From Pole to Pole

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The albatross knows of old the course of the great steamboat liners. He
sees several steamers at the Samoa Islands, and afterwards on his flight
to the Fiji Islands, and if the weather is overcast and stormy he leaves
his fishing-grounds in the great ocean deserts and makes for some
well-known steamer route. For in stormy weather he can find no soft
cephalopods, but from a vessel refuse is thrown out in all weathers. He
knows that the Samoa Islands are in regular communication with the
Sandwich Islands, and that from these navigation routes radiate out like
a star to Asia, America, and Australia.

He sails proudly past the Fiji Islands. He does not trouble himself to
make an excursion to the Solomon Islands and the world of islands lying
like piers of fallen bridges on the way to the coast of Asia. Though New
Caledonia is so near on the west, he is not attracted to it, as the
French use it as a penal settlement.

Rather will he trim his wings for the south, and soon he sees the
mountains on the northern island of New Zealand rise above the horizon.
Among them stands Tongariro's active volcano with its seven craters, and
north-east of it lies the crater lake Taupo among cliffs of
pumice-stone. North of this lake are many smaller ones, round which
steam rises from hot springs, and where many fine geysers shoot up,
playing like fountains.

He sees that on the southern island the mountains skirt the western
coast just as in Scandinavia, that mighty glaciers descend from the
eternal snow-fields, and that their streams lose themselves in most
beautiful Alpine lakes. He gives a passing glance at the lofty mountain
named after the great navigator Cook, which is 12,360 feet high. On the
plains and slopes shepherds tend immense flocks of sheep. The woods are
evergreen. In the north grow pines, whose trunks form long avenues, and
whose crowns are like vaultings in a venerable cathedral. There grow
beeches, and tree-ferns, and climbing plants; but the palms come to an
end half-way down the southern island, for the southernmost part of the
island is too cold for them.

Formerly both islands were inhabited by Maoris. They tattooed the whole
of their bodies in fine and tasteful patterns, but were cannibals and
stuck their enemies' heads on poles round their villages. Now there are
only forty thousand of them left, and even these are doomed to
extinction through white men--as in the struggle between the brown and
black rats. Formerly the Maoris stalked about with their war clubs over
their shoulders; now they work as day labourers in the service of the
whites.

At last our albatross rises high above the coast and speeds swiftly
southwards to the small island of Auckland. There he meets his mate, and
for several days they are terribly busy in making ready their nest. They
collect reeds, rushes, and dry grass, which they knit into a kind of
high, round ball. The month of November is come and the summer has
begun. In the southern hemisphere midsummer comes at Christmas and
midwinter at the end of June. Then the albatrosses assemble in enormous
flocks at Auckland and other small, lonely islands to breed.

ACROSS AUSTRALIA

There are still districts in the interior of the fifth continent which
have never been visited by Europeans. There stretch vast sandy deserts
and the country is very dry, for the rain of the south-east trade-wind
falls on the mountain ranges of the east, where also the rivers flow.
Fifty years ago very little was known of the interior of Australia, and
a large reward was offered to the man who should first cross the
continent from sea to sea.

Accordingly a big expedition was set on foot. It was equipped by the
colony of Victoria. Large sums of money were contributed, and Robert
Burke was chosen as leader. He was a bold and energetic man, but wanting
in cool-headedness and the quiet, sure judgment necessary to conduct an
expedition through unknown and desolate country.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII. COUNTRY NEAR LAKE EYRE.]

Two dozen camels with their drivers were procured from north-west India.
Provisions were obtained for a year, and all the articles purchased,
even to the smallest trifles, were of the best quality money could buy.
With such an equipment all Australia might have been explored little by
little. When the expedition set out from Melbourne, the capital of
Victoria, there was great enthusiasm; many people came out really to to
look at the camels, for they had never seen this animal before, but most
of them looked forward to a triumph in geographical exploration.

Burke was not alone. He had as many as fifteen Europeans with him. Some
of them were men of science, who were to investigate the peculiar
vegetation of the country, and the singular marsupials, the character of
the rocks, the climate, and so on. One of them was named Wills. Others
were servants, and had to look after the horses and transport.

