The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-11

was given to the altitude of uplifted and
submerged Irregularities.
Atmospheric, surface water and ice
temperatures were taken, the barometer
was noted, the cloud formations, weather
conditions and ice drifts were tabulated.
There was a continuous routine of work
which does not appear here. 1t belongs to
the specific details of the history of the
exploration, which will appear in the
later publication of scientific data.
This work. like the effort of the foot in
the daily drive of duty, became more or
less automatic, and does not ut an .:ne
enter as an active part of the story. AS
we now ran along over seemingly endless
fields of ice the physical an~earances
came under a careful scrutiny. 1 watched
daily for possible signs of dangerous
failure in strength, for serious disability
now meant a fatal termination
A disabled man could neither continue
nor return, but every examination gave
another reason to push human endurance
to the limit of the strain of every fibre
and cell. The hard work which followed
under an occasional burst of burning sun
beams, brought intense thirst.
Forcing the habit of the camel, we man
aged to take enough water before start
ing to keep suthcient liquid in the veins
for the days march. but it was difficult
20 await the melting of the ice at camp
ing time.
In two sittings-evening and morning
each took an average of three quarts of
water daily. This included the tea and
also the luxury of an occasional soup.
There was water about everywhere in
heaps, but it was in crystals, and before
the thirst could be Quenched several
ounces of precious fuel, which had been
carried thousands of miles, must be used.
And still this water, so expensive and SO
necessary to US, ultimately became the
greatest bane to comfort. 1t ESCAPED
through the pores of the skin, saturated
the boots, formed band of ice under the
kLee and belt of frost about the waist
while the face was nearly always encaseC
i'll a mask of icicles from the breath
necessary part of our hard lot in life. anu
we learned to take the torture philosophy
cally. From ice it comes, to ice it goes.
like the other elements of the body, when
the good preacher pronounces the last
words from dust to dust"
From the eighty seventh to the eighty
eighth parallel we passed for two days
over old ice without pressure lines or
hummocks. There was no discernibIe line
of demarkation for the fields, and it was
quite impossible to determine if we were
on land or sea ice. The barometer indi- |
Gated no elevation, but the ice had the
hard, waving surface of glacial ice, with
only superficial crevasses. The water |
from this was not salty. but all
of the upper surface of the ice of the /
polar sea makes similar water. The /
nautical observations did not seem to in
dictate a drift, but nevertheless the COM
bined calculations do not warrant the posi-
tive assertion of either land or sea for
this area. i
An Air Line Course.
This ice gave a cheering prospect. a
plain purple and blue Il. in easy undula-
tons to the limits of vision without the
usual barriers of uplifted blocks. Over
il direct air line course was possible /,
Progress, however. was q':ite as difficult
as over the irregular pack. The snow
was crusted with large crystals An in
creased friction reduced the speed. while