The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-02-29
ANTARCTIC CONTINENT.
The First White Man to Set Foot on Il
Icebound Land.

Icebound Land.
c. Z. Borchgrevink, the Norwe-
Eian explorer, writes graphic ac-
count of "The First Landing on the
Antarctic Continent" for The Gen.
tury. The writer says:
We landed at Cape ,Adare that
night (Jan. 23, 1860, being the first
human creatures to put foot on the
mainland. A peculiar feeling of fas-
cination crept over each of us, even
to the most prosaio natures in our
boat. as we gradually drew near to
the beach of this unknown land.
Some few cakes of ice were floating
about, and looking over the side of
the boat even discovered jelly
fish, apparently of the common light
blue, transparent kind. I do not
know whether it was to catch the
jellyfish or from strong desire to
be the first man to put foot on this
terra incognita, but as soon as the
order was given to stop pulling the
oars I jumped over the side of the
boat I thus killed two birds with
one stone, being the first man on
shore, and relieving the boat of my
weight, thus enabling her to ap-
proach land near enough to let tho
captain jump ashore dryshod
had painted a Norwegian flag On
a large box. which we fastened on
strong pole near the place where we
landed, and leaving the rest of the
crew to be entertained by the pen
gums proceeded alone to investi-
gate the peninsula and to make col
lections. l found seaweed on the
beach, but whether it had grown on
the shores of Victoria Land remains
to be ascertained in the future.
I believe that Cape Adare is the
very place where future scientific
expedition might stop safely even
during the winter months. From
the spot where we were several ac-
cessible spurs lead up to the top Of
the cape, and from there a gentle
slope runs on to the great plateau of
Victoria Land. The presence of the
penguin colony, their undisturbed
old nests, the appearance of dead
seals (Which were preserved like
Egyptian mummies, and must have
lain there for years), the vegetation
to the rocks and lastly the fat table
of the cape above, all indicated that
here is place where the powers of
the antarctic circle do not display
the whole severity of their forces.
Neither ice nor volcanoes seemed to
have ragged on the peninsula at Cape
Adare, and strongly recommend a
future scientific expedition to choose
that place as center of operations
On this particular spot there is am
pie space for house, tents and pro-
visions.
/ myself am willing to be the
leader of a party to be landed either
on the pack or on the mainland near
Colman island. From there it is my
scheme to work toward the south
magnetic pole, calculated to be in
latitude rs degrees minutes, longi-
tude $50 degrees east Should the
party succeed in penetrating so far
into the continent. the course should,
if possible, be laid for Cape Adare,
there to join the main body of the
expedition. AS to the geological re-
suits of future researches, I expect
great discoveries. 1t would indeed
be remarkable if on the unexplored
Victoria continent, which probably
extends over an area of 1000, 00C
square miles, there should not be
found animal life hitherto unknown
in the southern hemisphere. 1t is.
of course, possibility that the un-
known land around the axis of rota-
tion might be found to consist of is.
lands joined only by perpetual ice
and snow, but the appearance of the
land, the color of the water, with
it's soundings, in addition to the
movements of the antarctic ice,
point to the existence of mass of
land much more extensive than a
mere group of islands.