fifty miles long. It begins at Callao, Peru, and ends at Oroya. The
highest point reached by it in crossing the Andes is fifteen thousand
six hundred and sixty-five feet. It is said that seven thousand lives
were lost in its construction. Much of the road-bed was blasted through
solid rock on the sides of the mountains. The cost of construction was
about three hundred thousand dollars per mile. It has seventy-eight
tunnels, the longest being the Gallera tunnel, which pierces Mount
Meiggs at the altitude of fifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-five
feet. This is the highest place in the world where steam is used as a
motive power. Ultimately the road is to be extended to the celebrated
mines of Cerro de Pasco, fifty-one miles beyond its present terminus,
Oroya.

The chief business of these railroads extending into the Andes is
carrying ore, bullion, and wool. Their construction marks the acme of
engineering skill; the scenery along them surpasses that of all other
regions in its wild ruggedness, grandeur, and sublimity.

In ascending to such great heights quickly one not accustomed to high
elevations is apt to experience dizziness, headache, and nausea. At
first even the effort to talk on reaching these lofty places by train is
laborious. Dogs taken from the lowlands to these elevations are unable
to run with speed for a long time, but those which are born and reared
in this region easily pursue wild animals.

When the New World was discovered the llama was the only animal used
there as a beast of burden. Thousands of these diminutive creatures are
still used for transporting ore and bullion in the Andes. Each animal
can carry a load of seventy-five pounds or more. This sure-footed animal
can travel with its load about fourteen miles a day.

[Illustration: Llamas resting]

Lake Titicaca is one of the famous lakes of the world. Its name means
tin-stone and was doubtless derived from the tin ore found in the
vicinity. The lake has an elevation of twelve thousand five hundred and
fifty feet, and although nine streams run into it, only one, the
Desaguadero, flows out, carrying its waters to Lake Poopo, a small body
of salt water nearly three hundred miles south. Lake Titicaca has the
same surface level both summer and winter. The outflow never reaches the
sea; it is lost by evaporation mainly in Lake Poopo, but the latter
frequently overflows into the salt marshes lying to the southward.

Though thin ice may be found in the quiet bays and inlets nearly every
morning during the year, the expanse of the lake is never frozen even in
the severest weather. A peculiarity about the lake is that not only will
iron not rust when left in its waters, but that which was before rusted
soon loses its scales of rust after being immersed a few days.

Several steamers ply on the lake carrying chiefly ore and wool. Some of
the islands in the lake are inhabited by Indians who eke out a
precarious living.

A civilization antedating that of the Incas formerly occupied the region
about the lake, as is proved by the remarkable ruins along the shores
concerning which the natives told the early Spaniards that they had no
record. Three square miles are covered by these ruins, whose walls were
made of immense blocks of stone most accurately fitted together, thus
giving evidence of the great skill in stone-cutting possessed by the
pre-Inca people.

The Inca rulers had beautiful palaces and other edifices on some of the
islands. Titicaca Island was regarded as sacred, and at the time of the
Spanish conquest was the site of a large temple richly ornamented with
gold and silver.

Prospecting in the Andes is attended with great hardships. Few wild
animals can be found to furnish food. Food and utensils must be carried
on the backs of men, and the greatest difficulty is experienced in
traversing the almost inaccessible steeps and deep ravines.

Coal of inferior quality has been found near the shores of Lake Titicaca
and is used by the steamers sailing on its waters. Many rich mineral
lodes yet remain undiscovered, and a vast number of valuable mines
languish for lack of capital to develop them. Frequent revolutions and
the insecurity of private property prevent the investment of foreign
capital.

The Andes will continue to be a great storehouse of minerals for many
years to come.

[Illustration: Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya
Railroad, Peru, 13,600 feet high]

Muffling the feet of the Peruvian Andes is a long narrow strip--drifting
dunes of rock waste--known as the Atacama Desert. In comparison with
this awful desert, the Sahara is said to be a botanical garden. Here
during a part of the year a fierce, relentless sun pours down its
burning rays on the shifting sands, keeping the air at a scorching heat
both day and night. Formerly the region belonged to Bolivia, but it was
annexed to Chile as a result of the war of 1881.

For miles and miles not a blade of grass, not a tree, not a shrub is to
be seen. All around is a bleak, barren waste destitute of water. Yet
underneath these sands lie concealed immense deposits of "nitrates" of
untold wealth.

Although small quantities of the nitrates had been sent to Europe for
chemical purposes--chiefly the manufacture of gunpowder--no considerable
amount was exported until a fortuitous discovery was made by a Scotchman
named George Smith. After wandering over the world for some time Smith
settled down in a little village near Iquique, where he had a small
garden containing fruit-trees and flowers. In one part of his garden he
noticed that the plants grew best where the soil contained a white
substance.

He then proceeded to gather a quantity of the material and to experiment
with it. To his surprise he found that a mere handful of it greatly
stimulated the growth of plants. He told a member of his family in
Scotland who was engaged in fruit-growing about the wonderful effects of
the material as a fertilizer. As a result several bags of nitrates were
distributed among Scottish farmers and fruit-growers. So satisfactory
did the fertilizer prove that an immediate call was made for more of it.
Thus began a business which now yields the owners of the beds one
hundred million dollars yearly.

It was soon found out that the nitrate in its raw state contained
properties that were injurious to plants and that these should be first
eliminated. Forthwith reduction works were established to extract the
deleterious substances. These substances were mainly iodine and bromine,
two chemical elements that are of greater value than the nitrates
themselves. Within a few years railroads were built to transport the
nitrates from the beds to the various ports where the reduction
factories were erected.

Many men who had large interests in the nitrate beds became immensely
wealthy in a short time. The great value of the deposits caused towns
and cities to spring up along the coast in the most inhospitable places,
to some of which water was piped a distance of more than two hundred
miles and at the cost of many millions of dollars.

The principal nitrate beds are in a shallow valley, four or five
thousand feet above sea level, lying between a long range of hills and
the base of the Andes. Just how these mineral deposits were formed it is
difficult to explain, the most plausible theory being that this desert
was once the bottom of an inland sea having vast quantities of seaweed
covered with sand. In the gradual decay of this substance the nitrate of
soda, or "Chile saltpetre," was formed.

To obtain the nitrates it is necessary first to remove the top layer of
sand and then a layer of clay. Underneath this is found a layer of soft,
whitish material called "nitrate." The crude nitrate is sent to the
nitrate ports to be crushed and boiled in sea-water. After boiling, the
solution is drawn off into shallow vessels and exposed to the heat of
the sun to evaporate.

When nearly all has been evaporated and the remaining liquid drawn off,
the bottom and sides of the vessels are found to be covered with
sparkling white crystals. This is the saltpetre of commerce, the highest
grade of which is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, the second grade
for chemical purposes, and the third grade, the great bulk, for
fertilizing the exhausted soils of Europe.

The liquid drawn off is crystallized by chemical treatment and further
evaporation, and from it is obtained iodine, an ounce of which is worth
as much as one hundred pounds of saltpetre. From eighty to one hundred
million dollars' worth of these nitrates are dug out and sold each year.
Great Britain takes about one-third of the entire product and Germany
one-fifth.

Iquique has the largest shipping trade. From this port about fifty
million dollars' worth of nitrates and three million dollars' worth of
iodine are exported yearly.

CHAPTER VII

THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN

No other parts of the globe have been subject to so many kaleidoscopic
changes by migrations during the past eight centuries as northern Asia
and eastern Europe. In comparison both India and China have remained
stable for many centuries.

Before the Christian era, Mongol tribes of northeastern Asia began their
westward march, tarrying a few centuries along the way in the most
fertile places and gathering force by multiplication until the
thirteenth century. Then like a mighty flood they poured into eastern
Europe, carrying everywhere in their pathway subjugation, devastation,
and slaughter. During the early part of these migrations, the great
Roman Empire trembled as she beheld the irresistible moving hosts, and
her downfall was hastened by the ponderous blows dealt her by these
barbarians.

In the early part of the thirteenth century, after the Mongol ruler
Genghis Khan had overrun southern Russia, he turned northward and
captured the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, and Ryazan, putting to death
many of the inhabitants by the most fiendish methods of torture.
Thousands were slaughtered merely to wreak vengeance for the strong
resistance offered by the besieged before surrendering. Hundreds of
thousands of the Russians both high and low were made slaves. Wives of
the nobles who had been richly clad and adorned with jewels became
servants of their conquerors.

[Illustration: Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River.
Catching the material for caviare]

In 1272 most of the Tartars became Muhammadans and henceforth became
more intolerant of the Christians, thousands of whom they burned alive
or tortured. This oppressive yoke was borne for nearly three hundred
years. Then Ivan III succeeded in breaking the Tartar rule forever.
Mongol tribes, however, remained a disturbing element on the border for
two hundred years thereafter.

In the early part of the fourteenth century Othman, a Mongol, founded
the Ottoman empire, which then consisted of only the western part of
Asia Minor. His son and successor conquered Gallipoli in 1354, thereby
gaining a foothold in Europe, and during the next two centuries
successive Turkish rulers made large additions to the empire until it
embraced vast areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For a time, indeed, it
threatened to absorb all Christendom. Adrianople was conquered in 1361
and made the capital of the Turkish Empire. Then, in 1453, after a
memorable siege, Constantinople was captured by the Muhammadans, and
made the capital of the empire.

Orkhan was the first to exact as tribute the strongest and healthiest
male children of all Christian peoples whom he conquered. These youths,
reared as Muhammadans and trained under strict military discipline,
became that efficient body of troops called the Janizaries. For a long
time they were the bulwark of the empire, but at length they became so
dictatorial and powerful that the sultan began to fear them more than he
feared his foreign enemies. In 1825, when the army was reorganized on
the European plan, the Janizaries broke out in open revolt. Then the
reigning sultan unfurled the flag of the Prophet and called upon the
faithful to suppress the rebellious corps. In the contest that ensued it
is estimated that twenty-five thousand of the rebels were put to death,
twenty thousand were banished, and the others disbanded. This was the
end of an epoch of blood-shedding and the beginning of an era of
commerce.

The Russians have always been noted for their love of furs; as a result
a small, fur-bearing animal, the sable, led to the conquest of that vast
realm now known as Siberia.

About the middle of the sixteenth century a rich Russian merchant named
Strogonoff, residing at Kazan, established salt works on the banks of
the Kama, a tributary of the Volga River, and began trading with the
natives. One day, having noticed some strangely dressed travellers and
learning that they came from a country beyond the Ural Mountains, called
Sibir, he despatched some of his agents into that land. On returning,
the employees brought with them the finest sable skins that the
merchant had ever seen. They had been secured for a trifling sum.

Strogonoff began at once to extend the area of his trafficking, and
informed the government of the lucrative commerce that he had opened up.
Valuable concessions were then granted him. A few years afterward a
Cossack officer named Yermak, who had been declared an outlaw by Ivan
the Terrible, gathered together a force of less than one thousand men.
The band was composed of adventurers, freebooters, and criminals, and
the expedition was armed and provisioned by Strogonoff, who expected to
profit by opening up the new region. Permission having been obtained
from the government, in 1579 Yermak set forth with his followers for the
unknown country.

So great were the impediments which the pathless swamps and forest
offered, together with the severity of the climate and hostility of the
natives, that his force was reduced by death, sickness, and desertion to
the number of five hundred when he lined up his men before the large
army of the powerful Kutchum Khan. Like Cortez and Pizarro, Yermak had
unbounded confidence in his ability to cope with his enemies, who were
rudely armed with bows and arrows, regardless of their numbers; for his
own men were supplied with matchlocks, and with these--in the language
of the natives--they could manufacture thunder and lightning.

A terrible battle ensued, and for some time success seemed evenly
balanced. At length the fierce attacks of the Cossacks forced the
barbarous hordes to give way and the retreat became a stampede. Kutchum
Khan's camp and all its treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors.
Yermak at once sent part of his force to occupy the Tartar capital,
which was found to be evacuated, so great was the terror inspired by the
Russians.

