WITH THE EXPLORERS

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 72, 26 March 1909, Page 7

WITH THE EXPLORERS

0 « INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR OAVID. j VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC WORK. A VAST GLACIER. AND ITS MOVEMENTS. INTERESTING DISCOVERIES. ' [Bt Telegbafh. — Special to The Post.} , CHRISTCHUROH, This Day On account, of his- personality alone Professor David, of Sydney University, is an interesting member of the Nimrod'e expedition. It was a courageous undertaking for a man over fifty years to join a polar expedition, and his action apoealed strongly to people here. Some fears, indeed, were expressed that it would go rather hard with him amongst ihe ice and! enow. Apparently, it had agreed with him splendidly. It seems to have made him twenty years younger:" he lodl:s like a man of thirtyfive ; he is heavier than he has ever b'jen before, hif> face has the glow of; good health, and he is in the pink of condition. When a representative of The Evening Past, asked him for an interview on board the Nimrod Professor David shook his head and said that he ■nas busy packing, ami had.' not a minute tv spare. 'J.he cause, of his haste was shown' when he announced 1 that he intended to leave that evening for Sydney. He was as good as his word. As soon as the Nimrod came alongside the wharf at LytteJton he transhipped to the Maori, and in half an hour he was on his way -o Wellington to catch the Maheno for Sydney. In spite of his piotestations, however, he was able to ■supply some interesting details of the work he has done in the Antarctic. FORMATION OF THE GREAT ICE BARRIER. The reporter asked if his investiga-. tions had- added to the world's know-, ledge of the origin of the great- ice barrier. "Yes, 7 he said, "we have distinctly done some work in that direction. There can be very little donbt now that the great ice. barrier was foimed partly by glacier ice and partly by snow. This view of its origin is rendered highly, probable by the discovery by Lieutenant Shackleton and his. pout hem party of a vast glacier fifty miles wide and 120 miles long, descending from an elevated inland plateau 10,000 feet above the sea level. This great glacier is probably one of many that ( feed the great ice barrier. The glacier in its turn is fed from snows near the South Pole. By its forward movement it presses on to the surface of the barrier for fully twenty miles from it® inland edse into a series of long pressure ridges like a series of large waves in the ocean. Important evidence was obtained by Mr. M'lntosh on a depot-lay-ing party as to the actual seaward movement of the barrier caused by the pressure of the inland glacier ice further south. 7 SEAWARD MOVEMENT. It was found that a depot established near Minna Bluff on the southern journey of the. Discovery expedition had travelled two geographical miles to the east-north in a period of six years and' two months. It was also proved' that in the same period Bft 2in of scow had fallen at the present site of the depot. This may be con&idexed to be a good average estimate of the snowfall for the barrier in that latitude. It is> obvious, therefore, that as the. nead of the barrier is approximately 300 or 400 miles couth of its eastward front there is time for a thickness of many hundred 1 feet of snow, to accumulate on the surface of the slightly moving glacier before it traverses the distance I have named in orde* to~i - each the sea front, from which icebergs are from time to , time broken off. NATURE OF BERGS. "The observations made by Captain Evans, of the' Nimrod, in sounding around typical icebergs show that the bergs most typical and common in the Antarctic are probably not icebergs at all, but snow bergs. Close to our winter quarters., for example, a large tabular becg grounded in 13 fathoms of water. It projected about SOft above the sea, and there was, therefore, about an equal quantity helow and above water. This shows that probably the- first of the bergs launched from the great ice barrier are — in their upper parts, at any rate, if not throughout — formed of snow rather than of glacier ice. The glacier ice attached to the snow has probably dissolved in the sea water on which the barrier floated perhaps for many scores of miles before the barrier's northern limit js reached. - GREAT CONTINENTAL AEEA ON HIGH PLATEAU. " One of the most important geographical results," Professor ' David added, " is the proof that the Antarctic region from ltoss sea to the South Pole is a great continental area in the nature of a high plateau. Its southern extremity near Cam* fSrwt.h -in from 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea, 7000 feet near the magnetic pole, 8000 feet where it was traversed by Captain Scott, of the Discovery expedition, and about 10,500 feet at the furthest point reached by Lieut. Shackleton. and his party, namely, 3Sdeg 23min south. This plateau almost certainly continues across the South Pole for some distance, and it probably extends onwards in the direction of South America towards Coatesland, discovered by Bruce, who went on, the Scottish expedition in the Scotia. " The discovery of coal measures and thick masses of limestone as far south as 85deg is extremely interesting, as showing a former. mild climate close to the South Pole, as both limestone and coal accumulate only under conditions of a mild climate. This coal measure and sandstone formation extends from, 85deg in an almost unbroken sheet south to Mount Nansen, near the magnetic pole, a distance of over 1100 miles. Under the coal and sandstone formation there is a widely-spread foundation of very old rocks of granite gneiss, schists, and coarsely crystalline marbles. The mineral marazite, from which thorium is commercially extracted for incandescent gas mantles, is so common in places that it is one of the local rock-forming minerals. It is, in fact, like black mica in granite. This mineral was discovered by Mr. Mawson at several places along the coast on the western side of Ross sea in the old foundation series of granite and schists. THE METEOROLOGICAL WORK. IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING RESULTS. Professor David said that the meteorological work had been very interesting and very successful. There was no doubt it would be useful to both Australia and New Zealand. He hoped that the whole of the information would be placed at the disposal of the Common, wealth and the Dominion. It was pro■posed to work at the results in this part of the world so that meteorologists here could compare conditions in the Antarctic during the past fifteen months with local conditions and ascertain what effect Antarctic blizzards had on the Australian and New Zealand weather. A complete series of observations had been taken simultaneously kt Cape Rovd by the Farthest South party and by mea oa th.e.,yj§^.&jQ^Tßoyd, -The \

