Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-06-14
After Three Hundred Years.
BY HERBERT L. CoGC.Ns.


Late IN the spring Of 1872 the steam
ship Polaris, having fought its way
through Fury strait. entered the open
waters OF Boothia bay. or all the peo-
pie who knew OF the voyage. only
through the exciting accounts which
filled the newspapers of the time, few
Indeed can imagine it's hardships, the
long dark days when the ice had rem
dered the boat helpless, the dreary yet
scarcely darker nights which sleep
alone made bearable. and a cold which
human sense could only register as
pain.
! At that time | was assistant to DR..
Thayer, the biologist Of the expedi-
tion, and had been looking forward to
the cruise as one long tour OF pleasur-
able excitement.
Pleasurable? ! had used that word,
but now, as l look back and shudder,
IT seems meaningless Days of excite.
ment there were by the score; times
when the awful question of death rose
up before us. Still. they but make
sombre background for the single hour
which is stamped indelibly upon my
memory.
/ The Polaris was anchored in latitude
G9.40.17, longitude $3.50. To the east
was Melville Peninsular, a typical
portion of Northwestern British Amer
lea, to my mind the most dreary and
I desolate bit of land on this whole
round globe.
The snow of the previous year had
worn away, leaving exposed an almost
barren waste. Away from the shore
lev moss covered tundra" o; frozen
swamps. spread themselves on all
sides, while here and there a margin
OF stunted tree growth cut dull line
across the bleak surface. Around and
above all was the funeral gloom of an
Arctic silence.
Out in the bay great ice foes were
moving slowly southwark. Against the
darkened sky We could see them IN the
distance, huge frozen mountains, ap-
preaching steadily and silently like a
fleet OF ghostly vessels bound on some
weird mission of destruction.
1t was on the 7th of May, a particu-
larly large berg drifted so close to the
Polaris that the doctor and l took the
yawl and rowed over to it in the hope
of killing a stranded bear or musk OK.
/ shall not speak of our tedious strug-
giles along that icy cliff. nor of our
weary wanderings over it's cold noun
tainous surface. Terrible as they were
1t is not because of them that the day
is memorable to me.
IIngnrrngCfnl in fhn nd with
only the thought of getting back to
the Polaris in my mind, / was wearily
making my way along the small level
stretch of ice to which our boat was
anchored when my eye caught on
something which caused me to pause.
A few feet ahead of me and buried an
inch or two below the surface was
some dark Opaque object.
Fur" l exclaimed some aossil.'
The St Petersburg mammoth came to
my mind. My shout brought tho doc
tor hurrying towards me. He, too.
was taken with the same idea and with
our hatchets we began the work of ex-
cavation.
a minute later the doctor rDrang
back, and l heard his hatchet fall
changing upon the ice.
Good God" he cried. look"
His last blow had left but a thin.
transparent lens of ice above the OBJ
jcct of his search. A shiver, as a.
some ague, passed through my nerves.
] recognized, not the limb of some long
buried fossil, but, staring up at us with
awful composure, a human face. Had
1een alone l would never have taken
a second look. TO the doctor, however,
such sights were less repulsive, and his
instinct for investigation instarAy re-
asserted itself.
An hours hard work enabled us to
lift the body from its icy tomb. l can
see it now. The massive head and
broad shoulders, the powerful Hmbs.
and even the stern expression CI that
rigid face. In spite of my aversion
the physical aspect of the man aled
me with awe. Never has that picture
arisen to my vision-and the mist of
years have come between-w without i'm
pressing me with the belief that it was