The success achieved by the handful of Cossacks led several neighboring
tribes to offer voluntarily an annual tribute of sable skins. When
Yermak had collected several thousand of these skins, he sent a special
envoy to Moscow to present them along with the conquered country to the
czar. So greatly pleased was Ivan with the offerings that he forgave
Yermak for his past ill deeds and made him governor and
commander-in-chief of all the countries which he might conquer. Then,
knowing that it would be difficult for the Cossacks to hold the
conquered territory very long with their diminished numbers, the czar
forthwith sent reinforcements.

Soon after the arrival of the additional troops, Yermak audaciously
started out to make further conquests. One dark and rainy night he
encamped with his force on a small island in the Irtish River. Relying
on the terror which his name had inspired, and the stormy weather, he
deemed it unnecessary to post sentinels. Wearied with their long march,
soon all of the Russians were buried in slumber.

But Kutchum, smarting under his humiliating defeat, had spies constantly
watching his foes, intending, if possible, to take them by surprise.
When the spies reported to him the lack of vigilance on the part of the
enemy, he stealthily crossed to the island with his force and fell upon
the sleeping camp. All the Russians but two were killed, and these,
escaping, reported the disaster at Sibir. When Yermak saw the
annihilation of his troops, he cut his way through the Tartars and
attempted to swim the stream, but was dragged to the bottom by his heavy
armor and drowned.

When news of the crushing disaster reached Sibir the Russians, losing
heart at the death of their leader, evacuated the place and returned
home. The czar, nevertheless, had no idea of permitting a land so
promising to slip from his grasp. It was not long before he sent a
larger army across the Ural Mountains, which not only reconquered the
lost territory but also the rest of western Siberia.

[Illustration: Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River]

Gradually the Cossacks moved eastward, conquering tribe after tribe. As
they advanced they built strong wooden forts by which to hold their
vantage ground. Tomsk was founded in 1604; by 1630 the tide of conquest
had reached the banks of the Lena; and within eighty years from their
first conquest the Russians had reached the Pacific.

Years afterward a suitable monument was erected to Yermak in the city of
Tobolsk, which was built on the battle-field where he gained his first
decisive victory over the Tartar ruler. His real monument is all
Siberia, whose conquest he inaugurated.

In 1847 the Amur River section was annexed by Russia regardless of the
protests of the Chinese Government. Quarrels ensued over the boundaries
and, finding resistance hopeless, the Chinese ceded to Russia all the
land on the left bank of the Amur as far as the mouth of the Ussuri and
on both its banks below that river.

The sable gradually led the Russian hunters to Kamtchatka, while the
more valuable sea-otter beckoned them across the sea to the Aleutian
Islands and that part of the American continent now Alaska Territory.
The chief incentive in all of these conquests was the securing of
valuable furs. The sable is even yet found along the streams in both
open and forested sections from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific; but
so relentless has been the pursuit of this valuable fur-bearing animal
that it is now nearly exterminated. Besides the sable and the sea-otter,
there are found in Siberia the ermine, bear, arctic fox, common fox,
deer, wolf, antelope, elk, hare, and squirrel.

To avoid entering into conflict with the more powerful people at the
south, the Russians chose to advance eastward along higher latitudes
toward the Pacific. But within a few years after the Muscovite empire
had acquired central and northern Siberia, there were loud complaints
that the tribes on the south were making raids on them, robbing them of
their property and carrying their people into slavery. So, from time to
time, Cossack forces were sent to chastise the offenders; and in many
instances they were punished and their territories were annexed to
Siberia.

In these raids the Turkomans were the most active. During the forty
years previous to 1878 it is estimated that eighty thousand Russian
subjects and two hundred thousand Persians were made captives and sold
into slavery. In 1873 the Russians captured Khiva and liberated thirty
thousand Persian slaves.

Notwithstanding these lessons, some of the Turkoman tribes still went on
marauding expeditions, robbing, killing, and enslaving their neighbors.
So, in 1878, another strong force of the Cossacks was sent against the
pillaging tribes, who were made to release all slaves and abolish
slavery. Little by little all Turkistan became Russian territory.
Bokhara and Khiva alone keep their old forms of government, but they are
practically Russian states and pay Russia annually a stipulated tribute.

It is thought that once upon a time Siberia had a much larger population
than it has now and the peoples who lived there dwelt farther north. The
first colonists lived in the stone age and were contemporaneous with the
mammoth, whose remains are found scattered all over the northern part of
Siberia and the adjacent islands.

In the interior these remains are found imbedded in thick strata of pure
blue ice, which is covered by the river gravels of streams that do not
now exist. So thick are these layers of ice that they may be likened to
the rocks found in lower latitudes. Several of these animals have been
found imbedded in the ice in an almost perfect state of preservation,
and quantities of their tusks are obtained annually along the northern
rivers where the spring freshets have worn away the banks of the
streams.

Whenever the ivory-tusk hunter sees the end of a tusk sticking out of
the river bank, he is soon able to remove it from its resting place with
pick and shovel. Great quantities of this fossil ivory are also obtained
from the islands to the north of the mainland.

As in arctic America, the ground of northern Siberia is frozen solid to
the depth of many feet, and even during the hottest summer it thaws down
only a few inches. The climate is continental in character, being marked
by fierce winds and great extremes both in temperature and moisture. In
midsummer the temperature may reach one hundred and ten degrees, while
in midwinter it has been known to reach ninety degrees below zero.

Roughly speaking, Siberia may be divided into three longitudinal belts:
first, the tundra, which borders the Arctic Ocean and extends several
hundred miles south of it; second, the forest belt, several hundred
miles wide, which extends across the continent; third, the southern
part, consisting of desert steppes, swamps, grassy plains, and a few
broken forests.

The tundra is a vast lowland plain which in winter is a desolate, frozen
waste, and in summer a vast swamp of lichens and arctic moss. Here
nature is embalmed in eternal frost, and life is a terror-inspiring
struggle with cold and hunger.

In spring, when the snow is gone and the ground begins to thaw,
thousands of geese, ducks, swans, and other feathered creatures appear,
enlivening the monotonous scene for a few months; then, when the sharp
September frosts announce the approach of winter, with their
tundra-reared progeny they wing their way southward, leaving the icy
plains to the wandering fox and the arctic owl.

One writer speaks of the tundra as the very grave of nature, the
sepulchre of the primeval world, because it is the tomb of so many
animals whose remains have been protected from putrefaction for
thousands of years. How interesting would it be could these animals be
brought to life and be endowed with sufficient intelligence to relate
the history of their age and generation!

The reindeer in the valley of the Lena spend the winter near the
forests, but as the spring advances they migrate to the thousands of
islands in the delta to escape the heat and mosquitoes farther south. To
reach their destination they are obliged to swim across broad channels
of water. The animals have special places for crossing, and on their
return south the natives station themselves at these places and
slaughter them in large numbers.

All the swamps and marshes throughout Siberia are the breeding places
of innumerable mosquitoes, which in summer fly over the country in such
dense clouds as to render life in certain sections almost unbearable.

Just north of Mongolia where the Yenisei River enters Russian territory
is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of
the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of
gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably
worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened
early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.

[Illustration: Driving over the tundra in winter]

Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the
archæologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many
thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress
from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine
collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles is housed in
an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
This building contains the richest collection of implements representing
the bronze age in the world.

The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon
shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great
forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and
pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of
square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where
neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers
dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway,
so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their
steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible
supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word
they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting
or hearing either bird or beast.

At the conclusion of the war between Japan and Russia it was stipulated
that Russia should cede to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large
number of Russians and Japanese were employed in marking the boundary,
by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred
miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the Japanese
portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to
be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive
coal deposits and the large areas of land available for tillage.

Of the native peoples of northern Siberia the Yakuts are the most
numerous. They resemble both the Eskimos and the Lapps. They occupy
several valleys, including that of the Lena River and a strip along the
Arctic Ocean to the west. So inured to cold are these people, that where
the temperature ranges from ninety degrees below zero to ninety-three
degrees above, the adults wear light clothing in the depth of winter and
the children sport naked in the snow.

The desert zone includes a vast region east of the Caspian Sea and
extends to the Tian Shan Mountains, which separate it from the desert of
Gobi. Here, as in the Mohave Desert, are found the leafless, thickly
spined forms of the cactus family.

A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants
on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the
northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in
Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine
nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and
settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially
in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed
from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward
of three million pounds.

The camel is usually associated with the hot desert regions of the
Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It
is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along
frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.

The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central
Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is
widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The
word Altai means gold. The world's supply of platinum virtually comes
from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the
mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires
before it can be worked.

The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful
transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and
other kinds of business. This great achievement, begun in 1891, was
practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and
seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment,
double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the
first cost.

The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line
across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now
called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur
is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five
hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too
light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and
the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.

The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges
from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as
one travels first, second, third, or fourth class. Riding first class
one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds
on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the
luxury of a bath.

Since the completion of the road the government has done everything
possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle
and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in
Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line
during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand
annually.

To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives
each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock
and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of
interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be
bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million
five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to assist the peasant
farmers.

Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad,
additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the
growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers
during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the
Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice
obstructions.

[Illustration: Train on the steppes of Russia]

Dairying, now a most important industry of Siberia, was unknown before
the advent of the great railway. To promote this industry, the
government has already expended more than a million dollars. At all the
principal places schools have been established in which the best methods
of dairy-farming are taught. Fortunately, cattle diseases are
practically unknown.

The fine quality of the grasses, together with the improved methods of
manufacturing brought about by the creameries, causes Siberian butter
to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy
products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large
quantities going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
Sometimes three hundred tons of butter per week are shipped to
Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million
pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion
fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still
only in its infancy.

In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile
black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are
sparsely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population
of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in
timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are
capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.

Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America,
concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also
have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have
been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can
be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common
criminals are sent to Siberia.

Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to
political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island
of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal
family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.

Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four
hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very
deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a
species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is
found nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in
this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities of salmon of different
species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing
industries.

In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is
made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and
one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able
to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold. The railway now extends
around the southern part of the lake, and crossing by ferryboats is not
attempted when the ice is thick.

Asiatic Russia includes Transcaucasia, which was permanently annexed to
the Russian Empire in 1801. This great Asiatic domain contains more than
six million square miles, or about twice the size of the United States,
including Alaska.

Notwithstanding the millions of square miles of arid deserts,
irredeemable swamps, frozen tundra, and impenetrable forests, the
agricultural and mineral resources of Siberia are almost beyond
computation.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA

The statement that "one half the world does not know how the other half
lives, nor how it is influenced," applies with double force to the
peoples living on the high plateau of Tibet beyond the titanic
Himalayas. Here is a vast region only one-twentieth of which is covered
with vegetation. Chains of mountains with snow-capped peaks encircle it,
and spurs from the main ranges, together with lesser ridges and isolated
elevations, diversify its surface.

Amidst these desolate wastes are fertile valleys which are capable of
producing excellent crops; in many other sections good crops are
produced by very primitive methods of irrigation. As a whole the plateau
may be classed among the infertile regions of the earth.

On account of its great elevation, Tibet is often called the roof of the
world. Starting from its borders several large rivers break through its
rocky ramparts, among them the Indus, Brahmaputra, Irawadi, and Hoang.
Some of the plains of the great plateau range from fifteen to eighteen
thousand feet above sea level. Scattered over these are single lakes and
chains of lakes, many of which are salt. These vast areas, storm-swept
in winter and baked by heat in summer, are frequented by bandits and
nomads. They live in tents made of the almost black hair of the yak, and
move from place to place with their flocks and herds to seek food for
their animals. The stable population resides chiefly in the few cities
and villages.

For nearly a thousand years a veil of religious mystery has shrouded
this section of the world; and the sacred city of Lasa with its holy
places has been doubly guarded against the visits of foreigners.

This mysterious land has been able to maintain its position of isolated
seclusion because of the high mountain barriers that are massed in a
series of gigantic walls on all sides. It is approachable only through
narrow passes that are constantly guarded.

Our knowledge of the "forbidden land," as it is called, has been
obtained chiefly from adventurers who have travelled through it in
disguise, and from a few others who took more desperate chances by
forcing their way in. Among these may be mentioned Bower, Thorald, the
Littledales, Rockhill, Captain Deasy, Sven Hedin, and Walter Savage
Landor. Landor was taken prisoner by the Tibetans and suffered at their
hands horrible tortures, from the effects of which he will never
recover.

