The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-07-12
| IN THE ANTARCTIC.
ONE PORTION OF THE GLOBE THAT is
PRACTICALLY UNKNOWN.


Exists.
Persistently, as becomes men con-
WINGED of the ultimate success of their
efforts, sanguine band of savants and
explorers have beset successive govern
ments with appeals to take up antarc-
tic exploration. Their perseverance
has so far been unavailing, although
1t Is not easy to understand why, or to
assign any definite reason for such
strange unwillingness. Remembering
how rich were the results garnered
from the labors Of Sir James Clarke
Ross and his gallant coadjutors in the
stanch, but undoubtedly clumsy old
Erebus and Terror, and how vast was
the field opened up for subsequent
workers, the fact that from then until
now no attempt has been made to fol-
low up this great work becomes utterly
inexplicable. Yet believing doubtless,
that all things come to those who
will but wait" for half a century all
those interested in this great question
have waited, scarcely ever relaxing
their efforts to awaken the powers that
be to some recognition of the pressing
claims of science TO be heard in the
matter.
1t must be borne In mind that in that
vast and almost unknown area, more
than twice the size of Europe, one ex-
petition, however well equipped, can
not in the nature of things hope to
do more than settle a portion OF the
problems that silently await solution.
What is undoubtedly indicated as the
ideal treatment of the antarctic ques-
ton is the establishment of an inter-
national polar commission, such as at
tackled arctic problems in 1882. A cor
don OF expeditions surrounding the
southern polar regions, representative
OF all the great civilized powers. and
working in harmony upon preconceived
lines toward definite ends, would add
more in one season to the needed data
for the solution Of the world problems
involved than isolated efforts could do
in a great many.
After all, this planet of ours under
the distance destroying touch of these
latter days has dwndled into a very
small place. And it eeems preposter-
Gus that a region like the antarctic
should have been allowed to retain so
long the secrets it undoubtedly holds.
The illimtable sea of stormy waters that
rolls its unhindered way right around
our globe, where no busy keel ruffles
the wave or smoke of painting steam
ship mingles with the pure, keen air
how strange that it should for so
long have been allowed to maintain
its primitive seclusion! Those appal-
ling barriers of apparently eternal ice,
along which Ross sailed for hundreds
of miles, watching with an indescrib-
able fascination the baffled pillows hurl
themselves against the glittering cliffs
that rose sheer from the sea for hun
dreds of feet-what lies behind them?
Those burning mountains flaming high
amid their frozen Businesses, and light
Ing up the gloomy sky for many leagues
throughout the long, long winter night,
have they no story to tell? And, in
spite of all belief to the contrary, it
may be that land fauna will be found,
that some animals may have been fitted
to live in that wonderful country,
which, as far as is yet known, is abso-
lutely sterile.
Many firmly believe that a warm po-
lar region exists at the southern end
of our earth's axis but with recent light
upon the theory of warm arctic sea,
within the encircling barrier of ice,
there can be little expectation that any
such marvel will be found in the an
the thought that whatever their hard
ships, a virgin field lies before them if
by any means they can get behind the
icy barrier that seems to shut off An
tarctica from prying world, and that
alone, apart from any discoveries they
may make, is sufficient inducement to
adventurous men to make them face
any hardship. To stand where human
foot has never before trodden to come
with the torch of science into the very
penetrala Of nature, for this men in all
times have risked all that life held
dear, and in so doing have rendered in
calculable services to their kind. One
by one, the closed doors have been
flung wide open, the secrets have been
made manifest, and now at the close
o. the nineteenth century only this one
remains.
What should encourage all those who
hope for great things from antarctic
researches is the fact that the earliest
explorers were able to reach such high
ATTITUDES in sm II weak, sailing ves-
sells. Weddell's voyage was made in a
brig the Jane, of 100 tons; and he was
accompanied by cutter, the Beaufoy,
of 90 tons. He was totally unequipped
for conflict with the ice unprovided
with instruments for taking observa-
tions; he was just humble sealer
earning a precarous livelihood. Yet
he reached latitude GA degrees, is
minutes s. only about one hundred
miles short of that attained by the we'll
found and specially sent expedition I'M
der Ross and Crozier. For both We'd
dell and Ross were dependent upon
the wind entirely for propulsion, and
consequently dared not risk what even
low-power steamship might do with
impunity. Besides this, their inability
to get swiftly from place to place him
dered them from finding any sheltered
nook where they might have laid their
vessels up for the winter in case they
had wished to do so in order to begin
their labors as early in the ensuing
spring as possible. But it is hardly
necessary to enlarge upon the immense
advantages latter-day explorers pos
sess in steam; they are sufficiently OBJ
vious. So, too, with all the other ac-
cessories which science has provided
for her servants, most OF the suffering
and hardship attendant upon all these