THE NORTH EAST PASSAGE DISCOVERED.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 139, 21 April 1879, Page 3

THE NORTH EAST PASSAGE DISCOVERED.

A notable Arctic discovery]!® just ken mado by the Swedish traveller Nordenskjold; no less a one than the solution of the great problom of the North-East Passage, which has vexed voyagers and geographers for centuries. This traveller lias long been convinced that it was possible to pass the mouths of the Obi and xenessi, and to communicate with Bellring s Straits, and n short while back fitted out an expedition to determine the question. In spite of dense fogs and dangerous coasts, largo icebergs and frozen seas, the little steamer forced its way onwards, and in the middle of last August saw, reached, and doubled Cape Tscheljuskm, Jfcnorthermost point of the old world, iwer before passed by any other navigatol That Nordenskjold will reach Behnngf Straits is now a matter of certainty, and in all probability we shall soon receive a telegram from him from some port on the Pacific Coast. Apart from 'the glory of the discovery, and the valuable scientific result of the dredging and trawling incessantly carried on, there w now open to the rich countries of the East a direct market with European Russia, and Archangel will become a port of vast importance. The results which ■will low upon this momentuous voyage can hardly be over-estimated, From another quarter of the Arctic seas news come 3 that tliero is almost a certainty of the remains and relics of Sir John Franklin being found at last, And thus in this eventful year the two great problems of Arctic voyaging bid fair to be finally solved.—Thames Evening Star.