[Illustration: Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India]

Because the Tibetans for many years had insulted the government of India
and had seized territory claimed by it, English troops under Colonel
Younghusband were sent against the invaders in 1903, and after several
severe battles reached the forbidden city of Lasa, where a forced treaty
was negotiated and signed. But on the withdrawal of the English troops
the policy of exclusion was immediately resumed. Russia to-day has much
greater influence in Tibet than has England.

The present condition of Tibet resembles in many respects that of Europe
during the Middle Ages. The country is under the suzerainty of China,
which has a representative called an amaban and several thousand troops
at Lasa to maintain its claim.

Though an extremely trying climate prevails on these highlands, the
hermit-like, priest-ridden people know no better home and are contented
with their lot. Of its three and one-half million inhabitants, one in
seven belongs to the priestly class called lamas.

At the head of this priesthood, as well as at the head of the state, are
two leaders, the chief one, the Dalai Lama, or "ocean of learning," and
the other the Bogodo Lama, or "precious teacher." With their
subordinates, these two are supposed to have power not only over life
and death, but over the reincarnation of the soul and entrance to the
regions beyond rebirth.

This isolated table-land is the seat of a former Buddhism better known
by the name of Lamaism. A deep but crude religious feeling tainted with
the grossest superstitions pervades the whole people, whose ignorance of
other learning is appalling.

When a person dies a lama must be present to see that the soul is
properly separated from the body and to direct the spirit on its journey
to paradise; the lama must also influence its rebirth in a happy
existence and provide for its entrance upon Nirvana, or eternal rest.

Many a mountain contains hollowed-out cells in which hermit monks spend
their lives in silent meditation. On an island in one of the lakes,
where they can be reached only when the lake freezes, reside twenty
monks. In the midst of this wild and majestic scenery each rock and
stream has its deity and saint, together with its appropriate legend.

Although the Buddhist monks do not believe in God as a creator, their
religion demands audible and written prayers; indeed, prayer-wheels are
frequently used to facilitate the repetition of prayers. Prayers
numbering hundreds and even thousands are carefully written and placed,
rolled up, in drum-wheels, which are revolved by wind, water, or hand
power. Each revolution of a wheel is supposed to say all the prayers
enclosed in it.

Many prayer-wheels, each with appropriate prayers, are mounted on axles
and placed convenient to frequented paths so that they may be whirled
around by those who pass by. Others provided with suitable fans are
placed where they may be revolved by the wind. Sometimes water power is
made to turn the wheels, but most of them are made of a size convenient
to be carried about and operated by hand.

The capital of Tibet and seat of the Dalai Lama is Lasa, situated in a
plain nearly twelve thousand feet above sea level. The city is
surrounded by a marsh and is reached by a causeway raised above the
morass. It has wide and regular streets, the principal buildings being
made of stone, but the majority of the structures are adobe and
sun-dried brick.

This interesting city contains forty-five thousand inhabitants,
two-thirds of whom are monks. Streams formed by the melting snow course
down the surrounding mountains, flooding the plain. At a distance the
city presents an imposing appearance with the adjacent Potala as the
crowning glory.

In the centre of the city stands a cathedral, called the Jo-Kang, which
contains one of the most renowned statues of Buddha. This image, of life
size, is an object of the greatest reverence and adoration. It is made
of a composition of metals, gold and silver predominating. Priests are
always in attendance and lamps are constantly burning before it. The
roof of the temple is gilded and the interior is richly furnished.

Situated in the suburbs, on a rocky elevation above the plain which
overlooks the city, is a wonderful group of buildings forming the
Potala, or palace of the Dalai Lama. This huge, conglomerate structure
of granite rising story above story to an immense height fascinates the
beholder, who marvels at the skill and patience of the builders.

As though to heighten its beauty, the Potala is separated from the city
by a park of grass and trees about a mile wide, making the stately
edifice look like a huge diamond encircled with emeralds. Nothing but a
blind religious zeal could have brought to completion such a series of
connected edifices with their miles of halls, courts, corridors, and
labyrinthine passageways.

Scattered throughout Tibet are upward of three thousand monasteries, or
lamaseries. Some of them are built in remote and inaccessible places and
contain as many as seven thousand monks. Each lamasery has set apart for
its use the best land in that vicinity, the cultivation of which is done
by the common people, who are little better than serfs, or peons.

It is a notable fact that in this strange land there are many more men
than women, although the reverse would be expected. The support of the
hordes of lazy monks is a great incubus and retards the development of
the country.

[Illustration: The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but
furnishes milk, butter, and meat]

The use of water for cleansing purposes seems to be no part of the
religion of the people; they never bathe their bodies and seldom wash
the face and hands. To protect themselves from the biting cold they
smear their faces with rancid butter, which, catching the smoke and
dust, adds to the effectiveness as well as the strength of the odor.
Their homes and places of worship reek with dirt and filth; small-pox,
ailments of the eyes, and other contagious diseases are prevalent.
Harelip, in a great measure due to lack of proper nutrition, is a very
common ailment.

In leather and inlaid work the Tibetans show great skill, much of the
decorative work on the handles of their swords and daggers being very
artistic. The common people live in constant terror of evil spirits in
this world and of terrible punishments in the hereafter; the educated
classes believe they can drive off or propitiate all evil influences in
this world, but fear they may be changed in a future rebirth to some
vile form of being. In general, the people are treacherous and cowardly.
For weapons of defence they use matchlocks; in firing them, the weapon
is held directly in front of the nose.

Of domestic animals the yak is one of the most useful, since it not only
serves as a beast of burden but furnishes rich milk, butter, and meat.
The long hair of the animal is used for making ropes, tents, and cloth.

The yak resembles the ox in body, head, and legs; but it is covered with
long, silky hair which hangs like the fleece of an Angora goat. The
long, flowing hair of the tail reaches nearly to the ground. Thousands
of these tails find their way to India where they are used for various
household purposes.

Wild yaks are found in considerable numbers near the limits of perpetual
snow, but at the approach of winter they descend to the wooded valleys
just below the snow line. During the summer they pasture on the higher
elevations. In their wild state yaks are fierce and dangerous. Being
accustomed to high elevations, they fall sick and die when removed to
the lowlands.

Milk is obtained not only from the yaks but from the sheep and goats.
The sheep, being of large size, are frequently used to bear small loads.
Many horses are raised, but they are used chiefly for riding.

Tibet is rich in gold, and for thousands of years the precious metal has
been washed out of its surface by the crudest of methods. In fact, gold
is washed from every river which has its sources in the Tibetan plateau.
Most of it in time finds its way to China. Silver, copper, iron, lead,
and mercury abound in the southeastern part and considerable quantities
are mined.

Traffic is carried on by means of caravans, the most common pack animal
being the yak. Almost all the commerce is controlled by Chinese
merchants, and the chief article of trade is tea, which is received in
exchange for wool, hides, musk, amber, and gold. The tea is an inferior
kind known as "brick tea," being composed of the refuse, stems, and
leaves of the plants cemented with rice water and pressed into hard
bricks. This kind of tea is preferred by the Tibetans, who brew it with
butter and other ingredients and consume the entire concoction. The tea
trade amounts to several million pounds annually.

CHAPTER IX

THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN

Who has not had the youthful imagination fired by the "Arabian Nights"?
The simplicity and lifelike reality of these interesting stories, made
even more fascinating by their Oriental color, appeal both to young and
old.

So great has been their popularity that few works have been translated
into so many different languages, while their influence on the
literature of the present day is felt in a marked degree. They are more
than the luxurious fancies of the Arab's mind, for they vividly set
forth the love and hate, the craft and hypocrisy, the courage and
revenge of his race. Moreover, they portray in a truly dramatic manner
the innermost life and thought of the Moslem, while they captivate the
senses by a magnificent panorama of exquisite banquets, lovely
characters, charming gardens, and beautiful palaces.

The country and the descendants of the race that created these masterly
storiettes are surely worthy of careful consideration. A region that is
the birthplace of a religion claiming nearly two hundred million
converts scattered all over the world must possess a special interest.

We are apt to look askance at everything Arabic as bordering on
ignorance and savagery; but if we study the past of this alert race we
shall find a profusion of historical side lights that are valuable; we
shall also find in Arabic literature much to admire. The Arab is poetic
and delights in imagery. There are Arabic poems dating back one thousand
years before the Christian era that for beauty of thought, vigor, and
polish are equal to those produced by any nation and in any age.

In the Middle Ages the Arabs led the world in commerce, exploration,
art, science, and literature. The secret of their successful conquests
was not in the number of their soldiers but in the courage inspired by
the Muhammadan religion. Death has no terrors for the fanatical Moslem,
for to him it is the vestibule of paradise where the pleasures of earth
await those who fight in the holy cause.

By nature the Arab is active, vivacious, and keen-witted. He is proud of
his lineage, earnest, and hospitable. The mother not only takes care of
the home but educates the children; and, strange as it may seem to the
outside world, illiteracy is practically unknown to Arabia.

To the Arabic race we are indebted for our knowledge of arithmetic, and
many of the principles of algebra and geometry. The pendulum, the
mariner's compass, and the manufacture of silk and cotton textiles were
introduced into Europe by the Arabs. They claim to have used gunpowder
as far back as the eleventh century. In the year 706 paper was made at
Mecca and from there its manufacture spread all over the western world.
To them we owe many of the useful arts and practical inventions which
were later brought to perfection by other nations.

[Illustration: Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India]

Now, no one is quite certain about the Saracens as a people because the
name has been very loosely used. It was applied by Roman soldiers to
several wandering tribes of Arabs who were much accustomed to mistaking
other people's flocks of sheep and herds of cattle for their own. Most
likely there never was a Saracenic Empire. But there certainly was a
time when Arabians controlled not only the Arabian peninsula, but also
Syria and the fertile plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as well;
and that great region became known as the "Land of the Saracens." From
Damascus to Bagdad, and from the Bab-el-Mandeb to the Gulf of Oman, the
Moslem was all-powerful.

Let us glance at the country itself. In the first place, Arabia is not a
nation but a country made up of petty states--some independent, some
controlled by the sultan of Turkey; two or three are included in the
British Empire. But the country itself is very far removed from the rest
of the world so far as accessibility is concerned; and although its
coast is scarcely a gunshot from the greatest trade route of the East,
Arabia is to-day one of the least-known countries in the world.

In general, the country is a moderately high table-land bordered by low
coast plains. Much of it is an out-and-out desert; all of it is arid.
Long ago it was divided into Arabia Petræa, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia
Felix--that is, the rocky, the desert, and the happy. It is needless to
say that Arabia the happy was the part receiving enough rainfall to
produce foodstuffs.

The coast-line of this great peninsula is nearly as great as that of the
Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States; but in its entire extent,
not far from four thousand miles, there is scarcely a harbor in which a
good-sized fishing schooner could find safe anchorage. Even at Aden a
steamship cannot approach within a quarter of a mile of the shore. So
one will not be far out of the way in designating Arabia as an
impassable country with an impossible coast.

It is estimated that about seven millions of people live in the entire
peninsula. To say that these belong to the Semitic race is merely to say
that they are dark-skinned and black-haired. The Arab, whether a
merchant dwelling in a city along the coast, or a Bedouin wandering with
flocks and herds, is a product of the desert and of the teachings of
Islam. His black eyes twinkle with shrewdness and he is a past master of
craftiness. As a trader he is unsurpassed, and Arab traders control the
interior commerce of western Asia and northern Africa just as the
Chinese control the trade of southeastern Asia.

As a Bedouin of the desert the Arab is supreme in his way. Savage and
blood-thirsty by nature, if there is no caravan to rob or common enemy
to fight, neighboring tribes easily find cause for fighting one another.
Usually a quarrel over pasture lands in the same locality furnishes an
excuse for a feud that results in the extermination of one tribe or the
other.

A hatred of those who are not followers of the prophet is a heritage of
all Arabs. The merchant class, who are wealthy and usually educated, may
have trained themselves to conceal it, but they possess it. Even to the
most liberal Arab, one who is not of the faith of Islam is a "dog of an
unbeliever." Among Bedouins, not to rob the caravan containing the
belongings of a Christian would be a sin. There is one exception,
however; if a Bedouin sheik agrees to convoy a party of "unbelievers,"
together with their valuables, over a robber-infested route, he will
carry out his bargain faithfully.

