THE POLAR REGIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 11997, 4 September 1909, Page 5

THE POLAR REGIONS.

dr Cooks message. \ mo\ lng vk v oik e -'i he pole in siglii' " H\RDSlllP«> OJ' THE RETURN. Puss \vsociitmii-lij iNEW M)Rk, S<pt 3 The Paris edition of tile "Mew York Hdild" In-. «niiuiH n< nl publishing det ill-, ol the tul> stasis ot Di Cook's |ourne\ 'Hie pait\ lilt \nn.ltok on l<cimiu\ 10th nun 11 men ltd and II sleigts and staited to cioss the Polai s. a on Waxli 18th iiom Fsl ind at winch stage ■>ome i'sqiunios with i imitiliM il dogs and siipplie oi iootl i etui lied Reieucd 10 30 p m Sepl lid LONDON, Sc|,t .1 Di Cook in his message to the New "\oik Ilnild ' sud he hit the bite of told, tspeiialU mi the liciglils boidtj ing Lllcsmeie Sound wluie the tern peiatme w is fej b low ?cio Centigiade bcvenl dofswiie tio/en, ind the men suflcicd (inellx 'Kiev went along game tiieks iiom N insrn Si mid to Land s End, ind killed 101 musk o\en, sev«?n beats, and 32"5 h-ms Jhe dossing ol the <in iniipiilai puk we (omnieneed en tlij l 21st Maieh, 100S, two Eskm.os with 26 dogs accoiiipaii.viiig. him. .' ■,'TJiey; l n\aele long"' marches for the first few days, then by persis'tent .winds were i-ooped in snowhouses, eating dried' heef and tallow, and drinking hot tea.' Observations on 13th March gave latitude 84.47, loiSgitutle 86.36. Here they left the last signs of solid earth.

The story ,'proceeds :-j-\Vp advanced, over a monotonous moving sea of ice, ,wish neither bears', foot-prints nor seals' blowhole* to" "be seen. , The,' ice fields, beyond the BGtk. parallel, became more extensive, and ihe crevasses tew and less troublesome, .wii.li littlo or- no crushed ice'as baniers. We were surprised to meet' indications of land ice from the 87th to the 88th parallel. We' were now within 100 mites of the Pole,'and ihe temperature was below 40 . degrees. Signs of land wore still seen, but they were deceptive illusions, mirages of* inverted mountains. Good daily astronomical observations wore .ol>tained, and on the 'Jlst Apiil, SOdcg.' »9min. 4fiseo. was the reading. The Pole,was iu sight! We advanced the 14 seconds, made supplementary observations; -and the flag was raised to the coveted breezes of the North Pule. The temperature was 33 below zero Centigrade; barometer 2f1.83. The compass, pointing to Hie magnetic pole, was Us useful „as ever.

Kndless tirlds r.f purple ?ncws, with no life, no land, no spot to relieve the monotony—this was the 4,utlo(>k 'Jroin the North Pole! We turned homeuards on the 23rd. Long distances were at tirst, quickly covered, and we watched the daily reduction of our ford On 24th May we reached, the 84th , parallel, near the 97th meridian. .• ,I'he' ice was now much broken. We had on the sleds scarcely enough food to reach our caches" on Nansen Sound, and we were hardly equal, to 10, instead.of the necessary \r> miles a day, and a course was set for the muski ox land. The. temperature rose to zero, with a persistent mist, and we had to struggle for twenty days through the fog, and found ourselves, far down in Crown Prince Gustav Sea. In a few davs a heir came—a life-saver. ." We North Oeven into Jones found. V-oft in earjy September .'■(•oppo'l '•> •• We l\ad neither ford fi!«l.'nor ammunition. Now i w "ve shaped, ••and CSre Spartlo Vler,t:«l as a likely place for ' ame. A bow and arrow yielded neat, and fat, and an underground d"ii a\-"s prepared. " 'lnhere >\.o r.'innjicd rn'd «im>-i<e in 1000. We started rn 18th February for 'nnatok', end reached the Greenland 'hores om l.">th Aoril.

Though IV Cook is n r-crscn of high imputation, ,'ome arc si ill sceptical in Uagland. Fi-nvo and A motion, Liontenant Sharkl tin d<-cs net think the ling time o< upiod hv the return t lis :>»ainst Dr f'i ok\ *latournls. The "Mai' do*'iihes the 11.11 "ativo as bald and 1 n'i'"vm '"J,. • Ro.ir-'diiMial Melville, «. the United States Navy, after rrnding Dr C< ok's. narrative, declarvs that he is convine d that the roprrled discrvery is a faice. OPTNIO~>ToF AUTHORITIES. SVONEY, Sept. 3. Profcssei D.ivid considers it very improbable that Dr. Cook has discovered land in the extreme north. All soundings taken by Nansen and other explorers indicated the piesence of a very deep ocean at the Role. The existence of isolated land of a volcanic nature is possible, but a large area of land is unlikely. Dr. Deugl.is Mawson considers the report that Dr. Cook Ins reached the Pol' may well be behoved. lie thinks that probably ho north the year before, and wintered m a hut built on moving ice, relying on walrus lood, and that ho made a dash for-the Pole afterwards, with the appet nance ol the sun. This would o\plain his absence for two years. ,It seemed to Dr. Mawson quite feasible to reach the Pole so early in the sehson.