The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-13
GOING SOUTH polling
Best Equipped Arctic Expsdi-
ton Ever Fitted Out
SOON TO GET UNDER WAY
Scientific Results May Prove
of Immense Value.
SOON TO GET UNDER WAY

and its UNEMPLOYED nighborhood OF land
and sea, half as big again as the United
States, manage to resist the effort that
IS about to be made to penetrate their
mysteries It will be almost time to con-
clude that they are not worth bothering
with any more.
Although hansen climbed within 22O
miles of the north pole, while Sir James
Clark Ross, who got nearer TO the south
pole than any other human being, was at
his best 100 miles away from the object
Of his desires, It seems uikely that the
south pole may be the first 70 be reach
ed, for the coming expedition IS going to
be the most elaborate, most thorough,
and best equipped Of any that ever set
out on a pole hunt
The final plans for It are to be arranged
in September at a conference in Berlin
between English and German scientists.
Expeditions from both countries will
start out about the same time-the date
has not been definitely determined-but
they viii start from different points and
follow different routes. The affair IS to
be conducted on such large scale that
it is expected to bring about more
changes in the school. Biographies than
have been made before In many years.
At present the maps merely show vague
little fringes OF land that disappear into
space beyond the seventy-eighth degree
OF south latitude. The earliest map
makes used to fill in such blank space
with queer animals, and there IS plenty
Of room, even on the maps of today. for
4 whole menagerie OF such beasts in the
10000 square miles OF the south poles
mysterious domain.
That the world is not wholly philistine
and sordid is shown by the fact that
Great Britain alone is going to spend
$4,000 on the expedition, and the Ger
man appropriations indicate an expense
almost as great. Yet nobody supposes
that this million dollars will bring a
penny OF interest or add In the least to
the territory Of the competing powers.
Mr.. Balfour said the other day that part
of his satisfaction over the expedition
was because there could not be any ter
rltorfal rivalry between any Of the coun-
tries engaged in Antartic research. He
said he didn't imagine that the most ar
dent advocate Of imperial expansion was
likely to find sphere In which to carry
out his ideas in Victoria Land or the re-
gious around Erebus or Terror. The only
direct financial gain from this unprece-
dented polar investment would be an in
creased knowledge OF meteorological con-
ditions which might help weather obser-
vers to be much more exact in their pre-
dictions.
1t IS believed that the English and Ger
man expeditions will approach the pole
from opposite directions, spending the
winter on the outer edge of the myster-
ious continent that hes behind the ice
pack through which Ross was the first
TO penetrate, Ross was unable to set
foot on this continent owing to the tow
ering ice cliffs that bordered Il, but
Borchgrevink managed to land on IL.
When spring breaks the English and
German explorers. taking advantage OF a
splendid equipment and Of the informa-
ton gained by Ross and Borchgrevink.
expect not only to land but to make an
effective dash due south toward the pole.
Until last year no one believed thot it
was possible to survive the terrors Of an
Antartc winter, but the steamer Bel
gica, sent out by the Belgian government,
got caught in the ice pack as the winter
came on and stuck there three months
without coming to any great harm. Nan
sen says that the Antartic ice pack is less
dangerous than that in the Arctic. for the
open ocean IS o much bigger that It re-
duces the probability OF a severe pres
sure in the pack, the Zee floating about
more freely.
The Antarctic region has taken thelives
az
Into which Andree and his men have been
the last to disappear. But the open sea
which separates the Antarctic belt OF
broken ice from the mainland Is fright
ully rough. and the difficulties OF making
a landing over the vertical Ice cliffs. rare
~ less than $50 feet high, are appaIIinr
Not only does the sea forever lash itself
TO ury at their base. but powerful cur
rents drive the ice to and fro wherever
man would land, as IL nature were doing
her best TO keep what is now her biggest
secret. so far as geography is concerned.
This main land which Ross touched in
1872, he named Victoria Land. and this Is
the same printed on the maps on the
fringe of terra firma jutting out from the
vast blank space around the pole IL
was he. also. who'd iscoveTed Mount Ere
bus. the volcano designated on those
maps. He discovered, likewise. a great
mountain range. and since then explorers
have found volcanoes in eruption on the
side Of the continent opposite Victoria
Land
Fifty yeaers later Borch grevink. fol-
lowing Ross route. got through the Ice
pack Into the open ocean IN a little over
month-and had the first look at VIC
tor1a Land Of any one since Ross sailed
away from 4 fifty years before. Al
though he managed % set the sStlsfac-
ton Of setting foot on the main land. he
narrowly missed Nay!rE Cor II with his
life. FOR the current ana floating ice near
iy carried him away while he was trying
10 return 10 the ship After sailing hack
through the open sea he managed II get
through its icy boundary IN only six DAYS.
Geographers are inclined 10 think that
the main land whose outer edges have
been touched by these and other explor-
ers. is a vast continent. and that when
well-equipped explorers are once landed
on Il progress 10 the pole may not be
excessively dif1cult- No one cares es-
pecially TO find the geographical pole for
that Is only imaginary, and probably not
in the same place as the magnets pole.
over which the needle Of the compass
will become exactly vertical Many i'm
portant Investigations into the magnetic
currents OF the earth can be completed
when it Is known definitely what the
compass VIII do at the south magnetic
pole, when the exact location OF that in
teresting place IS learned. II IS even
thought that the deviations and uncer-