THE SOUTH POLE

Belgian Antarctic Expedition Leaves Terra Del Fuego.

Off For "The Promised Land, The Sunny South" -- Six Weeks Of Hard Work Among Dwellers In The Land Of Fire.

A private letter, to-day, from Dr. Frederick A. Cook, surgeon of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, from Ushuaia, Terra Del Fuego, Dec. 27, says: "We have come in here to take our last supply of coal; to-morrow we will start south under steam, passing out west of Cape Horn to the South Shetlands, thence to Cape Seymour, and along the eastern border of Grahams Land, in Larsen's track, to the farthest south. Then east, and out of the ice again, perhaps in the neighborhood of Enderby Land. After visiting some of the sub-Antarctic islands, Bonnet, Prince Edward's, Kergulen (sic) , the Belgica will be put into Melbourne to winter. There will be no wintering party left south until next year, unless the ship is held in the pack.

"In going, as we have, from Punta Arenas, through the narrow channels, west of the main island of Terra del Fuego and around the chain of islands to this, the capital of Fuegia, I have had many opportunities to study the vanishing Patagonians and Fuegians. I have been going about day and night with camera and measuring rod in hand, stripping Indians, measuring, photographing and collecting implements, drenched with cold rain, driven by Cape Horn winds and pounded with hailstones.

"From here I must say good-by. We will have no other opportunity to write until we have seen the 'promised land' -- the sunny south."

---

Reproduced with permission: L.L. Dyche, Explorations (Newspaper Clippings Related to Polar Exploration), Vol. 1 & 2. University Archives, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence, KS.