St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-02-25
De Longs Discoveries.

The Jeanette expedition has, NOTWITHSTANDING
ing wreck and sad disaster affecting brave
men, resulted in very great advancement Oh
Arctic knowledge, and much Of this increased
geographical information is OF such practl-
caly useful nature as to afford good ground
for continuance of exploration in the remote
regions of the North Through the apparent
" meagcr statements heretofore received re-
garding the voyage of the lost Jeanette, anu
later movements of De Long and his heroic
companions, very great facts are reYeased
which show how the meagerness is 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 Dr.. Petermann, the distinguished Ger
man geographer, that Wrangel Land
was the eastern extremity of an Arctic
| continent. He has discovered the eX-
isence of a vast polar ocean
northeastward from the New Siberian Islands:
| he has first discovered at least two islands III
the great ocean basin Of the Arctic pole. BE-
sides the original discovery OF these islands
he has proved, in his observation OF a third
| island at the northeastward from New 81
IBERIA, the verify of the claim by Hedenstrom
and Saunkov in 1910, that land existed tl1gfe
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
b. anch diverg.Dg southWestcrly around the
| eastern promontories OF Franz Josef Land
which is but an extension of Greenland; he has
proved that the temperature OF the hlSn latl-
| tudes he attained below the Arctic pole is not
| incompatible with good health and compara-
tive comfort, when suitable food and shelter
are provided for explorers.
He has comtdetcly dsproved the assumption
| that "paleoefystic' sea, or area OF ancient
and unthawable ice, exists in the high north,
for, while caught amid fragments OF hoe ice
forming an immense floating field, he drifted
about i'll vast, open, polar sea during consio,
eraby more than year and Il hall OF tllne anu
still did not during that period sight the shores
of the lonely ocean upon which he was swept
and whelmed about in icy arms like wall III
the lreary abyss As the experience OF Ney-
precht and Payer in the Tegethotf, while
caught in vast ice foe or northwest capes
of Nova Zembla and drifting about during
long months in the sea Of Franz Josef Land,
proved to those unacquanted with the TACT
that this part of the ocean was known to DC
nayigabIe by Norsemen IN the fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, that IL was
a sea incrusted by ice over but a part or It's
surface and during part OF the year, so De
Longs dreary but important voyage has
proved like conditions existing away at the
nOrI0 OF New SltJelli nloISoNSi. wv oS'ii
nette expedition has apparently Determined
it to be fact that there is no very great BODY
1 OF land in the extreme polar sea near ASIA,
{ and that climate conditions in the near yicin-
: ity of the Pole are more genial than 1ufthef
SOUTH
Arctic shores facing the north do not pro-
: duce icebergs to any considerable extent. The
almost total absence OF icebergs IN the Whal-
= ing seas north of Behring's Strait and in the
wide eypanse of the huge polar basin north OF
Asia IN baIpf that there he
? place farther rfrth than Franz Josef Land Tor
their formation and dispersal at our = Top OF
the world. Besides these points .specihed, De
Long has shown the case 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 polar
, circuit current, which seems to be largely de-
Elected northwesterly from Wrangel 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
!, tiords of that anciently known part OF Green
= land now known since its rediscovery as Franz
3 Josef Land. Equally futile will prove any
Y blind efforts to reach the pole by seasat the
. north of Spitzbergen. The great gun there
;. was explored in the thirteenth century and
found to be bounded by icy, barren and dismal
coasts The fact seems to be altogether over
g looked by modern navigators. Leigh Smith IN
n his Ezra voyage has demonstrated the reality
of the discovery of part of Franz Josef Land
early in the eighteenth century, and since
= called ellis Land. If not wrecked the Ezra
Y is probably wintering ice-locked in the gull OF
O Northeast Greenland, northward from Spitz-
y bergen or possibly in the recess OF open
. : waters not far away from Markham Sound
u and the other channels of Franz Josef Ian
l. explored by Payer of the Tegethof.
= it ought to be understood by Arctic navlga-
tors and would be but from neglect to study
y the earliest records of Arctic exploration and
y colonization thoroughly, that Franz josef Land
y is not really now within a very few years first
= known to men. A prosperous little coony ex-
II listed there for centuries, and one OF the most
!, noted of the early historians of Northern Eu-
l, rope was born there. The inexplcable igno-
n rance of our modern geographers regarding
f. the historical geography of the Arctic regions
,. seems as general as it is surprising.
The voyage of the Jeanette has not only
y resulted in the important direct discoveries as
n Indicated, but besides largely increasing Inc
le general interest in northern exploration has
! led. through the expeditions for the aid OF DE
:. Long and his companions, to toeraDy com
Ii plete knowledge of Wrangel Land and the
IS ocean heretofore little known in its immediate
at vicinity. Mr. Benefits unsurpassed enter.
10 prise and grand munifcence will bear good
- fruit not only for the cause of science, but tol
e commerce and the whaling interest.-Boston
u Advertiser.