Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1909-09-09

eoucocted by me and placed in the
mouths of these men, Furthermore. the
average white man undere~timates the
Eskimos' intelligence in matters per
tanning to the Arctic.
The pole has long been the great un-
known and great unattained Of the Es-
kimo as well a. Of the white man. And
the Importance Of the quest for the
frozrn goal has long been appreciated
by these northmsn- An Eskimo il a
better judge Of Arctic conditions and
Arctic travel than white man, and
there i No real reason why the words
u Etuikishaak ami Ahwalah will not he
quite a. ace~ptable to the scientific
world as would that Of any white man
Took 900 Pictures.
During my trip | took 400 photo
graphs When the time comes | will
appear before any geographical ss-srss
q the wsrtf. and. IN the iigat OF -
v~lopmsnts, it = probable that will
nrst appear before the International Po-
lar Bureau. at Brussels, and present
these photographs along with my other
proofs. haven't the slightest doubt
OF ny ability 10 convince any compe-
tent and unbiased scientist.
You ask me how | am sure was
on the exact spot which marked the
presence of the pole II Is not my pur-
pose to convey the idea that put my
fingers on any exact spot
Il believe ii would be impossible for
any man to say what square foot de-
terminss the polar axis. am reason
ably sure, however. that when nv OBJ
servatious have been refgured and veri-
fed they will show that buried a
flag on a spot that was, for all praeti-
cal purposes, the pole
Within Gun Shot.
1T is, Of course. possible that there
will be slight variation Of possibly a
fraction of a linear minute, but I am
certain that the spot which l earcu-
lated to b. the pole was at least within
revolver shot OF the exact pole.
To my mind. the biggest factor of
my success was the fact that, instead
of travelling over the more direct and
usual famine route. relying upon the
food carried by the party. we stuck close
to the game country. and were able to
conserve our own supplies and literally
live of the fat of the land When we
started out both men and dogs were in
splendid condition Therefore, we we're
able to stand great har,Iships and
travel at top speed.
Lived As Savages.
While we were bound north, We ate
only beef, pemmican, tallow and the fat
OF the animals we shot. lived on alb
.olutely the same diet as the Eskimos,
but was able to place our diet on a
purely scientific basis Returning,
gave each man and dog in the party
pound OF Pemmiean daily, until we
got far enough south to reach the musk
OK country, when We were able to relieve
the monotony of our diet by the flesh
Of this beast, which we lassoed and
killed after our ammunition ran low.
While we found absolutely no evi-
denee of plant or animal life at the pole,
we found bear tracks and evidences OF
life in the water at the latitude Of 50
degrees At the pole itself the ice is
practically the same as throughout the
rest of the Arctic zone, with possibly
the exception that il II more active.
Our observations showed that the drift
Of the palor ice is southeast, while the
direction Of the wind 10 southwest Ii
was a misunderstanding Of the eondi-
tion- at the outset OF our return, that
ice did not drift with the wind that
helped rs 90 astray on our return trip"
Choice of Routes.
Asked as to his views as 10 the rea-
son for the long line Of failures AMI the
terrible death roll that has rssultea
from previous attempts to reach the
pole, DIR. Cook said:
I'm my opinion. the failure of these
attempts has been owing 60 the choice
OF routes. Many, of course, have been
failures--because of inadequate equip
ment, or the overlooking of the party.
II is my opinion that any man skilled
in Arctic travel and educated in eondi-
tions existing there, can, by travelling
light and in the winter time, and adj
herring closely to the game country, du-
plieate my accomplishment
Can Prove Claim
In the course of the interview with
the Associated Press representative, on
board the Hans Egede, Dr. Cook declared
with great emphasis:
Il have been TO the north pole, and l
have brought back the most exact OBJ
servations, absolutely proving my state
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