A Book of Discovery - M. B. Synge (new ebook reader .txt) 📗

Pole before Scott heard of his arrival.

"I am fully alive to the complication in the situation arising out of Amundsen's presence in the Antarctic," wrote the English explorer, "but as any attempt at a race might have been fatal to our chance of getting to the Pole at all, I decided to do exactly as I should have done had not Amundsen been here. If he gets to the Pole he will be bound to do it rapidly with dogs, and one foresees that success will justify him."

Although the Norwegian explorer left his winter quarters on 8th September for his dash to the Pole, he started too early; three of his party had their feet frostbitten, and the dogs suffered severely, so he turned back, and it was not till 20th October, just a week before Scott's start, that he began in real earnest his historic journey. He was well off for food, for whales were plentiful on the shores of the Bay, and seals, penguins, and gulls abounded. The expedition was well equipped, with eight explorers, four sledges, and thirteen dogs attached to each.

"Amundsen is a splendid leader, supreme in organisation, and the essential in Antarctic travel is to think out the difficulties before they arise." So said those who worked with him on his most successful journey.

Through dense fog and blinding blizzards the Norwegians now made their way south, their Norwegian skis and sledges proving a substantial help. The crevasses in the ice were very bad; one dog dropped in and had to be abandoned; another day the dogs got across, but the sledge fell in, and it was necessary to climb down the crevasse, unpack the sledge, and pull up piece by piece till it was possible to raise the empty sledge. So intense was the cold that the very brandy froze in the bottle and was served out in lumps.

"It did not taste much like brandy then," said the men, "but it burnt our throats as we sucked it."

The dogs travelled well. Each man was responsible for his own team; he fed them and made them fond of him. Thus all through November the Norwegians travelled south, till they reached the vast plateau described by Shackleton. One tremendous peak, fifteen thousand feet high, they named "Frithjof Nansen."

On 14th December they reached their goal; the weather was beautiful, the ground perfect for sledging.

"At 3 p.m. we made halt," says Amundsen. "According to our reckoning, we had reached our destination. All of us gathered round the colours—a beautiful silken flag; all hands took hold of it, and, planting it on the spot, we gave the vast plateau on which the Pole is situate the name of 'The King Haakon VII.' It was a vast plain, alike in all directions, mile after mile."

Here in brilliant sunshine the little party camped, taking observations till 17th December, when, fastening to the ground a little tent with the Norwegian flag and the Fram pennant, they gave it the name "Polheim" and started for home.

CAPTAIN ROALD AMUNDSEN TAKING SIGHTS AT THE SOUTH POLE CAPTAIN ROALD AMUNDSEN TAKING SIGHTS AT THE SOUTH POLE.
From a photograph, by permission of Mr. John Murray and the Illustrated London News.

So the North and South Poles yielded up their well-hoarded secrets after centuries of waiting, within two and a half years of one another.

They had claimed more lives than any exploration had done before, or is ever likely to do again.

And so ends the last of these great earth-stories—stories which have made the world what it is to-day—and we may well say with one of the most successful explorers of our times, "The future may give us thrilling stories of the conquest of the air, but the spirit of man has mastered the earth."

