The Arizona sentinel., 1888-05-12

tions Have Discovered.
 An expedition is preparing in EH-
 gland for the exploration of the re-
 gions about the South Pole. These
 are comparatively unknown. For the
 ignorance that exists in regard to
 them there are numerous reasons.
 They are far from modern civilization
 and off the commercial routes of the
 ocean. The southern portions of the
 two continents are as far from the
 Antarctic circle as some of the
 most-thickly settled and highly-civil- ized parts of Europe. For instance.
 the South Shetland islands, whose dis covery was considered as remarkable.
 and which are spoken of as in the southern polar region, are about as far south of the equator as England is north of it. Most of the islands which have been discovered and which on the maps seem to form sort of icy necklace about it are farther from it than many northern reg1ons which support considerable populations are from the North Pole.
 When Columbus discovered Amer ica he had the desire or intention to circumnavigate the globe. He did not succeed in doing this because the Western continent barred his way. Subsequent navigators endeavored 10 pass the barrier both to the north and south. They easily succeeded by the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn. but failed in finding passage by the northwest, by way of Baffin's bay, to- ward which the efforts of navigatorS were directed for many years. This attracted attention to the region about the North Pcle, which afterward ex- cited curiosity, and caused the send- ing of expeditions of discovery. Mariners came into Northern waters in search of whales and walrus ivory. and the demand for furs led to the formation of the Hudson Bay Com pany, which, in the prosecution of its legitimate business. added consider ably to tho sum of scientific knowl- edge. Later came the expeditions of Sir John Franklin and others, sent out from English or American ports with a feeling of rivalry, or for purposes purely [ scientific Both continents project their northern extremities con- siderably within the Arctic circle, and in this way furnish an important ald in advancing northward. Tribes liv- ing up 10 and within the Arctic circle can furnish some sort of assistance and give information, and there are harbors where ships that have made one summers stage toward the pole can lie up in the winter and in the spring pursue their course with so much of the distance gained.
 In the southern circumpolar regions the conditions are entirely different. Commerce going east or west finds its way past the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, the southernmost points respectively of the two continents, without going near them and without trouble from icebergs. There are not known to be any human be- ings in any of the groups of islands or orpresumed continents within the Antarctic circle, or any where near il, though some of them are cov- cred with penguins, albatross, seals. sea-lions, and during the breeding season white bears abound. The climatic conditions are different from those about the North Pole, owing, probably, 10 the distance of tl.e great masses of land. These give direction to the ocean currents, by means of which the waters warmed in the tropics are sent tOwarl the poles, raising the temperature of the water there and making certain countries productive and habitable that would otherwise be little better than barren astes. The cold at the South Pole can not be more intense than at the North Pole, but it is less modified by the nearness of the continents and the admixture of waters from the oceans in the temperate or semi-tropical re- gions, the warm currents which tend southward along the shores of the con- tinents being cooled or losing their force before they reach the Antarctic circle.
 The voyages toward the South Pole, as compared with those toward the North, have been few, and the details they have given have been meager. Their geographical value has been comparatively unimportant and their contributions to science almost valueless. The idea that there was continent lying to the south- ward of the vast expanses of water c filed the Atlantic, Pacific end Indian oceans prevailed at very early epoch in spanish' American hist0rN This