St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-05

navigation, however and a very good
idea Of what he can do with balloon %
BORCHGREVINK'S FIRST VOYAGE
The conversation here turned to Mr.
Borchgrevink's trip to Antarctica, and
he gave me a very interesting story Of
his voyage, the most Of which has nev-
er been published. The expedition was
organized as whaling enterprise, and
in order to go, Borchgrevink joined
it as a seal shooter and sailor. He
slept in the forecastle of the little
steamer and did all the work of an
ordinary seaman. Said he:
THE trip was taken with the idea Of
catching whales and seals, though I
went along for purely scientific pur-
poses You know there are different
kinds Of whales. That which is the
most valuable is called the right whale.
1t is a black whale, and is supposed to
exist In large quantities in the wat
ers about the South pole. We did
not find any, however, though I still
believe that they exist in those waters.
We also expected to catch some seals.
I went along as seal shooter, and with
the understanding that I should aid
in curing the skins. We found quite a
number Of fur seal and shot some.
There are many fur seal about the
South pole, though it Is doubtful
whether they exist in as large num-
bers there as they do in Bering sea-"
How long were you gomez" 1 asked.
THE trip took us just five months"
was the reply. 1--WE started out from
Australia in September and returned
on the 18th Of March,"
How far was the point op which
you landed on the Antarctic CONT
nent from Australian"
1T was just about 5000 miles from
New Zealand" replied Mr.. Borchgre-
wink.
THE NEW CONTINENT.
What makes you think the place
where you landed was not an island
rather than a continent?"
Many things" was the reply. I'm
the first place the waters, then the
rocks, the mountains and their dis
tance above the sea. These and nu-
merous other things lead to the al
most positive conclusion that there is
great continent down there about
the South pole. 1t is true that it may
be an archipelago Of islands united
by thick sheets Of ice, but I believe
that 1t is continent. / have made
careful estimates Of the lands which
l visited and of those discovered by
other explorers at different points
about the pole, and I feel sure that
there is body Of land there at least
twice the size Of Europe"
Il suppose the whole country is cov-
cred with ice and snow?"
THAT which 1 saw was Of that nat
ure," replied Mr.. Borchgrevink. 1--WE
Travelled for days through the ice
packs. Now and then we passed great
! icebergs, and our ship was often struck
by heavy pieces Of ice, which made it
tremble and crack"
us there any difference between the
ice of the South polar region and that
of the North?"
| Yes; there seems to be a decided
difference. A part of the ice which we
saw was in great blocks rather than
in mountains of ice, such as you find
at the North. Still they are immense.
Some of the bergs which we passed
rose to a height of three hundred feet
above the water, and when you re-
member that as a rule from eight to
ten times as much ice of such a berg
is under the water as above it, YOU
can get some idea Of their size. Tray
cling among icebergs is not very safe.
and we had at times to move very
slowly"
Suppose you had ship like that of
Nansen's. Could you have made any
better progress? ?'
"Yes," was the reply. "Nansen's
ship would have been a great advan-
tage, but we had to take what we
could get"
HOW IT FEELS.
''The experience Of landing on this