The Washington times., 1909-09-03

ing forty tons Of coal. which shows
| that we had something OF a Polar eX-
peditlon 70 look after. The coal alone
would have lasted him for ten years,
Tor both ne and his assistant could
hardly have used three tons of il day.
Three Years Supplies.
Three years supplies were left with
DR.. Cook. That does not convey
much Of an idea perhaps. but II / had
the inventory Of It at hand It would
astonish those persons who speak Of
this expedition as a haphazard affair
with nothing but the nerve Of DR.. Cook
10 back it. There were tons of penn
mican and that kind Of material, sugar
tea. coffee, canned gOods, dried meats
quantities OF hickory for sled building.
hardware. iron, steel. copper, cooking
utensils OF all kinds, $50 feet of stove
pipe 10000 boxes OF matches, bales Of
biscuits, 100 gallons OF alcohol, barrel
OF gumdrOps for the sweet tooth Of Mr..
Eskimo, barrels Of rice and -four, guns
for trading, and boxes of instruments
for observation. I do not care 10 tell
the cost OF the expedition, for that is
a private matter, but since this cues
ton Of supplies has been raised.I am
telling something about II TO show that
DIT Cook had all the backing that he
needed"
How was DR.. Cook equipped with
instruments for making observations ?
Mr. Bradley was asked.
I've seen bills for all those things
replied Mr.. Bradley, FOR I paid them;
They were packed away in boxes. and
/ did not see them, so ] cannot give
an Inventory OF just what Or. Cook
used One could tell that he was at the
Pole by taking the latitude alone.
Able With Appliances.
''Dr Cook is one OF the ablest men
with ali kinds of appliances I ever met.
He has wonderful mechanical skill and
for twenty years has been taking OBJ
servations of the kind necessary to find
out if a man were really at the North
Pole. He Is a trained scientist and an
explorer OF experience. 1 am no scien-
tist-but a hunter Of big game With
his experience in the. Arctic and the
Antarctic. think that DR.. Cook knew
very well what he was doing L have
seen him taking the observation for the
day on board the yacht both alone and
with either the commander or the mate.
He had A sexIant of aluminium which
was an especially fine instrument. and
was so much admired by Captain Bart
lett that he said that If he were not
a strictly moral man he would nave
stolen II long ago. The seXtaut was
used in taking the observations OF the
Bradley all the way and much Of the
time il was handled by DR.. Cook him
self He also had eight OF ten Of the
best ComDasses that money could buy,
an artificial horizon, Is well as various
meteorological instruments. It seems 70
me that DR.. Cook is omnently qualified
by long experience FOR the task Of
reaching the North Pole and I thiua
that scientists will agree that he Is suf-
hciently verSed in the knowledge neces-
sarv for him to tell whether or not he
had arrived.
Broke All Presidents.
Or. Cook has been breaking prece-
dents in this trip to the Pole. His
methods violated all the old traditions
He went at a different season; he did
not leave a ship frozen in the ice in the
old. regular way. Also. he was taking
course which no explorer ever took
before. In keeping away from the east
ern drift OF the ice from the Behring
sea He proited by other mems mis-
takes. He made his dash 10 the Pole
from the west, relying on the drift of
the ice to 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 IT &C
cuDied some Of the space and weight
which might have been given to less i'm
pOrtant things. Also II took Up sorne
space which might have been used for
food but IL was worth IT, Now. 40
cording to the books, when your Arctic
explorer gets to great lane Of water
in the ice or a lead he sits down by the
side Of it for a while and keeps hoping
until Il closes up, sometimes two or