I 1 on i i)n ^ A«tUNIVtH% ^WKANCEl^A. \tt[UNIVfRJ/^ . , , ^ o '^/Sii3AINn-3VlV' %a3AIN!13WV^ -^tUBRARY<7/> ^UIBRARYO/ § 1 !<"' ^ ^OfCAUfORto ^OFCAlIFOff;^ "^(?Aavaan^# ■5 >—'» »- £? i ^^ojiivjjo'f^ ^''^mmyi^ I- 5 'Aavaai># ^<7Aav3!an# PJ 3 A«MV[RJ/A CO "^JJUDNVSOl^ ^lOSANCtlfx> o %a3AINft-3\\V^ ^.OFCAllFOff^ ^OFCAIIFO% ^OAHvaaiH^ >&Aavaani^''' ^ >>^ .WtUNIVlRiyA 5 P-* t= CO -^ , -^ =" a;^IIIBRARY<7/ a^MUBRARYQc 5 .\MfUNIVIRy/A vjclOSANCftfj;^ ^^ojnvjjo'^ :.^ ^OFCAllFORjfc ^OFCAllFOff^ ^^Aavaan# ^^w^UNlvERy/4 j^VOSANCElfjv f >-> — .% >&Aavaan# "^jjudnvsov^ "^jaAiNftJV^^ ^OFCAllFOff^ ^.OFCAllFOff^ ^Aavaani^ >&Aavaaiii^ ^IIIBRARYG< ^^WflNIVERJ/^ ^lOSAKCn/j-^ •^'■smmm^ %a3AINn-3WV^ ^lOSANCnf/^ c; CO so f- - -I ^lllBRARYO/r. ^lllBRARYQc^ ^' \oi\m-i'^^ ^OFCAIIFO% ^TOJITOJO"^ ^OFCA11FO% >- ^■lOSANCEl^^ )# %a3AiNniftv ^^ll!BRARY(9/ ^IUBRARY- ^lOSANCEl£r> , -< ^/ja3AiNn]ftV^ ^lOSANCElfx> 5 -< %a3AiNn3WV^ ^OFCAllFOff^ >&Aavaan# ^OF-CAUFORto ^• so ■^/sajAiNn-iftv^ .4? ."^HIBRARYQc. . 5!rtE UNIVEBX/a ^^vlOS•ANCEl^;> S 327 355 383 ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, AND DIAGRAMS IN VOL. I. PAGE ROBERT E. PEARY Frontispiece THE ARCTIC PACK xxviii HEADPIECE TO INTRODUCTION xxix ANGELO HEILPRIN xxxviii ISAAC J. WISIAR xl HENRY G BRYANT xliv MORRIS K. JESUP xlvi CHAS. P. DALY xlviii EMIL DIEBITSCH I CHAS. A. MOORE liv TAILPIECE Ixxx ON THE "GREAT ICE" 2 HEADPIECE 3 INSPECTOR NEILS ANDERSEN 4 FREDERICK 6 BLAESE DALE CATARACT 8 DANISH ESKIMO WOMAN g GREENLAND SMALL BOY 11 SOUTH COAST OF DISCO ISLAND, EAST OF GODHAVN . 12 BIVOUAC ON THE ICE-CAP 13 COASTING 15 ICE-CAP EQUIPMENT faces 16 PROFILE OF INLAND ICE, FROM HEAD OF PAKITSOK FJORD, EASTWARD 19 LARGE PURPLE BLOSSOMS 21 ESKIMO KAYAKERS EFFECTING A LANDING ... 22 ESKIMO K.WAKERS TRAVELLING OVERLAND ... 23 PANORAMA OF THE INLAND ICE, TOSSUKATEK FJORD AND GLACIER, AND DISCO BAY, GREENLAND . 25 HARBOUR OF ATANEKERDI.UK 26 ATANEKERDLUK FOSSIL-BEDS 27 CLIFF VIEW AT ATANEKERDLUK 29 THE GORGE AT ATANEKERDLUK 31 SCOTCH WHALER OFF IIIE WEST COA.ST .... 33 CAPTAIN ARTHUR JACKMAN OF THE " EAGLE" . . 34 CUMBERLAND SOUND NATIVES 35 ROUTE OF SUMMER VOYAGE, 18S6 37 GREENLAND ROUTE MAP 40 PORTRAITS OF GIBSON, VERHOEFF, DR. COOK, ASTRUP, AND HENSON 42 VOL. I. xvii xviii Illustrations PAGE HEADPIECE 43 CAP IAIN RICHARD PIKE OF THE " KITE" .... 44 CHIEF ENGINEER JARDINE, 2D ENGINEER McKINLEY, AND "BO'SUN" DUNPHY 46 TIM 47 COD-FISHING IN STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE .... 49 DECK SCENE AFTER HEAVY WEATHER .... 51 MRS. PEARY AND GROUP OF DANISH ESKIMO WOMEN AT GODHAVN 52 CLIMBING THE GODHAVN CLIFFS 54 THE PARTY AT THE CAIRN 55 A CRUISER OF THE ARCTIC WHITE SQUADRON . . 57 SANDERSON'S HOPE 58 ROUTE OF NORTH-GREENLAND EXPEDITION, 1891-2, TO AND FROM Mccormick bay 59 UPERNAVIK 61 THE PARTY AT THE DUCK ISLANDS 62 BESET IN THE MELVILLE-BAY PACK 64 MELVILLE BAY, JULY 4, 1891 66 POLAR BEAR 67 PANORAMA OF COA.ST FROM CAPE YORK TO CONICAL ROCK. BY EIVIND ASTRUP 69 IKWAH AND WALRUS 72 HEADPIECE 73 SITE OF RED CLIFF HOUSE 74 THE RED CLIFFS 75 RED CLIFF HOUSE 76 LOW TIDE 77 " THE D.\YS WERE VERY LONG " ■79 HENSON WITH R.A.VEN AND BLUE FOX .... 80 VICTIM AND VICTORS 81 WEIGHING UP A WALRUS 83 UNTOLD WEALTH 85 CRIPPLE BE.^CH 86 ARCTIC HOUSE-BUILDING 87 REST AFTER LABOUR 89 HARPOON PRACTICE UNDER DIFFICULTIES ... 91 ANNADOR 92 GREENLAND FALCON 94 THE "FAITH" 96 HEADPIECE 97 HAKLUYT ISLAND, WITH NORTHUMBERLAND IN THE DISTANCE 99 WALRUS IN MURCHISON SOUND loi THE FIRST NATIVE 102 ESKIMO FAMILY AND TENT, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND 103 ESKIMO IGLOO, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND, FRONT VIEW 105 ESKIMO IGLOO, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND, REAR VIEW 106 PLAN AND SECTION OF NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND IGLOOS loS ESKIMOS ON NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND . . . .no NATIVES AND FOREIGNERS 112 Illustrations xix ESKIMO VILLAGE OF KEATE, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND 113 TENT VILLAGE, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND . . .116 JOSEPHINE GLACIER, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND . . 118 WESTERN GLACIER, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND . . 119 WITH THE WALRUS AT CAPE CLEVELAND . . . .121 IKWAH CUTTING UP THE WALRUS 123 WANING OF THE SUMMER DAY 126 HEADPIECE 127 "THE EAST WIND WAS WHISTLING OUT OF THE BAY". 12S F(ETAL GLACIERS 130 PANORAMA OF McCORMICK BAY 131 FIRST HANGING GLACIER 132 PACKING SUPPLIES TO THE ICE-CAP 134 DASHING UPON THE WALRUS 135 MRS. PEARY 137 WALRUS 139 WALRUS HEAD 140 AMPHITHEATRE BERG 143 THE BOAT CAMP— EXTERIOR 145 THE BOAT CAMP— INTERIOR 146 GLACIER OF THE SCARLET HEART 148 THE FIVE-GLACIER-VALLEY PARTY STARTING . . 149 THE FIVE-GLACIER-VALLEY PARTY RETURNING OCT. 18TH 151 NOWDINGYAH 152 "HORACE GREELEY" AND " SAIREY GAMP" - I54 AHNGODOBLAHO 158 HEADPIECE 159 RED CLIFF IN THE WINTER NIGHT 160 IKWAH'S MANSION 161 MEGIPSU 163 KYOAHPADU 165 THE TIDE GAUGE 166 VERHOEFF READING TIDE GAUGE 167 " RED CLIFF WAS SINKING INTO A HUGE DRIFT" . . 169 THE SMILER 170 AHNINGAHNAH 171 TOOKUMINGWAH 171 "SAIREY GAMP" I73 ADULT MAN I74 ADULT WOMAN 174 BOY 175 GIRL 176 CHILD 176 TAILPIECE 177 ANNAHWEE 180 HEADPIECE 181 CHRISTMAS MENUS 182 KUDLAH (MISFORTUNE) 184 MYAH (THE WHITE MAN) 185 THE VILLAIN 185 INALOO 186 OOTUNIAH 1S7 THE LIBRARY 188 XX Illustrations PAGE THE WRITING-DESK 190 THE BED igi THE WASHSTAND 193 NIPSANGWAH 194 TAHWANA 195 TAILPIECE 196 KOMONAHPIK 198 HEADPIECE 199 THE PATH TO THE ICE-CAP 200 DIGGING OUT 202 SUNRISE CAMP 203 MOONLIGHT ON THE ICE-CAP 205 SUNRISE ON THE '■ GREAT ICE" 206 THE DENUDED CLIFFS 208 "EVERY BOULDER CASED IN ICE" 210 JOSEPHINE HEADLAND SWIMMING IN PURPLE LIGHT . 211 RED CLIFF HOUSE AFTER THE STORM . . . .213 AMONG THE RUINS 215 EFFECTING REPAIRS 217 TAILPIECE 218 WOMAN AND CHILD 220 HEADPIECE 221 TACK 222 SHOEING A SLEDGE WITH ICE . 223 SHOEING A SLEDGE WITH ICE 224 MATT AND ANNOWKAH RETURNING FROM THE DEER HUNT 227 SECTION OF ICE-SHOE 228 ESKIMO BITCH AND PUPPIES 229 ICE-CAP BEYOND FOUR-MILE VALLEY 230 KOKO 231 THE WIDOW NUIKINGWAH 232 THE WIDOWS MITE 234 EASTERN END OF HERBERT ISLAND 235 THE FIRST LOAD FOR THE ICE-CAP 236 TALAKOTEAH AND HIS FAMILY 237 FRANK. THE RETURNING PRODIGAL 239 MY ESKIMO MAIL-CARRIER 240 SOME OF MY DOGS 241 ESKIMO NAMES OF PARHELIA 243 ESKIMO SLEDGE-TRAVELLER AND DOGS . . . .246 HEADPIECE 247 PANIKPA AND HIS FAMILY 248 AT THE SNOW VILLAGE ....... 249 MAP OF SLEDGE JOURNEY, APRIL iS-24, 1892 . . .250 INHABITANTS OF THE SNOW VILLAGE 2';2 NETIULUMI 253 KEATE PEOPLE 255 THE POPULATION OF NETIULUMI 256 MERKTOSHAR 257 PANIKPA'S IGLOO 259 KIRSIRVIARSU 260 MY SLEEPING TEAM 261 Illustrations xxi PAGE UON ISLANDS 263 ROCK STRATIFICATION 264 FACE OF HEILPRIN GLACIER 265 TAHWANA AND HIS FAMILY 267 FACE OF HURLBUT GLACIER 268 GORGE OF HURLBUT GLACIER 270 BACK TO RED CLIFF 272 TAILPIECE 273 DOGS 276 HEADPIECE 277 THE START FROM RED CLIFF 278 THE CAMP ON THE BLUFFS 27g PACKING 281 UP THE RAVINE 282 FIRST IGLOO ON THE ICE-CAP 283 THE CARAVAN IN LINE 285 A HALT FOR LUNCH 286 SUPPER IN CAMP 288 GIBSON, TEAM AND SLEDGE 289 DR. COOK. TEAM AND SLEDGE 291 ASTRUP, TEAM AND SLEDGE 292 SNOW IGLOO AT HUMBOLDT GLACIER 293 ON THE MARCH 294 GIBSON AND DR. COOK STARTING BACK . . . .296 TAILPIECE 297 THE HOUR BEFORE SUPPER 300 HEADPIECE 301 WITH THE GUIDON 302 ASTRUP AND MY DOGS 304 LIKE A GREAT BED OF WHITE LAVA 305 CREVASSE OF THE "GREAT ICE" 307 ICE-MOUND, PETERMANN BASIN 30S A TYPICAL CAMP 309 NALEGAKSOAH 311 A BREAK-DOWN 313 HARD TIMES 314 IN THE DEEP-SNOW REGION 315 BETTER GOING 317 SETTING THE COURSE 318 THE NORTHERN LAND 319 THE NORTHERN MORAINE 321 MUSK-OX RENDEZVOUS 322 MY PADDED KAMIKS 324 TAILPIECE 325 NAVY CLIFF 328 HEADPIECE 329 DOWN OVER THE ROCKS 330 EXHAUSTED WITH THE HEAT 331 SOURCE OF THE ACADEMY GLACIER 333 NUNATAKS OF THE ACADEMY GLACIER . . . .334 WAVE-MARKED SANDSTONE 335 MY FIRST MUSK-OXEN 337 MUSK-OX SHEDDING WINTER COAT 339 xxii Illustrations PAGE ROYAL BANQUET OF MY DOGS . . . . . . .341 CAMP MUSK-OX 343 VIEW FROM NAVY CLIFF 344 ACADEMY GLACIER AND INDEPENDENCE BAY . . .346 THE STARS AND STRIPES AT NAVY CLIFF . . , .348 PANORAMA NORTH-NORTHWEST FROM NAVY CLIFF, faces 348 BESIDE A BABBLING BROOK 351 MAP OF INDEPENDENCE BAY 353 TAILPIECE 354 SAILING ON THE "GREAT ICE" 356 HEADPIECE 357 PACKING FOR THE RETURN 358 STORM CAMP 359 PANIKPA 361 THE KITCHEN 363 POLLUX 365 SAILING 367 FORE-AND-AFTER'S 368 SOLITUDE 369 CROSSING PRUDHOE LAND 371 A HEAD-WIND 372 ON THE HOME STRETCH 373 ON THE SUMMIT OF DOME MOUNTAIN . . . .375 PROF. HEILPRIN AND PARTY 377 A BEACON 378 DOWN THE LAST SLOPE 380 THE " KITE" FLOATING SNUGLY AT ANCHOR . . .381 TAILPIECE 382 FACE OF BOWDOIN CILACIER 384 HEADPIECE 3S5 MAP OF BOAT VOYAGE INGLEFIELD GULF . . . .386 "WE MET MY BOYS" 387 CAPE CLEVELAND 388 FAN GLACIER 389 KARNAH GLACIER 389 KARNAH 390 A TITAN WATCH TOWER 391 SOUTH GLACIER 392 WEST OR GNOME GLACIER 393 VIEW AT HEAD OF BOWDOIN BAY 394 EAST GLACIER 395 CASTLE CLIFFS 395 FACE OF HUBBARD GLACIER 396 MOUNT ADAMS 397 MOUNT PUTNAM 398 THE BRONZE SPHINX 399 HART OR LIZARD GLACIER 400 ICE-WAVES OF THE MELVILLE GLACIER . . . .401 TRACY GLACIER 402 ORIENT CLIFFS OF JOSEPHINE-PEARY ISLAND . . .403 ERRATICS ON SUMMIT OF JOSEPHINE-PEARY ISLAND . 404 MRS. PEARY AND HER KAHLILLOWAH . . . .405 LOOKING OUT OF ACADEMY BAY 406 Illustrations xxiii PAGE THE ICEBERG BREAKWATER 407 LEIDY GLACIER 408 ICEBERG IN WAIGATT 410 HEADPIECE 411 '■MANY WERE THE INTERESTING GROUPS" . . .412 MRS. PEARY DISTRIBUTING HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS . 413 PRICELESS TREASURES FROM PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS 414 FAREWELL TO OUR GREENLAND HOME . . . .415 THE GIANT OF ATANEKERDLUK 416 VERDANT RAVINE AT ATANEKERDLUK . . . .41? THE PROFESSOR 418 GODHAAB 4ig CHAPEL AT GODHAAB 420 MORAVIAN MISSION 421 SOMERSAULT IN KAYAK 421 lUMPING ONE KAYAK OVER ANOTHER . . .422 "THE HARBOUR PICTURESQUE IN NIGHT SHADOWS . 423 FIRE-SWEPT ST. JOHN'S 424 SOUTHWARD WITH BELLYING SAILS .• ... 425 "OUR FRIENDS COMING TO MEET US" . . . .426 VERHOEFF AND TIDE GAUGE 428 HEADPIECE 429 TAILPIECE 437 ECLIPSE OF MIDNIGHT SUN 442 HEADPIECE 443 CAPE YORK 444 THE CRIMSON CLIFFS 445 CONICAL ROCK 445 AKPANI CLIFFS 446 DALRYMPLE ROCK 447 SAUNDERS ISLAND 448 OOMUNUI 449 HAKLUYT ISLAND 450 CHANNEL BETWEEN NORTHUMBERLAND AND HAKLUYT ISLANDS 451 HEADLANDS OF NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND . . .452 FAST IN THE ICE 453 ROOKERY OF LITTLE AUKS 454 ICE-CAP AND GLACIERS OF HERBERT ISLAND . . .455 SCULPTURED CLIFFS OF KARNAH 456 CASTLE CLIFFS 457 SOUTH GLACIER 458 MT. BARTLETT 459 SENTINEL NUNATAK 460 VALLEY SCENE, HEAD OF BOWDOIN BAY . . . .461 ARCTIC FLOWERS 462 ARCTIC FLOWERS 4^3 KAHKOKTAH GLACIER 464 GLACIER MARGIN 465 TYPICAL STRATIFICATION AND DIP 466 CAPE ALEXANDER 4^7 JUNE IN BOWDOIN BAY 468 COAST WEST OF HUBBARD GLACIER 469 xxiv Illustrations PAGE CHARACTERISTIC GLACIER SNOUT 470 CLIFFS OF KANGERDLOOKSOAH 471 NUNATAKS 472 LITTLETON ISLAND FROM SITE OF POLARIS HOUSE . . 473 NORTH SHORE, LITTLETON AND McGARY ISLANDS . . 474 CAIRN POINT 475 A SMITH-SOUND ESKIMO 478 HEADPIECE 47g ATUPIK 480 AHSAYOO 481 MALE ETHNOLOGICAL SERIES 482 WIFE OF SORER 483 EATING RAW WALRUS MEAT 484 TUNGWINGWAH AND HER BABY 485 FEMALE ETHNOLOGICAL SERIES 486 "MISS BILL" 487 FIGURE OF EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL 488 NUPSAH 489 NUPSAH 490 GROUP OF ESKIMO WOMEN 491 WRESTLING 492 BOXING • 493 ARM PULL 494 COSTUME OF AN ESKIMO WOMAN 495 WRIST PULL 496 TUG OF WAR 497 ESKIMOS IN THEIR KAYAKS 498 POOADLOONAH 499 MOTHER OF SEALS 500 BRAIDING A BOWSTRING 501 STRETCHING A SEALSKIN TO DRY 502 MAKING A HARPOON LINE 503 STRETCHING A HARPOON LINE 504 GRAVE OF A HUNTER 505 FACE CARVED FROM VERTEBRA OF NARWHAL . . .506 KOODLOOKTOO 507 PREFACE. THIS narrative has been written to supply a com- plete authentic record of my Arctic work, — a record which I owed it to my family, my friends, and myself to put in permanent form. It is my first and only book, and it covers all my Arctic work. It contains the cream of my Arctic material, liter- ary and pictorial. The reader will find no padding. My constant aim has been condensation. The reader will find neither rcsiiiiics of previous work, nor con- stant reference to other explorers. This is not be- cause I do not appreciate their magnificent achieve- ments, and have not profited by the experience of Kane, Hayes, Hall, Greely, Melville, and the long list of my gallant countrymen, as well as those of other countries, my predecessors, but because I have no room or right to rehash their experiences and results. The interested reader can go to their original narra- tives, and there learn, in their own words, as much or as little of their work as he pleases. As to constant comparisons with the work of others, the cursory reader will not care for these. The specialist can make them himself. The constant incentive in my work has been an ineradicable feeling that I saw something before me worthy and possible of accomplishment, and that I could never have content until it was done, or that I had satisfied myself that I was not the one to do it. XXVI Preface " While it is hoped the narrative itself will not be lacking in attractiveness, yet I feel, outside of this, that it and the accurate and profuse illustrations, most of which are not only " pictures," but typical studies of the features and objects which they represent, will prove of pronounced educational value in showing what the Arctic regions, with their inhabitants and the phases of life there, are really like. While I have endeavoured in these pages to care- fully sum up the general aspects and results of my work, I desire it to be clearly understood that I have made no attempt to have the data I accumulated set forth with scientific fulness and detail. It has been my aim to make this book worthy of and adapted for the most general reading, yet at the same time to give it a character that may, I trust, secure for it the attention of Arctic students and scien- tific specialists. My Expeditions have gathered valuable scientific material in ethnology, meteorology, geography, and natural history. This material has not as yet been digested and collated by experts. When it has it will be presented in monograph form. Dependent upon the results of my coming Expe- dition, this book will clear the field for something further, or will form the complete record of my Arctic work. R. E. PEARY, Civil Engineer, United States Navy. New York, May, 1898. INTRODUCTION. a. H (J <: Id X (- INTRODUCTION. M'^' Arctic work com- prises : 1st. A summer voyage and reconnais- sance of the Greenland Inland Ice, 1886. 2d. A thirteen-months' sojourn in Northern Greenland, including a t \v e 1 V e -h u n d r e d - m i 1 e sledge journey across the ice-cap, and the determin- ation of the insularity of Greenland, 1891-92. ^d. A twenty-five-months' stay in North Greenland, including a second twelve-hundred-mile sledge jour- ney across the ice-cap, the completion of the study of the Whale-Sound natives, a detail survey of that region, and the discovery of the great Cape-York meteorites, 1893-95. 4tli. Summervoyages in 1896 and 1897, including the securing of the last and the largest of the great Cape-York meteorites, the 90-ton mass. Before taking up these expeditions in their order, I will attempt to bring home to the reader a realistic conception of what the land which has been the scene of action is actually like. Stretching southward over the swelling bosom of the earth, Greenland is the pendent brooch in the XXX Introduction glittering necklace of snow and ice which circles the North Pole. It is an Arctic island-continent, the most interesting of Arctic lands ; a land of startling contrasts ; a land of midnight suns and noonday nights ; of tropical skies and eternal ice ; of mountains with sides still tinged with the deep warm glow of ancient volcanic fires, and summits hidden beneath caps of everlasting snow. I fancy most of my readers will be surprised to learn that Greenland has a history accented by events as stranofe as its own midnieht sunliorht and far-stretch- ing snow-fields. Nine hundred years ago, Erik, an Iceland outlaw, discovered the country and named it Greenland, " be- cause," he said, "people would sooner be induced to go thither in case it had a good name." Shrewd old land agent ! From the colony founded by him, his son Lief and other restless spirits sallied forth to the discovery of the New World. Centuries after, from these iceberg-haunted seas, went forth, it is said, a gleaming pile of walrus tusks, tribute for the Crusades. Then a hostile fleet descended upon the colonies, and ravished away many of the inhabitants, to replace those carried off by the plague, or " black death," in Europe. Strange anomaly — Greenland repopulating Europe ! Finally, the last of the shipmasters who knew the route to Greenland were assassinated by German merchants to whom they refused to sell their cargoes, and Greenland in the fifteenth century dropped out of the world and was absolutely forgotten before the voyages of Columbus. A century or more later, Davis rediscovered the " Land of Desolation," but the colonists had disap- peared, and to-day, though the Danes occupy nearly all the inhabitable land in Greenland, only scattered Introduction xxxi ruins of houses and churches have been found, and these are mute as to the mysterious fate of their former inhabitants. Geographically and topographically, Greenland has been, since the day its black cliffs loomed through the Arctic fog upon the eyes of Erik, a land of mystery, and a source of constantly increasing interest and speculation. It has been traced farther into the terra incognita that encompasses the Pole than any other land on the globe, and there are reasons for thinking that its northern headland may be one abutment of a bridge of islands, over which, through years of Arctic summer day and winter night, a portion of the human race slowly migrated from Siberia, via the Pole, to this hemisphere. Its interior is the last of those glacial conditions which for ages submerged northern Europe, and northern North America, in its icy flood. Its northern shores are famous with the names of Americans who have dra^cred its sable headlands and oo icy bays out of the Arctic fog and night. From Cape Farewell, its southern extremity, in the same latitude as Christiania, St. Petersburg, and Mount St. Elias, to Cape Washington, its northern- most known limit, in latitude 83° 38' N., the distance is fifty miles greater than the extreme width of the United States, from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the 49th parallel. It is probable, however, that its northern limit is near or within the 85th parallel, in which case its extreme length is some 1739 statute miles, about the same as the air-line distance from Washington to the City of Mexico. From Cape Hatherton, its most westerly, to Cape Bismarck, its most easterly, known limit, is six hundred and ninety miles. xxxii Introduction Its area is from 740,000 to 750,000 square miles, about the same as tliat of Mexico, and four times the area of the New England and Middle States. No less than four-fifths of this area, or 600,000 square miles, equivalent to three times the area of France or the German Empire, and thirteen times the area of Pennsylvania, is covered by the Inland Ice. The population of the country is about ten thousand. Two or three hundred of this number are Danes lo- cated south of 7T,^° N. Lat., and the Danish Crown has a fleet of six or eight ships, for transporting the blubber, eiderdown, ivory, and furs obtained in the southern part of the country. The coast is bold and mountainous, cut by numerous deep fjords, and protected by an advance guard of out- lying rocky islands. Some of these fjords extend inland a distance of sixty to eighty miles, and many of them are the outlets of great glacier streams from the Inland Ice. But it is in the character of its interior that the chief interest centres. We all have a general idea of Green- land, and know that its interior is covered with snow and ice, yet the actual facts are so different from any- thing existing in lower latitudes, so entirely dissimilar from anything with which we are personally acquainted, and which we might use as a foundation from which to start our conception, that I doubt if one in ten, even of the best-read, has a true conception of the actuality of this great glacial continent. All there is of land, as we understand the term, in Greenland, is a ribbon five to twenty-five (and in one or two places sixty to eighty) miles in width, along the coast, made up of mountains and valleys and deep branching fjords ; surrounded by the Arctic Sea, play- ground of the iceberg and the pack ice, and itself in turn surrounding and supporting, like aTitan dam, the great Introduction xxxiii white ice-cap beneath which the interior of the coun- try is buried. Wlien I saj' this, I am sure most of us immediately think of some particularly mountain- ous region with which we are familiar, as for instance the Rockies, the Sierras, the Alps, or the Pyrenees, covered several hundred feet deep in snow and ice, yet still retaining the original irregularities of the region. Such a mental picture, however, would in no way represent the conditions of interior Greenland. There, the accumulated snow precipitation of cen- turies, in a latitude and altitude where it is practically correct to say that it never rains and the snow does not melt even in the long summer day, has gradually filled all the valleys of the interior, until it has levelled them even with the mountain summits, and still piling higher through the centuries, has at last buried the highest of these mountain summits hundreds and even thousands of feet deep in snow and ice. The interior of Greenland to-day is simply an ele- vated unbroken plateau of snow, lifted from five thousand to eight thousand and even ten thousand feet above the level of the sea ; a huge white glistening shield some twelve hundred miles in length and five hundred miles in width, resting on the supporting mountains. It is an Arctic Sahara, in comparison with which the African Sahara is insignificant. Fot on this frozen Sahara of inner Greenland occurs no form of life, animal or vegetable ; no fragment of rock, no grain of sand is visible. The traveller across its frozen wastes, travelling as I have week after week, sees, outside of himself and his own party, but three things in all the world, namely, the infinite expanse of the frozen plain, the infinite dome of the cold blue sky, and the cold white sun, — nothings but these. The traveller, too, across this frozen desert knows that at no time during his journey are the high- xxxiv Introduction est rocks of the mountain summits below liim nearer than from one thousand to five thousand feet down through the mighty blanket of snow. Such is the in- terior of Greenland, and it is upon the surface of this uplifted desolation, in nearly straight lines, at a constant elevation of from five thousand to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, that my sledge journeys have been made, in widest contradistinction to the road of the usual Arctic sledge-party, the frozen sur- face of the polar sea at the sea-level, along and out- side of the ragged periphery of an Arctic coast-line. In the fall of 1885, I had completed my work on the maps and plans of the Government Nicaragua In- teroceanic Ship-Canal Survey, from which I had re- turned the previous summer, and affairs had taken on an aspect which made it seem as if the project would inevitably be postponed indefinitely. Something was necessary to occupy my leisure from Navy-Yard routine, and take the place of the subject to which I had devoted my surplus energy for the past six years. One evening, in one of my favourite haunts, an old book-store in Washington, I came upon a fugitive paper on the Inland Ice of Greenland. A chord, which, as a boy, had vibrated intensely in me at the reading of Kane's wonderful book, was touched again. I read all I could upon the subject, noted the conflict- ing e.xperiences of Nordenskjold. Jensen, and the rest, and felt that I must see for myself what the truth was of this great mysterious interior. My summer voyage to Greenland in 1886 and re- connaissance of the Inland Ice (Part I. of this narra- tive) was the outcome. In a paper read before the National Academy of Sciences at Washington, April 23, 1886, occurs the followine : Introduction xxxv " After a perusal of these attempts [to explore the Inland Ice], the truth of the following statement will, I think, be apparent, viz. : Not one single determined effort having for its goal the east coast of Greenland has ever been made, and there is nothing to show that an intelligent and determined effort and the de- votion of an entire season to the work would not be crowned with success. The question that naturally arises then is, how can it be done ? " There are two ways : one is to start from, say, Auleitsivik Fjord, and travel south-easterly to the coast south of Cape Dan, then to follow the coast round Cape Farewell to the settlements. This might take two seasons to accomplish, as, after reaching the coast, one would necessarily, to a large extent, be de- pendent on the movements of the natives. The dis- tance across at this point is, however, less than four hundred statute miles, and I have not the slightest doubt but that, by starting at the right season of a favourable year, the distance across and back could be accomplished in one summer. " The other, more arduous, but at the same time more attractive, route has for its origin Whale Sound or vicinity, and for its finish, a point on the unknown east coast near the 8oth parallel, and this route I believe to be the key to the solution of the Greenland problem. This, I believe, is the way by which not only the crossing of Greenland but the delineation and closing of its coast-line will be accomplished." In an interview before starting, published in the New York Herald, May 8, 1886, appears the following : " For the accomplishment of the simple feat of crossing, he [Peary] believes a route from Nordensk- jold's base at Auleitsivik Fjord, in a south-easterly direction to the east coast near the Graah Islands, south of Cape Dan, offers facilities superior perhaps xxxvi Introduction to any other. The distance is less than four hundred miles, and though there is a possibility that the trip out and back might, with an early start and under very favourable circumstances, be made in a season, the chances are that the return would be made along the coast to Cape Farewell. " A third route, in which the fact of crossing to the east coast would be of secondary importance, a step to something- more, has for its origin Whale Sound or vicinity, and for its finish a point on the unknown east coast near the 8oth parallel. This route, once shown to be practicable, would be the key to the solution of the Greenland problem, and would be the way by which the delineation and closing of the coast- line of Greenland will be accomplished, with the least risk and at the least expense." It will be observed that the route by which Nansen attempted to cross Greenland in 1888, is here pointed out, and that my own journey from Whale Sound to Independence Bay, accomplished in 1892, was already fully developed in my mind. Returning from my reconnaissance, full of enthusi- astic plans for accomplishing the crossing of Green- land and then attacking the problem of its northern extension, I found the Nicaragua project infused with new life and blood, and the next two years of my time were devoted to it, part of the time at home, part in command of the Locating Expedition in Nicaragua. Returning from this work, I was detailed to League Island, Philadelphia, in charge of the construction of the timber dry dock, about to be commenced at the Navy Yard there. A brief paper covering my sum- mer's work, noting my deductions, and formulating my comprehensive plan for the overland exploration of Greenland was published in the Bulletin oj Ike Introduction xxxvii Aniei'uan Geographical Society for December, 1886. In 1888, Nansen effected the crossing of Southern Greenland, starting on the shortest of my indicated routes, but being compelled to modify his plans and finally crossing on a route two hundred and eighty miles long. This forestalling of my work' was a serious blow to me ; but my duty to the Service left me helpless, and I could only fall back upon the other northern route. Needless to say my project was always with me, and as soon as the dry dock neared completion I put my plan in formal shape, and presented it for the con- sideration and endorsement of prominent societies and individuals : Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, American Geographical Society, National Geographical Society, and Brooklyn Institute. It was unanimously endorsed by all these, and the Navy Department having been sounded informally, I sent in an application for eighteen months' leave, accom- panied by a brief of my project and the strongest let- ters from Judge Daly, Professors Leidy, Putnam, Adams, and others. My object was to reach and determine the northern limit of Greenland overland, i. e., across the Inland Ice. The salient features of my plan were : First and foremost, the utilisation of the elevated surface of the great interior sea of ice lying within the coast-land ribbon, as a direct and imperial high- way to the point of destination. Second, a party of minimum size. Third, entire reliance upon the game of the region ' " Peary and Maigaard, with their scanty equipment, had made a highly suc- cessful inroad upon the Greenland ice-field, intended, as Peary had expressly stated in his brief narrative, merely as a preliminary reconnaissance. A'aiisen had no time to lose if lie did not want to fie anticipated." — Fridtiof Nansen, Longmans, Green, & Co., 1896, p. 160. ^i.^ ^vi^^-T- Introduction xxxix about my base, or headquarters, for the meat-supply of my part)'. Fourth, extreme lightness and compactness of sledges and equipment, rendered possible by the sur- face to be traversed. Fifth, the presence of the leader of the Expedition in the van of exploration. My application was favourably endorsed by the Commandant at League Island, Captain H. B. Seeley, U. S. N. ; by the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Commodore Norman H. Parquhar, U. S. N., hero of the Samoan disaster ; and was immediately granted by the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Benj. F. Tracy. The American Geographical Society then appro- priated $1000; Professor Putnam assigned $1000 for an ethnological exhibit for the Columbian Expo- sition ; the New York Sun offered $1000 for letters; Verhoeff contributed $2000 ; and Professor Heilprin, of the Philadelphia Academy, organised an auxiliary expedition, the members of which contributed amounts which, together with smaller amounts from various friends and a few thousand dollars of my own, per- mitted the fitting out of my North-Greenland Expe- dition of 1891-92, and the chartering of a ship to take it north. An explicit statement is necessary here to correct erroneous impressions. The Philadelphia Academy was the first institution to which my project was pre- sented, and the first to endorse and commend it, which it did in warm and unequivocal terms. As an institution, however, the Academy never appropriated or contributed a dollar to the Expedition. Members of the Academy, in their private capacity, did con- tribute powerfully, both in work and money, towards its success. y^^^^di^J^^^U^ — Introduction xli To the personal interest, friendship, and intense en- ergy and push of Prof. Angelo Heilprin, Curator of the Academy, was I indebted, more than to any other one person, not only for the official action of the Academy, but for the unofficial interest and efforts of its members, which assured the balance of the funds necessary to make the affair a success. To the late distinguished President Leidy and the Council of the Academy of National Sciences of Philadelphia ; to Prof. F". W. Putnam, of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science ; to Judge Charles P. Daly, President of the American Geographical Society ; to Prof. F. W. Hooper, Di- rector of the Brooklyn Institute ; to President Adams and the E.xecutive Committee of the Geographical Department of the Brooklyn Institute ; to Professors Lee and Young and the President and other mem- bers of the faculty of Bowdoin College, my Alma Mater, I was indebted for cordial and most valuable endorsement of my project. To Secretary Tracy I was indebted for my leave, for his approval of my project, and for his kindly in- terest in my plans ; and to Commodore Farquhar and Chief-Engineer Melville, chiefs, respectively, of the Bureaus of Yards and Docks, and Steam Engi- neering, for kindly offices which no others were in a position to render so effectively. To the National Geographic Society I am under obligations for its interest in my work, and to the So- ciety and Miss Ulrica Dahlgren for a beautiful flag, to be carried to the "farthest." Though friends in the Portland Society of Natural History, and others, accompanied their wishes for success with tangible enclosures, it was to the Ameri- can Geographical Society, and particularly to the efforts of the active, enthusiastic members of the North- xlii Introduction Greenland Committee of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Professors Leidy, Sharp, Heil- prin, and Brinton, Mr. Hart, and Drs. Ruschen- berger and McCook, that I was indebted for the sinews of war necessary, in addition to my own re- sources, to fit out my Expedition. And when the unlooked-for point-blank refusal of the Dundee whaling companies and the director of the Greenland trade to give my party transportation to Greenland in any of their vessels, on any terms, made it necessary to charter a vessel for the purpose, Professor Putnam, in behalf of his Department of Ethnology of the World's Fair, Mr. Verhoeff, and the organisation by Professor Heilprin of a party of scientific men to make a summer scientific cruise, as- sured the additional funds necessary to meet the more than doubled expense. Thus the North-Greenland Expedition of 1891-92. (Part II.) After my return from this Expedition, on the Kite, which again, through the indefatigable en- ergy and efforts of Professor Heilprin and friends in the Academy had been sent for me, — though I felt my friends were right in saying that I had accomplished a brilliant feat in my long sledge journey, — I was far from satisfied. I felt that there was still further im- portant work to be done in the north, and now, while the iron was hot, and I armed with the experience already gained. An important factor in this connection was a prop- osition made by Major Jas. B. Pond, the widely known lecture impresario, in regard to a series of lectures. This proposition promised to yield me the funds for another expedition, which should be on a more pre- tentious scale than the first. But for this I needed an additional leave, which I had reason to believe would not be readily granted. Introduction xliii I approached Dr. Nolan, Secretary of the Acad- emy. His advice was: " See the President, General Wistar. If he favours your scheme he can assist you in obtaining your leave ; if not, the Academy will take no steps." My interview with General Wistar took place the same day. At its close he said : " I believe you should have the opportunity to carry out your project. On the understanding that the Acad- emy will not be called upon for any money, its endow- ment not being lawfully available for this purpose, and will not be responsible for the risks to yourself and companions, I will use my best efforts to obtain your leave." With this powerful influence in my favour, I felt the thing already done. Assisted by his friends, Drs. Chapman and Dixon of the Academy, General Wistar presented the matter to the Navy Department in such a convincing light that the Secretary, Hon. B. F. Trac)', at once granted me three years' leave. This was November, 1892. I had six months in which to raise the funds, organise my party, and equip and fit my Expedition. It was too much work for the time, and though it was done, some of it was not care- fully done. This applies specially to the selection of my party. Carried away by enthusiasm, and with no time in the rapid whirl of effort for a calm considera- tion of the matter, I made the fatal mistake of taking, contrary to my expressed theory, a large party. I found, when too late, that I had very little suitable timber for Arctic work in it. From my lectures, of which I delivered one hundred and si.xty-eight in ninety-six days, I raised $13,000; Mrs. Peary put in all the money received for her books ; the American Geographical Society again con- tributed $1000 ; the New York Sjui doubled its offer of the previous year, for letters ; and receipts from other sources amounted to two or three thousand. ^yrf-'i'VJ^ ^. fo fMj^table, and that other sub- scriptions, sufficient to warrant the undertaking, are secured by Mr. Peary. Respectfully submitted, Bancroft Gherardi. \ Charles P. Daly, [■ Commitlee. Chandler Robbins, ) New York, February 20, 1897. Introduction Iv The immediate outcome of that leave was the voy- age of last summer the Sixth Peary Expedition (Part v.), in virhich the work of instructing my natives as to the coming year, in accordance with my programme, was successfully accomplished, and the great meteor- ite also safely brought home. In conclusion, the men to whose personal interest, efforts, and influence has been due, more than to any- one else, my ability to undertake my various voyages, are in chronological order : Prof. Angelo Heilprin of Philadelphia, President of the Geographical Club of Philadelphia, formerly Curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences ; General I. J. Wistar of Philadelphia, President of the P. R. R. Coal & Canal Co., and late President of the Philadelphia Acad- emy of Natural Sciences ; President Morris K. Jesup of the American Museum of Natural History, New York ; and Charles A. Moore, of Brooklyn. Aiding and assisting^ these were President H. W. Cannon, and Vice-President Jas. G. Cannon of New York, Hon. Francis Wilson of Brooklyn, and others whose names I am not at liberty to mention here ; and standing in solid line ready to use the weight of their influence in my favour, and to aid in every way, morally and financially, throughout the entire time, were Judge Daly, President of the Geographical Society, and his Council ; Chief-Engineer Geo. W. INIelville, U. S. N., Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering ; the New York Stm ; Cyrus C. Adams, and H. L. Bridgman. Never was a man more fortunate in his friends than I. It is impossible to enumerate them all. To the societies and friends who gave me, when I needed help, the moral and material support required to place my enterprise on its feet, I owe a debt of gratitude which I may acknowledge here, but can never adequately discharge. No one but myself knows how Ivi Introduction potent their aid was to me ; and it is with heartfelt pleasure that I here express, however feebly, my grate- ful sense of their helpfulness. To the newspaper press, and to the public of my native land, I am indebted for their kind interest in my work. Their uniform friendliness has been a source of much comfort to me. Such in brief is the sequence and thread of events which led up to and connected my various Expe- ditions, and the part which my friends have played in the work. A few points, in my judgment, demand and are worthy of clear, definite presentation. The work, the narrative of which follows, has been accomplished entirely by private enterprise. I might perhaps claim, without in any way belittling the as- sistance of those who have helped me with both money and influence, that it is the result of my single- handed efforts. Though a member of that Service which keeps the Stars and Stripes in all the seas of the globe, none of my Expeditions — contrary to a quite general impression — has been under Govern- ment auspices. The Government has never appro- priated, nor been asked to appropriate, a dollar for any of my Expeditions. Nor has the Government had any responsibility in connection with my work. It has, however, kindly given me my time, i. e., al- lowed me the leave necessary to enable me to prose- cute my plans. Nor has any society or individual contributed the bulk of the funds. Fully two-thirds of the total amount expended by me in my Arctic work during the past twelve years have been my own personal earnings. Single contributions to my work have never exceed- ed $1000, — except in one instance, when President Jesup of the American Museum of Natural History, Introduction Ivii with a kindness and generosity which have made me eternally his debtor, lifted a burden from Mrs. Peary's shoulders and defrayed the lion's share of the expense of sending a ship north in 1895. During seven )ears I have strained every energy, and devoted every dollar I possessed to my Arctic efforts, and dur- ing more than half that time I have kept the Stars and Stripes waving within the Arctic Circle. So unreservedly have the slender fortunes of Mrs. Peary and myself; my earnings from lectures, and letters to newspapers and magazines ; receipts from transportation of scientific parties to Greenland, etc., been devoted to the work in which I am interested, that I am to-day several thousand dollars in debt. I do not say this in a plaintive way, but as a simple state- ment of facts which it is only just should be known. My comprehensive scheme for work in Greenland, as first outlined by me in 1886, based upon the utili- sation of the Inland Ice for overland sledge journeys, and my subsequent development and execution, in actual practice, of methods, means, and details, just- ify me, I think, in claiming to have originated a new departure in Arctic work. Since my origination of that departure, Nansen has crossed Greenland; Con- way has crossed Spitzbergen ; and if our present idea of conditions in the Antartic be correct, it is entirely within the possibilities, that the conqueror of the South Pole will achieve success by adopting my methods and equipment. My long sledge journey across the ice-cap in 1892 was a typical illustration of my ideas. It presents my insistent features: the In- land Ice for a road, dogs for traction, a party of two. I can claim to be the orieinator of the idea of utilis- ing the dogs themselves as dog food. In the 1891-92 Expedition, for the first time in Arctic work did a party start out with the carefully considered intention of Iviii Introduction utilising a large portion of the dogs for dog food, thus enabling the original load of provisions to last for a much longer time. Only by some such device as this was the proposed march practicable, and results proved the utter soundness of the principle. Nansen, who, while preparing for his recent North Polar Expedition, was acquainted with the details and methods of my ice-cap journey of 1891-92, through his countryman Astrijp, my companion on that journey, was quick to see the advantage of this, and by adopt- ing it, was enabled, in his magnificent attack upon the Pole, to keep his dogs in the field for three months on an original one month's rations. The maximum value of this equation would be, that the two men would subsist during the last four or five days of their return march upon the flesh of their last dog, he previously having eaten all his comrades. This maximum value was nearly reached in my 1895 journey. Previous to this the fundamental principle of Arctic sledging was, that overland travelling was impracticable, and that the sea ice along and outside of an Arctic coast offered the only possible highway. In my various Expeditions I have introduced for the first time, and determined the feasibility of, sev- eral new features of pronounced value to the Arctic explorer, as the design for winter quarters, the use of the odometer, barograph, and thermograph, the discarding of the hitherto supposedly indispensable sleeping-bag. The detailed knowledge of the Smith-Sound re- gion obtained by me has enabled me to point out to various scientists the localities most suitable for their specialties ; has permitted one of the first glacialists of the country (Prof. T. C. Chamberlin) to reap, in a single season, a harvest of information and original material in his special field, which, had he gone blindly Introduction lix to the country, he could not have obtained in two or three years ; and has more than doubled the amount of scientific material and information from the Arctic regions, in the museums of this country. There is also a phase of my work which has a deeply human interest, and that is, its connection with, and effect upon, the very small but extremely interesting tribe, or perhaps I might more properly say family, of the human race, — the little community of Eskimos, the most northerly known individuals of the human race, numbering but two hundred and fifty-three, living at, and north of, Cape York, com- pletely isolated from all the rest of mankind by im- passable icy barriers. The effect of my Expeditions upon those children of the North has been to raise the entire tribe to a condition of affluence. The difference between their condition five years ago, and to-day, can perhaps be best illustrated by imagining the case of a community or village of farm- or day-labourers working at a dollar and a quarter a day, and possessing nothing but their wages ; and then suppose each member of this community to have given him a furnished house, and lot, and a ten-thousand-dollar bank account. Seven years ago, many a man in this tribe possessed no knife, and many a woman no needle. Few of the men possessed kayaks, or skin canoes ; and he was indeed well off who had a spear- or harpoon-shaft made of a single piece of wood. To-day, men and women are amply supplied with knives and needles ; every adult man and half-grown bo)' has his canoe ; most of the men have guns ; and every hunter is sup- plied with the best of wood for his lance, his har- poon, his seal-spear, and his sledge. The effect of these improvements in their weapons has shown itself at once in an improved condition of the tribe, result- Ix Introduction ine from the s^reat increase in the eftectiveness of the hunters. The people are better clothed, they can sup- port a larger number of dogs (their only domestic animal), and, as a result of their more ample nourish- ment, and consequent greater ability to Avithstand the constant hardships of their life, the death-rate has decreased, and the birth-rate perceptibly increased, within the past six years. I feel also that lam justified in thinking that I am largely, if not almost entirely, responsible for the pres- ent renaissance of Arctic interest, which, started by my Expedition of 1891-92, is still increasing in vol- ume and intensity. Other things which my work has established are : that long sledge journeys may be undertaken with safety even in the Arctic night ; that white men can remain in high latitudes for long periods without fear of that dread of Arctic explorers, scurvy ; that very small parties are the only ones suited for effective work in the Arctic regions ; that the work of north- ern exploration can be prosecuted upon an econom- ical basis, and that it can be done without loss of life. The work, of which the following pages form the narrative, has been from the first persistently prose- cuted on definite and consistent lines ; and now that the capabilities of the overland method have been practically exhausted as far as Northern Greenland is concerned, the invaluable experience gained in the past is to be concentrated upon an equally persistent effort, on equally definite and consistent lines, to solve a problem which, unsolved, and to chart a portion of the earth's surface which, uncharted, are a reproach to our civilisation and manhood. » * «■ * * * It seems an appropriate place here to devote a little space to the general subject of sledge equip- Introduction Ixi ment. It is unnecessary to say that no time spent in devising ways of perfecting the equipment for an Arctic sledge journey, can be regarded as wasted. His equipment is the explorer's machinery and tools. Upon its efficiency depends the amount of work done, and upon its smooth fitness for its varied purposes depend the comfort and even safety of himself and his men. The first trreat desideratum in each item is non-liability to damage. Conditions in the field are invariably hostile to the work of repairs, and a party cannot load itself down with tools and materials for such repairs. The next desideratum is lightness. The transporting efficiency of any given party will be a certain amount, made up of provisions and equip- ment ; and for every pound that the equipment can be lightened, an additional pound of food can be carried, thus insuring an additional amount of travel. Facile priuccps in importance of all the items of equipment stands the sledge. Upon it everything else depends. It must combine in the highest degree the qualities of lightness, strength, and easy traction. Every detail is of the utmost importance, and appar- ently slight changes may affect the effectiveness of the sledge, as decisively as a change in a ship's lines affects her speed. The construction of a sledge for any particular class of work, simple as it seems, is something that can be properly done only after long experience, and the art of getting the most out of the sledge with the least expenditure of force after it is constructed, also requires much experience. The oeneral character of the Greenland Inland Ice is such as to permit a very decided gain in light- ness of sledges over those for sea-ice work, yet many portions of the ice-cap, where its surface has been carved into sharp-edged, marble-like sastrugi by the furious winds, try the strength and endurance of Ixii Introduction sledges to the utmost. The main feature in which sledges for use on the ice-cap must differ from those for use at sea-level, is the broad flat runner necessary to keep them from sinking into the generally prevail- ing deep, soft snow. My previous experience in 1886, 1891, 1892, 1893, and 1 894, in the construction and use of sledges, had left me with very clear and definite ideas as to what things were and what were not essential in a sledge, and when I began making the drawings for the sledges for the forlorn-hope journey of the spring of 1895, I felt that I knew what I wanted. Results justified this feeling. Next after the sledges, the item of suitable clothing is one of the greatest importance to the Arctic ex- plorer, and is one in regard to which there is great diversity of opinion among various Arctic authorities. Schwatka was in favour of reindeer clothing exclus- ively, while Greely is not a believer in fur clothing. The latter's experience, however, seems to have been confined to sealskin garments, which are not considered by the natives to possess any warmth. My own experience convinces me that fur clothing is absolutely essential in Arctic work, and that the less woollen and more fur clothing one wears, as- suming that it is properly made, and that the wearer knows how to wear it, the more comfortable will the wearer be. Particularly is this the case in Inland-Ice travel, where the penetrating quality of the wind is far in excess of what it is at sea-level. Nothing but fur and the impervious integument of animal skin will protect one from this wind, and the traveller who goes upon the ice-cap without fur clothinof, does so either from ignorance or because he is reckless of draughts upon his vital force ; and he is likely seriously to regret his over-confidence. Introduction Ixiii In our suits, — an evolution from my previous experi- ence, — we were comfortable in all temperatures between -60° F. and +50° F., under all conditions of activity, from sleeping in a tent, to snow-shoeing in deep snow at the end of a drag rope. A tent has always been regarded as an essential item in the equipment of an Arctic sledge-party, and though the use of snow igloos has been advocated by some authorities, these will never be practicable for a party unaccompanied by natives. In my journeys of 1886 and 1892 on the ice-cap, I had no tent, and the experience of those trips gave me no reason to con- sider the tent other than I had always done — a super- fluous lu.xury. In pleasant weather, the lee of the sledge ; in storms, a piece of canvas kept up at one end by snow-shoes stuck in the snow, or thrown over three low snow walls and weighted down by the sledge, had been sufficient. In planning for the campaign of 1894, I did not therefore include a tent in the list, though a tent which had been used during the fall work, and left on the ice-cap during the winter, was utilised when we reached the cache, and taken along from there, till I could see whether it was essential or not. The equinoctial storm decided this in the affirmative, and showed me that for work on the ice-cap in early spring a tent is a necessity. It was therefore used throughout this journey. When I took up the study of a tent for use in the 1895 campaign, I had two objects in view : first, to reduce the size and weight to the minimum consistent with comfort ; and second, to carry out an idea which had occurred to me in 1891, of having the tent attached permanently to a specially adapted sledge. Both these objects were successfully accomplished, and the tent, as finally constructed, consisting of tent. Ixiv Introduction floor, and wind-guard for entrance, weighed thirteen pounds and met all the requirements fully. While the navigator of the ocean uses the com- pass, the sextant, and the chronometer, 1 have sub- stituted, in navigating the "Great Ice," the odometer for the loe line and the aneroid for the soundinir- lead. From the indications of the latter, it is possi- ble to change the course, so as to give the dogs less work, and it also gives warning, in thick weather, of approach to the dreaded land, between which and the serene, smooth heights of the interior ice-cap, lie dangerous slopes of bare blue ice, yawning crevasses, sudden and furious squalls, and frequent and violent storms. My instrumental outfit for the journey comprised a transit, a sextant and artificial horizon, three chrono- meters, several compasses, two odometers, three ane- roids, several thermometers, one pair of binoculars, and a camera. The transit, a small Traveller's by Fauth & Co., of Washington, D. C, was used in preference to the sextant for ice-cap observations, as with it latitude, longitude, and compass variation may all be deter- mined, near enough for all practical purposes, by ob- servations extending over two or three hours. The sextant and artificial horizon were taken simply as a reserve, for use in case of accident to the transit. Chronometers were pocket-size, furnished by the E. Howard Watch Company, of Boston. They were open-faced stem-winders enclosed in a single aluminum case,' made from a suggestion by me, and were carried during the journey suspended over my chest, inside of my clothing, by a cord around my neck. These ' The advantages of this case were a very considerable saving of weight, the chronometers were subjected to the same temperature, could be handled as one, and being side by side, any idiosyncrasies of either could be easily and im- mediately detected by comparison with tlie otlier two. Introduction Ixv chronometers were zr;y satisfactory, light, easily read, and kept excellent time. Compasses were a four-inch liquid boat-compass, and several dry cards, pocket-size, in hunting-cases. The pocket-compasses were used in the hand for set- ting the course when I was walking in advance of the party. The boat-compass was used just as it would be at sea, lashed upon the top of my sledge, through- out the first three hundred miles of the northward journey, when I was obliged to keep the course and drive a team of ten dogs. On the return, lashed upon a pair of ski and pushed in front of me, it en- abled us to march during days of fog, when without it advance would have been a simple impossibility. The odometer outfit consisted of one wheel and two reoristerinor mechanisms. My reconnaissance of the Inland Ice, in 1886, sug- gested to me that the odometer was a practical item, in the instrumental equipment of the navigator of the "Great Ice." The surface traversed by me during that reconnaissance was everywhere, except at the ex- treme edge of the ice-cap, entirely suitable for the satisfactory work of an odometer wheel, and the use of the instrument would save a great deal of annoy- ance and arduous work, by reducing the number of necessary solar observations ; observations which the conditions of the ice-cap render, under the most favour- able conditions, extremely trying, and much of the time impossible, or at best unsatisfactory. The al- most constant wind and drift make the use of the arti- ficial horizon very difficult, even when the temperatures are high enough not to affect the mercury ; and the same causes, combined with the varying conditions of the snow surface, sometimes extremely hard, again very soft, and the constant vibrations from the wind, make the use of the transit difficult. Ixvi Introduction Refraction and atmospheric vibration are at all times excessive on the ice-cap, and the extreme bril- liancy of the sun, even through the special glasses of instruments for this kind of work, is so trying to eyes already strained to their utmost by the unceasing glare from sky and snow, day and night, that the tak- ing of an observation was always dreaded by me, and usually resulted in someone else being obliged to take the lead the next day, while I walked with band- aged eyes beside the sledge. The compass and odometer would supply a means of obtaining the dead reckoning with an accuracy to render frequent solar observations unnecessary, and also show the traveller at any time just his position and what speed he is making. In the winter of 1891 and 1892, the idea was put into practical shape, and during the ice-cap journey of 1892, an odometer wheel was used for the first time in Arctic work, and I obtained satisfactory re- sults with it. Afterwards, during 1893-94, several wheels were constructed, and the evolution of the odometer for Arctic work gradually perfected, until, when the matter of the construction of a wheel for the ice-cap journey of 1895 came up, 1 was, as with the sledges, in possession of very definite ideas as to what would and what would not prove satisfactory, and the result was a wheel which met all the demands upon it.' My aneroids were beautiful aluminum instruments, three inches in diameter, reading to twelve thousand feet. Like the chronometers, all three were carried in a single case, which permitted convenient compari- sons. ' This wheel stood the wear and tear of the journey to Independence Bay and return, without requiring repair of any kind, and, 1 believe, cannot be im- proved upon for Inland-Ice work, except in as far as a wider range of material to select from would permit it to be made lighter. Introduction Ixvii The thermometers were all of Green's usual make ; maximum and minimum self-registering, as well as plain mercurial and spirit. Binoculars were Academic Optiques in aluminum, very light, and of good power and definition. Camera was a specially constructed Eastman Kodak No. 4, with a capacity of 250 negatives. This camera was very light, strong, and in every way satisfactory.' Norwegian ski, Indian snow-shoes, and the dark- est of smoked-glass goggles for the eyes, were also important items of the equipment. It seems desirable also in this Introduction to at- tempt the merest outline of some of the most striking features of the Sermiksoah, or " Great Ice," — the mighty frozen boss of Greenland, the Sahara of the North, the Hyperborean Hades. If I can succeed in conveying to the reader even the crudest conception of the personality of this " Great Ice " I shall be content. The term " Inland Ice," by which this feature is generally known, suggests to the majority of persons erroneous ideas. The surface is not ice, but a com- pacted snow. Elevated as the entire interior is, to a height of from 4000 to 9000 feet above the sea-level, mountains of the coast which would be visible to the sailor at a distance of sixty to eighty miles, disappear beneath the landward convexity of the ice-cap by the time the traveller has penetrated fifteen or twenty miles into the interior, and then he may travel for days and weeks with no break whatever in the contin- uity of the sharp steel-blue line of the horizon. Questions as to the characteristics of this unique ' All my photographic work, from which the illustrations in this narrative are taken, was done with the Eastman Kodaks, and (with very few exceptions) the Eastman films. The developing was done by Rau of Philadelphia. Ixviii Introduction terrestrial feature, among others, whether this enor- mous deposit of snow and ice is increasing or decreas- ing, or remaining practically stationary, are of special interest to geologists and glacialists. It might seem at first thought that the " Great Ice " must be constantly increasing in depth, but there are causes at work inimical to such increase, and only investigations carried on through a period of years can determine whether the resultant of these causes is greater or less than, or just balances, the annual precipitation. Principal among these causes are the glaciers, the wind, melting, and evaporation. The former, which protrude through every deep valley in the coast mountains, discharge into the sea during the year an enormous bulk of ice from the lower strata of the " Great Ice " of the interior, in the shape of numerous fleets of icebergs. A very important peculiarity of the ice-cap is the intensity of the light. My journeys across the " Great Ice" have been made during the Arctic summer — that is, during the time that the sun is constantly above the horizon throughout the twenty-four hours, for a period of some four months. The Arctic sun in clear weather is as brilliant as the sun of any Southern lati- tude, and when this brilliancy is increased by reflec- tion from an interminable, and absolutely unrelieved, glistening white surface of snow, lifted into the highly rarefied and pure upper strata of the Arctic atmo- sphere, the intensity of light is something that can be realised only by one who has actually experienced it. The pungent quality of this blinding glare is such that the strongest eye can endure it unaided only for a few hours. A man placed in the centre of the " Great Ice," in mid-summer, with no means of protect- ing his eyes, would be as completely helpless at the Introduction Ixix end of a day as a blind kitten. The traveller upon the " Great Ice " must keep his eyes constantly pro- tected by goggles of heavy smoked glass, and even with this we frequently, when in camp and trying to sleep, were obliged to protect our eyes still further by a strip of fur tied across them to exclude the light which would otherwise penetrate the closed lids. Sometimes, though rarely, cloud shadows drift across the white expanse, but usually the cloud phe- nomena are the heavy prophecies or actualities of furious storms veiling the entire sky, or the dainty transparent cirrus feathers. In clear weather, the traveller upon this white waste sees but the snow, the sky, the sun. In cloudy weather, even these disap- pear. Many a time I have found myself in such weather travelling in grey space, feeling the snow beneath my snow-shoes but unable to see it. No sun, no sky, no snow, no horizon — absolutely nothing that the eye could rest upon. Zenith and nadir alike, an intangible grey nothingness. My feet and snow- shoes were sharp and clear as silhouettes, and I was sensible of contact with the snow at every step, yet as far as my eyes gave me evidence to the contrary, I was walking upon nothing. The space between my snow-shoes was equally as light as the zenith. The opaque light which filled the sphere of vision might come from below as well as above. Never shall I forget, though I cannot describe, the impres- sions made by these surroundings. The strain, both physical and mental, of this blindness with wide-open eyes was such that after a time I would be obliged to stop until the passing of the fog, or formation of higher clouds, gave me something to keep the course The wind is never Quiescent on the " Great Ice.' 1 Day and night, summer and winter, year in and year Ixx Introduction out, it is sweeping down, sometimes with greater, sometimes with less velocity, from the frozen heart of the "Great Ice," bearing with it a burden of snow and following the most direct slope to the land, which once reached it goes rushing over the mountain sum- mits, some of it sinking in whirlpools and eddies into the valleys, but much of it being carried on to the coast-cliffs, over which it goes swirling into the sea or onto the sea ice. During gentle breezes this drift is of almost impalpable fineness, and extends but a foot or two above the surface. As the wind increases in force, the particles of snow become coarser and the depth of the current of flying snow increases until, in the savage blizzards of the frozen Sahara, this drift becomes a roaring, hissing, blinding, suffocating Niag- ara of snow, rising hundreds of feet into the air ; a drift which almost instantly buries any quiescent ob- ject, and in which it is almost impossible for the traveller to breathe. This drifting snow is as pene- trating as water. When the depth of the drift is not in excess of the height of the knee, its surface is as tangible, and almost as sharply defined, as that of a sheet of water, and its incessant dizzy rush and strid- ent sibilation become, when long contiued, as mad- dening as the drop, drop, drop of water on the victim's head in the old torture-rooms. There is no doubt in my mind but that in the middle of the Arctic night, in the centre of this " Great Ice," lifted a mile and a half or two miles into the frozen air that sweeps around the pole, separated from any possible effect from the earth's radiated heat by a blanket of ice and snow a mile or more in thickness, and distant fully two hundred and fifty miles from the possible ameliorating effect of the Arctic seas, there is to be found the fiercest degree of cold of any spot upon the surface of the globe. Introduction Ixxi The characteristics of such portions of the Inland Ice as came under my personal observation, in 1886, in from the head of Disco Bay, may be stated as fol- lows. The coast-line shows a great diversity of feat- ures, dependent upon the altitude, the season, and the elevation and configuration of the adjacent mount- ains. Wherever the ice projects down a valley in a long tongue or stream, the edges contract and shrink away from the warmer rocks on each side, leaving a deep caiion between, usually occupied by a glacier stream ; and the upper surface, disintegrated by the reflected heat from the mountains above, and shattered by the daily change of temperature more perhaps than by the forward flow, presents a chaotic labyrinth of crevasses, gullies, and ragged pinnacles, increasing in magnitude in direct proportion to the length of the tongue and its approach to the sea-level. Smaller tongues or teats, rounding down into shallow indentations in the crest of the mountain dam, are apt to have only their tips ragged and their upper surfaces covered with a network of narrow crevasses. Higher up, along the unbroken portions of the dam, where the rocks have a southern exposure or rise much above the ice, there is apt to be a deep caiion between the ice and the rocks. The bottom of the canon is almost invariably occupied by water. Where there are no adjacent rocks higher than the ice to push it back with their reflected heat, the ice will reach down upon the rocks in a dome-like slope. Frequently drifts of fine hard snow extend like cause- ways from ice to rock, through the bases of which the littoral glacier streams tunnel a passage. Still farther up, at the very crest of the dam, the ice lies smoothly against the rocks. As to the features of the interior beyond the coast-line, the surface of the "ice-blink" near the marsfin is a succession of rounded hum- Ix.xii Introduction mocks, steepest and highest on their landward sides, wliich are sometimes precipitous. Farther in, these hummocks merge into long tiat swells, which in turn decrease in height towards the interior, until at last a flat, gently rising plain is reached, which becomes ultimately level. In passing from the margin of the "ice-blink" to the remote interior, from one to five distinct zones may be noted, the number and width varying with the season, the latitude, and the elevation. In win- ter the entire surface is undoubtedly covered with a deep unbroken layer of fine dry snow. Late in the spring, the warmth of the sun at mid-day softens the surface of the snow along the low borders of the ice, and this freezes at night, forming a light crust. Gradually this crust extends up the interior, and with the advance of the season, the snow along the bor- ders of the " ice-blink" becomes saturated with water. A little later, this zone of slush follows the zone of crust into the interior, the snow along the borders of the " ice-blink " melts entirely, forming pools in the depressions, and streams which cut deep gullies in the ice ; water cavities form ; old crevasses open, and new ones appear. This zone rapidly widens and ex- tends into the interior in the footsteps of the others, and behind it the immediate border of the ice gets ragged and soiled, pebbles, boulders, and moraines crop out of its melting surface, and by the end of the Arctic summer it is eaten and shattered by the heat, and eroded by the streams, into impassable roughness. In my journey of 1891, across the ice-cap of North- ern Greenland, on the upward march, in my effort not to make any more easting than was absolutely necessary, I was repeatedly turned from my course by the unexpected penetration of the glacier basins of the great fjords of the north-west coast into the Introduction Ixxiii interior, and in this way experienced much delay and annoyance. On my return the same year, I went well into the interior to avoid these obstacles. In this I succeeded. With two routes having the same starting and objective points, and enclosing between them an elongated elliptical area, it was evident that an intermediate route on my next journey would not only be somewhat shorter, but would avoid the cre- vasses and steep slopes of the one route, and the deep soft snow of the other. This I found to be the fact, and after the experience of the upward journey I was able to modify the return route still more, with a saving of a few miles and an improvement in the travelling. A comparison of the four profiles between Whale Sound and Independence Bay is very interest- ing, and brings out the relief of the " Great Ice " in a very clear manner, showing that it is really a very much flattened mountain system in ice, with its main backbone, its radiant spurs, and its intermediate valleys. The broad zone of wastage which I found so pro- nounced at the head of Disco Bay is very narrow, and even in places lacking entirely, along the edge of the ice-cap in Northern Greenland. The nunataks also, so common in South Greenland, occur in North- ern Greenland, as far as my observations go, only in the actual current of the glaciers and the lower por- tion of their basins, and never at any distance from the coastal land ribbon. My first journey was near enough to the edge of the ice to cross the great basins of exudation, if I may use the term, and their intermediate divides, and the pro- file shows a succession of ups and downs like those of a railroad located along the foothills of a mountain system. The profile of the return journey of the same year shows but one depression, and that in the Ixxiv Introduction Humboldt basin. The profiles of the two journeys of 1894 are ideal in that they show a rapid ascent from Bowdoin Bay to the surface of the central ice mass, and then a gradual gradient along the western slope of the continental divide till the summit is reached, near Independence Bay, when the descent is rapid to the edge of the ice. That the crest of the Greenland continental ice di- vide is east of the country's median line there can be no doubt. Where it is crossed on the way to Inde- pendence Bay, it is trending away to the north-west and rapidly decreasing in altitude to lose itself in the landward slopes of the "Great Ice" near the con- vergence of Victoria Inlet and the north-west coast. From this continental divide extend spurs into the Cape York Peninsula, Prudhoe Land, Washington Land, Hall Land, etc., and between these divides are the enormous basins which feed the glaciers of Melville Bay, Inglefield Gulf, Kane Basin, Petermann and Sherard-Osborne Fjords. The experienced navigator of the " Great Ice " has, like his brother of the sea, the means of avoiding or overcoming adverse conditions. If he has come in too close proximity to the land, i.e., the edge of the ice, and finds himself among the rocks and breakers, i.e., crevasses and steep blue ice slopes, he must put to sea at once, i.e., swerve into the interior. If when well out to sea he encounters continuous adverse winds and currents and heavy sea, i.e., up grade and deep soft snow, he can avoid them by veering toward the shore, when he will at once reduce the grade, and in a short time reach hard going. The regularity of the winds of the " Great Ice " of Greenland, as I have found them during an actual so- journ of over seven months upon the " Great Ice," and visits to it of greater