Under the “Totem-Pole"

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1073, 10 September 1930, Page 14

Under the “Totem-Pole"

Letters to Redfeather are answered as follow * Bird Call: Your company is making good progress, Bird Call, and I was glad to have your latest news. Harvest Moon: That box of pussywillow made me think of a story of yours with a,certain little grey kitten pushing his mischievous paws farther and farther out into the sunshine. Thank you very much indeed for sending it. I was interested, too, in your pen-picture of tho snow at Arthur’s Pass with ’•deepblue shadows in its hollows.” yes, that was an excellent little tale by Red Star. Sun-flecked Shadow: Thank.you for introducing the Wigwam to more of your friends. I shall be looking forward to receiving that, photograph of you and Beaded Warx'ior. What interesting hobbies yours are, Sun-flecked Shadow. Which is your favourite? Flying Beetle: A weighted arrow from a faithful chief. My best thanks to Flying Beetle. Gleaming Cloud: Greetings and welcome, Gleaming Cloud. Are you a Girl Guide, too? Dew of Dawn: I am sorry to hear that the retrenchment policy has affected you, Dew of Dawn. Perhaps you will do much writing in the interlude. I shall send you those addresses. Golden Pine': A sheaf of news from Golden Pine. I hope your company will be successful in the basketball tournament on Saturday. Dawn Star: A new face in the Wigwam circle. I hope I shall have many arrows from Dawn Star. Gold Moccasin: What a pleasant time the Hikurangi Guides have been having. Your birthday party must have been a happy affair. Ripple Song: I am sorry to hear that, your Captain has been ill, Ripple Song. What a welcome she. will receive from the company when she is able to take charge once again. Red Star: A tepee full of daffodils? Aren’t you lucky! The Wigwam has been decorated with pussy-willow this week—a gift from Harvest Moon. She will be glad you liked her last poem. Please, congratulate Buffalo on his team’s success at football. That was a close game. Sea Maid: Your Russell notes have Joined the great scroll, Sea Maid. Grey Fox: Greetings to this new Scout who has found the Wigwam trail. What troop do you beloitg to? Golden Leaf: You are now a member of the Wigwam, Golden Leaf, and I shall look forward to hearing all about you. Are you an out-door girl? SNOW-CAPPED GIANTS Far away in Northern India, in the heart ol‘ the Himalayan Mountains, a group of the bravest and most experienced mountain-climbers who ever attacked tho summits of Mother Nature’s icy strongholds, in May and early in June, made an almost superhuman effort to reach the top of Kinchinjunga, tho world's second loftiest mountain peak. Although abandoned for the present season, the ascent will bo attempted again in 1931. Only the neighbouring Mount Everest surpasses Kincliinjunga in altitude, and that by less than a thousand feet. It towers heavenward 28,150 feet from the level of the sea. The Alps are dwarfs in comparison; Kilimanjaro in Africa, and Mount McKinley in America are not in the same class; Mont Blanc is but little more than half its high, while Aconcagua, tho majestic ruler of the Andes, would be but a minor peak in this unsurpassed mountain setting of the great Asiatic plateau.

This hitherto inaccessible bit of the earth's mountain fastnesses is a perpetual challenge to man’s irrepressible spirit of daring and adventure. In its conquest are mingled all the hardship and romance of the old-time polar expedition. Precipitous walls of snow and ice. yawning crevasses, treacherous with their deceptive coverlets of snow, the necessity of cutting steps in solid ice to gain a foothold, the burden of transporting to great altitudes supplies and equipment; always the bitter cold, ficrco blizzards arising without a moment’s warning, tho constant danger of burial beneath tons of sliding ice, the air so thin that tho slightest over-exertion leaves one panting for oxygen—these can paint but a faint

picture of the grim reality which tho acceptance of such a challenge means. Threo preceding expeditions met with failure, and so has the fourth, but there will be a fifth and a sixth, and so on until victory perches upon the banner of the mountain-climbers. The present group, under tho leadership of Professor Gunther Dyhrenfurth, an experienced Alpine mountainclimber, and Professor of Geology at the University of Zurich, contented themselves with scaling Mount Jonsong. a nearby peak, 24,300 feet high. From the bottom to the high elevations of this mountain, tho climbers experience every kind of climate and vegetation, from the intense heat and tropic foliage of the initial \Talleys, through tho cool air of the temperate zone, to the realms of perpetual snow. In tho course of the ascent, the thermometer may show a range of 150 degrees.