The San Francisco call., 1909-09-05


! est in the problem 1t would not do
| me any good to invent these things.
! The only witnesses 1 had We're two
Eskimos, certainly, but in all polar ex-
peditions observations have been made
| by one man. / regard the Eskimo as
much more Intelligent in finding posi-
| tions than the white man in the arctic.
! These people, as rule, are not abso-
lutely ignorant. They know that the
earth is round. They have name for
the pole, which they call the big nall
They appreciate the work of explorers
| when participating therein.
"I think Rasmussen has obtained
Eesome information regarding my expe-
| dition from the Eskimos. who have
/ learned it from the two with me. Ras-
mussen was there much later and his
possibly tomorrow.
Concerning the ice around the pole.
! SO far as l could see. it was slightly
more active there than at one or two
degrees south. 1t drifted somewhat
more to the south and east. It's gem
eral character is not very different
from that ateother places. We stayed
| around the pole for two days, making
| many Observable / don't claim to
have put my finger the ex-
act spot; ] do not claim TO have
put my foot on IL. but personally
l think we have been at the spot.
When the observations have been fig
| ured out again 1t is possible that there
will be found slight errors and differ
ences, but I am certain that gunshot
| fired from where we were would have
passed over the pole
LEAVES FLAG At POLE
I'VE planted the stars and stripes
at what we believed to be the pole,
but did not leave the flag with a staff
| Instead l placed small silk flag in a
cylinder with my card and record of
the journey with the date. The drift
fee may carry the flag away, but to
me that is a matter of indifference. L
should have been very, glad TO have
found land there.
Il am quite prepared to place my
observations before any geographical
society in the world 1 think there is
not any doubt about my obtaining au-
thoritative recognition. 1 have already
received kilograms from the geograph-
ical societies of Sweden, Norway Den
mark, Belgium and other countries,
which congratulate me. while Amund-
sen, Nordenskjold, Cagni and Lecointe
have acknowledged my work. I offer
my observations to science the same as
other men have done, and I accept the
responsibility.
1t was minus 38. I took about 400
photographs. one of which shows the
American flag flying. These as yet
have not been developed"
Questioned regarding his great
speed Doctor Cook said:
The daily distance covered on the
northward trip was slightly less than
| Is miles; on the southwark trip 1t was
10 miles. This is not abnormal dis
tance for Eskimos on the ice. They
often travel so or 60 miles with dogs.
| One of the greatest advantages of our
trip was that, 1 did not take a famine
route. We had game for long time,
| perhaps for hundred miles. We fed
our dogs well throughout the winter
| in Greenland and ran 400 miles. giving
them fresh meat every day. Thus we
brought them to the polar sea fat and
well. We had the best men and the
best dogs.
We lived entirely on dried meat
and beef tallow reducing the food
problem to a science. The last trace of
animals we saw was bear track at
SO degrees. Afterward we did not
even see life In the water. except algae.
The drift of the ice during the entire
southern trip was slightly south of
east, the direction of the wind was
generally south of west. We found
several of Sverdrup's old camps. The
reason we utilized silk tents on some
occasions was that we were so ex-
hausted that we had not strength to
build a snowshed. We had carefully
figured and planned everything. so that
there was no surplus weight to carry.
We did not run short except when we
went astray.
PREMATURE HUNTING METHODS
I'VE brought 10 dogs back with us,
the others having been eaten by their
companions We used the lasso, traps
and bows and arrows to catch game
1t took two months to learn how to
| trap a moose. One of the men shot an
elder duck with arrows"
| Doctor Cook concluded his observa-
| tions with a reference to the kind way
The had been freatad by the king. Wh0