The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-10-05
ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

AT last there Is prospect tnal tue hnIarc-
tic continent will be explored. For FIVE
years the Geographical Society of Victoria
has been trying TO raise funds for the ur-
pose. Applications, backed by leading
scientific men, have been addressed to the
public in this country and continental Eu-
rope, without success. Now, at last, the
British Geographical Society has succeeded
in raising from Individual subscriptions
money enough to supplement the appropria-
ton of the Parliament OF Victoria, and DR..
N0rdenskiOld has b zen notified 10 hold him
self in readiness to take the command of
the expedition some time in the summer of
1892. lie will depart 10 explore virgin
field. During the half century which has
elapsed since Sir james Ross skirted the
coast OF the supposed southern continent,
little has been added to our knowledge of
that unexploIel world In 1874 the Chal
lenger visited kerguelen Island in So south
latitude, and, taking advantage OF brisk
noUtherly gale, ran down 10 Co ~, where
she struck the pack; she effected no landing
and was obliged 10 return. Since then no
vessel has entered the antarctic circle, with
the exception of Commodore Wilkes, whose
additions to our stock of knowledge Of the
region were small
Nordensk jold's expedition will consist
of two small steamers with sail pow er
he may start from Hobart Town, in Tas-
mania, or Kerguelen Island, which is six
degrees further south. From the point OF
departure till he strikes the solid ice pack,
his voyage will probably be without Incl
dent. There are no bays or rivers in the
southern continent. A stormy ocean, full
VI floating ice, seething under an atmos-
phe-e which rarely rises above the freezing
point, and is marked BIZ frequent snowfalls.
separates the main land from Australia on
one side and Cape Horn on the other. When
this ocean has been crossed, the new ex-
plorinG party will have to land and pursue
their journey on foot and in sledges.
They will enter country almost as I'M
known as the surface of another planet. In
1871 Sir James Ross landed on two islands
between 170o and 1902 west longitude and in
10 and TO south latitude, respectively, and
in the following year he reached 49, IL, the
nearest point to the south pole ever reached
by man. But the soil on which he set foot
wss covered by an ice-eap which he esti-
mated at two or three huEdTei feet thick,
so that he could not feel absolutely certain
that he was on land at all, and not on the
surface of a mass of ice. He saw an active
volcano L, 400 feet high, emitting smoke and
flame, and this implied the existence OF land.
But he could find no trace of animal or veg
etable life, or even the presence Of mineral.
The icebergs which float from the sO-cailed
southern continent into the Antarctic Ocean
are all tabular in shape, and there is no
dirt on their surface. The theory of geOg-
raphers is that the south pole is surrounded
by a continent larger than Australia, and
buried under an ice-cap which is 200 or 800
feet thick at the edges, and six TO seven
miles thick at the pole. SeismologistS de-
clare that belt of thin earth crust runs
through this continent, and that earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions are frequent there.
No one can contradict them.
Nordenskjold's first duty after landing
will be to scale the heights which Ross and
Wilkes saw and to survey the land from the
eminenee. With the knowledge thus gained
he will be able TO choose a promising route
for his 5ledge journey into the interior. His
party will take with them two years pro-
visions; each week they viii cache as much
food for the return journey as they con-
sumed during the previous seven days.
They will be amply provided with dynamite
to blow up ice masses which impede their
Journey anu an ATTEMPT Will Dc ulaue III
keep up communication with the vessels and
with their base by means OF electric cables.
The value of the exploration to geograph-
zeal and physiogra phical science need not be
explained. If Nor denskjold is successful he
will create new world. His possible dis
coYeries are not likely to enure to the bene-
ft of commerce. but they may shed new
light on the history of our planet. The
southern continent may be passing through
an Ice age-like the ages which were more
than once lived through by the lands in
which we dwell. A discovery of fossils or
other relics, showing that at one time the
climate round the south pole had been tenn
perate, would ex plain many things In the
history Of creation which are now dark.