The Last Years of Arctic Work

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 11, 15 September 1909, Page 42

The Last Years of Arctic Work

By

ROBERT E. PEARY,

THE kernel of an Arctic expedition of the present day is the sledge journey, whether the object of that expedition be the Pole, or the highest north, or the exploration of unknown Arctic lands. Shell Arctic lands as are accessible to a ship have been charted long ago, and neither the Pole nor the highest north is likely to be reached directly by a ship. 1 recognise, of course, the possibilities of the drift method, as originated by Nansen, and fully appreciate the wonderful success of the “Frara’s” voyage. On the other hand, however, contrast the dreary, helpless time that must be given to this method (time so wearing that even Nansen’s enthusiasm succumbed to it, and drove him out prematurely to his work), and the probability that even the “Fram” would

not survive a second attempt—contrast this with the quick, effective spurt of the Duke of Abruzzi, which, in a single year, placed him ahead of Nansen. The man who can so utilise his personnel and materiel as to accomplish a march of 500 miles each way over the polar sea will win the Pole, for we know now that the attainment of a base within that distance of the Pole is a matter only of time, patience, and money. The Longest Sledge Journey in the Arctic Circle. It was in the spring of 1900, in pursuance of a definite and coherent plan of Arctic exploration, under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club of New York that the sledge journey, which is the subject of the following pages, was made. Though the start was made some 350 miles south of the starting points of previous expeditions in this legion, a point 150 miles beyond their farthest was attained, the northern extremity of the Greenland Archipelago; the last of the remaining Arctic land groups reached and rounded, and the most northerly known land in the World (probably the most northerly land) achieved. This journey, in respect to latitude covered and distance in a direct line from start to finish, is the longest of all sledge journeys within the Arctic Circle. The air line distance from start to finish was such that, had my starting point been in the same latitude as that of Abruzzi, it would have taken me to the Pole; or had my starting point been in the same latitude as Nansens, or on the northern shore of Grinnell Land, it would have carried tie beyond the Pole. Northward in Three Divisions. My general programme for the spring work of 1900 was to send three diviaions of sledges north as far as Conger. From Conger I would send back a Biuuber of the Eskimos, retain some at

U.S.N.

Conger, and with others proceed north from there, either via Cape Hecla, or the north point of Greenland, as circumstances might determine. I wanted to start the first division on the 15th February, the second a week later, and leave with the third March Ist; but a severe storm, breaking up the ice between Etah and Littleton Island, delayed the departure of the first division of seven sledges until the 19th. Along the Northern Edge of the North Water. The second division of six sledges followed on the 26th, and on March 4th I left with the rear division of nine sledges. Three marches carried us to Cape Sabine, along the curving northern edge of the “north water.” Here a northerly gale with heavy drift de-

tained me for two days. Three more marches in a temperature of 40deg. F. brought me to the box house at Cape D’Urville. Records here informed me that the first division had been detained here a week by stormy weather, getting away only on the 4th, the day I left Etah; while the second division had left but two days before my arrival. I had scarcely arrived, when two of the first division Eskimos came in from Richardson Bay, where one of them had severely injured his leg by falling under a sledge. One day was spent at the D’Urville house drying our clothing, and on the 13th I got away with seven sledges on the trail of the other divisions,. the injured man returning to Sabine with the supporting party. 1 hoped to reach Cape Louis Napoleon ou this march, but the going was too heavy, and I was obliged to camp in Dobbin Bay, about five miles short of the Cape. The next day I hoped, on starting, to reach Cape Fraser, but was again disappointed, a severe wind storm compelling me to halt a little south of Hayes Point, and hurriedly build snow igloos in the midst of a blinding drift. All that night and the next day and the next night the storm continued. An early start was made on the 16th, and in calm but very thick weather we pushed on to Cape Fraser. Here we encountered the wind and drift full in our faces, and violent, making our progress from here to Cape Norton Shaw, along the ragged ice foot, very trying. The going across Seoresby and Richardson Bays was not worse than the year before; and from Cape Wilkes to Capt Lawrence the same as we had always found it. These two marches were made in clear but bitterly windy weather. Imprisoned by Storms. Another severe northerly gale held us prisoners at Cape Lawrence for a day. The 20th was an equally cruel day, with wind still savage in its strength, but the