or less duration in every month Introduction Ixxv of the year, is phenomenal. Except during atmo- spheric disturbances of unusual magnitude, which cause storms to sweep across the country regardless of ordi- nary rules, the direction of the wind of the " Great Ice " of Greenland is invariably radial from the centre outward, perpendicular to the nearest part of the coast land ribbon. So steady is this wind and so closely does it adhere to this perpendicularity, that I can liken it only to the flow of a sheet of water descending the slopes of the "Great Ice" from the central interior dome to the coast. The direction of the nearest land is always easily determinable in this way : the neigh- bourhood of great fjords is always indicated by a change in the wind's direction ; and the crossing of a divide, by an area of calm or variable winds, followed by winds in the opposite direction, independent of any indica- tions of the barometer. The opinion was advanced by me immediately on my return in 1892, that the transporting effect of the wind upon the snow of the ice-cap must be counted as one of the most potent factors in preventing the in- crease in height of the ice-cap ; a factor equal perhaps to the combined effects of evaporation, littoral and sub-glacial melting, and glacial discharge. This opin- ion has been corroborated and greatly strengthened by my later observations. When it is remembered that the flow of the atmosphere from the cold heights of the interior ice-cap to the lower land of the coast is going on throughout the year with greater or less in- tensity, and that a fine sheet of snow is being thus carried beyond the ice-cap to the ice-free land at every foot of the periphery of the ice-cap, there to melt, it will perhaps be seen that the above assumption is not excessive. I feel confident that an investigation of the actual amount of this transfer of snow by the wind is well worth the attention of all glacialists. Ixwi Introduction The character of the " Great Ice " is such as to make a powerful impression upon even the most prosaic mind. When I think of it I rarely recall the hunger, the cold, the killing work, the disappointments I have experienced upon it. Rather do I think of it in its varying phases, as one of the sublimest features that earth contains. I harbour malice against it for but one thing, the lives of my dogs. -X- * * * * * And finally a few words in regard to Arctic Ex- ploration. P rom the earliest days, when men dreamed of the ever-sunny Eden of the Hyperboreans far be- yond the land of the Antropophagi, till now, the regfion within that maeic line which bounds the north- ern disk of midnight suns and noonday nights, — the Arctic Circle — has exercised a strange charm over men and women of all intellects, all ages, all conditions of life. In exploration, as in business, as in letters, as in invention, conditions are entirely different now from what they were years ago. It is no longer possible for the confines of the well-known to be attained by a dash either mental or physical. The days when a Galileo or a Columbus could in a bound reach and pass beyond the narrow circumference of the world of mind or matter at any point are past. Arctic explor- ation must, like anything else, be made a business and carried on from year to year, profiting by each added item of experience, taking advantage of every occurring opportunity. The two great popular objections to Arctic explora- tions seem to be the waste of money connected with it, and the supposedly excessive loss of life. It would seem from the emphatic utterances of some who decry what they consider a waste of money on Arctic work, that they are under the impression that the money Introduction Ixxvii expended upon an Arctic expedition is taken north and buried in the snow, becoming an absolute and total loss. It seems to be forgotten that the supplies and equipments of these expeditions are purchased and paid for at home, and that they contribute to the sup- port of a certain number of people for a certain time, as much as if those people were living at home. The other objection, that Arctic work means too great a sacrifice of life, loses its force in the light of actual facts. To those familiar with the literature of Arctic explorations, it is a well-known fact that the loss of life in this field, even including those expedi- tions which have disappeared utterly and completely in the savage fastnesses of the "White North," amounts to but about two per cent, of the total number engaged in the work, a percentage less than that of the annual loss of life among the fishermen and sailors of the British Isles. During my own work of the past eleven years but one life has been lost, and that was the result of an accident in no way connected with the work itself, an accident which would have been likely to occur in the Alps or in any of our own wild mountainous districts. My experience has strongly accentuated ni)- belief in small parties for Arctic work. The results obtained by Graah, Rae, Hall, Schwatka, Greely, and others, were obtained by parties of two or three. Many of the sad disasters, which form a part of Arctic hi.s- tory, would have been avoided had the parties been small. It is a popular fallacy that there is safety in large parties. The entire animus of the Arctic regions is against such parties, and in the event of their being thrown, either temporarily or permanently, upon the resources of the country for sustenance, an occurrence that is one of the most certain of Arctic possibilities, the members of such large parties will starve, where Ixxviii Introduction a small party would have abundant rations. A cow- ard also, a weakling, or an insubordinate, has better opportunity to cause demoralisation in a large than in a small party. In the Franklin expedition of one hundred and thirty-eight, not one lived to tell the story of their awful final days, and I have no doubt that the utter loss of that expedition was due directly to its size. As long as everything goes well, a large party may be all right, but in the hour of dis- aster or serious disappointment, the trouble begins. Nothing can be more terrible than the retreat and struggle for life with a large party under the fearful stress of the Arctic. It is impossible for a leader, no matter how able he may be, to fill a large party, as he can a small one, with his own courage and hopefulness. Every indi- vidual in the party represents a drain upon the vital magnetism and force of the leader, upon whom the safety of the party depends. Up to a certain point his example is contagious, and his cheerfulness, activ- ity, and courage are reflected in every member of the party ; but when day after day of arduous struggle, of cold, of hunger, and of discouragement, has reduced the strength, both physical and mental, the infusion of fresh courage into a desponding one requires as tangible a transfer of the leader's stamina and nerve- force, as the filling of a vessel with water from a res- ervoir, and the reservoir in this case does not refill as rapidly as under normal conditions. To those who, in the absence of a dollar-for-dollar return for every effort, ask, " Of what earthly use is Arctic exploration ? " I might answer : " What is the use of yacht races, of athletic contests, of trials of en- gines, and war-ships, or any of the innumerable tests that have, since the world was young, been man's only means of determining the superiority of one man, Introduction Ixxix or one machine, or one method, or one nation, over another ? " Were I asked to enumerate all the pos- sible advantages of Arctic explorations, I should say frankly I cannot do so, any more than I or anyone could have said, fifteen or twenty years ago, that an insignificant grass growing on the banks of a tropical river would make our incandescent electric light a possi- bility. It would not be at all strange if, in a region of the strangest contrasts, where active volcanoes are found surrounded by eternal snow and ice, and where the popp)- — symbol of warmth and sleep and luxury — blossoms at the very foot of the crags of icy glaciers, some material were found which would make possible some yet unknown necessity of our future civihsation. But suppose we admit that Arctic exploration is only a matter of sentiment, with no money return ; no in- crease of commerce ; no fruit of colonisation ; no har- vest of great good for many men. Let it stand as a sentiment ; it has good company. Love and patriot- ism and religion are matters of sentiment, and we ask no money return for them. Yet a question which claimed the lives of such men as Kane, Hall, De Long, Chipp, and Lockwood, of our own countrymen, and Franklin, Bellot, Crozier, and many more from across the water, and has in- spired the pens of Markham, Petermann, Barrow, Mel- ville, and others, needs no apologies or defence. There are no pages of England's history on which she prides herself more than those on which are in- scribed the work and the discoveries of her sons within the realm of noonday nights and midnight suns, and there is no American that is not proud of the records of De Haven, Kane, Hayes, Hall, De Long, Greely, Lockwood, and Schley. Whatever may be said against Arctic exploration, it remains a definite fact, that no other portion of the XXX Introduction globe possesses such universal attraction for joung and old, illiterate and intelligent, weak and strong, as this. And one thing is as certain as that the North Star will continue to shine : regardless of utility or non-utility, the inherent charm of Arctic work, and the irrepressible restlessness of the human animal as long as there remains a corner of the earth unknown to him, will keep up efforts in the "White North" till every square mile of sea and land has been charted. PART RECONNAISSANCE OF THE CIREENLANI) INLAND ICE, 1886. St. John's to Godhavn on the Whaler Eagle — Godhavn to Pakitsok Fjord in an Oomiak — Eastward over the Ice-Cap— 7500 Feet above the Sea — Back to the Land— Sailing down the Ice-Slopes — Forty Miles IN A Night — Into the Tossukatek Fjord — Across the Base of Nour- soAK Peninsula — Fossil Beds of Atanekerdluk — Aboard the Eagle AGAIN AND ACROSS BaFFIn's BaY — DEXTERITY HARBOUR — CaPE ADAIR — The Savage West Coast — A Playful Whale — Natives — Bears — An Arctic Hurricane — Cumberland Sound — Fighting for Liberiv — Back TO St. John's. ON THE GREAT ICE. PART I. RECONNAISSANCE OF THE GREENLAND INLAND ICE, I 886. \ T H E Navy Depart- ment havinor grant- ed my application for leave, I made the necessary arrangements and left Sydney, C. B., on the steam whaler Eagle, Captain Jackman, Master, late in May, 1886. The northward voyage to Greenland was one of intense interest and novelty to me. The masterly way in which the Eagle s solid iron-clad bow was handled by Jackman to smash a passage through the early-season ice of Davis Strait was a revelation, and the bracing air, the daylight growing till the whole twenty-four hours were brilliant in sunlight, and the endless succession of contrasts, make the voyage a never-to-be-forgotten memory. One day a continuous succession of grinding, shiver- ing shocks as the Eagle rammed the ice ; a constant stopping and backing, then going ahead again ; a con- tinual rattling of the rudder-chains as the helm was hurled port, starboard, then port again ; and a contin- ual cry from the man in the crow's-nest conning the 3 4 Northward over the "Great Ice" ship ; the next, the ship rolling^ and pitching as if mad, the decks awash with water, and the foam and spray driving over the rail and across the companion- way in a bhnding drift of snow, while overhead the rigging was shrieking and the stay-sails tense as iron in a wild north-easterly gale. INSPECTOR NEILS ANDERSEN. North Greenland Inspectorate. Perhaps the next day the Eag/cs deck was as level as a floor, though the whole ship was vibrating with Reconnaissance of 1886 5 the hum of the frosted rigging overhead, while just above the crow's-nest spread a hfeless dome of lead ; to leeward a sea of ink, blacker yet by contrast with the spray cut from the waves and whirled and beaten into snow-flakes, rising in the distance to meet a sky black as itself ; close to windward a solid grind- ing white pack imprisoning two or three huge spec- tral bergs, and above it a narrow band of light, the "ice-blink," like a long, low, mid-winter sunset, or the frosty two-edged blade of a viking. Then running out of the fog and storm, we would enter a rippling sea of sapphire and gold, with an ex- quisite mackerel sky above, and here and there a berg gleaming blue and rose in the level rays of the mid- night sun. June 6th, the liao/c Ittt me at Godhavn and steamed away for the northern whaling grounds. Here I was obliged to wait two weeks for the ice to clear out of Disco Ba)'. During these two weeks the weather was sufficiently variegated to suit the most capricious fancy. Rain, snow, fog, wind, calm, tropi- cal sunshine, and freezing cold, all played their parts in the shiftino- hours. Flowers bloomed alongside beds of snow, snow-buntings sang on the rocks, the .sea was alive with gulls and terns and ducks, and the air full of the murmur of running water, while the eternal ice-cap of the island looked down from the top of the cliffs. A wedding, a christening, visits to the " store " with its wealth of arctic treasures of fur and ivory, and long tramps up the cliffs and over the ice-cap of the island, fully occupied my time until at last I could embark for Ritenbenk at the head of the bay in a round little tub of a sail-boat manned by a crew of half-breeds : Neils, black-bearded, grey-eyed ; Peter, yellow-haired, blue-eyed ; Ikkias, Johann, and Daniell, Northward over the "Great Ice" with Eskimo Frederick, who had been one of the dog drivers of the EngHsh 1875-76 Expedition, as pilot and interpreter. My plan, in outline, was to gain the border of the interior ice at some point as near the north-east angle of Disco Bay as pos- sible, my preference being the base of Noursoak Peninsula, and then take a course towards Petermann's Mountain on the east coast. But for various reasons I was obliged to modify my plans. My sledging equip- ment was made in the lightest and most thorough manner, under ni)- own super- vision, and entirely without reference to le use of dogs. The principal items were two nine-foot sledges, thirteen inches wide, made of hickory, steel, and hide, on a modified Hudson Bay pattern, and weighing, complete, with drag ropes and lashings, twenty-three pounds each ; small jacketed alcohol stoves, nine- foot double-ended ash alpenstocks with steel point and chisel, rubber ice-creepers, snow-shoes, snow- skates. Rations consisted of tea, sugar, condensed milk, hard bread, pemmican, cranberry jam, baked beans, Liebig extract, and an experimental mixture of meat, FREDERICK. Reconnaissance of 1886 7 biscuit, and desiccated potato, put up in two-pound cans by Richard & Robbins, of Dover, Delaware. June 23d I left Ritenbenk with my friend Christian Maigaard, assistant Governor of Ritenbenk, eight natives, an oomiak, and two attendant kayaks. At midnight we rounded the southern extremity of Arve- prins Island, in Disco Bay, and headed across the mouth of Ikaresak Soundfor the entrance of Pakitsok Fjord. Above us the clouds were heavy and leaky, and ahead every depression of the dark mountains and the un- derside of the black cloud canopy above them was lit with the pale, cold glare of the " ice-blink."' Entering the narrow-mouthed, bluff-walled fjord, we camped. The next day we proceeded up the fjord through the narrow caiion which separates the upper from the lower fjord, said by the natives to be impass- able except at certain stages of the tide. One wall of the canon was glowing in the brilliant yellow sunlight which poured in a level flood through the western entrance ; the other lay in deep purple shadow ; be- tween them flowed the strong deep-green current, and through the canon the upper fjord, known to the natives as Illartlek, gleamed blue, and the summits of the inner mountains were soft with yellow light. Be- yond the cafion the fjord expanded into a broad lake, contracting again several miles farther up. Above this point the water was pale green, rapidly growing shallow, whiter, and fresher. At six A.M. of the 25th we landed at the head of the fjord, and twenty-four hours later I had reconnoitred the entire extent of the mountain dam, some twenty- five hundred feet in height, which keeps the Inland Ice in check in this vicinity, and found a practicable route to the surface of the ice-cap. Early on the 28th 'The Danish colonists almost always refer to the Inland Ice as the "ice- blink," and I follow their custom. 8 Northward over the "Great Ice" we had everything up to the ice-foot, i 153 feet above the sea, and on tiie morning of the 29tli our two sledges, the Sivcct heart and Princess Thyra (named in honour of Denmark's youngest princess), lay with their loads upon the landward edge of the ice-cap, 1 956 feet above the sea. We lay down under the lee of the sledges, but the wind and the blinding sun made sleep an impossilMlity. The masses of black rock be- yond the margin of the " ice-blink " were tremulous in the dazzling glare; the blue fjord far below us, glistening in some places like burnished, in others like frosted, steel ; and over and beyond the mountains. Disco Bay lay blue. At eight P.M., the snow hav- ing hardened, Maigaard and I started due east up the " ice- blink." As we started, the blue of Disco Bay was blotted out by a bank of pearl-white fog, which poured through the nar- rows, slipped over the mount- ains at the mouth of the fjord, ajid crept down their eastern slopes in feath- er)- sprays of s i 1 \- e r upon jet. A little later a mass of black clouds hid the sun, and at mid- niofht the fog- BLAESE DALE CATARACT. blottcd O VI t Near Godh-ivn, Disco Island. the land be- Reconnaissance of 1886 hind us. At one a.m. it overtook us ; the suddenness with which it blotted out everything and shrouded us in grey notliingness was startling. We kept on till the fog changed to sleet, and, the wind increasing, I called a halt three thou- sand feet above the sea. Turning the sledges up- on their sides, and plac- ing our rubber pillows and blankets in their lee, we lay down. By this time the wind had be- come a gale, and the sleet, changed to snow, was driving in a continu- ous sheet over the tops of the sledges. We lay behind our sledges, which with our- selves were soon buried in the drift, until late in the afternoon of the second day, when the steady roar of the storm broke into intermittent squalls, and crawling out we got momentary glimpses, behind and below us, of a dense mass of clouds, black beneath and dark, dull lead colour above, hurrying northward just above the summits of the land. The land itself, hoary in its elevated portions with the newly fallen snow, lay everywhere else as black as midnight, and the fjord had become a pool of ink. Ahead of us, a pale super- natural glare rose nearly to the zenith, and in every direction the " ice-blink," swept by furious snow- DANISH ESKIMO WOMAN. Showing Greenland Styles in Sealskin Jackets, and Characteristic Eskimo Method of Carrying Children. lo Northward over the "Great Ice" squalls, and its inequalities obliterated in the shadow- less light, stretched dead and silent. At six P.M., the clouds growing blacker and blacker every moment, and every indication pointing to a protracted storm, I decided to take the instruments and go back to the tent and await more favourable weather. At the level of the brink of the ice-tongue overlooking the ragged descent through the crevasses and gulches to the ice-foot, rain had fallen, instead of snow, and the edges of the crevasses, the sides of the gullies, and the hard blue pinnacles were like oiled steel, utterly impracticable. We could do nothing but climb over the crest of the mountain dam and down the cliffs to the valley. Here we forded the glacier river, and at midnight reached the tent, the rain falling in sheets, the wind dashing first up and then down the valley, threatening every moment to level the tent, and the glacier river a roaring torrent. Truly, the Inland Ice had given us a savage welcome, but we were not yet done with it. On the afternoon of the fourth day, July 5th, bits of blue sky were visible, and we climbed the ice-cliffs once more, reached the sledges, dug them out, and started due east again. North and east of us the surface of the ice was high- er, and the swells apparently longer and flatter than those already passed. South-east lay the great feeder basin of the Jacobshavn Glacier stretching eastward into the " ice-blink," like a great bay, and up through its centre, like a tide rip in a smooth sea, glistened the ragged points of the glacier itself. Just previous to starting, while walking near the sledges without snow- shoes or alpenstock, I broke into a narrow crevasse, and as I hung for an instant supported by my out- stretched arms, before scrambling out, the fragments of the treacherous snow arch went rattling down the Reconnaissance of 1886 1 1 azure depths till the echoes they awoke were like the chimes of silver bells. Our snow-shoes prevented a repetition of the occur- rence in crossing the net- work of crevasses which extended east from our camp. As we advanced these disappeared, and in the cold of the early morning the entire sur- face became one firm unbroken crust, afford- ing excellent walking. Two or three small ponds which we met were froz- en just hard enough to support us as we half slid, half skated rapidly across on our " ski (snow-skates ). While crossing another, Mai- gaard followed me too closely ; the ice, cracked and weakened by my passing, broke, and let the Princess Tliyra through in some five feet of water, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that we got her out and to the bank again. This mishap brought us to a halt in a hollow 3300 feet above the sea, and we turned in in the lee of the sledges for a few hours' sleep, after which we spent the day drying our foot-gear and Maigaard's sleeping-gear, saturated by the accident and frozen stiff. As soon as the sun got around to the north-west and the snow had hardened sufficiently to support our sledges, we strapped our snow-shoes on and GREENLAND SMALL BOY. 12 Northward Over the "Great Ice" started again. We soon reached a long, narrow lake, stretching across our path to the left, and not yet frozen hard enough to support us. To flank this lake cost us a detour of two miles, and even then we were compelled to wade through the morass of saturated snow which surrounded it and extended far on either side. SOUTH COAST OF DISCO ISLAND, EAST OF GODHAVN. Tabular Herg in Koregroiuid, Soon after midniglu the snow surface became firm and coarsely granular with occasional small patches of snow of marble-like fineness and whiteness, sou- venirs of the last storm. Later we encountered areas of glazed snow, of such hardness that even the brads in our sandals and the steel shoes of the sledges scarcely left a trace. The fierce morning gale brought us to a standstill 4100 feet above the sea, the entire surface of the " ice- blink," as far as we could see, glazed and shining Reconnaissance of 1886 13 beneath the morning sun, with a blinding brilliancy impossible to describe. Taught by our experience at previous camps, that it was impossible to sleep exposed to the powerful glare of the sun and the searching sweep of the wind, and having at this camp suitable material, we built a rough hut, cutting blocks of snow with a long, nar- row-bladed saw, and building a low wall around three sides of a rectangle, over which we spread a rubber blanket and weighted it down with the sledges. BIVOUAC ON THE ICE-CAP. During the next nine days we pushed on through various experiences, usually in the teeth of a head- wind. Sometimes far up the most delicate cirrus clouds hung motionless in the blue, again black banks of cumuli would sweep up above the horizon. Once or twice we were enveloped in dense fog, which coated everything with tiny, milk-white crystals of ice, and in one march a brilliant parhelion filled the north- 14 Northward over the "Great Ice" eastern sky with rainbow hues and eHcited answering flashes of colour from the "-Htterincr snow-tield. After getting above an altitude of six thousand feet, the temperature dropped to io° and 8.5° F. When we resumed our march on the 15th, the wind had settled down to a south-easterly gale loaded with snow ; and against this we advanced with goggles on, hoods pulled up, and heads down, keeping our course by the wind, until the sinking of the sledges in the soft snow, and the continual clogging of our snow-shoes, compelled us to stop and wait the cessation of the storm at an elevation of 7525 feet. Too tired and sleepy from our struggle with the storm to build a hut, even had the loose snow rendered it possible, we lay down be- hind our sledges and fell asleep. When I awoke we were completeh' snowed under, and here we lay for forty-eight hours, with the wind and snow driving in one incessant, sullen roar across the drift above us. Then we crawled out during a lull in the storm and dug a shallow pit, covered it with a rubber blanket, excavated our sledges and bags, weighted the blanket down with the sledges, threw our bags underneath, and crawled after them. About five A.M., Monday the 19th, a narrow ribbon of crystalline blue appeared beneath the clouds in the south-east, and widened and grew until it reached the sun. Then followed a perfect day, warm, clear, al- most calm, enabling me to get a good observation, and permitting vis to dry all our gear. Our camp, 7525 feet above the sea, and within a fraction of one hundred miles from the margin of the " ice-blink," lay in a shallow basin, the snow, previous to the last storm, of the consistency of fine granulated sugar as far down as I could force my alpenstock (some six feet). We had six days' provisions left, and being uncer- tain as to the changes in the lower portion of the Reconnaissance of 1886 15 "ice-blink" during our absence, I decided to return. We lashed the Sivecihcart and the Princess Thyra to- gether, making as strong and flexible a little catama- ran as one could wish to see ; the black sail, yellow spars and hulls, red sailing pennant, and the flashing tins of the load, forming a vivid contrast to the un- broken white expanse of the " ice-blink." COASTING. Late on the 19th we started on our return beneath a cloudless sky. A peculiar phenomenon noticed during this march was the apparent sinking of large areas of snow at intervals as we passed along, ac- companied by peculiar muffled reports which rum- bled away beneath the crust in every direction until they died away ; just as happens when one is skating upon a freshly frozen lake in early winter. The sky above was flawless blue, the crimson sun in one direc- tion, the yellow moon opposite, and the plain on which we travelled spread with diamond dust. At 1 6 Northward over the "Great Ice" midnight the northern sky was a sea of crimson Hght, and the snow lay bathed in dehcate shades of rose. All the next day an east wind blew, and the sledges went merrily along before it, requiring no exertion on our part other than to guide and restrain them. During this march sky and snow were again brill- iant with indescribable splendour. Not a cloud was visible except, at a great altitude, two or three deli- cate, motionless " mare's-tails," the banners of the wind. The snow-dust raised by our snow-shoes went hurrying along before us in two long, sinuous lines of pale rose-tinted smoke, twisting and waving like spirits of the ice at play. When we halted, the wind was howling like a de- mon past the sledges. After rigging a rudder (a hatchet lashed to the end of a snow-skate) to the catamaran, we turned in upon the sledges. As the yellow sun stooped to the northern horizon again, Maigaard and I turned out, took our places upon the sledges, and began a bit of travelling which, as far as 1 know, has no parallel in arctic work. From midnight till five a.m. we sped along, taking levels at the speed of a fast walk, and dashing rapidly down the inclines, the hatchet rudder working admirably. Then a group of enormous snow-covered crevasses sprang across our path, and the land, Noursoak and Disco, dark and half shrouded in haze, leaped up from behind the white expanse below us with a sud- denness that was absolutely startling. The crevasses, the most magnificent ones we had seen, were many of them fifty feet wide, and the group was about half a mile across. As a rule, they were covered by snow arches, though in several places these had fallen in. The snow arches being apparently strong, we rushed the sledges over, taking Hying steps, and half sup- porting ourselves on the yard of the catamaran, as ICE-CAP EQUIPMENT. Reconnaissance of 1886 17 the wind and the impetus of our run hurried us across. The edges of all the openings into these huge chasms had an overhanging lip of snow, mak- ing it impossible to approach them to sound or look down. We could only get hasty glimpses into them as we passed over the snow arches, and these showed that their ragfaed blue walls, huno: with giant icicles and frostwork of fantastic patterns, descended into depths of blue-black night. Beyond the crevasses the descent was very rapid, and, jumping on the sledges again, we began an ex- citing run. The wind, straining the sail till it threat- ened to tear it from the mast, and the rapid descent together, drove us down the frozen slope with a breathless rush which only those who have been on a toboggan can understand, our supple catamaran gliding over the snow and rising and falling to every inequality with sinewy ease and grace. There are two who will not soon forget that glori- ous dash down the slope of the eternal ice in the crisp air and rosy light of that arctic summer morning. At the end of an hour we reached a region where every depression was occupied by a blue pond, often hidden by the hummocks till we were almost into it, and we were compelled to lower our sail, get off the catamaran, and walk until we were stopped by a broad morass of slush and water, extending right and left as far as we could see. The total descent during this march was 2 1 25 feet. The snow where we halted was a mass of heavy slush, and the wind threatened to pick us up bodily and hurl us into the swamp ahead. Here we remained until midnight, waiting for the surface of the morass to freeze sufficiently to support us. Scarcely fifty yards from camp, however, we sank to our knees, our snow-shoes coming up loaded with slush, at a temperature that needed but a touch of the i8 Northward over the "Great Ice" air to make it congeal. Fortunately, the depth of this slush and water nowhere exceeded three feet, and ford- ing the stream, which ran through the centre of the morass, we at last emerged upon dry ice, and, clearing the sledges of their load of slush, started on a run to re- store sensation to our feet. For several hours these half-frozen morasses alternated with hard blue ice, honeycombed with water cavities. Then the character of the ice changed completely, the slush and water cavities disappeared, and the entire surface consisted of a white granular snow-ice scored in every direction with furrows one to four feet deep, and two to eight and ten feet wide, with a little rill at the bottom of each. The tops of all the hummocks were traversed by more or less numerous crevasses, and one of the cre- vasses, covered by a light snow arch, came near robbing me of my friend. We had pushed the catamaran across, as was our custom, till it rested at each end on the opposite edges of the chasm, and I had leaped across to pull at the same instant that Maigaard pushed. Unfortunately, he tripped as he sprang after, stepped heavily upon the snow arch, it gave way be- neath him, and clinging to the stern of the catamaran he sank into the crevasse, while the bow shot into the air with a jerk that nearly tore it from my grasp. For a moment the sledges hung tilted on the lip of the chasm, with a man's life hanging on their quiver- ing forms ; then my weight conquered, and Maigaard's head came up to the surface level ; the sledges crept farther on to the ice till the long arm of the lever was in my favour, and Maigaard, pale but smiling, swung himself up on the ice. A little farther on, I came in for a disagreeable though harmless experience. Hav- ing stepped down mid-thigh-deep in a glacier stream to lift the Szocct heart and the Princess Thyra across, - * * O -= ■3C I i 5 1 •;A' »/ ij — . ^ \ /■ P 1*- r^1\ " O 20 Northward over the "Great Ice " the current swept my feet from under me, plunged me into a deep hole just below, then rushed me along between the polished banks with dizzy velocit\-. I was beginning to get irritated at my utter helpless- ness in this stream, scarcely more than six feet wide, or more than five feet deep, when a shallow place gave my spiked sandal a point of application for a spring against the steep bank, up which I scrambled, and ran to help Maigaard, who was barely able to hold the half-submerged sledges against the current. The furrows and crevasses increased in number and width as we neared the land. After the sun rose from its short dip below the horizon, we forgot everything in the splendour of the morning. The wealth of deep, rich colouring among the dark mount- ains below us was wonderful, and through their massive portals we caught glimpses of the deep blue of Pakitsok and Kangendluarsarsoak Fjords, and farther away Ikaresak Sound. Behind us the yellow sun floated along, above the steel-blue line of the frozen horizon, through a sea of liquid fire. Reaching the edge of the ice-tongue, we anchored the sledges, and with my instruments slung on my back, descended the glacier face. All the more salient features here were the same as when we made the ascent three weeks before, but those three weeks of arctic summer had transformed every inch of surface into solid, glistening, unctuous blue ice, and every detail was sharper, deeper, more angular, more heavily accented, like an etching longer exposed to the acid. Ridges which then were broad enough to permit a sledge to pass with a man on each side, were now mere knife edges ; crevasses that could be jumped then, were impassable gulfs now. As we went down the valley we found a new tribe of flowers had made their appearance during our Reconnaissance of 1886 21 absence. In some places the sod was covered with large purple blossoms, and delicate bluebells were abundant everywhere. The heat in the valley even Jfx -^ LARGE PURPLE BLOSSOMS. at this early hour was oppressive to us, accustomed to the cold atmosphere of the " ice-blink," and when we reached the tent, I was carrying nearly all my wearing apparel except foot-gear slung at my back. Two days later my burning eyes and cracked and blistered face had regained something like their nor- mal condition, and we packed the sledges over the mountains and down to the tent on our backs, and returned to Ritenbenk. Here much to my regret I was obliged to part with my tawny-bearded, blue- eyed friend Maigaard, and go on alone to the Tossu- katek Glacier and the base of Noursoak Peninsula. The voyage in a small boat from Ritenbenk to Kek- ertak, where I was to obtain my crew and oomiak for the journey up the fjord, was without special incident 22 Northward over the "Great Ice" except the waitintj one niyht in the rain at the black point of Niakornak for the swiftly drifting bergs and ice-pans to give us an opportunity to cross the fjord. The black rocks of the point tossed and pulled at the boat's painter, the rain pattered merrily on my rubber blanket as on a tin roof, and the point itself under its sable canopy of clouds, with ragged veils of rain driv- ing across it, was as wild a piece of rockwork as I have ever seen. ESKIMO KAYAKERS EFFECTING A LANDING. F"rom Kekertak I pushed on up the Tossukatek Fjord in an oomiak, manned by a crew of broad- shouldered, red-cheeked, white-toothed young men, the finest specimens of Eskimos I have seen. To my inexperienced eye, the fjord seemed utterly impass- able. From shore to shore it was filled with a con- fusion of huge tlat-topped bergs, the narrow canons and tortuous lanes between them apparently packed solid with berg fragments and pans of floe ice. But Reconnaissance of 1886 23 my pilots in the kayaks seemed to know b)' instinct where there was a passage, and on the second day we reached the head of the fjord without mishap. This voyage up the long, narrow outlet of such an enormous and active glacier as Tossukatek, was one of inex- pressible grandeur. The air was continuously filled with a succession of sharp reports, varying in loudness from that of a percussion-cap to heavy artillery, while every few moments there would come a reverberating peal as of rolling thunder, and the swells from dis- rupting