St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-03-29
TO VISIT LIEUT.. PEARY.

The following interesting inter
view appeared in the New York Her
aid, with DIR. Cook, the latest Arctic
adventurer:
DIR. F. A. Cook proposes to take
pleasure party to the Arctic regions
this summer.
Most persons think Of the Artic re-
gions as place where the weather
is cold. There is a widespread opin-
ion that Greenland is a dreadful,
desolate land, where there is little
amusement except lodging polar
bears and dying of frost or star
walton; where no one goes except
persons with a desire to reach the
North Pole, and where no one lives
except Esquimaux.
Moreover, the prevalent idea is
that Greenland is a long way off,
and that it is only by taking ones
life in ones hands that one can reach
the country at all.
DIR. Cook says these opinions are
altogether wrong. He has been to
the Arctic regions twice, and he
| ought to know something about
them. In 1891-'92 he was surgeon
and ethnologist of the Peary expe-
| dition. and last summer he led a
party to visit some of the Greenland
fords, which had never been ex-
| plored by white persons. This ex-
petition went in a small pleasure
schooner.
DR.. Cook is also organizing an ex
petition to spend a winter below the
Antarctic circle, and perhaps is 60
ing to reach the South Pole. First,
however, he says he is going to de-
monstrate to every one what a CAPT.
tai place Greenland is as a summer
resort.
He is enthusiastic over the beau
ties and healthfulness of Greenland.
He admits that sometimes in the
winter the weather is trihe chilly,
but even in winter, he says, the eli
mate is wholesome, and in summer,
he AYERS, it is delightful The air, he
says, is soft and warm, for there is
no night to cool it, and the atmos-
phere is most invigorating.
1t is part of his plan to touch at
the house where Lieutenant Peary
and his party are now spending the
four months of Arctic night. The
party will arrive at Pearv's head
quarters about the time the explor-
ers expect to return from their bold
dash over the ice cap to the extreme
north of Greenland.
All this, DR.. Cook says, can be &C.
conplished without more danger
than one incurs in crossing the At
lantic ocean on liner.
The dangers of navigation in
Davis Strait and Bafin's Bay have
been enormously over-rated," he
says. Through July and August
every year properly equipped YES
sci can pass through Davis Strait
and Bafhn's Bay up to the entrance
of Kane Basin without the slightest
danger from the ice 1t has been
proved again and again.
Il cruised last summer three
months in a schooner yacht up and
down the coast of Greenland and did
not see an ice field large enough to
serve as baseball ground-suppos.
ing always that one wanted to play
base ball on the ice. Even in Mel
vile bay, which used to be so much
dreaded, no ship has been detained
by the ice in recent years, and that
is because it has been discovered that
the pack clears out of the bay IL
late July and August.
: ga steam vessel can push on every
simmer without fail as far north as
, Cape Sabine. Therefore my party
, will start from New York about
June 25, and after touching at few
points on the American side will
reach Greenland waters lust at the
proper time.
After the expedition crosses thu
Arctic circle-only a weeks voyage
from St. Johns, Newfoundland-th,
sun will never set upon it during
: three months. Day and night will
be alike available for sightseeing.
ITO a sportsman Greenland is {
country to rejoice in. II he cares TO
big game, there are polar bears
reindeer, white whale and walrus
l have never hunted tigers, but
don't believe that any moment il
: the pursuit of any kind of cat cal
: be more thrilling than the momen
\ when a hundred walrus, barking
with rage, each weighing halt ton
each equipped with big white tusks
:, are charging all together on tn
small boat in which you are Sitting
. with your rife ready to fight them
nd for beauty of coloring Green
land scenery is unsurpassed. Imag
inc promontory of rock 5000 fee
high rising out of the middle of
n white glacier. It's facade, at tn
base, is notified with patches of re