Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-11-15
THE SOUTH POLE.
POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THE FRIGID ZONES.
What is Known About the Regions
OF that End of the Earth'S
Axis-Open Polar Sea.


Axis-Open Polar Sea.
Almost everybody has heard something
concerning the North Pole, however vague
may be the impression produced by the
term. To man who believes that the
earth is flat--and there are such men,
even in the last quarter of the nineteenth
century-the pole must appear rather
useless appendage says the Brooklyn Eagle
To men generally the North Pole is that
point on a globular earth which is always
nearest the north, which is equidistant
from all parts of the equator or equinoctial
line, which has in it no east and no west,
and in which six months daylight is fol-
lowed by six months darkness. No one
has ever seen the North Pole. so far as
human testimony goes; and, therefore, no
one can say whether the spot is occupied by
dry land, open sea, or perpetual ice. At
the recent meeting in Montreal of the
British Association for the Advancement
of Science, Lieutenant Greedy confidently
expressed his belief in the existence of
an open polar sea, while other explorers as
confidently maintain that the pole is stu
ated in a region of perpetual ice.
But how many among us known even
this much concerning the North Pole ?
There is certainly South Pole forming
the other extreme end of the axis of the
earth, 4 point having the maximum of
l,+i+ nd
day at the season when the North Pole is
yelled in continuous night, and vice versa.
So far as is known, while the northern
hemisphere has about half as much again
of ocean and sea as of dry land in the
southern the proportion is more than six
to one; in other words, continents spread
much less extensively over the southern
than the northern half of the earths sur
face.
THE OLD BIOGRAPHIES
Had a notion that, in order to balance the
constituents of the North, the Southern or
Antarctic Ocean ought to have some great
continents likewise, and for two hundred
years or so occasional voyages were made
in the hope of discovering some such
stretches Of dry land. Juan Fernandez
Just three centuries ago reached pleasant
land which is now supposed to have been
New Zealand-no continent, certainly, and
three thousand miles distant from the
South Pole. Twenty years later a Dutch
whaler under Dirk Gerritz was driven by
Il storm as far rs the high snowy islands
now known as the South Shetlands, nearly
due south of Cape Horn. About the be-
ginning of the following century, Pedro
Fernando de QuiroS, searching about for
the supposed southern continent, lighted
to modern geographers as Pitcairn's Island
and the New Hebrides. Many other
islands were discovered in the vast South
ern Ocean between the times of James |.
and George lIl.-,ome of them by mari
ners who had been driven out of their in
tended courses, and others by men who
boldly steered south in search of ANYTHING
new but the first to penetrate within or
SOUTHWARK OF THE ANTARCTIC CIRCLE
With an avowed purpose of ascertaining
whether land or water occupies that dreary
region, was the renowned Captain Cook.
A little more than century ago he dis
covered Sandwich Land, but effected little
toward the solution of the great problem.
So disappointed were the geographers at
these negative results that they removed
from their maps the term Terra Australia.
which had long ben employed to denote a
supposed southern continent.
We come down to the present century,
when one navigator discovered the South
Orkneys another Palmer's Land, third
Alexanders Land, Il fourth Enderbv's
Land and Graham's Land-all mere little
patches in the midst of vast ocean. One
mariner, Weddell, reached further south
than any predecessor so far as is known,
having attained the seventv-fourth degree
of south latitude-withina about thousand
miles of the South Pole
When the Governments of Europe and
America began to send out expeditions to
those regions there was additional proba-
bility that valuable results would be at
tanned. Louis Philippe dispatched Adj
miral VUrville in 1887, with the corvettes
Astrolabe and Xelee; and during a series
of three years voyaging many islands were
discovered, as well AS Louis Philippe's
Land and Adele Land-the latter named
after DUrville's wife. The United States
Government about the same time placed
the ships Nincennes and Peacock under
Lieutenant Wilkes, with instructions to
PUSH AS FAR SOUTH A. POSSIBLE,
And look out for new lands The Por-
poise, the Sea Gull and the FLYING Fish
afterward joined in the search, and during
four years much ocean was explored for
the first time, but the valuable results
were few in number. Wilkes claimed to
have discovered an Antarctic continent
but he afterward found that it was Dur
ville's ACKNOWLEDGMENT Adele Land
The poor Sea Gull met with disaster some
where, and was never more heard Of.
At length we come to the memorable
expedition of Sir James Ross. more com,
plete and better conducted than any pre-
viously known. The British Association
suggested il in 1888. not 50 much for dis
covering new lands in the south as TO OBJ
tain information concerning the South
Magnetic Pole-a matter of much import
ance to science. The Government. re-
spending to the appeal, fitted ont the
Erebus and Terror and placed them under
James Ross, with Crozier, his second in
command. They left England in 1889.
and did not see it again for four years.
One little fact among the important dis
coyeries Of Ross will tell us what naviea |
tors have long known, that regions near
the South Pole are much colder than those
at an equal distance from the North. On
the midsummer day of that hemisphere
the temperature, even during the hottest
hours was never more than eieht degrees !
above the freezing point. Ross first sighted /
large compact iceber@s in latitude IS: and I
four degrees further south brought him to |
the edge of the pack, a vast field of hum !
mock ice extending over an unknown /
number of miles. The men were supplied |
with extra warm clothing although II was /!
only fortnight after the longest dav. and /
were made for dashiny /
through the foe ice and hummocSs at
points where the more solid packs could be .
be avoided. One
OBSERVATION MADE BY ROSS
Is worth quoting here; In the evening
a remarkable appearance of land was re-
ported During several hours number of |
pointed hills, apparently covered with snow,
were seen assuming an appearance 50 cal /
culated TO deceive the experienced eve
that, had we been prevented from proceed
ing farther, il would doubtless have been
asserted on our return TO England that We
had discovered land at this point This
appearance of land was, however. nothing
more than the upper part Of cloud. mark
ing by well-delined but irregular line. the
limit to which vapor can ascend in these