The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-08-06

prepared by the National Geographic Sc
ciety. Washington. d. CO.
South Georgia, due east of Cap
Horn In the South Atlantic ocean,
the typical outpost Of the Antarcti
as Iceland is of the Arctic, but 1t is \
much smaller island than the latte
and lacking its tempering Gulf stream
has never been possible of colonial
ton. But II 1t has no extensive his
tory Of its own, it has place In tn.
history of geographic discovery, fol
known to man and was found during
the golden age of exploration. An(
1t later came to be an FL Dorado OF
seal skins for brave Yankee shippers
Until the latter part Of the Eight
eenth century, maps of the world com.
monty included conjectured land
mass lying south of the known CONT
nents and labeled Terra Australis In
cognita. From time to time since the
discovery of America, vague reports
of southern land had been brought to
Europe by mariners who had been
blown southwark out of their course,
and contemporary geographers had
held persistent hopes for the discov-
cry and exploitation of an austral
continent which might add a second
New World to the globe.
In 1775, Capt. James Cook. COM
mander of III. NJ. S. Resolution on
voyage In search of this terra in
cognita, was cruising along the coast
Of an ice-covered island In latitude
"a degrees 30 minutes south. The
isle had appeared Unexpectedly in the
path of the Resolution. and 1t was
the first assurance of the dIsappoint-
ment in store for mankind.
The discoverer was somewhat de-
pressed on seeing the barrenness of
the new land, whose rocky shore and
cliffs of ice were but gloomy auguries
for habitable territory lying still
nearer the Southern pole.
The Isle of Georgia.
Referring to his blighted hope of
Judge of the bulk by the sample, 1t
would not be worth the discovery.
Who would have thought that an is !!
land of no greater extent than this, |
situated between the latitude of 81 |
degrees and 80 degrees, should, in the
very height of summer, be in a man.
Ter wholly covered, many fathoms
1eep, with frozen snow?"
Cook took possession of the eoun-
ry for England and named it the Isle
# Georgia; and, after charting the
oast, he proceeded on his famous
ircumnavigation of the world.
South Georgia, as the island came
o. be called, was destined not to be
orgotten, for the brave tales of Cap
ain Cook were popular reading dur
ng the early years of American in
ependence. 1t may be that his word
was the lure that started
he first follower In the wake Of the
resolution Certain 1t is that before
ne close OF the Eighteenth century
old Yankee mariners from New Lon
on, Stoning:0n, and other Long Is
md sound ports had begun to reap
he harvest Of fur-seals skins at South
eorg,a.
When the supply of lucrative fur
,als first began to fail the other
mphibious monsters mentioned by /,
ook, the sea-elephants, were forced
pay the costs of the ruthless yoy-
gers. The sea-elephant is the larg-
It of seals. End Is thickly invested
it'll blubber which yields an oil lit
e Inferior to the product Of the
erm whale; hence. elephant hunt i,
&" became an important industry at =
est of the subantarctlc islands. In !,
any of Its haunts the species was :,
ON exterininated, and although at >
'uth- Georgia 1t still persists, it's days :
e numbered unless absolute protec-
IN be soon enforced. !.
But the tale of human industry at :,
e barren isle Is not yet told, and :,
e latest development already over n
adows century of sealing. Eight 4
n years ago Norwegian seafarers, 81
kings still, found field unspolled
the bloody dynasty of their Amer o
in predecessors, and they have made II
nth Georgia the headquarters of the q,
satest whale fishery on earth. /,
Between 1910 and 1920 more than =,
GOO whales, representing a value Of h.
lghly fifty millions Of dollars, have 9,
en- shot on the offshore banks and r.
we'd to the bustling whaling stations q,
the island In a single year (sea- IN
/ Of 1915-1916) the South Georgian h,
oh numbered $50 whales. at
Glaciers Arc Mighty. fe
mall though South Georgia is, Its 70
ciers are as mighty as those Of tn
tsbergen, and there Is ample svi- In