National emulation, more particularly since the great success of Nansen, seems to have played the chief role in all the recent researches undertaken in the vicinity of the poles.

No fewer than three expeditions were organized in 1902 for the main purpose of reaching the North Pole. Otto Sverdrup, the Norwegian, with Nansen's old ship, the "Fram," started in through Smith Sound; Lieut. Robert E. Peary, of the United States navy, pursued a like course; while Mr. E. B. Baldwin, also an American, selected Franz Josef Land as his point of departure, although Prince Luigi, of Savoy, had only just vainly attempted it.

The expedition led by Capt. Sverdrup was incontestably the most successful, says Dr. Herman Haack in his Geographen Kalender. As early as 1898 his expedition was already under way. He spent the first winter north of Cape Sabine, where, by means of extended sledge journeys, he explored the fiords of Hayes Sound, in the following spring even advancing as far as the west coast of Ellesmereland. Finding the ice conditions no more favorable in 1899 than in the previous summer, he abandoned forthwith his former plan and fixed upon Jones Sound as the starting point for his investigations, in the hope of finding on the west coast of Ellesmereland a better and freer water course to the north than the narrow neck of Smith Sound can afford, which is so easily obstructed by the pack ice from the Pole. Sverdrup met with difficulties in Jones Sound also, for he could push no farther forward than Inglefeld had reached in 1852, and so he took up his second winter quarters at the point where the coast of Ellesmereland seemed to bend northward, under north latitude 76 deg. 29 min. and west longitude 84 deg. 24 min.

The sledge journeys of the fall of that year established the fact that Ellesmereland extended much farther westward than was supposed, and was separated from North Kent only by the Belcher Channel, a small arm of the sea. In the spring of 1900 Sverdrup continued the exploration of the west coast of Ellesmereland, where he discovered a deep fiord, while his assistant, Isachsen, examined a large body of land lying to the west of it. The "Fram" being free from ice in

August, the passage through Jones Sound was continued, but the ship was soon fast again in the Belcher Channel near the westernmost point of Ellesmereland, and Sverdrup established his third winter quarters under latitude 76 deg. 48 min. and longitude 89 deg. The fall of 1900 and the spring of 1901 were devoted to sledge journeys.

Sverdrup himself continued his exploration of Ellesmereland, examining anew and more thoroughly the fiord which he discovered the year before, after which he turned northward and succeeded in reaching the most westerly point occupied by him in the spring of 1899, to which he had then proceeded from Smith Sound.

Isachsen proceeded westward and discovered north of North Cornwall two larger islands, exploring their southern coasts till they turned toward the north. Under latitude 79 deg. 30 min. and longitude 106 deg., he reached his farthest western limit, from which point neither to the west nor to the north was any land visible, and from the character of the floating ice it was not probable that any land existed in either direction. In July of that year the north coast of North Devon was explored in boats.

All attempts to get the "Fram" out of the ice having failed, Sverdrup was compelled to pass a fourth winter in 1901-2 in this region, during which other extended sledge journeys were undertaken. Following the west coast of Ellesmereland, Sverdrup attempted to reach 80 deg. 16 min. N., 85 deg. 33 min. W., the farthest point attained by Lieut. Aldrich, of the English Polar Expedition of 1875-76, on the west coast of Grinnell Land, coming down from the north. He was not successful, however, though he penetrated as far north as 80 deg. 37 min., which was but a short distance from the goal. Sledge journeys undertaken by other participants in the expedition resulted in the exploration of the west coast of North Devon. In the beginning of August, 1902, when the "Fram" was again free from ice, Sverdrup started immediately upon his homeward way, reaching Stavanger on the 19th of September. The chief result of this expedition was the discovery of large land areas west of Ellesmereland, and since the discovery of Franz Josef Land no such extension of our knowl

edge of these regions has been signalized.

Lieut. Robert N. Peary, U. S. N., conceived a plan of reaching the North Pole by sledge journeys, accompanied by no one but Esquimaux and his black servant Henson. For this purpose it became necessary to establish, well to the south, a point of departure that could be reached every year by a ship, which could supply fresh provisions and new outfittings, that were to be pushed toward the north and deposited in caches along the coast. The weak point of the scheme lay in the fact that the advance to the farthest points already reached required so much time for so small a sledge crew that further penetration into the unknown must be undertaken at an advanced season of the year, when the stability of the ice made such a movement questionable. The winter of 1898-99 Peary passed at Etah, on the eastern shore of Smith Sound, in order to interest the aborigines in his plan, buy dogs, and perfect other preparations. After his ship, the "Windward," reached him with fresh supplies in the fall of 1899, he was transported to Cape Sabine, which he had fixed upon as the starting point and base of the expedition. Here he passed the winter of 18991900. In the spring of 1900 he undertook a sledge journey straight across Ellesmereland, and in the fall of that year established a line of depots toward the north. In the spring of 1901 he made the first energetic move toward the Pole, which led him from Grant Land in the direction of Greenland. He passed the most northern point, 83 deg. 24 min., reached by Lockwood in the Greely expedition of 1882, and fixed, under latitude 83 deg. 39 min., the northern extremity of Greenland. He followed the coast toward the east until it began to bend decidedly to the southeast in the direction of Independence Bay, thus establishing the insular nature of Greenland.

