The Portland daily press., 1885-01-17
New Publications.


Geo W. Melville. Edited by Melville Phil
lips. Boston: Houghton, Mif1in & Co.;
Portland: Loring, Short & Harmon This
is graphic narrative of the Jeanette expe-
dillon, and valuable and interesting coniri-
button to geographical study. It is well il
lnstrated with maps and photographs
So many American expeditions have
moved up through Bsfin's Bay that it has
got to be considered the proper road to the
North Pole, and many have been puzzled to
know what the Jeanette was doing along
the Siberian coast, but the excellent circum-
polar map given at page 476 shows that the
course which she took in drifting would
have carried her as near the pole as any e2.s
pedition has reached, if she had held togetb-
er. The story of the cruise is familiar. but
the spot where the shipwrecked crew landed
is little known. and no one has yet described
itso well as Engineer Melville.
Moscow is generally considered distant
point from Paris. Napoleon found it so. re-
turning. The stories of Siberian exile have
taught us that the 900 miles of rail to Oren-
burg, from Moscow, is ssfar cry:'' then
2619 miles to Irkutsk, by horse-sled, or on
foot, as the chained bands of exiles perform
it, seem terrible; but many are sent an ad-
ditional journey of 2342 miles to Yakutsk by
the same method of travelling. These are
the exles who never expect to return, They
are now up in the frozen north, far enough
off to satisfy even the Russian government;
and where the natives are closely akin to
the Esquimaux. Now begins the land of
reindeer and dog-teams, and eight hundred
miles further north by those conveyances
will take the traveller, in the course of time.
to the mouth of the Lena, where belongs
unfortunate party landed. In this desolate
spot Melville passed the winter, after Dan
enhower and most of the rescued party had
gone South, waiting for the weather to
permit him to search for the bodies of the
other two boats crews. The wind much of
the time blew a hurricane, as it does on
Mount Washington in winter, against which
1t was impossible to move. 1t is notewor-
thy that these winds were southerly, al
though a calm constantly prevailed on the
south side of the mountain ranges. This
indicates that the currents of air were in
duced by the electrical forces developed at
the pole.
NJ. Melville appears to have displayed
great euergy, resolution and endurance It
is to be regretted that he does not speak
more kindly of the gallant Eisenhower and
his brave companions. He even appro, ri
ates the credit of the drag which Danen-
hover constructed, aud which saved the
boat in the gale. He also speaks most con-
temptuously of critics at home, and espec-
tally of the Herald correspondent, who ap-
pears to have been most enterprising fel-
fow to find his way 10 the farthest point of
the delta; and certainly the Herald had a
strong claim to the news after fitting out the
expedition Itself.
The narrative is supplemented by con-
else and interesting account of the Greely
Relief Expedition, in which Mr.. Melville
took part, and closes with proposition
for reaching the North pole which merits
the most favorable consideration. Assum
ing that no vessel can count on safely resist
ing the pressure of the ice in the extreme
North, he proposes to proceed from Lapland
10 Franz josef Land, which reaches nearest
the Pole, ana lies alongside of Spitzbergen
up above Nova Zembls. There he would es-
tablish stations, and then with sedge par
ty make dash for the pole. This seems
the most feasible plan yet proposed; the far
tbest northing has been accomplished in
that way, and Melville seems the best man
to undertake it. 1t is to be hoped The Gov
ernment will give him the support he asks.
Chief Engineer Melville relates that Rus
sian traders go to the Lena Delta and pur-
chase skins and fish of the Yakuts tor cash,
aud then sit down aud gamble with them
until they win the money back, and go away
with all, leaving the natives destitute. The
poor Yakuts cannot resist the temptation to
gamble, although they are no match for the
Nineteenth Century civilization.