Family ties among the Bedouin Arabs are much the same to-day as they
were two thousand years ago. The great-grandfather, grandfather, or
father, as the case may be, is the head of the family, and his will is
law. The tribe is governed by a sheik, who is simply a "boss." He does
not inherit his office, nor is he elected to it by popular vote; he
elects himself because he is the best man, and he "holds over" for the
same reason.

The family mansion of the Bedouin is a tent made of goat-hair cloth.
Some tents occupy as much ground as is covered by a small cottage. The
tent of a sheik may be richly furnished with rugs and silk portières;
ordinarily, a coarse hearth-rug and a divan cover are about the only
furnishings. The cooking utensils are primitive--one or two kettles to a
family; and of tableware there is practically nothing more than one or
two platters. Meat is freely eaten and coffee is commonly a part of each
meal. In the place of bread, flour about as coarse as oatmeal is mixed
to a paste, rolled or beaten into thin cakes, and cooked in hot butter.
Dates are almost always a part of the food supply.

The camel has first place in the wealth of the Bedouin, but sheep and
goats in many instances form a part of his herds. The tents of a family
are pitched where the grazing is good and the families move about as
they will. All disputes are settled by the sheik, and he is apt to
emphasize his decisions by the free use of his lance shaft. Whenever it
becomes necessary because of poor grazing, the whole clan or tribe may
move to a distant place. All household goods are wrapped in packs or put
into saddle bags. Two or three camels will readily carry the tent and
luggage of a family. The women are carried in litters; the men ride
camels. Horses are rarely ridden at such times.

If a caravan is to be plundered, however, the best horses are used, and
in addition to his lance the raider carries a heavy knife. Perhaps a few
firearms may be carried, but they are generally either flintlocks or the
older matchlocks. It is only within a few years that the modern rifle
with metal cartridge has found favor with the Bedouin.

[Illustration: A group of Arabs with their dromedaries]

The great Arabian peninsula, seemingly so far out of the world, produces
many things, some of which the world cannot do well without. First of
all, it is the home of the camel. Perhaps a more awkward and ungainly
animal has not been domesticated, but certainly none is more useful. We
are told by students of natural history that the camel is the descendant
of the llama kind which seems to have originated in the South American
Andes. Just how or when the descent from the New World, which is really
the Old World, to the Old World, which is really the New World, was made
we are not informed; nevertheless, it looks as though the natural
history student has the right end of the argument. After the animal got
to Arabia it "developed." And while the result may not have been very
artistic, no one will deny that it was good workmanship; for the world
has never produced a more useful helper to mankind.

Practically all the riding animals are of the one-hump or Arabian
species. They are much larger and stronger than the two-hump animals.
One variety is slim and comparatively light in weight. These animals, as
a rule, are trained to a swift gait, and are used solely as riding
animals. They are called dromedaries, a word that means swift-runner.

Most of the other species are reared for the same purpose as domestic
cattle. Some are valuable as beasts of burden, others are shorn for
their coating, still others are kept for their milk and flesh. A
well-trained dromedary will sell for three hundred dollars and upward; a
pack animal rarely brings more than one-fourth as much. The milk of the
camel is equal to that of the best domestic cows and is greatly prized.
The hair of several species surpasses sheep's wool in texture and is
used in the finer kinds of cloth, and it is the most precious textile in
high-priced Oriental rugs and shawls. Ordinarily, however, camel's hair
is coarse and is used for the cheapest textiles. Arabia is the source
from which a large proportion of the camels used in the caravan trade of
Asia and Africa is obtained. Fermented camel's milk is much used all
over western Asia.

The Arabian horse has been famous in literature and in song for more
than two thousand years. The district of Nejd has been the chief
breeding locality for these horses for many centuries. Contrary to
tradition, however, even the finest animals are neither so large nor so
swift as American thoroughbred horses. The qualities that have made the
Arabian horse famous are its beautiful proportions, endurance, and
intelligence. Young colts mingle freely with their owners and
attendants, and they need, therefore, only the training to make them
saddle-wise; they require no "breaking." Brought up with the family and
treated with the greatest kindness from its birth the colt learns to
regard his master as his best friend.

Ordinarily but little water is given them, and they are so well trained
that a good animal will go a whole day in summer and two days in winter
without drink. The pure, full-blood Arabian is never sold. It may be
acquired only by gift, by capture in war, or by legacy. Animals of mixed
breed, however, are freely sold, most of them going to Turkey and to
India.

Mocha coffee is another product for which Arabia is renowned. The coffee
berry bearing this name is of the peaberry variety--that is, only one of
the two seeds within the husk comes to maturity. Most of the coffee is
grown in Yemen and the adjoining vilayets, and it received its name
because it was formerly marketed at the port of Mocha. Of late years it
has been shipped from Hodeida.

The business is in the hands of Arab merchants, and the coffee is
carried to Hodeida by caravans. On its way it is carefully sorted by
hand into three or more grades. The finest grade is sold to wealthy
Turkish customers at from three to five dollars per pound; the inferior
grades command prices varying from thirty cents to twice or three times
as much. Very little of the product ever passes outside of Turkey. All
the Mocha coffee grown in Yemen would not much more than supply New York
City.

The pearl fisheries along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf are also
controlled by Arab traders. From there are obtained some of the finest
pearls to be found, and also many tons of mother-of-pearl shells. The
yearly product of the fisheries is thought to exceed more than two
millions of dollars in value. The pearls are found in a species of
oyster, and to obtain them the divers must go to the bottom in from
thirty to ninety feet of water. Expert divers can remain under water as
long as two minutes.

The oysters are taken ashore to be opened, and Turkish inspectors are on
hand to levy a tax on the product. A few pearls may escape him,
especially if he is temporarily blinded by the glare of several
piasters; but the pearl industry is taxed for about all that it is
worth.

Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, is the city to which
every disciple of Islam is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once
in his lifetime. The chief income of the inhabitants of Mecca is
obtained by renting rooms and entertaining the visiting pilgrims who
flock thither.

In the centre of the city is the so-called Sacred Mosque, or area, which
is entirely enclosed by a covered structure of colonnades having
minarets and cupolas. Within the centre of this enclosed space is a
cube-shaped building called the Kaaba, which contains the famous sacred
Black Stone. This stone, probably of meteoric origin, gives to the
building its sanctity, and is an object of the greatest veneration to
every pious Moslem, who kisses it repeatedly. There is also within the
enclosure a building containing the holy well, Zemzem, the only well in
Mecca.

No unbeliever is permitted to enter the sacred enclosure, much less to
pollute the Holy Kaaba by his presence. A few infidels disguised as
pilgrims, at the risk of their lives, have visited this sacred place.

The preparations for pilgrimage are unique. The pilgrims assemble near
Mecca during the holy month and begin the sacred rites by bathing and
assuming the sacred garb. This suit consists of two woollen wrappers,
one worn around the middle of the body and the other around the
shoulders. With bare head and slippers covering neither heel nor instep
the pilgrim sets forth on his holy journey.

While wearing this dress he is admonished to bring his thoughts into
harmony with the sanctity of the territory he now traverses. He is not
to shave, anoint his head, pare his nails, or bathe until the end of the
pilgrimage. Among the various rites to be performed after reaching Mecca
is walking seven times around the Kaaba, first slowly, then quickly.
Before leaving the city the pilgrim drinks water from the holy well,
Zemzem.

Many pious pilgrims visit Medina, now the terminus of a railway, before
going on to Mecca. This is another of the sacred cities of Islam, since
it is the scene of Muhammad's labors after his hegira from Mecca; it
also contains his tomb. Formerly no unbeliever was permitted to traverse
the streets of Medina or look upon the tomb of the great prophet, but
tourists are now allowed within the gates. The city is enclosed by a
wall forty feet high which is flanked with thirty towers. Two of its
four gates are massive structures with double towers. Like Mecca, Medina
is supported chiefly by pilgrims.

CHAPTER X

THE SAHARA

An expanse of land as large as the main body of the United States
stretches across the northern part of Africa. From the Atlantic Ocean to
the Red Sea, and from the foot of the Atlas Mountains to the Sudan, it
is a weird panorama of rock waste--level, rugged, shingly, and
mountainous, according to locality. In places only it is penetrated by
large and permanently flowing streams. On the eastern borderland the
Nile pours a mighty flood, winding a sinuous passage along its
self-made flood-plain, the Egypt of history. In the west the Niger has
forced its way into the confines of the desert and then, as if rebuffed,
turns its course southward.

This great domain of the simoom has every diversity of surface. The
higher summits of the Tarso Mountains are eight thousand feet above sea
level; the Shott, a chain of salt lakes south of the Atlas Mountains,
are about one hundred feet below sea level. The depression in which
these lakes is situated probably was once the head of the Gulf of Sidra;
but the never-ceasing winds have partly filled the depression, cutting
off the head of the gulf in the same manner that wind-blown sands
severed what is now Imperial Valley from the Gulf of California. Around
the briny lakes are marshes of quicksands, and woe betide the luckless
traveller who strays to the one side or the other of the beaten trails.
Unless help is at hand, life will have neither joys nor troubles for him
after a few brief minutes of struggle.

The Sahara proper begins at the south slope of the Atlas Mountains.
Where there are no Atlas Mountains, it begins almost at the
Mediterranean's edge. In the valleys of the Atlas and along the
Mediterranean coast there is a strip of fertile land, wide here, narrow
there, that produces grain and fruit. The Arabs call it the
_Tell_. "Beyond the Tell is Sah-ra," or the Sahara. This is the name
which the Arabs apply to the archipelago of fertile spots, or oases.
Beyond the zone of oases is the desert. One becomes instantly and
painfully aware that it is a desert on leaving the last oasis. Go a
thousand miles southward, eastward, or westward from Tripoli, and one
encounters but a single thing--an ocean of orange-colored rock waste,
the Guebla of the Arabs.

[Illustration: On the sands of the desert]

The desert is a desert for want of water only. There is no lack of
nutrition in the soil, nor is there anything in surface or temperature
that makes a desert unproductive. Temperature and winds reach great
extremes in fierceness, however. The temperature of the air in the
noonday sun will often exceed one hundred and forty-five degrees; it may
reach one hundred and fifty-five degrees. In the shade it frequently
climbs to one hundred and thirty degrees in the vicinity of the tropics.
Unless one is at a considerable altitude there is not much relief at
night, though the thermometer may drop to ninety degrees. Farther north,
however, and at an altitude of five thousand feet or more, the
temperature of the night is even more cruel than that of the day.
Immediately after sunset a sharp chill becomes perceptible. At first it
is a welcome relief from the intolerable heat. By nine o'clock it begins
to cut like a stiletto, and at midnight the water suspended in shallow
dishes clinks into ice. The drivers burrow deep into the sand and wrap
woollen baracans about them; the camels shiver and even blubber like
whipped bullies.

The air is so dry, however, that the extreme heat of day is by no means
insupportable. Sunstroke is almost unknown, and even the tragedy of
perishing for want of water is very rare; for the caravan drivers know
just where to find water, and there are many hidden watering places that
are known to the crafty Tuaregs and Bedouins. Many of the watering
places are wells that have been sunk in various localities along the
caravan trails. The intense heat, great depth of rock waste, and dry air
are not favorable to the above-ground flow of rivers. But nearly every
river has an underground flow that is pretty likely to exist all the
year round.

One may follow a stream of considerable volume down the southern slope
of the Atlas Mountains. The volume of water grows less and less until at
last it apparently disappears. Not all is lost by evaporation, however;
possibly the greater part sinks into the porous rock waste. And the
rock waste?--perhaps it may be twenty, fifty, or one hundred and fifty
feet deep. At all events, the water sinks until it reaches bed rock or
clay through which it cannot pass. Then it flows along what may once
have been an above-ground channel until fierce winds and cloud-bursts
buried it deep.

But the half-savage dwellers of the desert know just where to tap these
underground reservoirs and streams; even the dumb animals know
instinctively where to look for water. It is merely a question of
instinct coupled with experience, and the animal's judgment is about as
good as the man's. When one finds the spot, it is necessary only to dig.
The water may be two feet below the surface or it may be ten feet. When
the moist sand is reached the task is half over. A foot or two more and
the hole begins to fill. The water is hot, brackish, and repulsive to
the taste, but it is water--and in the desert, water is water!

