Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-23
BYRD EXPEDITION
TO MAP ANTARCTIC.
Plans to Survey South Polar
Land and Study Weather
Conditions.
Continued from First Page.)

one were able TO scale the cliff at more
than one point
That spot is the Bay of Whales, an
tndentation in the ice barrier WiAch
gets it's name from the schools OF
whales found there. Amundsen picked
this bay for his Winter quarters because
he shrewdly suspected that the ice there
rested or land He discovered no move
ment during his Winter stay, and the
charts of the ice barrier indicate that,
although it advances and recedeS at
most points and is now receding, 1t is
fairly stationary at the Bay of Whales.
The bay ice also has the great ad-
vantage of being only a few feet above
the water, so that 1t is possible TO dis
charge a ship there by mooring 1t to the
foe
When We step ashore there We will
see before US a mile or so of
sea ice. then a gently rising slope
glirtering white in the sun and
extending inland as far as the eye can
reach. Far to the left are the heights
of King Edward VII Land and to the
right the undulating capes and prom
ontories of the ice barrier. There is
little wind at this point. and the silence
is broken only by the cries of gulls and
petrels Seals bask on the ice and the
droll penguins cock their heads to one
side and walk up to the queer visitors
the explorers.
A. Few Paths Now BlaZed.
Before us will lie, wrapped in its
mantle of ice and snow, 100000
square miles of almost unknown ter
ritorv. an area as large as the United
States and Mexico A few paths have
been painfully blszed through this land
bv Scott and Shackleton along the
western side of the ice barrier toward
the Pole and by Amundsen due south
to the Pole from the Bay OF whales.
The edges of the Weddell Sea, Graham
Land and a few other places on the
circumference of this vast area have
been charted, but the bitter cold. the
treacherous storms that blow with
greater violence there than anywhere
else in THE world, and the complete alb
sence Of animal or plant life have pre-
vented men from gaining any real
knowledge of the continent
I have been asked many times why
we are going to the Antarctic; what
we can do or learn there which will
Justify the expense or danger of such
an expedition This is hard question
to answer not because there is any
doubt in my own mind or in the minds
of the scientists who are accompanying
or advising me as to the value OF the
trip, but because the significance of
data which may be obtained is far re-
moved from popular knowledge and eX-
perience.
Why did Peary labor for years to
reach the North Pole? Why did Nam
sen. Nordcnskjold and Amundsen,
Greedy and Franklin and many other
men spend years and some of them
sacrifice life itself to penetrate the
Arctic Sea? Why did Scott spend five
years in the Antarctic and lay down
his life there in one of the most noble
and dramatic chapters of polar expedi-
ton? Why did Shackleton return again
to this desolate region to die finally
from hardship and exhaustionp Why
cid Mawson struggle for a foothold on
the. frozen threshold of Antarctica in
gales that lasted all year? Why do
scientists go again and again to the
frozen north and south and spend
weary months m seeking to reveal some
OF the secrets of these mysterious re-
gions?
Mems Thirst for knowledge.
The human answer to these oues-.
tons is simple. Men do these things
because they are men: because in the
unknown lies a ceaseieSS challenge to
mans curiosity, to his ever expanding
fund of knowledge While ANYTHING is
to be learned of this earth of ours, of
its form, its history, its strange forces,
men will be found who will not rest
until that knowledge is complete. That
man himself advances, that life is bet
ter worth living now than it was in
medieval times, that we have radio and
moving pictures and flying machines, Is
due to this driving force in man which
will not let him rest. Some men in
vent things which add to the comfort
Of life, some delve into the secrets Of
nature in laboratories that we may
have electric lights and better food and
machines which heal our bodies. Some
men explore unknown lands and seek to
solve in them the riddles of nature,
that we may have more complete and
nobler comprehension of our world.
The mere fact that on this earth Of
ours is region larger than our own
country of which nothing is known is
Sufficient motive for our trip. So
long as that great space remains un-
explored men will attempt to penetrate
it. America should have its share IN
that work. We cannot hope to COM
plete it, although we hope to do more
than has been done before because Of
our airplanes. There are many inter-
esting speculations with regard to the
inferior, and biologists have long puz-
zled over some of the contradictory fea-
tuEeS- of the known landscape.
Is the Antarctic one continent or
two huge islands? 1t is known that the
polar plateau rises to 10000 feet in the
interior and that there are two large
mountain chains running inland from
the Ross Sea and at either side OF the
ice barrier. But opposite the Ross Sea
is another indentation in the continent
the Weddell Sea, so similar in appear
alce to the Poss Sea, so apparently re-
lated to it in position that there has
long been speculation as to whether OF
not these two bodies of water did moi
at one time meet in strait Which ma;
since become overlaid with the ice Of
the polar plateau. Nobody knows no"
deep is the ice covering, and it is prob
able, that a careful survey from the al
woGld show that there once was a con-
nection between the two Antarctic sea
and that the continent of ice was two
large islands before the Ice Age.
Mountains to Be Explored.
II is probable uIs.. we shall also b,
aple 10 determine wA--~..cI one OF TIT
rnounseiI ranges is actually a continu
stion of he Andean Cordillera. TIL
interior Il King Edward VII Land, o
rather that part of the interior to tn
southeast tf that land, has never beer
SEEN. and l. we are able to penetrat
it some dists nee by air we shall learl
definitely the trend of the mountains
or perhaps dist pver an undulating PLAIN
That's one Oh the greatest gegoraph
ical problems o the Antarctic.
There are marv other things to dc
of Which flying % the South Pole
far from being the most important. TIL
purpose of the jght to the Pole is no
only to reach the Pole itself but to sur
vey. as much Of the polar plateau a
possible something which Amundsel
and Scott were unable to do because o
the limitations of their method Q
travel My greatest desire in going 7