RESULT OF THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 100, 9 April 1877, Page 2

RESULT OF THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Under this head Mr Clements R. Mark' ham gave a lecture before a crowded audience in the theatre of the London Institution. After a resume of a former lecture, he proceeded to show that the suffering endured by the recent Arctic Expedition exceeded all that had been endured in the annals of travelling. Compared with the trials of officers and men when sick themselves, dragging along their sick companions oirer rough ice, all that had been previously endured was mere child s play. (Applause.)— They had returned with a harvest rich in results, and had thrown great light on the subject of the great Polar Basin. These results could not be fully made known for some months, as a great mass of generalisation required to be worked out. Instead of the land east and west of Smith Sound leading further north, according to the accepted notion, the Expedition proved the opposite to be the case, The sea of ancient ice had been reached, and to a certain extent explored. It was not one vast congealed mass, never in motion, bat was subjected to disruption, and early in July' the whole of the huge field was in motion, the coarse being towards the east, with the set in that direction. In September the frost set in, and the pools of water between the floes became frozen ; but the motion still continued, and in this way immense hummocks of broken ice were raised. The ice was so different from that of any other Polar pack that it was necessary to give it a name, and accordingly geographers had accepted that of the Pal»3 w crystic Sea, or sea of ancient ice. From the data obtained it was concluded that land did not exist further north than the point reached by the Expedition, obser* rations taken from a hill 2060 ft high on a clear day, failing to give any signs of land. There was no flight of birds, the only living thing seen being a little snow bunting which had strayed, from the nearest shore. There were no cetaceans, the coldness of the current having destroyed their food. Except one or two stragglers, there were no seals, and conseqtiently no bears. Fo human being had ever before traversed the shore of the Palisocrystio sea, because the Esquimaux, like the bears, were unable to subsist without seals. Further south were the musk ox and the wolves that followed them, the foxes and t'ha hares, and the lemmings, which lived on sasifrAge, and which were followed by the snowy owl. The Palseoerystic sea itself was found to be a sea of solitude. It was comparatively shallow, bottcn at four miles from shore being found at seventy-two ffi thorns. Another indication of shaN lowness was the comparative recent upheaval of the adjacent land. It would appear that the tidal flow from the north down the Robertson Channel, rose three feet at the Alert, and five feet at the Discovery station. Referring to the information of former explorers who barely touched this ancient ice, Mr Mark ham pointed out that the Expedition had shown Collinson, Maclare, Beeeh<*m, and Osborne in error in supposing that this sea was land-locked, and bounded on the north by land. Dr Ppterman's theory, he contended, was based on similar error. The whole j,olar area was no doubt a vast basin, surrounded on all sides by land except at *the great opening between Spitsbergen and Great Greenland. Through this opening, in consequence of tl.e great indraft of warm water from the Atlantic, masses of ice made their way as well as through Robertson Channel, and every outlet towards the south : bat it was clear that old floes remained and grew larger by tfie accumulation of ice and snow every year. The geographical and h^drographical results obtained must have a most important bearing on the meteorological science. Besides their work in the examination of the coast lines the Expedition had made a collection of rocks and fossils of great value. They had discovered good tertiary coal, and brought back impressions of leaves which showed that plants now found in California had grown on the shore of. Palseocrystic Sea, where now only the lowly saxifrage oould be found. For his part he looked upon the discovery of tertiary coal as alone worth the cost of the expedition twice over. (Applause.) On the snbject of driftwood, invariably found in bays open to the west, much was found high above the shore, where it could not have been carried by the action of the waves, and from this wood having the bark still on he was inclined to believe that the trunks of trees found were vestige^ of ancient forests and had grown where they were fonnd. Specimens of the whole flora of ; the new region were brought, home, and i would, according to Dr Hooker have an ! interesting bearing on the distribution of j American and Scandinavian plants. In , addition to" mammals, birds, and, insects, s the sea was made to yield up what it I contained, including many microscopic ! forms. When these results were collated, ( the recent expedition *vould be found to ( be second to none, if not the most success- i ful that ever crossed the Arctic circle, ' as to the means by which the results j '■ were obtained, Mr Markham pointed , out that in the winters of other Arctic j explorers in lower latitudes the sun was i ; absent about seventy-three days, and the ' darkness morn dense, and the cold more , intense than those experienced by other t expeditions. He drew 8 graphic picture ■

of the solitude of those Polar regions, and of the feelings of exhilaration that comforted the Expedition in the consciousness that they were exploring regions were no bumin being had ever trod before, and where every scrap of information eained was a discovery. He alluded also to the bravery and endurance of. the men, especially to the officers who accompanied the Danish interpreter, from one ship to the other when the thermometer was 28 degrees below freezing ano^ who kept him alive by lyinvj beside him, and warming him with the warmth of their own bodies. For his own part be looked upon it as not an unimportant resilt to the Expedition that we have incidents such as these to record, and |o hand down to our children. He merely alluded to the horrors of scurvy and, in conclusion attached much importance to the fact that the recent Expedition had given new Arctic experts who would continue the traditions in the the navy, and who had whetted the appetite for further discovery.