The simoom is also an institution of the desert. The simoom is
unmistakably a wind, and surely no one who has not had the experience
can appreciate it. Even the West India hurricanes or the typhoons of the
China Sea are more kindly. They have plenty of destructive energy, it is
true, but the simoom has all this and much else besides. It comes not
without warning, but the warning and the wind are not far apart. The
approach of the simoom is a dense black cloud of whirling and seething
fine dust. As it strikes one, the choking, suffocating blast of hot air
and dust overcomes everything that has life. The caravan men and the
animals as well turn their backs to the wind and lie down with faces
close to the ground. In a minute or two the full strength of the blast
is on and the simoom is picking up not only the fine rock waste, but the
coarser fragments as well, and is hurling them along at Empire State
Express velocity. One might as well try to face a hail of leaden
bullets. It is a cruel blast that neither animal nor human being can
withstand. The camels crouch with their heads pointing away from the
wind and nostrils close to the ground; their drivers lie prone with
faces in little hollows scooped in the sand.

Perhaps the full blast of the simoom may last an hour--perhaps two or
even three hours. In lighter strain it may continue a whole day. When,
finally, it ceases the air is thick with fine dust; one can see scarcely
a rod away. Sun and sky are hidden, and the blackness of a tornado or of
a London fog prevails. The fine dust floating in the air may not settle
for several days. Perhaps a week afterward there may be a haze that
partly obscures the sun. The dust, finer than the finest flour, pervades
everything in the desert. One's clothing is full of it; one's hair
becomes harsh and matted; the skin becomes rough, cracks and peels; the
eyes are inflamed; mouth, lips, and nostrils are swollen. But the great
bodily discomfort resulting from the simoom does not last forever; it
gives place to bodily irritation of some other sort, which is indeed a
grateful change merely because it is a change.

The sand dunes of the Sahara are interesting to those who are not
compelled to travel among them, but to the unfortunates who traverse
them they are almost heart-breaking. Imagine oneself standing on an
elevation a few hundred feet higher than the surrounding country. There
is but one landscape--waves upon waves of the loose rock waste, for
convenience called sand, as far as the eye can reach. Sometimes the
waves are in long windrows, but oftener they are short and choppy like
the surface waves of midocean.

Unlike the ocean waves, in which only the form moves forward, while the
water composing it moves up and down only, the sand dune and the
material of which it is composed are both moving in the direction of
the wind. A breeze even of five or six miles an hour will keep the
lighter surface dust moving freely, while a twelve-mile wind will not
only sweep along much larger particles but it also carries more of them.
And just as the surface, or "skin," friction forms waves at the surface
of water, it also piles the desert sand in wave-like dunes.

The loose bits of rock waste are carried along, up the windward slope of
the dune until they roll over its crest, where, no longer impelled by
the wind, they come to rest. Thus, the crest, built forward by new
material constantly added, is advancing. Valleys are filled; old stream
channels are obliterated; and the inequalities of the surface are
levelled off until the whole landscape is one of shifting, drifting
sand.

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the Sahara and the arid lands
southward to the Sudan are by no means destitute of life and wealth. It
is an almost universal custom to speak of the barren condition of the
desert. The contrary is the truth; there is no soil elsewhere so fertile
and productive. It is vastly superior even to the soil of the lands
reclaimed from the bottom of the North Sea.

Water is the magic wand that makes the sands of the Sahara bring forth
crops that are marvellous both in quantity and quality. No fruit grown
elsewhere in the world can compare with that grown on desert lands, and
the French engineers are planning the means whereby water may be
obtained. Surface water that is available to irrigate the wastes of the
Sahara does not exist. The level of the Nile is so far below the surface
on both sides of its own flood-plain that its waters cannot be used for
the reclamation of any part of the Libyan Desert, and the same is
practically true of the Niger, which barely more than touches the
borders of the Sahara. The few wadys, or "dry washes," are destitute of
water except when a cloud-burst may fill them; but this happens at
intervals of years only.

The engineer takes into his confidence a caravan driver--perhaps an
Arab, possibly a Berber, but quite as likely a slave. And the long
experience has taught the caravan man where to find the precious water.
The engineer then brings his science into play and drives an artesian
well. The well thus driven may be a "gusher," but for most of them pumps
are required to raise the water to the surface. The best well, however,
furnishes water enough to irrigate but a very small area. Indeed, all
the lands of the Sahara together irrigated by artesian wells would make
an area scarcely larger than the State of Delaware, and all the water
thus obtained would not supply New York City!

Nevertheless, the water obtained by artesian wells has proved a great
blessing to the dwellers of the desert. If the water is found along one
or another of the numerous caravan routes, an increase in caravan
commerce is apt to result, for along many routes the volume of caravan
commerce depends very largely on the number of wells. The location of
artesian wells has also led to the opening of trade along new routes as
well, for wherever water can be found there will be camels to drink it.

The date palm is essentially a plant of the desert, or, rather, of the
oasis. Nowhere else does it grow in such profusion as in northern
Africa. The number of productive trees there is estimated to be anywhere
from ten million to twenty million, though the estimate is but little
better than a guess. At its full growth the date palm is a most
beautiful object. Usually the feathered tops of the trees are the only
foliage to relieve the harsh landscape. Like the bamboo, every part of
the tree is used. The leaves may be made into fans, or shredded and
woven into mats. The wood is used in making the framework of buildings,
and the waste material is very handy as fuel. A refreshing fermented
drink and a most vile liquor are prepared from the juice. But the fruit,
when properly prepared, is the chief food of many thousands of men and
beasts. Even the stones, or "pits," of the dried fruit are useful; those
which are not sent to Italy to be used for adulterating coffee are made
into an "oil-meal" for fodder.

Esparto grass, called "alfa" or "halfa" by the Arabs, is another unique
product of the Sahara. In spite of its name, it is not a grass but a
flowering plant whose stalk has a tough fibre useful in making cordage
and paper. When the plant turns brown and has become dry to the root,
the esparto picker gets busy.

By four o'clock in the morning he is at work, his heavy woollen baracan,
or blanket, wrapped tightly about him, for the air is not only chilly
but almost freezing cold. By sunrise the chill begins to disappear, and
a few brief moments is the only interval between piercing chill and
midsummer heat. The baracan is quickly shed and the fez, if the picker
is rich enough to possess one, is discarded for an esparto hat with rim
of mammoth proportions. Esparto grass sandals protect his feet.

Almost all the animal life of the Sahara is deadly, and the esparto
grass picker is constantly facing danger. The clump of esparto, into the
bottom of which he must reach to cut the mature stalks, is quite likely
to be the lair of a poisonous viper; and if the reptile sinks its fangs
into the flesh of the unfortunate picker, long weeks of suffering and
disability--perhaps death--are in store for him. Between the bite of a
rattler and that of an esparto viper there is little to choose.

The scorpion is another peril to the esparto picker. The great
rock-scorpion of the Sahara is about as ugly as the centipede of Arizona
and Mexico; in size it is also about as large--from six to ten inches
in length. Its sting, too, is about as dangerous as the fangs of the
rattler. But the esparto picker has a method of heroic treatment for
both the bite of the viper and the sting of the scorpion. He squats
calmly upon the sand while a brother picker cuts out the flesh that has
been pierced. If he survives the twenty-four hours following, he is
pretty likely to pull through. If not--well, the vultures know when and
where to look.

The esparto grass is delivered to the nearest local market compressed in
bales of five or six hundred weight, held together by a coarse netting
of esparto weave, and shipped to Europe. Nearly all of it goes to Great
Britain. There it is shredded and made into cordage, coarse cloth, or
paper.

But the esparto has a rival so far as its use in making paper is
concerned. The wood pulp of Norway and the United States is slowly
displacing it, and in time esparto will be but little used except for
making cordage or gunny cloth. Already the French Government is having
troubles of its own in providing employment for the esparto pickers, but
it is not likely that such a useful plant will be discarded; on the
contrary, its use is likely to increase in the future.

The camel is the institution upon which the commerce of the desert
depends. A more awkward, ungainly beast can hardly be imagined--a
shambling collection of humps, bumps, knobs, protruding joints, and
sprawling legs seemingly attached to a head and neck in the near
foreground. But that shambling gait will carry a load three times as
heavy as the stoutest pack mule can bear, and it will carry it twice as
far in a day.

A horse or a mule must be fed twice a day, but a camel will worry along
for a week at a time with nothing more substantial than its cud. Horses
and mules cannot traverse regions where the watering places are more
than twelve hours apart, unless water be carried in storage; but the
camel is its own storage reservoir, and can carry a supply sufficient to
last for ten days.

At the end of his week of fasting the hump of the camel has shrunken to
a fraction of its former size. When the animal has a few days of feeding
the hump grows to its former proportions again. Indeed, the hump is
merely a mass of nutrition ready to be formed into flesh and blood.

[Illustration: A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa]

Within the paunch of the animal and surrounding its stomach are great
numbers of cells capable of holding seven or eight gallons of water.
When the camel drinks copiously these cells become filled and afterward
slowly give up the water as the stomach requires. It may be truly said
that the camel is a camel because of the desert and not in spite of it.

The sparse population of the Sahara--Arabs, Berbers, and negroes--are
dependent upon the camel, for until the railway shall traverse the
Sahara the camel will be practically the only means of transportation.
The camel's flesh furnishes about the only meat consumed by the dwellers
of the desert, for ordinary cattle can live only in a few localities
along the desert border lands.

The native people of the desert are mainly of the race to which the
Arabs also belong, although there are many Arabs and negroes. The
Tuaregs and Bedouin Arabs are the best known. The Tuaregs are thought to
be the descendants of the Berbers and of the same race as the
Carthaginians, whom the Romans many times defeated but never conquered.
They have whiter skins than the Arabs and in appearance are perhaps the
finest peoples of Africa. They are also the most ferocious and
blood-thirsty villains on the face of the earth. Many of them live in
the white-walled cities such as Ghadames, Kand, and Timbuktu--all large
centres of population.

Their government is well organized. Each of the larger tribes is
governed by a sultan, and in each there are several castes--a sort of
nobility of unmixed Tuareg blood being at the head and negro slaves at
the lower end of the social ladder. The families of the highest caste
are usually well-to-do, and both the men and the women are taught to
read and write. The garments usually worn by a Tuareg man consist of
white trousers, a gray tunic with white sleeves, sandals of ornamented
leather, and a white turban. When away from home the Tuareg covers the
lower half of the face by a cloth mask.

The usual occupation of the Tuaregs is twofold--to guard caravans or to
rob them. The average Tuareg is perfectly indifferent as to which he
does. A caravan from the Sudan enters, we will say, Kano. The garfla
sheik pack master, or superintendent, goes at once to the financial
agent of the sultan and pays the usual liken, or tariff charges. Then
he goes to the sultan himself and incidentally leaves in his possession
a generous money present. Then, if he desires, he may hire half a dozen
or more guards.

The hiring of these will insure the caravan against theft or robbery on
the part of the predatory bands living at Kano. The guards will also
faithfully defend the caravan in case of attack by Bedouin Arabs. On the
other hand, should the garfla sheik forget the present to the sultan, or
neglect to hire guards, those same Tuaregs would be the first to attack
and loot the caravan.

The Bedouin Arab is the chief trial of the caravans. He is always a foe
to them; and although he ostensibly herds camels and horses, his real
occupation is robbery and pillage. For days nomadic Arabs will follow a
caravan, keeping always out of sight. Most likely a band of a dozen or
more mounted on swift horses will survey the caravan from a distance at
which they are not likely to be discovered. Then they make their way
ahead of it to some point where a dune or a gully will conceal them.
Then, just as the end of the caravan drags by, there is a sudden sortie
and a rattling musket fire. And before the guards can gather to the
defence half a dozen camels are cut out of the train, a driver or two is
shot down or pierced with assegais, and both the robbers and their loot
are beyond the reach of the guards.

But perhaps the greatest value of the desert is its effect upon the
climate of Europe. Hot winds blow from the Sahara in all directions; the
northerly winds, crossing the Mediterranean, are not only tempered
thereby, but the desert blasts tempered and filled with moisture finally
reach the southern slopes of Europe, where they convert the nutrition of
the soil into bountiful crops of corn, wine, and oil.

