Evening star., 1925-09-20

Peary returned disappointed at not
being able to visit this magnificent
land of huge mountains. great val
leys and plains, and in 1911 DIR. r.
A. Harris, tidal expert of the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey,
added his statement that Crocker
Land was the eastern edge Of a great
land area, or archipelago, lying north
OF western America and eastern ST.
Deria. This appeared in the mono
graph, Arctic Tides, and was based
upon certain phenomena in the tides
OF the region which indicated the
presence of great land mass.
1t remained for others to complete
Peary's work. George Borup and
Donald B. Macmillan, both of whom
had accompanied Peary on his sue
cessful trip to the Pole, volunteered
to investigate. Their proposition was
accepted, but Borup never took the
Journey. He was drowned in April,
1912, when the canoe in which he
was riding capsized near Crescent
Beach, Conn.
But Macmillan went ahead. He
led an expedition into the North to
Invade Old Torngak's realm and find
out what he was hiding. He scaled
the precipitous heights of Axel Hell
Ensign Fitzhugh Green and two Es.
kimos, set out across the frozen sea
In quest of the mystery land For
some time they saw nothing. Then
one morning, with the sun shining
brilliantly. Green appeared at the
door of the igloo in a breathless
state and excitedly shouted tha. they
had 1t. Running TO the door. MacMil-
Ian saw the mystery continent
There 1t lay, snow-capped peaks
crowning tremendous ranges, huge
canyons and valleys incising magnifl.
cent mountains. Jubilantly MacMil.
Ian turned to one of the Eskimos
whose inscrutable countenance had
land they should try to reach. The
native smiled. turned to his chief and
said. ''PooJok" mist.
The Land Dimmed From View.
The other was equally Indifferent
but the two white men hurried
forward. Then a strange thing hap
pened. The land changed. The
farther they went the DINNER it be.
came. until it finally faded into the
boundless waste of the unknown sea
They went on, but the same silence
and void greeted them. Then they
turned back. They reached Cape
Thomas Hubbard in May, 1914, one
day before the great sea became a
hideous chaos of grinding, crashing
ice. They had been 1872 miles, 81
more than Peary had estimated. But
the sea had not given up its secret
and, looking back, Macmillan again
saw the great peaks and ranges, mag.
nff1cently rising out Of the wa stes
mockingly alluring, but as far away
as ever.
He returned and declared it a
mirage. But where there Is mirage
there must be land. What lay beyond
the point where he had gone? What
caused the mirage? Those great
peaks must have substance some.
where.
The airplane came forward as a
means OF answering the question, SO
Macmillan again turned northward
in quest OF the mystery continent.
The planes he had were Of q TOO.
mile cruising radius, which would
permit them to go $50 miles over the
unknown sea, 200 farther than he
had gone before. But again Old
Torngak threw him back, this time
before he had reached Axel Heibers
Land. The weather was terrible, the
worst Summer ever known in the
Arctic. A great fog descended from
the North and shrouded the unchart.
ed peaks of Axel Heiberg. To pene.
trate 1t without knowledge Of them
was suicide. 30 again Macmillan
turned back.
He Is on his way home now and
Old Torngak still sits supreme In
his citadel, guarding his secret.