THE WORLD OF BOOKS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18407, 13 June 1925, Page 13

THE WORLD OF BOOKS.

HALF HOURS IN A LIBRARY^

UvzaXrxT mrrrxK rox "in inn.")

By . A. H. G&pruxo.

CXVII—ON THE NORTH POLE,

It may not be generally known' that a New Zealand lady writer has anticipated Aniundsen in reaching the North Pole; but such is actually the case. There is the possibility that a matter of months may elapse before any news of the success or otherwise of Amundsen's attempt to reach the North Pole by aeroplane reaches the centres of civilisation. As a matter of fact, Robert Peary was the first on the spot, where he wrote the following note:— 90deg. IT. list.. North Pola. 6th April, 1909. I hoisted tho national ensign of the United States of America at this place, which my "observations indicate to be the North Pole axis of the earth, and lmve formally taken possession of the entire region and adjacent, for and in the name of the, President of the United States of America. I leave this record and. United Steiwt'fla? in possession. ROBERT E. PEARY, United States Navy.

"It is woll, perhaps, to bear in mind," writes Mr Johu Buchan, in his book "The Last Secrets," that there is a marked difference between tho two Polar regions. The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continental lands; the Antarctic is a .continental land surrounded. by oceans.'' This means, of course, that it is impossible for Peary, Amundsen, or any other Arctic explorer to leave a permanent record of their achievement in reaching the North Pole; since the scene is a frozen sea, and the ice is shifting and drifting continually. Happily, in 1911, two years after. Peary, Miss Edith Howes commenced her career as Arctic explorer with the publication of that delightful book '' Fairy Eings.'' Those, who have read the story—and all who have not are much' to be pitied—will remember that Win-and Twin, a little New Zealand girl and boy, were' bent on finding fairies in the Maoriland bush. In the course of their search for . the fairies, they had many adventures, and at length they were directed by mischievous Puck to make for the North Pole. On the way they encountered Jack Frost:—

"Where are Jrou going?" he asked the twins.

"To the North Pole." "Are you really? So am I. That's strange/ isn't it? Come on. We'll go together." %

• The children scrambled on to the Iceblock. Jack Frost pulled his toes out,of N tho 4 water and walked besido them. "I am soing to mark off the Arctic Circlo again,*''he told them. "It. has been looking terrible smudgy lately. Those white Bears rub it out with their big heavy feet. ■What are you goios for?" , "To look for Bush Fairies," said Twin. "Biish Fairies at the Pole I What nonsense 1"

Before the twins could reply, a white sledge,'drawn'by a reindeer, came swiftly across their' path and stopped. ' 'The Snow Queen 1" exclaimed Jack Frost. He bo wed. almost to. the ice. The Snow Queon sat in the sledge. She was dressed altogether. in' swansdown. She looked lovely. "Who are these .children?" she asked Jack Frost.

"Well, I never asked them their names," he answered.- ' 'They say they are going to the North Pole to look for Bush Fairies, but I don't believe them."

"Then you ought to," said Win, indignantly. ''We. are not story-tellers." She. turned to the Snow Queen. "Your Majesty, we-are Win and Twin," she said. "We. are looking for fairies, and Puck told us to come to the North Pole for. them." ;

"Shakespeare'B Puck?" • "Yen, your - Majesty." Tlio Snow Queen smiled in a . pitying •way, and Jack Frost ■ laughed out loudly. "Puck," he shouted. "Oh, what a "wildgioSe chSse!'.'" .

