Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-04-13
ANOTHER VIEW OF ARCTIC EX-
PLORATION.

Lieut.. Doane, who was member of
the Howgate Arctic Expedition, has just
written a voluminous report ofhis expert
ence and observations in the Northern
region. It is satirical vein, and calcu-
lated to puncture the professions of those
Arctic explorers who would be regarded
as heroes and martyrs, and with whom he
evidently has no patience. He makes
much sport of the scientific descriptions
of the Arctic animals, and says that the
seal is no more packyderm than the elk
of our plains is a domestic yearling calf.
His summary of the success ofthe expedi-
ton is uniqe. He says
The cruise of the Gulnare is the first
acknowledged failure in Arctic annals.
We did but little, but left a great many
things undone requiring some moral cour-
age to refrain from doing. We did not
change the names of all the localities Wis
tied, as is customary, nor give them new
latitudes, to the bewilderment OF the gen
eral reader. We do not dispute any ones
attained distance nor declare it impossi-
BILE that he should have been where he
was We did not hunt up nameless
islands and promontories to tag them with
the surnames Of plethoric merchants and
wildly enthusiastic females who had given
us plug tobacco and button-hole boquets.
We did not even erect centotapls. A
centotaph is monument erected to one
who is buried elsewhere or not buried
at all. The artistic style of such stfuct-
ure is q pile of rocks, on the fattest of
which is daubed in letters of tar the fol-
lowing stereotyped inscription Sacred
to the memory of the heroic -" Why
a centotaph should be erected where no
one will see it, and what use there is in
erecting one at all, are question. We re-
ceiyed no flags, converted no natives,
killed no one. We discovered no new ev-
idence regarding the Mosaic account of
the creation, nor the Deluge, nor the uni
ty of races, nor the location OF ancient
Troy, nor the garden of Eden. We found
nothing in Greenland to put our natural
lists to the blush by comparison, nothing
superior to railrods and modern civiliza-
ton. We did not see any thing half SO
grand, half so sublime, nor he If so bear
tiful there as can be seen in the Yellow
stone National Park and a dozen other To-
calities at home We did not even see
what others have seen in the same re-
gions.
The primary geographical iceberg,
which in perspective towers above hrst-
class ships in the foreground, and has con-
templative bear gazing seaward from the
loftiest pinnacle, oblivious of the herd OF
fat seal on it's beach, is not produced any
more. Neither is the iceberg of shop
windows. The present ones are not so
high by several hundred feet, and instead
of being in afreezing condition were rap
idly thawing whenever ahoat. Polar
bears do not put their paws ON mems
shoulders and smilingly offer their stom-
achs to be ripped open in the Norwegian
regions as formerly. Therocks and bluffs
of the Arctic are not at all clouded with
waterfowl, as pictured, nor is it danger
GUS to run whale-boat lest it should
ground on sleeping whale, be pierced
through by the horn of narwhal or cap
tured by an angry herd of walrus. Arctic
scenery is grand, but with little variety.
The glacial phenomena alone In summer
time are magnificent. In winter the au-
roras are added. At the pole during
the summer there is of course, constant
daylight, yet nobody seems to haye
thought it worth while to call attention
to the fact that solar observations could
be taken astronomically during that sea-
son. No oneahas proposed wintering at
the pole. The proposition would probably
not be carried into effect if outlined. The
object of this report is to expose few of
the specious pleas, fallacious reasonings,
and ill-grounded conjectures which are
called scientific, and to place the subject
of circumpolar exploration on basis of
facts and reasonable probabilities. One
cannot explore the earth's surface from
an observatory, nor by mathematics, nor
by the power of logic. 1t must be done
physically.