The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-01-27
DOG NEAT EXCELLENT,
DECLARES EXPLORER

| Washington. D. c., Jan. 27.-Telline
of times when dog meat-and the meat
of starved-todeath dogs at that-tast
ed better than any porterhouse steak
he had ever eaten; picturing a region
where the average velocity of the wind
| Is fifty miles, where a bunting flag
goes to shreds in a few minutes, a
| flag of stoutest canvas is threshed to
pieces in an hour, and flag of tin is
battered out of shape in the first gale.
so that sheet iron is the material that
must be used; describing sea elephants
that weigh sometimes as much as four
| tons each and measure a5 feet in
length; showing penguin rookeries so
large and SO densely populated that
from a vantage point they seemed like
vast pebble-strewn beaches, instead of
bird colonies, Sir Douglas Mawson has
presented before the National Geo
graphic Society one of the most re-
markable stories Of polar exploration
that has ever come from those regions.
In his account of his researches
along the great Antarctic continent
! discovered by Rear Admiral Charles
Wilkes-who was the same Admiral
Wilkes, who figures in the historic
Trent" affair, in which he, during
the American Civil War, held up the
! British packet Trent" and removed
from her, Mason and SljdeIl-Sir
Douglas paid tribute to the explorer
and his work
Mason and his party undertook the
work under the patronage of the Aus
tralian Government. The steamer
Aurora, formerly plying in American
waters, was the ship that carried them
to their base and finally brought them
away. A midway base with wireless
relay station through which the party
could keep in touch with civilization,
was established at Macquarie Island,
which was on the old sailing ship
route between Australia and Cape
Horn, and whose beaches are lined
with the wrecks of many ship. The
main base was established at Cape
Dennison, on the Antarctic Continent,
and a second base several hundred
/, miles farther east.
Pictures were brought back by Sir
: Douglas showing the nesting places OF
a number of birds of passage who &c
to the Polar Continent to nest and
, whose eggs have never been seen be
fore. The birds and sea elephant.
( were absolute strangers to fear, ant
would INSPECT the camera man with al
= much seeming interest as the Gamer;
=, man inspected them.
The character of the winds tina
blow on the edge of the Antarctic
/ Continent was graphically shown by thu
fact that the men had to lean out upoI
it, at an angle of perhaps As degrees
to walk in the ordinary wind, whil'
no camera could record anything but I
blank when the blizzard was at ii
height. The hut which was the head
/ quarters of the party, had one win low
| which was in the roof. The breath o
the men and the steam of the kitchen
caused this to become frosted over t
a thickness of five inches. Men goin;
out to take the records of the climate
logical instruments had to break TIL
ice that froze before their faces, from
one side of their hoods to the other
and pictures showing how their face
were covered with great patches G
frost-bite, told an eloquent story of su
| fering.
III But the scene was not all sombr
The cellar was a natural refrigerato
| and consisted simply of the space u
der the floor of the hut. When II
| cook wanted piece of meat he wou
send a dog down to get penguin
i leg of mutton, and would take