icebergs kept the whole mighty fleet surging and sw^aying, and broke with intermittent roar against the rocks of the shore. ESKIMO KAYAKERS TRAVELLING OVERLAND. My first view of the glacier showed it stretching across the head of the fjord, a giant rose-coloured dam, the majestic " ice-blink " rising blue above it. Late in the evening of August 3d, as the sun was dropping behind the northern mountains, I started 24 Northward over the "Great Ice" from my little tent, which had been erected close to the edge of the ice-cap, on my solitary reconnaissance of the "great ice " across the base of Noursoak Pen- insula. Three days later I was back to the tent again, having crossed the ice to the edge of the Great Kariak Glacier, some twenty-five miles northward, where, after a momentary glimpse into the mighty basin of the great ice-stream filled with chaos-heaped ice, then out through the magnificent berg-dotted blue waters of Omenak Fjord, I had been caught in a south-easter, the black clouds of which poured over Noursoak, hiding the snowy peaks of Okaitsortalik, Majorkarsuatsiak, and their companions, and blotting my world out behind a veil of falling snow and rain. Then I had retraced my steps through the continu- ation of the storm back to my tent. This solitary experience in the silence and desolation and infinite expanse of the "great ice" made a deep impression upon me. Returning to Kekertak, I climbed the ragged peak of Nayat on the north side of the fjord, where I had a magnificent view of the entire north-eastern section of Disco Bay. Beneath the eye of an observer on the summit of Nayat, the whole of Tossukatek Fjord, with its ramifications into Ikaresak Sound, and the great glacier at its head, lies like a map, and the apparently level horizon of the ice-cap stretches from north-east to south-east. Then from Kekertak I went to the famous fossil beds of Atanekerdluk. Here I found fragments of trees, black petrifactions with the grain of the wood and the texture of the bark showing clearly. Pieces of sandstone split readily into sheets, between which were to be seen sharp, clear impressions of large net- veined leaves, every tiniest veinlet and minute ser- ration of the edofes distinct as the lines of a steel 26 Northward over the "Great Ice" engraving ; long, slender parallel-veined leaves and exquisite feathery ferns. To one who appreciates the strange story of these leaf impressions, yet has not the circumscribed microscopic vision of the specialist, these fossils give strange sensations. One holds in his hand the new-cut grey pages of a book HARBOUR OK A I A N tKER L)L U K. that went to press countless ages ago, with fresh green leaves scattered through it, leaves that seem familiar to us, that remind us of the beech, the magnolia, and the oak, leaves such as may be found in the sun-flecked aisles of any of our June forests ; yet looking over the top of the page we see below a fleet of huge ice- bergs, and beyond the narrow channel the eternal ice-dome of Disco Island, cresting the cliffs and reaching pendent glacier arms down their sides. I Reconnaissance of 1886 27 descended the slope with a strange, unreal feeling, half expecting that if I turned and looked up the gorge I should see a green, leaf-carpeted forest, rustling and shimmering in the sunlight. Yet it is all a part of this land of startling contrasts, this land of midnight sun and noonday night, of tropical skies and perennial snow, of mountains half hidden beneath the eternal ice-caps, yet still tinged with the deep glow of ancient volcanic fires. ATANEKERDLUK FOSSIL BEDS. ?"rom Atanekerdluk back to Kekertak, thence to Ritenbenk, thence again in a sluggish tub of a sail- boat to Godhavn, where the Eagle came for me on the 6th of September. From Godhavn the Eagle steamed directly west across Baffin's Bay, through the scattered streams of the " middle ice," and dropped anchor near Agnes Monument, just north of the river Clyde. The low shore here and the mountains back of it were covered 28 Northward over the "Great Ice" deeply with snow, an unbroken ice-foot hid the beach, and new ice was rapidly forming. In the morning the ice drove us out, and the Eagle steamed north and dropped anchor in L^exterity Harbour of the whalers, an uncharted inlet, lying just north of Cape Cargenholm, in a group of entirely unex- plored islands and deep fjords. The surroundings of the harbour, as seen through the deep snow and drift- ing clouds, were wild in the extreme. Sharp, ragged mountains enclose its head, the black, vertical cliffs at their summits standing out in startling relief against the white shroud which covered everything else. Nine days we lay here in an almost continuous snow-storm. Then at daylight of the 20th Jackman drove the Eagle out in the teeth of a north-east snow-storm, and squared away for Eglinton Fjord. As the day ad- vanced, the land came gradually out from the clouds on our starboard bow, and gave a view of the bold headland of Cape Adair, in the rear of which is a high conical peak very conspicuous to the north. The peaks north-west of this have also a tendency to the conical form. Later, Scott Inlet showed out in sharp relief against a ghastly background, its vertical black walls reaching far inland among the mountains. Scott Island, at the entrance, is a giant fortress, with vertical walls 1500 feet high, smooth and true as if laid by masons. Reaching Eglinton, we headed across for Ravens- craig Harbour on the south side. The shore here is solid rock, with not a boulder, pebble, or grain of sand along its entire wave-worn extent. In the harbour were three whalers, the Escjitniian.w Active, and Nova Zeinbla, and as night descended the Eagle dropped her anchor among them. Ravenscraig Harbour is one of the finest on this whole coast, a narrow deep-water inlet, making south Reconnaissance of 1886 29 several miles into the land. The next day the Terra Nova came in, and here the tleet made its rendezvous for the next ten days, sending boats out daily to cruise for whales. With thirty boats darting back and forth over its surface, the fjord presented an animated appearance. If the wind was favourable, the ships themselves stood out under canvas (whal- ers never using their propellers when in the vicinity of whales), anct reached back and forth off the mouth of the fjord. While here ten bears were killed by the various ships, and one day the Eagle s boats came in with the skins of two w'^hich they had har- pooned in the w^ater. It had taken the united efforts of three boats' crews to keep one of these power- ful brutes from climb- ing into the boat and wreaking vengeance for the murderous thrust of the steel. On the last day of September we steamed south to Bute Island on the south side of the Clyde. The coast from Eg- linton to the Clyde looks like the side of a long, deep railway cut. The next afternoon we made Kater Head (of the whalers — Cape Raper of the charts). Here we found the Polynia, Terra Nova, and Esqui- maiix, and along this coast from Kater Head to Cape Kater we put in ten days. During this time it was snowing almost constantly, and young ice formed wherever the lee of a projecting point, or stream of CLIFF VIEW AT ATANEKERDLUK. 3© Northward over the "Great Ice" old ice, made calm water. One forenoon the barom- eter dropped rapidly, and in the afternoon the snow ceased, the clouds lifted, and a tremendous swell came rolling in from the south-east. Not a breath of wind disturbed the surface as the long, lazy swells, smoothed by the pressure of the ice through which they had passed, came slipping noiselessly in, lift- ing and dropping the huge bergs as if they were but corks, and then, with clouds of dark smoke streaming from their crests and with great cakes of blue ice borne upon their shoulders, dashed up the long shoal south-west of Kater Head, and fell upon the rocks in vibrating thunders of foam and shattered ice. At sunset the western mountains stood intense blue steel between flaming sky and sea, and then the stars came forth like flashing brilliants, the Milky Way ri- valled the Aurora in brightness, and the wind howled like mad devils throuo^h the ritfsjincr. lust the out- skirts of an arctic hurricane sweeping through the straits had reached us. October 8th I saw my first whale, — in fact it was the first seen from the Eao/c for the season. The biof black brute was playing in a little opening in the pack close to a berg, and as he stood on his head with his tail and nearly half his body thrown into the air against the white backoround of the bero-, the huge tail thrashing the water into columns of spray, it looked as if it would reach the Eagle s main-yard. After a few minutes' play, he came out and started south, and though each ship in turn made for him as he passed, he was too knowing or had too pressing busi- ness, for he gave none of them a chance. At Kater Head a number of the natives of this coast came on board. One family, consisting of a widow with one grown and one younger son and one married daughter with her baby, were comparatively clean and intelli- Reconnaissance of 1886 gent-looking. The old lady was tattooed with lines curving from the bridge of the nose upward over the eyes, and also three lines on each side from the nos- trils across the cheeks back to the ears. The daughter had a pleasant and even pretty face, with dark-brown eyes, and a ruddy glow to her cheeks. She had on the peculiar " cummings" (long-legged sealskin boots) with huge pouches on the outside, worn by the women of this tribe. The hang of these about the knees re- minded me of trousers worn by Turkish wo- men. The baby was complete- ly cased in mot- tled fawn-skin except its face and hands, and when removed from the depths of his mother's hood for re- freshments, re- minded me of nothing so much as a chicken just out of the eggshell. The boys were both big open- faced, intelligent-looking fellows. On the morning of the loth, all the ships had a heavy belt of ice at and above the water-line, and the thickness of young ice everywhere precluded further stay in that locality. In the afternoon the Eagle headed south again. At midnight we ran into the ice-pack north of Cape Hooper, and the next day in this ice three bears were shot by Jackman and myself THE GORGE AT ATANEKERDLUK. Showing the Stratification. One of the Rich Fossil Beds is just at the Left of the Place Shown in the Picture. 32 Northward over the "Great Ice" from the ship. There is but httle of the excitement of danger in this sport, but there is an excitement in being- driven througli the ice, and kept in range of the big game, by such a quivering, powerful steed as one of these whalers. The ice was heavy enough so that the Eagle at her best could barely keep up with the bears, and what with the constant jumping and trem- bling of the vessel as she struck the solid pans, and the motion of the bears as they leaped from piece to piece, ran behind hummocks, and plunged into the wider lanes of water, we usually burned several car- tridges apiece before the bear dropped. There was never any uncertainty as to whether a bullet reached the mark or not, everyone that struck being followed by a savage snap at the wound. One of the bears, as he started to canter away, received a bullet from my Winchester through his hind foot, eliciting a bite and a double-barrelled kick, and accelerating his speed ; another from the Captain tlirough the other foot elic- ited another bite and kick ; then followed several in- effective shots, and he took to the water ; here I got a bullet in his head which staggered him, and as he was attempting to climb out on the ice, another in the base of the skull tumbled him over, an inert mass. He was a gaunt old fellow, without an ounce of fat on him, with a magnificent head and set of ivories, and arms that would be worth a fortune to a prize-fighter. Shortly after noon of the 13th, the Eagle drove through the compacted edge of the pack, and entered the dark wind-tossed, ice-free waters of the Strait, off Cape Walsingham. The next afternoon we were caught by an arctic hurricane, before which the snow drove in level sheets across the deck, and a frightful sea arose, with inde- scribable rapidity. We ran before it till all the whaling- gear was passed from the boats down into the hold, to- 34 Northward over the "Great Ice" gether with everythin*^ movable on deck, the boats themselves double-lashed, hatches battened down, and extra gaskets on the sails. Then with braces manned by the entire crew, and three men lashed at the wheel, the old ship was ready to round to into the teeth of the storm. Clinging to the weather end of the bridge, with everything except our eyes cased in the snow, stood Jack- man and myself, watch- ing the mad seas which came tumbling after us through the blinding drift. For a few mo- ments, there was utter silence as to human sounds. Then a green monster Hung the Edo/c's stern high in the air, poured over the taffrail, burst through the propeller trunk, and passed ahead. "Let her iOJiicf" — a jump to the engine-room signal, the wheel flew round, the braces eased off, and, urgedby propeller, sails, and rudder, the /uio/c whirled like a top, rose to a second grey-green mon- ster, climbed through its top, and plunged down its rearward slope. The foreyard cockbilled with a loud crash, the foretopsail flew out with a report like a piece of artillery, then split in thrashing streamers, and then with sails of iron straining at the sheets till they were like the slant, half-closed wings of her swoop- ing namesake, the Eagle heeled over to the hurricane, CAPTAIN ARTHUR JACKMAN OF THE ■' EAGLE." c 2 3 C (/] Q Z < J a. Id n •s. 3 o c z u a: G X o c z < z u o 36 Northward over the "Great Ice" and, with lee-rail under water, " lay to." A little later, the lee side was swept clear of boats, davits, and stanchions ; then a vicious sea stove the weather bul- warks, and water came pouring down the companion- way, setting everything in the cabin afloat. Just before dark, a piercing cry of " Ice !" came from the lookout forward, and there, in the troutrh ahead, wal- lowed a huge blue, nearly submerged mass. As the Eagle plunged down upon it, it seemed from the bridge as if her jib-boom cleared by scarcely a foot, then she answered her helm, fell off, and sheered by it. For a moment, hurled aloft on the crest of a wave, it swung high above her quarter as she scraped past, then a bub- bling whirlpool, and a glimmer of blue beneath the Eagles stern, showed where it had plunged beneath the surface. Then the blackest of nights fell on us, as we stood out into the Strait. At midnight the snow had ceased, the moon was shining brightly, and the Eaolc ridintr easily on the subsidinsr waves. Comingf about in the morning, we steamed for the American whaling station in Cumberland .Sound, where we lay at anchor si.\teen days. Then on the ist of Novem- ber we hoisted anchor and for twenty-four hours fought our way out through heavy young ice. The brave old ship, staggering and quivering from keel to truck, rammed and fought her way through the tough, rapidly hardening pack, in her struggle to escape imprisonment for the winter. This battle with the ice was very different from those on the upward voyage in June. Then, it was the quick smashing work of a powerful and accomplished fighter. Now, it was the steady, killing pull of a giant, straining at a load which he could barely move. Two days were passed in the shelter of Field Bay, and then our course was resumed south again, and all night long, with engines throbbing at full speed, with Upward Voyoee of EAOLE Ice Cap J(uute . Return Vujace of EAGLi: 91322 38 Northward over the "Great Ice" every sail black against the southern moon, with black masts swaying to and fro among the stars, the Eagle went racing southward across the Strait of Hudson, beneath the blazing curtain of a magnificent aurora. At first the aurora extended, in a brilliant white, waving curtain, north and south across the Strait, its bottom seeminCT to brush the mast-heads. Then the curtain disappeared, and scurrying wreaths and streams of pale amorphous light came rushing north- ward over the ship, and, forming in serpentine folds, waved and fluttered, waxed and waned, separated and ran together again, with a rapid, fluttering motion, which I can compare only to the rapid opening and shutting of a Japanese fan ; and finally, agitated by some ghostly whirlwind, till every fold shot green and gold and violet and crimson flames, they broke in flying fragments, and dissolved into faint, luminous clouds. After this, a week of head-winds and storms, driv- ing mists, snow, and a waste of mad grey-green waves, sometimes lighted, for a moment, by bursts of pale November sunlight, was passed along the Labrador coast. On the i 7th of November the Eagle steamed into the harbour of .St. John's, and my first arctic voy- age was at an end. But the northern bacilli were in my system, the arctic fever in my veins, never to be eradicated. OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF 1886 RECON- NAISSANCE. OBJECTS. " To gain a practical knoivkdgc of the obstacles and ice con- ditions of the interior of Greenland ; to put to the test of actual use certain methods and details of equipment ; to make such scientific observations as may be practicable ; and to push into the interior as far as possible." ' RESULTS. Attainment of greater elevation than ever before reached on the Inland Ice. Penetration a greater distance than any white man pre- viously. Attainment for first time of the real interior plateau of unchanging snou>. Determinatioti of ruling characteristics of the Inland Ice from border to interior. (See article in ^'■Bulletin Ain. Geog. Soc." No. 3, 1887,//. 286-88. j Securing of an in-valuable fund of defi?iite practical knowl- edge and experience of actual ice-cap conditions and necessary equipment, as 'well as practical knowledge of arctic navigation and a familiarity 'with a considerable extent of the arctic coasts. Inception of ideas of pronounced future value, as odometer, sails, etc. The folloiving deductions ^ .• ' Paper read before National Academy of Sciences, at Washington, April 23, 1886, " Bull. Am. Gcog. Soc, No. 3, 1887, pp. 288, 289. 39 40 Northward over the "Great Ice Attacks upon the Inland Ice should be made at a point as far above level of sea as possible, and ivhere the pres- ence of large and rapidly discharging glaciers indi- cates a rcipid ascent to high elevation in close proximity to coast. Party should be small and thoroughly accustomed to snozu-shoes and ski. Surface of Inland Ice offers imperial highway to East Coast, and, in case the ice-cap is coextensive tvith the land, to the northern terminus of Greenland. Proposal of the folhnving prophetic routes : " From base of Noursoak Peninsula to head of Franz Joseph Fjord, and return. {A) "From Whale Sound to northern terminus of Green- land or intersection of ice- cap with East Coast. ' {B) This route tJiC' key to the Greenland Problem. " From Disco Bay to Cape Dan." ' {D) ' This route actually covered by me in 1892. ' This route utilised by Nansen in 188S. (£) PART II. NORTH GREENLAND EXPEDITION OF 1891-1892. CHAPTER I. BROOKLYN TO MCCORMICK BAY. Starting from Brooklyn — East River Steamboats Whistle their Adieus— My Heavy-Laden Barkentine — Purposes of the North Green- land Expedition — Its Personnel and Equipment — Our Companions on the Voyage — Stopped by Ice in the Strait of Belle Isle — Greenland's Grand Mountains Come into View— Our First Field Day in the Arctic Regions — A Panoramic Survey of Mountains, Fjords, Glaciers, Ice- bergs, and Sea— Caught in the Ice of Melville Bay — Three Weeks Battling with the Pack — A Broken Leg — The North Water Reached at Last — We Meet the Arctic Highlanders— The Site Selected for our North Greenland Home. ASTRUP. HENSON. CHAPTER I. BROOKLVX TO MCCORMICK BAY. T H E last boxL's and parcels were finally stowed awa)' on my little barkentine. At five in the afternoon of June 6, 1 89 1, the Kite cast off from the foot of Baltic Street, Brooklyn, and swung out into the East River. Genial sunlight illumined the faces of a crowd o f friends and sightseers, waving adieus from the end of the pier. We were fairly off for North Greenland, and every ferryboat and steamer in the crowded East River knew it. Scores of whistles bade us good-bye and bon voyage. All the way up the East River dipping Hags rave us hail and farewell. The fleet of bio- Sound steamers passed us one by one, whistles saluting and decks crowded with passengers waving handkerchiefs. At Flushing, and other points, many yachts saluted with their guns ; and it was not until night hid us that the inspiring God-speeds of our friends and well- wishers were heard no more. Our little world, very much cramped for elbow-room, for every inch of space 43 44 Northward over the "Great Ice" below deck was filled, and the deck itself hidden under my equipment, was left to itself at last. Sixteen persons comprised the passenger list of the little Kite. Seven of them were members of my CAPTAIN RICHARD PIKE OF THE "KITE." North Greenland Expedition, while nine formed the scientific party sent out by the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, to accompany me to my desti- nation, and then make such investigations in their scientific specialties as time permitted before the Kite Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 45 returned home. This party was known as the West Greenland Expedition. I had Hmited my own party to the number of men absokitely required for the work I proposed to do. The day of large expeditions in successful arctic ex- ploration I believed had gone by. The great work of the future, like much of that of the past, will be done by very small parties.' Believing that every man beyond the number absolutely essential is an element of danger and failure, I had selected from the hundreds of applicants, whose letters had been pouring in for months, only five men to share my fort- unes. They were all young, and, in addition to pos- sessing first-class physique and perfect health, were men of education and attainments. I believe this to be the type of man best fitted to endure with mini- mum unfavourable effect the ordeal of the arctic winter, and to effectively execute a two or three months' dash on sledges, where intelligent will- power, youthful elasticity, and enthusiasm rise su- perior to the stolid endurance of muscles hardened by years of work. My assistants were : Frederick A. Cook, M.D., the surgeon and ethno- logist of the expedition, a young physician and sur- geon, a native of New York State, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and of the Uni- versity of the City of New York. He had been practising his profession in New York City for sev- eral years. He was twenty-six years old. Langdon Gibson, of Flushing, L. I., my ornitho- logist and chief hunter, a stalwart young hunter of ' Schwatk.i's great sledge journey was made with four white men and an Eskimo. Captain Holm's party to East Greenland numbered four. Payer, in Franz Josef Land, started with seven, but, finding this number cumbrous, he left four and pushed ahead with two. The e.\plnrations of the Greely Expe- dition were made by parties of three men. Hall's earlier explorations and Graah's journey along the east coast of Greenland are striking examples of the success that may attend the efforts of one resolute man in arctic exploration. 46 Northward over the "Great Ice twenty-six, a member of the American Ornithologists' Union. He was one of the Brown-Stanton party in the Colorado Canon survey of 1889-90. CHIEF ENGINEER JARDINE, 2d ENGINEER McKINLEY. AND "BOSUN" DUNPHY. Eivind Astrup of Christiania, Norway, twenty years old, was a stalwart young fellow who had but recently come to the United States. The son of the Com- mander of the Royal Civil Guard of Christiania, he was a first-class graduate of the Christiania Commer- cial College, and a winner of numerous prizes in ath- letic sports, especially ski-running. John M. Verhoeff, of Louisville, Ky., my mineral- ogist and meteorologist, was twenty-five years old, and educated in an Eastern university. Mr. Verhoeff contributed generously to the expenses of the expe- dition. Matthew Henson, my body-servant, a hardy col- oured man, was a native of Virginia, twenty-three years Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 47 old. His intelligence and faithfulness, combined with more than average pluck and endurance, as shown during several years that he had been with me through varying experiences, part of the time in Nicaraguan jungles, led me to regard him as a valuable member of the party. Mrs. Peary accompanied the party. Possessed of health, youth, energy, and enthusiastic interest in the work, she saw no reason why she could not endure conditions and environment similar to those in which Danish wives in Greenland pass years of their life. I concurred in this opinion, and believed that in many ways her presence and assistance would contribute to the valuable results of the expedition, as they were invaluable to me in the preparation. Events proved the entire correctness of this belief. TIM. Both the North Greenland and West Greenland Expeditions were under my command until the for- 48 Northward over the "Great Ice" mer was landed at its winter quarters in McCormick Bay. The West Greenland Expedition then began its distinctive work under command of Prof. Angelo Heilprin, Executor Curator of the Academy of Nat- ural Sciences. Philadelphia, and a geologist of in- ternational reputation. Associated with Professor Heilprin, were : Prof. Benjamin Sharp, zoologist in charge ; Prof. J. F. Holt, zoologist ; Dr. William E. Hughes, ornithologist; Mr. Levi W. Mengel, ento- mologist ; Dr. William H. Burk, botanist ; Mr. Alexander C. Kenealy, a reporter for the New York Herald ; Dr. Robert N. Keely, Jr., surgeon; and Mr. Erazer Ashhurst. The master of the Kiti\ a steam sealer of 280 tons, was the late Captain Richard Pike, a famous arctic skipper and one of the best of ice navigators. His death, in the spring of 1893, was widely regretted. As commander of the Protcits, he took Lieutenant Greely's Expedition, in 1881, to Lady Franklin Bay. On that occasion, Captain Pike made a phenomenally rapid run up Smith Sound to the site of Lieutenant Greely's camp. Two years later. Captain Pike was in command of the Proteus when Lieutenant Garlington attempted to relieve Greely ; and after the vessel was crushed in the ice near Cape Sabine, he retreated with his crew in open whale-boats across Melville Bay to Upernavik. Captain Pike and his crew numbered fifteen per- sons, making a total of thirty-one souls who had to be packed away in the very snuggest of quarters in the cabin berths, deck-house, and forecastle. The Kite was a staunch, strong vessel well adapted for the voyage, with a steaming power of seven knots. She had been thoroughly overhauled and additional cabin accommodations put into her for my party. The question of my food supplies, clothing, and Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 49 other equipment, and scientific outfit, had been the subject of long study and careful digestion of the experience of my predecessors. COD-FISHING IN STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE. My equipment was one of the most modest and in- expensive ever taken to the " White North." Vet nothing was omitted that was essential to our comfort or success. The food supply differed little from that of the later arctic e.xpeditions. I had a year and a half's sup- plies ; with tea, coffee, sugar, and milk in sufficient quantity to last two and a half years. I took little meat except pemmican for the ice-cap journey, as I expected to secure an abundance of reindeer and 50 Northward over the "Great Ice" other fresh meat at my winter camp. Evaporated vegetables in large variety, and beef-meal, pemmican, and cocoa tablets had been prepared expressly for the expedition. I carried lumber for a 12 x 20 feet house. I had two whale-boats, Mary Peary and Faith,^ built expressly for the expedition. The former was named JMary Peary, after the mother to whom I owe so much ; the latter. Faith, after the sturdy boat which thirty years ago brought Dr. Kane and his brave companions back to friends and civilisation, past the same cliffs and bays that were to know this new Faith. I took the two sledges used by me in my recon- naissance of the Inland Ice in 1886, and an ample sup- ply of timber for making new ones. Other important items were Indian snow-shoes, Norwegian ski, moccasins and rubber ice-creepers, al- cohol stoves, and an abundance of woollen clothing. For my fur clothing, as for my meat supply, 1 de- pended upon the region about my headquarters. My firearms consisted of Winchester 44-calibre re- peating carbines, 45-calibre repeating riHes, Winches- ter repeating shot-guns 10 gauge, a Daly 3-barrel gun, shot barrels 10 gauge, rifle barrel 45 calibre. Am- munition consisted of one size shells and two sizes rifle cartridges. My surveying outfit comprised one small theodolite, arranged expressly by Fauth & Co., of Washington, w^ith prismatic eyepiece and coloured glasses ; one 7- inch sextant with artificial horizon and extra mercury ; a pocket sextant ; three pocket chronometers, made expressly for me by the Howard Watch Co., of Bos- ' One of them, built by S. H. Mitchell, of New Bedford, was 28 feet long, 6 feet beam, and 28 inches deep amidships, weighing about 1000 pounds and carrying one sprit-sail and a large jib. The other, built by Reeves & Comstock, of New London, Conn., was 28 feet long, 5 feet beam, and 24 inches deep, weighing 600 pounds. It had two masts (sliding Gunter rig). Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 51 ton ; several compasses of different varieties ; five aneroid barometers ; a boiling-point apparatus ; steel tapes, odometers, and field-glasses. For meteorological work I had a mercurial baro- meter, hydrometer, and several sets maximum and minimum thermometers ; several special minimum thermometers, a number of ordinary mercurial ther- mometers, a deep-sea thermometer, and an anemo- meter. DECK SCENE AFTER HEAVY WEATHER. My photographic outfit consisted of Eastman No. 4 kodaks and films, made expressly for me by the Eastman Company. Miscellaneous items were navy-blue lights and sig- nals, rockets, burning-glasses, fiint and steel, pocket lamps, and many other articles too insignificant to mention, yet of importance in a region where not 52 Northward over the "Great Ice" even a piece of string or a paper of pins can be obtained. On June iith, the fifth day out from New York, we steamed into Sydney harbour, and while the crew spent a day filling the coal-bunkers, the members of the two expeditions enjoyed to the utmost their last MRS. PEARY AND GROUP OF DANISH-ESKIMO WOMEN AT GODHAVN. day in civilisation. By Friday evening, the 12th inst., 180 tons of coal from the Cape Breton mines had been taken aboard, eivino- us over three hunderd tons Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 53 in the bunkers and hokl and on deck. Then, with a last glance at the hills around the bay, only recently reclad with verdure by the awakening touch of spring, we put to sea, and headed northward across the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the Strait of Belle Isle. It was lightning sharply astern, and by noon next da)' the erowintr wind had risen to a afale, and life became a burden to the poor sailors in our party. The little Kite, however, proved herself a good sea boat. Her waist and a part of her quarter-deck were filled to the rail with coal, and the rest of the deck was packed full of trunks, boxes, and barrels. But in spite of her heavy load she rode much easier than was to be ex- pected. During Saturday night the sea went down, and Sunday was comparatively pleasant. Steaming alone the west coast of Newfoundland, we could see now and then, through rifts in the fog, the snow- streaked mountain sides. At Sydney, the Strait of Belle Isle was reported to be free of ice, but early Monday morning, just within the Strait, we ran into pack-ice, and the members of my party had their first experience of this common phase of arctic navigation. This occurrence of heavy arctic ice in the Strait of Belle Isle, choking it from end to end, was unpreced- ented for this time of year. The ice-pans rose and fell with the undulations of the sea, and the rhythmic roar of the white pack's heaving edge was grander than any surf upon the shore. The cakes were from five to one hundred feet in diameter, and from one to eight feet thick, some tiny pinnacles rising from eight to ten feet. As we moved back and forth along the ice edge, vainly seeking a lead that would take us north, we secured fine views of the grim shores of New- foundland and Labrador. .Some Newfoundland fish- ermen put off to us in boats to tell us of their sore straits, for many were ill in their settlement. They 54 Northward over the "Great Ice" had no medicines, and no ship had visited them for many months. We gave them medicines, and letters for our friends. Impatient of delay as I was, I still enjoyed the novel situation. When the Kite, tired of hunting for a lead, anchored now and then to a floe, we fished and photographed, or got out our ski and snow-shoes and had a lit- tle practice. We caught four hundred pounds of fine codfish, and salted down a barrel for our North-Greenland larder. Myriads of looms, kitti- wakes, herring gulls, and seals gave life and move- ment to the scene. .Scen- ic splendours were not wanting. On Monday night we enjoyed an ex- quisite sunset. A mir- ror-like sea reflected the rosy glories of the west- ern sky, and the Labra- dor coast was purple as amethyst. Ice, fantastic- ally carved, floated all around us, and the still- ness was broken by cries of gulls and puffing of whales. During five days we struggled with the ice, forcing ahead a few miles, only to be caught and drifted back again. At last, Friday afternoon, we felt the swell of the open sea again, and crowding on all steam and sail, were soon free, and bowling along at an eight-knot pace. CLIMBING THE GODHAVN CLIFFS. Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 55 As we passed Belle-Isle lights, the keepers ran up the British flag to shew that they saw us, and per- haps in greeting to the first vessel they had seen that year. We came out of Belle Isle Strait, our faces burned as with tropical suns by the blinding glare from snow-covered ice-fields. The next five days were a time of stress and storm for the little Kite. On Tuesday morning she had to lay-to several hours, after twice dipping her bows un- THE PARTY AT THE CAIRN. der, and rising heavily from the weight of green seas forward and in her waist. Our poorest sailors, however, forgot their misery at eleven p.m. on Tuesday, June 23d, when we got our first glimpse of the grandeur of the Greenland coast. Cape Desolation was the dis- tant landmark before us, and next morning the mount- ains were in full view all along to the east. Ivigtut, famous for its cryolite mines, was abreast, and before noon we saw the great marble wall of the Frederick- 56 Northward over the "Great Ice" shaab Glacier, one of the largest in the world ; and to the right of it, and inland, the peak of Kangarsuk, 4710 feet high, reared its sharp, snow-blotched apex, a perfect counterpart of the Matterhorn. The vivid brilliance of the sun brought into bold relief the rug- ged outlines of the mountains twenty miles away, on whose sides was much snow, particularly on their northern aspects. As the sun neared the horizon, the lights and shadows and clear-cut profiles of the mountains were inexpressibly grand. We met the East-Greenland pack-ice that had rounded Cape Farewell, and our course was changed a little to avoid it. Early on Thursday morning we passed Godhaab, north of which the rugged mountains dropped away, and for a long distance, until South Isortok Fjord is reached, the coast is comparatively low and the mountains rounded. North of South Isortok, the mountains, capped with snow, streaked with glaciers, and cleft with deep gorges, again grow wild and rug- ged. All Friday afternoon we passed great numbers of icebergs, the spring output from the Disco Bay glaciers, marvellous in endless variety of form and colour. Large flocks of eider-ducks were seen and a few shot. I shall not dwell upon the various phases of life and nature in Danish Greenland, which have been so often and so well described by travellers. This volume has to do with hitherto unknown or little understood as- pects of North Greenland, and with experiences, some of which are entirely new in arctic exploration. On Saturday, June 27th, we dropped anchor in the land-locked harbour of Godhavn, the chief settlement in the North Inspectorate of Danish Greenland. The place had not changed in the five years since I had seen it. No building boom had reached God- Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 57 havn, and the real-estate market was as flat as ever. The famihes of Inspector Andersen and Governor Carstens were a little larger than five years ago, and the Inspector and Mrs. Andersen were the same genial, hospitable, homelike couple as ever. We learned that Hans Hendrick, the Eskimo who had accompanied so many expeditions, and whose autobi- ography has been published in English, had died three years before. With Mrs. Peary and Professor Heilprin, A CRUISER OF THE ARCTIC WHITE SQUADRON. I called on Inspector Andersen, and the freedom of the place was given to the expeditions. Most of us started for a field day on the ice-cap peering down from the summit of the island. It took us four hours of an arctic afternoon to reach the edge of the ice- cap, 2400 feet above the sea. .Seating ourselves, we enjoyed the scene around and below us, a scene that can be duplicated nowhere but in Greenland. Almost at our feet lay the town and harbour of Godhavn, the houses mere specks. The Kite and a Danish brig in the harbour looked like toy boats. Be- yond the town, over Disco Bay, to the south-east, was 58 Northward over the "Great Ice" far-distant, misty Egedesminde and the Crown Prince Islands. To the west, the bhie of Baffin's Bay cHmbed upward till lost in golden splendour beneath the west- ern sun. Over the ice-cap to our left, Disco Bay bore upon its placid bosom hundreds of icebergs, the out- put of the mighty Jacobshavn Glacier, whose gleam- ing front was seen breaking the dark round of the mountains on the eastern horizon. Behind us was the eternal, unbroken ice-cap, smooth as marble and with a gently undulating surface. We built a cairn eight feet high in memory of our visit, depositing in it, in a tin box, the date, the names of the party, and a few American coins. Then we returned to the Kite, tired and hungry, but enthusiastic over our first Green- land outing. SANDERSON'S HOPE. The next day was devoted to excursions in the neighbourhood. In the evening, Professor Heilprin, Mr. Astriip, Mr. Kenealy, Mrs. Peary, and I dined with Inspector Andersen. After dinner, we looked on for a while at a native dance in one of the govern- 6o Northward over the "Great Ice" ment buildings, and then passed a pleasant evening at the Inspector's house. I had intended to get under way early on Monday morning, but a south-wester, accompanied by a dense fog. held us in the harbour until two p.m., when we steamed out with Hags dipping and a salute from the ship's cannon. Shaping our course north, we went along the shore of Disco Island, and thirty-six hours later, cast anchor in the harbour of Upernavik. Dur- ing all these hours, we steamed through a sea on which hardly a ripple could be seen. Save for the icebergs that dotted the sea here and there, there was no ice. The Waigat, Nugsuak Peninsula, broad- mouthed Omenak Fjord with the great Inland Ice visible far up at its head, Black Hook of the old Dutch navigators, and sublime Sanderson's Hope, all stood out in their grandest, most brilliant aspects. I found it impossible to obtain from Governor Beyer, of Upernavik, either a kayak or a native interpreter to go along with us, and so, after returning his ofifi- cial call, accompanied by Professor Heilprinand Mrs. Peary, I got under way, leaving behind the most northerly town on the globe. The Kite steamed over summer seas, past the numerous red-brown islands that guard this arctic coast. Through every depres- sion in the mountains and from every fjord head, the marble surface of the Inland Ice looked down upon us, the crevasses in the lower portions visible at times with the naked eye. Past many giant mile-stones by which the whalers measure their advance in their annual battles with the ice-floes, we steamed without seeinCT a bit of ice, and at six o'clock in the morninof reached the Duck Islands, a well-known rendezvous and lookout for the whalers while waiting for the ice barriers of Melville Bay to open for them. At these islands we stopped till afternoon, laying in a supply Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 6i of eider-ducks which breed here in thousands. Un- fortunately we were too late to get eggs, they being too far advanced to be edible. UPERNAVIK. Leaving the islands, we shaped our course direct for Cape York, with the most sanguine expectation of making a speedy passage across Melville Bay, and per- haps reaching Whale Sound on the 4th of July, the day on which famous old Baffin cast anchor in the Sound over 275 years ago. Our expectations, however, were doomed to speedy disappointment. Sixteen miles north of the Duck Islands, we met the dreaded Mel- ville-Bay pack, and after running along its edge close to the Devil's Thumb, and then back again to the westward, in search of a good opening, the Kite, at 7:30 P.M., on July 2d, stuck her sturdy little nose into the pack and began a long struggle. 62 Northward over the "Great Ice The Greenland ice-cap, which we could discern above the coast mountains, seemed very rough and broken by crevasses. I had no doubt, however, that farther inland it offered the favourable conditions for sledging that I expected to find on the inner ice of North THE PARTY AT THE DUCK ISLANDS. Greenland. Baffled by the ice of Melville Bay, I encountered at the outset of my arctic work one of the common vicissitudes of polar exploration in ships ; while not many miles east of us was the great interior Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 63 ice-plateau, offering an imperial highway to the far North. The ice of the pack, where we first encount- ered it, was only six to fifteen inches thick, and rotten. The ice-pans, as sailors call very small and somewhat rounded fioes, averaged perhaps twenty-five feet across, and numerous icebergs were scattered through the pack. As we got farther into the pack, some of the pans were six or seven feet thick. We managed to keep under way by fits and starts into the night of July 4th, but the next morning the ice tightened, and after that we drifted, utterly help- less in its grip, for one long week. The " Fourth " was ushered in by firing the ship's cannon, and the flags that had been run up were dipped and greeted with a volley of small-arms. We joined in a toast to the Stars and Stripes, and the expeditions posed for their picture on the ice, with the Kite as a background. At dinner we had a special spread of roast eider-duck, plum-duff, and Melville-Bay Roman punch, consisting of snow, milk, rum, lime-juice, and sugar. Our celebration of the national holiday was regarded as a great success, with the exception of the punch, the rum in this being none of the best, and a little too much in evidence. The crow's-nest was sent up soon after we entered the ice, and the chief business of life for days was scanning the ice-fields from this lofty point of vantage for some sign of a change. The white, unrelieved ex- panse of the pack soon ceased to be a novelty, and became very monotonous, while snow and fog con- tributed their part to the unpleasant situation. On the ninth I secured an observation which crave our position as 74° 51 N. Lat., and an approximate longitude of 60° W. Pools were forming on the surface of the floes and the ice was melting rapidly and growing more 64 Northward over the "Great Ice" rotten. The temperature averaged 31° F"., the lowest being 28° F. Often the masts, spars, and rigging were covered to windward with a thick coating of hoar- frost, giving a beautiful but wintry aspect. f^i-rr BESET IN THE MELVILLE-BAY PACK. Our imprisonment gave everyone a chance to stretch himself upon the floes, but after a time some of the party began to have forebodings of spending a win- ter in the Melville-Bay pack, not an alluring pros- pect, particularly as the commissary department had not been fitted out with that contingency in view. Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 65 At five P.M. on Saturday, July iith, without any ap- parent reason, the ice slackened, steam was hurriedly gotten up, and the Kite forged ahead and began a slow, laborious run that continued until about mid- night Sunday. Periods of ramming the ice alternated with intervals of waiting, and the total advance for the day was small. About eight o'clock on Saturday evening, [uly iith, the Kite being then engaged in ramming a passage through some comparatively heavy ice, I stepped to the stern rail as she was backing for another blow, to watch her behaviour. Just as I reached the rail a large cake of ice struck the rudder, jamming it hard over, and tearing the wheel from the hands of the two men on duty. One of them was thrown clear over the wheel and across the deck. The next instant the iron tiller had caught my leg between it and the house and snapped both bones just above the ankle. I spoke to the men at the wheel, askino- them to send Drs. Sharp and Cook to me, and the next instant they and Gibson were carrying me to the cabin, where I was stretched out on the table. My leg was set and I was stowed on a long seat across the head of the cabin, where I was destined to remain till I was taken ashore at our winter camp. Thanks to the professional skill of my surgeon. Dr. Cook, and the unwearying and thoughtful care of Mrs. Peary, my co-mplete re- covery was rapidly attained. Before this accident occurred, I had improved the days that we were fast in the ice, to cut and fit all the frames of our house, so that, when we reached our destination, the work of putting up the structure was expeditiously performed. Annoying as was the delay from the ice, my now crippled condition made it doubly irksome. Nearly 66 Northward over the "Great Ice" all the week following was a continual round of ram- ming the ice and waiting for opportunities to make a little headway. It was a red-letter occasion when one evening, after we had been fighting the floes for nearly a fortnight, someone announced that a bear was approaching the Kite. In a moment everyone except myself was on deck, crouching behind the rail, rifle in hand, awaiting the bear's approach. MELVILLE BAY, JULY 4, 1891. In a few minutes I heard a protracted fusilade, and a little later was informed that the bear had been killed. The animal measured seven feet one inch, and his estimated weight was six hundred pounds. The two Brooklyn to McCorniick Bay 67 hind quarters, dressed, weighed about two hundred pounds. Through the carelessness of a sailor, both hind quarters were lost overboard in hoisting them in over the rail. Not very long after, a family party, consisting of an old bear and two cubs, were sighted and a number of men jumped on the ice in pursuit, while the Kite started in another direction in an attempt to head them oft. The bears were too wary, however, and. POLAR BEAR. rapidly retreating, were soon out of sight. The rumour was afloat that one gentleman in his eagerness went over the side of the vessel and started in pursuit without his rifle, and, returning from the chase, had to be hoisted on board. We saw birds in millions, and eider-ducks, ivory gulls, and seals were among the game whose capture 68 Northward over the "Great Ice" now and then varied the monotony of Hfe in the ice-pack. On the evening of the i6th, the Kite was nipped between two big floes, and aU other efforts to free her faihng, holes were drihed in the ice, in which bottles of gunpowder were placed. They were simultane- ously exploded, blowing out a large piece of ice, and the ship, being put astern, was soon relieved from her dangerous situation. At midnight of the 1 7th, the ice opened up and the Kite was able to steam for nineteen hours, with such excellent results that when we were stalled again Cape York was in sight. Monday morning, July 21st, land was only si.x or eight miles away and the coast was in sight from Cape York to Conical Rock. On the 23d, just three weeks from the time we entered the ice, the Kite was once more free of it and fairly in the north water off Conical Rock. She seemed as delighted as we at regaining her freedom, and bowled merrily along north- ward in ice-free water past Petowik Glacier, Wolsten- holm Island and Sound, then rounded Cape Parry into Whale Sound. I had hoped to enter this inlet and secure a winter camp on the north shore of Inglefield Gulf. At Barden Bay, on the south side of Whale Sound, we stopped at a settlement of Arctic Highlanders, con- taining a population of seven adults and five children. W^e obtained here some specimens of native handi- work and then steamed on to Herbert Island. We found no natives there, and at once shaped our course up Whale Sound to reach the proposed site of my house near Cape Tyrconnell on the north shore of Inglefield Gulf. The ice, however, extended imbrok- enly from the east end of Herbert Island, south-east to Cape Powlet, and our progress was soon stopped. Turning about, the Kite steamed up between North- Brooklyn to McCormick Bay 69 umberland Island and Herbert Is- land and attempted to get eastward into Inglefield Gulf through Mur- chison Sound. Again we were defeated by the unbroken ice, for the winter ice had not yet come out. So the Kite was run into the in- let a little farther west, known as McCormick Bay, and here my party had its headquarters for the follow- ing year. The site finally selected for the house was bright with flowers, and there were numerous traces of rein- deer, foxes, and hares. Seals and walrus were abundant in the wa- ters of the bay, and traces of na- tives were more numerous than I had anticipated. Although we had found but one inhabited village, others we visited were evidently only temporarily deserted ; and wher- ever we made a landing we found baited fox-traps and caches of meat and blubber. I had therefore the earliest assurances that my expedi- tion would not suffer for lack of an abundance of fresh meat. '"fi %M »•«* "»'-«! a, a. u o a. < i o a O H •A a. o >• u < u S o OS b H < O o b O < s <<: a: o z < 0. CHAPTER II. PREPARING OUR NORTH-GREENLAND HOME. The Work before us — Summer Scene on an Arctic Shore — Selecting THE Site for our House — Landing the Stores — All my Young Men Turn Carpenters — Description of the House — An Abode that Bade Defiance to King Winter — Good-bye to the KrvE — Lovely August Weather — Millions of Birds and Manifold Phases of Animal Life — We Name our Home Red Cliff House — Red-Letter Days — First Eskimo Guests — Ikwa and his Interesting Family — Killing Deer and Walrus — Reconnoitring the Inland Ice. 71 < CHAPTER II. PREPARING OUR NORTH-GREENLAND HOME. M^' struggle with the Melville-Bay ice had been more se- vere than that of most of my predecessors in North Greenland exploration, due partly to the com- paratively small size of my ship, parti)' to the early date at which I at- tacked it. The three weeks' long conflict with the floe ice had cost me just that amount of time which I had hoped to devote to the large amount of work preliminary to carrying out the main purposes of my expedition. About three months, however, yet remained to us for outdoor work, before settling down to the comparative in- activity of the long winter night. The first thing to do, of course, was to select a suitable site for our camp, put up the building, and settle my arctic household to rights as soon as pos- sible. Then, unless the Eskimos came to my head- quarters, it was essential to communicate with them. I had reason to believe that one or more of their hunters would be of great advantage to us. More- 73 74 Northward over the "Great Ice" over, I wanted them Hvinor near us. I wished to be- come well acquainted with these most isolated and northerly of all peoples, and, for purposes of studying this interesting tribe, I hoped to induce not a few of them to spend'the winter months at or near our camp. SITE OF RED CLIFF HOUSE. On the South Shore of McCormnk I'.ay. Then the ne.xt twelve weeks would be a busy time for my hunters, for we had the winter supply of fresh meat, and also the deer- and sealskins needed for a part of my arctic outfit, to procure. I hoped, too, that we should find some of the native women useful in sewing our skin garments. I wished also, if possible, to send a sledge party on the Inland Ice across Prudhoe Land to the north, to establish one or more caches of supplies for the use of the party to the north coast in the following spring. Handicapped as my little party was by my temporary disability for all Preparing Our North-Greenland Home 75 physical activity, I felt that the duties before us would demand the best energy of all. The eager desire to get about our work possessed my mind as I lay helpless in the cabin ; but my party was prepared to enjoy with the keenest zest the beau- tiful arctic sum- mer day and the glorious scene as we steamed into McCormick Bay. The sun was just rising from the lowest part of its nearly horizontal course above the ice-capped c 1 i ff s that line the north shore of the inlet. All was warmth and light and ex- uberant life. A deer or two browsed leisurely on the slopes, cov- ered with moss and flowers, that stretched along the south shore the dark brown THE RED CLIFFS. between the water's edge and and red-brown cliffs that frame the inlet and uphold the Inland Ice. Down the valleys, worn by water out of the sandstone and ba- saltic walls that bound the bay, leaped brooks look- ing in the distance like silver ribbons. Flocks of snow-buntings twittered and chirped, and millions of little auks kept the air alive with querulous cries and the rapid beat of their whirring wings. The ice still 76 Northward over the "Great Ice" filled the greater portion of the bay. A broad river of gleaming water ran close to the shore. Every glistening iceberg floated in an open lake in which sported seals, narwhals, and schools of white whales, and narrow lanes of water ran in every direction throucjh the rotten ice, cutting it into o-reat floes which floated slowly back and forth with the tide. RED CLIFF HOUSE. The bay was found to be about nine miles wide at its mouth and some fifteen miles long. Like most of this coast line, it was incorrectly charted. Its shores, according to the chart, might be called the east and west, while, in fact, they are more nearly the north and south boundaries of the bay. It narrows very gradually towards its head, where it is about four miles wide. At the head of the bay a large glacier was plainly seen, and from it came icebergs that were sprinkled over the surface of the inlet. Preparing Our North-Greenland Home T'] I immediately sent m)' party ashore, first on the south and then on the north side of the bay, to recon- noitre for a site for the house. It was not an entirely easy matter to select a suitable location, because many thintjs were to be con- sidered, and he upon whom the decision rested was obliged to see with the eyes of others. The house must not be too far from the shore, it must be where no landslide or falling rocks from the cliffs could crush it, where the torrents from the melting snow of early s u m m e r could not sweep it away, and yet it should be sheltered from the furious blasts of winter, and be so placed as to get all the sunlight possible. The ice made it impracticable to con- si der the northern shore, thouo-h I should have preferred to winter on that side of the bay as offering bet- ter protection from northerly winds. Mrs. Peary accompanied the exploring party, and her good judgment finally cast the deciding vote for the location. Mrs, LOW TIDE. Peary Leaning against a Block of Ice Stranded by the Receding Tide. 78 Northward over the "Great Ice" She selected a little knoll on the south shore, between two brooks, about one hundred feet from the waters of the bay. The soft earth of this little grass- and tiower-covered eminence gave an opportunity to set the house level with very little digging, while the descent in every direction ensured dryness, and the slight elevation gave a good outlook over the bay. The only objection to the location was that the clifYs to the south would shut off the sun early in spring and late in autumn, but this could not be helped. Sunday, July 26th, was beautifully clear and warm. Early in the morning the men of my party went ashore with pickaxes, shovels, and lumber, and began work on the excavation for the foundation of the house. A foot below the surface the ground was found to be frozen. A day sufficed for this work. Then came the putting up of the frame, which, having been cut and fitted in Melville Bay, had only to be nailed to- gether and erected. The construction of my house had been the subject of much study. I wished to attain a minimum of weight and size with a maximum of strength, warmth, and comfort. The interior dimensions of the house were to be twenty-one feet in length, twelve feet in width, and eight feet in height from floor to ceiling. Though its construction was commenced anon and pushed with great energy till it was entirely enclosed, it was not completed until several weeks later, work upon it being done from time to time in the interims between other more immediately pressing work. As finally completed, the house consisted of an inner and an outer shell, separated by an air-space, formed by the frames of the house and varying from ten inches at the sides to over three feet in the centre of the roof. Preparing Our North-Greenland Home 79 On the outside of these frames was attached the outer air-tight shell, composed of a sheathing of closely fitting boards and two thicknesses of tarred paper. To the inside of these frames was fastened the inner shell, composed of thick trunk boards, and made air- tight by pasting all the joints with heavy brown paper. This inner shell was lined throughout with heavy red Indian blankets. "THE DAYS WERE VERY LONG." This made the interior as warm and cosey in appear- ance as could be desired, amply comfortable for sum- mer and early-fall weather. It was still, however, not in a condition to protect us from the indescribable fury of the storms of the arctic winter night, and temperatures of half a hundred degrees below zero. To render it impregnable to these, a wall was built entirely around the house, about four feet distant from it. The foundation of this wall was stones, turf, empty barrels ; its upper portion built of the wooden bo.xes 8o Northward over the "Great Ice" containing my tinned supplies, piled in regular courses like blocks of stone. The boxes had intentionally been made of the same width and depth, though of varying lengths, to fit them for this use This corridor was roofed with canvas, ex- tending from the side of the house to the top of the wall, and later, when the snow came, it, as well as the roof of the house itself, was covered in with snow and the outside of the walls thickly banked with the same ma- terial. By this ar- rangement of the box- es I a\oid- ed the ne- cessity of using any portion of the house for storage ; the contents of every box was immediately and conveniently accessible, as if on the shelves of a cupboard, and the rampart thus formed protected the house in a surprising degree from the stress of the winter's cold. While my party was at work on the house, the ship's HENSON WITH RAVEN AND BLUE FOX. Preparing' Our North-Greenland Home 8i crew was busy bringing off my stores and coal. This task filled four days with hard work. The drifting floes made it impossible for the Kite to anchor, and she steamed slowl)' up and down the shore, while the stores and materials were landed in my whale-boats. VICTIM AND VICTORS. On Monday afternoon, July 27th, I was taken ashore, strapped to a plank, and stowed in my little tent, which had been put up just back of the house, where I could supervise the work. My men kept at their task, in which they were kindly assisted by Mr. Ashhurst of Professor Heilprin's party, till nearly mid- 82 Northward over the "Great Ice" night, when the frames were all up. Then they went back to the Kite, leaving Mrs. Peary and myself in the tent. A school of white whales came puffing and grunting close to the beach in front of the tent, but they and snow-buntings were our only visitors. Our camp was two and one third miles a little north of east along the beach from Cape Cleveland, the seaward terminus of the southern shore of the bay. Our position was 77° 40' N. Lat. and 70° 40' W. Long. We were over thirty miles north of the latitude in which the unfortunate Jcannctte found- ered. Within a degree of latitude north of us had been enacted much of the history of the Smith Sound expeditions. Two or three days by boat or sledge, according to the season, would take us to the winter camp of Kane, Hayes, and Buddington, or to bleak Cape Sabine, where most of Greely's party perished. From our beach we could look out upon islands whose names had been made famous in the annals of e.xploration. Just past the western end of North- umberland Island, rose sharp and clear in pleasant weather the cliffs of " Hakluyt's Isle," which had shel- tered brave Baffin in his tiny ship almost three cen- turies before. We were to spend the winter night within 740 geographical miles of the North Pole. Mrs. Peary and I said good-bye to our friends of the West-Greenland Expedition and the Kite on the evening of July 29th, for it was expected that the Kite would sail during the night or early next morning. My party remained on the Kite writing letters to be sent home. All night the wind and rain beat in fitful gusts upon our little white tent on the desolate Green- land shore. Towards morning we fell asleep, but I was awakened about 5:30 o'clock by the Kite's whistle. I heard cheering, the slow beat of the Kite's propel- Preparing Our North-Greenland Home 83 ler, and then the sound of oars in the rowlocks. My party were coming ashore and the Kite was moving away from us to sunny southern lands. Mrs. Peary, tired with her long watching, was fast asleep and I had not the heart to wake her, particularly as the WEIGHING UP A WALRUS. sight of the little craft that had been her home so long, vanishing among the icebergs, was not likely to be cheering. The whale-boat soon reached the beach, and almost immediately I heard the lively tattoo of hammers upon the rafters and sides of our yet roofless home. I knew 84 Northward over the "Great Ice" the merry racket masked more than one sober thought that followed the Kite. The boys laboured earnestly and well, but the work was new to them all, and the stormy weather interfered seriously, so that two nights more were passed in the tent, though each night we thought it would be carried away bodily by the furi- ous squalls that fell upon it from the cliffs. Every day the boys piled more and more stones upon it and attached more guy ropes. Finally the roof, floor, and sides were completed, and just as everything in the tent was saturated we moved into the house, and I was transferred to a pile of patent fuel boxes in one corner. Then the stove was set up, the stovepipe being pushed through the near- est window after the style of architecture recognised in squatter town, and gradually our equipment was brought under cover and dried. No part of our household equipment required more careful consideration than our stove, but by sinking it in a pit in the floor so that the firepot was below the floor level and carrying the stovepipe through a double window, two of the panes of glass in which had been replaced by sheets of tin, thus keeping the pipe throughout its entire extent entirely away from contact with any woodwork, the two great desiderata were accomplished : of warming the air in the room clear down to the floor level, and of obviating any possibility of an accidental fire. The next matter of vital importance in our house- hold economy was that of sufticient and equable ven- tilation. This was accomplished by suitably arranged and proportioned air-shafts, through which all of the moisture and bad air escaped. When the weather was extremely cold, the conden- sation from the warm air escaping through the shafts was like thick white smoke. Rude but comfortable Preparing Our North-Greeniand Home 85 bunks were constructed for everyone, and these, with a number of chairs, table, and several boxes of books, completed the furnishing of the house. Our library included a large number of works on Arctic explora- tion, novels, and other reading matter, and also an Italian dictionary which some kind friend had sent us without accompany- me litera- it with any ture in that language. When the snow came, the wall all around was heavily banked with snow, and a foot of snow was piled on the canvas roof of the corridor or passage-way between the house and the wall around it. Then, with blocks and slabs of hard snow, a thick wall was built to protect the gable, and with more blocks and slabs a long, narrow, low snow entrance to the corridor was built. Our fortress was then completely fortified against the severest assaults of the arctic winter. On the whole, with the exception of the first ten days, we had very beautiful weather for a month after the Kite left us. Day after day, the sun shone brightly. The water of the bay was blue and spark- lino- and the iceberafs grleamed in the genial sunlight like marble, while the wind blew soft and warm. I think the weather we enjoyed during August must UNTOLD WEALTH See Knife and Mirror in the Woman's Hand. 86 Northward over the " Great Ice " be exceptional in that far northern region ; or perhaps it was the Indian summer of the arctic lands. Fore- warnings of approaching winter came to us, however, before the end of the month. In the latter part of August we had considerable fog and threatening weather. On August 28th, it began snowing and the snow fell rapidly for an hour or two. Next day the mountains on both sides of the bay were covered with snow to within about 400 feet of the sea level. Rain alternated with snow and the day was very CRIPPLE BEACH. My Promenade. disagreeable. We spent it overhauling one of the sledges for the approaching sledging season. On August 29th, it snowed again, and at midnight the ground for the first time was white down to the water's edge. It melted, however, next day, and no snow was seen at a lower elevation than 300 to 400 feet above the sea. On the last day of August, it Preparing Our North-Greenland Home 87 was evident that summer was at an end. The httle brook near the house had already been frozen over for two or three days. Soon after the Kite left us, I was able to get around on crutches, and one of the delights of life was to sit in front of the house, taking sun-baths and enjoying the invigorating air. Before the middle of the month, ARCTIC HOUSE BUILDING. the ice was almost entirely out of the bay, but numer- ous small bergs from the glacier at its head were scattered over its surface, and frequently we heard the loud reports as they broke to pieces. On August 15th, I observed that the snow on the ice-caps sur- rounding McCormick Bay was melting quite rapidly, and the ice could be plainly seen bluish-green in colour. Most of the days were very delightful as I sat in front 88 Northward over the " Great Ice " of the house against the whale-boat Mai-y Peary, enjoying my sun-bath. The Httle brook beside the house babbled merrily, the Bocks of little auks flew past just off the beach, uttering their garrulous cries, and every few minutes I could hear the crash and thunder of a sundering berg rolling across the bay. The mosses and scant vegetation of the rock slopes along the shore were taking on a purplish hue as if it were the autumn foliage. On August iith, when I assigned the various members of the party to their bunks in the house, I settled upon the name of our lowly home, calling it Red Cliff House, after the red cliffs behind it, which were the most prominent object in view as our steamer had brought us into the bay. Red Cliff House began early to have its gala occasions. To vary the routine of life, we proposed to especially distinguish anni- versaries that were of particular interest to the members of our party. The first of the fetes in our new home was on August 8th, which was the birth- day of my coloured boy. Matt. After the boys had had coflfee in the morning, they went off on a hunt and came back early in the afternoon with our first deer, which had been shot by Astriip on the plateau above the cliffs back of the house. Their exercise gave them splendid appetites for the birthday dinner. Matt had made out the bill of fare, taking anything he chose from the stores, and he had a more than usually fine spread. The third anniversary of the wedding of Mrs. Peary and myself occurred on August nth, and while the boys were off in the boat after seals, Mrs. Peary got up a little extra dinner. The luxurious feast was served on a bare-board table in tin mess-pans. It consisted of little-auk stew, hot biscuit, apple-pie, pears, and coffee, with a cocktail to start with and a glass of Haut Sauterne all around. Prep aring Our North-Greenland Home 89 The bill of fare was declared by our party to tend to make wedding anniversaries popular. During the hours I spent in the sunlight in front of the house or on the slopes between the house and the cliffs back of it, I was greatly entertained by watching the manifold phases of animal life that were to be seen at all times. Flocks of kittiwakes fished along the shore, and white whales sported in the waters, REST AFTER LABOUR. their antics giving us much amusement. Jager and burgomaster gulls passed over the camp in small num- bers. On August 14th, I saw a blue fox passing along the beach in front of the house. When he saw me he stopped, but before Mrs. Peary could bring my rifle he had trotted slowly away up the beach. I whistled to him and he stopped again, and, calling Matt, I gave him the rifle and told him to go after go Northward over the "Great Ice" the animal. Matt found that whistling would make him stop and look around, and so walking and whist- ling he got within range and shot him. The fox had hazel eyes, was in poor condition, and weighed just seven pounds. His teeth were badly worn, and as he loped along the beach he had a very spidery, long-legged appearance. As Matt was bringing his prize back to the house, a raven circled over and I dropped him with my three-barrelled gun. He weighed three pounds and was also in very poor plumage. Little auks were to be seen by the million, and I spent hours watching them fly over our camp. One afternoon about the middle of the month, there was a continued succession of flocks numbering from a half-dozen to two hundred or three hundred birds. They were passing steadily down the bay. One series of flocks would fly only three or four feet above the water, from one hundred to two hundred )-ards from the shore. Another division would pass high in the air over the house, and still other flocks were higher yet and scarcely visible. Most of them flew in more or less regular triangles or crescents, the apex or con- vexity always in front. By August 29th, the little auks had practically left us, though an occasional straggler was to be seen. The guillemots had also disappeared, but the burgomasters had been more numerous for a few days, twent)' or more passing at a time. On August 28th, 1 saw a Greenland falcon at Cape Cleveland. ' ]\Iy broken leg was mending nicely. On August ' From the I2th to the iSth of August, Mrs. Peary, Matt, and myself were alone at the house, the rest of the party being away in the Faith, on a voyage to the islands. An account of this trip is contained in the next chapter. During their absence, Mrs. Peary and I stood the night watch ; Mrs. Peary took charge of the culinary department, while I read the instruments at the regular hours. Matt stood the day watch, and ^iccupied himself uith the found- ations of the wall which was to surround and protect the house. Preparing Our North-Greenland Home 91 15th, with the aid of my crutches, I took my first walk since the accident happened. On the i6th inst., I hobbled up the hill back of the house, and began putting my foot on the ground a little. It was just five weeks since I had broken my leg ; five weeks of most valuable time, but I did not feel like complain- ing, for my leg was doing well and there was no doubt but that in time it would be as good as ever. HARPOON PRACTICE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. I spent most of the time on August 13th with the small transit determining the meridian. On the i6th inst, I took another set of circum-meridian altitudes, and, a few days later, I secured good observations for latitude and rate of watch. At 3:30 o'clock on the morning of August i8th, Matt came to our room, crying " They are coming, sir," and in a few minutes after rounding the point, the boys landed in front of the house with 130 Briinnich's guillemots and an Eskimo family, consisting of a man, his wife, and two children, with a kayak and harpoon, 92 Northward over the "Great Ice" a sledge and a dog. The party had shot a small wal- rus near Herbert Island, which they had towed to Cape Cleveland and made it fast there. They had been very successful in their trip and had made good time, for the)' had been absent only six days. All had lunch, turned in and slept till nearly noon. After dinner, leaving Verhoeff and Dr. Cook at the house, and taking the Eskimo man with us, we went down to Cape Cleve- land to cut up the wal- rus. The native per- formed the operation very quickly and ex- pertly. The Eskimo family pitched their tent near the house. Their dog was tied to a stone close by the little stream and all were apparently content. Though the Kite stopped at Nettiu- lume, a native settlement on the south side of Whale Sound, on her way to McCormick Bay, I was not able to see any of the natives on account of my accident, and so the first Eskimos whom I saw were this family that my party had brought back from Northumberland Island. They were Ikwa, Mane his wife, Annadore the little girl, and the baby, Noya. This family remained ANNADORE. Three-Year-Old Eskimo (_;irl. Preparing Our North-Greenland Home 93 constantly with me until my departure from Red Cliff, with the exception of a few short visits to their home, in order, as we afterwards learned, to air their import- ance and exhibit the wealth they had newly acquired from the white men. They became very much attached to us, as we did to them, and Ikwa's patience and tenacity, assisted by one of my Winchesters, added many a fine deer to the Red Cliff storehouse ; while Mane became Mrs. Peary's eager and faithful servant. Our hunting made fair progress in August, though we needed the tuition that we obtained later from ex- pert native hunters, to make us most efificient in the field. I have already recorded that we got our first deer on the bleak plateau back of the house on Au- gust 8th. Soon after the boys returned from North- umberland Island, they had an unsuccessful chase after white whales ; but next day, just before noon, Ikwa came running to the house, crying " Awick, awick !" (" Walrus, walrus ! ") and pointing down the bay. Sure enough, there were three or four walrus coming rapidly on, and the boys, jumping into the Faith, were soon out near them, and in a few minutes (after a volley of twelve or fifteen shots) they had a dead walrus in tow, two or more others having been wounded. The walrus weighed 1569 pounds, estimat- ing the blood and internal organs at 125 pounds. The skin weighed 220 pounds, and the length of the ani- mal was nine feet. Ikwa used the skin for covering his winter habitation, the walls of which he had begun building the day before. He carried stones for quite a distance, some of them weighing as much as one hun- dred pounds. On August 27th, soon after midnight, Gibson, Matt, and Ikwa went out and got a female walrus and a young one. The young animal, which was also a female, was brought ashore and it barked about the beach much like a hoarse bulldog until it was shot 94 Northward over the "Great Ice" to put it out of its misery. We also killed a good many burgomaster gulls, auks, and other birds near the camp. Late in the month, we saw the sun set, a phenomenon that had not occurred before since we reached the arctic regions. On the night of August 29th, a light was needed for the first time and the watch burned candles for several hours. The long summer day was at an end, but winter was not yet upon us. Monday, August 3 1 st, dawned clear and calm, and I started Astriip with his ski for a twen- ty-four-hour reconnais- sance of the Inland Ice, east of McCormick Bay. GREENLAND FALCON. . ^e rctumed at mid- night after a sixteen- hour absence. He had travelled an estimated distance of seventeen miles, but had not rounded the head of the bay. The greatest altitude he attained was 2645 feet and the lowest temperature was +25°?. He reported that the travelling on the Inland Ice, as far as he was able to see it, was perfection. He saw no crevasses, rivers, or ponds. His observations, how- ever, tended to show that our start for the spring sledging on the Inland Ice must be made from the north-east side of the bay, as a deep valley seemed to cut through from the valley at the head of McCor- mick Bay southward to Whale Sound. CHAPTER III. BOAT VOYAGE TO THE ISLANDS. Instructions to Gibson, Dr. Cook, Verhoeff, and Astrup — Gibson's Report — Dr. Cook's Report — Description of Hakluyt Island by Ver- hoeff. THE FAITH. CHAPTER III. BOAT VOYAGE TO THE ISLANDS. O N the afternoon of August 1 2th, Gib- son, Dr. Cook, Verhoeff,and Astriip, Gib- son in command and Dr. Cook second, left in the whale-boat Faith, provi- sioned for fourteen days, for Herbert, Northumber- "!