STRANGE ESQUIMAUX STORY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6997, 10 December 1909, Page 8

STRANGE ESQUIMAUX STORY

DESCRIBES DRIFTING BALLOON AND DYING MEN. By Teloyraph—Press AjsooiatTon—Copyright BERLIN, December 8. Berlin newspapers, suggesting that possibly it refers to the missing Arctic explorer Andree, publish a story, on tho authority of a missionary, who heard it from the Esquimaux in the Farthest North, that one day the natives were astonished to see " a, white house in tho sky." They described how it contained two half-starved men, who, after being partly restored, soon died. The missionary saw several ropes among the Esquimaux. Herr August Andree, with, two companions, Dr Strindberg and Herr Fraenkel, made a successful ascent in the balloon Battle on July 11th. 1897. from Dane's Island, north-west of Spitsbergen ind 617 miles from the Pole. The exhope was that he would be carried to the Pole by the air-currents. Pour buoys from the balloon have been found. The first, found in Norway, in June, 1899, and containing a_ Dote from Andree, was thrown out eight hours after his departure. The "North Pole buoy," to be dropped when the Pole was passed, was found empty on the north side of King Charles Island, northeast of Spitsbergen, September 11th, 1899. A third buoy, also empty, was found on the west coast of Iceland, July 17th, 1900. Another, reported from Norway, on Auirust 31st, 1900, contained a note showin? that the buov was thrown out at 10 p.m., July 11th, 1897, at an altitude of 820 feet, moving N. 45 E., with splendid weather. Many search expeditions, some equipped at creat expense, have returned unsuccessfully.