question of food for my dogs gave me no choice but to attempt an advance. At the end of four hours we were forced to burrow into a snow bank for shelter, where we remained till the next {burning. In three more marches we reached Cape von Bueh. Two more days of good weather brought us to a point a few miles north of Cape Defosse. Here we were stopped by another furious gale, with drifting snow, which imprisoned us for two nights and a day. The wind was still bitter in our faces when we again got under way, the morning of the 27th, and the ice foot became worse and worse, finally forcing us out on tlie broken pack. Cape Lieber was reached on this march. At this camp the wind blew savagely all night, and in the morning !■ waited for it to moderate before attempting to cross Lady Franklin Bay. A Kill of Musk Oxen. While we were waiting, the returning Eskimos of the first and second divisions came in. They brought the very welcome news of the killing of twenty-one musk oxen close to Conger. They also reported the wind out in the bay as less severe than at the Cape. I immediately got under way, and reached Conger just before midnight of the 28th, twenty-four days from Etah, during six of which I was held up by storms. The first division had arrived four days, the second two days earlier. During th: g journey there had been the usual annoying delays of broken sledges, and I had lost numbers of dogs. The process of breaking in the tendons and muscles of my feet to their new relations, and the callousing of the amputation scars, in this, the first serious demand upon them, had been disageeable, but was, I believed, final and complete, I felt that I had no reason to complain. The herd of musk oxen so opportunely secured near the station, with the meat cached here the previous spring, furnished the means to rest and feed up my dogs. A period of thick weather followed my arrival at Conger, and not until April 2nd could I send back the Eskimos of my division. The Choice of a Way. \ On leaving Etah I had not decided whether I should go north from Conger via Cape Hecla, or take the route along the north-west coast of Greenland. Now I decided upon the latter. Th e lateness of the season and the condition of my dogs might militate against a very long journey; and if I chose the Hecla route, and failed of my utmost aims, the result would be comp'ete failure. If, rn the other hand, I chose the Greenland route and found it impossible to proceed northward over the pack, I still had an unknown coast to explore, and the opportunity of doing valuable work. Later developments show my decision to be a fortunate one. I planned to start from Conger the 9th of April, but stormy weather delayed my departure until the 11th, when 1 got away with seven sledges. At the first camp beyond Conger my best Eskimo was taken sick, and the

following day I brought him back to Conger, leaving the rest of the party to cross the channel to the Greenland side, where I would overtake them. This I did two or three days later, and we began our journey up the north-west Greenland coast. As far as Cape Sumner we had almost continuous road-making through very rough ice. Before reaching Cape Sumner we eould see a dark water sky lying beyond Cape Brevoort, and knew that we should find open water there. From Cape Sumner to the Polaris Boat Camp in Newman Bay we cut a continuous road. Here we were stalled until the 21st by continued and severe winds. Getting started again in the tail end of the storm, we advanced as far as the open water, a few miles east of Cape Brevoort, and camped. This open water, about three miles wide at our end, extended clear across the mouth of Robeson Channel to the Grinnell Land coast, where it reached from Lincoln Bay to Cape Rawson. Beyond it, to the north and north-west, as far as could be seen, were numerous lanes and pools. The next day was devoted to hewing a trail along the ice-foot to Repulse Harbour, and on the 23rd, in a violent gale, accompanied by drift, I pushed on to the Drift Point of Beaumont (and later Lockwood), a short distance west of the Black Horn cliffs. The ice foot as far as Repulse Harbour, in spite of the road-making of the previous day, was very trying to sledges, dogs, and men. The slippery side slopes, steep ascents, and precipitous descents, wrenched and strained the men and animals, and capsized, broke, and ripped shoes from the sledges. Open Water and a Moving Pack. I was not surprised to see from the Drift Point igloos that the Black Horn Cliffs were fronted by open water. The pack was in motion here, and had only recently been crushed against the icefoot, where we built our igloo. I thought I had broken my feet in pretty thoroughly on my journey from Etah to Conger, but this day’s work of handling a sledge along the ice-foot made me think they had never encountered any serious work before. A blinding snowstorm on the 24th kept us inactive in a eamp which could well be called “Camp Woeful.” When we awoke in the morning it was snowing heavily, and some three inches had already fallen. We could scarcely see across the ice-foot. Eskimos Became Hysterical. While we were drinking our tea one of the younger Eskimos fell in a fit, and the others became hysterical. I felt a peculiar dizzy sensation myself. Recognising the effect of our alcohol cooker in the close atmosphere of the igloo, with every aperture sealed by the newly-fallen snow, I hurriedly kicked out the door and a portion of the front wall. This relieved matters, and I sent three of the Eskimo outside to get the benefit of the fresh air, while I took the two worst ones in hand personally, and finally succeeded in quieting them down. After this they were “ankooting” all day. The open water ahead of us, the grinding pack close beside us, the bad weather, and the, to them, mysterious attack of the iww

