Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 22.djvu/655

EASTERN PASSAGES.

 

WESTERN PASSAGES.

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By the above tables the average hours of fog for each passage show a decrease in the eastern passages from seven hours forty-nine minutes in 1876 and ten hours thirty-two minutes in 1878, to three hours, and three hours and thirty-seven minutes in 1880 and 1881, and eighteen minutes in 1882; and between the sixtieth and fortieth meridians, the ice-region, from an average of seven hours eleven minutes in 1876 to one hour fifteen minutes in 1881, and an entire immunity from fog in 1882; for the western passages a decrease from an average of thirty-seven hours fifty-four minutes of each passage in 1876 to four hours fifty-nine minutes in 1881, and three hours sixteen minutes in 1882; while in crossing the ice-region the average is reduced from ten hours thirty-three minutes in 1876 to three hours thirty-three minutes in 1881, and an entire absence of fog in 1882.

Comparing the western passages via 43° latitude, 50° longitude (route No. 1), with the extreme southern passages (routes 4 and 5), the result is as follows:

1. One passage, southern route (track No. 4).
2. Two passages, southern route (track No. 4).
3. One passage, southern route (track No. 4). Four passages, southern route (track No. 5).