The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-09-10

American Explorer Who
coneocted by me and placed in the
mouths of these men. Furthermore, the
average white man underestimate the
Eskimos' intelligence in matters per-
tanning to the Arctic.
"The pole has long been the great UNI
known and great unattained of the Es-
kimo as well as of the white man. And
the Importance of the quest for the
frozen goal has long been appreciated
by these mortimer. An Eskimo is a
better Judge of Arctic conditions and
Arctic travel han a white man, and
there is no real reason why the words
of Etuikishaak and Ahwalah will not be
quite as acceptable to the scientific
world as would that of any white man.
Took 400 Pictures.
During my trip 1 took 400 photo
graphs. When the time comes [ will
appear before any geographical society
of the world, and, in the light of de-
velopments, it is probable that 1 will
first appear before the International Po-
lar Bureau, at Brussels, and. present
these photographs along with my other
, proofs. | haven't the slightest doubt
of my ability to convince any compe-
tent and unbiased scientist.
You ask me how 1 am sure / was
on the exact spot which marked the
presence of the pole. 1t is not my pur-
pose to convey the idea that | put my
fingers on any exact spot.
Il believe it would be impossible for
anv mo fO cav what 4 y foot do
termines the polar axis. | am reason
ably sure, however, that when my OBJ
servations AVE been refigured and veri-
fed, they will show that l buried a
flag on a spot that was, for all practi-
cal purposes, the pole.
Within Gun Shot.
ct is, of course, possible that there
will be a slight variation of possibly a
fraction of a linear minute, but / am
certain that the spot which l calcu-
lated to be the pole was at least within
revolver shot of the exact pole.
'To my mind, the biggest factor of
my SUCCESS was the fact that instead
of travelling over the more direct and
usual famine route, relying upon the
food carried by the party, we stuck close
to the game country, and were able to
conserve our own supplies and literally
live off the fat of the land When we
started out both men and dogs were in
splendid condition. Therefore, we were
| able to stand great hardships and
travel at top speed.
Lived as Savages.
"While we were bound north, We ate
only beef, pemmican, tallow and the fat
of the animals we shot. l lived on alb
solutely the same diet as the, Eskimos,
but was able to place our diet on. a
purely scientific basis. Returning, |
gave each man and dog in the party
a pound of pemmican daily, until we
| got far enough south to reach the musk
OK country, when we Were able to relieve
the %monotony of our diet by the flesh
of this beast, which we lassoed and
killed after our ammunition ran low.
while we found absolutely no EVIL
dence of plant or animal life at the pole,
we found bear tracks and evidences of
life in the water at the latitude of SO
degrees. At the pole itself the ice is
practically the same as throughout the
rest of the Arctic zone, with possibly
the exception that it is more active.
| Our observations showed that the drift
of the palor ice is southeast, while the
direction of the wind is southwest. 1t
was a misunderstanding of the condi-
| tions at the outset of our return, that
ice did not drift with the wind that
helped us go astray on Il return trip"
Choice of Routes.
Asked as to his views as to the rea-
son for the long line of failures and the
terrible death roll that has resulted
from previous attempts to reach the
pole, DR.. Cook said:
I'm my opinion, the failure of these
attempts has been owing to the choice
| of routes. Many, of course, AVE been
failures because of inadequate equip
ment, or the overlooking of the party.
It is my opinion that any man skilled
in Arctic travel and educated in condi-
tions existing there, can, by travelling
light and in the winter time, and adj
herring closely to the game country, du-
plicate my accomplishment.
Can Prove Claim.
In the course of the interview with
the Associated Press representative, On
lboard the Hans Egede, DIR. Cook declared
with great emphasis:
II have been to the north pole, and l
have brought back the most exact OBJ
servations, absolutely. proving my state.
ment. have kept : diary throughout