The Twins jumped on to the Snow Queen V sledge, . and off they went to the North Pole, picking up on the way a boar, an' eider-duck," aii Arctic fox, a whitti hare. a : stoat, aPole cat, Arid an Arctic gtill; • A seal came floundering in, -and the party whiled away 'this'' time With song; ;and ' story. At length, ' "everybody saw the will in front of thent, not moretbaii three 'chains'; away. The reindeer dashed up to ,it, , the .. sledge . stopped, they all sprahg out in tie-greatest excitement'';: _ A door in the Wall flew open aiid the . Ico. canie- .'out. :-He wag .dressed-in • icicles, with on ice-cap on: his head. . " "Walk'up, ■walk -up, ladies and-gentle-men, and -see the "great "North -Pole," he :, shouted, ■■ it Weverr was. such a: sight seen before. "Two shillings front., seats,,, one : '.shilling - back seats.-. -Arid I'm ' the : man atthedoor.'"Front -seats for everybody,, .please," ' - said the ' Snow Queen.' She gave the. IceHan the money. -."That's, a -good thing,*' lie said,' "for '.can't :seo ,the..- Pola from the back seats;. That's why. Nansen and all those " " other, fellows never saw'it. r They-coiildnjt afford front-seat tickets; they said; so they •\ sat-at'the :back and saw-nothing." .-•'/He-:led the way through the little door. : . They all followed. Inside the Wall were the back i; seats.- : Certainly-the Eoile .could • not be seen .from there, for a-doable row of : ice-hills : rose ■in front of them. ...They passed' the little : hills, and 'caine to the -front..seats,' -.There in the middle of ,6'"lake- was the North Pole. It" stood big. ■'"and brown, and shining, witli. the many.polishihgs. the lee-Maii had. given it, high above" the surrounding water. The Pole at:last. V • "What is" it'made of?" asked Twin. "Wood, : - of' course;"- said Jack -Frost.' "Did you ever see a pole made of anything • 'else?" .' ,. v • ; ■ ■

. . When v Jftck;Frbst started to mark off. the . Arctic cirble with his coihpnsses, •he pressed hard on:the steel .teg., "But the -Pole had stood so. long ,in .the damp that it,was quite rotten in the middle. Jack' Frost cried' for help, but he dis-

had long-been puzzledby Certain rocks in Iceland which; we're considered to be palagonite-breccia. ; ; Dr. Pjetttss solved the riddle of these' rocks by his discovery that they showed evidences of glacial' action. As these rocks aire much" older than" any known to. geologists, ho thus; discovered the existence of an "Ice-age" which would be'quite new.to science. He complains bitterly" that certain European geologists ignore this discovery, while others, whom he quotes, have called it "epoch-making." Perhaps he insists a little too . much upon - theso personal grievances. . . "We must now take leave of our hyperborean philosopher. .His position as a scientific in vestigator- and ~ speculative thinker must surely be unique; The whole nation, in whose language he writes includes less ' than 100,000 is about as big as the city of Christchurch. The capital, Beykjavik", the only "large" town, is about as big as Timaru. To" this small public Dr. Pjeturss addresses his -bold, far-reaching and original thoughts, a- public ■ consisting almost entirely of agricultural and pastoral workers, living, for the most party isolated and lonely Uves in a rigorous climate. They have,behind them, however, a great and glorious past,, and a , body of ancient fiterature. with which that of no other' medieval nation can compare. To the memory of this literature—the famous Sagas—they cling with strong and this in itself means much. In their, darkest . days, the Icelanders were never an-ilUterate people. Ia the Sagas Dr. Pjeturas finds confirmation of his psychological theories and claims that .the Icelanders are predisposed by their. historical and literary cultire "to ; accept these .theories. Whether we agree, with him or not, we must regard his speculations as worthy of the .closest' attention of those who are.iaterested'in such matters. - • -

