Sailing from the coast of Greenland at about the middle point, near Disco Island, in the early part of September, one leaves a land with a delightfully pleasant climate and warmth almost like that of the early autumn of temperate latitudes, and proceeding south-westward across Davis Straits to Baffin Land, two or three hundred miles southward, there finds himself in the midst of the conditions of early winter. The Greenland coast is not snow covered, plants are still in blossom and the hum of insects is heard; but in this more southern latitude, on the American side, the summer insects have entirely disappeared, only a few belated flowers are seen in protected places and a thin coat of snow covers all the land. Light snow may fall here during any time of the summer; but in spite of these differences Baffin Land is not ice covered, while Greenland is. The ice cap of the interior of Greenland is present less because of the severity of the climate at sea level than from the fact that the air which reaches this land has become humid in crossing the water areas, and further in the fact that the interior is a highland. On the Baffin Land side the interior is less elevated and there is less water to the westward in the direction from which the prevailing winds blow. * * * * * CAUSES OF POVERTY.[1] [Footnote 1: Report of Richmond Mayo Smith, Franklin H. Giddings, and Fred. W. Holls, Committee on Statistics of the New York Charity Organization Society.--Condensed for Public Opinion.] The most interesting, and at the same time the most difficult, problem connected with an analysis of cases is to determine the real cause of destitution. It requires great experience and intelligence on the part of workers in charity to give even approximately the fundamental reason why a certain family has come to destitution. To classify cases from records without personal knowledge of each case, and then simply to count the cases, is a very inadequate method of arriving at the truth. The primary difficulty, of course, is to reach a classification. The one adopted by Mr. Warner in his book on American charities is: 1. Causes indicating misconduct; 2. Causes indicating misfortune. Under the first head come drink, immorality, laziness, shiftlessness and inefficiency, crime and dishonesty, a roving disposition. Under the second head come lack of normal support, matters of employment, matters of personal capacity, such as sickness or death in family, etc. The trouble with such a classification is that one cause may lie behind another, as drink is often the cause of lack of employment, of sickness or accident. On the other hand, lack of employment may lead to drink, immorality or laziness.