SECRETS OF THE FAR NORTH

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 161, 3 April 1920, Page 7

SECRETS OF THE FAR NORTH

/■——_ \ c i EXPEDITION TO BAFFIXt LAND ' •BiING PfiEPAKED. i . Secrets of Baffin land, one of the portions of the Arctic still unexplored, will • > lw I lie objective of the-M,icMi!lah expedition, which is in preparation for depiirture in the summer of 1921. Although .the".region was visited several < times before the Pilgrims crossed the ; Atlantic to Cape Ood, Baffin Land, from • tile point of view of explorep and 6eien- I list.--, "is still one of the richest and most, alluring fields of research in tlio "i north. ■ . Its whole western shore, more than : HKifl miles in length, is but vaguely defined on the charts. Eskimos have told ' wonderful tales of vast tykes- and towering mountains in the interior, but white men have never visited that section. ; Its flora 'and fauna have never been : ■studied: little is known of the move-' ments of the tidal currents alpng its ' i : shores,' and fuels of geology, mineralogy, and meteorology await the coming of scientific observers. Eie party headed by Donald. Mac Mil Peary's lieutenant, ou the expedition : that reached the North Pole, plans to leave Boston about July 1, 1921, and i hopes to reach Baflin Land in less than a month. The following winter will ba snout on the western shore in latitude 1)3. The camp will probably be just south of the entrance of the dangerous Fury and Hecla Strait where the ships of Captain Parry and Lyon, seekers of I a north-western passage, were- blocked a century ago. That is 160 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 700 miles south < of Etah on the shore of North-western Greenland, where MacMillati's Crockerlaud expedition passed four winters. > Daring the winter attempts will be riinde by dog teams to explore the coast ' '■ : northward and in the following summer . 1 the interior of the island will be pene- i : trated. The plans for tlio expedition ' cull for an absence of two years. In • ' c«6e a longer stay .is necessary, no relief expedition will be sent, according to present arrangements. If tlio sliij) 1s crushed in the ice, the party, plans to retreat by dog teams to Fort- | Churchill, the trading post at, the foot j of Hudson Bay, and to return 'to civili-. I sation by way of North-western Canada. • j i., Tiio schooner Fowiloin will carry tlio . i expedition. The vessel, which is expect- .! Ed to bo launohed shortly, has been J specially.designed for the work required ij of it. She is to bo of 110 ,tons l displacement,uOf fitltiuSlmlly , > Btruotion and .sheiil'lfled on the outside -i ■ with ironwood "to resist the grip., of <, i' llie icn as far as is possible. . I The Hawko's Bay A. and I'. Associa- ! tiou's spring show, 1920, will take placo' j mi Oclooer 20 and 21 next, '