The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-10-08
LIFE AT THE NORTH POLE.
POSSIBLE THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE
LIVING THERE.
Polar Animals and Birds-..Not Frozen
Mass of Ice, but Land and Clear Water
During Certain Seasons

w hat is the North lOle like Is IL
all a continent of solid ice or is there
some land there? Is there any life
there any vegetation? Can human
beings exist there? The answers to
these interesting questions are given
below, based on the best scientific
Snowledge.
That the North Pole is situated on
land seems to be almost certainty.
There is land bare of ice in that part
of the world, and clear water, too.
I Good and scientific reasons lie back
Of these assumptions. That the region
in question is inhabited by various ami
mails is an undisputed fact. 1t cannot
be asserted with confidence that hn-
man beings do not live there.
1t is known that several species OF
birds live and breed in regions far to
the north of any point reached by ex-
plorers. They are seen migrating TO-
ward the pole, their fiOcks vanishing
into the unknown beyond. Obviously,
they cannot lay their eggs OF rear
their young on ice foes or bergs and so
it must be taken for granted that they
find bare land suitable for the purpose.
The rosy gull, most beautiful of all
! its feet winged tribe, spends summer
and winter within the mysterious and
unexplored area. Its species is actual
ly restricted to that area, only occa-
sionally specimens being seen outside
of it, driven to the southwark by
storms. Only once has a flock of rosy
gulls been seen; it passed Point Bar
row, the most northerly point OF
Alaska.
| There must be no small extent of land
in a region that exclusively maintains a
whole species of animals. Open water
there must be all the year around, else
| the rosy gulls would starve. Doubt
less the bird skirts the ice fields in
winter, looking for fish. Two species
Of sandpipers breed in the unexplored
area. The same may be said of at
least one species of goose. Every
| spring brant are seen from Point Bar
row, flying northward, whittier no hui
man being has yet been able to follow.
If there be polar continent there is
no reason for picturing it as devoid OF
animal or vegetable life. In its sur
rounding waters are plenty of fishes
doubtless as we'll as numerous species
of crustaceans; in it's bays seals dis
port themselves, perhaps, and possibly
walrus are not absent. AS for the
fora, there is apt to be as much OF 1t
as is found in Spitzbergen-that is
to say, plenty of moss and hchens,
with even a few Towering plants such
as the yellow Arctic poppy.
The most interesting question about
the North Pole is as to whether hui
man beings are to be found in It's
vicinity. Such notion is not so alb
surd as might be imagined. From de-
cade to decade bold explorers have
ventured further and further toward
the northern extremity of the earth's
axis, but however high thepOint reached
people have always been discovered
sen outlined the north coast OF Green
land, proving it to be an island. Yet
at the north end of the island he came
across a colony of 279 Esquimau pur.
suing contented and fairly prosperous
existence by means of hunting and
fishing.
The man who is lucky enough to dis
cover the North Pole may we'll feel
somewhat discouraged if he finds a
lot of people living there. Yet why
not? The climate cannot be so dread
fully severe; it is certainly not so cold
as north latitude 7S degrees. On that
coldest latitude is situated the town of
Werkojansk, in Siberia. And just
here may as we'll be told remarkable
story that rests on the authority of
Captain Herendeen, formerly engaged
in the Arctic whaling service, and now
employed in the Smithsonian Institu-
ton, in Washington. The event he
describes occurred in the winter of
1885, which he spent at Point Barrow
There is an Esquimau village at
Point Barrow, and also a whaling sta
| ton. One day there was a great COM
motion, and Captain Herendeen saw
half the people of the village running
evidently much excited. They came to
him and told him that three strange
looking men had been seen on the ice
of the Point. They were dressed pecu-
liarly, not in deer skins, but in white
fur, which was supposed to be that of
the polar bear. They acted as if very
| tired, and it was noticed that they had
no guns. This last point was barticu-
larly surprising, inasmuch as nobody
in that part of the world ever goes
without a gun. Now the Esquimau
are proverbial for their hospitality and
amiability toward strangers, and they
were astonished when the three men
took tright on seeing them and ran
away over the ice toward the north
ward. This was what had caused the
excitement.
The Esquimau declared positively
that the three men were not of their
people. Their dress and actions made
this a certainty. If so, whence did
they come? The only tenable theory
seemed to be that they had drifted
on an ice foe from an unknown land