The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-04

outfit Is meager. A team Of dogs a sledBe
and its fittings, few furs' a needle ana
thread, a stone upon which to make
fire a piece of flint and a piece OF IVORY
pyrites 20 make sparks, and rev pieces
of frozen meat, comprise his OUTFIT WIN
this he roams eisurely over all the habit
able Arctic regions. But the pole seeker
must press on beyond the limit of animal
life He must carry his bed, his clothing
and sufficient food for Inc whole journey
The length of this journey will not be
less than three months, and 1t may be
five months Herein lies the difficulty. If
one could depend upon the game, as do
the EskimOs upon the march, there would
be no serious obstacles. A pole seeker
can learn to eat raw and frozen meat and
become quite adept. Frozen meat IS
more digestible as a regular thing
than pre-digested food but even frozen
meat is luxury, though its freshness be-
comes doubtful when it is carried five
months
what the OUTFIT should BE.
I should like to take up this part OF
the subject the daily ups and downs, ana
the comforts and discomforts of the flu
ture pole walker, but space will not per-
nit
From the lessons of the past, from a
study of the Eskimo habits, and from
personal experiences, let me tabulate what
l regard as an ideal outfit for the many
who wish 30 pin the Stars and Stripes 10
the poles The clothing should be made
after the Eskimo pattern, of strong but
light furs For the bed, bag made of
reindeer skins is sufficient; for shelter,
a light silk tent should be on hand for
use when il Is not possible to build snow
house; as food the staple diet must ever
be of pemmican, a mixture of dried beef
and beef tallow. These, with tea and milk
and biscuits, make a satisfactory menu.
BY way of travelling gear the old McClin-
took sledge is the best. 1t has been some
what modified by hansen and Peary, but
il still remains the old pattern in essen
tias. 1t has broad runners, curved at
both ends, with a light elastic frame
work
Snowshoes are Indispensable. Regarding
these there is room for difference OF
opinion, but, in my judgment, for hard
work there is nothing equal to the rack
cts first made by the Canadian Indians
The number and variety of instruments
will depend upon the character and
amount of expected scientific work. ana
last, as a means of traction, there is moth
ing equal to the Eskimo or Siberian dogs.
1t is possible to accomplish much by hu-
man force, but dogs are great advan>
tage over man in that they are more eco
nomical in the consumption of food, and
strange as it may seem, dogs are more
tractable and more easily brought under
lar conditions To these dogs this life is
normal; 10 man it is abnormal
The equipment must be somewhat modt-
fed to conform to the conditions of the
expected attack. The path TO each pole is
somewhat different. For an attack upon
the northern geographical pole the route
is almost certainly over rough and NOV
ing sea ice. 1t is possible to pitch head
quarters, or at least, plentiful way sta
tions within ten degrees of the pole. This
would leave 600 miles to cover on foot
Perhaps advance supplies may be pushed
still nearer. In order to make advance
stations certain, however, land is neces-
sary 1T seems reasonable to expect some
rock islets north of Greenland as far as
the 85th parallel, surely to the &th. II
stations were placed here there would be
only 800 miles to cover.
For the inexperienced traveller who
hopes to make a quick dash to the pole,
with no other object but to gain rapid
road to fame, even 800 miles is impossible.
To the man who understands polar condi-
tions and is willing to bunk on snow and
feed on frozen meat for three months or
three years however, there is absolute
ly nothing impossible in crossing TINS hVe
or ten degrees of latitude. Journeys of
greater length were made by the search
expedition after Franklin and DeLons,
and Journey Of seemingly greater mag
nitude was twice made by Lieut.. Peary,
who forced a path thirteen hundred miles
across the highlands of Northern Green
land, a region more bleak and inhospita-
BILE than ultimate polar regions can be
expected to be.
The North Magnetic Pole.
Compared with the northern geograph-
teal pole the north magnetic pole is easy
Of access 1t was located by Sir John Ross
about sixty years ago. From his expert
ence we know that 1t is possible to fix a
permanent land station within a hundred
miles of the exact spot An expedition to
this interesting region would give certain
and important results.
The work of Ross was done at time
| when the science of terrestrial magnet
ism was in its infancy. His instruments
were primitive and imperfect, and his
methods for present purposes, entirely I'M
| reliable. To make a magnetic survey of
| the regions about the North Magnetic
! Pole is far more important than a geo
| graphical survey of the Northern Geo
! graphical Pole. 1t offers no obstacles
| comparable to the hundreds of miles Of
| moving ice which will have to be crossed
and recrossed in the regions farther north.
| One hundred thousand dollars, in the prop
er hands, would certainly complete this
| most valuable work.
| Turning from the little known Arctic TO
the less known Antarctic, We assail a re-
| gion yelled by the darkness of mystery.
| The Arctic is now slowly coming out4rom
under its sleeping SHOWS which have bur-
led the sterile lands for centuries, but
| che Antarctic Is augmenting its overland
sea of ice which already covers every rock
| Offering a surface upon which snow can
rest. Ice and snow are here heaped on
| in such quantities that it becomes a DIFF
| ficult task to determine the difference be-
| tween landless ice masses and icy land
| masses. The South Polar area is every
where fenced by circumpoar sea of de-
| structive ice. The shore is everywhere
| guarded by stupendous wall of glacial
ice and the interior is everywhere hope
| lessly submerged by weights of ice of
| unimaginable thickness. He who seeks
| 20 dissolve the film wtich hides the great
| white blank about the under surface of
the globe will have all of the Arctic diff
cultes multiplied ten times.
OF the South Magnetic Pole we know
next 10 nothing. 1t is just as important
as it's Northern companion. Not less than
efxy htra -, 1,