The morning news., 1897-08-29

seen IN any numbers farther south than
Hudson bay and its tributaries, or some
OF the lnlets in Siberia, and in the waters
above Alaska. They appear west OF Green
land about June IS. they come In droves
and remain through the summer and the
very moment that the first ice appears in
the north end OF DAVIS strait they disap
pear as quickly as they came. You may
search Hudson bay from shore 10 shore.
after the middle OF september and not a
'bowhead' is to be found
Now the whale cannot remain comfort
ably more than about thirty minutes be
meath the surface OF the water The long
est period a Greenland whale ever staid
beneath the surface was tifty-five minutes
ana when they pulled him up he was
dead. These animals do not come south
IN winter; they cannot so east nor west,
hence they must so north. Nobody ever
claimed, or though of doing so, that they
hibernate at the bottom of HUDSON bay.
BY an instinct they tell the time when the
ice foe approaches the north inlet OF
Davis strait. and they move north with
out delay.
The warm currents flowing into the
Arctic ocean meet and create an area of
open water around the pole, l have never
seen it-perhaps no one else has laid eyes
upon it-but Old whalers know II is there,
for they have left off chasing the bow
heads as they went north in autumn too
many times to be deceived with reference
To the fact that the arctic whale heads
for the north pole in winter. The whale
cannot live under ice, and the bOwhead,
at least, does not winter in southern wa
ters, and where can he go but to the open
polar sea?
In addition to this the whole region
from Labrador in the highest latitude yet
reached by civilized men is torn and buff
1eted by bales such as are never known
in warmer climates Hurricanes blow over
Melville Island worse than any tornado
that ever swept the plains OF Kansas.
These terrible winds fan suddenly but
from any direction, and disappear after
they have exhausted their force. What
makes them?
1T is a well known principle that wind
on the surface of the earth is caused by
hot air rising and cold air rushing in
from above or along the earth's surface
Now, on the supposluon that the north
pole is surrounded by an open sea for
about ltfteeen or twenty degrees south
ward, and that this sea is warm, you
have the conditions to account for the
gales Of the frigid zone. The air in this
little belt of waters being much warmer
than that beyond rises and the cold waves
from the southwark rushing in make the
disturbances which every navigator has
seen in the latltudes below. They cannot
be satisfactorily explained on any other
theoy.
'On the contrary, suppose the north pole
crowned with ice; suppose that glaciers
ana ice foes extend Ia the winter to the
southern shores of Hudson bay-the whale
could not live, and the Arctic night would
be unbroken in its icy calm, for there
would be nothing TO disturb the atmos-
phere of that frieid climate There would
be no rising of hot waves and rushing in
OF cold winds to CONCEAL the blood Of
every living t1ing which ventures into the
frozen north from October to June.
FINALLY, the existence of an open sea
around the pole has been pretty well es-
tabiIshed by observation. Parry sailed
past Spitzbergen in 1877 and pressed for
ward on that remarkable sedFe Journey
over the rotten foe Ice 10 50 degrees and
Is minutes north latitude. He halted at
last on fragment of ice, and looked out
upon the open palor sea. There was no
blink beyond, and no evidence tnat either
land or ice lay between where he and his
companions stood ana the pole.
Kane also stood OL the shores OF that
silent ocean and had an unobsructed view
north ward to the limit OF VISION He died
in the belief that if he had been in pos
session Of a boat he could have reached
the goal of all Arctic explorations. Nan
sen also brought back proofs that such
a sea exists. His vessel never had any
difficulty in drifting north, but was al
ways resisted when 1t went IN any other
direction. Why? Simply because there
was open water above him and the leo
diff met no resistance. And whence came
that belt of fresh water beneath the ice
found in all his soundings but from the
melted ice In the open ocean thawcd by
the warm wafer of the currents which boil
and bubble 20 the surface. and keep IL
forever open as the winter lair OF the
whales and the swimming pool of the
Arctic birds which go south In summer
to uest?"
"Nansens last suggestion, that a ship
fashioned like the Fran should enter the
Japan current early In the summer and
gonorthward is the first gleam OF sense
that has dawned upon the minds of any
of the explorers. If he does that he viii
get to the pole, even IL his ship is smashed
to kindling wood IN the ice foe on the
Greenland side.
'As for sledging to the center Of the Arc
tic circle from some point far south, IL Is
time 20 abandon such a hopeless task No
one can expect to accomplish more than
Parry did in 1877. The hardships and ia
tique finally forced him 10 turn backward
at 81 degrees 40 m!ntes just as it did Nam
sen at 8 degrees minutes. Sledgers might
toll up 10 50 degrees, or q Ii. tie CHER, per-
haps, and then they will look out upon the
open sea toward the goal they cannot
reach"