Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/24

25 northernmost point of land he had reached. Various names were suggested, but I well remember Sir George Nares silencing us by saying:

"This is the northernmost point of the American Archipelago yet reached. Remember what Americans have already done in Smith Sound. I shall therefore dedicate the highest point yet reached in America to our kinsmen; I call it Cape Columbia."

Sir George's decision was received with acclamation.

Commander of the Arctic Expedition of 1873–76. 2em I have studied your proposal for a voyage of exploration to Jones Sound, and am confident that with a carefully picked body of observers most valuable results of a scientific nature will be obtained, Personally, I would much prefer for the party to decide to pass a winter at the depot, in order to take full advantage of the best season the following year for exploring, rather than to be confined to the few summer weeks between the date of landing and the return of the whaler in August to take them away again. I fear little can be done at any distance from the depot in the few available weeks in summer in boats, the only means of getting about in July and August; at that season it will be as much as the party can do to explore the near neighborhood and lay in a stock of fresh provisions.

We have every reason to suppose that there are musk-oxen and reindeer on Ellesmere Land, and the first aim of the explorers should be to establish the depot within a reasonable distance of a good feeding valley. Unless such a position is found at once, it may be better not to finally fix upon the site until the return of the whaler toward the end of August.

Editor Petermann's Geographische Mitteilungen. 2em I hail with delight your plan of systematic exploration of the Arctic lands, with the reservation, however, that north polar