The caravan started on August 20, 1860. That was the first mistake, for
the heat and drought were then setting in. The men marched on
undismayed, however, crossed Australia's largest river, the Murray, and
came to its tributary, the Darling. There a permanent camp was pitched,
and the larger part of the caravan was left there. Burke, Wills, and six
other Europeans went on with five horses and sixteen camels towards the
north-west, and in twenty-one days reached the river Cooper, which runs
into Lake Eyre.

Here another camp was set up, several excursions were made in the
neighbourhood, and a messenger was sent to the Darling to hurry up the
men left behind. The messenger loitered, however, one week passed after
another, and when nothing was heard of the men, Burke decided to march
northwards with only three companions, Wills and the two servants King
and Gray, six camels, two horses, and provisions for three months, and
cross the continent to the coast of Queensland on the Gulf of
Carpentaria. The other four were to remain with their horses and camels
where they were until Burke came back, and were to leave the place only
if absolutely obliged to do so.

All went well at first, but the country was troublesome and rough, wild
and undulating (Plate XXXVIII.). As long as the explorers followed the
sandy bed of the Cooper River they found pools of water in sufficient
numbers. At midday the temperature in the shade was 97 deg., but it fell at
night to 73 deg., when they felt quite cold.

Then they passed from bed to bed of temporary streams, carrying water
only in the rainy season, and there the usual pools of water remained in
the shade of dense copses of grass-trees, boxwood and gum-trees or
eucalyptus. The last named were evidently not of the same species as the
world-renowned blue gum-tree which occurs in Victoria and Tasmania, for
this dries up marshes and unhealthy tracts and grows to its height of 65
feet in seven years. But the giant gum-tree is still more remarkable,
for it attains a height of over 400 feet, and another species of
eucalyptus has reached 500 feet.

The party had also to cross dreary plains of sand and tracts of clay
cracked by the drought, and there they had to have their leather sacks
filled with water. Sometimes they saw flocks of pigeons flying
northwards, and were sure of finding water soon if they followed in the
same direction. At some places there had been rain, so that a little
grass had sprung up; in others the saltbushes were perishing from
drought.

The animal life was very scanty. In the brief notes of the expedition
few forms are mentioned except pigeons and ducks, wild geese, pelicans
and certain other waders, parrots, snakes, fishes, and rats. They saw no
kangaroos--those curious jumping and springing animals which carry their
young for seven months in a pouch on the belly, and are as peculiar to
Australia as the llama to South America; nor do the travellers speak of
dingoes, the wild dogs of Australia, which are a terror to sheep
farmers.

They saw Australian blacks clad with shields, long spears, and
boomerangs, and nothing else. These naked, low-typed savages sometimes
gave them fish in exchange for beads, matches, and other trifles. They
were active as monkeys in the trees when they were hunting the beasts of
the forest, but when they saw the camels they usually took to their
heels. They had never seen such kangaroos before, with long legs both
back and front, and also humpbacked.

After the travellers had crossed a hilly tract they had not far to go to
the coast. From the last camp Burke and Wills marched through swamps and
woods of palms and mangroves, but they never caught sight of the waters
of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Forests hid them and swamps intervened when
they were quite close to the shore. Burke had attained his aim: he had
crossed Australia. But his exploit was of little use or satisfaction,
least of all to himself, for his return was a succession of disasters,
the most terrible journey ever undertaken in the fifth continent.
Thunder, lightning, and deluges of rain marked the start southwards. The
lightning flashes followed one another so closely that the palms and
gum-trees were lighted up in the middle of the night as in the day. The
ground was turned into a continuous swamp. In order to spare the camels,
the tents had been left behind. Everything became moist, and the men
grew languid; and when the rain ceased drought set in again and
oppressive, suffocating heat, so that they longed for night as for a
friend.

An emaciated horse was left behind. A snake eight feet long was killed,
and following the example of the savages they ate its flesh, but were
sick after it. Once when they were encamping in a cave in a valley, a
downpour of rain came, filled the valley, and threatened to carry away
themselves and their camp. Mosquitoes tormented them, and sometimes they
had to lose a day when the ground was turned into slough by the rain.

