Dr. Walter E. Traprock and Snak
MY
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
THE KAWA AT THE POLE
BY
WALTER E. TRAPROCK
F.R.S.S.E.U., N.L.L.D.
AUTHOR OF "THE CRUISE OF THE KAWA"
WITH TWENTY-ONE FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1922
Copyright, 1922
by
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Made in the United States of America
DEDICATED
TO
IKIK, SNAK, YALOK, LAPATOK
AND KLIPITOK
(THE ONLY ESKIMOS I EVER LOVED)
AND
SAUSALITO
FOREWORD
BY
Irving T. Grosbeak, R.O.T.C.
AT DURFEE COLLEGE, XENIA, O.
For hundreds of years men have struggled amid snow and ice to reachone or the other of the earth's poles. Why? What has attracted them?What has been the lure which has led them from warm firesides andcomfortable radiators to suffer the rigors of a most annoying climate?
We search in vain among the writings of modern polar explorers for asatisfactory answer to this question.
In earlier days we find credible reasons for this fanatical zeal,reasons which were material and commercial. In the dark ages we knowthat hardy Norsemen sought an Ultima Thule beyond the Arctic Circle.The Irish also claim credit for the earliest discoveries. They would.These voyages were mere forays undertaken with the hope of ad[Pg 8]vantagesin barter and exchange. Following the establishment by Columbus ofthe globular theory of earth formation we read, likewise, of manyfutile attempts to reach the fabled wealth of India by short cuts andnorthwest passages. The adventurous Cabots, fearless Frobisher andgallant Gilbert were mainly occupied with material aims, the securingof additional colonies for the crown, additional gold for the royaltreasury. They were out for the cush.
But when we turn to modern days in which the forbidding character ofthe northland has been well understood we are more puzzled to find areasonable explanation for its fascination. We meet frequently thatstrange phrase, "the lure of the North," which is later describedin terms of unspeakable hardships. We are told that this or thatexpedition was undertaken in order "to add to the sum of humanknowledge" though that addition proves to be a series of tidalobservations and barometric readings which could have been arrived atwith sufficient exactness by scientific computations.
Moreover, without belittling the courage and determination of ourgallant Peary, it is evident that his exploit was not discovery inits strictest sense. The pole had been located for centuries asbeing[Pg 9] the exact point of convergence of the meridional lines. Itsprecise position was known. To reach it, then, was a problem intransportation rather than one of actual discovery. T