Mexico Missouri message., 1909-10-14

not even nm iceberg was noted 10 marx
We sss advanseS steadily over the monot-
ony OF sea OF ice. Now we found our
| selves beyond the range of all life, Neitin-
er. the footprints Of bear nor the. blow
holes OF seals were further detected. and
the frost became almost uncomfortable.
The surface OF the pack offered consid~
cradle trouble; the weather improved.
ping wind which drove despair to our
hearts. The call of duty. however. ne
cessitated our fighting the extreme cold.
and there was the absolute necessity for
| physical action.
Thus day after day the weary legs
| were spread over big distances. Our
daily camp up TO this time was invaria-
bly, the snow house or Eskimo igloo and
TO make these IL was necessary 70 find
could cut suitable blocks with knife:
| these blocks were piled in this circular
form. and they were erected into dome
shaped igloo, or living place.
Its height was about six feet, it's width
| about the same and It's length about
eight feet We apread out our bags into
| berths and we undressed and sllnped into
| the bags; then we started our little blue
\ fire. burning petroleum under pressure.
We heated or melted either the ice or
snow and obtained water; and then we
prepared some tea. While the tea was
| being. prepared the pemmicau was pound
ed With an ak, and the teeth were set TO
| the grinding ofour food which we washed
| down with hot tea.
This was our daily routine. We ate
two meals a day, one in the evening and
! ono In the morning. We never stopped
at midday for either food or drink,
| In this daily routine the Incidents and
positions were recorded. but the adven-
| ture was frequently forgotten in the lone
| ly drudge Of the next days travel.
On the night of April we had the
| FIRST clear northerly horizon. and we saw
| for the first time the midnight sun on
| this night We possibly could have seen
| II for several days earlier, but we mad
not a clear midnight sun.
/ ~ nd fWGafhiGBu o.
| corded on the same day. and the weather
infused quite an incentive into our life.
SGSS g a APr o0 fa@P
| In spite Of our seeming long marches we
| had advanced but little over 100 miles
| in nine days. Much Of our hard work
! was lost in circuitous twists around trou-
blesome partial leads with irregular fields
| Of very old Ice. and the drift, too was
driving eastward with sufficient force, to
| give some anxiety. We still equaled
about fifteen miles daily. and the extend
ed marches and long hours Of travelling
| with which fortune had favored us earlier
were no longer possible.
Describes Top Of Earth.
We were now about 200 miles from the
| pole. The sled loads were reduced one
| time after another, and one dog after-an-
| other had gone into the stomach Of his
! survivors, until TN dogs were considerably
reduced. There still remained, however
a sufficient balance Of man and brute
| force to push along into the heart of the
mystery to which we had set ourselves.
Beyond the S6th parallel the ice fields
I became more extensive and heavir, and
| the crevices more troublesom, with little
| or no crush ice thrown up as a barrier
| Observations on the 14th gave latitude
| SS.21; longitude 1852.
We were now less than 100 miles from
| the pole. The pack was here more act
| i've. and the temperature remained at
minus 46, cementing together quickly the
| new crevices and the narrow spaces of
open water were covered rapidly and lit
| tie delay was caused in crossing from one
| TO the other
The time had now arrived to cast forth
for the last series of efforts to sustain
life. and every human strand was
| strained.
but they were mirages, and deceptive IL
| iusiOns OF mere forgotten fancies
Slowly but surely we neared the turn
| ing point. and made astronomical obser-
| vations that daily secured and fixed the
| advancing stages.
The ice steadily improved. but still
fined living; no pleasure, no spiritual
| recreation, nothing to relieve the steady
physical dragging Of chronic fatigue.
The Eskimos were splendidly faithful
I to the bitter end. Only once was an out
| burst of inconsistencies shown, and that
| was near the pole. Ahlewah bent over
| his sledge and cried. Etuckshook walked
over and put his hands on Ahlewah's
| shoulder and then Ahlewah said "Omee-
se-nic-d dot is well to die; beyond is
impossible"
The nervous tension of this monotony
had reached the breaking point. but there
was an end to this as to all things, and
| on April 21st the first corrected altitude
| on the sun gave us S9.59-the pole there
| fore was in sight.
We advanced a little further, built new
snow houses and took other observations.
On April 21st Of 1908 we camped on the
pole.
Now the north pole At the pole we
found no fSav no 1 stick to which
| that 1t is quite impossible to locate the
pole so correctly that you can say any
time. Under the foot is the point where
No such accuracy can be obtained by
any instruments which could possibly
have been carried on a sledge.
We remained there two days, the 21st
and 22nd. We made series Of
| observations We were very glad to
get to the pole. but we found nothing pc
culiarly secured about 1t. There was no
land; there was no life; there was moth
ing to mark the steady monotony Of frost
which we had covered for over 500 miles
II was the same moving foe Of ice over
which we had passed In the regions fur
Their south. We were at this time the
only pulsating creatures in that world Of
ice and we were very glad on the 23rd
to have completed our observations and
turned our backs on the pole to begin our
long return march
Gales Faced on Return.
The course southwark was forced far
tner west. We had noticed in our north
erly trip that the wind was assuredly
8nBnlly 10 the SCUM OF west. Inc uflIL
near the pole was nearly southeast, far
Their south toward the east.
Allowing for his drift, we therefore did
not return on our tracks, but took a
course farther west, aiming also TO reach
the new lands and attempt to explore
those.
With clear weather and good ice for
the exploration Of the home run long dis
tances were quickly covered. Below the
87th the character Of the Ice changed
very much, and 1t became quit evident
that the season was rapidly advancing.
With a good deal OF anxiety we watched
the continued reduction Of our food sup
ply.
It now became evident that the crucial
/ stage OF the campaign was to be trans
ferTed from the taking Of the pole 20 the
hnal battle for life against the frost.
The clear blue OF the sky changed to a
steady, dense gray, and several days Of
icy despair followed each other in rapid
succession. There were some violent
gales but surely the cold did not rise
70 the fun force OF the storm. With star
walton as our only alternative, we could
| not wait for better weather Some ad-