The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-22
AFTER The TRUTH.

Confined from Page One.)
know conditions north of Grants
Land say.
Good Ice and Weather
Friends of Ahpelah and Itookashoo
assert that the expedition had good
ice and good weather and that the ice
became better the farther they went
out on the polar sea.
How far has the expedition been
from the shore? The Eskimos. Of
course, cannot give the distance in
over the ice field from the shore ex-
tended so long that the sun began to
appear, stood high on the sky, and at
last didn't disappear at all, SO that it
was almost summer before they
reached land again.
Furthermore they have told that
it was autumn before they decided on
going to the winter quarters and be-
fore they tried to make the return
journey to Anoritok.
1.-The statements, therefore, amount
to the same as Cooks who gives
September as the month in which he
decided to go into winter quarters at
Cape Sparbo on the south side of
Jones sound.
1.-THE Eskimos who are accustomed
to take their bearing on a map have
themselves on my map given the route
of the expedition to the pole ami the
winter quarters at the Jones sound dis
trict, Of which they know from their
bear hunt.
''Ahpelah and Itookashoo have fur
thermore told how they on the way
back they were prevented by deep
crevasses in the ice from going to lei-
berg's Land, where they had depots,
and that that was the reason they went
small canvas boat with him to serve as
a ferry when they met the open water
the ESkimos think they should never
have got home alive from the pole trip.
Statements Agree.
Cooks statement about how they got
over the winter, fighting musk oxen
and walrus without ammunition also
are correct as compared with the state
ments of his companions, as Is his
statement about the slow and difficult
wandering from Cape Sparbo to Anori-
tok, where they had to drop their
sledges for two months.
Il therefore make this conclusion
that, whenever Cooks statements are
compared with the statements of his
companions they appear to be quite
truthful
Were there special obstacles which
hindered going farther? The Esklnlos
have told their friends that they were
surprised when Cook told them the
goal was reached because the SPOT as
not the least different from all the
osAO1 4NS tiiCy lido pdSSGO anu over
which they had often asked Cook to
return. but that was only because they
had feeling they were far from shore
and that they never should get back
alive again.
1T is therefore apparent that the ex-
petition wasn't forced back by the
h1ndrance of ice, but because the lead
er meant the goal had been reached.
How was the equipment? The Eski-
mos who often had seen the start of an
inn z1xv
manner in which Cook reduced his
equipment to the minimum by which he
got a great chance of doing a quick
journey. The food he carried along was
greatly compressed and didn't weigh
more than the dogs could drag.
Furthermore, the expedition had a
great advantage during the VOYAGE
over Ellesmere land by hunting musk
oxen to get the dogs well fed so that
they, when the final start began, were
think it of great Importance that the
dogs, on starting, hadn't been fed on
pemmican, but On fresh meat.
To sum up, the Eskimos think that
Cook reached the pole and that he. dur
Ing the voyage, showed great nerve and
energy.
His Opinion Is Valuable.
Toledo. O.. Oct 22.-That the state
ment of Knud Rasmussen is a valuable
aid to the establishment of proof of his
discovery of the North Pole, was IN.
Frederick A. Cooks comment here.
Rasmussen's statement was that DR..
Cooks claim is fully borne out by the
information which the Danish explorer
secured an ong the Eskfmos
DR.. Cook said Rasmussen's opinion is
valuable because he Is half Eskimo
himself, and speaks the Eskimo lang
uage and understands the people.
1.-The statement Is from, a man who
has no occasion to defend me-" said
Dr. Cook. He Is not particularly a
friend Of mine and he had no relation
to our expedition. I first met him at
Ncrth Star in 1907 He gathered his
Information from The Eskimos before
he heard from me that I had discov-
cred the North Pole 1 saw him at
Eggesdemind early in August last for
a few minutes when 1 first told him of
tie discovery, although he may have
heard OF 1t previously from the Danes"