Norwich bulletin., 1909-10-05
TENTH INSTALMENT
THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE.
BY Or. Frederick A. Cook.

BY Or. Frederick A. Cook.
copyrighted 1909. by The New Yorl
| Herald Company Registered in Cana
da in accordance with the Copyright
Act. Copyrighted in Mexico under the
laws Of the Republic of Mexico. AL
| rights reserved)
! over the newly discovered coast lines
were written Bradley Land, in honor
! of John r. Bradley, the benefactor OF
| the expedition. AS we passed north
| of this land there was nothing sub
stantial upon which to fix the eye.
There was at no time a perfectly
| clear horizon, but the weather was
| good enough to permit frequent nauti-
| cal observations. The course was
| lined on undressing blank sheets
but there were elusive signs of land
| frequent enough to keep up an explor-
| iig enthusiasm.
Man, under the pressure of circum-
stances, will adapt himself to most
conditions of life, and to US the other
world environment of the polar pack,
far from terrestrial solidity, was be-
ginning to be quite natural. There
were at times sufficient surprise and
novelty, mingled with pleasurable an
ticiption, not painful torture, to COM
pei mental interest and physical act
i'r
Thus day after day the marches
we're forced, incidents and the posi-
tons were recorded. but the advent
ures were promptly forgotten in the
mental bleach of the next days eff
fort. The night of April was made
notable by the swing of the sun at
midnight. For a number of nights 1t
made grim faces at us in its setting
teasing mist, drawn as a curtain
over the northern sea at midnight,
had given curious advantages for ce-
lestial staging settling into this haze,
we were unable to determine sharply
the advent of the midnight sun, but
here was a spectacular play which
interested us immensely.
Now the great bulk was drawn out
egg-snaped with horizontal lines
drawn through it. Again, it was
pressed into a basin with flaming fires,
burning behind curtain of frosts;
blue at other times, it appeared like
a huge vase, and ii required very little
imagination to see purple and violet
flowers.
The change was often like magic.
but the last display was invariably a
face-distorted faces of men or animals
were made to suit our fancy
We had, therefore, followed the SUMS
northward advance-from its first peep,
polar gateway to it's sweep OF the
northern ice at midnight From the
end of the polar night, late in FebrlI-
ary to the first of the double DAYS and
midnight suns We had forced a trail
through darkness, blood hardening
temperature and over leg-breaking ir-
regularities of an unknown world of
ice to an area two hundred miles from
the pole. To this point our destinies
had been guarded very well, and ulti-
mate success seemed within grasp, but
we were noL blind to the long line of
GesJ crate effort required to push over
the last distance.
Now We had the sun Enthusiastically
at midnight. and its new glory was
quite an incentive to our life of shiv-
ers. Observations on April 8 placed
camp at latitude Sc deg &c min. lon.
gitude 81 deg. 2 min. In spite of what
seemed like long marches, we had
only advanced los miles in nine days.
Much of our hard work was lost in
pressure lines and high, irregular
fields Of very old ice. The drift ice
was throwing us to the east with suf-
t1cient force to give US some anxiety,
but with eyes closed to danger and
hardships the double days Of fatigue
and glitter quickly followed one an
other.
The temperature, ranging between
thirty-six and forty-six degrees be-
low zero Fahrenheit, kept persistent
ly near the freezing point of mercury.
and though the perpetual sun gave
light and color to the cherries wastes
we were not impressed by any appre-
ciable sense of warmth. Indeed, the