Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-02-15
The Open Polar Sea.

The Arctic Ocean is a vast mysterious sea
lying around the North Pole, with an ice
bound coast of nearly 1000 miles. For
hundreds of years nsvigators have tired in
vain to explore 1t, but so far as Is known
no human being has ever yet gone further
northward than point 4l0 miles from the
polo.
The accounts given us by Arctic explor-
ers OF their adventures in these frozen wa
tiers are full Of interest. They tell us of
vast icebergs, some of which are rose-tint-
ed, of red snow, Of mock suns, and of the
splen9ors of the Arctic auroras.
DR.. Kane speaks of some of these beau
tiful auroras as ''arch-bke In form, corrus-
eating with motions, and rich with chro
matte displays, with beaming wreaihs,
flashing merry dancers and jets of pea
green, purple and violet light" He tells
also of huge polar bears, that live In per
petual snow and whose lives are one great
winter, and of the seals, and of travelling
over the ice in sledges drawn by dogs, and
of the long, dark, Arctic night when for
many months there is no sunshine.
Let ME tell you what ne says about see
ing the sunrise after long and weary
months of utter darkness.
january 29th--Going on deck after
breakfast this morning, found the dawn
ing far advanced. The whole vault was
bedewed with the coming day; and except
Capella the stars were gone The south
ern horizon was clear. l was certain 10
see the sun after an absence OF Sc DAYS.
| took my gun and walked over the Ice
about a mile away from the ship (Which
Was frozen solid in the Ice), to a solitary
spot where great big hummock hemmed
NE IN, opening only TO the south; then.
Parsee fashion, | drank In the rosy light
and watched the horns of the cresc ent ex
tending themselves round toward the
north.
''Very soon the deep crimson blush
tightening into a focus of incandescent
white, showed me that the hour was close
at hand.
Presently the sun camel Never till the
green sod or the ice covers ME, may fore
go that blessing of blessings againl look
ed at him thankfully with a great glcbus
In my throat Then came the shout-three
shouts-from the ship, cheering the sun, =
But the most marvellous story told by
Arctic explorers is, that after going north
ward many h1ndred miles, through vast
regions of night and desolation, where the
cold is so intense that snow and ice are
perpetual, and vegetation cannot live,
they Came 10 great mysterious open sea.
rolling away toward the pole. This sea
contains little or no Ice; It's waters are
warm, and there are other
Indications of an approach to a milder eli
mate.
Dr. Kane says that his party had left the
vessel, and were travelling northward by
sledges drawn by dogs. After many days
journeyIng over frozen fields of thick ice.
and among great ;cebergs that cover ed the
entire sea, east, west and south, they sud
denly found the ice growing soft and weak
This continued until the dogs were terri
fed and refused to go on, when suddenly
they saw to the north, long. dark, band,
which was open water. They altered their
course, and soon came to long cape ex-
tending still nortbward into this mysteri- !
GUS sea- Climbing up some high cliffs,
they looked out upon Its ''white capped
waters, and estimated that it had an area |
OF more than 4, 600 square miles,
Animal life, which, says DR.. Kane, had |
so long been a stranger, now burst upol |
US They saw enormous flocks of the !
elder and king duck, and the brent goose, |
and many other birds which live in warm |
er climates. There were vast numbers of |
sea gulls, and the rocks were crowded with |
sea swallows.
AS they continued their journey, the |
land, ice and snow which had served as a |
sort of pathway fer their dogs, crumbled /
and melted, and at last ceased altogether. |
so that tie sledge was useless, and they |
toiled along on foot over rocks and along |
the beach of the sea. The water grew |
warmer as they went northward. Although
it was early in the season they recognized
many Towering plants.
AS they went on to the end of the cape |
the coast became more wall like, and lofty |
cliffs overhung the sea. From height of
almost 500 feet, which commanded hort |
zon of forty miles, their ''ears were glad
dened by the novel music IF dashIng waves !
and surf breaking in among the rocks at
their feet"
Beyond the cape all IS suHrise, the high |
ridges to the northwest dwlndleG Off INTO
low blue knobs, which finally blended with |
the air" al do no! believe" continues
Dr. Kane, ''that there was man among |
us who did not long for the means of EN- |
barking upon its bright and lonely waters"
People have wondered great deal about |
this open sea at the pole, and many strange
and curious theories have been advanced |
to account for it. 1t IS probably CAUSED
by warm current from the Pacific flowing
into the frozen ocean through Behring
Strait or by tine warm waters of the Allan
tic Gulf stream turned northward by the
cliffs of Nova Z.mbla.
One by one the great geographical ques-
tions like that of the Niles source, have
been settled. The Polsr problem Is about
the only one left to vex the world, and it
cannot be many years before some enter
prIsing navigator will immortalize his name
by being the first TO reach the Pole, the
point which has no longitude.