Evening star., 1933-01-03
Exnloration. 1892.

4A4OoC WIZ biIC hOI1u d uull
place are invited to consider the report
OF the National Geographic Society on
the progress of exploration during 1882
During the year man reached the
greatest height in the air thus far at
tanned and the greatest depth beneath
the surface of the sea- Prof. Auguste
Picard and Max Cosyns, on August
Is, established the altitude record when
they assembled over Switzerland and
Northern Italy in a spherical, alright
balloon basket" They rose 53,672 feet,
slightly more than ten miles. DR.. VIII
liam Beebe and Otis Barton achieved
the depth record in the Atlantic Ocean,
of Bermuda, on September %. In a
steel sphere, constructed to Withstand
tremendous pressure, they descended
2,20o feet, and. through thick quartz
windows in their SHELF observed
strange forms Of sea life.
In the department Of mountain
climbing, q group of German scientists
under the leadership OF DR.. P. H.
Barchers scaled Mount Huascaran, in
the Peruvian Andes, more than $4,000
feet high. Both peaks Of Mount NC
Kinley. Alaska, were climbed May and
o by Harry J. Lick, Alfred D. Lindley
and two companions. These SUBMITS
are more than 10000 feet high. A Bel
gian party, headed by Comte de Grune,
on July 28, reached the top of a pre-
viously unscaled peak Of the Stanley
group of the Ruwenzori Mountains.
Equatorial Africa. The summit con-
quered is 1878 feet In elevation. Two
Americans, Terris Moore and Richard
Burdsall, In November, climbed the
peak Of Minya Konka, Western Szech-
wan. China, $4,000 feet above sea level.
All these enterprises were strenuous
feats, replete with danger.
The Citroen-Haardt expedition in
February completed its 7,37O-nile
crossing Of Asia. All but TOO miles
Of the journey = from the heart
OF the Himalayas to Aqsu, in Chinese
Turkestan-were Travelled in track-type
motor cars. The first east-to-west
crossing by westerner Of the Rub al
Khali, the extensive desert Of Southern
Arabia, was made in the Spring of the
year by H. st. John PhiIby, by camel
caravan.
A Soviet tcebreaker, the siberiakov
made the passage from Archangel
Europe, through 5000 miles Of ice
filed water. to Bering Sea and thence
to Japan, thus accomplishing for the
third time in history this Northeast
Passage"
Other interesting explorations we're
carried to successful conclusions in
Africa, South America and within the
borders OF the United States. All were
important in themselves, but OF still
greater value and significance is the
fact that they represented an undi-
minished concern for the expansion OF
human knowledge Of the earth and Of
the people thereof. Men have not
SSSSoSA W NC SuA AOuo dNOLb CllCA plhllc-
tary home They still respond to the
challenge which stirred Marco Polo,
Columbus, Magellan, Capt Cook, Ad-
miral Byron, Livingstone, Stanley and
the rest Of the adventurous band whom
to name Is to honor. And, though It
may be invidious to say so, they are
more scientific in their methods, as
indeed they should be in the circum-
stances, and their reports are more
accurate If less colorful.
1t will bear mention that the very
fact that so much Of the earth'S sur
face has been explored is a reminder
that great portion Of IL as yet re-
mains unknown. Perhaps the average
citizen, who cannot absent himself for
months or years at time from ordinary
duties and responsibilities, might find
certain satisfaction in discovering for
himself the curiosities and natural at
fractions of territory near to home. It
may seem incredible, but it is true that
there are native Washingtonians who
never have seen Congress in session nor
visited the Naval Observatory nor seen
the environment of the Capital from
the top of the Washington Monument
The most sanguine statesman cannot