Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1909-09-03

barked on It's voyage to the pole. It
consisted of IL men and 103 dogs
drawing eleven heavily laden sledges.
The expedition left the Greenland
shore. and pushed westward over the
troubled ice of Smith sound. The
glefy Of the long night was relieved
only by few hours Of daylight. The
chill Of the winter was felt at its
worst. As we crossed the heights OF
Ellesmere sound to the Pacific slope
the temperature sank to minus SO CEN
tigrade. Several dogs were frozen and
the men suffered severely. but we
soon found the game trails along
which the way was easy We forced
through Narsen sound to lands end. In
this march we secured 101 musk oxen,
seven bears and 1886 hares. We push
ed out into the polar sea from the
southern point OF Herbert Island ON
March Is. Six Eskimos returned from
here. With four men and As dogs
moving supplies for eighty days. the
crossing OF the circum-polar pack was
begun.
Survival Of the Fittest
"Three days later two other Eskimos
forming the last supporting party re-
turned. and the trails had been now
reduced by the survival OF the fittest
The two best men and sixty dogs were
picked for the effort. There before US
in line of 460 miles lay the goal. On
March 30 the hor 'zon was partly clear
ed and new land was discovered.
There was urgent need Of rapid ad-
vance. Our main mission did not per-
NIT OF detour for the purpose Of ex-
ploring the coast. Here were seen the
last signs of solid earth; beyond there
was nothing stable to be seen
Ate Their Dogs
1--WE advanced steadily. and now
found ourselves beyond the range OF
all life. Neither footprints OF bears
nor the blowholes of seals were de-
tected The night OF April was made
notable by the swinging OF the sun at
midnight over the northern ice Sun
burns and frost bites now were record
ed on the same day. In spite OF what
seemed long marches. we advanced
but little over 100 miles We were
now about 200 miles from the pole and
siedge loads were reduced One dog
after another went into the stomachs
of the hungry survivors until the
teams were considerably diminished in
number
Pole In Sight
ION April 21 we had reached SO de-
grees 50 minutes 46 seconds. The pole
was In sight. We covered the remain
ing fourteen seconds and made few
final observations. told the accom-
panying Eskimos that we had reached
the Great Nail
Everywhere we turned was south.
With single step we could pass from
one side of the earth to the other:
from midday to midnight. At last the
flag fioated to the breezes at the pole.
It was April q. 1908. The tempera-
ture was minus 3S. centrigrade barom-
eter 90. SO. latitude 80. AS for the
longitude it was nothing. as it was but
a word.
Crazy With Joy
Although crazy with JOY our spirits
began to undergo feeling Of weari.
ness. Next day. after taking all our
observations. sentiment Of intense
solitude penetrated us while we looked
at the horizon. Was 1t possible that
this desolate region. without q patch
OF earth. had aroused the ambition Of
so many men for so many centuries.
There was no ground. only an immen-
sity OF dazzling white snow; no liv.
ing being. no point to break the fright
full monotony. On April 20 we started
on our return"