*'■ -■ land, and Hakluyt Islands, ■^ JS^*" to obtain birds from some of the loomeries, to make plans of Eskimo houses and villages, to communicate with the natives, obtain from them furs and clothing, inform them of the location of our house, and, if pos- sible, induce a family to come and settle near us. The Faitli was thoroughly equipped with oars, sails, anchor, and so on, and the boys were supplied with compass, chart, oil-stove, rifles, shot-gun, and some five hundred rounds of ammunition. All the forenoon was occupied in packing tea, coffee, sugar, and other articles, and personal outfits for the journey, and the start was made with a light favouring breeze and with the cliffs of Northumberland Island showing clearly. The following instructions to Gibson, the com- 97 98 Northward over the "Great Ice" mander of the expedition, together with a narrative of the voyage in his own language, and extracts from the reports of other members of tlie party, cover the incidents and results of the trip. Red Cliff House, North Greenland, Aug. 12, iSqi. Sir : — You are hereby placed in command of the boat expedition to Hakluyt, Northumberland, and Herbert Islands, and possibly the south side of Whale Sound. On leaving here you will proceed to Hakluyt Island, and endeavour to locate the loomery of guille- mots supposed to exist there. If successful in so doing, you will obtain as many of the birds as possible, and then proceed to the settlement at the south side of Herbert Island visited by the Kite on her way here, and at that time unoccupied. Should you at any point en route to Hakluyt Island discover a loomery, it will not be necessary to continue to Hakluyt. You will remain at the Herbert Island village long enough to permit complete plans and sketches of the village to be made by Astriip, and, in case the inhabit- ants of the village have returned, to enable Dr. Cook to complete the negotiations in regard to which he has instructions. This work completed, you will examine as much of the shores of Northumberland and Herbert Islands as practicable without prolonging your absence from camp beyond ten days, and then return to camp. In case no natives are found on Herbert or North- umberland Islands, you will exercise your own judg- ment as to proceeding to Ittibloo. While it is desirable to communicate with the natives and obtain furs and clothing from them, your trip must under no circum- u X Q Z < e: a m 2 D X H O z f- c z < .J CO f- > < I loo Northward over the "Great Ice" stances be prolonged beyond a period of two weeks, nor are you to take any risks whatever in crossing the Sound. While sailing you will avoid icebergs, and when at anchor or camped on shore you will never fail to have a man continuously on watch. When in the neighbourhood of natives you will always leave one man to guard the boat and its contents. You will keep a full journal during your absence, and on your return submit it to me. In conclusion, I will call your attention to the neces- sity for the utmost care and attention to every detail of equipment and methods, as upon this will depend your success and the comfort of your party. Very respectfully, (S/j,r,u-— - wm. _„--i THE FIVE-GLACIER-VALLEY PARTY. Starting. of the bay. Gibson, Astrijp, and Dr. Cook formed the party, and they did not return until five days later, when they arrived at the house with ten deerskins, a fox, and a hare. They had cached the meat. The Doctor had covered himself with glory. Up to this time he had been unfortunate in not shooting a deer. Now he had made the record of the entire expedition by bagging five in an afternoon. 150 Northward over the "Great Ice" The Mai-y Peary was now pulled up well above high-water mark, turned over, supported on pillars of ice, and a snow wall built around her, thus converting her into a storehouse. Monday evening, October 1 2th, Matt discerned a light directly across the bay. The appearance of this light, flickering on the far-off opposite shore, startled us into strange fancies, and we could hardly rid our- selves of the idea that we saw before us the fantastic lantern of some arctic Will-o'-the-wisp. Unimagina- tive Ikwa declared, however, that this faint and un- steadv beam undoubtedly came from an Innuit's lamp and that he would probably arrive the next day. Sure enough, after lunch next afternoon. Mane came running into the house with the cry of " Innuit," and through ni)- glass I saw a man with a sledge and three dogs coming across the bay, and before long the lively team dashed over the ice-foot and was at our camp. The visitor's name was Nowclingyah, and we called him Jumbo, because he was one of the giants of his peo- ple. Standing five feet seven inches and weighing over I 75 pounds, such a man would be a large person in any costume, and in Eskimo outfit he loomed up like a Colossus. Nowdingyah had a moustache and goatee, and was clad in a fox-skin jumper and bear- skin trousers. My visitor seemed to be favourably im- pressed with what he saw, and next day, accompanied by Ikwa, he hastened away to spread the news among his neighbours ; and only three twilight days elapsed before Nowdingyah returned, bringing with him two fellow tribesmen, Kahunah and Arrotoksuah, with their sledges and six dogs. The latter was an old man, whose placid, benign face, and throat fringe of white bear- skin elicited from my irreverent young men the nick- name 1))' which he was always afterwards known, " Horace Greeley." They soon returned to their Boat and Sledge Trips 151 igloos to the north-westward, but on October 25th, Kahunah with his wnfe and three children and Arro- toksuah with his wife and one child came over the ice to me with two sledges and only two dogs, the entire party, excepting fhe infant, walking. I per- mitted the newcomers to sleep on the floor of the house. THE FIVE-GLACIER-VALLEY PARTY. Returning Oct. iSth. We found that " Horace Greeley's " wife w^as_ a character. Gaunt and tall in figure, browm and Avrin- kled of face, she went into hysterics of laughter at the sight of Mrs. Peary, and when seated beside the stove at Red Cliff, she fell into such a paroxysm of volubility, regardless of the fact that none of us un- derstood a word she was saying, that she at once 152 Northward over the "Great Ice" received the endearing name of " Sairey Gamp." This old couple had been at Polaris House and still possessed some articles given them by members of Dr. Hall's party. Among these were a sextant box and a strine of beads. NOWDINGYAH. Late on November ist, another family arrived, Annowkah, his wife Megipsu, and their baby, from Nerke, far to the north-west towards Cape Alexander, where they were living in their solitary hut nearer to the Pole than any other human beings in the world. They were a clean, well-dressed, good-looking young couple ; the woman particularly intelligent and bright in appearance. We called Megipsu " The Daisy." The little wo- Boat and Sledge Trips 153 man was shrewd enough to perceive at once the ad- vantages of becoming an attache of my mansion, and she proved such a fine seamstress and worked herself so completely into our good graces, that I finally closed a contract with her to settle down in a snow igloo close to Red Cliff and remain with us until the return of the sun, making up our fur clothing- and sleeping- bags. Annowkah went to work with a will upon the con- struction of a snow igloo, and soon had it roofed in. Then the interior was upholstered with a rubber blanket, an overcoat which The Daisy's winning ways had obtained from Matt, a blanket contributed by Gibson, and some pieces of tarred roofing paper. Pieces of blubber from my stock furnished the oil for an impromptu lamp made from the side of a cracker tin, and my seamstress and her husband were made entirely comfortable until he, with the assistance of my dogs, could bring over from their distant home their household utensils and supplies of food. Here they lived until the warm May sun threatened to tumble their house in upon their heads, when they moved to their skin tent, or tupik. The first Eskimo to reach my camp with a team of dogs found an eager purchaser for the animals, and for some trifling presents he parted with his dogfs and went home on foot. Both Ikwa and Nowdingyah said the Eskimos had a good many dogs, and the prospect seemed favourable for obtain- ing an excellent dog team for the spring sledging. As the result of a systematic series of interviews with the natives who came to Red Cliff, I had, when the spring of 1892 dawned upon us, in my possession information as to the location and ownership of prob- ably every dog in the tribe, and knew also the finan- cial rating of their owners (if such a term may be 154 Northward over the "Great Ice" used) ; in other words, I knew just what each one's possessions were, and also what each one most desired, and what would be most effective in bartering for the dogs. Occasionally snow-squalls visited us during Octo- ber, though the weather was generally pleasant. On October 3d, the young ice was strong enough for "HORACE GREELEY" AND "SAIREY GAMP." Ikwa to walk half-way across the bay. Cape Rob- ertson, on the opposite shore, was clad in a goodly mantle of white. November 3d, the ice in front of the house, 150 feet from the shore, was seventeen inches thick. Ice was still floating in the strait be- tween Herbert and Northumberland Islands and Netiulume on the south shore of Whale Sound. All throug-h October the sun was sinkingr nearer Boat and Sledge Trips i55 and nearer the horizon, till it sank out of sight. October loth, it appeared from behmd Cape Cleve- iluA M ^-lo PM very low and much distorted by Srac on On'the i^th- sunlight illumined Cape Robertson across the bay about 2:30, p.m., and we observed a beautiful effect of the sun s rays tmtmg the white icebergs in Omenak Sound and .Uummmg for Tshort time the hills across the bay. Owmg to doudv weather, we did not observe the actual time of he sun's disappearance. The ist of November found us well started on our winter night At seven a.m however, on a clear day, I was still able to distinguish ?he mountains at the head of the bay. 1 he moon, when at the full, was very brilliant. On November 7th, there were seventeen men, wo- men, and children besides our party at the camp, and Se howling of twenty-one dogs made th^ "igh 1- • Mv little city was growing nearly every day it could not preserve its cosmopolitan character without some sort o a substitute for 1 hotel. So on November i uK a snow hut, 6x10 feet in size, was built as a hospitable miest-chamber for my visiting friends. ^ Meanwhile, all through the darkening days we we e working about the house. I fitted up my library I^^elvesT made a writing-desk, and busied m>self with many odds and ends that were likely to add to our comfort during the winter night. Mrs. f eary decorated our room with flags, producing qui e a pretty effect. The boys began making sledges from Smber I had brought along, odometers to mea..u^ the distance travelled on our coming sledge journeys and pumps for use in the whale-boats during the next ^liLr's' homeward voyage; and I spent cons er- able time putting in order my little arsenal, the use- fulness of which had become somewhat impaired through accidents. CHAPTER V. THROUGH THE GREAT NIGHT. Mv Priceless Deerskins — First Impressions of the Winter Night — Our Thanksgiving Dinner — The Natives Vanquished in Feats of Strength — " Open the Door " the Common Cry at Red Cliff — Piblockto — Daily Routine — Recording the Arctic Tide — Experiments with Sledges and Sleeping-Bags — Arctic Literature — Our Busy Native Seamstresses — Taking Flash-Lioht Photographs — Modesty of the Native Women — Brilliant and Beautiful Winter Days — Ski Practice. AHNGODOBLAHO. CHAPTER V. THROUGH THE GREAT NIGHT. THE hunting season ended when dark- ness came upon us, and we settled down in our small quarters for the winter. I regarded the deer- skins we had secured as of the highest value. Be- fore I left home I had -,aid that nothing but the impervious integument of animal skin would keep out the searching wind of the Inland Ice, and every day spent here only strength- ened me in my belief, and made me prize more highly the exquisitely soft, light, velvety autumn pelts of the reindeer, the best of all furs for clothing and sleeping-bags. It was a part of my plan to obtain this material from the Whale-Sound region, and my hopes were fully realised. My men shot all the deer we needed, the skins were stretched and dried at Red Cliff, I de- vised and cut the patterns for the suits and sleeping- bags, and the native women sewed them. The work of preparing the skins for clothing in- 159 i6o Northward over the "Great Ice" volved a great deal of chewing on the part of my native seamstresses. The skin is folded once with the hair inside and then the operator chews back and forth along the edge until the fold is thoroughly soft and pliable, when another fold is made and the process repeated until the whole skin has been carefully chewed ; after this it is scraped and worked with a blunt instrument and then, if necessary, chewed again. It took two of my workers about a day to chew a big buckskin. 1 J iJH, / - ijl fldP^F^ k I . : '7. 21^ iwfiiP RED CLIP'F IN I HE WiNlt-K NIGH I. It was not easy at first for us to accustom ourselves to the absence of sunlight. By November 23d, there was really no difference indoors between day and night. Our lamps burned constantly through the twenty-four hours. Some of us often thought in the first few days, " Oh, we won't do this by lamplight, Through the Great Night i6i but we '11 wait till to-morrow," forgetting that the morrow would bring no sun. Still, we did not find the darkness oppressive, which was fortunate, for we were not to have our darkest day for a month to come. The darkest day of winter would reach us about December 22d, and we would not see the sun again until about February 13th. At nine a.m. now, the dawn-light was very distinct over the cliffs back of the house, and at eleven o'clock the icebergs beyond the shadow of Cape Cleveland showed a pronounced light. IKWA'S MANSION. We had many reasons to be thankful for the good fortune that had thus far attended us, and I thought we could, with peculiar propriety, observe the day that at home is set apart in recognition of our na- tional and domestic blessings. The following pro- clamation, therefore, was issued at Red Cliff House on November 25th : i62 Northward over the "Great Ice" " Thursday, November 26th, is hereby designated as Thanks- giving Day at Red Cliff House and will be observed as such. The preservation of our isolated little party thus far in good health, a larder well stocked with game, and a house well fitted to keep its inmates comfortable in severest weather, are reasons for the day to be something more than a mere form to us. " R. E. Peary, U. S. N., " Commanding North-Greenland Expedition." Thanksgiving Day, Mrs. Peary and I walked to Cape Cleveland to see as much as possible of the noon twilight. The temperature was —12^° F. It was light enough for comfortable walking, and when we reached the Cape, the southern horizon was all aglow. On each side was the rosy light of dawn and just over the channel between Herbert and Northumber- land Islands hung the silver crescent moon. In the evening, with the temperature outside at — i6Jf° F., we sat down in our comfortable little cabin to a tempting Thanksgiving dinner of broiled guille- mot dressed with green peas, a venison pie, hot biscuit, plum-pudding with brandy sauce, apricot pan- dowdy, apple-pie, pineapple, candy, coffee, whiskey cocktail, and Rhine wine. The party all appeared in their civilised attire, though the gentlemen were not in dress-suits, a phase of costume that some of the newspapers at home had included in our equipment. Astriip's wardrobe was deficient in shirts and he im- provised a shirt bosom from a towel. A silk flag was fastened over the table. Later our Eskimo friends shared in our good cheer and the boys and the natives amused themselves with games of strength until far into the evening. December ist found us in first-class condition, busy and content. As yet we had undergone no serious hardships. The month was ushered in with a brisk wind and a snow-storm that lasted for twenty-four hours, half burying Red Cliff House in drifts. In- Through the Great Night [63 doors, however, we were burning but sixteen cans of coal, averaging i|- pounds each, in twenty-four hours. I do not know that any arctic house was ever com- fortably warmed before on so small an amount of fuel. The constant cry from the inmates was not " Shut the door ! " but " Open the door ! " Our little cabin was a great success, and under its shelter the fiercest blasts of the arctic Storm King could not reach us. Two auroras were seen on December 8th, and the moon was coming back to us again. After eleven days' absence, we saw her silver glow over the cliffs back of Red Cliff House, and her light fell on the north shore of the bay. Two days later, she was with us again in full brilliancy. On December 19th, we had driftinof snow, and a strong wind that lasted all night until late the following afternoon. The wind drifted, and packed the snow until it was almost as firm as marble. This I thought aueured well for our sledging trip on the Inland Ice in the spring. On December 21st, we saw a brilliant meteor in the north-eastern sky, descending vertically, and a little later a meteor with red and green trail was seen over the cliffs back of the house, travelling west, about half-way to the zenith and with a slight downward ang^le. December 2 ist was the MEGIPSU. 164 Northward over the "Great Ice" shortest day of the year at home, and the boys gaye three cheers by wav of encouragement to the sun, which was now beginning to return to us. We did not quite escape the piblockto or Green- land dog cHsease, a dread disorder that at times has threatened to rob the poor natives of one of their most valuable resources. It was prevalent in South Green- land over thirty years ago, and when it attacked the dogs of the Arctic Highlanders, Dr. Hayes was unable to buy the sledge teams he required. No remedy has been discovered for the disease, though fortunately its ravages are now small. Its victims betray their de- rangement by howling and snapping, and refusing all nourishment. They often die of convulsions on the day of the attack. Annowkah's dog went wild with the malady, and before the fact was discovered, and the dog killed, she had bitten and mangled two of my younger dogs so terribly that in spite of Dr. Cook's best endeavours we lost them both. Dogs had a most important part in my plans, and I was very sorry to lose the two animals. Their skins, however, gave me material for a nice pair of trousers. Before December arrived, I had quite a colony of native workers. Megipsu and other women were busy chewing and sewing skins. " Father Tom " and An- nowkah were scraping skins. " Father Tom " also made himself very useful about the house, sweeping the floor and putting things in order. He often remarked that he wished to go home with us when we returned, but he changed his mind before summer. " Father Tom," on the whole the most remarkable na- tive we met, deserves more than a passing word. He was Ikwa's brother, and his name was Kyoah- padu. We called him " Kyo " for short, and I nick- named him " Father Tom." His brother brought him to us from his home in Omanui late in November, Through the Great Night 165 and he at once became a fixture at Red Cliff House. Active and willing, eager to be of service, readily un- derstanding us when other natives failed to compre- hend, he soon worked his way into our good graces. He took upon himself the care of the large room, sprang for the broom whenever he saw the least dust or litter, and told the other natives they must not bring dirt in- to the palace of the "Great White Man." He said his brother's igloo was uncomfort- able for him be- cause it was so small ; moreover his brother talked too much, and his verbosity was a weariness to the flesh. So Kyo asked if he might sleep on our floor, and I accordingly gave him a couple of blankets and let him curl himself up at night in a corner of the big room. In the morning he would carefully fold his blankets and deposit them in an empty box outside. One day there came to us from a little settlement to the north, a widow, Klayu, and her three daugh- ters. They were with us only a few days, but this was long enough for Kyo to become enamoured of the widow ; and one star-lit December noon, Kyo sud- denly discovered he had business south, and went away with her. He told us he was going for his deer- KYOAHPADU. i66 Northward over the "Great Ice skins and that he would return after ten siiuiipahs (sleeps). It was nearly ten times ten sinnipahs before we saw his oily face again. He seemed very ill at ease when he re-appeared at Red Cliff House on a blustering March day ; and a little later the widow, now Kyo's wife, reached the camp with her daughters. They settled down at Red Cliff and made it their home until we de- parted on the Kite in August. While Kyowas away we heard some remarkable stories about him. F"ew spoke well of him. By most of the natives he was hated and feared. It was said that he had murdered a man and that he had twice been a widower, having killed his wives ; also that he was an atigakok or medicine-man of great power. He was not the same man after his return to us. Perhaps it was because he thought he had lost my confidence by remaining away so long. We dis- ' tL'J •' .*--'- 'dJJ^L I.J- 1 '--J. L-L-.. |j^ 'jSTON^ Kt^chois^ THE TIDE GAUGE. Through the Great Night 167 covered that he was subject to fits of uncontrollable anger, when he seemed almost insane. Once or twice in these paroxysms he severely cut his wife. Yet, later, as my driver on my two-hundred-and-fifty-mile sledge trip around Inglefield Gulf, he was most obe- dient and very attentive to the wants both of Mrs. Peary and myself. While Astriip and I were away on our ice-cap journey to the Arctic Ocean, Kyo, as became a mighty angakok, often went into trances and saw visions, during which the great expanse of the Inland Ice was spread before his spiritual gaze: and after he had returned to his fleshly tabernacle he would regale Mrs. Peary with stories of having seen, far to the north, a solitary kohhmah (white man) plodding slowly and painfully southward, and that this wayfarer was not the kapitansoak (myself). His reputation as a mighty aiigakok was damaged beyond repair when I re- VERHOEFF READING TIDE GAUGE. 1 68 Northward over the "Great Ice" turned in spite of his predictions of disaster. Just before I came back, he had threatened to kill his wife and her nearly grown daughter, and the poor women were so terrified that they fled to a distant settlement, and he did not find and induce them to return to him for several weeks. To return to our work in Red Cliff House. Dr. Cook experimented with seal-oil lamps for melting ice with excellent results ; and every day brought him other tasks, if indeed he did not have his hands full photographing and measuring his " Huskies," as the boys familiarly called the natives, while \'erhoefT, Gibson, and myself built and put in commission a self-registering tide gauge which, on November 30th, was erected out in the dark and silent cold to record the resistless rise and fall of the Arctic Ocean.' At this time, the thickness of the ice in the bay at the tide-gauge hole was twenty-six inches. When a light was shown at the hole, myriads of shrimps came to the surface, and as the light was turned away and the water stirred, phosphorescent flashes appeared. Saturday was designated as general cleaning day. ' My device for registering the winter tides was erected at our " fire-hole," an opening in the bay ice just outside of the ice-foot. This hole was kept open throughout the winter to afford a supply of water in the event of fire. The tide gauge consistecl of : First, a rigid tripod of spruce scantlings erected over the hole, its feet frozen into holes cut in the ice. To one side of this was attached a vertical plank some twenty-two feet long, with feet and tenths marked upon it. Second, a heavy stone lowered through the hole to the bottom, and from it a stout copper wire passing up through the hole over a pulley in the top of the tripod, then over another at the top of the graduated plank, thence down the face of the plank to a lead counterpoise, to which was fasteneil an index and guide playing upon two wires strung from top to bottom of the plank. The anchor and wire being fixed, and the framework rising and falling with the ice under the influence of the tide, the movement was indicated with pre- cision by the index passing over the graduated scale. Cleats attached to the scale enabled Verhoeff, who made the tidal observations, to read the highest range of the spring tides with ease. This device gave thorough satisfaction, though in very low temperatures it re- quired constant care to keep the rapid deposition of frost from the vapour of the open hole from clogging the pulleys and index. (See cut, p. i66.) Through the Great Night 169 On that day, immediately after coffee, the stovepipe, stove, and stove-hole were thoroughly cleaned. All bedding was then taken from the bunks, and, when the weather permitted, carried outside to air. The entire room was overhauled, and the floor thoroughly swept. Every Saturday night each member of the party was required to take a bath. On December 3d, I cut out the first sleeping-bag, and in a day " Daisy " ( Megipsu) had it nearly finished. Verhoeff and I devoted ourselves to keeping the tide gauge in running order. The slope of the bottom "RED CLIFF WAS SINKING INTO A HUGE DRIFT." was a little less than one inch per foot, and apparently the motion of the ice was more rapid here than it was at Fort Conger. Red Cliff was sinking into a huge drift that almost buried it from view. On December 9th, my seam- stresses began work on the first deerskin koolctah, or jacket. The last skin in my stock had now been Northward over the "Great Ice" chewed, and all the skins were ready to be made up into garments. I completed a sledge, December i "th. We took a good deal of outdoor exercise, practising on snow-shoes and ski, visiting the iceberg for ice, which was melted for the water we used, and attending to the fox-traps. Astrijp and I made two or three odometers and these were used in measuring distances about Red ClifT. The natives were coming and going all the while. My boys irreverently applied nicknames to quite a number of them. Three, for instance, were known as " The Priest," " The Villain," and " The Smiler," owing to physical pecu- liarities. The Villain, it should be said, was per- fectly harmless. Then there was Ahningah- nah (the moon), a poor weak-minded fellow. These native gentlemen one evening had an ath- letic contest with their white friends, which showed the members of my party to be superior to the Eskimos, both in strength and agility. Megipsu and Annowkah, who earl)- in the winter made a short visit to their home at Nerke, returned with a young girl named Tookumingwah. Megipsu told us that a bear had visited their hut and eaten one of their seals. Tookumingwah, whom we now saw for the first time, was a twelve-year-old girl and one of the prettiest young women among the natives. Her father had recently been drowned by an oogsook THE SMILER. Through the Great Night 171 (bearded seal). She went to work sewing under the guidance of " Daisy," and was married before we re- turned home. We really had no time during the winter night to grow tired of the dark- ness or to weary of our surroundings. During the winter all the men of my party emulated one another in the effort to produce the best prac- tical sledge. Modelling the sledges in a general way on the McClintock pattern, I found we could safely reduce the weight two-thirds or more, weio-hed one hundred and twenty-five pounds or more *' apiece, I found we could turn out sledges of an equal carrying capacity, weighing only thirty-five to forty-eight pounds. Experiments with sleep- ing-bags, too, resulted in ' a complete change of equipment in this re- spect. Our sleeping-bags were evolved from actual experience in sleeping out-of-doors during the winter night. My assist- TooKUMiNGWAH. ^^^^ entered heartily in- to the work of preparation. Each was eager to work, and all made suggestions of value. Every minute AHNINGAHNAH. While McClintock's sledges 1/2 Northward over the "Great Ice" detail of our preparations was scanned, discussed, and criticised. The activity of mind and expendi- ture of physical energy which all this called for, helped to keep us well in body and cheerful and san- guine in temper. We did a good deal of reading. I had a very complete arctic library, and this was chiefly in demand. The fact that we were living under arctic conditions, whetted the appetite of my boys for records of Arctic exploration. All these books were eagerly devoured for the story they con- tained, the adventures they recorded, and the useful hints we might derive from them. Somehow we could not make our ideas of the country, the natives, the winter night, the cold, the storms, or the hard- ships agree at all with those of some predecessors who had spent a season not very far from McCormick Bay. Viewed in the light of our own experience, some things we read seemed to us unjust, particularly in respect of the happy, simple-minded natives, with whom our relations were so friendly and who were so helpful to us ; some things seemed exaggerated ; and some, in spite of our willingness to believe, took on the aspect of pure romance. Aside from our study of the natives, they afforded us considerable diversion. Ikwa, my chief Eskimo hunter, derived intense delight from imitating the sounds of our language, and his use of English was very amusing. Megipsu, or " Daisy," was particu- larly bright, and gave us much information as soon as we were able easily to exchange ideas with her. Megipsu was the head seamstress by virtue of her superior skill and rapidity. Discarding her clumsy sealskin thimble for one of American make, she deftly plied the shiny implement of her trade. Any garment of her manufacture was honestly made. The seams were warranted not to rip, and they were neatly made, Through the Great Night /J the stitches beiny^ even and so close together that the thread entirely hid the skin beneath them. Tookum- ingwah, the twelve-year-old beauty of the tribe, was also an industrious little seamstress. No thoughts of the coming matrimonial event, which was to give her a walrus hunter and an igloo of her own, impaired her efficiency as assistant tailoress. Old Sairey Gamp's eyesight was none of the best, but we made her useful repairing gar- ments, and other miscel- laneous work ; and her garrulity seemed to help beguile the hours of la- bour. Altogether I g-ave employment to seven seamstresses, including Ikwa's wife Mane, and Kessuh's wife of the same name, who, how- ever, was with us only a short time. The wo- men had never heard of an eight-hour law, and cheer- fully acquiesced when our necessities required them to sew from ten to twelve hours a day and even longer. It was the busiest winter they had ever spent, for, be- sides our sewing, they had the work of their own house- holds to perform. Patches were needed on the gar- ments of their husbands and little ones, and, though their culinary methods were not elaborate, food had to be prepared. Megipsu, " The Daisy," however, was my most regular and constant seamstress, and as she was with us nearly all the time, the larger part of the sew^- ing was done by her. My photographic work was confined during the darkness almost wholly to ethnological subjects. As SAIREY GAMP. 174 Northward over the "Great Ice" soon as my Inmiit friends began to come to us, we set about taking measurements and photographs of them. Dr. Cook, who had special charge of the ethnological researches, made anthropometrical measurements, dur- ADULT MAN. Flash-light. ADULT \VOMAN. Flash-light. ing the winter, of seventy-five individuals, and I took a complete series of photographs of the same persons, comprising portraits, and front, side, and rear eleva- tions in the nude, of each subject. Through the Great Night 175 f On one side of the stove, near the partition sepa- rating Mrs. Peary's apartment from the '^a>" ™°>;;' J stationed myself to handle the camera. On the other side was Matt manipulatino: the flash-light. Dr. Look would pose the sub ect at the other end of the room and near at hand was a table at which he recorded his anthropological measurements. , , 1 ^i It was interesting to observe the modestyj^oth the women and the men. They could ■ not understand at first why 1 desired to take their pictures in a nude condi- tion and 1 am not sure that they ever aot 'a very clear idea of the matter. I told them that we wished to compare their bodies with those of other people in the world, and it was not long before some of them grasped the idea so tar as to decide that our work was in the interest of a perfectly laudable and proper curiosity. At first, however some of them asked Dr. Cook if 1 wanted the information he obtained tor the purpose of making other people ! ! The flash-light work never failed to be a subject of lively gossip in the na- tive community. AH the fresh arrivals were told what was before them almost before they had unhitched their dogs, and as soon as a native was photo- BOY. Flash-light. and as soon as a native \ya.