Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-07
GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS,
An Exploring Expedition Leaves for the
North Prosp. ctiye Results.

J Nortu- Frospt Ctlte RESULTS.
: The expedition which started out on
Saturday from Copenhagen to explore the
interior of Greenlend may not commend
itself 20 popular iterest as those which
have made the mysterious and ever-inter-
esting North Pole the object of their ambi.
ton, but scientifically it is destined to be.
come quite as important and more so, be-
cause the undertaking, though great, is
still moderate enough to allow of slight
hope of success. The expedition has been
equipped in ChrIstiania, and is under the
leadership OF Mr. Nansen, curator at the
museum at Bergen. He has picked for his
associates three or four Norwegian ath-
letes who are well trained in snow
shoeing. They will sail first to Issa-
ford, in Iceland, where a sealer under the
command of Captain jacobson, an old
Arctic skipper, will take them to the east
coast of Greenland. Starting out from the
uninhabited and bleak east coast is some
thing new for Greenland exploring parties.
Former expeditions have started out from
the more accessible west coast, and have
pressed into the icy interior in an easterlv
and northeasterly direction. The disad-
vantage of this has been that the parties
were constantly going further and further
away from the inhabited portions of the
continent, and the temptation to return
out Of the wilderness of icy mountains
has been too great to overcome.
Mr. Nansen will reverse the operation.
He will land at once in the wilderness, and
his only motto then can be "Cross or Die 7"
Such view of the situation cannot be en-
tertaining to small party set down on an
uninhabited coast, but the sentiment of
cross or die" will hold out kind of
Philosophical encouragement which must be
very useful in expeditions of that charac-
ter. The hopes that Mr.. Nansen has of
being able to traverse the unknown interior
and reach place of safety on the west
coast before winter seem reasonable. His
party has undergone thorough training
IN crossing the Snowy Mountains in Nor
way, and have shown themselves capable
of perilous and trying winter tours.
There has been much speculation on the
interior of this continent, which Nordens-
kjold calls the Northern Sahara" 1t is
well known that a wall of mountainous
glaciers surrounds the interior, but a theory
has been advanced by General Greedy and
others that there is an open country in the
interior, at times free from snow and ice
But really enchanting field of discovery
is offered to Mr.. Nansen in another way.
Greenland was discovered in the year 9S3
by the Icelandic or Morse Vikings. These
pioneers founded several other colonies
along the east as well as west coast. In
scriptions discovered in 1884 on the west
coast, bearing the date of 1886, show that
these settlers erected boundary pillars
as far north as 72o 50r. What has be-
come of these settlements, also spoken
of often in the Icelandic sagas, where
it is told that in the year l121 the
first Bishop of Greenland, Erik Upsi,
and an Icelander undertook a Christian
mission to the then established Morse COL
ony Of Vinland, or a part of what is now
Massachusetts. Other traces of this hardy
people may be discovered, which can
throw a new light on the early history of
this continent. The possibility, at least,
of such discoveries will make Mr.. Nan
sens expedition one of great interest.
Several futile attempts were made previ-
Gus to this century to advance into the
interior, and few have been made within
the last fifty years. The more important
of these were the two attempts made by
Professor Nordenskjold. In the second he
managed to get inland seventy miles,
while two Laps on snowshoes went fifty
miles further and reported an endless
snow-feld. The fact that during their
march they saw two ravens flying north
ward led Nordenskjold to think that
somewhere, not far of, was an open coun-
try.