Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-08
FOUND MAGNETIC POLE
Capt. Amundsen Talks OF His
Discoveries.
RECORDS ARE UNDER SEAL
Will Take Three Years to Work
Them Up.
LIKES FROZEN SEAL BLUBBER
Has a Chance to Compare Election
Crowds With Scenes in the
Arctic Circle.
[KES FROZEN SEAL BLUBBER

Waldorf-AStOr1a, IN New YORK, yesterday,
Capt. Raold Amundsen, discoverer of the
northwest passage, discussed the dainties
that he had obtained in the far north and
insisted that certain kinds of food that did
not appear on the menus of New York
hotels are really excellent.
1.-The Eskimos that / met in King Will
lam Land have no facilities for cooking and
live entirely on raw meat and fish, no.
being at all particular about having them
fresh," said the explorer. II think that
frozen seal blubber raw is very good; there
Is no taste of grease such as you get by
cooking it, when 1t is horrid. The best
thing of all, though. Is frozen salmon, which
has a flavor that suggests strawberries. 1t
is perfectly delicious
Capt. Amundsen is not yet in a position
to make public his scientific discoveries, as
the records of his expedition are being
shipped abroad under seal He is on his
way back to his home in Christiania, Nor
way. and he will sail today on the Scandi-
navian-American steamer Hellig Olav. He
reached New York on Tuesday and enjoyed
his experience in Broadway in an election
night crowd. He was the guest of the
Norwegian Society last night at a banquet
held in the Germania Club, No. go Union
street, Brooklyn.
Working Up Reults.
ut will require about three years to COM
pile all my records" Capt. Amundsen de-
clared. when the work is completed we
will probably be able to tell all about the
magnetic pole, what it's extent is and
whether it is stationary or variable. I as
sumo that / reached the magnetic pole,
Judging from my compasses. which ceased
TO move, the needle becoming as fixed as a
stick. made constant operations, covering
a period of two years. and my notes and
figures are very bulky
All of the records of the scientific re-
suits of the expedition are incased In two
kerosene tanks, carefully sealed. These
tanks were insured for $4,000, and on ac-
count of this valuation, were guarded by
armed men until they We're delivered at the
steamship Office, No. 1 Broadway, yester-
day.
Il have taken a great number of photo
graphs, continued the captain. land shall
be able to show the exact scenes that wit
messed. The land almost everywhere was
low and barren, with plenty Of deer moss
There were vast fields of little flowers, yell
low, white and red. often extending as far
as the eye could reach. / suppose saw
about one thousand Eskimos In all. Sew
eral of the tribes had never seen any white
men before cur arrival They were gen.
orally inclined to be timid at the start but
they soon grew friendly.
Il have read somewhere that the lam
guage they speak is very simple and is easy
to learn. That was not my impression. 1t
seems very complicated and unusually diff
by signs and We learned very few words.
In the section of the north where I spent
most of the time the natives use deerskins
almost exclusively for clothing. not seal
skins, as the EskimoS do in. Greenland. One
reason for this probably is because they do
not get the big seals that are caught In
Greenland, but a very small species, and
they require all the skins they get for max
ing their tents and canoes.
Object Of the Trip
There are lots of reindeer and caribou
in that section, and with ordinary success
in their hunting the tribes can procure
what they need without much difficulty. On
my sloop, the GjOa, we always had plenty
OF fresh meat and fish; of course there were
TO vegetables. We lived comfortably and
all kept well. with the exception Of one
man, who died.
1.-The northwest passage is very narrow
and shallow-indeed, an American explorer
reported some years ago that it was not
navigable. The Gjoa managed to get
through, but it had a lot of turning and
twisting to do in following the coast line.
In many places the water was less than a
quarter of a mile in width between the
shore and the ice banks"
Capt. Amundsen's object in going north
was to study the magnetic pole, and he
navigated the northwest passage because
he concluded that it would be easier fo-
him to return to civilization in that man
ner than by the way that he had come. He
obtained automatic Photographic records OF
the movements of his instruments. Lieut.
Godfred Hansen of the Danish navy as
sisted him in his observations.
Capt. AmundSen received telegram yes
terday from San Francisco, announcing
that Admiral Lyons had had the Gjoa
towed to the Mare Island navy yard. There
is movement on foot in Seattle to pur-
chase the Gjoa as an exhibit for the
Alaska Y ukon-Pacifc exposition of 1909.
She is seventy feet long.
The first civilized port at. which Capt.
Amundsen touched after three years in the
arctic was Nome, Alaska, where he; re-
ceivcd the unusual consideration of having
the Gioa exempted from port charges. An
official favor that was next extended to him
was TO permit him to carry all his curios
through the United States without putting
up bond or paying duty. He landed
from the Gjoa at Nome and went alone to
Sitka 10 compare his magnetic instruments
with those of the government in the United
States observation tation.
The Gjoa's mascot. magnificent mala-
mate dog named Sila, was left at Nome
Silla was born on the Fran in the Arctic
ocean, and she has been on several polar
expeditions.
Capt Amundsen has presented his entire
collection to the Norwegian government
The new King of Norway has conferred