The Hudson Bay Company, incorporated in 1670, had all this time been actively at work investigating the new territory in the northern part of the American continent, and all this district became fairly well mapped out.
Modern ingenuity has not succeeded in accomplishing very much more than was done by the ill-equipped mariners of centuries ago. American expeditions and English expeditions have gone farther into the North, but they have cost more lives. They have been more venturesome and have obtained considerable scientific data, but their gain is not in proportion to the advance in their facilities, and it seems to be established that the contest against the great icy fields of the Polar regions is one that will be waged a long time before man is the conqueror.
The expeditions of our own naval engineer, Peary, are well known to us; and the trip of Greely was an interesting one. This last was undertaken by the United States after agreement among the various nations of the world as to the wisdom of pushing a series of stations in the Arctic regions for observation. A number of these stations were established, and Greely had charge of the American one.
Of recent expeditions, that of Nansen has attracted most attention because he succeeded in reaching farther North than any one before him had ever been and returned to tell the tale. The case of Andrée, who sailed away last July in his great balloon, expecting to pass over the North Pole, is interesting for its novelty of plan. He was equipped with provisions to last him at least two years, and accompanied by only two comrades on his long voyage.
The question is often raised whether Arctic exploration pays. Probably by itself, that is, if it would have no bearing upon anything else, it would not pay for the lives that are lost by it and the money that is spent upon it. But when we consider that every scientific fact is an addition to our knowledge, and may influence for great good some other line of work which would seem to be in no way connected with it, it is undoubtedly true that the explorations should continue on scientific lines until no part of the globe which can be reached is unknown to man.
=Gordy's History of the United States.= =Crown 8vo, 480 pages,= =$1.00 net.=