The conquest of the great African desert is already in sight, and the
railway will be its master. The Cape to Cairo line is no longer a vision
of the future; the ends of its two parts are rapidly shortening the
interval that separates them and they are almost in sight of each other.
When the lines that are projected from the Mediterranean coast shall
have traversed the stronghold of the Tuaregs to penetrate the wealth of
the Sudan and the Kongo, the Sahara will have become merely an incident.

CHAPTER XI

POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC

Excepting the arctic and the antarctic regions, with their
fortifications of eternal ice and snow, intrepid explorers have made
known nearly every part of the world. There Giant Frost guards his
frozen secrets and defies man to wrest them from him. Many a hero has
perished in endeavoring to solve the Sphinx-like riddle of northern
lands and seas. Many a gallant ship has found its grave in northern
ice-clad waters. Yet there has never been a lack of adventurous spirits
to continue the work.

But one after another the strongholds of nature have gradually yielded
to persistent attacks. Especially is this true of the arctic regions, of
which not more than two million square miles of sea and land remain to
be explored.

Buffeted by adverse winds and floating ice-fields, venturous explorers
have drawn nearer and nearer to the north pole. Again and again, the
attack has been renewed, until, after half a lifetime, Robert E. Peary,
an officer of the United States navy, made a brilliant dash and planted
the national ensign at the pole.

The story of arctic exploration and discovery is filled with interest.
It is pathetic, tragical, and calculated to awaken the deepest emotions.
Nevertheless, it is enlivened by brilliant exploits, deeds of daring,
and acts of heroism.

For many years the search for a northern passage to India in the
furtherance of commerce was the chief incentive to arctic exploration.
Even more than a century before Columbus discovered America, two
Venetian brothers named Zeno sought a northwest passage to the Orient,
believing that the difficulties in navigating it would be offset by the
shortening of the route.

The success achieved by Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries in discovery, conquest, and colonization incited England to
find a northwest passage, in the hope that such a route, by shortening
the distance to the East Indies, would extend her commerce.

After the discovery of the mainland of North America, Sebastian Cabot,
under the patronage of Henry VII, planned a voyage to the north pole,
thinking that would be the best route to ancient Cathay. He proceeded
only as far as Davis Strait; then, becoming discouraged by the immense
fields of ice, he turned the prow of his vessel homeward.

Soon afterward the Muscovy Company of London sent out an exploring
expedition with instructions to find a northwest passage. This
expedition, taking a different route from its predecessors, reached Nova
Zembla. But the ice-fields forced the vessel back to the shores of
Lapland, and the ship was never spoken of again. Years afterward the ship's
company were found frozen in death.

Next in importance came the renowned Frobisher, a strong advocate of a
northwest route. He made three voyages to the Arctic Ocean, the last two
being under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Frobisher believed that
fabulously rich fields of gold existed in the north, and his expedition
was organized for the purpose of discovering them. His search for
precious metals was fruitless, but he added much to the world's
knowledge of polar regions, and he has been remembered in the strait
that bears his name.

The Muscovy Company again sent out an exploring vessel, this time under
the able navigator Henry Hudson, with orders to go "direct to the north
pole." He did his best to carry out his instructions and, sailing along
the northern shore of Spitzbergen, reached latitude 81° 30' north.
Finding the route utterly impracticable, he returned home. In all,
Hudson sailed on four voyages of discovery, twice in the employ of
English companies and twice in the employ of the Dutch East India
Company.

In one of his voyages under the Dutch, after advancing as far north as
he deemed prudent, he turned southward and cruised along the Atlantic
coast. Entering New York Bay, he proceeded up the broad river that now
bears his name, believing at first that he had found the coveted short
route to India. Soon he was undeceived, for as he went farther up he
found the seeming passage to be merely a large river. He gave his
employers such a glowing account of the valley of the Hudson River that
the merchants of Holland sent out ships to establish trading posts along
the river and to trade with the Indians.

On his fourth voyage, while seeking a passage northwest, he discovered
the strait and the bay both of which bear his name. Desiring to continue
his explorations the next year, he sailed westward on the bay and
wintered on the island of Southampton. In the spring he again tried to
find the long-wished-for passage.

The long, cold winter and lack of suitable food told heavily on his men.
They became badly demoralized and declared that they would not remain
longer in such an inhospitable region. When Hudson insisted, the men
mutinied. Seizing their commander, they placed him with his son and
five sailors in an open boat and sailed away. After this cruel act of
the mutineers, no trace of Hudson or those who were with him was ever
found. But Hudson's fame will never die. Historians will ever laud his
achievements, and his name is indelibly inscribed on the map of the
world. The ringleader of the mutineers with five of his companions was
afterward killed by the natives, and several of the others starved to
death. The rest of the crew succeeded in getting the ship back to
England; there they were tried, found guilty of mutiny, and sent to
prison.

In 1616 the intrepid William Baffin took up the search. He penetrated
the bay bearing his name and explored the passages of water westward to
the mouth of Lancaster Sound.

Later the Russians became interested in exploration. Among the explorers
Captain Veit Bering of the Russian navy was the most eminent. In the
early part of the eighteenth century Bering was commanded by Peter the
Great to take up the search for the long-sought passage. He explored the
northeastern coast of Asia as far north as sixty-seven degrees latitude,
discovering a fact hitherto unknown, that North America is separated
from Asia by a narrow passage of water containing small islands. The
passage received the name Bering Strait from its discoverer, and the
same name was bestowed upon the sea leading to it.

About ten years afterward Bering determined to explore the northwest
coast of North America. He landed twice upon the coast, but, being
driven back by violent storms, was at length wrecked on an island, where
he died. His crew, though suffering terrible hardships, lived through
the winter. With the coming of spring, however, they rigged a craft from
the stranded vessel in which a few survivors reached the coast of Asia.

In 1743 the British Government offered a reward of twenty thousand
pounds for the discovery of a northwest passage by the way of Hudson
Bay. Thirty-three years afterward a like reward was offered for the
actual discovery of the north pole and the same amount for the
exploration of any navigable passage. The sum of five thousand pounds
was also offered to any one who should approach within one degree of the
north pole. These standing rewards greatly stimulated arctic
exploration.

Of the many voyages of exploration that followed, Sir John Franklin's
last expedition was the most tragical. This expedition was fitted out by
the British Government with the necessary supplies and scientific
instruments for a three years' cruise. Two stanch vessels, the _Erebus_
and the _Terror_, both of which had been previously employed in
antarctic exploration, were selected to stem the ice-fields of the
north, and a tender with extra supplies accompanied them as far as Davis
Strait. The vessels were last seen in Lancaster Sound moored to an
iceberg, where they were spoken to by a whaling ship homeward bound.

Three years having passed and no tidings having been received from the
expedition, all England became extremely anxious concerning the safety
of the explorers. The British Government then sent out two vessels to
seek Franklin, but no trace of the missing commander or his men was
found.

The government then redoubled its exertions, supplemented by private
parties, and in 1850 no less than twelve vessels were vigorously
searching the arctic lands and waters for their lost brothers. Lady
Franklin spent her fortune in endeavoring to find trace of her noble
husband.

The heart of humanity was touched with the deepest sympathy and moved by
the noblest motives. The United States Government, aided also by private
citizens, fitted out vessels to continue the search. At one time ten of
the searching vessels met in the Arctic. The results of these
expeditions were meagre in securing trace of the lost ones, but they
greatly enriched our knowledge of northern lands and seas.

Not until five years after the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ left England was
trace of the explorers found. Near the head of Franklin Strait, off the
shore of King William Land, evidence of an encampment of some of the men
was discovered, and at Beechey Island, near by, carpenters' tools, empty
meat cans, and the graves of three of the men threw more light on the
mystery of the ill-starred expedition. A few years later, at Victory
Point, Lieutenant Hobson found a record of the death of Franklin, the
date being July 11, 1847.

Charles F. Hall, a native of New Hampshire, but long a resident of Ohio,
who had been a reader of arctic literature, became deeply interested in
the search for Sir John Franklin. Obtaining financial aid from different
sources, he made four voyages to the arctic, the first being devoted to
searching for Franklin's men and in solving the mystery of their
disappearance. His third voyage was the most fruitful one in securing
results. Hall believed that the Eskimos knew more about the lost
explorers than they were willing to tell, and that if he could but gain
their confidence he could extract from them the story. In furtherance of
his plan, he resolved on his third voyage to live with them several
years. In 1864 he started on this voyage north. On his arrival in the
arctic he sought out the natives and made himself one of them, adopting
their mode of life and food.

He spent five years living and travelling with them. Having won them
over, he obtained the story of the ill-fated explorers. He learned that
one of Franklin's vessels had actually made the northwest passage to
O'Reily Island, southwest of King William Land. Five men remained on
board alive, but the vessel was abandoned by the crew. The next spring
the Eskimos found it in good condition frozen fast in the ice.

The skeletons of Franklin's men were found scattered over King William
Land, where they had perished one after another from starvation and
cold. Some had engaged in conflict with the natives in endeavoring to
secure food, but being weak from hunger were unsuccessful. Of the one
hundred and five men who accompanied Franklin not one was ever found
alive.

During the year 1850 the problem of the northwest passage was solved by
Captains M'Clure, Collinson, and Killet. South of Melville Island,
M'Clure, who had sailed through Bering Strait, met the ship of Killet
which had come through Lancaster Sound. M'Clure, having wintered near
the connecting waters, had really established the existence of the
passage by observation before the meeting. Twenty days later Collinson
came up in his ship. Finding the problem of the northwest passage
solved, he turned to the southeast and completed the passage in another
direction.

It thus became evident that so far as commercial purposes were concerned
a northwest passage was impracticable and that further northern
exploration must be considered in the light of scientific and geographic
value only.

Hall's labors did not cease with his discovery of the Franklin
expedition. He became an enthusiast concerning the arctic and seemed to
enjoy its weird icy scenery and attendant perilous excitement. Believing
that he could reach the north pole if he had a properly equipped
expedition, he planned a fourth voyage and appealed to Congress for
assistance.

A generous appropriation was made by Congress, and on July 3, 1871, the
expedition set sail from New London, Conn., carrying a full crew and
several scientists. The vessel, which was named the _Polaris_, touched
at several places on the western coast of Greenland to secure
additional dogs and skins suitable for arctic clothing, and then steamed
north as far as seemed safe, to establish winter quarters preparatory to
making a dash for the pole in the spring.

The vessel passed through Robeson Channel into the polar ocean, reaching
82° 11', then the highest point ever reached by a ship. Not finding a
good harbor, Hall sailed south about fifty miles. He anchored near the
Greenland shore to the lee of a stranded iceberg. Building material for
a house and part of the stores were removed to the land in case anything
happened to the ship. Then the ship was banked up with snow and part of
the deck was covered with canvas to keep out the cold.

The weather being propitious, Captain Hall thought best to take a sledge
journey to find the lay of the country. He ordered the dogs to be well
fed, and accompanied by two other sledges advanced northward about fifty
miles, making side trips to take observations. At the end of two weeks
he returned seemingly perfectly well, but in a few hours complained of
illness. Thirteen days afterward he died. The date of his death was
November 8, 1871, just a little more than four months from the time he
left the port of New London buoyant with hope.

The command of the expedition now devolved on Captain Buddington, a man
of dissipated habits and lacking in discipline. During the winter and
spring severe storms crashed the ice-pack against the sides of the
vessel, causing it to leak. In the meantime exploring parties were sent
out with sledges and boats, gathering not a little knowledge concerning
the west coast of Greenland. Then the vessel began to leak badly, and
Captain Buddington ordered all hands on board for return home.

Great fields of ice still covered the sea, and it was with extreme
difficulty that the vessel made its way through them southward. A
severe gale damaged the vessel still more, and as it seemed certain that
it could not float much longer, preparations to abandon it and to move
at once to the ice-floe were made.

