The daily sentinel., 1913-06-05
DANES PROVES
THERE IS No
PASSAGE
Associated Press.


Associated Press.
Copenhagen, Denmark, June 8
BY his discovery that the so-called
Peary channel at the northern end
OF Greenland does not exist. Knud
Rasmussen. the young Danish explor-
er, has solved problem of great i'm
pcrtance to the geographical world
Besides this, the explorer and his
companions mapped the region con-
Meeting Greenland with Perry land,
and made fresh discoveries of land
which they baptized Christian Y
land.
Additional details have been re-
ceived here of the brilliant feats of
the Danish expedition which has just
terminated a scientific task that has
attracted many explorers since Nan
sen, by crossing the ice fields of the
interior of Greenland, proving that
only unusual endurance and hardi-
ness were required for successful ex-
pioration in those regions.
KnudN Rasmussen started on his ex-
pedition on July 10, 1910, when he
embarked with his companions on the
schooner Motor and sailed from CO.
penhagen to the Milville coast in
northwestern Greenland.
Rasmussen was peculiarly well fit
ted for the task he had undertaken
He is native of Greenland, having
been born at Jacobs Harbor in 1879
His father was Danish clergyman,
who was thoroughly acquainted with
a number of Eskimo dialects, and his
mother was pure-blooded Eskimo.
d to
infancy and later studied the Ian
guage phililogically, so that he knows
II at the present day perhaps better
than any other person.
Knud Rasmussen has been through
all his life intensely interested in ex-
ploration, and as youth undertook
voyages in Scandinavia. the Farce
islands and Iceland, all the time maxi
ing scientific observations.
When this. expedition reached the
Greenland coast the explorer estab-
lished a station there for the benefit
OF the scattered Eskimo population.
The expedition was equipped with
sufficient provisions to last six years
and 1t was part of Rasmussen plan
TO establish commercial depot near
Cape York, on the northern side of
Melville bay, where there is q COM
paratively numerous tribe of Polar
Eskimos, who hitherto had been vir-
tually out of communication with the
civilized world. This was to be un-
der the auspices of the Danish royal
committee for the privileged COM
merce of Greenland.
According to the kilograms re-
ceived from Thorshaven in the Farce
I islands, Rasmussen not only succeed
ed in carrying out these plans, but
Z also the second part of his program,
which included the ethnographical
and chronological exploration of the
practically unknown regions of nor
tbern Greenland. 1t was Rasmus-
sens intention to map Melville bay,
/ to cross the glaciers of the inland ice
| fields, to explore the 'Peary chan
mel" and also Crocker island, discov-
cred by Peary in latitude S5.
| Mr.. Freuchen, another Dane, was
the principal companion of Rasmus-
sen in his explorations and on his
great sledge expedition across the
Greenland continent, sharing with
him in the honor of deciding the
question of Thea existence of the
"Peary channel. =
When Peary made his discoveries
at the northern end of Greenland
during his voyages in 1S91-92 and
1S9395, and when he explored In
dependence bay, which stretched
from east to west, he was inclined to
believe that the bay continued far
ther westward and terminated its
course in the supposed ''Peary chan
nell" He baptized the final point of
his attainment Navy cliff. East OF
this promontory huge glacier, the
Academy, projected into the sound.
During his voyage of 1S9S-19O2
Peary reached the northern point OF
Peary land in latitude S3.39, which
was the limit of Greenland proper.
He and most of the polar explorers
who followed him believed Peary land
to be an island separated from the
continent by Independence bay and
"Feary channel"
Some doubt still existed as to this,
and other explorers made efforts to
determine the facts. Mr. Koch of the
Bridgman in 1907, following up Mr..
Pearyis explorations. In the mean
time, however, the Danes, Mylius Err
ichsen, Hoegh, Hagen and Brondlund,
had lost heir lives in trying to es-
tablish the existence or non-existence
of the ''Peary channel
Einar Mikkelsen also tried to PEN
citrate the region while he was look
Ing for the dairies of his head COM
patriot. Mylius Erichsen. but had not
sufficient time to attain his goal and
narrowly escaped death.
The news of Knud Rasmussen's dis
covery has settled once for all this
much debated question.