THE ANTARCTIC.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2926, 3 February 1899, Page 4

THE ANTARCTIC.

The Melborune Age says that there is still living at Fitzroy, Mr T. .Roberts, a hale veteran of 87 years, who was an abte seaman m the expedition of Sir J. 0. Ross to the Antarctic regions over 50 years ago. He complains that his memory is "getting a little treacherous," but he can still speak with vivid recollection of his trip to the far sooth. "There were two vessels," he says, " the Erebus, under Sir James Boss, and the Terror, under Captain Orozier. 1 was on the Terror. We started from Hobart. What the year was I cannot think, but it was nearly 60 years ago, and we got to 78.3deg. south latitude. We came to an island, which we named Penguin Island, because it was so covered with penguins that we could not see the ground. Borne of these birds were as tall bs myself when they stood- up straight. Next we came to what appeared to be the mainland, and we called it Victorialand. There was upon it a burning mountain some 12,000 fret high and we named it Mount Erebus. We were continuously among ice floes, and were frequently anchored to islands of ice. The cold was much more intense than m the Arctic seas, of which I had had a previous long' experience. Of course, our ships were fitted out for a rigorous climate. They were of the old bomb-throwing class, and were provided with furnaces, which were fired when the cold became otherwise unbearable. We were kept active, I can tell you! Every fifteen minutes the captain ordered us out to clear away ice and snow. Every running rope had to be stripped at frequent intervals. A neglected one would soon have become ice-coated to the thickness of my leg. On the deck, too, it was chip, chip, chip, continuously with ice chisels. Every man was supplied with cork-soled snow boots reaching to hia thighs, and a blue pilot cloth jacket, with brass buttons large enough to be felt and manipulated with the coldest of hands. For food we had plenty of preserved meat and tea, and an occasional glass of grog— the latter being a luxury I never indulged m. We had little or no sickness and no deaths. The only real sufferers were one or two men who had frost-bitten fingers. And sometimes it was cold ! I remember finishing a watch at eight o'clock one morning, and going below to find them boiling ice for drinking water, and I set to rubbing my hands with snow until they felt on fire, to the great consternation of the doctor, who had quite other ideas for the treatment of numbness. What is there worth going for m the Antarctic regions ? Nothing at all, except, perhaps, some whale blubber and scientific knowledge. The only curios we were able to pick up were .ordinarylooking pebbles, which we labelled and sent to museums m the Old Country. Sometimes we knocked a seal on the head, but we only brought its bones awny, the skin being considered of little value. And as to the whales we saw, they were all of the black species^ not a single sperm whale being m evidence Take my word for it, the Antarctic is no place for human beings to live m. I do not believe that there is even a single four-footed animal m the whole region." Mr Roberts concluded with a shrug that was like a shiver. And yet he seemed to delight m recalling, as far as memory would permit, the months he spent on the Erebus nearly 60 years ago m the desolate south. He was better off on that well provisioned ship than often times he has been m this land of plenty and poverty.

Not long ago a bishop was a guest at a dinner party m Baltimore. "By the way," said one of the guests, a woman, "do you know that there are timeß when it is dangerous to enter an Episcopal church?" "What is that, madame?" said the bishop, with great dignity, straightening himself up m his chair. " I say there are times when it is positively dangerous to enter the eh urch , " she replied. •• That cannot be," said the bishop: "pray explain, madame." 11 Why," said she, •• it is when there is a canon m the reading«desk, a big gun | m the pulpit, when the bishop is charging his clergy, the choir is murdering the anthem, and the organist is trying to drown the choir." A hearty laugh went the round of the table at the bishop's expense, and he acknowledged that at such a time he could imagine it disagreeable at least, if not dangerous, to be pveaenb.— Christian Age.