DATES OF CHIEF EVENTS PAGE   DATE 4 The oldest known Ships B.C. 6000-5000 7 Expedition to Punt B.C. 1600 11 Phoenician Expeditions B.C. 700 19 Neco's Fleet built B.C. 613 23 Anaximander, the Greek, invents Maps B.C. 580 25 Hecatæus writes the First Geography B.C. 500 27 Herodotus describes Egypt B.C. 446 30 Hanno sails down West Coast of Africa B.C. 450 32 Xenophon crosses Asia Minor B.C. 401 38 Alexander the Great finds India B.C. 327 41 Nearchus navigates the Indian Ocean B.C. 326 45 The Geography of Eratosthenes B.C. 240-196 48 Pytheas discovers the British Isles and Thule B.C. 333 55 Julius Cæsar explores France, Britain, Germany B.C. 60-54 61 Strabo's Geography A.D. 18 68 Agricola discovers the Highlands A.D. 83 71 Pliny's Geography A.D. 170 74 Ptolemy's Geography and Maps A.D. 159 78 The First Guide for Travellers Fourth century 83 St. Patrick explores Ireland 432-93 85 St. Columba reaches the Orkney Isles 563 85 St. Brandon crosses the Atlantic Sixth century 90 Willibald travels from Britain to Jerusalem 721 92 The Christian Topography of Cosmas Sixth century 94 Naddod the Viking discovers Iceland 861 95 Erik the Red discovers Greenland 985 95 Lief discovers Newfoundland and North American Coast 1000 97 Othere navigates the Baltic Sea 890 99 Mohammedan Travellers to China 831 103 Edrisi's Geography 1154 108 Benjamin of Tudela visits India and China 1160 110 Carpini visits the Great Khan 1246 112 William de Rubruquis also visits the Great Khan 1255 115 Maffio and Niccolo Polo reach China 1260-71 117 Marco Polo's Travels 1271-95 126 Ibn Batuta's Travels through Asia 1324-48 126 Sir John Mandeville's Travels published 1372 134 Hereford Mappa Mundi appeared 1280 137 Anglo-Saxon Map of the World 990 138 Prince Henry of Portugal encourages Exploration 1418 140 Zarco and Vaz reach Porto Santo 1419 140 Zarco discovers Madeira 1420 142 Nuno Tristam discovers Cape Blanco 1441 143 Gonsalves discovers Cape Verde Islands 1442 144 Cadamosto reaches the Senegal River and Cape Verde 1455 145 Diego Gomez reaches the Gambia River 1458 148 Death of Prince Henry 1460 149 Fra Mauro's Map 1457 150 Diego Cam discovers the Congo 1484 152 Bartholomew Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope 1486 153 Martin Behaim makes his Globe 1492 160 Christopher Columbus discovers West Indies 1492 166 Columbus finds Jamaica and other Islands 1493 167 Columbus finds Trinidad 1498 169 Death of Columbus 1504 170 Amerigo Vespucci finds Trinidad and Venezuela 1499 175 First Map of the New World by Juan de la Cosa 1500 177 Vasco da Gama reaches India by the Cape 1497 181 Pedro Cabral discovers Brazil 1500 188 Francisco Serrano reaches the Spice Islands 1511 192 Balboa sees the Pacific Ocean 1513 203 The First Circumnavigation of the World 1519-22 206 Cordova discovers Yucatan 1517 206 Juan Grijalva discovers Mexico 1518 209 Cortes conquers Mexico 1519 217 Pizarro conquers Peru 1531 221 Orellana discovers the Amazon 1541 225 Cabot sails to Newfoundland 1497 228 Jacques Cartier discovers the Gulf of St. Lawrence 1534 236 Sir Hugh Willoughby finds Nova Zembla 1553 238 Richard Chancellor reaches Moscow via Archangel 1554 240 Anthony Jenkinson crosses Russia to Bokhara 1558 244 Pinto claims the discovery of Japan 1542 245 Martin Frobisher discovers his Bay 1576 249 Drake sails round the World 1577-80 260 Davis finds his Strait 1586 269 Barents discovers Spitzbergen 1596 275 Hudson sails into his Bay 1610 281 Baffin discovers his Bay 1616 285 Sir Walter Raleigh explores Guiana 1595 290 Champlain discovers Lake Ontario 1615 298 Torres sails through his Strait 1605 299 Le Maire rounds Cape Horn 1617 302 Tasman finds Tasmania 1642 306 Dampier discovers his Strait 1698 312 Behring finds his Strait 1741 322 Cook discovers New Zealand 1769 326 Cook anchors in Botany Bay, Australia 1770 333 Cook discovers the Sandwich Islands 1777 338 La Perouse makes discoveries in China Seas 1785-8 347 Bruce discovers the source of the Blue Nile 1770 353 Mungo Park reaches the Niger 1796 359 Vancouver explores his Island 1792 362 Mackenzie discovers his River and British Columbia 1789-93 366 Ross discovers Melville Bay 1818 368 Parry discovers Lancaster Sound 1819 372 Franklin reaches the Polar Sea by Land 1819-22 378 Parry's discoveries on North American Coast 1822 382 Franklin names the Mackenzie River 1825 386 Beechey doubles Icy Cape 1826 388 Parry attempts the North Pole by Spitzbergen 1827 392 Denham and Clapperton discover Lake Tchad 1822 396 Clapperton reaches the Niger 1826 397 Réné Caillé enters Timbuktu 1829 402 Richard and John Lander find the Mouth of the Niger 1830 404 Ross discovers Boothia Felix 1829 405 James Ross finds the North Magnetic Pole 1830 411 Bass discovers his Strait 1797 413 Flinders and Bass sail round Tasmania 1798 416 Flinders surveys South Coast of Australia 1801-4 421 Sturt traces the Darling and Murray Rivers 1828-31 424 Burke and Wills cross Australia 1861 429 Ross discovers Victoria Land in the Antarctic 1840 432 Franklin discovers the North-West Passage 1847 440 Livingstone crosses Africa from West to East 1849-56 452 Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika 1857 454 Speke sees Victoria Nyanza 1858 457 Livingstone finds Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa 1858-64 461 Speke and Grant enter Uganda 1861 468 Baker meets Speke and Grant at Gondokoro 1861 470 Baker discovers Albert Nyanza 1864 477 Livingstone finds Lakes Meoro and Bangweolo 1868 482 Stanley finds Livingstone 1871 484 Livingstone dies at Ilala 1873 499 Stanley finds the Mouth of the Congo 1877 509 Nordenskiöld solves the North-East Passage 1879 519 Younghusband enters Lhasa 1904 524 Nansen reaches Farthest North 1895 534 Peary reaches the North Pole 1909 544 Amundsen reaches the South Pole 1911

INDEX

Abram, 4.

Abyssinia, 344-7.

Afghanistan, 36.

Africa, 20-2, 72, 103, 127, 339.

Africa, Central, 349-56, 391-402, 442-500.

Africa, South, 152, 173-6, 440.

Africa, West Coast, 22, 30, 139, 143-51, 349.

Agricola, 68.

Alaska, 317, 334, 338.

Albert Nyanza, 470.

Albuquerque, Alphonso d', 184-8.

Alexander the Great, 35-43.

Alexandria, 45, 74.

Alfred the Great, 96.

Almagro, Diego de, 220.

Almeida, Francisco, 184-6.

Almeida, Lorenzo, 185-6.

Alvarado, Pedro de, 206, 208.

Amazon,