Nebraska advertiser., 1882-03-02


The Jeanette expeditions has, notwithstsDd-
ing wreck and sad disaster affecting brave
men, resulted in a very great advancement Of
Arctic knowledge, and much of this increased
geographical information is of such practi-
cally useful nature as to afford good ground
for q continuance Of exploration in the remote
regions of the North. Through the apparent
ly meager statements heretofore received re-
garding the voyage Of the lost Jeanette, and
later movements Of De Long and his heroic
companions, very great facts are revealed
which show how the meagcrness IL apparent
rather than real DE Long was the first to
demonstrate the fact that Wrangel Land is Of
very limited extent northerly. He has
shown the inaccuracy Of the theory of the
late DIR. Petermann, the distinguished Ger
man geographer, tht Wangel Land
was the eastern extremity of an Arctic
continent. He has discovered the ex-
istence OF vast polar ocean
northeastward from the New Siberian Islands:
he has first discovered at least two islands in
the great ocean basin of the Arctic pole. Be
sides the original discovery Of these islands
he has proved, In his observation OF third
island at the northeastward from New 81
IBERIA, the verify Of the claim by Hedenstrom
and Saunikoy In 1910, that land ex sted there
which had been seen. He has proved the ex-
istence OF mighty current sweeping slowly
around the earth at the north of Asia, Eu-
rope, Greenland and America, with great
anch divergng southwesterly around the
eastern promOntories of Franz Josef Land,
which is but an extension Of Greenland; he has
proved that the temperature OF the high lati-
tudes he attained below the Arctic pole is not
incompatible with good health and compare
tive comfort, when suitable food and shelter
are provided for explorers.
He has completely disproved the assumption
that a "paleocrystc' sea, or area OF ancient
and unthawable ice, exists in the high north
for, while caught amid fragments OF foe ice
forming an immense floating field, he drifted
about In vast, open, polar sea during consid-
erably more than year and half of time, and
still did not during that period sight the shores
OF the lonely ocean upon which lie was swept
and whelmed about In icy arms like waif In
the dreary abyss. AS the experience Of Wey-
precht and Payer In the Tegethoff, while
caught in "A vast ice foe of northwest capes
of Nova Zembla and drifting about during
long months in the sea Of Franz josef Land.
proved TO those unacquanted with the fact
that this part OF the ocean was known to be
navigable by Norsemen In the fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, that IL was
a sea incrusted by ice over but a part OF its
surface and during part of the year, so De
Longs dreary but important voyage has
proved like conditions existing away at the
north of New Siberia. Moreover, the Jean
nette expedition has apparently determined
IL to be fact that there is no very great body
of land in the extreme polar sea near Asia,
and that climate conditions in the near vicn-
ity OF the Pole are more genial than further
south.
Arctic shores facing the north do not pro-
duce icebergs to any considerable extept. The
almost total absence of icebergs in the whal-
ing seas north of Behring's Strait and in the
wide expanse Of the huge polar basin north OF
Asia lead to the belief that there may he no
place farther north than Franz Josef Land for
their formation and dispersal at our top Of
the world. Besides these points specified, De
Long has shown the ease of sailing from the
Lena To New Siberia The known facts in the
Jeannette's experience confirm the conclusion
that Franz Josef Land divides the great pol3r-
circuit current, which seems to be largely de-
flected northwestery from WraDgel Land by
the shores and the shoals likely to exist near
by. No hope can be reasonably entertained
that the pole can be reached mainly by
land across the lonely mountain wastes and
fiords of that anciently known part of Green
land now known since its rediscovery as Franz
Josef Land. Equally futile will prove any
blind efforts to reach the pole by sea at the
north OF Spitzbergen. The great gulf there
was explored in the thirteenth century and
found to be bounded by icy, barren and dismal
coasts. The fact seems to he altogether over
looked by modern navigators. Leigh Smith in
his Ezra voyage has demonstrated the reality
of the discovery of part Of FralN Josef Land
early in the eighteenth century, and since
called Gillis Land. If not wrecked the Ezra
is probably wnterng ice-locked in the gulf OF
Northeast Greenland, northward from Spitz-
bergen, or possibly In the recess Of open
waters not far away from Markham Sound
and the other channels of Franz Josef Lan1
explored by Payer of the Tegethoff.
1t ought to be understood by Arctic naviga-
tors, and would be but from neglect to study
the earliest records of Arctic exploration and
colonization thoroughly, that Franz Josef Land
is not really now within very few years first
known to men. A prosperous little co ony ex-
! isted there for centuries, and one of the most
noted of the early historians of Northern Eu-
rope was born there. The inexplicable igno-
rance of our modern geographers regarding
the historical geography OF the Arctic regions
seems as general as It Is surpris ng.
The voyage OF the Jeannette has not only
resulted in the important direct discoveries as
indicated, but besides largely inc easing the
| general interest in northern exploration has
led, through the eXped tions for the aid of De
Long and his companions, to a toleraby com
plete knowledge OF Wrangel Land and the
ocean heretofore little known in its immediate
vicinity. Mr. Benefits unsurpassed enter
prise and grand munificence will bear good
! fruit not only Nr the cause OF science, but for
commerce and the whaling interest.-BostoH