^ j^..^-^ graphed he would invariably tell of the experience to an admiring- group, narrating every minute detail. wTen the^ky was clear, and we had the moon with us the arctic night was one of remarkable beauty. In that dry atmo^sphere, the moon and stars seem to hine withl degree of power and brilliancy unequalled in temperate latitudes. We saw many auroras, but 176 Northward over the "Great Ice" they were comparatively faint, and not so pronounced in outline and brightness as those observed in South Greenland. November 14th was a fine day, and in the afternoon and night the moon was very brilliant. The temperature rose to several degrees above zero, and the house was o p p r e s s i V e 1 )• warm all da)-. On the I 6 1 h , a full moon cir- cled, and the scene w a s in- tensely brilliant, the moon hang- ing in a cloudless sky, and Arctu- r u s, Aldebaran, and the Great Dipper shining with remarkable brilliancy. The ice-blink at the head of the bay was plainly visi- ble in the moon's rays, and the new ice at the edge of the water, formed by the overflow of the recent spring tide, skirted the shores of the bay in a band of silver. Many of our winter days were like this, and they were the heydays of our arctic experi- ence, when we enjoyed with the keenest zest our out-of-door work and exercise. At GIRL. Flash-light. CHILD. Flash-light. Through the Great Night 177 these times foot-races and ski and snow-shoe practice were the popular amusements, and it would have been worth while, had it been possible, to obtain a good photograph of the party on some occasions when com- ing down the slopes behind Red Cliff on their ski ; one of them now and then burying his head in the snow, while his ski-shod feet were flourishing in the air. Astrijp was our professor of the art of ski travel, which he had learned in Norway, the home of ski-run- ning. The members of the party made good progress under his able tuition, though they did not become experts in coasting or climbing. It was much easier to get the knack of snow-shoeing than to master the art of ski travel, though on the level we were all soon able to handle the ski fairly well. The weather was pleasant about two-thirds of the time throughout the long night. Storms and a low temperature marked not more than one-third of the arctic winter. CHAPTER YI. THROUGH THE GREAT NIGHT (Continued). Red Cliff in Holiday Attire — Our Christmas Dinner — Banquet to THE Natives — A Little Twilight at Noon — Visitors from Distant Cape York — Mrs. Peary's New Year's Reception — Longest Snow-Storm OF THE Winter — Red Cliff nearly Buried — A Moonlight Landscape — An Alarm of Fire — Native Story of Black Snow — Busy Times — Ex- periments with Fur Clothing — Coldest Days of the Year — A Scout to the Ice-Cap. CHAPTER VI. THROUGH THE GREAT NIGHT (Coiithuud). OU R resources did not permit us to make the merry Christmas time a particu- larly brilliant event, but there were genial warmth and light, kindly feeling and merry-making at Red Cliff House as well as in other parts of the world. On the day before Christ- mas, Astriip and Dr. Cook cleared up the large room, put up two Union flags and one of the sledge Hags, festooned the ceiling with mosquito-netting, and made wire candlesticks and placed candles all about the room. At nine o'clock, Christmas eve, I concocted a generous milk-punch, and this with cookies, nuts, raisins, and candies made a very acceptable evening lunch. After the punch, the Christm is numbers (of the previous year) of Harper s, Frank Leslie s. Life, Puck, the London JVezus, and London Graphic were brought out, and we filled the evening with conversation and such music as our talent afforded. At midnight, Mrs. Peary and I opened a box the Danish Governor at Upernavik had given us, and found it filled with Christmas com- i8i 1^2 Northward over the "Great Ice fits and devices packed by the Governor's fair wife. ^Other boxes and let- ters were opened, and then in a bottle of Sauterne we drank to our friends at home, at Godha- ven, and Uperna- vik. I then went out and put my trouble- some baby, the tide-gauge anchor, back in its bed at thebottom of the bay. A good deal of my time for three days past had been spent at the tide-gauge hole, keeping the apparatus in working order. No one made haste to arise on Christmas morn- ing, and it was ■S.™^ -(19' CHRISTMAS MENUS. Designed by Astrtip. Through the Great Night 1S3 noon before Reei Cliff House was astir. From that time until 4.30 p.m. we were occupied in preparing the Christmas dinner. Then we sat down to our holiday spread and discussed a bill of fare which, with arctic hare and venison for pieces dc resistance, would not have disgraced a table at Delmonico's. Two dozen candles in their wire candlesticks beamed mildl)- upon us, and these with our luickaniuiiy snk- kinah (baby sun), as the natives had christened the Argand burner, gave us a cheerful degree of illu- mination. Astriip had a very pretty surprise for us in the shape of cleverly drawn menu cards, each ap- propriately designed to fit a member of the party. The cards of Dr. Cook and Mr. \'erhoeff were par- ticularly apropos. Dr. Cook's card was 'graced with the presentment of a long-haired person with hands on his hips, critically examining the pose of a poor nude " Husky," as the whalers call the natives, im- prisoned in a white screen ; the tail-piece was a bottle with skull and cross-bones. On Verhoeff's card ap- peared the tide gauge and several spring balances supporting the menu, while at the bottom, the alarm _ clock and bull's-eye lantern, personified as two danc- ing imps, hit off happily the lively dance which they led our faithful meteorological observer. Gibson was seen bringing a deer into camp, and Matt was "shooting" a row of Huskies, this being his favourite expression when my dogs gave notice of a new arrival. j. With the cocktail that inaugurated our good cheer, there was naturally but one toast — " Meri^y Christmas to all ! " but when the Sauterne was broaeJi.ed^Fpro- posed two toasts : one, " To the flag over us, the bright- est that waves, with the hope that our little party may be so fortunate as to add something to its lustre " ; the other, " To the loving and perhaps anxious hearts 184 Northward over the "Great Ice" at home, with the hope that some of those mysterious occuk agencies, which we do not as yet understand, may inform them how comfortable we are." These toasts we drank standing. At seven I'.M. we rose from the table, and, as soon as the din- ner debris was cleared away and a venison stew could be made, I invited our Husky friends to a Christmas dinner. Arn- godogibsah, otherwise " The Villain," did the honours in my place at the head of the table. Megipsu, otherwise "The Daisy," poured The company was ar- KUDLAH I" MISFORTUNE"). tea m Mrs. rantred as follows : eary s place. Arngodogibsah, "The Villain." Inaloo, " Mrs. Villain, Myall, ' The White Man. Kudlah, "Misfortune." Annowkah, " The Young Husband.' Megipsu, " The Daisy." I doubt if anywhere a more unique or joyous party ever sat down to their Christmas dinner. A free use of soap and water, under the skilful direction of Dr. Through the Great Night 185 MYAH ("THE WHITE MAN"). Cook, had removed all dirt from the visible portions of their bodies ; and an evening dress of sealskin coats and bearskin trousers for the gentlemen, and foxskin jackets and trousers for the ladies, made all look very pre- sentable. Considering their limited experience at Christmas dinners, they acquitted them- selves very well. The Young Husband, it is true, was a little boister- ous ; and Myah endan- gered the integrity of his eyes by persisting in holding his knife and spoon both at once in his right hand, and then using his fingers for convey- ing food to his mouth. He also was so rude as to stand up and endeav- our to harpoon with his fork some choice pieces in the stew. He desisted, however, when he was re- proved by The Villain, who, perhaps, was not so much offended by Myah's gross breach of etiquette as desirous that all should have a fair chance at the stew. The Villain bore up bravely under his re- sponsibility and served the stew very creditably. The Daisy also sipped her tea with considerable grace. ■ THE VILLAIN ' 1 86 Northward over the "Great Ice Tuktoo (venison) stew formed the first course, bis- cuit and colTee the second, and candy and raisins the dessert. Then the boys amused themselves at games ,with the Eskimos until a late hour. Altogether we had a very enjoyable Christmas. The next evening I went with Dr. Cook and Matt to visit some of the fox-traps. We found one sprung and covered with blood, and one deprived of the bait, but not sprung. Three others were not disturbed. We had a race coming back, irNAUUU. Ill IT ■ 1 and 1 thought 1 acquitted myself very creditably, considering that it was my first foot-race since the breaking of my leg. After Christmas, it was clearly apparent that the noonday twilight was increasing. Only those who have lived for many weeks in darkness, or whose brightest days have been illumined only by the cold, reflected beams of the moon, can realise with what eagerness and pleasure every indication of the sun's returning light and power was welcomed at Red Cliff House. At nine a.m. on the 28th, the cliffs back of the house were outlined in the twilight, and at noon the op- posite shore of the bay was illumined by the reflection. On the evening of December 29th, it began snow- ing and kept it up till early next morning, when a foot more of snow had been added to Red Cliff's winter covering. There was a fresh breeze from the head of the bay and the thermometer rose rapidly. At nine p.m., it was I If F. Throui/b the Great Nicrht 187 OOTUNIAH. Thursday the 31st was a wild squally day, the wind falling in heavy gusts from the bluffs behind us. The temperature, however, was high, rising to + 1 6^° F. Everyone was busy in various prepara- tions for New Year's. Mrs. Peary sent out invit- ations to an " at home" in ,the south parlour of Red Cliff House "from ten P.M.December 31st, 1891, until 1892." While at dinner, the unmistakable barking of my two New- foundland dogs an- nounced the arrival of more Eskimos, and when dinner was over they were admitted. I found them to be our old acquaint- ances : Kessuh of Netiulume, with his wife Mane and their child; Kyowito, an ugly giant from Narksarsomi; Ootuniah, his brother, only a trifle smaller and less ugly ; and Tahtarah and Akpaliasuah, two young men from Cape York. Our New Year's preparations gave me but little time for these visitors, though the giant promptly informed me that he had a fine narwhal horn, several reindeer skins, and other articles to trade, and that he expected to carry away a gun. It may seem surprising to some of my readers that during the winter night we should have visitors coming from their homes nearly two hundred miles away. As a matter of fact, quite a number of Eskimos from Cape York and vicinity came to Red Cliff House during the winter and spring. Promptly at ten p.m., our guests began to arrive and a very pleasant evening was enjoyed. The young i88 Northward over the "Great Ice" men from the United States seemed greatly to ap- preciate a lunch of cookies, doughnuts, and ice-cream ; and as the clock rang out the midnight hour, a generous cocktail sparkled and seven glasses clinked to a happy New Year.' THE LIBRARY. Mrs. Peary, in a black-and-yellow tea-gown, ply- ing a palm-leaf fan, was an object of silent, open- mouthed wonderment to our Eskimo friends, who ' I.est the reader should, from my description of our various fete-days — Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays — gain a very erroneous idea of the quantity of stimulants used by my Expedition, it is necessary for me to state the facts clearly. Personally, as a matter, not of conscientious scruples, but of judgment and taste, I am neither a drinker nor a smoker ; and I have always selected men for Through the Great Night 189 were looking on and listening from the other room. As if in envy of all this light, warmth, and enjoy- ment, the wild wind outside howled and shrieked, and the snow swirled in blinding sheets about my nearly buried house ; and yet the thermometer registered +5° F. to +12° ¥. No such picture as this had ever before broken the dark and cold of the arctic night. Our New Year's morning coffee was served an hour late, and then Gibson and Verhoeff laid out a course for our athletic games, which came off in the midst of a furious wind. These games consisted of a hundred-yards' dash, a hundred-yards' race backwards, and a hundred-yards' four-legged race. They were hotly contested, but owing to the fact that the starter. Matt, and the judge at the finish (myself) were particularly interested in trying to keep warm, and also that I had much dif- ficulty in recognising, in the pitch-black darkness, the different contestants, the actual time of these events is still very uncertain. I believe that one event was awarded to each of the contestants to prevent any unpleasant feeling. At three p.m., we had our New Year's dinner, and we made the occasion a joyous one for my Eskimo dependants, by feeding them on eider-ducks and rein- deer legs. The next day, the storm abated somewhat, my parties who, as far as their word of honour could be relied upon, used neither tobacco nor spirits. Liquor should have no place in an arctic ration, either for camp or field. Yet on such special occasions as those above noted, nothing gives more zest to the feast, or helps to lift the day out of the even monotony of the days on either side, than a mild cocktail or a glass of light wine. The liquor supply of my Expedition consisted of half a dozen bottles of brandy and whiskey, and a dozen pints of Sauterne. Some of this supply was used externally, and some was taken back on board the A'if^ at tlie end of I'A'elve months. Tobacco is equally or more objectionable in arctic work. It affects the wind endurance of the individual, particularly in low temperatures ; adds an extra and entirely unnecessary item to the outfit ; and vitiates the atmosphere of tent and house. 190 Northward over the "Great Ice" the temperature began to fall, and my visitors departed. Before Kessuh went, he told me the latest hunting story. It seems that, even in the darkness of the winter night, he had harpooned a big walrus in a crack in the ice near the open water off Netiulume, and after a protracted struggle lasting for hours, had succeeded in killing the monster and making him fast to the ice ; after which Kessuh returned to the villaee THE WRITING-DESK. for assistance, and many willing hands got the animal out of the water, and added the welcome store of fresh meat to their supply. In proof of his story Kessuh, Othere-like, showed me the fresh and bloody tusks of the walrus. I find this entry in my journal of January 2d : " The holidays have come and gone at Red Cliff House and we have entered on the new year. Will it bring a fruition of my hopes ? The year itself will tell. It seems to me as if everything is favourable. Throucrh the Great Night 191 This afternoon Mrs. Peary and I walked to our west- ern fox-traps, and as we moved along over the crisp, level surface of the bay and thoughts of the experi- ences of my partv came crowdino- upon me, 1 could not help wondering if we had really hit upon the most THE BED. favoured locality or an especially mild season, or both ; or if all my predecessors had unconsciously exagger- ated their hardships and the rigours of the climate." Industry knew no pause in my arctic workshop. Astriip was splitting ash runners for the second dog sledge. Dr. Cook'and Ikwa were busy -on the up- rights and cross-bars. I was ripping a narwhal horn 192 Northward over the "Great Ice' into four strips, roughing it into shoes for the sledges, and cutting deerskin trousers to tceep " Daisy " busy with her needle. Ikwa and Gibson were making ivory and horn knees to brace the sledge. Annowkah was fashioning ivory rings for the dog harnesses, " Daisy " was sewing. Mane was scraping a skin, and Mrs. Peary was working and softening my kooletah. On Monday, January i ith, the weather had cleared completely and the result was almost indescribable. The snow landscape bathed in the brilliant light of the nearly full moon, the silvery, misty distances, the low stratum of vapour over the bay, reminded me of moonlight-scene effects in mother-of-pearl. The southern twilight at noon was bright, and in the even- ing the temperature fell to —35^° F. Red Cliff House smoked in the icy air from every ventilator. The humbler dwellings in the village were completely snowed in. Work on the skin clothing progressed well, and I finished a sample sleeping outfit weighing only ten pounds. The next day the temperature fell to -40^° F., and the dazzling effect of the full moonlight on the great white expanse of snow was beautiful beyond description. January 13th was diversified by a small fire scare. Astriip knocked a box of matches from a shelf on to and around the stove. They immediately took fire in every direction, and Dr. Cook, who had the night watch and who was asleep in the bunk nearest the stove, sprang out in his sleeping-bag and fell, half- awake, on the matches on all fours, just in time to en- counter, full in the face, a pailful of water which I had thrown from the opposite direction. The second pailful following fast upon the first, convinced Dr. Cook of the efficiency of the fire department and caused him to retreat in confusion. The third appli- cation of water extinguished the blaze. Through the Great Night 19: January 15th, the noon twilight was reflected from the southern faces of the bergs, and Cape Robertson across the bay had a steely light that was not from the moon. The temperature was still holding its own at -40° F. Megipsu told me of a heavy fall of black dust or soot during an east wind at Cape York about a year ago which" frightened the natives seriously. In this THE WASHSTAND. neighbourhood the fall was lighter. I could get no furdier particulars, but as to the general truth of the story I have little doubt. It seems strongly to indi- cate the possibility of volcanic dust having reached that region, perhaps from some northern area still unexplored. January 26th, the south-west sky glowed for hours with rose and saffron tints. Arcturus and the Great Dipper, however, were still visible at midday. After lunch, Mrs. Pear)- and I went out on snow-shoes to 194 Northward over the "Great Ice the griind Amphitheatre Berg, about one and a half miles rdjstant, in the direction of the Five-Glacier Yalleyt)" ; Oyer the ice-cracks along the shore and around the bergs, the frozen water vapour, rising through the cracks, was making wreaths of mist. In the evening, Arngo- doblaho's three dogs, and another I did not recog- nise, came into our vil- lage with a rush, their traces dragging behind them. About an hour later, Nipsangwah of Keati, and Tahwana from the head of Ingle- field Gulf, came in with three more dogs. Tahwana had fallen into the water and their sledge had been left behind on the ice. I gave them both a hot rum punch and they turned in on the Boor. Nipsangwah was the brother of Annowkah, the " Daisy's" husband. Tahwana lived with his family and one other far up the head of Inglefield Gulf. Nip- sangwah was a powerful, quick, athletic man, while Tahwana was a queer, pigeontoed, little fellow with a defect in his eyes, and a walk like that of a bantam rooster. I learned from my visitors that there was still open water in the neighbourhood of Hakluyt Island and be- tween it and Northumberland Island ; and also that the ice in the Sound between our camp and Northum- berland was very thin and in places dangerous, the thick snow protecting it from the low temperatures NIPSANGWAH. Through the Great Night ■95 and the water wearing it away beneath. At Keate and Netiukime there was Httle snow and liigh winds had prevailed. At the head of Inglefield Gulf there was a good deal of snow. Merktoshar, the one-eyed hunter of Netiulume, and Kudlah had killed a young bear near Cape Parrv. It was encouratr- ing to see seven fine dogs at the door and to know that the dreaded pih- lockto, or dog disease, had done practically no damage to the animals in our neighbourhood. Friday morning. Feb- ruary 1 2th, Astriip and I started with our ski and snow-shoes and fur suits to take a look at the ice-cap beyond Four-Mile Valley. We left Red Cliff House at 9:30 a.m., and took at once to the bay ice. As the three spirit thermometers were reading —44° F., —43° F., and —44° F., I wore my kooletah with the hair inside. Only a few hun- dred yards from the house, however, I began to find it too warm, and, pulling it off, stood nude above the waist and turned it with bare fingers. The sleeves gave me some trouble, and when the job was com- pleted, my fingers had lost sensation, but otherwise I was warm enough. After reaching a height of about two thousand feet, Astriip stopped for a rest and I went on ahead to the ice-cap. I kept on to an elevation of about three thousand feet. Then, as it was getting dark, I threw myself down in m)- furs with my head pillowed upon Jack, who had followed me, and lay for ten or fifteen TAHWANA. 196 Northward over the "Great Ice" minutes, with the rusthng of the ice-cap wind — by that strange contrariety of suggestion which I have fre- quently noted in the Arctic regions — bearing me far away to the ledges of brown cliffs familiar in youth, with the waves of summer seas murmuring at their base. Rising to return, I drove my alpenstock with com- parative ease through about two feet of snow (the last winter's fall) to the icy surface of the previous summer. Into this I drilled about one and a half feet and then could get no deeper. Returning, I rejoined Astriip, and as the big yellow moon, surrounded by a rose-coloured halo, climbed over the cliffs, we reached Red Cliff House at seven P.M., after a fifteen-mile tramp. A few days more and the sun would rise. Constant occupation, first in the little fittings about the home, then in the construction of ski and sledges, daily exercise out-of-doors, the visits of the natives, the pleasant breaks of Thanksgiving and the Christ- mas holidays, congenial companionship and the best of food, had carried us quickly through the sombre darkness. CHAPTER VII. IMPRISONED ON THE ICE-CAP. Building a Snow Igloo on the Ice-Cap for the Sunrise Party — Climb- ing TO THE Ice-Cap, over 2000 Feet above the Sea — A Furious Storm — Awakened by the Roar of the Wind and Drift — Our Snow Hut Eaten away — Exposed to the Elements in our Sleeping-Bags with Nothing ON BUT Underclothing — Our Fur Garments Deep under the Drift — Unable to Stand against the Gale — A Day and a Half before we CAN Extricate ourselves — Sunrise — Return to Red Cliff — The Camp NEARLY Washed away by the Furious Fohn — Torrents of Rain in February — Putting Things Shipshape again. KAMONAHPIK. CHAPTER VII. IMPRISONED OX THE ICE-C.\P. T HE ice-cap beyond Four-Mile Valley- being too far away for my contemplated out- ing to see the sun's return, I lent Gibson and Ver- hoeff, on Saturday, Feb- ruary 13th, as I have already mentioned, up to the ice-cap this side of the valley' to build a snow , itdoo, for the sunrise party. They returned at night, reporting the walls of the igloo finished, but they were unable, after repeated auempts, to construct the roof. G.bson reported seeing sunlight, to the west, on the highest peak of Northumberland Island. The barometrical deter mination of the height of the igloo above sea-level "It'Ti'lhe next morning. Dr. Cook, AstrQp and 1 start'ed, dressed in our furs, the Doctor and Astrup with deerskin kooletahs and trousers, and I with deerskin kooletah and dogskin trousers. We all wore kamiks and woollen socks. The Doctor and I took snow-shoes, and Astrup his ski. Our imped,. 199 200 Northward over the "Great Ice" menta consisted of reindeer sleeping-bags and lioods, pemmican, cranberry jam, biscuit, tea, sugar, and condensed milk, for two days ; alcohol lamp and boiler, canteen of alcohol, two spoons, wind matches, shovel, snow-knife, hunting-knife, alpenstock, camera, note-book, aneroid and compass, swing thermometer, maximum and minimum thermometer, candle and watch, the Dahlgren and Academy of Natural Sciences flags, and Mrs. Peary's and Mayde's sledge banners. The morning was gloomy and cloudy, and looked so THE PATH TO THE ICE-CAP. unpromising that I thought it hardly probable that we would spend the night on top, but more likely that we would carry our packs up and return to sleep at the house, going up again Monday morning. We crossed the snow-covered terraces between the shore and the foot of the bluffs, on our snow-shoes. Then removing them we clambered, on hands and knees, sometimes over bare rocks and snow patches, to the knife-edge crest of one of the eroded trap buttresses springing from the main bluffs. A firm and gradually ascending snow-drift capped this crest, just wide enough at the top for one to walk. It was broken in Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 201 two places by nearly vertical trap ladders. We brought up at last against the face of the abrupt snow cornice of the main line of bluffs, some seventy-five feet below its top. Up this marble steep the Doctor cut steps with his shovel, and following him, we reached the thermometer cairn at noon. When about half-way up my swing thermometer had shown + 1 2° F., and the current temperature of the spirit thermometer at the cairn was + 1 2° F. I reached the top, clad only in my boots, trousers, and light guern- sey. My kooletah was slung across my back. I was more than glad to find my broken leg all right again. Although I could not spring from it quite as quickly and vigorously as with the other, it gave me no pain. At the thermometer cairn, we put on our snow- shoes and stretched out across the snow-field. At 1.50 P.M., we reached the igloo. At two p.m., the swing thermometer registered + 1 6° F., the temperature of the snow being — 4° F. We immediately proceeded to roof in the igloo, which was nine by six feet with a recurv- ing entrance, the walls about 4-^ feet high, and the floor the last summer's icy surface of the ice-cap, about eighteen inches below the present surface. The ski were placed lengthwise on the end walls, supported in their middle by snow-shoes, interlaced and resting on the side walls. Then a flat roof of snow blocks was laid upon them, and the roof and walls chinked. At three p.m., our house was finished. The temperature at this time was +22° F. and the temperature of the snow still -4° F. The entire sky was a heavy lead colour. The out- lines of Herbert and Northumberland Islands were barely discernible, and the lifeless light about us was of such a character that it was impossible to form any judgment of the size or distance of objects. A single snow block could be taken for a snow house, and our 202 Northward over the "Great Ice" igloo itself at a little distance loomed up like an ice- berg. The house being completed, our packs were passed in, the sleeping-bags spread out, and I immediately started the lamp for our pot of tea. Before six p.m., we had eaten our supper and were snugly stowed in our bags, wearing only our underclothing. Our fur trousers were folded and laid under the upper portion of the sleeping-bags, and our kooletahs were pulled over the foot of the bags. We could hear the in- DIGGING OUT. creasing rush of the wind, which had begun blowing just as we got our packs inside, and was now begin- ning to drift the tine snow into the entrance. At nine p.m., the temperature in the igloo was +22° F. and the barometer read 24.40. When I awoke, fine snow w^as drifting in my face. Lighting a candle, I saw that it was four o'clock Monday morning, that our entrance had drifted full, and that the wind had forced a small hole through the end wall of the igloo, through which the drift was pouring in a stream that had already covered to Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 20- a depth of several inches the foot of my sleeping-bag, and the head and shoulders of the Doctor, who was lying in the opposite direction. The Doctor turned out In a hurry, plugged up the hole with sno^y, and then reversed the "liead of his bag so as to lie the same as Astrup and myself. Again I fell asleep, only to be again awakened by the roar of the storm and the snow driving in my face. Looking over the foot of my bag, I could just see, in the faint light of day, that the cutting drift had eaten SUNRISE CAMP. off the angle of the igloo where roof and end wall met, had completely filled that end, and was rapidly covering us. As I watched it, roof and wall melted away as fine sand before a water jet ; and by the time I could arouse Dr. Cook, adjust my hood, and tighten my bag, it required a good deal of effort to force my- self up through the superincumbent weight of snow. The Doctor also succeeded in liberating himself, but Astrup, who was lying on the other side of the igloo, could not get free. 204 Northward over the "Great Ice" Telling Dr. Cook to keep a breathing hole open for Astriip, I rose up in my bag, forced the ski apart, rolled out over the wall, bag and all, and reached the shovel at the entrance, then rolled back to the end of the igloo, and crouched against the wall on the outside to get my breath. Then I crept around to the side where Astrlip was, and crouching before the howling wind, tore a hole through the side wall and freed his head and body, and with the Doctor's assistance, pulled him out. Here we were in our sleeping-bags, clad only in our underclothing and with our fur garments and foot-gear buried deep under the snow. We could not have stood up before such a gale if we had tried. All we could do was to crouch, half sitting, with our backs to the storm, in the breach I had made in that part of the igloo wall which was still standing. We sat there hour after hour until nearly night, when the Doctor and Astriip were again both fast, and needed assistance to release them from the drift. While performing this work of necessity, we managed to dig from under the snow a little pemmican and a few biscuit, and ate them. Astriip then wriggled along- side me, and the Doctor rolled a few feet to leeward of where the house had been, and thus night settled down upon us. We were lying out on the ice-cap over 2000 feet above sea-level, wholly without shelter, on the top of the drift, beneath which our snow hut was buried. The snow flew past us with such a roar that I had to shout at the top of my voice to be heard by Astriip, who was lying partly upon me. After an hour or so, his weight and that of the snow became oppressive, and I worked myself loose and crawled a little to one side and to windward, into the wind ditch alongside the big drift over the house. Here in a sitting posture, Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 205 with back to the wind and side against the drift, I sat out the night. By lowering my chin upon my breast, I could keep most of the drift out of my face, and by raising my head I could feel rather than see the two dark prostrate objects close to me to leeward, and at intervals shout to them to inquire if they were warm enough. Occasionally I dozed a little, but most of the time IP W^^'j* J r W1IHK" ; 1 li ^.--^ ffi^ ii i IHIr s5t^^ • Ba—— i-— • .^jdSS** ■ -- - 1 MOONLIGHT ON THE ICE-CAP. I was studying how we should extricate ourselves from our predicament if the storm continued for several days. My greatest source of anxiety was the fact that the suddenness with which we were compelled to free ourselves from the drift had left our outer clothing and foot-gear deep under the drift, my dog- skin trousers being the only thing that was brought out. These, however, and the shovel, I had close to me. I knew that we were good for at least twent)'- four hours longer in the bags, but if the storm con- 2o6 Northward over the "Great Ice" tinned longer than that, I should have to try and dig out a kooletah and pair of kamiks, and get to the house for clothing. Dozing again, I suddenly awoke to hear a rattling as of hail against my hood, and putting my hand out through the sleeve of the bag, great drops of rain drove against it, freezing as they struck. Moving in my bag, I felt that it had stiffened greatly, but fortun- SUNRISE ON THE "GREAT ICE." February, iSg2. ately was not yet frozen down. Calling to the boys, I told them to roll their bags gently from side to side every few minutes to prevent their freezing down, and then anxiously waited developments. The continua- tion of the rain would, I knew, make the digging out of our clothing impossible, and if I had to go down to the house, I should have to wear the upper part of my bag cut off for a kooletah, my dogskin trousers, and a pair of reindeer-skin sleeping-socks which I Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 207 had in my bag cover. I was worse off than either of the others, for they had on complete suits of underwear, including stockings, while I wore only an undershirt. To my infinite relief the rain did not last much more than an hour, and then the snow resumed its sway. Very soon, too, the wind ceased its steady, monotonous roar, and began to come in intermittent squalls. This, I hailed with delight, as a sign of the near breaking of the storm. I fell asleep again. When I next awoke, I found the opening of my hood closed with balls of ice, but the wind was much less vio- lent, and the intervals between the gusts were longer. Putting out a hand and tearing away the ice, I looked out, and to my delight found moonlight flood- ing the Inland Ice, the moon having just broken through a rift in the black clouds over Herbert Isl- and. It had stopped snowing, but the wind was still whirling the fine snow along the surface. I immediately conveyed the pleasing intelligence to the boys, and learning from the Doctor that he was cold, I got over to him as well as I could in my sleep- ing-bag and curled myself around and against the head of his bag, to windward. This expedient did not succeed in making him more comfortable, and as the temperature was rapidly lowering I rolled back, got the shovel, and succeeded in digging a hole, down into the snow. I then got the Doctor's bag loose, pulled the sleeves out of the frozen crust, adjusted his hood, and helped him to wriggle to the hole, into which he tumbled and curled himself up. I then placed my trousers over his head to keep the drift off, and curled myself round the windward edge of the hole above him. I was very glad to find that the complete protection from the wind thus afforded him, together with the exercise of moving, restored his temperature and rendered him entirely comfortable. 