The San Francisco call., 1898-06-22
CROESUS OF THE
 FROZEN NORTH. PeterJ. Cox, Seal Hunter
 and Millionaire. BRINGS A WONDROUS STORY REACHED A POINT MANY MILES NORTHWEST OF DAWSON. Claims to Have Met Survivors of Three Expeditions - Plunged
 From Frugality Into Ex-
 travagance.
BRINGS A WoNDRoUS STORY
REACHED A POINT MANY MILES
 NORTHWEST OF DAWSON.

Peter J. Cox, the seal hunter of the frozen North, accompanied by J. G. Der ny, arrived in this city yesterday morn Ing rom Vancouver and he tells story or adventure and isolation in the polar re- gions full of interest and color. He has just completed tour of the world last ing four years. His starting point was the bleak and barren grounds of the un- visited portions of Alaska. Crossing the narrow strip of sea which divides Alas ka from Siberia he visited that country, passing through the iceffelds of North eastern Asia and then travelling westward until he reached Moscow. From life of absolute frugality he was introduced to the civilization and refinements of Paris and London life. After traversing two hemispheres he is now in San Fran cisco He will soon leave for a brief visit to his old home among the icefloes
 Cox, according to his own story, was taken when a babe in the cradle to the then uneXplored Alaska. About thirty years ago his father left Lawrence Mass to seek his fortune in Alaska, then re- gently annexed to the United States. The son was about two years old at that tune and father and son have lived to- gether in close union from that day un- til four years ago, when the latter start ed on his globe-trotting expedition. The last word that the son heard from his d It was that he was dying, and this is the reason why Cox will again return to his sealing station, many miles northwest of Dawson City.
 land of everlasting white. He says that for three decades he had not made the ac- Quaintance of white man other than the few survivors of the Greedy and Peary expeditions, and he strongly aS- serts that he met several of these ill., fated bands. One John Kelly of the Greedy expedition has been engaged with him and his father in the occupation of turning to civilized lands after being res cued by the Coxes.
 Peter J. Cox, as his tale goes, has met members of the most historic of all eX- ploring bands in the very time of their greatest despair. He claims to have seen Nansen and his crew off the northern coast of Alaska. In his travels Cox heard Nansen lecture and he does not entertain the most flattering opinions as to Nansen's veracity in his observations on Esquimaux life, especially in regard to the purity of the marital relations among the inhabitants of polar regions. Cox says that the ESquimauX are ignorant of the institution of marriage; that a wife in the far north is chattel that may be traded for furS.
 Following out his occupation as seal hunter Cox started from a point 800 miles north of Dawson and established sta tions 100 miles apart across the fcefields tO llS liloSb HUI Liitill pOlAit, Celllcd 1Iil- inn. Here was the destination of his ice march. The journey was made on sledges and in boats. The large crevasses in the ice allowed the passage for boats and this mode of travel was always pre- ferred to the journey by sledges.
 Cox, according to his own reckoning, is a millionaire. He says his fa- ther deposited in a London bank s, 900 ,000 for his use while in Europe. The seals were always shipped to a station in Si- beria and there forwarded to Liverpool and Paris.
 The wealth of the Klondike does not appeal to Cox. He says there are greater fortunes to be made ill harpooning the seal in the unfrequented north Take the shirt off my back and put me in the old place and I will get another fortune in a comparatively short time" he said. His isolation from an English-speaking people has made Cox more of a scholar in the Esquimaux language than in his native tongue. He etraveledthrough Europe with a tutor, who, however, did not ac- company him here.
 The arduous and severe life of the frozen lands will be but memory to the seal-hunter. He intends to settle in civ lized regions after one more visit and leave the snow, the ice and the hardships of harpooning the fur seal to others.
 Polar expeditions are objects of ridi- cule to Cox. He says the only possible way to reach the north pole is to estab- fish stations along the line until that much-desired place is reached. He sug- gests his own method of travel (that by sledges and crossing the~small openings in the ice by means of boatS).