Evening star., 1926-04-18

! strange possibilities. 1t is a place
where man has never gone, region
Of snow and ice and perfect quiet,
! where all ordinary human values lose
! their proportions. l have been asked
many times what is the distinctive
| characteristic Of polar territory,
! whether north or south 1t is the
quiet. the absolute peace which sur
! rounds one-the sense of complete
F! freedom to do what one wants to do.
There is nobody to interfere. The
individual is absolute. l like it. Men
sometimes go mad when isolated in
the Arctic or Antarctic, but ] like
it, There is no sense of loneliness.
only peace and quiet and freedom.
OF course there is nothing TO do with
ones freedom, but you have IT, and
1t is satisfying. No man can lift his
voice and say you should not do this
or that.
One lives, does what is necessary to
live and to accomplish his purpose,
and that is all. l suppose the same
thing is true Of the jungle, but there
is more life there. In the wastes Of
the poles there is nothing but ones
self.
North and South Poles Differ.
There is a vast difference between
the North and South Poles. l had
the good fortune to reach the South
Pole first. achieving my purpose
largely by careful planning and luck
luck is always a factor in such eXpe-
ditions. But there is a difference in
the method.
The South Pole lies on a great con-
tinent, with peaks about as high as
the depths of the North Polar Sea.
1t is surrounded by a huge ice wall,
formed by glaciers on the interior
plateau which move down and make
an icy barrier that stretches out 400
miles from the land. But once over
the barrier and into the interior, the
explorer is on ground that does not
shift. as the polar ice constantly does.
and he can make his way forward
with the certainty that he can always
retrace his steps over the same
ground.
This cannot be done in the Arctic.
1t is this great physical difference be-
tween solid ground. or ice, and the
shifting ice surface of the Arctic
which distinguishes exploration in the
two regions. In the Antarctic also
one climbs over mountains, some of
them at an elevation of 1900 feet.
That is quite different from making
ones way along the comparatively
level but much more dangerous Ice
of the north.
Easy to Locate Caches.
Another thing about the Antarctic
is that you can always find your
caches. if you know how to mark
them. The old custom down there
used to be to plant sticks as one went
along and try to find the way from
stick to stick. But in a fog or storm
it was easy to overlook them. We
originated the idea Of planting sticks
on each side of the cache for some
distance, so that it would be almost
impossible to miss them all and to
find the way back to the place where
the food was. But it would be i'm
possible to do that in the Arctic. The
cache would drift away or be en-
quilted before it was reached.
The Antarctic was the coldest place
in the world We found that at our
Winter quarters, where the thermom
eter registered 7S degrees Fahrenheit
below, much colder than it was in
the coldest place in the Arctic. the
Northwest Passage. We shall never
encounter such average cold in the
north as we had in the south. Strange
contradiction in terms, but it is so.
/ do not know if it would be possible
to use a dirigible for exploration in
the Antarctic. The high peaks might
be too great a barrier, for 1 am not
sure that a dirigible dependent upon
gas for it's lifting power would go to
such a height in such a low tempera-
ture. 1t is an interesting point for
the experts to work upon, and If they
decide that it can be done, much more
of that fascinating continent can be
explored. Very little of it has been
covered, despite the fact that l went
in about 400 miles from where Scott
entered.
Swift Travel Possible.
That is another valuable point about
travel by air in the cold regions. On
our last trip, for instance, we survey.
ed 10000 square miles in IL hours.
It was not the extent of the survey
which was significant. 1t was that
Fnever before had man been able to fly