currents of the air could be traced by | means of the vast volumes of smoke that ! arose from Mount Erebus. ' MICROSCOPICAL LIFE. Mr. Murray's observations of microscopical animal life, Professor David said, were specially interesting. He found rotifera which had probably been frozen in the solid ice for many years. Soon after they were brought out they, sprang back into life at once and began to. 'feed. There had been obtained good microscopical specimens, A which hnd probably, been frozen tor three years in temperatures of from .50 degrees to 60 degrees below zero, Fahr. " THE SOLITARY PENGUIN. .-A REMARKABLE MIGRANT. •Professor David was asked to explain the reference in the Daily Mail's message, published yesterday, to the discovery by Mr. Murray of a "ringed p'ejjguin." Up to the present time only | two species of penguin have been re- j corded from the part of Antarctica visited by the Nimrod expedition. They are a large species known as Emperor, and a smaller species. The London message seemed to show that another -species unknown to science had- been discovered. Professor David said that the explanation was a very interesting one. Only one specimen of the new penguin had been found, and it was recognised as belonging to a Bp_ecies commonly called the "ringed penguin," which had been reported from Graham Xcand, on the other side of Antarctica, south of South America. It is presumed that the bird, which was found at Cape Ktfyd amongst a number of adelial penjgttins, wandered all the way _ from its original home, probably coming most of .the way by sea. The interesting specimen was secured, and the skin was .brought to New Zealand. ASCENT OF AN ANTARCTIC VOLCANO. A TERRIFIC BLIZZARD. Dr. A. Forbes Mackay, surgeon and farrier to the expedition, talked interestingly to a reporter regarding the ascent of the famous Antarctic volcano 'Mount Erebus, which was made by a party consisting of Professor David, lieutenant Adams, Sir Philip Brocklehurst, Dr. Marshall, Mr. Mawson, and Dr. Mackay. The party started from Cape Royd on sth March, returning four days later. "Professor David was the first to propose the ascent," said Dr. Mackay, "and I was also very keen on it, as I had had some experience of mountain climbing. After a great deal of persuasion Lieutenant Shackleton at last consented; to our making the attempt, we had two days of heavy Kledge work, hauling the sledge containing a fortnight's rations ourselves, and in those two days we attained an altitude . of 6j}oo feet. We then came to the end of the snow. THIRTY-SIX HOURS IN SLEEPING BAGS. • WITHOUT FOOD AND WATER. The sledges were left at a depot, and we thenceforward carried our provisions and our cooker on our shoulders. Halfway up the rock slopes a terrific blizzard came up, and we had to spend thirty-six hours in our sleeping bags without food or water. I managed, however, to drink some snow water, melting it in my hands. At the summit of the rocky ascent we came to the edge of the old crater which had been piled up with snow till it had become a huge spow plain, about five miles in. diameter. Behind this snow plain was the active crater. Dotted over the snow plain weie numerous fumaroles which looked very like ruined cottages with smoke issuing from them. UP IN THE CRATER. CURIOUS PHENOMENA. . The next day the party together started across the old crater's snow plain, and on our way we got some excellent photographs of fumaroles. We reached the edge of the active crater, suffering one and all from "mountain dizziness." It is hard to describe the active crater