The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-01-07
POLAR DASH PLEASURE TRIP
BUT EXPLORERS STORY DOES
NOT BEAR OUT STATEMENT.
EngIishman, Beaten to Antarctic
Prize by Norseman, VIII Be
Brought Back Soon.

the Terra Nova, left Christchurch,
| Now Zealand. on Dec Is last it was
with the calculation of reaching Scott
base. at Cape Evans, in the second
week in January. She will relieve the
expedition which has been engaged in
an attempt to reach the south pole.
CAPTAIN Scott will doubtless bring
back some absorbing stories Of peril
and hardship though Captain Amund-
sen. the discoverer of the pole, de-
clares his historical dash to the goal
to have been a pleasure trip. I'VE
all enjoyed it," he said, "but the world
knows it was no picnic
Captain Amundsen will at the ter
mination of his lecture tour, which
will include six months in the United
States, turn again to the strenuous
work he calls business life" The
Franz" he said will then be at San
Francisco. Perhaps it will be able to
add to its varied experiences by going
through the Panama canal.
1--WE start from San Francisco in
June. 1914, and hope to get into the
ice at the Boring strait in Septem-
Der. Then we shall drift perhaps for
four, perhaps for five, years. 1t de-
ponds very much on how far we get
into the ice the first year. And we
shall emerge when the time comes be-
tween Spitzbergen and Greenland. e.
No AeropIane, No Wireless.
"There is an immense lot of work to
be done in these latitudes-purely scl-
entific work-in sounding and dredging
and meteorological observations. NO;
I do not propose to take an aeroplane
with me-" said the captain decidedly,
"and, though 1 have been offered the
gift of a wireless installation for the
Fran, that also l have declined.
don't care for it. 1t is very much bet
ter to be without news when you can
not be where the news comes from.
We are always more contented If we
get no news"
The difficulty is to get Captain
Amundsen to talk about his own at
tainments. He will not admit that the
wonderful feat of reaching the south
pole calls for extravagant praise or en-
thusiasm. 81 never had any doubt but
that we should reach the pole" he SAID
recently, "even when we encountered
the great blizzard which we had tc
fight for three days.
II attribute my success to the men
and the equipment They were both
perfect, and as part of the equipment
would put first the dogs. The dogs
were splendid. We could never have
attained the pole but for our brave
dogs. We started on the journey tc
the pole with fifty-two. We brought
back to the Fran only eleven.
REGRETS Slaughter of Dogs.
"What touched us most keenly OF
the whole journey" said Captain
Amundsen, twas the unavoidable
slaughter of the animals, which haC
shared our dangers and had done sucf
splendid work. The killing OF then
went to the heart of every one, but IL
polar explorations such things must be
| It was a regrettable necessity, and the
only thing that sOothed our feelings
was that the survivors enjoyed eating
their comrades quite as much as WE
, did.
Crossing the crevasses skis were o.
the greatest assistance to US we
should never have got forward so wei
if we had not all been good SKI run
ners. had never driven dog team
before but of course Johannssen anC
Hansen were experts at it, and we al
very soon got into the knack of 1t.
"You are equally familiar with arcu'
and antarctic exploration. What arr
the main differences between them anC
tha problems they PRESENT." he wa:
asked.
"Thev are entirely different" sale
CAPTAIN Amundsen. "In the arctl'
there is only drifting ice, no solid land
at the south it is ascending to the hISl
nlateau that is the chief difficulty
should say without hesitation that traF
cling in the far north is much more
difficult than in the far SCUM Ior Tia
! reason alone.
Always Enough to Eat.
81 had no doubt that the plateau was
an ideal place for sledging when frs
saw it, and so it proved to be. Apar
from the blizzard the weather was quit
good. Only during those three days
did we suffer any hardship. At othe
times it was not particularly cold.
"And we always had enough-if ont
could ever have enough in that climate
to eat in fact, we actually increased
orr rations after we left the pole, be
cause we knew we should make mor'
rapid progress on the way back ant
we had many depots on which to de