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Page 10
He intends to keep up a constant communication with these settlements by
means of dogs and sledges, so that he will not be entirely cut off from
the world as previous explorers have been.
Lieutenant Peary has obtained five years' leave of absence from the Navy
Department. He will therefore have plenty of time for his experiment. He
says that if he fails the first time he will keep on trying until he
succeeds in reaching the Pole.
There is a story that one of the men who expect to go north with
Lieutenant Peary has a scheme for reaching the Pole on a bicycle.
This seems to be the strangest use thus far suggested for the bicycle.
Mr. Lee, who is the inventor of this novel plan, was with Lieutenant
Peary on his last trip.
He says that there are miles and miles of smooth surface in the Polar
regions that could easily be covered on a wheel.
According to his statement the water freezes smoothly, and the salt
crystals that form on the top of the ice make the surface like a
gravelled path, and there is consequently no danger that the wheel would
slip.
He says that where the snow covers the ice it is pounded so hard by the
winds that the crust is quite solid enough to bear the weight of a man.
In his opinion a wheelman would find no difficulty in travelling over
it.
He thinks wheeling to the Pole is the simplest and most practical plan
that has yet been proposed.
If he goes with Lieutenant Peary, Mr. Lee declares that he will take his
wheel along with him and make the experiment. He thinks that a man could
wheel to the Pole and back from the north of Greenland in one week.
The great difficulty in the way of his scheme is that it would not be
safe for one man to make the trip alone.
He thinks that at least half a dozen ought to start together. In those
far northern lands the fewer white men there are in a party the better
its chance of success, because they require so much more food than the
Eskimos, and it has to be of a more dainty character. Where provisions
are so scarce, this is a serious consideration.
Mr. Lee says that the present pneumatic tires would not be of the
slightest use, as rubber cracks and splits with the extreme cold. He has
a plan for a new kind of tire that could withstand the climate.
* * * * *
We saw an account the other day of a new sport for the wheel, which is
being indulged in by the cyclists of England and France.
It is called bicycle duelling, and consists of fighting mock duels on
the wheel.
It is said by those who have witnessed it to be a very interesting
sport.
The contestants are masked; use foils with buttons on the points, and
fight according to the strict rules of fencing. The game is won by
touching the adversary over the heart with the sheathed point of the
foil.
In fencing, a man has to keep his eye closely on his adversary, and
dares not allow his attention to be distracted for a moment. It is
therefore absolutely necessary that those who engage in a bicycle duel
should be expert riders.
The mimic battle begins by the two riders circling slowly round each
other, waiting for an opportunity to dash in and strike a blow.
This circling continues for a few moments until one darts forward--the
foils clash, and the aggressor passes swiftly on, only to turn and
recommence the circling until he sees another opportunity.
They fight in this way, back and forth, round and round, until the final
touch is given; then the cyclist who is touched is obliged to dismount,
as a sign that he has been defeated.
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