The Portland daily press., 1900-04-24

"I'vs some thought Of fitting out an
expedition myself. You cant give me
sn iisa Of what ought 10 be prepared to
spendf'
"No, / don't think quits know myself
yst what 1t Is going to cost me-"
That seems very probable. The Incl
dentsl expenses OF hobby OF this kini
are not altogether triBilg. ST. GsorEs
NeWnss does not himself say apyth n {
about 1t, but 1t is, l believe. 3 fact that
little return message set out 10 greet
the gallant band ran into about IS, and
anvther conveying informa' IN OF the
bold captains eAfs emerRenoe from the
took another ej note. In August next
there are two expedi' i3ns exIeosed TO
start for the Southern seas. one BY tbe
Germans ana aDothsr by ouf own koysl
Geograpf sal Sot i9ty, aud for this iIsi
one contributor has given no less than
g55, ,OO0.
Ihs Southern Cross sailed out OF tbs
Thames on the 18Th of August, 1893, un-
der Brits1 Tag presented By the Duke
Of York. She left Hobart Town, Tag-
mania. on tbs 18th OF the I, How IA d.
cemher, stesIiug due south for Cape
| Adtir. Here, on the fringe Of an awful
de ISOLATION six or al yht n illton s1usrs
miles In extent. the daring adventure
had ARRANGED tn ret up two small wooden
houses viii IN they oarIisd with them.
and then they were net exactly to burn
tb6 ir boat. but what must have seemed
almost as had, to send her back to
hobart Town. No mortal man bad ever
spent winter on These South Polar shores
| hsfore, and that was what they lad
PLANNED to do-whaf, in fact, thsy hAys
done. They had set up their houses by
| the 2Sth Of February last year, and they
sent their 81 ip away iuto wATmor lati-
tudes and faced the dreadful winter.
which. OF course, is our summer, by
then lives. At the end Ct the fourteen
months the Southern Cross bore down
upon them again. and, according 10 the
mei sage now ecsived, found that their
work was done. OF their landiu In Feb
ruary Capt. BorchRrevik had sent back
an account when the ship left them, and
then all was silence and mystery III now
| when the only item Of sadneis In the
| nev Is the hrisf intimation, ''Xool ogist
Hiooiai Hansen dsad.' he disd, 1t ap-
pears from another telegram, on the voy-
age from Cape Adair TO Cambletown,
whence the message was dispatohed.
"And what Is the sign idcanoe Of the
| Local AZ OF the Southern Magnetic Poler
was question put to q prominent geog-
rapher. "Nest In Its practical bearing
on science or other interests OF any kind2"
1--WE don't know exactly what the mag
netio pole Ia" wss the dubious reply.
IL TO be that point on the globes surflce
to which the needle points In the SOUTH
ern hen Is phere.''
"Yes. that Is so. But the point itself
is believed to shift within osrtsi Ia lin its.
Ita position was determined by Koss in
1871, and 1t is very important to Know
what / It's present p Ii IN, and that is
what sic. George Newnes's Cxpsdit en-
appears to have dore."
"What Is the I'm portance of itS What
practical effect will 1t have in any way
VIII 10 bring down the price of copaols or
upset Che klondiks mining market?'
mo; probably rot Hut 10 will have
a pract'csl bearing on navigation, and
msy fleet some changes in the charts OF
the Scpthern Sess-cbar's affecting the
navigation between New Z3aland and
Aus raliA and that part of the world.
You may be aware that there are only
two lines OF meridian along which the
magnet needle points due north or south.
One runs from st. Petersburg down
through Europe and the Indian Ocean
aad Westsrn A Australia to the south pols,
and the other runs along the eastern side
Of North and South America. on tboss
lines allowance has TO be made for what
is known as t1e magnetic decli nation,
or variation IF she compass. And the
more accurately the actual position of
the magnetic pole can be determined the
more correctly this needle variation can
be reckoned, and this 10 especially i'm
portau6 down in these southern sens, and
will be of great service 80 the expeditions
that are to set out by -And-by."