The First Landing on Wrangel Island | Page 4

Schlecht. Salix polaris, Wahl. Luzulu hyperborea, R. Br. Poa arctica, R. Br. Aira c?spitosa, L. var. Arctica. Alopecurus alpinus, Smith.
I made a collection of several spiders and of some larv?. The spider, it appears, is an "undescribed species of Erigone," and the larv? are probably lepidopterous. A small shrike was also secured as a specimen. We saw several species of gulls, a snowy owl--which by the way was very shy--a few lemmings, and the tracks of foxes and of bears.
Microscopic examination of mud obtained from the bottom, in the vicinity of our anchorage, revealed some shells of foraminifera. The density of the sea water, and the dip of the magnetic needle were ascertained here, as well as at other points in the Arctic; and as the observations are entirely new, I give the results in the accompanying tables. The water densities are from observations of Mr. F.E. Owen, Assistant Engineer of the Corwin.
The instruments used in obtaining the results were a thermometer and a hydrometer. Water was drawn at about six feet below the surface and heated to a temperature of 200�� F., and the saturation, or specific gravity is shown by the depth to which the hydrometer sank in the water. As sea water commonly contains one part of saline matter to thirty-two parts of water, the instrument is marked in thirty-seconds, as 1/32, 2/32, etc., and the densities are fractional parts of one thirty-second:
--------------------------------------------------------------------- POINTS OF OBSERVATION. Temperature. Density. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
At Saint Michael's, Bering sea 50 1/4
Off Plover bay, Asia 34 3/4
Arctic ocean, near Bering straits 32 3/4
Arctic ocean, near ice on Siberian coast 32 5/8
Bering sea, off Saint Lawrence island 34 3/4
Golovine bay, Bering sea, July 10 42 1/2
Bering sea between King's island and Cape Prince of Wales, July 12 44 3/4
Entrance to Kotzebue sound, July 13 47 3/4
Cape Thompson, Arctic ocean, July 17 36 3/4
Icy cape, July 24 36 3/4
Herald island, in the ice, July 30 31 3/8
Cape Wankarem, Siberia, August 5 33 3/4
Wrangel island (surface, in ice), August 12 31 1/2
Wrangel island (below surface 6 feet), August 12 31 5/8
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The following table, showing the dip of the magnetic needle, was prepared from observations made by Lieut. O.D. Myrick:
---------------------+------------+------------+----------- | LATITUDE, | LONGITUDE, | | North. | West. | DIP. LOCALITY. | Deg. Min. | Deg. Min. | Deg. Min. ---------------------+------------+------------+----------- ALASKA-- | | | Ounalaska | 53 56 | 166 13 | 66 53.5 St. Michael's | 63 27 | 161 37 | 75 00.6 Kotzebue sound | 66 03 | 161 47 | 77 05.0 Cape Sabine | 68 50 | 165 10 | 78 47.8 Icy cape | 70 08 | 161 58 | 79 56.3 Point Barrow | 71 23 | 156 15 | 81 18.6 | | | ASIA-- | | | Plover bay | 64 21 | 173 11 | 73 34.7 Cape Wankarem | 67 48 | 175 11 | 77 09.7 Wrangel island | 71 04 | 177 40 | 79 52.5 ---------------------+------------+------------+-----------
To commemorate our visit, a flag, placed on a pole of driftwood, was erected on a cliff, and to the staff was secured a wide-mouthed bottle and a tin cylinder, in which I enclosed information of our landing, etc. On raising the flag three cheers were given, and a salute was fired from the cutter in honor of our newly acquired territory.
These evidences of our short visit, which was soon afterward supplemented by the more extended exploration of the Rodgers, having now become matters of history, it may be remarked with pardonable pride that the acquisition of this remote island, though of no political or commercial value, will serve the higher and nobler purpose of a perpetual reminder of American enterprise, courage and maritime skill.
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE NORTHERN INHABITANTS.
From an anthropological point of view the Eskimo coming under observation proved most interesting. The term Eskimo may be held to include all the Innuit population living on the Aleutian islands, the islands of Bering sea, and the shores both of Asia and America north of about latitude 64��. In this latitude on the American coast the ethnical points that difference the North American from the Eskimo are distinctly marked. It cannot, however, be said that the designating marks of distinction are so plain between the American Eskimo and the so-called Tchuktschi of the Asiatic coast. I have been unable to see anything more in the way of distinction than exists between Englishmen and Danes, for instance, or between Norwegians and Swedes. Indeed, it may be said that much of the confusion and absurdity of classification found in ethnographic literature may be traced to a tendency to see diversities where few or none exist. To the observant man of travel who has given the matter any attention, it seems that the most sensible classification is that of the