Evening star., 1925-10-15

rough and a plane that landed on 1t
would be demolished. 1t shifts, how
ever. with the tides and the winds
and occasionally there Is a tempo
rary landing place iH the water. They
are as scarce as GASES in desert
and more welcome. We found q
great many uncharted snow-covered
mountains considerably higher than
any shown on the charts, and 80 per
cent Of the time they were covered
with clouds. One day we found E
landing place in the water, an OPEN
ing in the ice at the foot of Sawyer
Fiord. We landed, put down a base
of fuel and food end continued to
attempt to get over the great noun
tain ranges and locate another base
in Cannon Fiord, near the Polar Sea.
Covered With Clouds.
I've got beyond one range and
fought hard to get the second but the
clouds that were too high to get over
covered the top completely. These
mountains had never before been
explored.
''Cut and jagged by ages of great
glaciers their ruggedness was magnifi-
cent and stupendous, their grandeur
awful. The air there was the rough
est we had ever experienced and
cannot tell how small and insignia
cant the planes seemed in those
mountains.
Il cannot believe that this country
is in the slightest danger of an avia-
ton invasion from the Arctic.
incidentally, believe that much of
the land we flew over could not be
traversed on foot. The foot traveller
up there must follow the water routes.
SO I think we have something new to
tell about the character of the land.
Also since dog sledges must be used
in the Spring, when the snow is hard,
l believe we have the first information
the world has ever had about Sum
mer conditions.
"One day we got beyond the noun
tains through a gap. We flew on to
Axel Heiberg Sound and Eureka
Sound, which let's into the Polar Sea
Conditions over there were no better.
There was no proper landing place, SO
we had to return. The cloud and fog
had closed in behind us. This is an
excellent example of the great rapidity
with which the weather changes up
there.
Saved by Sun Compass.
I'VE might have been in a very bad
way had we not the sun compass with
us, for the magnetic ice compass had
an error of 160 degrees and was point
ing nearly south instead of north.
The sun compass, the first of its kind
in this country, was made for this ex-
pedition. and enabled us to do what
we thought was mpossible-navigate
between the North Pole and the north
magnetic pole.
''On the return, through a rift in
the clouds, we saw open water in
one of the f1ords. After loading up
we flew to that ford and put down a
base Of food fuel and firearms. When
we returned to this base to put down
more supplies we found that the ice
completely covered the water we had
landed in.
1T may interest you to know that
we flew over the Greenland ice cap
at an altitude Of IL, 900 feet and found
the ice cap as high as the plane
over mile of solid ice and getting
thicker all the time. That is the great
iceberg factory.
1T also may be of interest to YOU
to know that day after day we flew
over the spot where 19 of Gen.
Greely's men met their death from
cold and hunger. 1t is easy to see
why tragedy or failure have been the
rule up there and why it took Peary
a lifetime to reach the Pole.
I'VE found that Eskimo clothes
were much the best flying clothes.