Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-01-09

49, ~ ~ ~ '1(<l O< - .
morrow night Lieutenant Peary's lecture
Will bring the pleasure and the instruction
OF such trip with every disagreeapie
feature and peril OF such a journey taken
away.
THE LECTURE ITSELF.
Lieutenant Peary Is the hero OF eight
Arctic expeditions. and his attractive lee
t,re Is drawn from the experiences incl
dent upon these trips. The lecture deals
with the country itself. Its plains nnd
table-lands OF snow and mountains or ice,
of the Esquimaux. and how they live on
Gracnlands icy shores. He will tell OF
how he and his small party travelled en-
foot 1900 miles on an Icy plateau, 1900 10
5000 feet about the sea. A most attrac-
tive feature of this lecture will be views
and photographs OF the magnificent
scenery along this route projected on can
vas by a powerful stereopticon There
will be 100 such magnificent views illus
trating and vivifying every portion of the
lecture. The story of this wonderful
tramp sounds like fairy tale. and grown
people become children again in the
eagerness and interest with which they
sit and listen to II with figures bent for
ward not to miss a word.
Two OF Lieutenant Peary's expeditions
one I'm the summer Of 1896 and the other
and latest OF last summer-have made the
name Of Peary a familiar word on the
tongues OF all English-speaking people,
and household word at the firesdes OF
scientists the world over.
PEARY's HEAVENLY VISITORS.
In 1918 the ships OF Sir John Ross.
caught In the ice near Cape York. were
visited by some individuals Of a previous
ly entirely unknown tribe OF Arctic
aborigines. In whose possession were
found rude knives with cutting edges of
iron, which they said they had obtained
from an iron mountain" In the depths
Of Melville Bay. Analysis of the iron
showed IL to contain nickel. indicating un-
questionably meteoric origin and exciting
the greatest interest.
Somewhere in the forties the King of
Denmark made an attempt 10 discover
and secure this Iron mountain" and au-
thorized an expedition for that purpose.
but nothing came Of the effort.
The officers Of the North Star one OF
the Franklin search-ships, which passed
the winter of 1S49-'50 in Wolstenholme
Sound north Of Cape York, were unsuc-
cessful in finding the iron, and the same
may be said Of the various expeditions,
English and American, and the whalers.
which visited these regions during the
fifty years or more following the Ross
voyage.
Baron Nordenskjold's ship went to Cape
York for the express purpose OF discover
ing. and. If possible, securing. these
valuable objects, but returned unsuccess-
ful. The British Museum has been from
the first deeply interested In the matter.
and one of the special objects of the Eng
lish Arctic expeditions OF 1876 was 10
II ..t.f.
mems. This expedition, like the others,
failed to locate the mysterious island.
PEARY FINDS THEM.
In May, 1884, Peary, who during his So
journ i'm these regions had learned all
about these meteorites from the Eskimos,
and had been told that there were three
OF them-namely: The woman" the
dog" and the "tent'-made a 2O0-mile
sledge journey from his headquarters. ac-
companied by Lee and native guide
and discovered and examined the great
masses. the first white man to ever look
upon them. Late IN August Of the same
year he attempted TO get them on board
his ship, the Falcon. and send them home,
but could not get the ship within thirty
miles OF them, on account of the ice.
In 1885, in the Kite. he succeeded In get
ting near them. and with the assistance
of Debeitch, the commander of the ex-
pedition which had been sent North by
Mrs. Peary to bring him back, got the
two smaller meteorites, the woman" and
the dog" on board and brought them
back TO New York. where they have been
stored since.
Year before last on the Hope, a much
larger ship than the Kite, he succeeded
I'm getting near the third and largest OF
the meteorites. excavated It from its
frozen bed and moved 1t TO the shore.
This heavenly visitor weighs 100 tons, and
had 10 be moved a distance of a quarter
OF mile. But he had to be patient for
another year. The inrush Of the Melville
Bay ice pack compelled him to get out
with all possible speed TO save his ship
from being crushed by the ice. But last
summer. after undergoing the greatest
peril. and only through the most untiring
perseverance. the meteorite was taken
passenger on the Hope. and taking up Its
wanderings again, landed at last at New
York. These tramps. which have lost
their way I'm the measureless heights and
depths of space, and have strayed like
children to the earth, have attracted much
attention from the world of science. 1t is
not at all infrequent that visitors OF this
kind from other worlds have come TO be
our guests, appearing as powders. and
sometimes dlinOSl pure iion' VI a. e"SoS
three are--iron and nickel, but 1t is quite
rare that such valuable iron specimens
are found. The work and the great care
and caution and the almost imminent
danger OF taking such passenger on
board make a story of breathless interest,
and this story Peary tells tomorrow eve-
ming.
Lieutenant Peary is represented as a
good speaker, as one who has good
story and knows how to tell it."