ing, had combined to put them all in a Very timid and unsteady frame of mind. Testing Young Ice at 25 deg. Below Zero. The next day I made a reconnaissance to the cliffs, and the day after set the entire party to work hewing a road along the ice-foot. That night the temperature fell to —25 deg. F., forming a film of young iee upon the water. The next day I moved up close to the cliffs, and then, with three Eskimos, reconnoitred this young iee. I found that by proceeding with extreme care a nan could move across it in most places. With experienced Ahsayoo ahead, constantly testing the iee with his seal spear, myself next, and two Eskimos following, all with feet wide apart, and sliding instead of walking, we crept past the cliffs. Returning, we used our feet like brooms, brushing the thin film of newly-fallen snow off the ice for a width of some four feet, to give the cold free access to it. Around a Great Barrier. I quote from my diary- for the 27th: — “At last we are past the barrier which has been looining before me for the last ten days, the open water at the Black Horn Cliffs. (The Black Horn Cliffs are one of the crucial points in the traverse of the Greenland north-west coast. They extend for several miles along the shore, and, rising vertically from the water, no ice-foot can form at their base. Flanking them by a detour inland is an arduous undertaking for an experienced mountaineer with a light pack, and a physical impossibility with loaded sledges. The great depth of water and the strong current in front of them keep the ice broken at all times, and for the greater portion of the year cause a large area of open water here. Familiar with the trying experience of Lock wood and Brainard at these cliffs 17 years before, and knowing the present season was an open one, I had, from the time we reached Cape Sumner, been certain we should find open water here, and had been praying that it might not be extensive enough to turn us back.) This morning sent two of my men, whose nerves were disturbed by the prospect ahead, back to Conger. This leaves me with Henson and three Eskimos. My supplies can now be carried on the remaining sledges. Still farther stiffened by the continuous low temperature of last night, the main sheet of new ice in front of the cliffs was not hazardous as long as the sledges kept a few hundred yards apart, did not stop, «nd their drivers walked a few yards away to one side. Beyond the limit of yesterday’s reconnaissance there were areas of more recent ice, which caused hie considerable apprehension, as it buckled to a very disquieting extent beneath dogs and sledges, and from the motion of the outside pack was crushing up m places, while narrow cracks opened in others. Finally, to my relief, we reached the ice-foot this side the cliffs, and camped.” The Ice Opens Behind Us. The next day there was a contmuoffs lane of water, 100 ft. wide, along the icefoot by our camp, and the space in front of the cliffs was again open water. We had crossed just in time. Up to Cape Stanton we had to hew a continuous road along the ice-foot. After tliis the going was much better to Cape Bryant. Off this section of the coast the pack was in constant motion, and an almost continuous lane of water extended "'ong the iee-foof. A little west of Cape Bryant I killed two musk oxen, which my Oo gs highly appreciated.

