The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1910-04-07

discovered. but | hardly think there
will ever be any disputes over bound |
aries down there Did find traces |
of minerals? Yes; ! saw signs Of tin /
and coal within 800 miles of the pole. |
but not of gold
Il should not think of going down
there in search of the pole while Cap
tain Scott is looking for it. He asked
me if were going. His previous work
certainly helped me lot, and | am
glad if mine will be of use to him. ]
may go down in that direction next
year on scientific expedition to chart
the coast line, and so on, but unless
Captain Scott reports that he has fail
ed to find the pole. which l think will
be unlikely. shall not try for it again.
"Scott is a very clever man and
good organizer. He will go not better
equipped than was, but more largely.
For instance, his vessel will be of $50
tons, while mine was only 227. Then
he will have about fifty men, of whom
twenty-five or thirty Will be scientists.
He will have sixteen on his polar jour-
ney, while had only four. OF course
1t all comes down to the human ele
ment. There is nothing that will bet
ter bring out what is in q 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 little moss. With
| in 800 miles of the north pole there
are 100 Towering plants. There is no
vegetation at all within 750 miles of
the south pole. Anything alive? Well,
| the only thing / discovered was the
colombia. That, in plain English, is
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 We're 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.
"On our expedition" Sir Ernest went
on to say, I'VE lost all signs of animal
or plant life five miles after leaving
the coast line. Wa were entirely cut
off from the world, and If our ship
had been wrecked we should have nev-
er got back, as no vessels penetrate
those seas. The wind was a draw
back, as 1t 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 a speed of 13C 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
4 would have meant certain death.
Marcned l,foo WfleS.
4 "The prevailing wind was south and
southeast The distance we Travelled
on foot as the crow flies was only 63!
miles, but with back marches and re
lays we really covered 1,155 miles
| Sometimes we marched six miles Il
D make three forward and even more t
avoid bad places, as it was hard worl
!. hauling our equipment. The Manchu
rian ponies were of great service TO us
as we used them until they were worl
| out and then shot the animals anC
dined on the steaks. The rest of th,
meat was frozen and carried on. TIL,
mean temperature taken at the bas,
of supplies was below zero summel
and winter. but with a wind blowing
1t was much colder We had the SUI
night and day, as it was midsummer
In the antarctic, but there was nc
warmth in its rays.
1.-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 blizzards in the south, the
frequent falling over ledges and the
| pulling away at traps all the time.
We did not have much difficulty about
crevices, as we could generally bridge
them with sled, but there was one
| night when we had to retreat for half
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 Of Dec. 3. We heard
a shout and looked behind to find the
rear man Of the party clinging by his
elbows to a ledge. The pony was gone,
dropped 1000 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