At the dead of night, in the face of a fierce gale, a part of the ship's
company and stores were transferred to the ice. Then the heaving billows
broke the vessel loose from the floe, separating the men on the ice from
those on the vessel. With eighteen companions Captain Tyson lived on the
ice-floe which moved southward, breaking off piece after piece, for a
period of six and one-half months, suffering incredible hardships from
cold, hunger, and constant fear. Finally, they were sighted off the
Labrador coast by the ship _Tigress_ and rescued in a starving
condition. The story of this ice-floe journey of one thousand three
hundred miles is one of the most thrilling in maritime annals.
Fortunately, there were two Eskimos on the ice-floe skilled in the
capture of seals, else the entire company would have starved to death,
since but a small portion of the provisions had been transferred to the
floe when the vessel parted from it. The devices for sustaining their
lives during the journey form interesting reading. Strange to relate, no
one was seriously ill and no deaths occurred during this remarkable ice
voyage.

After drifting a while the _Polaris_ was purposely beached on the
Greenland shore and the stores placed on land, where a house was built
in which to spend the second winter. In the spring two boats were
constructed in which the company started southward along the coast,
where they were finally picked up by a whaling vessel.

The conquest of the northeast passage was not achieved until the latter
part of the century. In 1878 Baron Nordenskjold, a Swedish explorer
commanding the _Vega_, entered the Arctic and sailed eastward along the
Russian and Siberian coast. Nordenskjold was the first navigator to
double Cape Chelyuskin, the northern cape of Asia. The _Vega_ reached
Bering Strait where she was nipped by the ice-pack. In the following
spring she reached Japan in safety.

In 1879-80 Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka set out on an overland
expedition northwestward for Hudson Bay, to gather knowledge concerning
the great Arctic Plain of North America. Schwatka's was probably the
longest sledge journey ever made up to that time. With a small party of
men, his dog sledges covered a distance of three thousand miles.
Schwatka found the skeletons of several members of Sir John Franklin's
party. These he buried on King William Land.

[Illustration: Peary's ship, the _Roosevelt_]

In 1881 the De Long expedition, in the steam cruiser _Jeannette_, met
disaster off the Siberian coast. The _Jeannette_ was sunk and her
officers and crew in three boats abandoned her. One boat was never
heard of afterward. De Long and his party starved in the delta swamps of
the Lena River. Chief Engineer Melville and his party were rescued in
the Lena River.

In 1881 also the International Polar Conference attempted to establish a
chain of stations around the pole as far north as possible. The United
States and several of the European nations were represented in the
organization. Two expeditions were sent out by the United States; one at
Point Barrow, under Lieutenant Ray, the other at Lady Franklin Bay,
opposite the Greenland coast, in latitude 81° 40'. The latter was in
charge of Lieutenant, now General Greely. In a sledge journey along the
north coast of Greenland, Lockwood and Brainard reached the latitude of
83° 24'. The observations of Greely and Ray added not a little knowledge
concerning the meteorology and tides of the arctic regions. The sledge
journey of Lockwood and Brainard practically established the fact that
Greenland is an island.

Of all attempts to reach the pole, the most daring was that adopted by
S. A. Andree, a Swedish explorer. Andree had been to the polar regions
before, and being something of an aeronaut, believed that he could reach
or pass over the pole in a balloon. In carrying out his plan he had
constructed a monster balloon capable of floating in the air thirty
days, due allowance being made for the daily escape of gas by permeation
through the envelope. This balloon, with necessary accessories, was
shipped to Danes Island, one of the Spitzbergen group. Everything being
ready July 11, 1897, Andree set forth on his perilous trip accompanied
by two companions. The balloon carried a load of about five tons,
including food, clothing, ballast, scientific instruments, and men.

On being let loose the balloon arose six hundred feet, and then
descended to the surface of the sea owing to the entanglement of the
guide ropes and ballast lines. Three heavy guide ropes nine hundred feet
long were used, to which were attached eight ballast lines two hundred
and fifty feet long. The ropes were cut and ballast was thrown out, when
the balloon again rose and the wind bore it away over a mountainous
island one thousand five hundred feet high. In an hour it had passed
below the northeastern horizon. Three message buoys were dropped on the
day of Andree's departure, reporting fine weather, all well, and
altitude eight hundred and twenty feet; from that time on no traces of
the daring unfortunates have ever been found.

Fridtjof Nansen, who had spent some time in the exploration of
Greenland, had also reached the conclusion that a polar current sweeps
across the Arctic Ocean from Bering Sea to the north coast of Greenland.
He therefore set out with a picked crew in a small steamship, the
_Fram_,1893, entering the Arctic at Bering Strait. After the _Fram_ had
been caught in the ice-pack, Nansen and his companion, Johansen, started
toward the north pole with dog sledges. They reached latitude 86° 14';
finding that the ice was drifting southward, they made for Franz Josef
Land, where they spent the winter, and then started for Spitzbergen. On
their way they were found by members of the Jackson-Harmsworth
expedition, by whom they were rescued. The _Fram_ also returned safely.
The existence of the polar current was not established.

In 1900 Captain Cagui, a member of the Abruzzi Polar Expedition,
starting from Franz Josef Land, made a dash across the ice toward the
pole. He succeeded in reaching latitude 86° 34', the nearest approach to
the pole up to that time.

Only a few years afterward, 1905-6, Amundsen, in the steamer _Gjoa_,
found a more southerly northwest passage from King William Land than
that followed by Collinson. It was comparatively free from ice. Amundsen
was the first to penetrate the northwest passage in a continuous voyage.
The result showed plainly that as a commercial route the northwest
passage was out of the question.

The man who finally succeeded in reaching the pole is the intrepid
arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, of the United States navy. In the
first record-breaking trip Peary started in July, 1905. Sailing through
Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Smith Sound, and Robeson Channel to Grant
Island, which lies west of the northern part of Greenland, he went into
winter quarters at Cape Sheridan.

In the early spring, when the daylight was an hour long, Peary set out
for the north pole over the ice-clad ocean with sledges drawn by dogs.
Delayed by storms and open water in some places, he succeeded after
incredible hardships and suffering in reaching 87° 6', the highest point
up to that time reached by man, a distance only two hundred miles from
the north pole.

In previous trips Peary had crossed the northern part of Greenland twice
at the risk of his life, each time bringing much knowledge of the north
coast of Greenland. During one of his voyages Peary brought home three
meteorites. The largest, weighing more than thirty-six tons, is now in
the Museum of Natural History of New York City. These are among the
largest meteorites ever found, and it is an interesting fact that so
many were found in Greenland.[1]

Peary's last and successful trip began when the steamship Roosevelt,
commanded by Captain Bartlett, sailed out of New York harbor, July 6,
1908. The vessel traversed Baffin Bay and reached Cape York August 1. At
Etah, an Eskimo settlement, three weeks were consumed in storing
supplies and selecting Eskimo guides and purchasing dog-trains. The
Roosevelt then proceeded northward through the narrow strait that
separates Greenland from Grant Land. The party went into winter quarters
near Cape Sheridan at the head of the strait. The winter was spent in
exploration and in preparation for the sledge journey. The necessary
supplies for the journey were carried to Cape Columbia, the northerly
point of Grant Land. The sledge party started northward from Cape
Columbia February 28--seven members of the expedition, seventeen
Eskimos, and nineteen sledges.

[Illustration: Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on
the Roosevelt]

When the expedition reached latitude eighty-eight degrees, Captain
Bartlett and Professor Marvin, with most of the Eskimo guides, were
ordered back; Peary with his companion, Hensen, and several Eskimos
started on the final dash. Fortunately the ice was smooth, and but few
breaks, or "leads," were encountered. It was not difficult to make
twenty-five miles or more a day during several days of the journey. At
last a temporary break in the clouds gave Peary an opportunity for
observation, which showed his latitude to be 89° 57'. Ten miles more
were made, and another observation showed that the party had actually
gone several miles beyond the pole.

A cairn of ice blocks and snow bearing the American flag was erected
approximately at the pole, April 7, 1909, and the party started on the
return trip. There being a plain trail and smooth ice, the return trip
was made in about half the time required for the outward trip. The
reserve party was joined at Cape Columbia, and all hands returned to the
_Roosevelt_, which was at anchor near Cape Sheridan. The only fatality
of the expedition was the death of Professor Marvin, who was
accidentally drowned while on his return to Cape Columbia.

The open polar sea which had been observed by Kane and several other
explorers was closed by ice at the time of Peary's dash; indeed, the
entire route lay over ice and snow that apparently was several years
old. After leaving Cape Columbia no land sky was seen anywhere about
the horizon. A single sounding was made about five miles from the pole,
but no bottom was found at fifteen hundred feet, the length of the
sounding wire.

For his services Peary received the medal of the Royal Geographical
Society, and an admiral's commission from the United States Government.

In spite of the desolation that pervades polar regions, the resources
are considerable and have attracted much commercial activity. For many
years whale oil was about the only illuminating oil used by most of the
world, and the chief supply was obtained from the whales slaughtered in
north polar regions.

Holland sent whaling ships to the arctic as early as 1613, and for two
centuries whaling fleets of different nations frequented these seas.
During the early part of the seventeenth century--the most profitable
period--upward of three hundred Dutch ships and fifteen thousand men
annually visited Spitzbergen. It is estimated that in two centuries
America, England, and Holland obtained from the arctic regions products
amounting to one thousand million dollars, the greatest items by far
being whale oil and whalebone. Great quantities of fossil ivory have
been obtained from the New Siberian Island, the very soil of which seems
in great part to be made up of the bones and tusks of the extinct
mammoth.

Much valuable scientific information has been gained by meteorological
and magnetic observations. The north magnetic pole, toward which the
north-seeking end of the compass needle points, has been located on the
west side of Boothia Peninsula. At this place the dipping needle stands
vertical. It must be borne in mind that the north pole of the earth and
the north magnetic pole are two entirely different points. As a matter
of fact, if the mariner be in the arctic waters north of Boothia
Peninsula his compass points south.

The arctic currents have been carefully studied with valuable results,
and it has been found that the drift of the polar ice-floe is constantly
to the eastward. Snow-white arctic reindeer in considerable numbers have
been recently found; and Peary found seals within two hundred miles of
the north pole. The Greenland seal seems to enjoy seas filled with ice,
spending part of the time in the water and part on the ice-floe.

[Illustration: Musk ox]

It is now known that Greenland is an ice-capped island very sparsely
inhabited along the coast by Eskimos. A few hundred of these hardy
people live along the Greenland coast from Cape York up to latitude
seventy-eight degrees, cut off by the surrounding ice-cap from the rest
of the world. They are the most northern known inhabitants.

Peary found the northern coast of Greenland well stocked with both
animal and vegetable life. Bears, wolves, hares, and musk oxen were seen
in considerable numbers.

A most important fact discovered by Hall was that the most northerly
part of Greenland is comparatively free from ice, the largest known area
of bare ground of that continent. This fact accounts for the profusion
of animal and vegetable life existing there.

One of the most interesting of land animals found in the north is the
musk ox. When fully grown and in good condition this animal weighs five
hundred pounds and upward. When the musk oxen are attacked by wolves or
dogs they form themselves into a circle with their heads on the outside
and conceal their calves under their bodies. Their hair, being long,
reaches nearly to the ground and forms a curtain which completely
conceals the calves from view. Their food is moss and lichens which grow
on the rocks. This they obtain by scraping away the snow with their
sharp hoofs. The flesh of the musk ox, though musk-like in flavor, is
not repulsive to the taste, and several explorers have been saved from
starving by using the flesh for food.

The chief obstacles to arctic exploration are the long winter night,
during which all must remain idle, and the necessity for carrying all
provisions. No one who has not wintered beyond the arctic circle can
have a realization of the influence on the nerves of continual darkness
for months, an influence that has driven many men insane. Combine the
darkness with the weird scenery and the fierce storms that prevail
during the long winter, and it requires a strong will and abiding faith
not to be seriously influenced. The extreme cold is not hard to endure
if one clothes himself in the manner of the Eskimos.

Provisions and supplies must be carried by dog sledges, and the
management of the dog teams is very difficult for those who have not
been trained to the work. Shetland ponies have been tried as draught
animals. Captain Evelyn Baldwin was the first to use them in polar
exploration; others have used them, but less successfully.

Good coal is found in abundance on many of the islands of the arctic.
Its outcroppings are found on Disco Island, west of Greenland, and
excellent coal is found in many places in Spitzbergen, where at the
present time two companies are mining it, one American and the other
English.