On his return he made a dash for the north and reached 83 deg. 50 min., the highest point thus far attained on the American side of the polar archipelago. During the spring of 1902, Peary even exceeded this. Starting from Cape Hekla, the northernmost point of Grant Land, he proceeded over the ice as far as 84 deg. 17 min., while Capt. Markham, in 1876, succeeded only in reaching 83 deg. 20 min. from this side. From the European side,

however, Capt. Cagni, of the Italian expedition, starting from Franz Josef Land, attained the advanced position of 86 deg. 34 min.

Peary was obliged to make his dash in April, and, as was the case with Markham, he found the ice in a very unsatisfactory condition; the immense hummocks of compressed drift-ice increased the difficulties of travel for both dogs and men. There were no traces, however, of the unchangeable paleocrystic ice mentioned by Markham, for on the return Peary met with numerous open places and channels which caused serious delays. No land was visible to the north of either Greenland or Grant Land. In spite of the unsuccessful termination of his expedition, Peary is still convinced that the best point of departure is from the American side of the archipelago, and, moreover, that, with an early start from Grant Land, the Pole may be reached by sledge. Though Sverdrup and Peary added to our knowledge of the Polar regions, the third expedition fitted out by Mr. Ziegler, an American, and under the direction of Mr. Baldwin, who started from Franz Josef Land for the Pole, was closed without definite results. Several small islands were discovered; the hut in which Nansen and Johansen lived in 1895-6 was again found; some scientific events were noted; meteorological sketches and photographs of the Northern Lights were made, and yet the finality of the expedition was fiasco. No earnest attempt to reach the Pole was made. Serious friction between Baldwin and Fridtjof, the sailing master of the expedition, is responsible for the unsuccessful termination.

a

Among the most important of the Polar expeditions is that led by Baron Toll, a Russian, for the discovery and exploration of the island either existing or supposed to exist to the north of the New Siberian Islands. Having twice before, in 1886 and 1894, visited the northernmost of these islands, Toll left Europe again in 1900 in the steamship "Sarja" upon a similar quest. Upon entering the Sea of Kara, he did not pick up the ship which was bringing him coal, and since both the condition of the ice and the open sea were favorable to his designs, he preferred not to wait for it. Cape Tscheljuskin, the extreme northern point of Asia, and the intended termination of the first summer's journey, was not reached, but the condition of the ice.

compelled him to put into Colin-Archer haven, at the entrance to the Taimyr Straits, on September 26, where he passed the winter.

Failing in two attempts to gain the mouth of the Jenissei by crossing the land, Lieutenant Kolomeizoff finally reached it by following the coast. During the spring of 1901, the extent of Taimyr Bay was carefully explored upon sleds, and through the discovery of the hut in which Lapten spent the winter of 1840-1, as well as by reaching the most northern station of the Middendorf expedition of 1843, the mouth of the Taimyr River was definitely fixed. The "Sarja" could not proceed till August 25. Cape Tscheljuskin was safely rounded and the course set for the location where, according to Toll's observation in 1886, the distant Polarland, seen as early as 1811 by Sannikow, to the north of Kotelny, ought to be. This point was passed without sighting the supposed land, and a few miles before reaching Cape Emma, the southernmost point on Bennett Island, discovered by the "Jeannette" expedition, the ice became so packed that further progress northward was impossible. On the return voyage the ship cruised again in the vicinity of the supposed Sannikow land, but without sighting it. On September 24, 1901, the "Sarja" froze in at the island of Kotelny, in Nerpitscha Bay, where the expedition passed the winter. Whether or not Sannikow and Toll were deceived as to what they saw cannot yet be determined. It is quite possible that they may have miscalculated the distance and that the island may lie farther north in a section not touched even by Nansen's

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drift in the "Fram" during the long winter night of his journey in 1893-4. Being unable to get coal from the Lena River, the "Sarja" became unfit for long journeys; accordingly Toll resolved upon sledge journeys to the north, similar to those undertaken from the "Fram" by Nansen. The geologist, Birula, began such a journey May 11, intending to explore the largest of the New Siberian Islands. June 5 Toll followed him, accompanied by the astronomer Seeberg and two Jakuts, but touched only at the northernmost point, Cape Wyssoki, which he left on July 13, crossing the ice for Bennett Island. Toll left Lieut. F. Mattheissen in charge of the "Sarja," but August 21 arrived before any carnest effort could be made to proceed to New Siberia and Bennett Land to bring back the sledge parties. About Kotelny and Faddejew the ice was so thick that these islands could be passed neither to the north nor the south, and since the open season was fast drawing to a close, Mattheissen brought the "Sarja" back to the Lena, where he anchored in the bay of Tiksi September 8. Being too deep of draft to steam up the river, the "Sarja" was abandoned, and the crew, together with the scientific collection and instruments, were transferred to Jakutsk on the small steamer "Lena."

It was expected that Toll and Birula would return to the mainland at the beginning of winter, but Birula returned in 1903, in good health, without having seen Toll. Perhaps the condition of the ice between Bennett Land and New Siberia prevented Toll's return, and it was held that he would attempt it again in the spring of 1903.

-Statistical Year Book of Canada.