Finding a Predecessor’s Marks. A long search cf C.ipe Bryant finally discovered the remains of Lockwood’s cache and cairn, which had been scattered by bears. At 3.30 p.m. on the Ist of May I left Ctpe Bryant to cross the wide indentation lying between Cape Bryant «nd Cape Britannia. Three marches,

mostly in thick weather, and over alternating hummocky blue ice and areas of deep snow, brought us at 1 a.m. of the 4th to Cape North (the northern point of Cape Britannia Island). From this camp, after a sleep, I sent back two more Eskimos and the 12 poorest dogs, leaving Henson, one Eskimo, and myself, with three sledges and 1G dogs, for the permanent advance party.

An Advance Party of Three. From Cape North a ribbon of very young ice on the so-called tidal track, which extends along this coast, gave us a good lift nearly across Nordenskjold Inlet; then it became unsafe, and we climbed a heavy rubble barrier to the old floe-ice inside, which we followed to Cape Bennett, and camped. Here we were treated to another snowstorm. Another strip of young ice gave us a passage nearly across Mascart Inlet until, under Cape Payer, I found it so broken up, that two of the sledges and nearly all of the dogs got into the water before we could escape from it. Then a pocket of snow, thigh and waist deep, over rubble ice, under the lee of the cape stalled us completely. I pitched the tent, fastened the dogs, and we devoted the rest of the day to stamping a road through the snow, with our snowshoes. Even when we started the next day, I was obliged to put two teams to one sledge, in order to move it.' Cape Payer was a hard proposition. The first half of the distance round it we were obliged to cut a road, and on the last half, with twelve dogs and three men to each sledge, pushed and pulled them, snowplough fashion, through the deep snow. Distant Cape was almost equally inhospitable. and it was only after long and careful reconnaissance that we wer<»

able to get our sledges round it, along a narrow crest of the huge ridge of ice, forced up against the rocks. After this we had comparatively fair going, on past Cape Ramsay, Dome Cape, across Meigs Fjord, as far as Mary Murray Island. Then came some heavy going, and at 11.40 p.m. of May Bth we reached Lockwood's cairn, on the north end of the island. From this cairn I took

the record and thermometer deposited there by Lockwood eighteen years before. The record was in a perfect state of preservation. Undiscovered Land Sighted Ahead. One march from here carried us t<r Cape Washington. Reaching the low point, which is visible from Lockwood Island, just at midnight, great was my relief to see, on rounding it, another splendid headland, with two magnificent glaciers debouching near it, rising across an intervening inlet. I knew now that Cape Washington was not thtr northern point of Greenland, as I had feared. It would have been a great disappointment to me, after coming so far, to find that another’s eyes had forestalled mine in looking first upon the coveted northern point. Nearly all of my hours for sleep at this camp were taken up by observations and a round of angles. The polar pack north front Cape Washington was in a frightful condition, utterly impracticable. Leaving Cape Washington, we crossed the mouth of the fjord, packed with blue-top-floe-bergs, to the western edge of one of the big glaciers, and then over the extremity of the glacier itself, camping near the edge of the second. The Place Where Floebergs Are Born. Here I found myself in the birthplace, of the “floebergs.” which could be seen in all the various stages of formation. They are merely degraded icebergs—• that is" bergs of low altitude, detached from the extremity of a glacier, which lias for some distance been forcing its way along a comparatively level and shallow sea bottom. A Polar Bear Hunt, From this camp we crossed the second glacier, and a short distance beyond our eyes were gladdened by the sight of a polar bear. y We were crossing the mouth of one of the fjords, and I was behind with my sledge, making a sketch of the fjord, when I heard the cry of “Nannooksoah!” (bear) from Henson, and looking up, I saw the animal coming toward us from seaward. For a mo-i ment all was excitement. I had scarcely time to seize the upstanders when my dogs were off. As we neared the bear, all the dogs were loosened, and were at him like a cloud. He continued to approach until they were close t<f him, when he turned and ran for th#' ice foot, where he was brought to bay, l followed up, and a couple of bullets from my carbine quickly transformed him into dog meat for my faithful teams. Northern Cane of the World Discovered. It was now evident to me that we were very near the northern extremity; of the land, and when we came withia view of the next cape ahead, I knew, that my eyes at last rested upon the Arctic Ultima Thule. The land ahead also impressed me at once as showing

