EARLY EXPLORERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2525, 11 June 1909, Page 2

EARLY EXPLORERS.

IN ARCTIC AND TROPICAL REGIONS.

PROVISIONS A CENTURY OLD.

The recent exploit of Lieutenant Shack’eton lends especial interest to recollections of the first, expedition which ' attempted to reach the North Pole. It was organised in Russia in 1803 by Field-Marshal Roomiantzeff. and headed by Baron Hedenstrom, the grandfather of the present Baron Hedenstrom., the. Consul for Russia, in MelboiirneJBaron Hedenstrom on the 10th inst gave some particulars of the work accomplished by his grandfather (reports the “Argus”). The principal result of the expedition was the discovery of the New Siberian Islands in 1805. The expedition perforce made slow progress, as it travelled only on foot over land or ice. When Hedenstrom discovered the now islands he found that a Russian trader named Liakhoff had been at one of them before, but had made no observations and supplied no records. Hedenstrom and one other explorer, who followed his route 30 or 40 years later, are said to be the only two men who have seen what is believed to be land in the immediate region of tho North Pole. It has • been seen only from a distance, and its existence is not fully established, but Hedenstrom. convinced that what he had seen was land, named it Sanikhoff Island. It is possible that both Hedenstrom and the explorer who followed him may have, been deceived by a mirage, but'it is generally believed that land does exist at or near the Pole ; Hedenstrom was forced to abandon bis project, because as he moved northward he. found it harder and harder to enforce on the native population his Imperial authority to levy supplies of food, fresh deg teams, and so on. Not the least part of his work was the laying down of a route which has been followed by all .subsequent explorers'who have chosen the Siberian approach in their attempts to reach tho Pole. An incident which occurred within recent years showed that a stock of pro visions laid down by Hedenstrom a hundred years before preserved the .life of some French explorers, the survivors of Captain De Longue’s expedition, which made a dash for the Pole in the ship Janetta only a few years ago. Tho ship was wrecked in the. Arctic Ocean, and the officers and crew took to the boats. One boat was lost, and two managed to reach the Siberian mainland after great peril and privation. Months afterwards, at St. Petersburg, a lieutenant of the expediton told the Russian Geographical Society how they had come across a small stone hut, which had been erected by Hedenstrom. On the wall they found an inscription, “Hero is meat,-’ and, eagerly searching, they came across a quantity of provisions* 'which the intense cold had preserved in perfect condition The present Baron Hedenstrom himself spent several years exploring, not polar, but tropical regions. From 1 884 to 1891 he made several excursions into the interior of the northern portion of Sumatra.- The region at that time was sorely troubled by the ceaseless war between the Acliinese savages and the Dutch. If for a time this, ceased tho Achineso were at war with their inland neighbors, the Guyus. It was while Baron Hedenstrom was in that region that the. sensational and cruel massacre of the captain and crew of the British ship Hock Canton took place. The ship, under Captain Hansen, anchored off Teriom,' on the west coast. The Rajah, Tuku Umah, had arranged, through a European-agent who accompanied Hansen, and who knew all the. rajahs, to trade a cargo of pepper to the British vessel. Tuku Umah and his men came on board, carrying a number of bags, which Hansen and his crew naturally believed to be the pepper for which no was trading. Hardly had all thq natives stepped on deck when Tuku Umah gave a signal, and his warriors fell upon the hapless crew, and massacred every person aboard with the exception of Captain Hansen (who was badly wounded), Mrs Hansen, and the chief engineer. The agent was ashore at the time of the massacre, and ho escaped The three prisoners were taken ashore in a boat, but so badly was Hansen hurt that he died before the boat was beached. Before the eyes of his wife, his body was thrown to the sharks The engineer and Mrs. Hansen were conveyed by Tuku Umah to his mountain fastnesses, where he held them for ransom. The British Government demanded compensation for the outrage, and the restoration to freedom of Tuku Umah’s prisoners. The Dutch Government had to pay Tuku Umah the ransom he demanded, and the whole incident cost the Dutch Government, according to Baron Hedenstrom’s recollection, some 1,800,000! dollars (Eastern currency). e Baron Hedenstrom, in the coursed one of his inland excursions, discovered rich alluvial gold about 50 miles inland from Malabu. He was the first European to penetrate tho interior ot Achin, but his discovery was of no value to him, for the disturbed condition of the country effectually prevented its exploitation. The dangers rnn by Baron Hedenstrom may be gauged from the fact that only two years before his first excursion two Frwcli engineers, Vallon and Guillaume, had been murdered by the natives _ before they had penetrated Wr inland, liis peril was heightened by the fact that ho was the only European in his caravan, which comprised 120 Achmese. Baron Hedenstrom smiled as he said. “I did not have much trouble. It was tho Dutch who were at war with them, and they knew I was not Dutch- “ There is a nominal Sultan of Achin,” ho continued, “but, though he calls himself tho ruler, that country is Tilled by the man who can buy the. most rifles and pay tho most followers. Tuku Umah was the most powerful -rajah when I was there. Tho Achmese are descended from the old Malay pirate.l, and they are all brigands—all. I remember once, when I had beem away nineteen months from the Dutch settlement, I found, when I came hack, that the Dutch Govoßßment had concluded that I must have'been killed, and the Dutch priest had held a mass 'for ray soul. But you see that ' I havo hot been killed.”