appeared, compassess and all, down the hole in the Pole. The Twins followed "down through the long opening maoo bv the compasses till they came out at the. South Pole on the other side °j the world." The 6tory is a dehghtrul feat, in -puce imagination and whicn makes "Fairy Rings" the best book which Miss Edith Howes has written. It is interesting to compare this effect of imagination on the.part of a i>cw Zealand author with another imaginative effect of quite a different *ina. In his "Adventures in Journalism Sir Philip Gibbs says: 'The most important 'scoop' that I can claim was my discovery of Dr. Cook, after hij pretended discovery of the North Pole. . • | had arrived at the Daily Chronica office from some country nlace, when xiA. Perris, the news editor, said m a casual way There's a fellow named Dr. Cook who has discovered Pole. He m?..y arrive at Copenhagen to-morrow. Lots of other men have the start of you, but sge it .J' 0 " ?® ,n get some kind of storv.' " Sir Philip went post-haste to Copenhagen, ana after some delay and difficulty he got) on board Cook's shir>, where he sew a sturdy; handsome Anglo-Saxon looking man, in furs, surrounded by a group of hniry and furry men, Europeans and Eskimos, and some Arctic dogs.

Sir Philip Gibbs introduced himself to Dr. Cook r.s an English Pressman, shook hands with him and congratulated him on his achievement. "Come and have some breakfast, young man ww the friendly rejoinder. During breakfast Sir Philio studied the supposed explorer. "He was not bearded, but had a well-shaven chin. He had a powerful face, with a, rather heavy nose and wonderful blue eyes. There was something queer about his eyes, A thought. They avoided a direct gaze. He seemed excited, laughed a good dealf talked volubly, r.nd was restless with his hands—strong seaman's hands. But I rather liked th©_ look of him. He seemed to lie typical of AngloSaxon explorers, hard, simple, true At first Dr.' Cook evaded Sir Philip Gibbs's request for a. story, and when asked if the newspaper man might see his diary, suspicion was aroused. Sir Philip writes: — To my surprise, lie replied -with a strange defensive* look, that he had no diary. His papers had been put in a yacht be*, longing to ft man named Whitney, "Nvho ; would take them to New-York. "Wlion will he get there?" I jjyjjked. i "Next year," said Dr. Cook. I "But Burely," I Baid, still without.sus- j picion, "you have brought your journal with you? The essential papers?" . ! "I have no papers," he said, and his ; mouth hardened. * • . , ] "Perhaps I could see your astronomical | observations?" I said, and was rather pleased with that suggestion. "Haven't I told you that I have brought no papers?" he said. , I He spoke with a sudden violence of ' anger which startled me; Then he Said something which made suspicion leap into my brain. .. . .. , ■ j "You. believed, Nansen, he said, and Amundsen and Svcrdrup. They had C -P'} r their story to tell.'' Why don t you be- . lieve me?" _ , ' ~. . . I had believed him. But at that strange excited protest 'and somo uneasy, almost guilty, look about the man, X thought, "Hullol What's wrong? This man proteats too much." . _ ■ , , . | From that moment I had grave doubts I of him. i pressed him several times about his papers. Surely he wis not coming to Europe to claim the greatest prize of exploration without a scrap of his notes or | any of his observations? He became more and more angry'with me, until for the sake I of getting some narrative from him doned. that interrogation and asked him lor his personal The his journey, the weights of his sledges, the j number of his dogs, and so- on. scribbled down : his answers, the story .»p-\| peared to me more and more fantastic. Aud he contradicted himself several times, and hesitated over many of'Tns answerst. like a man building up a delicate case of - selfdefence. By intuition, rather evidence, by some quick instinct of "«»} expression, by some sensibility to mental and moral dishonesty, I was co J" , " ced ' absolutely, at the end of h °"Vote but , man had not been to the North Pole, but was attempting to bluff .the world. j

Sir Philip Gfobs,; witilii. Iris journalistic career at stake, wrote seven columns tp the ''tiaily Chronicle," making a definite challenge to Cook's claim, and ridiculing his narrative. And Sir Philip was able'.to make good his contention. It will be remembered, also, that doubts were cast' upon Peary's claim to have reached/the North Polo, on the ground that. he : 'was only accompanied on the final. stagß. of• his journey by, Matthew ■Eensoii,: his negro assistant, and bjr four Eskimos.. Peary, had a great opinion of ' the Eskimos, and in : "Nearest .the Pole" he wrpte:—

I have often been asked: Of what. are Eskimos to the world ? They are too far removed to be of value in commercial .enterprises and, furthermore, tney lacic -ambition. They, have no literature, nor, properly speaking, any art/ They value life only as does a fox, or a-bear, purely by '"Bullet us not forget that these people, trustworthy and liardy, will yet P rov £ the .'* value to mankind. With their help, the world shall > discover the Polo.