the characteristics of a musk-ox country. The cape was reached in the next march, and I stopped to take variation and latitude sights. Here my Eskimo shot a hare, and we saw a wolf track, and traces of musk-oxen. A careful reconnaissance of the pack to the northward, with the glasses, from an elevation of a few hundred feet, showed the ice to be of a less impracticable character than it was north of Cape Washington. What were evidently water clouds showed very distinctly on the horizon. This water sky had been apparent ever since we left Cape Washington, and at one time assumed such a shape that I was almost deceived into taking it for land. Continued careful observation destroyed the illusion. My observations completed, we started northward over the pack, and camped a few miles from land. The two following marches were made in a thick fog, through which we groped our way northward over broken ice and across gigantic, wavelike, drifts of hard snow. One more march in clear weather, over frightful going, consisting of fragments of old floes, ridges of heavy iee thrown up to heights of twenty-five to fifty feet, crevasses and holes masked by snow, the whole intersected by narrow leads of open water, brought us at five a.m. on the 16th to the northern edge of a fragment of an old floe, bounded by water. A reconnaissance from the summit of a pinnacle of the floe, some fifty feet high, showed that we were on the -edge of the disintegrated pack, with a dense Water sky not far distant. Mapping the Arctic Ultima Thule. My hours for sleep at this camp were occupied in observations, and making a transit profile of the northern coast from Cape Washington eastward. The next day 1 started back for the Jand, and, having a trail to follow, wasted no time in reconnaissance, and reached it in one march, and camped. Leaving this camp on the 18th, as We were travelling eastward on the icefoot an hour later, I saw a herd of six musk oxen in one of the coast valleys, and in a short time had secured them. Skinning and cutting up these animals, and feeding the dogs to repletion, consumed some hours; we then resumed »ur march, getting an unsuccessful shot at a passing wolf as we went. Within a mile of our next camp a herd of fifteen musk-oxen lay fast asleep. I left them undisturbed. From here on, for three marches, we reeled off splendid distances, over good going, in blinding sunshine, and in the face of a wind from the east, which burned our faces like a sirocco. On Around North Greenland. The first march took us to a magnificent cape, at which the northern face of the land trends away to the southeast. This cape is in the same latitude as Cape Washington. The next two carried us down the east coast to the eighty-third parallel. In the first of these we crossed the mouth of a large

fjord penetrating for a long distance in a south-westerly (true) direction. On the next, in a fleeting glimpse through the fog, I saw a magnificent mountain of peculiar contour, which I recognised as the peak seen by me in 1895 from the summit of the interior ice-cap south of Independence Bay, rising proudly above the land to the north. This mountain was then named by me Mt. Wistar. Finally, the destiny of the fog compelled a halt on the extremity of a low point composed entirely of fine

glacial drift, which I judged to be a small island in the mouth of a large fjord. The Last Look Northward. From my eamp of the previous night I had observed this island (?), and beyond and over it a massive block of a mountain, forming the opposite cape of a large intervening fjord, and beyond that again another distant cape. Open water was clearly visible a few miles off the coast, while not far out, dark water clouds reached away to the south-east. Out of Provisions—Turning Back. At this camp I remained two nights and a day, waiting for the fog to lift. Then, as there seemed to be no indications of its doing so, and my provisions were exhausted, I started on my return journey at 3.30 a.m. on the 23rd of May, after erecting a cairn in which I deposited the following record:— “Copy of Record in Cairn at Clarence Wyckoff Island. “Arrived here at 10.30 p.m. May

20th, from Etah, via Fort Conger, and north end of Greenland. Left Etah March 4th. Left Conger April loth. Arrived north end Greenland May 13th. Reached point on sea-ice, Lat. 83deg. 50min. N., May 16th. “On arrival here had rations for one more march southward. Two days’ dense fog have held me here. Am now starting back. “With me are my man, Mathew Henson; Ahngmalokto, an Eskimo; sixteen dogs, and three sledges.

