Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 80.djvu/419

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Amundsen to state that the explorer reached the pole on December 14, and remained there for three days. The sun was bright, and observations were carefully made with the sextant and artificial horizon. The great snow plane elevated more than 10,000 feet above the sea was named King Haakon Plateau, though it may be that priority should be given to the name of King Edward VII. Land, as the plateau extends to the point within ninety-seven miles of the pole reached by Lieutenant Shackleton on January 9, 1909. The Fram, made famous by Dr. Nansen 's expeditions, reached the Bay of Wales, south of New Zealand at a latitude of 78 degrees and 40 minutes on January 14 of last year. There it was seen by the Terra Nova of Captain Scott's expedition, and news was thus first given to the world of Captain Amundsen 's plans.

The trip to the pole was begun on October 20 and proceeded without noticeable event at the rate of twenty miles a day. The general course can be traced on the maps, showing the course of previous expeditions, reproduced here by courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History. The cold and blizzards were a serious hindrance, but not so bad as traveling over the floating ice floes in the north without the possibility of establishing depots for food and being assured of a return by the same route. The great ice plane without a trace of life appeals to the imagination, but traversing it has probably not added considerably to our scientific knowledge, and there does not seem to be much likelihood of economic