Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/25

26, properly so called, such as Nansen's, are still justifiable. Where there is question of large unknown areas, reconnoissances, though of necessity cursory, have always proved advantageous. The two methods of exploration, the systematic and the purely geographic, are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. It was a grave error of Weyprecht to regard the systematic method as the only justifiable one. We owe to him indeed the international polar epoch, but he was also the cause of a complete stagnation in geographic polar investigation.

Although in their fundamental idea your project and Weyprecht's are related, yet in all other respects they differ. This is true, especially as regards the duration and the principle of gradual areal expansion. In that way the entire scientific work becomes different. Only that I should say that in this respect, too, you ought not to expect too much in the beginning, especially as regards the secondary stations. Since your plan looks forward to an indefinite future, you can wait quietly till the work grows of itself, not only areally, but also in minuteness.

ÉLISÉE RÉCLUS 2em I heartily congratulate you on your selection of Jones Sound as the route of advance, since that is one of the gateways which seem to present a far less dangerous avenue than many others in the direction of the Pole.

(of the Greefy party, who, with Lockwood, reached the highest north 83° 24-5', in 1882.) 2em

I feel deeply touched by your generosity in offering to relinquish to me the command of your expedition. Arctic exploration having always been my foremost ambition, and your plan being, in my opinion, one of the most practical ever presented, I recognize in your offer the finest opportunity of my life. It is with