“This journey has been made under the auspices of, and with funds furnished by, the Peary Arctic Ctlub of New York City. “The membership of this Club comprises Morris K. Jesup, Henry W. Cannon, Herbert L. Bridgman, John H. Flagler, E. C. Benedict, James J. Hill, H. H. Benedict, Frederick E. Hyde, E. W. Bliss, H. H. Sands, J. M. Constable, Charles P. Daly, Henry Parish, A. A. Raven, E. B. Thomas, and others. “(Signed) R. E. PEARY, “Civil Engineer, U.S.N.” The fog kept company with us on our return almost continuously, until we had passed Lockwood Island, but, as we had a trail to follow, did not delay ns as much as the several inches of heavy snow that fell in a furious arctic blizzard, which came rushing in from the polar basin, and prisoned us for two days at Cape Bridgman. At Cape Jesup, the northern extremity, I erected a prominent cairn, in which I deposited the following record:

“Copy of Record in Cairn on Cape Jesup. “May 13, IBUO, 5 a.m. “Have just reached here frons Etah via Fort Conger. Left Etah 'Mai eh 4th; left Conger April 15th. Have with mo my man, Henson; an Eskimo, Ahngmalokto; 16 dogs, and three sledges; all in fair condition. Proceed to-day due north (true) over sea-ice. Fine weather. I am doing this work under the auspices of, and with funds furnished by, the

Peary Arctic Club of New York City. “(Signed) R. E. PEARY, “Civil Engineer U.S.N. “May 17.—Have returned to this point. Reached 83deg 50min North latitude, due north of here. Stopped by extremely rough ice intersected by water cracks. Water sky to north. Am now going east along the coast. Fine weather. “May 26.—Have again returned to this place. Reached point on east coast about North latitude 83deg. Open water all along the coast a few miles off. No land seen to north or east. Last seven days continuous fogs, wind, and snow. Is now snowing, with strong westerly wind. Temperature 20deg Fahrenheit. Ten musk-oxen killed east of here. Expect to start for Conger to-morrow.” Lockwood’s Record Carried North. At Cape Washington, also, I placed in a cairn a copy of Lockwood’s record, from the cairn at Loekwdod Island, with the following endorsement: “This copy of the record left by Lieutenant J. B. Lockwood and Sergeant (now Colonel) D. L. Brainard, U.S.A., in the cairn on Lockwood Island, south-west of here, May 16, 1882, is to-day placed by me in this cairn, on the farthest' land seen by them, as a tribute to two brave men, one of whom gave his life for his Arctic work. “May 29, 1900.” A Glimpse of the North Coast Mountains. For a few minutes in one of the marches the fog lifted, giving me a magnificent panorama of the North Coast Mountains. Very sombre and savage they looked, towering white as marble with the new fallen snow, under their low, threatening canopy o f lead-coloured clouds. Two herds of musk-oxen were passed, one of 15 and one of 18, and two or three stragglers. Four of these were shot for dog food, and the skin of one, killed within less than a mile of the extreme northern point, has been brought back as a trophy for the club. Ice Piled Mountain High by a Storm. Cnee free of the fog off Mary Murray*, Island, we made rapid progress, reaching Cape North in four marches from Capo Washington. Clear weather showed us the existence of open water n f>w miles off shore, extending from Dome Cape to Cape Washington. At Black Cape there was a large open water, reaching from the shore northward. Everywhere

