Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-05

winds. The great fields OF ice extending
out from land also are affected by ocean
currents, tides and the winds. This latter
body of shifting ice separated into enor-
nous floes, the low temperature instantly
freezing the opening spaces Of water be
tween, is carried by these disintegrating
forces until met by the resistless swing OF
movement the new ice In the leads is
the polar ice cap and forced back upon
themselves and upon the land. In this
thrown up into high pressure ridges OF great
blocks compacted together. hindering pro-
gress and leaving for a time that great
lead. The ice Of the mld-polar basin pre-
sents few pressure ridges and less Of the
irregularity Of the land ice. 1t varies in
thickness from ten to fifty feet, of which,
perhaps, twelve or fifteen Feet is formed
beneath the surface within two years from
the initial freezing, the rest being formed
in process of time upon the surface. The
upper layers OF old Ice are not salty, as is
the ice at sea level.
Above the eighty-second parallel human
life is devoid of pleasure and OF mental
or spiritual exhllaratiOn. Life consists OF
incessant effort not 10 succumb to death.
An icy wind blows always. We worked
without ~ceasing, during work hours, seven
days in each week. There was no lunch
con, there was no diversion, there was only
an endless round Of dash, stop. chop, lift,
p~ush-dash, stop, chop, lift. push and on to
the next obstacle, perhaps twenty feet,
perhaps 500. At the end Of each day, ex-
cepting the few just before we reached
the pole and on the entire return trip.
when we used the silk tent, we built our
snow igloo. shutting us from the starry
world md fran ~, dao1lvr R.-,a..4 MI.
took US an hour. once within we dis
robed and slept, one man getting into his
sleeping bag at a time for lack of room,
but my two Eskimos used one bag be-
tween them. somehow we would get off
our frozen boots and pants and thrust that
portion of the body into the sleeping bag,
a piece of bricklike pemmican between the
teeth all the time. Tea was an hour In the
making, and by it, help we dislodged the
ice from our head coverings, removed
fur coat and inner shirt. and then the bag
closed over an unconscious form-so I'M
conscious that more than one death by
icequake or hurricane was barely escaped.
Sometimes, II sleep did not lmmediatsly
come, the grateful warmth OF new con-
tact with my own skin thawed my frozen
blood, and l would lie basking in dreams
OF home and the days that lay below the
southern horizon.
In the morning, with heads thrust from
the bags, We reveled In u breakfast Of two
cups Of tea, a biscuit as big as a watch. a
fragment Of frozen meat. and a half pound
OF pemmican. Morning and night each man
drank about one and One-half quarts OF
water, but nrle between. Breakfast over.
the frozen garments were donned, an open
ing kicked In the side OF the iglOo, and We
were again plunging onwar into ths mad
dening influences OF the mOnotonous glitter.
But above every other feeling, excepting
that OF loneliness, was that OF GOODNESS.
There was no escape from It. The very
stars were points OF -down-hanglng iclcles.
Cold and not heat became the terror OF
eternal punishment. The rays OF the sun
smote through closed eyelids with unbear-
able pain, but their heat could scarcely be
felt. II was merelfuily impossible to per-
spire, until toward the last when physical