Spitzbergen is sometimes called No Man's Land, since Norway and Sweden
have not been able to agree in regard to its possession. Lately the
islands of this archipelago have become favorite resorts for summer
excursionists who can here have the arctic scenery and experiences with
but very few discomforts. Ptarmigan, geese, ducks, and many other kinds
of birds are found on these islands. Large quantities of eider-down have
been obtained annually from this section, but the rapid destruction of
the ducks by hunters has lessened the industry and will probably
annihilate it. There being no law to regulate hunting, sportsmen
wantonly kill the wild animals, especially the reindeer and bears, in
great numbers.

We owe much to dogs in arctic explorations. It would have been
impossible to penetrate to the interior of arctic lands or to traverse
the frozen seas but for the services of the faithful dogs trained to
draw sledges. Many of these animals have suffered from overwork and have
perished from starvation; others have been sacrificed for food in dire
extremities to preserve the lives of their masters. Surely arctic
service has proved as destructive to the poor dogs as to men.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Isolated masses of native iron are usually of meteoric
origin, but to determine whether or not the native iron fell from the
sky a portion of the surface is ground off and polished; then the
polished surface is etched with acid. If crystalline lines are plainly
brought out, there can be no doubt of its being of meteoric origin.

The following excerpt from the American Museum Meteoric Guide will make
the matter clear: "The iron of meteorites is always alloyed with from
six to twenty per cent of nickel. This 'nickel-iron,' as it is commonly
called, is usually crystalline in texture, and when it is cut, polished,
and 'etched' a beautiful net-work of lines is brought out, indicating
plates which lie in positions determined by the crystalline character of
the mass. This net-work of lines constitutes what are called the
Widmannstattian figures, from the name of their discoverer. When these
figures are strongly developed the meteoric origin of the iron cannot be
questioned, but their absence does not necessarily disprove such an
origin. Native iron of terrestrial origin is extremely rare."]

CHAPTER XII

POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA

A continent twice the size of the United States lies sleeping beneath a
mantle of snow and ice at the south pole. No vegetation save a few
mosses and lichens exists anywhere on this vast expanse. No four-footed
animals rove over it; no human beings inhabit it.

Hundreds of thousands of square miles of pack-ice, glaciers, and
ice-walls jealously guard it on all sides. On one side, for a distance
of five hundred miles, extends a great ice barrier whose perpendicular
ice-wall is from thirty to three hundred feet in height. Behind this
wall are vast ice-fields, and beyond these immense plateaus of ice
having an elevation of six thousand to twelve thousand feet where fierce
winds and a biting cold prevail. On these elevated plains the
thermometer stands in the middle of summer sometimes as low as forty
degrees below zero.

Great fields of ice and huge icebergs cover the sea in all directions
and in winter extend far beyond the antarctic circle. In these regions
the ice forming on the surface of the ocean attains a thickness varying
from five to seventeen feet. Long ranges of snow-clad and ice-mailed
mountains are found with ermined peaks towering from ten thousand to
fifteen thousand feet in height.

A long winter night, with its intense darkness relieved at times by the
light of the moon and brilliant chromatic displays of the aurora
australis, succeeds a day of perpetual sunshine. All these are on such a
scale of sublimity that no pen can adequately describe nor brush portray
them. Nowhere else on the face of the globe does there exist such a wide
expanse of utter desolation. Yet an undefined attraction lures bold men
to fathom the mysteries of these forbidding regions. Dating from 1772,
many exploring expeditions have visited the south polar regions in the
interests of science.

The compass is the mariner's guide across the trackless ocean, and it is
essential to find out everything possible about that mysterious agent,
magnetism, which directs the compass needle by its attractive force. The
earth itself is a huge magnet with positive and negative poles. The
poised needle of the compass maintains its relative position because of
the magnetic poles of the earth, one located in the north polar regions,
on the western side of the peninsula of Boothia, and the other in the
south polar regions, on Victoria Land. Except in a few localities the
compass needle does not point due north and south--that is, toward the
real poles of the earth, but toward the magnetic poles. And these
magnetic poles are ever shifting, as is shown by the changing direction
of the compass needle, which year by year increases or decreases its
deviation from true north and south.

It is necessary to chart the variations of the magnetic needle for the
use of the navigator. To observe the deviations and to locate the south
magnetic pole have been the chief objects of south polar expeditions for
several years, geographical information being of secondary importance.

The marine life of the south polar regions is abundant. In the latter
part of the eighteenth century ships sailing in the regions north of the
antarctic circle discovered whales and fur-bearing seals. Soon sealers
and whalers of different nations began to frequent the prolific new
regions. Then various European nations and the United States sent out
exploring expeditions to the south polar regions to gather scientific
and geographical information as well as to assist the charting of coasts
and the determination of magnetic variations.

On account of their uninhabitability, their difficulty of access, and
their unknown commercial value, the antarctic lands have claimed far
less attention than the north polar regions. The famous explorer,
Captain James Cook of the royal navy, was commissioned by the British
Government to undertake various exploring expeditions, and in carrying
out his instructions he made several voyages to the antarctic. In 1773,
with his two vessels, _Resolution_ and _Adventure_, he crossed the
antarctic circle--so far as is known, the first time that it had been
crossed by a human being. He continued farther southward, but finding an
alarming increase of pack-ice and icebergs, he soon retreated north. In
January of the following year he succeeded after a third trial in
reaching latitude 71° 10' south, the farthest south attained during the
century.

[Illustration: An antarctic summer scene]

In 1839 an expedition was sent out by the United States Government under
Captain Charles Wilkes. The exploring squadron consisted of five ships
and more than four hundred officers and men, scientists, and crews.
Wilkes was the first to discover the so-called mainland of the antarctic
continent, in January, 1840. He then followed along this unknown
coast-line amid icebergs, fogs, and storms for over fifteen hundred
miles, taking such observations as were possible. For his polar
achievements in discovery and exploration he was awarded a gold medal by
the Royal Geographical Society. Considering that he was supplied with
improperly equipped ships, he certainly accomplished wonders.

The British Government, realizing the necessity for better magnetic
charts of the south polar regions, and urged by the scientific societies
of England, sent out a second expedition to the antarctic under the
command of Sir James Ross. The expedition sailed from England in the
fall of 1839 in the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, both of which were
subsequently lost in the unfortunate Franklin expedition.[2] On this
voyage Ross made many discoveries, the most important of which was
Victoria Land. On this land is the south magnetic pole toward which the
south-seeking end of the needle always points. Ross greatly desired to
plant at the south magnetic pole the flag that had been displayed at the
north magnetic pole in 1831, but he was unfortunately caught in the
pack-ice and compelled to abandon the attempt.

Two volcanic mountains were discovered on an island near Victoria Land.
These mountains Ross named Erebus and Terror from the two ships in which
he sailed. The former, thirteen thousand feet in height, was in violent
eruption, and the latter, ten thousand feet high, was quiescent.

An expedition which has accomplished very great results in antarctic
research was sent out under Captain Robert F. Scott of the British navy
in the vessel _Discovery_. Through the influence of the Royal
Geographical Society this expedition was admirably financed, the English
Government and private parties contributing four hundred and fifty
thousand dollars toward its equipment.

The _Discovery_ left Cowes, England, in the summer of 1901, and, after
making a series of magnetic observations south of Australia, steered for
the south polar regions. Pack-ice was met almost at the antarctic
circle, but Scott gradually worked the vessel through the pack and
reached the base of Mount Terror where he landed a party. Then with the
remainder of his men he coasted eastward along the great ice barrier for
five hundred miles. It was found that the barrier had receded thirty
miles since its front was examined by Ross in 1841 and that its front is
wearing away at the rate of one-half mile a year. A captive balloon was
used in making investigations of the ice front. If the unfortunate case
of Andree be excepted, it was the first time that the balloon was used
in polar research.

The vessel remained in a safe harbor near Mounts Terror and Erebus,
where it lay frozen in for two winters. Every precaution was taken to
insure the safety of the land party in case the ice should break up and
force the ship out of the harbor. Suitable huts were erected on shore
and a portion of the provisions was landed. Magnetic observations and
other scientific work were carried on daily.

During the warmer season of the year many journeys were made into the
interior. In order to be able to advance as far as possible, sledge
journeys were made along a selected route to establish provision depots.
This being done, Captain Scott with two companions and nineteen sledge
dogs started for a protracted journey into the interior. They travelled
three hundred and fifty miles inland over the great ice-field but did
not even then reach the end of it. Then, having lost most of the dogs,
and the provisions being low, the party set out on their return to the
ship.

The few remaining dogs being disabled, the men were obliged to haul the
sledges. Having suffered great hardships, the party reached the vessel
after an absence of three months.

On this journey a long range of mountains with many high peaks was
discovered. The highest peak, fifteen thousand one hundred feet, was
named Mount Markham. The latitude reached was 82° 17' south, being the
farthest distance south attained. On a subsequent journey a plateau of
nine thousand feet elevation was reached, where the evenness of the ice
surface for miles seemed scarcely broken. The length of this journey was
three hundred miles.

At the end of the second winter two relief ships appeared at the edge of
the ice with orders that Captain Scott should return home at once. The
_Discovery_ was still sealed up in the harbor with solid ice from twelve
to seventeen feet thick, and it was a problem how to free the vessel.
The solid ice extended out more than six miles from the harbor.

The crews set resolutely to work making holes in the ice in a direct
line from the imprisoned vessel to the open water. In these holes
powerful explosives were placed which cracked the ice. This labor
consumed some nine days. Then the great ocean swells broke up the ice,
freeing the vessel. The _Discovery_ forthwith sailed for England by way
of Cape Horn, arriving home in September, having gathered much valuable
information during her sojourn in the south polar regions.

Although practically no vegetable life has been found in these regions,
an abundance of animal life exists in or contiguous to the sea,
dependent on shrimps, fish, and such other life as the sea affords.
Seals, penguins, petrels, cormorants, and gulls are found in
considerable numbers. In fact, no persons tarrying in these regions need
starve for lack of food, such as it is.

[Illustration: The penguin defies the cold]

During the two years spent by the _Discovery_ in the south polar ice,
seals and penguins formed staple articles of the diet of the men. Though
the flesh of both of these creatures has a strong and peculiar flavor,
it was found to be an agreeable change from pemican and other preserved
material. So vigorous were the men's appetites, stimulated by the
excessive cold, that when they labored hard sometimes seven meals were
served daily.

Because of the thick layer of fat covering their bodies, penguins were
used as fuel when the coal began to give out. Penguins are strange,
interesting sea fowls having an inquisitive and fearless nature. At one
of the rocky shore rookeries millions of these grotesque birds were
seen.

The type of penguin found here is a very handsome bird, decked out in
rather gay colors, having a jet black head, bluish-gray back and wings,
a yellow breast and bright spot of orange on the neck, and an
orange-colored lower bill. As though proud of his multicolored dress he
walks with slow and majestic step. His height is about four feet and his
average weight eighty-five pounds. He makes free use of his voice which
is loud and shrill. Whenever a group of penguins see an object that
excites their curiosity they will stand around it in a circle and gaze
at it intently. Lieutenant Shackleton had a graphophone as a part of his
equipment, and whenever it was used, during the season when penguins
were about, they used to gather around the instrument by the hundreds,
seeming to be quite as much interested as his human listeners.

When all other birds flee at the approach of the antarctic winter the
eccentric penguin defies the cold and hatches its single egg in the dead
of winter, with the thermometer ranging from eighteen to seventy degrees
below zero. It does this by carrying the egg between its legs, resting
it on the back of the foot while a fold of heavily feathered loose skin
completely covers it up.

After the chick is hatched it takes the place of the egg and is carried
around in this queer receptacle. When the chick wants food it utters a
cry. Thereupon the parent bends its neck down, and the little one
thrusts its head into the parental mouth to help itself to regurgitated
food. The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and
frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with
fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are
killed by kindness.

The expedition to the antarctic commanded by Lieutenant Ernest
Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among
those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a
member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with
the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five
in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the
expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom.

The _Nimrod_, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased
and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more
than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her
main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did
not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of
scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or
"Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at
Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand,
New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use
she was towed to the antarctic circle.

The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross
Island, near the winter quarters of the _Discovery_, in McMurdo Bay,
about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a
curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best
known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the
most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also