One man sickened and died, but on April 21 the three men were in sight
of the camp where their comrades had been ordered to await their return.
Burke thought that he could see them in the distance. How eager they
were to get there! Here they would find all necessaries, and, above all,
would be saved from starvation, which had already carried off one of the
four.

But the spot was deserted. Not a living thing remained. There were only
on a tree trunk the words "Dig. April 21." They digged and found a
letter telling them that their comrades had left the place the same day,
only a few hours before. Fortunately they found also a supply of flour,
rice, sugar, and dried meat enough to last them until they reached a
station inhabited by whites. But where were the clothes to replace their
worn rags, which would scarcely hang together on their bodies? After
four months of hard travelling and constant privations they were so
overcome by weariness that every step was an effort, and now they had
come to the camp only to find that their comrades had gone off the same
day, neglecting their duty. Fate could not have treated them more
cruelly.

Burke asked Wills and King whether they thought that they could overtake
their comrades, but both answered no. Their last two camels were worn
out, whereas the animals of the other men were, according to the letter,
in excellent condition. A sensible man would have tried to reach them,
or at least have followed their trail, and this Wills and King wanted
to do. But Burke proposed a more westerly route, which he expected would
be better and safer, and which led to the town of Adelaide in South
Australia. It ran past Mount Hopeless, an unlucky name.

All went well at first, as long as they had flour and rice and could
obtain from the natives fish and _nardoo_, ground seeds of the clover
fern. They even ate rats, roasting them whole on the embers, skin and
all, and found them well flavoured. One camel died, and the other soon
refused to move. He supplied them with a store of meat. But their
provisions came to an end, and, what was worse, water ceased on the way
to Mount Hopeless.

Then they decided to return to the abandoned camp. On the way they kept
alive on fish which they sometimes procured from natives, having nothing
else but _nardoo_ seeds plucked from the clover fern. Half dead with
hunger and weariness they came back to the camp.

Midwinter, the end of June, was come, and the nights were cold. It was
decided that Burke and King should go out and look for natives. Wills
was unable to go with them, and was given a small supply of seeds and
water.

After two days slow travelling Burke could go no farther. King shot a
crow, which they ate, but Burke's strength was exhausted. One evening he
said to his servant, "I hope that you will remain with me until I am
really dead. Then leave me without burying me." Next morning he was
dead.

Then King hurried back to Wills and found him dead also. The last words
he had entered, four days before, in his journal were: "Can live four or
five days longer at most, if it keeps warm. Pulse 48, very weak."

When the travellers were not heard of, the worst fears were entertained,
and relief expeditions were despatched from Melbourne, Adelaide, and
Brisbane, and in Sydney and other towns Burke's fate was discussed with
anxiety. At length they found King, who had gained the confidence of the
natives and had sojourned with them for two months, living as they did.
He was unrecognisable and half out of his mind, but he recovered under
the careful treatment he received. The two dead men were buried, Burke
wrapped in the Union Jack. Later on his remains were carried to
Melbourne, where a fine monument marks his grave. This is almost all
that remains of an expedition which started out with such fair
prospects, but which came to grief at the foot of Mount Hopeless.

VI

THE NORTH POLAR REGIONS

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

We have now surveyed the earth's mainland, islands, and seas. We have
seen how man by his endurance and thirst for knowledge has penetrated
everywhere, how he has wandered over the hottest deserts and the coldest
mountains. The nearer we come to our own times, the more eager have
explorers become, and we no longer suffer blank patches to exist on our
maps. The most obstinate resistance to the advance of man has been
presented by the Poles and their surroundings, where the margin of the
eternal ice seems to call out a peremptory "Thus far shalt thou come,
but no farther." But even the boundless ice-packs could not deter the
bold and resolute seafarers. One vessel after another was lost, crew and
all, but the icy sea was constantly ploughed by fresh keels. The North
Pole naturally exercised the greater attraction, for it lies nearer to
Europe, amidst the Arctic Ocean, which is enclosed between the coasts of
Asia, Europe, and North America.

In the "forties" of last century, English and American explorers were
occupied in searching for a north-west passage, or a navigable channel
for vessels making by the shortest route from the North Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean. Let us look at the story of a famous expedition which set
out to find this passage.

Sir John Franklin was an officer in the Royal Navy. He had led
expeditions by land and sea, in both the northern and southern
hemispheres, and in particular had mapped considerable areas of the
north coast of America east of Behring Strait. Most of the coast of the
mainland was thus known, and it remained only to find a channel between
the large islands to the north of it. Such a passage must exist, but
whether it was available for navigation was another question. A number
of learned and experienced men decided to send out a large and
well-furnished expedition for the purpose of effecting the north-west
passage. The whole English people took up the scheme with enthusiasm.
Hundreds of courageous men volunteered for the voyage, and Admiral Sir
John Franklin was appointed leader of the expedition, from which neither
he nor any of his subordinates was ever to return.

[Illustration: THE NORTH POLAR REGIONS.]

The ships chosen were the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, which (as we shall see
later) had already made a voyage to South Polar regions, and which were
now refitted from keel to topmasts. Captain Crozier was the second in
command and captain of the _Terror_, while Franklin hoisted his flag on
the _Erebus_, where Captain James was under him. The members of the
expedition were chosen with the greatest care, and when they were all
mustered, the vessels had on board twenty-three officers and a hundred
and eleven men. Provisions were taken for three years, and the vessels
were fitted with small auxiliary engines, which had never before been
tried in Polar seas.

The constituted authorities drew up a plan which Franklin was to follow,
but he was left free to act as he thought proper when circumstances
demanded alterations. The main thing was to sail north of America from
the Atlantic side and come out into the Pacific Ocean through Behring
Strait.

The _Erebus_ and _Terror_ left England on May 19, 1845. All officers and
men were full of the most lively expectations of success, and were
resolved to do all in their power to achieve the object of the
expedition. They passed the Orkney Islands and on Midsummer Day saw the
southern extremity of Greenland, Cape Farewell, disappear to windward.
Next day they encountered the first ice, huge floating icebergs of wild,
jagged form or washed into rounded lumps by the action of the waves, and
ten days later the ships anchored near Disko Island, on the west coast
of Greenland. Here they met another vessel which had come up north with
an additional store of provisions and equipment. Its captain, the last
man who spoke with Franklin and the members of the expedition, said that
he had never seen a finer set of men so well prepared and so eager for
their work. He thought that they could go anywhere.

On July 26 the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ were seen, for the last time, by an
English whaler. After that day the fate of the most unfortunate of all
Polar expeditions was involved in an obscurity much denser than that
which surrounded Gordon in Khartum after the telegraph line was cut.
What is known only came to light many years later through the relief
expeditions that were sent out, or was communicated by parties of
wandering Eskimos.

Meanwhile the voyage was continued north-westwards between two large
islands into Lancaster Sound. Soon progress was delayed by masses of
pack ice, and the engines were found to be so weak that they could be
used only in smooth, open water. In another sound, to the north, the
water was open, and here the ships managed to sail 150 miles before the
ice set fast again. Then they passed through another open sound back to
the south. Early autumn had now come, and all the hills and mountains
were covered with snow and fresh ice was forming in the sound. Here
Franklin laid the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ up for the winter, having found
fairly sheltered anchorage at a small island.

What kind of life the men led on board during the long winter we do not
know. We can only conjecture that the officers read and studied, and
that the men were employed in throwing up banks of snow reaching up
above the bulwarks to keep in the warmth; that snow huts were built on
the ice and on land for scientific observations; and that a hole was
kept open day and night that water might always be procurable in case of
fire when the pumps were frozen into pillars of ice. When the long night
was over and February came with a faint illumination to the south, and
when the sky grew brighter day by day till at last the expedition
welcomed the return of the sun, probably men and officers made
excursions to the neighbouring islands to hunt. Their hopes revived with
the increasing light. Only 260 miles of unknown coast remained of the
north-west passage, and they believed that the New Year would see them
return home. The sun remained longer and longer above the horizon, and
at last the long Polar day commenced.

When the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ were released in late summer from their
prison of ice, and the small island could at last be left, three sailors
remained on the beach. Their gravestones, carved with a few simple
words, were found five years later by a relief expedition, and they
constitute the only proof that Franklin wintered at this particular
spot.

To the south lay an open channel, and this southern passage must in time
bend to the west. Mile after mile the vessels sailed southwards,
carefully avoiding the drifting ice. East and west were seen the coasts
of islands, and in front, in the distance, could be descried King
William Land, a large island which is the nearest neighbour to the
mainland. The north-west passage was nearly accomplished, for it was now
only about 120 miles westward to coasts already known. How hopelessly
long this distance seemed, however, when the vessels were caught in the
grip of the ice only a day or two later! Firmer and firmer the ice froze
and heaped itself up round the _Erebus_ and _Terror_; the days became
shorter, the second winter drew on with rapid strides, and preparations
to meet it were made as in the preceding year. The vessels lay frozen in
on the seventieth parallel, or a little south of the northernmost
promontory of Scandinavia; but here there was no Gulf Stream to keep the
sea open with its warm water. Little did the officers and crew suspect
that the waves would never again splash round the hulls of the _Erebus_
and _Terror_.

We can well believe that they were not so cheerful this winter as in the
former. The vessels were badly placed in the ice, in an open roadstead
without the shelter of a coast. They lay as in a vice, and the hulls
creaked and groaned under the constant pressure. Life on board such an
imprisoned vessel must be full of unrest. The vessel seems to moan and
complain, and pray that it may escape to the waves again. The men must
wonder how long it will hold out, and must be always prepared for a
deafening crash when the planks will give way and the ship, crushed like
a nutshell, will sink at once. But worst of all is the darkness when the
sun sets for the last time.

However, the winter passed at last, and the sun came back. It grew
gradually light in the passages below deck, and it was no longer
necessary to light a candle to read by in the evening. Soon there was no
night at all, but the sun shone the whole twenty-four hours, and all the
brighter because the vessels were surrounded by nothing but ice and
snow. Far to the south and east were seen the hills on King William
Land. If only the ice would release its hold and begin to drift! But the
pack-ice still remained to the westward, and it was possible of course
that the vessels had been damaged by the pressure.

Two officers with six men undertook a journey to the south coast of King
William Land, whence the mainland of North America could be descried in
clear weather. At their turning-point they deposited in a cairn a
narrative of the most important events that had happened on board up to
date. This small document was found many years after. The little party
returned with good news and bright hopes, but found sorrow on the ships.
Admiral Franklin lay on his deathbed. The suspense had lasted too long
for him. He just heard that the north-west passage had been practically
discovered, and died a few days later, in June, 1847. This was fortunate
for him. His life had been a career of manliness and courage, and he
might well go to sleep with a smile of victory on his lips. But we can
imagine the gloom cast upon the expedition by the death of its leader.

It was now the season when the ice begins to move, and open water may
be expected. No doubt they made excursions in all directions to find out
where the surge of the salt sea was nearest. Perhaps they resorted to
ice saws and powder to get out, but in vain; the ice held them fast.
However, they were delighted to find that the whole pack was moving
southwards. Could they reach the mainland in this way? A great American
company, named after Hudson's Bay, had small trading-posts far in the
north. If they could only reach one of them they would be saved.

Autumn came on, and their hope of getting free was disappointed. To try
and reach the mainland now when winter was approaching was not to be
thought of, for in winter no game is to be found in these endless
wastes, and a journey southwards meant therefore death by starvation. In
summer, on the other hand, there was a prospect of falling in with
reindeer and musk oxen, those singular Polar animals as much like sheep
as oxen, which live on lichens and mosses and do not wander farther
south than the sixtieth parallel. In the western half of North America
the southern limit of the musk ox coincides with the northern limit of
trees. A herd of twenty or thirty musk oxen would have saved Franklin's
distressed mariners. If they could only have found Polar bears, or, even
better, seals or whales, with their thick layer of blubber beneath the
hide; and Arctic hares would not have been despised if in sufficient
numbers! But the season was too far advanced, and the wild animals had
retreated before the cold and the abundant snow which covered their
scanty food. No doubt the officers deliberated on the plan they should
adopt. They had maps and books on board and knew fairly accurately how
far they had to travel to the nearest trading-posts of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and on the way they had every prospect of finding game and
meeting Eskimos. It was decided to pass the third winter on board.

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