THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH POLE 



65 



For a very long time, indeed, it was 

 the desire of the phickiest to come to 

 these shores and explore those new re- 

 gions so extraordinary, so beautiful, yet 

 so thoroughly unknown that it took till 

 our own lifetime to get a somewhat accu- 

 rate idea of their contents. Many of us 

 were already in our manhood when the 

 Yellowstone Park was revealed to the 

 admiration of the world. 



But before that moment a great change 

 had taken place ; the field for exploration 

 had begun to produce explorers, and it 

 lias never ceased since ; explorers of un- 

 known lands, like Rockhill, Crosby, and 

 many others ; explorers of the depth of 

 the seas, like Agassiz ; of the realms of 

 electricity, like Graham Bell and Edison ; 

 of the sun. like Doctor Hale ; of ancient 

 Babylonic civilizations, like those scien- 

 tific missionaries sent abroad by the 

 Chicago University, and explorers, above 

 all, of that unknown world into which 

 French Montgolfier was the first to rise, 

 the world of air, mastered by the plucky 

 men of our day, in the front rank of 

 whom stand your famous compatriots, 

 the brothers Wright. 



And while so many explorations went 

 on, one remained ceaselessly striven for, 

 ceaselessly unachieved : the one that had 

 for its object the conquest of the pole. 

 The longing for that discovery is of a 

 comparatively recent date, but once its 

 hold on mankind began, it proved one of 

 the most ardent men had yet experienced. 



The ancients had not evinced any great 

 anxiety about the polar regions. They 

 knew the north was a strange frozen 

 place with weird legends about it, a re- 

 gion, said Tacitus, where looking toward 

 the east one can see Phoebus rise : "The 

 sound he makes on emerging from the 

 waters can be heard, and the form of his 

 steeds is visible." 



In the last century, the problem be- 

 came for mankind one of intense interest, 

 one which had to be solved, were it, as 

 indeed it was, at the cost of many an 

 lieroic life. And the great labor began, 

 never to be interrupted until could be 

 possible such a gathering as today's, in 

 which the National Geographic Society 



of America is. to bestow its medal on the 

 now most famous of its members. Long 

 was the search and hard was the toil, 

 from the days of Sir John Franklin and' 

 Kane to those of Nansen, Nordenskiold, 

 royal Abruzzi, and your admirable 

 Greely remaining three years unrevic- 

 tualed in the frozen north. 



I well remember how, in days long 

 past, I followed as a child, with my 

 brother and sisters, our hearts beating 

 with emotion, the efforts of one of the 

 imaginary heroes of that prophet-novel- 

 ist, Jules Verne; a prophet-novelist in- 

 deed, for most of what he fancied has 

 become reality; his fancy submarines 

 have become our real ones," the world he 

 announced where everything would be 

 done by electricity is now near at hand; 

 his dream dirigibles have become our 

 tangible ones, and the conquest of the 

 pole, which he foresaw, is now a fact. 

 He described it in advance, and not so 

 badly, for he told us that, at the pole, 

 there was no land, but only sea, and 

 Commander Peary has just returned to 

 tell us that it is so. Truth to say, the 

 writer asserted that the sea was an open 

 one, and I have present in my mind, as if 

 it were a thing of yesterday, a view of 

 that open sea pictured in his book, and 

 along its shore quantity of birds, the like 

 of which, I am afraid. Commander Peary 

 had not the satisfaction of killing and 

 eating. But as you know, there is no 

 prophet so good that does not make now 

 and then some little mistake. 



Well, after that long search, and so 

 many proofs of endurance and valor 

 given by many, the deed is done and the 

 coveted prize belongs to you, Americans. 

 If we, French, did not do much for the 

 solution of the problem, busy as we were, 

 and usefully busy, exploring elsewhere 

 in Asia, Africa, South America, we 

 know full well what peerless merit there 

 was in doing what your compatriot has 

 accomplished, and about which what 

 there is to say is going to be expressed 

 by our learned chairman tonight. Com- 

 mander Peary will allow me to oflfer him 

 a tribute of admiration, and the congratu- 

 lations of mv countrv for the fame he 