along this coast I was impressed by the startling evidences of the violence of the blizzard of a few days before. The polar pack had been driven resistlessly in against the iron coast, and at every projecting point had risen to the crest of the ridge of old ice along the outer edge of the ice-foot, and pouring over this, had descended upon the ice-foot in a terrific cataract of huge blocks. In places these mountains of shattered ice were 100 ft or more in height. Tho old iee in the bays and fjords had had its outer edge loaded with a great ridge of ice fragments, and was itself cracked and crumpled into huge swells by the resistless pressure. All the young ice which had helped us on our outward passage had been crushed into countless ■fragments, and swallowed up in the general chaos. Though hampered by fog, the passage from Cape North to Cape Bryant was made in 254 marching hours. At 7 a.m. on the 6th of June ave camped on the end of the ice-foot, at the eastern end of the Black Horn Cliffs. A point a few hundred feet up the bluffs, commanding the region in front of the cliffs, showed it to be filled by small pieces of old ice, held in place against the shore by the pressure of the outside pack. It promised, at best, the heaviest kind of work, with a certainty that it would run abroad at the first release of pressure. A Dash Across Floating Broken Ice. The next day, when about one-third the way across, the ice did begin to open out, and it was only after a rapid and hazardous dash from cake to cake that w T e reached the old floe, which, after several hours of heavy work, allowed us to climb upon the ice-foot at the western end of the cliffs. From here on rapid progress was made again, three snore jmalrches- taking uB to Conger, where we arrived at 1.30 a.m., June 10, though the open water between Repulse Harbour and Cape Brevoort, which had now expanded down Robeson Channel to a point below Cape Sumner, hampered us seriously. In passing I took copies of the Beaumont English Records from the cairn at Repulse Harbour, and brought them back for the archives of the club. They form one of the finest chapters of the most splendid courage, fortitude, and endurance under dire stress of circumstances that is to be found in the history of Arctic explorations. Fain, Labour and Joy. We had been in the field from the 4 th of March until the 10th of June. From Etah to Cape North we had slept in snow igloos. From Cape North on, and during the return march, a light tent formed our shelter. From Etah to Conger, along the terrible iee-foot which borders the Grinnell Land coast, the work had been, of the most arduous and trying nature, and the weather through these eternally wind-swept channels extremely bitter. From Conger to Cape North there was a slight but imperceptible amelioration of conditions. From Cape Washington on, the glare of the summer sunlight became almost unendurable, and from Cape Jesup the east -wind, blowing full in our faces, burned them till they cracked. Only the continued use of the darkest glasses kept us from snow blindness. From Cape Bryant to Conger, on the return, our clothing was constantly saturated—at first only to a little above the knees, from traversing the pools on the ice-foot; later, from head to foot, m traversing the treacherous sea-iee in front of the Black Horn Cliffs, and at Cape Bryant, and under the cliffs of Cape Sumner. Yet, in spite of all the hard work, the discomforts, the annoyances, the uncertainties, the physical Wear and tear. I never felt before—l never expect to feel again—the same exhilaration of spirits, the same mental exaltation that I felt from the time we reached and passed eastward Cape Washington till we returned w it. It was a feeling which lifted nie above such petty things as weariness And hunger, aches and pains and bruises, Smarting eyes and face, and all the Other irritations of serious Arctic work. Right of Discovery. This whole grand coast, fronting the ventral Polar Basin, never before seen ®y human eye, was mine. Each jutting each ragged glacier, each snowK mountain, each spreading fjord, been dragged by me from obscurity,

