New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-28

finally shot them also.
Thus We jOurneyed, dragging our boats and
provisions on sedges over the broken foe, finally
taking to the boats to cross the open sea 70
the Siberian coast. 1t was the stormy fall sea-
son Of gales, ice and snow. Our small open boats
were often in danger of laundering, and in the
hercest OF the gale Lieutenant Chipp's boat was
swamped, and no trace has ever been found oi
him and his seven men.
THE other two boats, those OF Captain De
Long and myself succeeded in reaching iand
although hundred and fifty miles apart, mus
ending our long retreat Of hundred ana ten
days. De Long and all but two Of his men
persisted OF cold and starvation Ny crew OK
eleven, all told, were>more fortunate, all beng
saved although died OF smallpox In siberia
on the way home The total loss was thus 90
per cent OF the personnel Of the expedition ana
Of the original survivors there are only SIX now
alive.
Now, as regards our drift. 1t was quite evil
dent that for the first eighteen months at 'east
our drift was caused by the fierce southeastern
gales that drove the pack up into the north
west. You can conceive the effects on lhhu-
merable hummocks Of ice, like millions or sails
set to catch the breeze. After the suosidehce
Of each gale we took a rapid setback drift to
the southeast. III ldCt, III SPiih6 ~ ''DN'
after our first winter In the pack we were driven
back in sight Of Wrangel Land to about the
place where we were first beset, which accords
with Or. Nansen's experience.
But hansen found deep sea to the nortn-
ward and westward OF the line Of our drift,
which IS the exact opposite Of our experience
In the part of the ocean we traversed Al
though soundings were taken every day at
l,,t aI
from thirteen to thlrty-six fathoms. Even this
greatest depth was only eighty fathoms, when
occurred at the most northern point Of our drift
during the winter Of 1880.
POLAR ICE CAP THEORY SHAKEN
II had a theory Of ice cap at the poie'
which, / confess, DR.. hansen has materially
shaken, extending down 10 about ~ degrees
against which / believed the drifting PACK
impinged Between this supposed Ice cap anu
the moving pack in the shallow sea IN winch
We were drifting, I conceived a canal OF conn
paratlyeiy deep water which my messnatPs IN
derision called 'Mekilles Canal However 1
was pleased As were they also TO lind that we
were on the edge Of Melvii!es Canal When we
got a cast Of the lead in eighty fathoms OF
water. and they conceded that my theory of
deep canal might be correct, 50 that, III our
theories at least Melvilles Canal had rec
ognized standing. Unfortunately, after the
southcasterly gales had ceased 10 blow, we were
rapidly drifted back again by the recedlnG lce'
and never again got far enough north 70 ana
the deep water where alone currents can run.
There was ndsputably shallow sea over
which the Jeanette drifted and the question
arises Is this shallow caused entirely by
the Gilt OF the great northern rivers or Is II
partly caused 10y the erosion Of the land? The
islands that extend all the way from the Lena
Delta to Bennett, Jeanette and Henrietta. like
SO many stepping stones from the mainland tow
ard the pole were, IN my belief at no very
distant period, part Of the mainland Of Siberia
They are daily being erodcd by the drifting ice
pack; and in time nothing bat the bar" rocks
will remain Of them.
During our short stay on these islands. while
! on our march 10 the south. and as well AZ later
| while in the Lena Delta, We saw the land was
not making. hut the daily evidence of the con-
! slant washing away by sea and jeei"e or
melting SNOW and occasional rain showed that
the islands were being denuded and eroded.
Il saw on the banks Of the Lena Delta I'M
mense trunks Of trees, with roots attached. mar
! had apparently fallen whore they STOOD. Forty
| feet above the bed of IN" river the earth was
| gradually washing away. These lands and the
islands OF the Arctic Sea still show the romans
OF the mammoth. which, without doubt Was
| native of the mainland and of the islands when
! they we're part Of the mainland.
THE THEORY or \ SHALLOW SEA.
Il explain these things in order fully 10 justify
| the theory of 4 shallow sea more than fifteen
hundred miles i'm extent east and west, though
pcrhaps local in rs northerly extension