Evening star., 1909-09-03

| day on board the yacht both alone and
/ with either the commander or the mate.
! He had a sextant of aluminium. which
| was an especially fine instrument. and
| was so much admired by Capt Bartlett
| that he said that If he were not strictly
moral man he would have stolen it lcns
/ ago
The sextant was used in taking the
| observations of the Bradley all the way.
| and much of the time it was handed hy
| DR.. Cook himself. He also had eight or
/ ten of the best compasses that money
/ could buy an artificial horizon. as we'll
a. various meteorological instruments
1t seems to me that DIR. COOK Is EN-
! nently qualified by long experience 1or
/ the task of reaching the north pole ana
/ | think that scientists will agree that he
/ is s1,fficientlv yersed in the knowledge
necessary for him 10 tell whether or not
| he had arrived.
| Broke All Polar Precedents.
| Or Cook has been breaking prece-
dents in this trip TO the pole. His meth
ods violated all the old traditions he
went 1t different season; he did not
! leave a ship frozen in the ice In the oid,
regular way Also he was taking a
/ course which no explorer ever took be-
fore, in keeping away from the eastern
! drift of the ice from the BerlnS sea.
| He profited by other mems mistakes.
| He made his dash to the pole from tne
| west. relying on the OT1lI VI liiC ~ ~
carry him to the eastward. Now, that
seems TO have worked all right
In his outfit was canvas boat, one
which was easily collapsed, and 1t occu-
| pied some OF the space ana weight
| which might have been given to less i'm
| portant things. Also. it took up some
| space which might have been used tor
| food, but ii was worth II.
| Now. according TO the books. when
your arctic explorer gets great lane or
! ha down
by the side of it for while and keeps
hoping until il closes UP. sometimes two
or three days pass before his hope comes
out DIR. Cook went across these places
| in his canvas boat
THE boat can be used for tent at
night and it is handy when not in COM
mission for use as a tarpauln cover.
Had $50 Miles to Cover.
1T was the idea of DR.. Cook that the
people lie left behind him on the land
should cover his retreat That left him
about $50 miles to cover from March IL
| to April 21 the date of his discovery, or
| thirty days. according to my calcula-
| ton. This is an average of only ten
! miles a day.
| The sleds which he had were excep-
| tionaily good, for he made them himself,
and the dogs he obtained from the Eskl-
mos were in the finest condition They
were IdI, SCTOHS anu luli VI me- III ld1 Z,
according to all I can hear, better dogs
| were. never seen. At that. Of course.
there were some which would weaken
and have to be killed, and they We're
I fed to their mates.
with a little good luck here and
there the dogs could easily beat ten
miles a day. and some days go way be-
! yond it. Mr. Peary, in some of his
books. speaks of going as high as thirty
and forty miles day. One can go on
i dc ,oh
| at the rate of sixty miles a day.
Before DR.. Cook left me he said he
would do another thing that no other ex-
Eplorer had done, and that was to come
| back from the fartheSt north on foot,
whether he was successful or not, and to
reach the Danish trading post of Uper-
navik. where he knew that in time YES
| sci must arrive. All this had been care
fully mapped out two years ago.
No Chance to Communicate.
1T has been asked why he did not COM
municate his discovery to the world
sooner. The answer is easy. Because this
| is his very first opportunity.
| Slowly he made his way back. He lived
| in Ellsmereland. He used the meat
which he had left in caches. the oxen
and the hares, etc. which had been killed
| on his way up. He subsisted at times
| on what he could find
1t was only this spring that he was
| able TO get over into the neighborhood of
| Etah, where there were caches.
| Now he comes at last to Cape York.
He knows that the Danish government
! sends a ship there to look after it's colony
and to take calico and merchandise to
trade for ivory of the narwhal. eiderdown
| and blubber. He knew that he could
| eventually meet that ship
| so I suggested to him that he keep
slowed away about his clothing in seal
skin bags f10O in English gold
with which to pay his passage to Copen-
| hagen. and from there to the United
States This he did as he said ne would;
| so when everything had been arranged
/ and | felt that nothing could go wrong.
resented it little when ! was asked to
| contribute to relief expedition which
felt sure that DR.. Cook did not want and
| felt sure that l did not.
But how is he going to get home? 2
| Mr. Bridghan had asked.
The natives I replied, have gone
across that ice for thousands. perhaps
! millions. of years. / do not see why DIR.
/ Cook cannot.
| Well Mr.. Bridgrnan said. he might.
| He certainly has the nerve.
| True Gifts for the Natives.
/ He did it. And now for the last
| thought Of Admiral Melville and others.
/ with him to the north pole and risk
I their lives? How does anybody induce the
| Eskimo TO do anythingo
Here was as fully equipped an eX-
/ pedition as ever went to the frozen seas,
/ excepting neither Peary, DIR. Nansen or
the Duke of Abruzzi. 1t was quietly
! prepared that was the only difference.
| 1t was peculiarly titted out with things
| which were dear to the heart OF the
/ Eskimo. and DIR. Cook had enough of
| them to be liberal.
| so there is doubt, is there. in the
| good admiral's mind about getting the
| natives for carriers? They Will go any
where for a gun. one will work all day
| fcr biscuit.
! How about box of matches occa-
| sionally? ! had shipped 10000 boxes of
| them. \ biscuit. cracker, a bit of to-
| bacco-anything like that-would bring an
! Eskimo to your feet.
! Mr.. Peary used to promise every Es-
/ kmo. who went with him. a gun when
! tie party got back. Those guns cost
| him about $2..D each, l should say. The
| natives used to pick them to pieces and
| come TO us to find out how they worked
/ There were twenty-five guns prepared
! just for the purpose Of rewarding the
| faithful Eskimo.
| But beyond all this there is personal
/ element that must be considered. for
4 the Eskimos are very fond of DR.. Cook
| They remembered him when he came
with Peary: they recalled his other eNpe-
/ ditions. When they saw him coming
/ ashore they ran up and down the shore
/ for JOY. waving their hands and shouting
/ their welcomes.
Had Eskimos' Confidence.
| He can speak their language and they
| know that he is a square and honest man.
! He could get them to go with him any