. Mares makes no such state
mcnt respecting that has been regular formed
he statcs rather that the maximum thickness the
ice formed by seasons undsturbed and contiuu.
Gus froat, according to observations made In winter