Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/32

4 State of Kentucky). One musk-ox will feed five men 30 days, one walrus 80 days, one whale ten years. It seems absolutely certain, therefore, that each secondary station can be made self-supporting as regards food, depending on the primary station merely for supplies of vegetal origin.

As soon as the explorations from any secondary station shall have disclosed a site suitable in point of distance, position, and food supply, a new station will be established with the preceding one as a base. Provisions and material for a house will gradually be conveyed there, and when everything is ready it will be occupied by a complement of men sent from the primary station. It seems practically certain that by this method a network of stations can be spread over the unknown area without exposing-any one explorer to greater danger than is encountered, say, in the Rocky Mountains; and when this network is completed it will enable any one to traverse the Arctic in any direction. It is impossible to predict how long it will take to complete this work, but twenty years seems ample time. Evidently the cost of this system as compared with that of previous expeditions will be very small—first, because no special ship will be needed; second, because the food supply will be drawn almost entirely from the Arctic itself; third, because most of the plant, once established, need not be renewed. When the system is well developed it will certainly awaken a lively interest in scientific circles all over the world, and volunteers will come forward in great numbers, glad to pay for a chance to spend a year or two in the Arctic. Any residual deficit will readily be made good by the scientific societies, not to speak of wealthy patrons, who have not been wanting in the past, and who will certainly be still more free-handed when assured that their munificence will not lead to disaster. It seems not at all impossible that this network may develop into a permanent "Arctic school," and that eventually no young man of science will think his education complete until he has spent some time at one of those stations.

Summing up, this systematic exploration may confidently be expected to lead within comparatively few years to the following results: