18 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Mawson expedition, which returned early in 1914. He has 

 given me a great deal of interesting information about life in 

 the Antarctic regions, one of the chief, and I should think 

 most unpleasant, features being the tremendous force of the 

 wind, which much surpasses anything we get in this country. 

 The compass, which is weighted to keep it horizontal, tends 

 to lie if left to itself so nearly in a vertical position that its 

 horizontal pull towards the magnetic pole is very slight. 

 The result is that a very small cause deflects it, and when near 

 the pole it varies extremely in its direction, and does not 

 seem to b^ of much use as a guide. Lieutenant Kennedy 

 reached Australia just in time to take part in the war, with 

 the result that he has been in the Montevideo Australian 

 Convalescent Camp opposite my house for some time past, 

 where we have made so many pleasant and interesting friends, 

 amongst both officers and men. Turning now to the 

 Arctic circle, a large tract in Alaska has during the past six 

 years been carefully mapped and described, under great 

 difficulties of climate, by the U.S. Geological Survey. It is 

 stated that the temperature ranges from 96 Fahr. to 76, 

 that the earth becomes frozen to a depth in places of 300 feet, 

 a few feet at the surface only thawing in the short summer. 

 Yet gardening is successfully done. Mining is, however, the 

 chief industry, especially gold, silver, lead, antimony and tin. 

 Land north of Alaska has been mapped by the Stefansson 

 expedition, who have discovered large copper fields. In 

 Central Asia many writings on wood of the 3rd Century 

 A.D. have been found in a sand-burisd site, and the old 

 Chinese route, by which they brought their silks to Central 

 Asia and the Mediterranean, has been traced by the copper 

 coins and bronze arrow-heads found. Some of these wood 

 slips, nearly 2,000 years old, were found in rubbish heaps, 

 preserved under only a few inches of gravel or debris owing 

 to the extreme dryness of the climate. An expedition to 

 Easter Island has measured and described some of the stone 

 terraces on which stood the gigantic stone statues, weighing 

 from 10 to 40 tons, now all thrown down. Two of these 



