Evening star., 1928-12-27
GREAT ADVENTURE
CONFRONTS BYRD
Party Poised at Threshold of
Mystery Land Before Pene-
trating Ice Pack.
BY the Associated Press.

| BY the Associated Press.
Comdr. Richard E. Byrd, head of an
expedition to the bottom of the world, u
| is at the threshold of one Of the great
est adventures of this adventuresome
century.
Before him lies the last geographical
challenge to science-frigid, formidable
Antarctica, a continent of 100000
square miles, which is so little known
that even large part Of its glacier
| fringed coaStline must be mapped by
guess.
Byrd commands a $1,000,000 expedi-
| ton, equipped as few, If any, previous
polar parties have been fitted out, and
is prepared to spend two years, II nee
essary, in wrestling from the vast land
of silence secrets that science long mas
wanted to know.
Immediate Flight Improbable.
The party finds itself at the Bay of
Wholesome Of the gateways to the
Observation-Disclosures at Midsummer,
when conditions are most favorable for
the flying which Byrd plans to do.
Whether he will attempt an immediate
aerial trip to the South Pole is regarded
as doubtful. It is believed, rather, that
he will postpone this spectacular part
of his program until the expedition has
its second wind on the Storm-SWept
tongue of ice that extends for an In
definite distance into the continental
indentation known as Ross Sea.
On the South American side OF
Antarctica is Sir George Hubert Wilkins,
himself an aviator of note, who also
is known to be planning polar flight.
The two airmen have diSavowed any in
tention of racing to the pole, previously
visited by Amundsen and Scott after
s1edge journeys overland, but 1t is
known that each would like to be the
first man to reach it by air. Wilkins
already has made at least one long
Antarctic flight from his base on De-
ception Island, near the Weddell Sea.
and hence finds himself with a good
bit of South Polar flying experience.
The Ross Sea barrier and its Bay
of Whales used by AmmdSen as the
base for his successful dash, offers
small comfort, even in the Summer sea-
son, to the explorers of the Byrd party.
It is a vast cliff of ice, hundreds Of
miles long, the termination Of the con-
tinental glacier that blankets probably
the entire continent.
On its chilly, slippery surface the
expedition will set up the base camp
from which the exploring parties will
set out on their trips into that almost
mythical section of the continent
known as King Edward VII Land,
which borders the sea.
Will Build Tiny Town.
When supplies have been swung
ashore from the expeditions boats-no
small problem itself in view of the
height of the ice wall-the adventures
will erect the portable houses that are
to be their homes during many months.
When the encampment is complete 1t
will be a tiny town, with dwellings, a
recreation room, library, kitchen, work.
shop, storehouses for the tons of food
and the gasoline, and shelters for the
four airplanes.
Taking advantage Of the slight mod
Grafton in temperature and storm which
the brief Antarctic Summers will af-
ford, the expedition plans to make a
start at laying supply bases along the
800-nile route which Byrd's big trt-
motored airplane Is to take some day
to the pole. These depots, according
to the plan, are to be put down at in
tervals of 100 miles, with smaller sta
tions between, and will be transported
by dog teams.
The scientists Of the party are ex-
pected to be last to get their bearings
in this-to them-inViting land, and
perhaps they will be able to make a
start at their investigations into gla-
ciology. geology, meteoroIogy and sew
eral other "ologies" in the mysterious
continent.
Life on the ice barrier will not have
all the comforts of home, but it will
offer many of them. The expedition
carried with it hundreds of books, tons
of candy and tobacco, scores Of pho
nograph records, electric washing ma
chimes, a gigantic cook stove that will
burn coal left by the steamer City of
New York, and many other luxuries
such as previous polar explorers have
left behind. In the .larder are vast
quantities of meats, tfnned vegetables
and fruits, jellies-sutfhcient in both
variety. and amount to set such meals
as probably never were seen south of
the Antarctic Circle.
Hard Work in Prospect.
For the first two rhonths it will be
all work and little play for Byrd and
his men, but as Spring comes to North
America they will be preparing for the
long, vicious Winter of blizzards and
very low temperatures. Other explorers
have said that nowhere in the world
does the wind blow harder than on
Antarctica and that nowhere are the
snow and ice storms more severe. The
gales sweep down TO the coast from
the high plateaus and mountain ranges
of the interior, even from the South
Pole itself, which is perched at an ele-
vation of about 10000 feet. To attempt
to fly airplanes in the Winter months
would be disastrous. Some scientists
have said that it will be hard enough
to fly them even when conditions are
most favorable. and that, according to
American standards, isn't saying much
for Antarctica is always cold, alWay,
blustery, always treacherous, always in.
| hospitable.
Byrd's men who venture into the In.
terror will find themselves strictly de.
pendent on the supplies they carry
with them. Beyond the coasts. where
seals, sea elephants and penguins
abound. there is no game in this dead
land of ice. Vegetation, even amonc
| the rocks that outcrop here and there
through the glacier, is limited to rudi-
mentary mosses, The largest living
thing ren0rtAd is a r1inJta cp{dar