Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/207

Rh tfi 13 (C. 1801-1830.] summers, some exploring work was acconiplislieil, and James Ross planted the Union Jack on the North Magnetic Pole on the 1st of J11i1e 1831. At last they were forced to abandon their little vessel the “ Victory,” and i11ake their way to the whalers in Battin’s Bay in open boats. They were picked up and arrived in England after an absence of four years. While these bold and perilous voyages were being con- ducted in the Arctic seas, a series of land journeys completed the delineation of the northern coast of America, which had just been touched at two points in the last century, by l[ea1'ne and Mackenzie. From 1819 to 1823 the gallant Sir John Franklin, with Dr Richardson and George Back, were struggling to explore the Arctic coast eastward from the mouth of the Coppermina River. After great stifferings they embarked on the river on June 30, 1820, reaching the mouth on July 18, and exploring 550 miles of coast line to the eastward, as far as Point Turnagain. On the return journey across the barren lands, the party escaped death from starvation almost by a miracle. Un- daiinted by this terrible experience, Franklin, Richardson, and Back started on another expedition in 1825, this time by descending the Mackenzie River. Reaching its mouth on July 7, Franklin and Back discovered 374 miles of coast to the westward, as far as Return Reef ; while Richardson explored the space between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Copperiiiine. In 1833 Back undertook a third ourney with the object of succoiiring the Rosses, who had long been missing. He discovered and explored the Back or Great Fish River for 530 miles, and in July 1834 reached its mouth in the Arctic Ocean. The gaps 011 the north coast, which were left by Franklin and Back, were subsequently ﬁlled in by servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1837 Messrs Simpson and Dease, in a boat, connected Return Reef with Cape Barrow. In 1839 the same ex- plorers went from Cape Turnagain to the mouth of B3.ck’s River, and still further eastward to Castor and Pollux River. On August 26, 1839, Simpson built a cairn at Cape Herschel, on King Villiain Island, separated by a strait ten miles wide from the mainland. Dr Rae was sent in 1846 to winter in Repulse Bay, and in 1817 he travelled round the Gulf of Akkoolee and connected the work of Ross in Boothia with that of Parry during his second voyage. In 1854 he united the work of Ross with that of Simpson, and ascertained that Boothia was connected with the mainland of America by an isthmus. Thus the whole northern coast of America was explored and delineated without a break. The Russians were engaged oi1 daring Arctic exploration at the same time. In 1809 to 1812 a Russian ofiicer named Hedenstrom surveyed the New Siberia Islands ; and in 1821 Lieutenant Anjou made further investigations respect- ing the state of the ice to the northward. Baron Wrangell prosecuted similar researches from his headquarters at N ijni Jiolymsk, near the mouth of the Kolyma. He made four sledge journeys over the Polar Sea from 1820 to 1823, ex- ploring the coast from the Kolyina to Cape Chelagskoi, and making several attempts to advance northwards, but always encountering weak ice. Vrangell’s interesting narrative is an important addition to Arctic literature. The Russians, as well as the French, sent several voyages into the Paciﬁc during the first half of the 19th century. In 1804 Admiral Krusenstern made a voyage round the GEOGRAPHY 193 Romanzoff and Krusenstern in the Dangerous Archipelago. l)uring another Russian voyane, commanded b Billincr- hausen, Lazareff and other corzl islands in the Iilangerofis Archipelago were discovered, and in 1828 Captain Lutke, in the “ Seniavine," surveyed the Caroline group. Captain Freycinet, the ofiicer who served with Baudin and edited his work, also examined the Caroline Islands in the “ Uranie” in 1819, but his voyage was mainly in the interests of natural liistory. Duperry in 1822-23 did some surveying work on the coast of New Ireland. But the most important French voyage was that of Duniont D’Urville, who was sent out to seek for traces of La Perouse in 1828. He visited Tecopia and other islands in the “ Astrolabe,” and was nearly a month at Vanikoro collecting relics of the ill- fated expedition. The voyage of D’Urville contributed largely to the advancement of science, and resulted in the publication of a magniﬁcent work in 1830. The only English scientiﬁc voyage to the Paciﬁc in this period was sent out mainly to co-operate with Parr in his third voyage, and Franklin in his second journey. yIt was commanded by Captain Beechey, who had been first lieu- tenant with Parry during his first Arctic voyage, and on May 19, 1825, he sailed from Spithead in ll.M.S. “Blos- som.” After visiting Easter, Gainbier, Pitcairn, and other islands, the “Blossom” arrived at Honolulu on May 20, 1826, and in July she was in Behring Strait, entering Kotzebue Sound on the 22d. Proceeding along the north coast of America, the sliip’s barge got as far as 156° 21’ W. to a low cape called Point Barrow, at the very time when Franklin a11d Back were at Return Reef. The accurate ex- amination of the coast was made under circumstances which demanded great fortitude and perseverance, and reﬂects credit on the officers and crew. The “Blossom” returned to Honolulu in January 1827, and arrived at Macao on the 12th of April. Captain Beechey next proceeded to survey the Loo Choo and Boniii Islands, and, after another visit to the far north, and the coasts of California and Mexico, he returned home by Cape Horn and arrived at 'oolwich on October 12, 1828. His valuable and interesting narra- tive, in two volumes, was published in 1831. Mr James Veddell, a master in the navy, made a voyage to the Antarctic _Ocean in 1822—2~1, and went as far south as 74°. The Royal Geographical Society was founded in 1830, R03-31 The Geogra- aud forms a landmark in the history of discovery. men who initiated the idea and gave it shape were Sir John I}_iri-ow, Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Sir Roderick Murchison, Mr Robert Brown (Prz'n.ceps Botam'cormn), and Mr Bartle F rere. They formed the Foundation Committee. The first president was Lord Goderich, and the vice-presideiits Sir John Barrow, Colonel Leake, Sir John Franklin, and Mr Greenough. Through this organization explorers and students were encouraged and assisted, information was systematically collected and arranged, and the work of dis- covery was advanced. A similar society in Paris preceded that of London in point of time, and now every civilized country has established a Geographical Society. Our rapid review of the progress of discovery since the Asia. foundation of the Geographical Society will commence with the continent of Asia, where there were and still are vast and most interesting unexplored regions. In British India the Trigonometrical Survey has been proceeded with, and is now approaching completion. During its progress the Himalayan peaks were measured, and in 1848 Sir Andrew Him:i- Waugli fixed the height of the loftiest, which he 1ian1ed18)‘f11_1f Mount Everest, at 29,002 feet above the sea. In 1831 1"‘““°' Humboldt published his Asie Centrale, which, with the Erd/rzmde eon Asian of Carl Ritter, gave new and clearer ideas of the orography of Central Asia. Maiiyitravellers explored the remoter parts of the Himalayan chain ; wlnle, in 1848, Dr Hooker in Sikkim, and Dr Tlﬁmson in Ladak, A . —— 2K world, and his pupil, Otto von Kotzebue, son of the dramatist, commanded the “Rurick” from 1815 to 1818 on a voyage of discovery. He discovered the great bay known as Kotzebue Sound, sounded in Behring Strait, and made careful observations of the currents. Wintering in California he returned to the Aleutian Islands in the follow- ing spring‘; and during the voyage hoinewards he dis- covered several new islands in the Paciﬁc, especially