New-York tribune., 1882-04-19
srSTrMATIC WoRK IN TIE NORTH.


Austria's share in the international Polar
scheme is the garrisoning OF Jan Mayeh is'anu /,
in the Greenland Sea between Iceland ana
Sptzbergen. The scientific colony, consisting
of six officers and eight men, set SAFFRON Ola
ON the I'd instant, and after brlef anchorages ~
Gibraltar and Gravesend will probably reach
tbeir destination late in July. There they VIII
remain. certainly one year and possibly two,
until tbey can be called for by vessel from
home. The island lies on the st parallel OF
north latitude. grim barren and desolate as
when if was first deserted by Dutch whaer In
1911. The cost of this expedition Will be en-
trely met by that enthusiast in Arctic research,
Count Wilczek after whom the main shore III
Franz Josef Land is named. The equipment
of the colony is said to be remarkably COM
plete. including many luxuries as well as COM
forts to which explorers in high ATTITUDES are
strangers. The fact that the lamented Wey-
precht, who originated the present scheme OF
international exploration, was an Austrian has
given special impetus to this expedition, ana
the fortunes of the scientists and sailors who
have volunteered for outpost d1ty in the Far
North will be followed with anxious interest In
Vienna.
The two colonies sent ont from the United
States have already passed their first winter at
Port Barrow and Lady Franklin Bay. a Rus
sian CORPS of observers is now on the way to
the Lena delta and it is possible that the
original programme will be carried out and a
second party be dispatched to Novaia Zemlla.
In Denmark preparations are making Tor land
ing a colony this season on the Greenland
coast. The German Geographical Societies
have selected Cumberland Bay as their main
station, and may also join the Italian ana
French Governments in Antarctic exploration.
Sweden will undoubtedly send out colony to
Spitzbergen, where Nordenskiold and Palander
have rendered such excellent service in pre-
vious years. Norway is to have a series OF sys-
tematic observations made in one OF Its north
ernmost villages, and Holland is expected to
dispatch q ship to Port Dickson. England s
share in the International undertaking is not
fully defined, but it is not probable that its
work will be confined to so low latitude as
Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie River. The
search for Leigh Smith in Franz Josef Land is
to be prosecuted vigorously during the summer
ard autumn the Government having offered to
subscribe go, 600 and the Royal Geographical
Society $1,000 for that purpose, and the re-
maindcr of the fund being already provided
for This errand of mercy may divert atten-
ton from the international Polar scheme, but
as the expedition will set out for latitude as
high as that of Lady Franklin Bay, its scicn-
tifc observations supplemented by Leigh
Smiths, if that intrepid yachtsman has with
his usual good fortune escaped the dangers of
the Arctic seas, will be available for compari-
son with those made simultaneously by the
scientific colonies.
The year promises to be very active one
within the Polar belts. There will he no fool
hardy attempts to cope with the irresistible ice
pressures of the Arctic pack-no drifting excur-
sions toward the Pole. Currents, temperatures,
tides and ice-formations will be studied by
trained observers of as many as ten nations
and when the results of their scientific obserya-
tons are compiled, a new direction may be
given to the course of Arctic exploration