THE NORTH POLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 181, 4 September 1909, Page 2

THE NORTH POLE.

LIFE AT THE POLE. THE EXPLORATIONS DESCRIBED. "ENDLESS FIELDS OF PUBPLB SNOW." "NO LIFE, NO LAND." NO SPOT TO RELIEVE THE MONOTONY. CRUEL SUFFERINGS. BEARS SAVE THE LIVES OF THE PARTY. By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Received September 3, 10.30 pjn. London, September 3. Dr. Cook, telegraphing to the New York Herald, said he felt the bite of the cold especially on the heights bordering Ellesmere Sound. The temperature there Was 83 dogrees Centigrade below zero.

Several dogs were frozen. Along the game tracks from Nanaen Sound to Laiulsend the party killed 101 musk oxen, 7 bears, and 325 hares.

Dr. Cook commenced the crossing of the circumolar pack ou the 21st March, 11)08, two Eskimos and 20 dogs accompanying.

The party experienced long inarches and, for the first few days, persistent winds.

Tho party was cooped in snow houses, eating dried beef and tallow and drinking hot tea. Observations taken on 13th March snowed the latitude to bo 84.47 and longitude 86.30. "Here we saw tho last signs of solid earth," Dr. Cook states. "We advanced over a monotonous moving sea of ice, There were neither bears' foot-prints nor seals' blowholes. The ice-fields beyond the 86th parallel became more extensive; crevasses were few and less troublesome, there being little or no crushed toe. We were surprised tit meeting inifioaitioa of land Bind ico from the 87th to the 88th parallel. We were now within 100 miles of the Pole iad the temperature was below 40 degrees. Signs' of land were still seen, but they iwere deceptive .illusions, M 'were the, mirages of an inverted mountain. We made daily astronomical observations. The monotony of the scene was depressin;,', but on the 21»t April, when in 80deg. oOmin. 40sec,

AT THE POLE. the Pole was in sight. We advanced the 14 seconds and made supplementary observations. The flag was raised to the coveted breezes of the North Pole. The temperature was 38 below zero Centigrade, and the barometer 20.83. The compass, pointing to the magnetic pole, was as useful as ever. There were endless fleWs of purple, snow. There Was ■no life, no land, and no spot to relieve the monotony. "We turned homewards on the 23rd April. Long distances at first were quickly covered. We watched daily the reduction of our food supply, and reached on the 24th May the 84th parallel, near the 97th meridian.

"The ice was much broken. We had on the sledges scarcely enough food to reach our cuches at Nansen Sound. Wo were hardly equal to 10 Instead pf the necessary 15 miles a day. A course was set for musk ox lands. The tempera-, ture rose to zero.

"Persistent mists prevailed, and we had to struggle for 20 days through fog.

" We found ourselves far down in the Crown Prince Gustav sea. In a few days bears came along. They proved life-avers. We crossed into James Sound. >

"The frost early h September stopped our progress. We hud neither food, iud, nor aHilnunitiioji. New implements were shaped. Cape SpswMo, 'was selected as a likely place tor game. f " A bow and arrow yielded meat, skins and fat. An underground den was prepared. There we remained until sunrise in 1900.

"We started on the 18th February for Annatok, and reached Greenland's shores on 15th April."

PEOPLE SCEPTICAL. LIEUT. SHACKLETON'S BKLIIiF. Received September 3, 10.30 p.m. London, September 3. Though Dr. Cook is a person of high reputation some people are still seep'ticttd %i England, France and America. Lieutenant Shacklcton docs not think the long time occupied by the return tells against Br. Cook's statements. The Daily Mail describes the narrative as bold and unconvincing.

THE DISCOVERY A FARCE. AMERICAN ADMIRAL'S OPINIOX. Received September 3, 10.30 run. New York, September 3. Rear-Admiral Melville, of the United States Navy, after reading Dr. Cook's narrative, declares that he is convinced the reported discovery is a farce.

PROFESSOR DAVID'S VIEWS. Sydney, September 3. Profesor David, who was a member of Lieut. Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic, considers it very probable that Dr. Cook has discovered land in the extreme north. All the soundings taken by Nansen and other explorers indicated' Mic presence Ksi a wry deep ocean pole. The existence! of isolated land of a volcanic nature is possible, but a large atrcteh of land is unlikely. J

; "MIGHT WELL BE BELIEVED.' , Mr. Douglas Mawson, another mem- » ber, of the Shacklcton party, considers the report that Dr. Cook has discovered the Pole might well be believed. He i thinks that probably Dr. Cook journey - i cd north the year ftefore and wintered , at a hint built on moving ice (relying : on walrus food) and 'that he made a dash for the Pole afterwards with the appearance of the sun. That explains his absence !for two years. It seemed to Mr. Mawso B quite feasible to reach the (Pole so early in the season. Dr. Cook, physician and explorer, wan lorn in New York on June 10,1868. He !« the son of a Dr. Theodore Albeit Cook, and has been decorated on several occasions 'by geological societies in Belgium and America. Dr. Cook was surgeon of the Peary Arctic expedition (1891-2), surgeon of the Belgium Arctic | expedition (1807-8), and suteequenlly lcd expeditions to explore and clime Mount McKinley. He is president if the Explorers' Club, New York, and is author of "Through the First Antarctic Night, to the Top of the Continent." Dr. Cook has made extensive contributions to magazines on polar and particularly on Antarctic exploration. He I announced from Ettfb, onithe fiwnla.icl coast, joffShrith Sound, in August, 'IOO7 ' that he was prepared to make a "dash"' Ifor Ithe Pole from Ellesmcre Land, though by a somewhat different route from that followed by Command?!Peary.