The Green Forest tribune., 1912-03-15


 ice was not pleasant. The ground un der us was quite hollow, and it sound ed as though we were walking on the bottoms of empty barrels. As it wasg man fell through, then a couple of dogs. We could not use our skis on this polished ice. Sledges had the best of it.
 The place got the name the Devils Dancing Room" This part of our march was the most unpleasant. On December 9th we got our greatest height, according to the hypsometer and aneroid, 10,750 feet, at 87 degrees 40 minutes south.
 On December Sth we came out of the bad weather. Once again the sun smiled down on us. Once again, We could get an observation Dead reck- oning and observation were exactly aIike-SS degrees 88 minutes 16.6 sec onds south.
 Before us lay an absolutely plain plateau, only here and there marked with tiny sastrugi. In the afternoon we passed S8 degrees g minutes | (Shackleton's farthest south was S8 degrees 25 minutes). We camped and established our last depot, depot number 10 From so degrees 25 min utes the plateau began to slope down very gently and smoothly toward the other side.
 On the 9th of December we reached S8 degrees 39 minutes on December 1 10th, S8 degrees 56 minutes; DeceIn- Der 11th 89 degrees 15 minutes; De cember 12th. S9 degrees 30 minutes; l December 18th, S9 degrees 45 min uteS.
 Up to this time the observations and dead reckoning agreed remarka- bly, we'll and we made out that we ought to be at the pole on December 14th in the afternoon.
 That day was a beautiful one-a light breeze from the southeast, the temperature minus 23 Celsius (9.4 degrees below zero FahrenheiD and the ground and sledging were perfect The day went along as usual, and at D. m. we made a halt. According to our reckoning we had reached our destination. All of us gathered around the colors-a beautiful silk fag-all hands taking hold of it and plant ing it.
 The vast plateau on which the pole is standing got the name of the King Haakon VII. Plateau" It is a vast plain, alike in all directions; mile after mile during the night we eireled around the camp.
 In the fine weather we spent the following day taking a series of eb- servations, from a. m. to ' p. m. The result gave us S9 degrees 55 minutes.
 In order to observe the pole as close as possible we travelled as near south as possible, the remaining g kilometers.
 On December 16, there we camped. It was an excellent opportunity. There was a brilliant sun. Four of us took observations every hour Of the days twenty-four hours. The ex, act result will be the matter of a pro- fessional private report.
 This much is certain: that we ob- served the pole as close as it is in human power to do it with the instru- ments we had-a sextant and an arti- ffcial horizon.
 Norwegian Flag Marks Spot.
 On December 17th, everything was in order on the spot. We fastened to the ground a little tent we had brought along, Norwegian flag, and the Fran" pendant on the top of it.
 The Norwegian home at the South Pole was called "Polheim." The dis tance from our winter quarters to the pole was about l 400 kilometers. The average march a day was p kilome- ters.
 We started on the return trip on the 18th of December. Unusually ia vorable weather made our way home considerably easier than the journey to the pole. We arrived at our winter quarters, "Framheim," on the 25th of January, 1912, with two sledges and eleven dogs, all we'll
 Among the results are the determi- nation of the extent and character of the Ross Barrier, and the discovery of the connection of South Victoria Land and probably King Edward VII. Land, with their continuation in the mighty mountains running toward the southeast, which were observed as far as S8 degrees south, but which in all probability continue across the Antarctic continent.
 The expedition to King Edward VII Land under the command of Lieut. 1 Prestud, has given excellent results Scott's discoveries have been con firmed, and the survey of the Bay of Whales. and of the Barrier Dome by the Prestud party are of great inter- est.
 A good geological collection from King Edward VII and South Victoria Land is being brought home On January 16th the Japanese ex- petition arrived at the Bay of Whales and landed on the barrier near our winter quarters. We left the Bay of Whales on January 30. It was long voyage, with contrary winds.
 All are well.
 ] RAOLD AMUNDSEN.