The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-05
ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.
PROGRAMME OF THE GERMAN
 TXPEDITTON.
Elaborate Preparation With n View 10
 Securing the Best Resuits'

| Securing the Best Results.
 It was practically determined laet
 summer that an expedition to the Ant
 arctic regions, under German auspices
 would be made soon as adequate pre-
 paration could be made, and although IL
 will not actually start until the autumn
 of 1901, when an English expedition Will
 cooperate, it is evident that the Inter-
 vening time will be well spent. The
 preliminary announcement of his plans
 by Dr. Drygalski, the director of the
 German enterprise, has recently been
 made and translation of it appears in | Nature"
 It is already evident that the Ger
 mans are intent on making the most ol
 the opportunity now offered Ihey req lize no doubt, that governmental ald III
 such explorat tons is not to be obtalneu
 often nor easily, and many years may 1 elapse before another expedition or thls
 kind will be undertaken Again, the failure of the Belgica, two years ago to
 accomplish as much as had been expect ed, though in some measure due to what
 may be regarded as bad luck, has also
 been imputed to lack of preparation,
 And Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society Ill England, has frankly expressed misgiv-
 ing of this character concerning Borch-
 grevink's party, which landed at Vlc- | toria Land about year ago.
 | It has been decided that the British
 expedition of 1901 will try to skirt that
 portion of the south polar continent that
 lies along the Pacific. The Germans VIII l devote themselves, as far as IS prac- | ticable, to the regions adjacent to the | South Indian and Atlantic oceans. on | the outward voyage, after reaching, | Cape Town, the German party VIII sal almost due eastward, past Prince Ed ward and Crozet Island, to Kerguelen, which is 70 degrees of longitude east or Greenwich. Thence push will De mace to the east of southwark with Termina- ton Island as the objective point. The is approximately in longitude 90 east
 and latitude 70 south. Termination Isl
 and is yet somewhat hypothetical. but
 if ti exists and it's found, a landing will
 probably be made there, and the station
 for observation will be located in that vicinity. On the return voyage it is pro-
 posed to coast along the westward, pact Kemp Island anal Enderby Island, per haps to the longitude of Cape Horn, and then come north by way of Graham Land, the South Orkneys and South Georgia.
 Geographical research will form an important feature of the work the map or, <; taI e.I ,I as distinguished from the ice and the measurement of elevations receiving special attention. The geologist of the company will study not only the rocks and ice found after landing was made, but also the nature of the deep sea de- posts secured on the way southwark A careful watch win be maintained for fossil forms of animal and vegetable life, in addition to existing forms. But the biologists will probably find more material in the ocean, on the way to and from the Antarctic continent, than on shore.
 During the year spent at the station, i observations of weather conditions and | of magnetic hanges will be made; and | these will be supplemented by similar | studies on the way out and home. lnas- much as the south magnetic pole Is be- lieved to be situated somewhere in Vic- l toria Land, an attempt will be made to | locate the station ash near the western | edge of that subdivision of the con- tinent ae possible. Magnetic and mete- orological observations will, of course, be made simultaneously at the British | station, And it has been suggested that f ha -a1, rf ho lot fht1c obtained will | be greatly enhanced if records are also made during the year at certain other points England will probably have a subordinate station in New-Zealand for this purpose, and Germany on the island of Kergueen, in the South Indian Ocean. But pr. Drygalski urges that provision also be made for observations at Melbourne, Cape Town, Cape Horn and some'place in the Arctic regions like Boeekop. This scheme would yield al most as happy results no doubt as the observations within the Arctic Circle in 1SS1-'S2 at eleven differ ant stations The significance of the air pressure and temperature at one point will be more obvious if the conditions elsewhere are carefully ascertained for 
 The scientific work will be intrusted 0 five experts. Dr. Drygalski will de- vote himself principally to geographical md oceanograpbical study; the geo. ogical, palaeontological and chemical work has been assigned to Dr. F. Phil ippini of Breslau; pr. F. Vanhoffen, of l/ <iel, will cat as zoologist and botanist md Dr. H. Gazert, of Munich, will be he surgeon. The man who will conduct he magnetic and meteorological obser- yations has not yet been chosen. Nor nave the captain and other officers of ' he ship been named. Although the lat CT will be charged primarily with the c luties of navigation, minor scientific york will be assigned to them eventual ! y, inasmuch as the chip is expected to emain in the neighborhbod of the sta ion after landing the party. A vessel has been especially designed or this undertaking, She will be entire y of wood, of a model slightly differ q mt from that of Nansen's Tram, and ,ill be fortified for her conflicts with d eavy seass and Antarctic ice with U ystem of internal supports and triple 5 lanking of oak, pitchpine and green cart. The shipp will be 15l feet in ' sngth, draw 16 feet of water, have a | chooner rig, and engines capable of | even knots Although the expedition, q