An Ice Wrapped Continent 



i'3 



on something. Both males and females 

 want to nurse, and the result is that when 

 a chicken finds himself alone there is a 

 rush on the part of a dozen unemployed 

 to seize him. Naturally, he runs away, 

 and dodges here and there till a six-stone 

 Emperor falls on him, and then begins a 

 regular football 'scrimmage,' in which 

 each tries to hustle the other off, and the 

 end is too often disastrous to the chick. 

 Sometimes he falls into a crack in the ice, 

 and stays there to be frozen while the 

 parents squabble at the top : sometimes, 

 rather than be nursed, I have seen him 

 crawl in under an ice-ledge and remain 

 there, where the old ones could not reach 

 him. I think it is not an exaggeration to 

 say that of the "]"] per cent that die, no 

 less than half are killed by kindness." 



SOME INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS 



The power of the midnight sun in 

 these latitudes is illustrated by the fact 

 that when several members of a party 

 were caught on a ice-floe for several 

 hours without matches, Dr Wilson was 

 able to produce a light for their pipes 

 from a small pocket magnifying glass. 

 During the summer the biologist of the 

 staff succeeded in growing a crop of 

 mustard and cress. He raised some on 

 flannel and with chemicals, but the best 

 result was obtained from Antarctic soil, 

 ■"which is evidently most productive." 



No vegetation of any kind was seen 

 anywhere, but, on the other hand, they 

 found an abundance of animal life, so 

 that no party wintering in the Antarctic 

 regions will have diiificulty in providing 

 themselves with fresh food. 



On their ascent to the inland plateau 

 they "passed two more carcasses of Wed- 

 dell seals ; the last was at the greatest 

 altitude we have yet found one, nearly 

 5,000 feet above the sea ; it grows more 

 than ever wonderful how these creatures 

 can have got so far from the sea. We 

 never satisfactorily explained this matter. 

 The seal seems to crawl to the shore or 

 the ice to die, possibly from its instinctive 

 dread of its marine enemies ; but unless 

 we had actually found these remains, it 



would have been past believing that a 

 dying seal could have transported itself 

 over fifty miles of rough steep glacier 

 surface." 



The dogs which had been brought 

 from Siberia had the unpleasant ex- 

 perience of molting in winter, which was 

 the Arctic summer, but their fur soon 

 came out again. 



The members of the party kept up 

 their good spirits by outdoor games. One 

 of the most spirited contests was a game 

 of hockey April 7 by "The Married and 

 Engaged vs. The Single," the match 

 being played in a temperature of —40°. 



AMERICAN EXPLORERS OVERLOOKED 



Every one who reads Captain Scott's 

 narrative as given in "The Voyage of 

 The Discovery" must admire the strong 

 and hearty personality of the leader. He 

 is full of energy, and not only did the 

 hardest work himself, but was able to 

 get others to follow him willingly and 

 cheerfully. His lieutenants and men like- 

 wise command our respect for their cour- 

 age, fidelity, and faithful work. 



It is unfortunate, however, that in his 

 resume of what has been done in the far 

 south by previous explorers he completely 

 overlooks the two Americans who dis- 

 covered the Antarctic Continent — Pal- 

 mer, who first saw the western half of 

 the continent, now called West Antarc- 

 tica, and Admiral Charles Wilkes, who 

 first sighted and defined the eastern half 

 of the continent, known as Wilkes' Land. 



To quote Major General A. W. Greelv, 

 U. S. Army: 



"Captain Scott is happier as an ex- 

 plorer than as an historian. From his 

 narrative and charts is absent the name of 

 the American who discovered the Ant- 

 arctic Continent, Captain N. B. Palmer. 

 Further, not only does Scott omit men- 

 tion of Palmer and erase his name from 

 the Antarctic map, but he gives the credit 

 for the first discovery of land in the 

 Antarctic regions to the distinguished 

 Russian navigator, Bellinghausen. 



"The discovery in the summer of 1820- 

 182 1 of Palmer Land, from the summit of 



