The Progress., 1893-12-09

LIEUTENANT l.. l.. PEARl.
80 many men have sought i'll vain TO reach.
but which is as sure to be surmounted rs
the world stands and the human race con
tinues to exist.
Though well along in yearS-somewhat
past 5O-and with a head of white hair
Commander Melville probably would not
hesitate an instant to lead a polar party
were the opportunity to be offered nm
Nor i there another man in America bet
ter qualified than he to lead party To .
glorious success. Notwithstanding his age, .
he is a stalwart man, still athletic and as .
hardy and rugged as when he assisted .
De Long in that remarkable escape from /
the ice pack to the north of Siberia and
afterward prosecuted the search for the re
mains of his i'll fated commander and COM
panions in the tundra of the Lena delta.
A Pathetic Picture.
Probably the saddest picture to be seen
on the walls of the government depart
ments in this city is the one which hangs
in the room of the navy department occu-
MED by Commander Melville, who is chief
of the steam engineering bureau of the
navy. 1t shows in graphic fashion the scene
in the Lena delta when Melville, clad IN
heavy suit of fur to enable him to resist
the frightful cold of that, the coolest part
Of the earth-cOlder by far than the north
pole itself-appeared at spot where, pro
truding through the snow like mute ana
unavailing call for help, was the frozen hand
of moor De Long There this brave man
and six or seven of his companions had per
ished miserably of starvation and cold III
one of the bleakest spots which the NINA
of man is capable of imagining. Here Mel
willie found their bodies after search Whlch
of itself was heroic and memorable IN all
arctic work. full of heroism as are those
chapters of mans struggles with nature In
her angriest moods.
/ 1t is a grewsome picture and attracts the
attention of every visitor to the Office Ohe
can scarcely realize that the bluff, hearty
commander. soft of heart and hand, Is the
very man who braved the rigors OF Sloe-
rian winter TO search through week after
week for this sad scene.
The Way to the Pole.
Commander Melville believes he knows
the way to the pole and has not changed the
opinion which he expressed in his book q
few wears ago, that with properly equipped
Marty and Francis Joseph land as point oi
denarture the right sort of men with th'
riGht sort of a leader will be ableto march tC
the mole itself and back again with little
risk of life and without being called upoi
to suffer extraordinary hardships.
Mr.. Melville holds different theory con
cernino the conditions which exist at tn
mole than that held by most arctic stu
dents. He believes the north pole OF ou
earth is surmounted by an enormous &c
, can perbaps 1000 feet in thickness, dwln
ding down to a thin edge 200 or 300 mile
from the pole. The surface OF this grea
ice cap, in his opinion, is almost as level a
a floor. Over it, he believes, party OF me
with sledges could travel at rapid rate
The difficulty which they would encounte
would be in approaching and getting upo
this mass of paleocrystic ice, this sea Dor
Glacier which innumerable ages haV
builded.
Whether this theory is correct or not
certainly is exceedingly interesting, an
we shall never know what the conultiol
of ice. of water or of land are at the ge
graphical pole till some daring explor'
contrives to reach that region, and, wnat
ouite as important, to say the least, to g
. home again. 1t is a pity that Command
Melville cannot be placed at the head OF
Marty setting out to test by actual invest
N cation the correctness of his theories.
N Tho Government were to engage again
. the field of arctic work, it is more than pro
abIe Melville would be chosen for leader
the expedition, but there is no chance tn
the government will do anything OF {
sort. p...s
= While interest in arctic work is very Ike
o,,,,tba neonle of the country and amo