Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/518

 SCIENCE OF THE YEAR

Geography.

In the autumn of 1898 the polar expedition of Mr. Walter We 11 man established an outpost in Franz Josef Land in latitude 81°, where two Norwegians were left whilst the main party wintered at Cape Tape 1 toff in latitude 80°. The explorer set out on his northward journey in the middle of February, and in the darkness of the arctic night. For about a month he steadily advanced through a succession of storms and in a temperature often 50° Fahr. below zero, until, in latitude 82° 5' he had the misfortune to fall into a snow-covered crevasse. The severe personal injury so occasioned compelled him to return, and he was carried home- wards for 200 miles on a sledge. In the course of his outward journey, however, much unknown land was explored.

Lieutenant Peary's expedition had also to be abandoned. Frostbite, followed by amputation of several toes, drove him back, though not without some discoveries and several rectifications of the map, particu- larly of Hayes Sound, which is merely a bay, and does not separate Elle8mere Land from Grinnell Land. The highest latitude reached was 82°.

The Duke of the Abruzzi sailed in the Stella Polare on June 12 for Franz Josef Land, whence he will start in the early spring for the North Pole.

The Russian engineers who had been charged to examine the Arch- angel coast have brought back a report that in the Bay of Mezene, in the White Sea, at the mouth of the Kuloi River, is a harbour free from ice throughout the year.

The antarctic regions are now being entered. Mr. George Newnes* expedition, under M. Borchgrevink, sailed from the Thames in the Southern Cross on August 24, 1898, reached the ice in latitude 61° 56', and anchored near Cape Adare on February 17. Here the party landed with their stores, and climbed an eminence of 2,300 feet, from whieh altitude nothing was witnessed but a glacial expanse; and then, on February 28, the ship left them to pursue their course on foot.

The Belgian expedition, under Lieutenant de Gerlache, has returned and reported. On January 16, 1898, in 55° 5' S. and 65° 19' W. sound- ings showed a depth of 13,250 feet. On March 10 their ship, the Belgica, was in 71° 34' S. and 89° 10' W. The sun disappeared on May 17, and did not rise again till July 21. A land fauna was proved to exist by the discovery of three species of insects. On the return