and was mine by the great right of discovery. A mild form of lunacy, perhaps; yet the feeling has been in the heart of every man who has trodden for the first time on new lands, and will be in the hearts of a few more men yet before the earth yields up its last unknown mile. Peary'■ Greatest Achievement. In this journey I had determined conclusively the northern limit of the Greenland Archipelago or land group, and had practically connected the coast southeastward to Independence Bay, leaving only that comparatively short portion of the periphery of Greenland lying between Independence Bay and Cape Bismarck indeterminate. The non-existence of land for a very considerable distance to the northward and north-eastward was also settled, with every indication pointing to the belief that the coast along which we travelled formed the shore of an uninterrupted central polar sea, extending to the Pole, and 'beyond to tho Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land groups of the opposite hemisphere. The origin of the floebergs and paleocrystic ice was definitely determined. Further than this, the result of the journey was to eliminate this route as a desirable or practical one by which to reach the Pole. The broken character of the ice, the large amount of open water, and the comparatively rapid .motion of the iee as it swung round the northern coast into the southerlv setting east Greenland current, were very unfavourable features. Not the Way to the Pole. The complete change of character of the coast from Cape Jesup eastward is an interesting fact to be borne in mind. Another interesting item is the comparative abundance of game observed and secured along a coast which the experience of two previous expeditions had indicated as being practically barren of animal life. Two musk-oxen were killed by me in the Cape Bryant region in the upward march, and five by my supporting' party on their return. One bear, as already noted, was killed east of Cape Washington, and east of Cape Jesup 42 musk-oxen were seen, of which ten were secured. One hare was killed in this region, a wolf seen, and traces of lemming, ermine, and ptarmigan observed. Numbers of hare were killed in the neighbourhood of Repulse Harbour. 1902—Another Way to the Pole Tried. With the Greenland route eliminated, there yet remained the Cape Hecla route, and this I attempted in the spring of 1902. It is not necessary here to go into the details of this attempt, farther than to note that, as a result of added experience, perfected equipment, better acquaintance with the region traversed, and, in spite of the supposed handicap of its being my fourth consecutive year of Arctic work and life, the arduous journey from Cape Sabine to Conger was accomplished in 12 marches; the equally arduous, but shorter, journey from Conger to Hecla in eight more. I now found myself, after nearly 400 miles of travel in the. severest part of the Arctic

year, just at the beginning of my real work, the conquest of the polar pack. After fighting my way northward for fifteen days over a pack of extremely rugged character, the latter portion of the journey being over ice in motion (not motion sufficient, as has been erroneously understood, to carry me far out of my course; but sufficient, by the wheeling of the floes, to open up continually new leads, and form new pressure ridges across my route), I was driven to the conclusion that further advance for my party was impracticable. Personnel, equipment, and methods were satisfactory and effective, as evinced by our speedy and safe return, not only to Hecla, but also to Cape Sabine. When I say that I regarded further advance as impracticable, I mean that a rate of advance capable of producing the objects I had in view—namely, the Pole itself, or, if not that, a pronounced highest north—was not practicable under existing conditions, with a party of the size I had with me. How to Go to the Pole. So far am I from considering the general proposition of advance over the Polar pack impracticable that I have no hesitation in saying I believe that the man who, with the proper party, the proper equipment, and proper experience, can secure a base on the northern shore of Grinnell Land, and c m begin his work with the earliest returning light in February, will hold the Pole in bis grasp. As bearing upon the soundness of my conclusion, it is, I think, fair to note that I have already made four sledge journeys in these regions, of such length that the average air-line distance between the starting point and the terminus of the four is equal to the distance from the northern shore of Grinnell Land to the Pole. If it be contended that the character of the travelling is so different as to make the compai ison hardly a fair one, it may be said that increased experience, improved methods, and a large party, will, I believe, fully counterbalance this. The Pole Can and Will Be Reached. The proper method for an effective attack upon the Pole may 'be summed up in a paragraph, viz.: A strongly-built ship of maximum power; a minimum party, utilising the Eskimos exclusively for the rank and file; the establishment of a permanent station or sub-base at Sabine; the formation of a chain of caches from fjibine to Hecla; the establishment of a main base somewhere on the North Grinnell Land coast; forcing the ship to winter quarters there; the redistribution of the entire tribe of Whale Sound Eskimos, taking the picked men of the tribe on the ship, and distributing the others in a series of settlements along the Grinnell Land coast, with the rear on the perennial walrus grounds at Sonntag Bay and the head of certain summer navigation at Sabine, and the van at Hecla; and, finally, an advance, in the earliest returning light of February, from Hecla northward over the polar pack, with a small, light, pioneer party, followed by a large, heavy, main party, .from which at

intervals two or three sledges would drop out and return, until on the last stage there would be but two or three sledges left.