While awaiting news of Amundsen's safe rettirn' from his adventurous flight, I instinctively turned to the books which relate to Arctic. exploration, ihe most concise summary of that history,; and.. wh'icli lias' the' merit of bringing the 'story almost .up to date, is contained in "Mr John Buchan s The Last Secrets " and the particular chapter leaded "The North Pole.";. What a wonderful roll of honour is included in'that story; what a'galaxy of noble names, beginning with Pytheas; One of the most intrepid explorers the world has. jover seen, who, voyaging about 330. 8.C., was the first man to bring news of-the Arctic regions to the civilised world"; passing on to. Ptolemy, and ."Harold of the Pair Hair,?' and ■thereafter to Frobisher, John Davis, Henry Hudson, William Baffin, and in. more recent times to Parry, Eoss, Franklin, McClintock, ham, and Nares. . From Scandinavia came Nordcuskvold,' Nansen, Sverdrup, ancT Amundsen; : whilst America sent forth Greely and Peary. ■ As to the lure which compelled' these brave men and their companions to leave home and country' on so 'perilous a quest, these are the words quoted by Nansen from the old Norse chronicle, "The King's" Mirror," and included in. "In the Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times":— '- *

If you wish to know what men seek in this'land' (the Arctic regions), or why men journey thither in so great danger of> their lives, then it ia the threefold nature of man that draws him thither. One part of him. is-emulation and desire of fame, for .it is a man's natu.ro to go where there is likelihood of great danger and to make himself famous thereby.. Another' part is the desire of knowledge, for it is man's nature:to wish to know and see those parts of which'he has heard, a'nd to find out whether they are as it was told him or not. The third part i 3 the desire of gain, seeing that men seek, after riches in every place where they learn that profit is to bo had; even though there is great danger in it. ■ *

Another useful manual.is "Polar Exploration," by Dr. William Bruce, the leader of the Scottish National' Antarctic Expedition in 1902-4, which while treating mainly of South Polar conditions, makes interesting comparison between the Antarctic • and .. the Arctic regions. • Going more deeply into the subject is "Farthest North: Being the Narrative of the Voyage and Exploration of the Fram, 1893-96, and the Fifteen .Months' Sledjge Expedition, by -Dr. Nansen and Lieutenant Johansen; with an appendix by Otto Sverdrup." The introduction to the first chapter of this work is highly informative ; in regard to early Arctic exploration. A couple of big volumes which 'it is impossible to overlook are-Peary's "Nearest the Pole'' and "The North Pole', at the present moment, howr ever, the most absorbing book, is Amundsen's "The South Pole," giving "an account of the Norwegian Ant-

(Continued at, foot of nsxt colunn.) '

arctic Expedition in the Pram in 1910-12. In an introduction. to tho book penned in 1912, Nansen wrote:— . Amundsen has always reached the goal lie has aimed at, this man who sailed his little yacht over the whole Arctic Ocean, round the north of America, on the chance that had been sought in vain for four hundred years. . . . Let no one come and prate about luck-and - chance: Amundsen's luck .is that -of the' strong man who looks ahead. ; . Amundsen .points- onward. Xext year his course will be.through Behring' Strait into the ice. and frost and darkness-of the ' North to drift right across the North Polar Sea—five..years at least. It seems almost superhnman; bat he isthe man for that too.- Fram is his ship, "forward" is'his motto, and he will come through. He will carry out his main expedition, tbe one that is now before him, as. snrely. and. .iteadily . as that he has juat- come fraia,