HUNTING FOR THE NORTH POLE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1440, 27 September 1872, Page 2

HUNTING FOR THE NORTH POLE.

A correspondent of the New York Review, writing from St. Pierre, New Foundland, gives an account of the adventures of Captain Hall and his party of explorers in their efforts to achieve the North Pole. He says on the afternoon of the Bth February the Polaris encountered extremely heavy weather, and while lying to, ran among what Captain Hall termed "ice snags" which could only be accounted for by the extreme shallowness of the water, or high icebergs imbeddel in sand or mud. By repeated collisions with these breakers of ice, the Polaris sprung i leak, and on the morning succeeding the gale, Captain Hall ga\e orders to bear up to Disco, where he always had intended to make his place of shelter, in ease of accident that would leave him time to reach it. During the return to Disco, the men and even the officers and professional attaches of the expedition sustained an unremitting working of the pumps until the harbor was reached, and then the hold was so water-loused and the men so exhausted that Captain Hall announced that another day at sea would have seen them abandon the Polaris. It was necessary to throw overboard a large quantity of provisions', and an equally great quantity was damaged by bilgewater as to be unfit for use, except in time of extreme emergency. The log of the Polaris contained many strange discoveries which led to the conviction that in the extreme and undiscovered North there is at times a genial atmosphere and open sea. Plants were detected in the ice which are indigenous to southern climates and the examination of a floating stick of wood, found on Saturday, January 13, proved it to be a limb of some huge birch. On the night of Suuday, 14th January, Captain Hall sat on deck all night, reading, writing, and making lunar and astral observations. Throughout the whole month of Januaiy very lictle ice was seen, and each night the sky on all sides glittered with meteors of the most gorgeous description, which flashed so brightly and wildly across the firmamentastobedizzen the strongest eyesight. On the Ist February the Polaiis encountered a field of ice which obstructed her headway for several hours, and Captain Hall proposed to run back into clear water until the middle of February, when he expected a breaking up and drifting of the fields of ice and icebergs which infested the quarter he had abandoned. To this determination ouplain Hall now owes the safety of his ship's company, for, had he not put back over 1,000 miles, the Polaris would have been too far from Greenland Lo reach it before the water had gained too rapid headway through the leak made by the ice,

Christinas Day was a gala day on? board the Polaris. The good ship washemmed in by heavy field ice, but the weather was as pleasant as an Italian spring day. The Esquimaux and the dogs which Captain Hall procured at St. John's were brought into requisition,. and a seal hunt was proposed as the object of the day. The dogs were lowered to the ice in a boat from the' davits, and were tackled to low sledges by the Esquimaux. Captain Hall says that the sagacity and tractablenessof* these animals was remarkable. Afterhalf an hour's gallop over the heavy ice, the panting dogs suddenly drew up • and yelled and pawed the surface. One of the Esquimaux—the oldest of the lot —at once interpreted the warning of the dogs, and (juick as lightning he? bounded from his seat and turned the dogs' heads towards the ship. In half, the time it took to reach the distance they had travelled from the Polaris, the eager dogs pulled up beside the hull. Around the horizon then there were murky clouds assembling, and the atmosphere felt misty and bleak. Within an hour after the warning o£ the sagacious animals the ice had beenbroken up, and the Polaris was sepia- - rated from it by a stormy channelnearly half a mile in widch. Had J the seal hunting party fulfilled their intention of urging on the dogs and keeping up the sport until moonlight, few of them would have survived the excursion. Upon another occasion, these valuable dogs acted as setters inscenting out a large number of seals which would have probably passed; the notice of the Indians themselves. On that day they shot over forty seals, and brought back to the ship the"flippers" or paws of several old harps, which were given to the cook's charge,, and proved to be a rare and palatable relish.

The most important clue to the existence of a polar passage is the fact of the crew of the Polaris having seen,, followed, and killed a whale, having in one of its. fins a harpoon similar to those used in the South Pacific ; and this happened, in a region where, as Captain Hall says, " the sail of an American or European vessel had' never been given to the wind before." In May, Captain Hall hopes to make a clear passage to the undiscovered polp,, and learn all necessary information concerning that region, about which so. much has been conjectured and forwhich so many noble lives have been sacrificed. He also assured the captain of the Meerbek that if the future roloof the expedition, then conceived by him and strongly believed to be practicable, should not be interrupted by unforeseen accidents, the Polaris would be at home in next September, afterhaving achieved the renowned object of her adventurous voyage. Apart from the leak occasioned by a sharp berg of ice, beneath the surface of the water,, the Polaris looked trim and sound.. Since her departure from New Fork she has not lost a single rope, a spar, nor an ineh of canvas. The health of all on board has been considerably improved by the trip, aud those who were of meagre build have grown as shapely as they desire. Captain Hall assert* that if there be any habitable land in the vicinity of the North Pole,, it will' be the ne plus ultra of salubrious- j climates, and his only fear is that heand his men may have to encounter/ before landing, a new and formidablerace of human beings.