The Aleutian low is a sub-arctic belt of low pressure that stretches across the North Pacific and is centred over the Aleutian Islands. It is separated by an area of relatively high pressure over the North Pole from a similar North Atlantic low pressure belt centred over Iceland. The Aleutian lows are most intense during mid- winter. Research Aleutian Low
A cache is properly a hole in the ground used for hiding and preserving provisions which it is inconvenient to carry. They were used by settlers in the western states of America and Arctic explorers. Research Cache
The chinook is the warm dry wind at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and presents the same features as the fohn winds of Switzerland. The chinook winds descend from the Rockies, and while they are chiefly found in Montana and Wyoming, they also extend from the southern part of Colorado up into Canada as far as the Arctic circle. The high temperatures are confined to the valleys, and occur in streaks or pockets so that a traveller frequently passes suddenly from a very warm to a very cold atmosphere. Research Chinook
The term fur is sometimes distinctively applied to hairy animal skins when prepared for being made into articles of dress, etc, while the name of peltry is given to them in an unprepared state or when merely dried. The animals chiefly sought after for the sake of their furs were the beaver, raccoon, musk-rat, squirrel, hare, rabbit, the chinchilla, bear (black, grey, and brown), otter, sea-otter, seal, wolf, wolverine or glutton, marten, ermine, lynx, coypou (nutria), polecat (fitch), opossum, fox, etc. All the preparation that skins require before being sent to the market is to make them perfectly dry, so as to prevent them from putrefying. This is done by exposing them to the heat of the sun or a fire. The small skins are sometimes previously steeped in a solution of alum. When stored in large quantities they must be carefully preserved from dampness, as well as from moths. The fur-dresser, on receiving the skins, first subjects them to a softening process. He next cleans them from loose pieces of the integument by scraping them with a metalblade. Finally, the fur is cleaned and combed, after which it is handed over to the cutter, who cuts the furs out into the various shapes required to make different articles.
In Europe the furtrade was fed chiefly by Russia, which yielded great quantities of furs, especially in the Asiatic portion of her dominions. Austria, Turkey, Scandinavia, etc, also yielded a certain quantity.
The furtrade of America has long been highly important, and several great trading companies were engaged in it, of which the Dutch East India Company was first. The French early took up the furtrade in Canada, and their chain of forts and trading posts at one time extended from Hudson's Bay to New Orleans. Quebec and Montreal were at first trading posts. In 1670 Charles II granted to Prince Rupert and others a charter empowering them to trade exclusively with the aborigines of the Hudson's Bay region. A company, then and after called the Hudson's Bay Company, was formed, which for a period of nearly two centuries possessed a monopoly of the furtrade in the vast tract of country known as the Hudson's Bay Territory. In the winter of 1783-1784 another company was formed at Montreal, called, the North-west fur Company, which disputed the right of the Hudson's Bay Company, and actively opposed it. After a long and bitter rivalry the two companies united in 1821, retaining the name of Hudson's Bay Company. The monopoly which had hitherto been enjoyed by the original company about Hudson's Bay was much extended; but in 1868 an act of parliament was passed to make provision for the surrender, upon certain terms, of all the territories belonging to the company, and for their incorporation with the Dominion of Canada. In 1869 the surrender was carried out, Canada paying 300,000 pounds to the company by way of compensation. The company still possessed large stretches of valuable land, and many houses, forts, and posts in the region formerly belonging to it. Its operations even extended beyond British America into the United States and to the Sandwich Islands and Alaska. It employed a large staff of agents, traders, Indian hunters, etc. Some of its posts were situated far north, almost approaching the Arctic Ocean.
In the United States, the fur-trade, especially that trade in beaverfur, was an important element in the economic life of all the colonies in the seventeenth century, and in the struggle between England and France for the possession of North America, also in all negotiations respecting the northwest boundary of the United States. In 1809 John Jacob Astor secured the incorporation of the American Fur Company. He founded Astoria in Oregon, and attempted to connect it with Mackinaw by a line of posts and consolidate the whole north-western fur-trade. After the War of 1812 he renewed his attempt. In 1816 the American Congress passed an act excluding foreign fur-traders. Research Fur-Trade
In 1891 the American Lieutenant R E Peary conducted a scientific Arctic exploration to Greenland under the auspices of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He sailed in June and reached McCormick Bay the following month. From here Peary and his wife and party made a number of exploring tours, reaching as far north as 83 degrees. A journey of 1300 miles was accomplished in sleds, and much valuable geographical and geological research was made. A relief party was dispatched to McCormick Bay in 1892. Research Peary Expedition
In geography, a zone is any of the five divisions of the surface of the earth characterised by their latitude or temperature differences. From north to south the zones are divided by the Arctic Circle, the tropic of Cancer, the tropic of Capricorn, and the Antarctic Circle. At the polar extremes are the North Frigid Zone (lying north of the Arctic Circle) and the South Frigid Zone (south of the Antarctic Circle). The North Temperate Zone lies between the Arctic Circle and the tropic of Cancer; the South Temperate Zone lies between the Antarctic Circle and the tropic of Capricorn. The Torrid Zone forms a belt on both sides of the equator between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. This division of zones is a rough representation of the earth's temperature or climatic zones and does not take into account differences in elevation, proximity of oceans, or the movement of air masses. The distribution of climate and biomes is far more complex than these five zones suggest. Research Zone
The Arctic fox or polar fox (Alopex lagopus) is a carnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, found in Arctic and alpine regions. The Arctic fox is greyish-brown in colour, turning white in the winter. It has a shorter muzzle and shorter ears than the red fox, and a very thick coat. The
Arctic fox eats voles, lemmings, birds and eggs during the summer, surviving on carrion and shellfish at the coast during the winter. Research Arctic Fox
The Black-throated Diver or Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica) is a sea bird of the family Colymbidae, native to northern Europe and northwestAsia, which sometimes breeds in northern Scotland. Its colouration comprises grey-brown upper parts with white under parts. The nest is built on islets near deep water, and comprises a shallow depression in grass, usually without any lining, and often by the water's edge enabling the birds to slip straight into the water from the nest. One or two, occasionally three eggs are laid in April or May, and the partners take turns in incubating them for about a month. After hatching, the chicks take straight to the water with their parents who continue to care for them for a further two months. The Black-throated Diver feeds primarily on fishdiving to as much as forty-five metres in pursuit of prey, but also eats crustaceans and molluscs and the occasional frog, worm and aquatic insects. Research Black-throated Diver
Calla is a genus of plants of the family Araceae, order Oronticeae comprising only a few species, the best known being Calla palustris (arum lily, water arum, wild calla). It is a handsome plant with heart-shaped leaves and showy white flowers found in wet places in cool northern temperate and sub-arctic regions of Europe and America. It has a creeping root-stock extremely acrid in taste, but which, when deprived of its causticity by maceration and boiling, is made by the Lapps into bread. The beautiful Richardia ethiopica (Ethiopian lily) was formerly included in this genus, and is still sometimes called Calla ethiopica. Research Calla
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Aleutian Low
