New-York tribune., 1901-08-12
AnrENTrRE ACCORDING TO RULE.

Farewell. Romance may be the unthinking
cry of those who read our London correspond
ent's admirable description Of the new British
antarctic expedition printed elsewhere in this
mornings paper. For. as he says, the expe-
dition is not going 70 make reckless dash for
the South Pole in the oldtime spirit Of maritime
adventure It has been conceived and will be
carried out in every detail according 10 strict
scientific rules. II e not an adventure but
a scientific operation. Wherefore, Farewell.
Romance The more thoughtful will, however,
according to Mr.. Kipling's demonstration, per
ceive Romance, full hedged and triumphant, in
these very rules and preparations, so scientific
and apparently dry as dust For indeed, on the
very face of II as well as at the inmost heart OF
it, there could be nothing more significant or
high romance and nothing more inspiring TO the
Imagination than the carrying OF the most
advanced and refined equipments or science 10
do battle with the rudest and most ferocious of
natures elemental forces.
And there is no part of the worlds surface
to-day where nature is so wild and rude, and
where she offers so many possibilities Of sur
prise as in the great lone land Of the antarctic
continent Compared with it the region around
the North Pole seems almost commonplace. For
the masses Of humanity live much nearer to
the North Pole and the advances Of explorers
toward il have been much more successful.
We must remember that all of the three great
northern continents upon which men chiefly live
and history is enacted extend far within the
Arctic Circle while not of them reaches
southwark even TO the Equator The other
three inhabited continents are properly cquato-
rial. Not one Of them is TO be described as
southern in the sense that the first named are
northern. and not one of them extends to any
where the Antarctic Crcl" If the north
ern extremity Of England and ireland were the
nearest of all Inhabited lands to the North Pole
how much further away and how much more
inaccessible would that pole seem! Yet It would
then only correspond in distance with the South
Pole. The North Pole is presumably In a small
open sea, with the greatest lands of the earth
crowded closely about 1t. The South Pole is in
the heart of a continent separated from the
inhabited world by vast expanses of sea.
The South Pole and the regions about II have
greatly appealed to Imagination well as to
adventure ever since the epoch making voyage
of Cook. The genius of Poe and the ingenious
fancy of Jules Verne have invested them with
wonder and surprise. Moreover, despite the far
greater cost and difficulty than in the case of
the North Pole they have been sought by not
Il few of the most determined explorers in the
bright annals of adventure. Briscoe. Wilkes
D'Urvllle and Ross are eminent and honored
names. The grim peaks of Erebus and Terror
and the colossal wall Of the ley Barrier, too
have taken their place in the popular mind
among the natural wonders of the world 1t is
therefore fitting that other systematic expe
ditlOns, equipped with all the appliances and
resources of science should renew attempts to
penetrate that land of mystery. Such scientific
equipment may not insure complete success in
the quest for the pole. At least it does insure
| the gaining of practical good results from what
ever progress is made in that direction. The
ship Discovery is the latest and highest achieve
ment of the worlds most adventurous race. The
popular mind well as the scientific may well
wish it good speed as it sails 10 the cry of
"Southward HOr'