The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-09-10

any SOUu 10 invent THESE lniuSS. AhS
only witnesses j had were two Es-
KINDS. Certainly EslSimos? Certain
ly, but in all polar expeditions OBJ
servations have been made by one
man. / regard the Eskimos as much
more intelligent in finding positions
than the white can In the Arctic.
These people, as rule, are not alb,
solutely ignorant They know that
the earth is round. They have a
name for the Pole, which they call
the Big Nail. They appreciate the
work of explorers when participating
therein. | think Rasmussen has OBJ
tanned some information regarding my
expeditions from the EskiInos who
have learned it from the two with
me. Rasmussen was there much
later, and his information will be
published shortly.
Concerning the ice around the pole
so far as | could see, it was slightly
more active there than at enc or two
degrees south. 1t drifted somewhat
more to the south and east. It's gem
eral character is not very different
from that at other places. We. stayed
around the pole for two days, making
many observations. do not claim
to have put my finger on the exact
spot; | do not claim to have put, my
foot on it, but personally I think we
have been at the spot.5. When the
observations have been figured out
again, it is possible that there will
be found slight errors and differences,
but | am certain that a gunshot fred
from where we were would have
passed over the pole.
1--WE planted the stars and stripes
at what we believed to be the pole,
but didn't leave the flag with a STAFF.
Instead, / placed a small silk flag
In a cylinder with my card. and the
record of the journey with the. date.
The drift ice may carry the flag
away, but to me that is "a matter Of
indifference. / should have been very
glad to have found land there.
II am quite prepared to place my
observations before any geographical
society In the world think there is
no dbubt about my obtaining authori-
tative recognition. / have already re-
ceived kilograms from the. geograph-
ical societies of Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, Belgium and other coun.
tries which congratulate me, while
Amunsden, Nordenskjold, Cagnia and
Lecointe have acknowledged my work.
offer my observations to science the
same as other men have done, and
accept the responsibility.
GAS to the temperature at the pole,
it was minus 38. l took about 400
photographs, one Of which shows the
American flag flying. These, as yet,
ha1
Questioned regarding his great
speed. DIR. Cook said:
The daily distance covered on the
northwest trip was slightly less than
fifteen miles; on the southwark trip
it was 10 miles. This is not an a5-
normal distance for Eskimos on the
ice. They often travel fifty or sixty
miles with dogs. One Of the greatest
advantages of our trip was that |
did not take a famine route. We had
game for a long time, perhaps for a
hundred miles. We fed our dogs well
throughout the winter In Greenland,
and ran them 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 tallowf reducing the food
problem to a science. The last trace
of animals we lsaw was a bear track
at SO degrees. Afterwards we did not
see life even An the water, except AL
gaze. The drift of the fee 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. fThe reason we utilized silk
tents on some occasions was that
we were so exhausted that we had
not strength to build a snow shed.
We had carefully figured and planned
everything, SO that there was no sur
plus weight to carry. We did not
rum short except when we went
astr9ay.
During the expedition we ate all
kinds of meat. / like musk OK best,
but we would eat bear or fox If the
other was not obtainabIe. Everything
tastes good when one is starving. We
Drought ten dogs back with us, the
Others having been eaten by their
companions. We used the lasso, traps
And bows and arrows to catch game.
Tit took two months to learn how to
trap moose. One Of the men shot
an elder duck with arrows"
DR.. Cook concluded his observations
with a reference to the kind way he
had been treated by the king. who
was proaflv Interested IN nfe odxyov