in. words. All I can tell you is that it is something like Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh turned upside down and scooped out inside. There is a huge gaping chasm about 800 feet deep and more than a quarter of a mile across. The sides are formed of snow and ice. Despite! the intense internal heat, on one side of the crater a very curious phenomenon was seen of ice sandwiched out between stratified layers of worn, hot rocks.' The ice was continually melting in thesß placea and evaporating mto j columns of steam. The bottom of the j crater was generally ob&cured by steam clouds, and when these clouds momentarily rifted, we saw three or lour large pot holes, in which I thought I distinguished glowing lava. Now and then an enormous mass of ice would tall into I one of the pot holes, and a column of ] steam would immediately arise. There was a constant roaring tound, which could only be compared to that made by a sawmill. The return journey was made hurriedly, and occupied only 24 hours. ' I A SURGICAL OPERATION. On the journey, v Siv Philip Brocklehtirsfc had one of his feet badly frostbitten, and on the return to the hut at Cape Royd it was found necessary to amputate the great toe of his right foot. Dr. Marshall performed the operation, and used chloroform. THE DASH FOR THE POLE. .WOULD HAVE SUCCEEDED IF FOOD SUFFICIENT. [BT TEtEGIIArn — PKBSS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. One of the features of the equipment was the inclusion of a kinematograph. It recorded the unloading of the stores from the Nimrod in a blizzard, the arrival in Lyttelton Harbour, the starting of the sledge parties, and actions of ssals and sea leopards. The most interesting picture of all was of the penguins — the quaintest of birdo. Dr. P. Marshall, in charge bf the kinematograph, states that the results were highly satisfactory. ,He used over 4000 feeo of films ; about 2000 have been given up to penguins alone, and over 1000 feet have been developed. From the scientific point of view the pictures will be the means of adding very largely to the world's knowledge of the habits of Antarctic animals. Mr. Wild, one of the southern party that was less than one hundred miles from the Pole, gave a reporter some fragmentary impressions. "The princi pal drawback to the whole of the trip,' 1 he said, "was the extreme shortness of food. We were out one Hundred and twenty-six days on ninety-one days' rations. That was as much as we could carry. We were as thin as rakes. Our allowance, which consisted of pemrnican biscuits, was to have been thirty-three ounces daily, but at one time it was cut down by nearly half. That for some .Weeks. "Yes," added Mr. Wild, in reply to 8 question, "we could have got the other ninety-seven miles to the Pole, but we couldn't have got back. We were running so many risks at the time." MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN. [Bt TELEGRAPH— FKESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Lieutenant Shackleton has received the following cablegram from the.

Queen : "Your telegram received this morning. The Queen has read it with interest, and I have Her Majesty's commands to say she will gladly receive ,back from you on your return to England the Union Jack entrusted to yourcharge, and which you have now made of such historic interest and value. I am further commanded to convey you the Queen's appreciation of your desire, which she gladly consents to, that a new range of mountains discovered by you in the Far South should be named after Her Majesty. — Dighton Probyn."