Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-01-10
the warm equatorial current; drift
Al. -

the warm equatorial current; drift
ing off again toward the equator, it
gradually congcals into colossal
ring OF ice, against which explorer
after explorer, from Furneaux to
Bellinghansen, from Wcddcll to
Biscoc, from Wilkes to D'Urvillc,
and from D'Urvillc to Ross, has in
vain attempted to make his way.
From South Pole, as from North, u
huge glacier runs toward the tropics.
Beyond this wall of ice, and in it's
very heart or core, lies land ofthe
Hypcrboreans, where the climate is
forever warm and cquable, and
where six months ofperpetual dark
ness follow six months of perpetual
sunlight. 1t is little strange that
we in the nineteenth century find
the old dreams of Herodotus true in
fact. Yet it stands beyond all
question that at the very heart of
the South Pole there lies pleasant
region, possibly inhabited, with, a
warm sea tapping its shores, which
nevertheless some 200 or 800 miles
from its coast line is locked in by
an iron ring Of icebergs rising high
as the IIimalayas. The inhabitants
if any there be, of this strange
cline, are dwellers in a valley Shut
in by a huge circular wall of crystal
while between them and their CLASSY
barrier rolls that very circumambi-
ent Occanos of which the Greek
cosmogonists sung, and in the eXis-
tencc Of hich the chroniclcr of
Thuril himself believed. We dare
hardly hope that either the North
Pole or South will be reached ere
many years have rolled over our
heads. Ice, which travels toward
the equator faster than the explorer
can make his way toward the pole,
presents difficulty practically in
supcrablc; and If ever we are to
visit the land of the Hyperboreans,
to explore the Erewhon of the South
or to harpoon whale and walrus in
the open ocean of the North, we
shall have to press Mr.. Coxwelfs
successors into our service, and to
travel through the air in aerial
steam-engines as fully equipped for
a three years voyage as is at pres
cnt the Challenger for her long
dredging and sounding tour. But
if we are not at present likely to
reach either Erewhon or kane's
ocean, it is at least certain that the
results which expeditions such as
that of the Challenger are likely to
obtain for us will be of incalculable
value. We have at present no
accurate map Of the oceans bottom,
nor any certain chart of the cur
rents. Indeed, the Wyvillc Thomp-
son expedition, if we may so call it,
is expressly sent ont to dredgc and
rake the sea.
THE GALLANT VESSEL
carries with her 200 miles of sound
ing line, and half 4 hundred miles of
whale line, with which to dredge
Father Oceans depths. She is
armed to the teeth with travis,
seines, and nets; and for day after
day she will hover about, taking
soundings, scrapipg the ocean floor,
and bringing up shells with their
builders, mud, gravel, weeds, and
other specimens of the deep-Sea flora
and fauna. Photographers, chemists,
naturallsts are upon her staff. She
is, in short, a microcosm in a macro-
cosm; and will doubtless do her duty
through each hour of her long and
drcary three years voyage. What
news she will bring back it were
prcsumptuous to anticipate. But it
is certain that on one point, at any
rate, she will add to the solid, ma
tcrial wealth of the world. For the
success of ocean telcgraphy it is
essential to know the contiguration
of the depths of the sea, the shape
and character of its bed, the nature
of the creatures and plants that
haunt it, the force and set of its
currents, the figure and dimensions
of the great ocean basins, and the
temperature of the water at various
depths. On all these points the
records Of the Challenger will have
much to tell us, and upon them
will depend the future of submarine
telegraphy. 1t is, then, upon no com
mon object that the Challenger is
dispatched--that Mr.. Lowe loosens
the Treasury purse-strings, and
that Mr.. Goschen places a Queens
ship with her crew at the disposal
of the Royal Society. For three
tedious years the vessel will be
blowing the salt waves, without in
tcrmission of her labors. The
duties will be long and monotonous,
the voyage weary and exhausting.
All succc. S, then. ought we to wish
to her and to the gallant body of
volunteers by which she is managed.
And should she not discover the
Hypcrborean land itself, may she
yet fit unharmed from north to
south, from the Antarctic Ocean to
the North Pacific, and so return safe
to port, her crew safe and sound,
and herself laden with the rich
spoils OF three years uninterrupted
scientific research.