Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-21
HUNT FOR THE SOUTH POLE
ResuIts OF the shackletOn Expedition
Compared with Previous
Explorations.


What did the Shackleton expedition to
the Antarctic learn that was not reported
by Captain Robert F. Scott on his return
to civilization in 1s47
1t was already known, or believed, that
no land mammals existed within the Ant
arctic Circle-nn bears or foxes, such as
may be found in the far north. The only
mammals encountered and reported by DR..
Wilson Of the earlier expedition we're sea
mammals; orca, rordual, finner and beaked
whales, and crab eating. Ross and Weddell
~seals-within the Antarctic Circle. The
seals known as sea leopards and sea ele-
plants were found on the pack ice north
OF It. Along South Victoria Land twelve
different kinds of birds we're sighted,
chiefly petrels, and also a small tern, the
sooty and black proved albatrosses and the
blue gray whale bird-these in the open sea
and along the Great Ice Barrier. About
the winter quarters under Mount Erebus
the emperor penguin. four feet high, tame
and almost human In It's aspects and ways;
the Adele penguin and McCormick's skua
Ia gul) were habitual %neighbors OF the
explorers. On the return from the "farthest
south Gss miles from the pole) q solitary
skus was seen; but in the desoiate interior
there was no life. Except moses and Inch
ems no vegetation was noted. The terri
torial fauna, IL the term can be used of
such vital bSrrenness. consisted OF a wing
less insect a~pproximating to a fly.
Now, as Shackleton's, party, pushing
their perilous way south, met with only
glaciers and ranges OF snow mountains, It
may be assumed that the biologist of the
expedition will have nothing or very little
aid to add TO Mr.. Wilson'S report-at least
OF life In the interior south of the point
attained by Captain Scott, Lieutenant
Shackleton and DR.. Wilson in 1908, which
was latitude 50 degrees Is minutes s. Sec
onds, longitude 1884,
But Of the topography of the so-called
continent the hardy and i~ndefatigsble
Shackleton, who almost persisted OF scurvy
in the previous venture. learned a good
deal more than Captain Scott. The latter
In his account OF the Discovery expedition
wrote:
The main geographical interest Of our
expedition lies In the practical observation
latitude 7tb degrees to Mt. Longstaff in
latitude SO degrees, and OF the conditions
which lie 10 the east and west OF this line.
thar 4sr p psTt which kSow IIss s s1Senoed only M to
bourne and McMurdo sound, and OF this
we had the vagues description.
Captain Scott and his party travelled with
dog sledses over the ice plateau. which he
supposed to be afoat although Of vast
area, and kept within sight of the noun
tain ranges that form the coast Of Victoria
Land. After gaining an altitude OF $500
feet they traversed "a level plain" and
Captain Scott says: The Great Ice. Bar
rier is afloat as Tar as we travelled" They
were finally stopped by a crevasse they
could not descend into and on their return
journey they lost all their dogs Dust as
Lieutenant Shackleton lost all his ponies)
and came near dying OF scurvy. They
named mountains which they never
reached, Longstan Q0,35o feet) and Mark
ham $500 feet), and Captain Scott was Of
the opinion that the ice plain skirting the
mountain ranges extended even to the south
pole.
What Lieutenant shackleton did was to
pass the very point at which the party In
1903 stopped, and push on S52 miles further,
only to be baffed, with the ice plateau
stretching before his eyes, by the same
conditions OF hunger, fatigue and loss of
animals that made the dash OF Scott,
Wilson and himself a failure, He seems,
however, TO have been favored by milder
weather. He learned that the mountain
ranges continued along the plateau, and he
will be able to furnish the Royal Geo
graphical society with a new map contain
ing peaks named by himself. w dis
covered eight distinct mountain ranges"
he says, and more than a hundred noun
tains." Almost equal in interest and OF
more Importance scientifically than was the
ascent to the crater or lip of Erebus. This
was a prodigious feat. II the courageous
Shackleton failed at q point which would
probably nave been in sight of the locality
Of the south pole on a elear day, IL he
could have stood upon a mountain top, it
was because the human frame was not
equal to the hardships to be endured.
There will be other attempts, and let us
hope that the consummstion will finally
fall to a man Of his dsserts.-New York
SUM-.