NANSEN'S ''FARTHEST NORTH" ECLIPSED 411 



a serious impediment to our march, as they refused to move out of the way. 

 Nearly every morning we wasted an hour shouting and throwing stones at soli- 

 tary old tuskers and herds of younger elephants. Banks and banks of hippo- 

 potami lay in every direction, but other game was scarce. The mosquitoes 

 were appalling and rapidly killed off two of my boys who had been sick, and 

 the flies by day were even worse." 



" The Dinkas have enormous droves of cattle, which they value very highly ; 

 they never kill tnem for food, but from time to time tap the blood, which they 

 drink greedily. They are of colossal stature ; some of the herdmen I saw must 

 have been very nearly seven feet, and in every settlement the majority of the 

 men towered above me, while my boys seemed the merest pigmies by their 

 side. They smear themselves with a paste made of wood-ash to protect them- 

 selves from the bites of the mosquitoes, and the long lines of warriors threading 

 their way in single file through the marsh appear like so many gray specters. 

 They are absolutely nude, considering any sort of covering effeminate. Tlieir 

 invariable weapons are a long club made of bastard ebony, a fish lance, and a 

 broad-bladed spear, and the chiefs wear enormous ivory bracelets. The south- 

 ern Dinkas cut their hair like a cock's comb, and the northern Dinkas train 

 their hair like a mop. Both bleach it with manure. Their method of show- 

 ing respect is si)itting on the object of their attention." 



Cairo was leached early in 1900. On only two occasions was Mr Grogan 

 compelled to take life, both times in self-defense. 



NANSEN'S "FARTHEST NORTH" ECLIPSED 



The young Duke of Abruzzi, Prince Luigi Amadeoof Savoy-Aosta. son of that 

 Amadeo who for two turbulent years, 1871-73, was called the King of Spain, 

 and a nepliew of the late King Humbert, has eclipsed Nansen's " Farthest 

 North." Nansen reached latitude S6° 14', the Duke of Abruzzi 80° o:V, while 

 Lockwood (Greely ex'pedition) gained 83° 24', which is still the most northern 

 land ever reached by man. The Duke of Abruzzi came within 239.15 statute 

 miles of the Pole, Nansen 2()1 miles, anil the Greely expedition 450.50 miles. 

 The Italian prince is the first of the Latin race to cross the Arctic Circle since 

 the days when another Latin, Gaspar Corte Real of Portugal, in 1500, discov- 

 ered Hudson Strait and entered it never to return. 



The Sti'llo Polnir, a vessel modeled after tiie plans of the Fr(un, but smaller 

 and less stockily Iniilt, .sailed from Cliristiauia June 12, 1S99, (tarrying the Duke 

 of Abruzzi and some twenty ofiicers and crew. It is stated that lialf a million 

 dollars had i)een lavished on the eipiipnuuit (see Nat. Gkixj. Mao., vol. x,p. 

 302). In latitude 82° the ship was forced by the ice in Tal)le Bay on to the 

 land. One siile had been crushed in, the hold had filled witli water, and all 

 attempts to staunch the leak had been futile. A single tent, constructed from 

 the two which tiie party had brought with them, was pitched U|)()n the land 

 and a heavy sail laid over it and fastened down with planks taken from the 

 Hliij). S»!veral stoves were set up inside the tent; bu( though they vveri' kept 



