The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-04-05

ment. There is nothing that win bet
ter bring out what is in man than
work like that, a distinguished pro.
fessor with us used to wash dishes
with pride.
Found Snow Flea.
There has been vegetation down
there, but there is now no plant life
of any description, except if you look
hard you may find a little moss. With
in 500 miles Of the north pole there
are 100 towering plants. There is no
vegetation at all within 100 miles Of
the south pole, Anything alive? Well,
the only thing discovered was the
COLOMBIA, That, in plain English, is a
snow flea. 1t doesn't bite
In answer to a question as to the
difference in the difficulties encoun-
tered in expeditions to the arctic and
antarctic the explorer said that the
base of supplies was much nearer to
the north pole than to the south, there
was more animal and plant life and
the climate was not so windy or so
cold as it was going south. On the
other hand, the disadvantages of go
ing to the north pole were that the
travelling was much rougner over great
hummocks of ice, and it was impos-
sible to make any depot or pitch a tent
on the ice, as it would float away.
ION our expedition. Sir Ernest went
on to say, we lost all signs Of animal
or plant life Eve miles after leaving
the coast line. We We're entirely cut
off from the world. and if our ship
had been wrecked we should have new
er got back, as no vessels penetrate
those seas. The wind was draw
back, as it blew with great force in
our faces, carrying the fine ice drift
with it, For three days we had a.
wind of from fifty to seventy miles
velocity an hour. and in gusts it attain
ed speed of 1870 miles All we could
do was to lie covered up in our sleep
ing bags until the gale had moderated
To have exposed ourselves to the wind
would have meant certain Death
Marched 1,755 Miles.
THE prevailing wind was south and
southeast. The distance we Travelled
on foot as the crow flies was only $50
miles, but with back marches and re-
lays we really covered 1,755 miles
Sometimes we marched six miles to
make three forward and even more to
avoid bad places, as it was hard work
hauling our equipment The Manchu-
rian ponies were of great service TO us.
as we used them until they We're worn
out and then shot the animals and
dined on the steaks. The rest of the
meat was frozen and carried on The
mean temperature taken ut the base
of supplies was below zero summer
and winter but with wind blowing
il was much colder We had the sun
night and day, as it was midsummer
in the antarctic, but there was no
warmth in its rays
THE advantages and disadvantages
of north polar and south polar eXplora
ton work are pretty evenly matched
Against the disadvantages of arctic
work, which have been pictured you
have the billiards. in the south. the
frequent falling over lodges and the
pulling away at traps all the time.
We did not nave much difficulty about
erevices, as we could generally bridge !
them with sled, but there was one
night when we had to retreat for half
a mile before we found place where
we could pitch our tent in safety. 1t
was over ,one of these lodges that we
lost our last pony 1t was at o'clock
in the afternoon ofeDec. 3. We heard
a shout and looked behind to find the
rear man Of the party clinging by his
elbows to Il ledge The pony was gone,
dropped LOCO feet below.
Our party was very fortunate in
having fourteen days continuously
fine weather which was purely luck
Weather conditions enter largely into
the success Of an expedition to the
south pole"
The explorer explained that the ice
in the south was land ice and that it
had been shown that there was a CON
tinent of some 100000 miles of lard
there.
England's newest vessel Of the
Dreadnought type, the Neptune, has q
OF 20,250 tons.