2o8 Northward over the "Great Ice" In this way we lay for several hours, the wind gradually dying away, and the light of day increasing. Then as Astriip was more completely dressed than any of us, I requested him to make the attempt to dig out our clothing. I was obliged, however, to go to his assistance, and break his bag free, clear the ice from the opening of his hood, adjust it, and help him THE DENUDED CLIFFS. to a sitting posture. In doing this, one of the sleeves of his bag was unfortunately torn off, and when he began to shovel, his arm was so cold that he could do no effective work, so I told him to lie down, and I took the shovel. It was now 8:45 a.m., Tuesday, and after a long time, and with much trouble, owing to the hard snow, the coldness of my hands, and the difficulty of working hampered by my sleeping- Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 209 bag, I dug out a kooletah, a pair of trousers, and a pair of kamiks. Astrijp then got out of his bag into these, and after a brisk run to Hmber himself up, took the shovel and continued the work of excavation. The temperature at this time was +3° F., with a light breeze blowing. As soon as Astrijp had dug out another kooletah, a pair of trousers, and a pair of kamiks, I sent him to help Dr. Cook put them on. The Doctor was now thoroughly chilled again, and anxious to get out of his bag, so that he could warm himself with exercise. While he did this, I excavated my corner of the igloo and got out the stove, tea, sugar, and milk, and lit the lamp for a pot of hot tea. It was now 11:45 A.M., and the southern sky was a mass of crimson, rose, purple, and green clouds. There was one dazzling yellow spot where the sun was about to burst into view. I pulled the Dahlgren and Acad- emy ensigns and the sledge banners from my bag cover, shook them out, fastened them to the ski and alpenstock as flagstaffs, and then drove these into the firm snow. At that moment the wind freshened and the bright folds of our banners, the fairest in the world, flew out into the sparkling air. Then the yellow sunlight fell upon the highest bluff of Northumberland Island west of us. A minute later Cape Robertson, to the north-west, blazed with a crown of glory, — and then the great yellow orb, for whose coming we had so longed, peered over the ice- cap south of Whale Sound. In an instant the snow waves of the Inland Ice about us danced, a sea of sparkling, molten gold. Neither gold, nor fame, nor aught can purchase from me the supreme memory of that moment when on the ice-cap, far above the earth, with the rustling of the Stars and Stripes in my ears, I laughed with the laughing waves 2IO Northward over the "Great Ice" of the great white sea, in greeting to the returning sun. Never before from the desolate heights of the Great Ice had man or Hag welcomed the breaking of the longed-for dawn which ends the Great Night of the north. For many minutes we watched the glorious God of ■i^ %. EVERY BOULDER CASED IN ICE. Day roll along the southern ice-cap. Then we turned to our hot tea, and the completion of the work of dig- ging out our impedimenta. As soon as I had finished my tea, I transferred m)self from my bag to ni)- trav- elling suit. The reader may imagine the pleasure of this performance. My dressing-room was the Inland Ice, with the wind blowing and the thermometer standing at 3° above zero. In this airy and expansive Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 21 I dressing-room, I had the fehcity of emerging from my sleeping-bag, clad only in an undershirt, and pulling on a frozen pair of drawers and socks, a fur coat and trousers, which were driven full of snow, inside and out, and a pair of kamiks, which had to be gradually thawed as I forced them upon my feet. Still I did not feel the cold very much, probably because having been perfectly warm in my bag all the time, I got out "JOSEPHINE HEADLAND SWIMMING IN PURPLE LIGHT." of it in a glow of animal heat, and with sufficient re- serve of strength and warmth to carry me through the ordeal. When once the fur garments are on, the sensation of warmth is instantaneous. As far as my own ob- servation goes with reindeer- or dogskin outer cloth- ing, no matter how wet the underclothing or inside of the fur clothing may be, the wearer does not, even while motionless, feel the cold or wind in any ordinary temperature of not lower than -25° F. to -30° F. 212 Northward over the "Great Ice" The work of excavation completed, we tied up our packs and started for the house by way of One-Mile V'alley. The snow was so firm that it easily supported me with a forty-pound pack on my back. The force of the wind had been terrific, as was shown by the way it had scooped and carved the surface of the ice- cap, in many places down to the ice of the previous summer. My swing thermometer, which I had buried in the snow on Sunday afternoon, was scoured out by the force of the wind until only two inches of it re- mained in the snow ; and the windward side of the thermometer, the alpenstock, and the Doctor's snow- shoes, which had been driven down into the snow, had a coating of tough, perfectly transparent ice, a quarter of an inch thick. From the head of One- Mile Valley, the surface of the table-land, all the way down to Cape Cleveland, had been swept clean of snow, and the upper portions and sides of Herbert and Northumberland Islands, Cape Robertson, and the north shore of our bay were nearly denuded. We went rapidly along to the head of the valley, and down the firm, steep snow-drift in its centre. When not quite half-way down I was surprised to find the snow covered with a crust of opaque, cream- coloured ice. The surface of this ice-crust had been beaten by the wind into the form of amygdaloid, or furnace slag. A little farther down, where the rush of the wind had been apparently still more furious, the snow had been scoured away entirely, and the windward side of every boulder, rock, and pebble was cased thickly in ice, slightly yellow-tinted with the fine detritus the storm had scoured from the cliffs. When I reached the surface of the bay, the change was startling. Instead of the deep, level covering of soft snow which was there four days before, there was now over only a portion of it a ragged conglomerate Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 213 of ice and snow six inches thick at most, while over fully a third of the expanse of the bay the snow had been washed and scoured away completely, leaving the surface of the ice entirely bare. But my attention could not be claimed long by these things, for the glory of the scene around and overhead overpowered everything else. To the north and east, the sky was purple-black. RED CLIFF HOUSE AFTER THE STORM. shading to exquisite blue at the zenith. Overhead a few dainty, feathery clouds glowed with the irides- cent hues of the humming-bird's breast and mother-of pearl. The western and south-western sky was aflame with dazzling yellow shading into pale rose and green. Against this rose, cji silJwtictte, the majestic cliffs of Josephine Headland swimming in purple light. Misty purple and green lights floated over the far-stretch- ing expanse of ice, giving the countless glistening em- erald icebergs an indescribable softness. 214 Northward over the "Great Ice" Even a mile away, I could see that Red Cliff House stood out more prominently than it had since October. It was evidently denuded of its snow covering. Half-way home Mrs. Peary met me anci told me of the frightful storm and deluge. Nearly all day Mon- day, the rain had fallen in torrents, washing away the snow-covering of the house, destroying the covered snow entrance, and coming through the canvas roofs of the additions till it ran into the house. The wind all the time hurled itself from the cliffs upon the house with such force that the boys could scarcely stand against it. The doors and windows quivered with the assault, but the house itself, strongly framed, frozen to the ground, and braced and protected by its surrounding walls of stone and frozen turf, stood firm, nor did the wind anywhere effect an entrance. The covered snow entrances to the igloos of the settlement were beaten down and the igloos them- selves were very near destruction. Yerhoeff went to the tide gauge in his long-legged rubber boots, and the maximum thermometer registered the unprece- dented temperature of +41^° F. The snow igloo at the tide hole was beaten down, and Red Cliff House, as I approached it, stood out so bare and black that it looked as if it had been visited by a fire. I think no such phenomenal war of the elements, no such wild freak of the Arctic fohn, has ever before been observed in this latitude in the month of February. We had experienced an accentuated instance of the Greenland fohn, — a word borrowed from the meteor- ology of Switzerland, to designate the most remark- able of the local winds of that country, a south, warm wind that occurs in the Alps, most frequently in the spring. I expected to hear later of our February fohn in other parts of Greenland, and I was not disappointed. Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 215 Lieut. Ryder was living for nine months at Scoresby Sound, on the coast of East Greenland, while we were at McCormick Bay. He was about four hun- dred and fifty geographical miles south of us. The maximum temperatures he recorded occurred in Feb- ruar\- and May. He says {Pctcrviaiui s. Mitfci/iinocu, xi., 1892, page 263) that these high temperatures were due to severe fohn storms, one; of which, in AMONG THE RUINS. February (date not given), suddenly raised the ther- mometer to +50° F., 8?,° higher than my instru- ments had recorded. Like us, also, he had experienced his lowest temperature in Februar)-. Rainfall in the neighbourhood of McCormick Bay during February, or in other words during the sunrise period, is, ac- cording to native reports, almost unprecedented. The experience upon the ice-cap, in its actualities of discomfort and possibilities of worse, was the most serious incident in all the ice-cap work of the Expedi- tion of 1 89 1 -1 892. To me it was an old story. I had twice been through similar experiences in 1886. 2i6 Northward over the "Great Ice" To my two companions it was a stern and serious initiation into ice-cap work, and an emphasised warn- ing of what they might expect on the long march. The day after our return from the ice-cap tlie tem- perature rose again above the freezing-point. The day was spent indoors, drying our bags and other equipment, which had been blown full of damp snow and sleet. Thursday was a day of brightness and sunshine on the northern shores of the bay, and I immediately pfot the available force of the village at work, rebuild- inaf the lono- covered entrance to the house, demolished by the storm. The now solidly frozen snow crust furnished fine quarries for building blocks, and after collecting all the empty boxes and the discarded ice- melter to build up the wall, Astrup, Dr. Cook, Ikwa, Annowkah, and myself hewed great slabs, two to three feet wide and six to eight feet long and six inches thick, of semi-ice, and roofed our entrance bet- ter than before. I was very glad to get this done so quickly, for we had yet to meet the wild storms of March. The more pressing repairs upon the house being completed, my faithful servants Ikwa and Annowkah set about the restoration of their own half-wrecked dwellings ; and to expedite their work, I gave them a shovel, snow-knife, and hatchet. Then Dr. Cook, Astrup, and I betook ourselves to our ski, and coasted merrily down the hill back of the house, with many a ludicrous tumble. Even the Eskimos became infected with the spirit of merriment, and got out a Greenland sledge and coasted with us. Mrs. Peary, in the mean- time, watched the sport and caught us with the camera. In the afternoon, Annowkah and I rebuilt the snow gable on the south end of the house. The next day Matt and I, with my Greenland sledge and the two Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 117 dogs, went up to One-Mile Valley after my pack, which I had left near its head on Tuesday. Some distance below the pack I had to leave the sledge and dogs on account of the steepness of the ascent, and bring the pack down to them on my back. When we started back, I drove the point of my alpenstock between two sledge cross-bars, three or four inches into the snow, and with this as a brake, ^iS^ EFFECTING REPAIRS. I was able to retain con- trol of the sledore until we reached a more gently slop- ing part of the lower valley. Here I thought we were safe, but frequent patches of bare ice, from which the last light snow had been blown, gave the sledge such ve- locity that I was glad to apply the brake again. Even then, we travelled like the wind, the dogs at their liveliest gallop, unable to keep the traces straight. Suddenly, the iron point of my alpenstock broke short off, and in a moment the sides of the valley became » roaring mist, and the poor dogs, 2i8 Northward over the "Great Ice" howlinj^r and yelping, were rolling and bounding through the air in tow of the shooting sledge. I did my best to make the end of my alpenstock bite into the snow, and just as everything was becom- ing invisible in our mad rush, I succeeded, with the result of hurling Matt, who was behind me, over my head upon the snow in front, and bringing the poor dogs up with a thump and a yelp in a breathless mass against the upstanders. After this, we went on more carefully and soon reached the house. CHAPTER VIII. PRE1'AR1X(; K(>k THE ICE-CAl' CAMI'AIGX. An Anxious Ehisouk — Jack Rescueu at Last — Wild Weather — The Grip — Ikwa Ices his Sledge Runners — Spring Hunting — A Trip to the Ice-Cap — Lunching in Comfort in a Temperature of —32' F., 3825 Feet above the Sea — New Visitors from Cape York — Weather Re- ports from all along the Coast — A Mild Winter — Sledge Trips to Herbert Island — Sending Supplies to the Ice-Cap — Mv Eskimo Mail Carrier WOMAN AND CHILD. CHAPTER VIII. PREPARING FOR THE ICE-CAP CAMPAIGN. AFTER lunch, on Fri- day, February 19th, Astrijp and Dr. Cook started off to build some cairns on the brow of the bluffs from Cape Cleveland to Three- Mile Valley. They thought they would make the ascent at Cape Cleve- land and started in that direction. Old Arrotok- soah and his wife left us at eight a.m. for Netiulume, and a little later, Ikwa started with his sledge and my one remaining Eskimo dog. This day, for the first time, we ate our lunch by daylight, the lamps being put out from one until two p.m. While we were at dinner, Ikwa came back and said that in passing Cape Cleveland he had heard a small snow-slide. I thought nothing of this at the time, but about nine p.m. Arrotoksoah and his wife returned, having found the travelling over the Whale-Sound ice too rough for them. Old Sairey Gamp said she had heard Dr. Cook shouting and Jack barking as they were passing Cape Cleveland. I did not like the looks of this, and immediately told Gibson to get 222 Northward over the "Great Ice" ready to go down to the cape with me, and putting a Hask of rum in my poclcet, and taking my alpenstock in one hand and a bull's-eye lantern in the other, I started off with him. We made good time to the cape, and just before reaching it, heard Jack bark well up thecliff in answer to my shout. Then we left the sledge track, and went directly to the sig- nal flag, following Dr. Cook's track of the da\' before. While at the signal s t a ft , a mournful long- drawn-out howl brokethrough the gloomy, starle-ss night, from the darker gloom of the bluft above us, and filled me with forebodings. I shouted Dr. Cook's name again and again, without answer, except Jack's tlismal wail. A few steps from the signal, we found the l:)0)s' tracks leading straight up the steep snow-slope to- wards the trap ledge, which 1 knew projected trom the bluff about half-way up. Following the tracks as well as we could through the gloom, we found two or three places where the boys had slipped and slid some dis- tance ; and then, just as a particularly mournful howl came from Jack, I saw one of Dr. Cook's snow-shoes JACK. Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 227, lying on the snow, where it had fallen from above. A little above it, breaks in the snow looked as if made by the spent debris from a slide arrested some distance up, perhaps at the trap ledge. Again my shouts elicited no answer, save Jack's doleful howls, and the rustle of the biting wind. Fhe whole thing seemed clear to me. The boys, in going up, had detached some of the rotten masses of trap, which had fallen upon them and either pinned them down or crippled them so that they could not move. Dr. Cook was still able, when the old couple passed, to call to them, but now he had fainted, or liecome numb with cold ; Jack, with a dog's instinct of calam- ity, was howling by the side of his two human friends, who were probably senseless. I could not bring myself to be- lieve that the mishap was greater than this. A few steps farther showed me the utter futility of our try- SHOEING A SLEDGE WITH ICE. 224 Northward over the "Great Ice ing to go up in the darkness without hnes or hatcliets. The cold alone, I felt sure,would not endanger the boys, as the temperature was comparatively mild (— 3-t°F. ), and both were clad in complete reindeer suits. The proper way was to return to the house with all possible speed, and come back with the three natives, Verhoeff, sledges, lines, sleeping-bags, lights, and everything necessary to get the boys down with- out delay as soon as we reached them. I need not say that I led the return to the house at a half-run, and long before reaching it, had decided wdiat every man should do, so that we could start back in less than ten minutes. I pushed open the door with the first order on my lips, but the spectacle before me left it unuttered. There sat the two boys at the table eating their sup- per with excellent appe- tites. The clock over the table recorded 11:45 f-^'- No one who has not been through a similar experi- ence can understand my feeling of relief. The story of the boys was soon told. They had had much trou- ble in get- ting up the slope, and it was al- ready get- ting dark when the old couple SHOEING A SLEDGE WITH ICE Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 225 passed the cape, the boys being- less than half-way to the summit. The ascent was so steep, however, that to return was impossible, and so, laboriously cutting steps with the heels of the Doctor's snow-shoes, the only implement they had, they climbed slowly up, hanging on by tooth and nail, and finally reached the plateau at the top. Jack, who had followed them, had gone part way up the cliff and then could not go far- ther. Travelling along the plateau to Mile Valley, they descended there, and returned to the house over the bay ice. This incident perhaps seems trivial. Possibly with- out my being aware of it, the gloom of the Great Night had rendered me abnormally susceptible. Yet the mem- ory of that time when Jack's mournful howl fell through the gloom of the sombre starless night upon my ears, and I pictured my comrades lying up there crippled or dead, and thought of the crushing possibilities of the catastrophe, always comes back to me as a nightmare. There was reason for my fears. Six months later, another of my party, young Verhoeff, passed to the unknown in the full light of the long summer day, under circumstances which previous to the catastrophe seemed less fraught with possibilities of danger than those here described. The next day, with Mrs. Peary and Astrup, I went down to the cape to rescue Jack, who had not been able to get down, but before we could get steps cut up the bluff to him, night compelled me to give up the attempt. Sunday night, February 21st, all my family, four- footed as well as biped, were again safe within the precincts of Red Cliff House. During the day Dr. Cook and I had rescued Jack from his unpleasant perch up the Cape-Cleveland bluff, in the midst of a succession of violent snow-squalls which blinded and 226 Northward over the "Great Ice" half-suffocated us, and almost tore us from our preca- rious position, where, flattened against the bluft, we clung with hands and feet to shallow steps which we had cut with hatchets in the snow and ice. It was with a feeling of relief that I finally reached the foot of the cliff with the whinino- and trembline brute, my face stung almost to bleeding with the snow, and arms and legs aching from the continued grip upon the steps. On our return, we met Mrs. Peary, who had started to bring us some lunch, but had been blinded and bewildered by the snow, and actually hurled from her feet by the fury of the wind, which obliged her, bruised and breathless, to creep for shelter among the blocks of the ice-foot. It had been a savage week. The wild rush of the fcihn, with its phenomenal high temperatures through this region, had transformed the atmosphere into a tumultuous cauldron of fierce winds which even the returning cold had not yet fettered. The week beginning Monday, February 2 2d, in- troduced a surprising experience in arctic regions. Some of us were attacked by an ailment that was unmistakably the grip, and we did not recover from its effects for several weeks. On Tuesday, Mrs. Peary was violently ill, and the ailment soon became epidemic at Red Cliff. We thought the outbreak was traceable to the extraordinary storm of the pre- vious week. Mrs. Peary, Gibson, and both of my Eskimo women, with their babies, were the first vic- tims, and none of us entirely escaped, though my share of the infliction did not come until March 28th, when I was confined to the house for several days. Of course the Red-Cliff colony celebrated Wash- ington's birthday. We spread an appetising banquet, and our usually simple fare gave way to a bounteous Preparing- for the Ice-Cap Campaign 227 supplv of broiled, truiUemot breasts, venison pasty, pandowdy, green peas, corn, liebfraumilch, and choc- olate Gibson set out with his rifle to look for the seals I had seen off Cape Cleveland, and Annowkah went up the bay to hunt for seal holes. Gibson returned without seeing any seals, but Annowkah re- ported a seal hole and saw a deer in the neighbour- hood of Mile Valley. Ravens were flying over the house and other signs of returning animal life were increasing. At noon on March 2d, the thermome- ter registered -43° F. MATT AND ANNOWKAH RETURNING FROM THE DLER HUNl. I drilled through the bay ice east of the tide gauge and found its thickness to be three feet eight inches. The February thaw, together with a blanket of snow, had stopped all increase in the thickness of the ice for 228 Northward over the "Great Ice" several weeks. The snow on the ice weighed it down till the water rose nearly to its surface. The low temperatures resulted in numerous mist-wreaths along the shore of the bay and the icebergs, and our ice for melting purposes, when brought into the house and dropped into the pails of water, snapped, crackled, and fell to pieces. The sound reminded me of the crack- ling of wood in pleasant fireplaces in the home land. The low temperatures also led Ikwa to give his sledge shoes of ice, a process that interested me very much. First, he covered the bottoms of the runners with a continuous strip of thick walrus hide, 2|^ inches wide, with the hair on. This was fastened on by rawhide lashings passed through slits cut in the edges. When this was frozen hard, a coating of snow dipped in warm urine was applied and shaped and pressed with the hands, until the entire length of the runner was covered three-fourths of an inch to an inch thick. This, in turn, was allowed to freeze solid, and then chipped and smoothed with a knife, and finally rubbed down with the hand dipped in water. Here is a section of the finished runner. On the night of March 2d, with the temperature — 35° F. — Kennan's limit of comfort in Siberia — I took my reindeer bag and slept outside on the snow. Leaving the house, dressed in my complete fur travelling suit, I took a walk on the bay, and then return- ing, undressed in the open air, to my undershirt and a -VoJUxAJi VaARj SECTION OF ICE-SHOE. Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 229 pair of reindeer socks, _orot into my bag, arranged it all without the stimulus of food or hot tea, and in a few min- utes was comfortable, and slept well through the night. Thursday morning, March 3d, Matt and Annowkah started after deer to the head of the bay, with the Princess sledge, sleeping-gear, and five days' pro- visions. Jack, my Newfoundland dog, easily dragged their sledge, weighing over 1 50 pounds, along the ice- foot. Next day, Ikwa, who had gone around Cape Cleveland after deer, returned with a fine animal, and this opened the spring hunting season. ESKIMO BITCH AND PUPPIES. From noon until sunset on March 4th, there was a parhelion, of which only the upper and right-hand images were visible, the rest of the phenomenon be- ing hidden behind the cliffs, and the sun being too 230 Northward over the "Great Ice" low for the lower image. After the sun got past Cape Cleveland, there was a bright pencil of light streaming upward from the orb and about eleven degrees long. The angular radius of the parhelion circle was 22^° F. For the appearance of the parhelion, see page 243. After lunch, Sunday, March 6th. Matt and Annowkah returned, having shot four deer. They had slept in a snow igloo and suffered no discomfort, though the out- side temperature had been from -40° F. to -50" F. at Red Cliff House, and possibly lower where they were. It should be remembered that one of these men was of African descent, and his only experience of tempera- ICE-CAP BEYOND FOUR-MILE VALLEY. tures away from his home had been gainetl in the tropi- cal climate of Central America. The season had opened very auspiciously. Our total record now was thirt\- six deer. The spring deerskins were quite different from those secured in the fall, beintr much litrhter and thinner as to the leather. The fur was as heavy, but seemed to have no adhesion to the skin, and we were unable to make an)' use of them. About 4:30 P.M., on March 8th, the sun, just before setting, shone, for the first time, on the house, and on the 14th, it shone for the first time on the window of my room. Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 2;i Late on the afternoon of March i 2th, Gibson and Annowkah returned from a hunting trip to F"ive-Gla- cier Valley with two deerskins on the sledge. Gibson had left the house with a formidable equipment to protect him against the cold, but had never opened his clothes-bag, and had left it on the bay ice all the time he was hunting. He said the temperature in their snow igloo was from +40° F. to +45° F. Saturday, March 19th, my Eskimo bitch gave birth to a litter of nine pups, only one of which was a male. Later I ob- served, frequently, this disproportion of the sexes among the dogs, and noted the same pe- culiarity in the propor- tion of the sexes among the natives. The female children are considerably in excess of the males. This seems a wise pro- vision of nature to con- tinue the species. I com- pleted my sledge the same day, and was much pleased with it. It weighed twenty pounds, was twelve feet five inches long, thir- teen feet one inch long from tip to tip of runners, and sixteen inches wide. Monday, March 21st, I started early for the ice-cap east of Four-Mile Valley, to observe the conditions on the Inland Ice, which was soon to be my route to the far North. The morning was clear and calm. I took with me my lunch, a riHe, an aneroid, thermometer, and snow-shoes. My costume consisted of a very light KOKO. Northward over the " Great Ice woollen undershirt, a pair of light woollen socks, a pair of blanket foot-wraps, a light woollen skull-cap. a reindeer-skin kooletah, a pair of dogskin trousers, a pair of kamiks, and a pair of deerskin and blanket mittens — a total weight of about twelve pounds — less than that of a winter costume at home. On leaving the bay, I put on my snow-shoes and kept them on until I reached the ice-cap. In the nar- row part of the \alley, most of the surface was covered with ice, formed after the February rain- storm, and in places the bed of the valley torrent showed that there had been a considerable stream running there during the storm. On the ice-cap a fresh breeze was blowing, and though the sun was shin- ing brightly, and there was blue sky overhead, all the upper part of McCormick Bay was hidden by lead-coloured cumulus clouds, and Inglefield Gulf lay invisible behind a dazzling white mist. I took off my snow-shoes, the surface being so hard that my feet made no impression on it, and walked along briskly over the marble pavement. Every inequality had been formed by south-east winds ; and it seemed to me that on the ice-cap proper the wind must blow almost in- variably from a direction between south and east. On the top of the first swell of the ice-cap, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, I was surprised to find coarse, granular ice similar in appearance to places on the bay where the wind had scoured the snow away. THE WIDOW NUIKINGWAH. Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign Beyond this there was hard snow again. At an eleva- tion of 3825 feet, I surmounted the second swell and had before me, apparently, an extensive level, although the snow-drift may have been deceptive. Here I took my lunch, seated upon the snow, with my back to the wind ; and although it was blowing a gale, and the air was thick with drifting snow, while the swinging thermometer read — 32° F., I ate my lunch deliberately and in comfort. So much for reindeer clothing. Had I been clad in woollens I could not have remained quiet an instant. Turning back and scudding before the gale, it did not take long to reach the head of the vaHey. I was fairly blown down the gorge and out into the bay, where I found the faint sledge trail and followed it through the blinding drift by feeling, rather than by sight, till I reached the house. I was'much pleased to attain the elevation of 3800 feet on the Inland Ice, so easily and quickly. I was also interested in these meteorological notes' : & Temperature on the bay in the shade ~3i° F- Temperature on the bay in the sun ^29° " Barometer -9-98 " Attached thermometer +52° " Temperature in the valley at an elevation of 1400 " feet — 25° " Temperature in the valley, thermometer exposed " to the sun against a rock ~ '5° " Barometer 28.50 " Attached thermometer +72" " Temperature at the summit ~32° " Barometer 26.07 " Attached tliermometer +40° " The temperatures shown by the attached thermo- meter of the aneroid are interesting, as giving the 'The thermometer \v.->s a mercurial swing (H. J. Green, No. 6651), The barometer was a Keiiffel and Esser I J.^ -inch aneroid reading to Sooo feet. 234 Northward over the "Great Ice" tL-mptratures inside my kooletah. The barometer was carrictl suspended from a string about my neck and hung on mv chest between my kooletah and under- shirt. The temperature of +53° F. was the comfort- able warmth produced by brisk walking on the bay ; the high temperature of +72° F. was caused by the exercise of climbing up the steep valley in the sun ; and the low but not uncomfortable temperature of +40° F., by my cessation of exercise while eating lunch in the thirty-two-degrees-below- zero gale on the ice-cap. March, on the whole, was a blustering month, with many snow-squalls and very low tem- peratures during the first part. The week following my recon- naissance of the ice-cap was one of continuous blustering weather. The wind howled over the cliffs and a))out the house, like a pack of wolves, and the air was constantly full of a Ijlinding drift of snow. No phase of the weather, however, interrupted our bus)- prepara- tions for the coming campaign. As soon as we could see to work out-of-doors, in the latter part of February, we were busy with sledge-making and other articles of our outfit, in temperatures of — iQ' ]'. to — 25°F. In these temperatures I usually worked in my dogskin trousers, an undershirt, and a guernsev. Saturday afternoon, March 26th, it cleared, and Northumberland and Hakluyt Islands were visible for the first time in six days. THE WIDOW'S MITE. Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 235 There was, however, no doubt in nn- mind that the winter, as a whole, had been mild ; that there had been an unusual amount of open water in Smith Sound ; and that the heavy, and I think exceptional, snow-fall had kept the ice comparatively thin, which would iacil- itate its breaking up early in the summer. The month went out like a lamb, with occasional sunshine and a little light snow. On the side of the roof exposed to the sun, the thermometer, laid on the tar red paper, read + 32^ ° F. The snow was disappearing in the form of vapour, and there were little tricklings of water down the tarred paper. EASTERN END OF HERBERT ISLAND. On Monday, April 4th, our old friends, Kla\u, the widow, with her two daughters, Tookumingwah and Inerleah ; Nuikingwah, another widow, with her child, whom we had not seen before, and two men, came in from a little north of Cape York. They said there had been much wind there during the winter. The prevailing wind at Cape York had been from the south, but all along the north coast the wind had come from off the shore. There had not been much snow, nor had it been very cold. Off Akpani ( Saun- ders Island) there was open water and the ice was thin. One of the men put his hands about fifteen inches 2^,6 Northward over the "Great Ice apart, to show the thickness of the ice. During the forenoon a very affectionate couple came in on foot, the man with an old rifle with the stamp, " Tower, 1868," on it. I was up till after midnight, taking photographs of the new subjects. On'Tuesday, April 5th, I sent Gibson with Kessuh and his five dogs, to take Inland-Ice supplies to the head of the bay, and then go to Five-Glacier Valley, to hunt deer for several days. I hired three fine dogs for the Inland-Ice trip, and immediately started with them for the east end of Herbert Island, partly to get THE FIRST LOAD FOR THE ICE-CAP. some blubber cached there, for Megipsu and her fam- ily, and partly to try the dog.s. Astrup and Annowkah accompanied me, and I took my long sledge. We left Red Cliff Houseat 10:15 a.m., passed Cape Cleveland at eleven o'clock, and reached the east end of Herbert Isl- and at three p.m. There we found several ruined stone igloos, two of which had been fixed up and made habit- able. They were built of large red, sandstone slabs. The extreme east end of Herbert Island is a fine bold cliff of dark red sandstone, with a cap one hundred Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 237 to one hundred and fifty feet thick of Hghter sandstone. The entire end of the island is unscalable. I stopped long enough to make tea and take our lunch in one of the igloos, dig out the blubber from its pile of stones and get it down to the sledge. Then, at 5:30 P.M., we started on the return. With a gross load of about three hundred pounds, the dogs went along very well for some time, but getting tired, and 1 having broken my whip, they shirked their work, and Astrup TALAKOTEAH AND HIS FAMILY. and .Annowkah had to take turns pulling with them. At 11:15 we passed Cape Cleveland again, and at 11:55 I entered Red Cliff House, having been absent 13! hours, of which i if were spent travelling. Friday, April 8th, Gibson and Kessuh returned in the afternoon, having had no luck hunting. I 23S Northward over the "Great Ice" purchased all five of Kessuh's dogs. Next morning, I started again with Kessuh, six dogs and sledge for the east end of Herbert Island. We reached the island at three r.M., got a little dog meat, travelled along the north shore of the island, dug out two cached seals, and reached home at 11:45 ''■^'- The distance from Red Cliff House to Kioktoksuami, at the east end of Herbert Island, and return, by odometer, is 28.12 miles, so that my new sledge on the two trips had travelled about sixt)- miles. Our last trip was made on a perfect da)', though the thermometer was below —20° F. Even while riding on the sledge, I was comfortable in my dogskin trousers, no drawers, a Jaros undershirt, and sealskin timiak. During the return journey, Kessuh complained of the cold and repeatedly warmed his hands by placing them under his foxskin coat upon his bare stomach. The opera- tion gave me the first shiver I had experienced. He told me he knew of large iron rocks (probably the iron mountains of Sir )ohn Ross) near Cape York. Sunday, April loth, was a beautiful day, which I gave up entirely to reading and basking in the sun on the roof. On Monday, April iith, Astriip, Matt, Kuku, and Kyo, with one sledge and eight dogs, started for the head of the bay with supplies for the Inland-Ice trip. Matt returned at eight p.m., with the sledee and does. The others were to remain at the head of the bay for three days, carrymg the supplies up on the Inland-Ice and hunting deer. Mrs. Peary and I were busy preparing pea soup and bacon-fat bri- quettes for the ice-cap journey. Tuesday, April 12th, Kessuh started off with a gun in the forenoon after seals, and while we were at lunch he returned with a family consisting of Tala- koteah — father. Arrotingwah — mother, Ooblooah — son, and Nettuh — daughter, frcm Cape York. Return- Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 239 ing behind their sledge was poor old Frank, one of my Newfoundland dogs. He always seemed to prefer native society to ours, and had strayed away with a departing company of Eskimos about three months before. He returned poor in Besh. scarred, limping from many battles with the wolf-fanged Eskimo dogs, and scarcely able to move, but he showed the same curled lip by way of a smile as of old, when I spoke to him, as he struggled up the path and threw himself down. The poor old veteran had had a hard winter of it. Some one had tied around his neck a bearskin collar, whether as charm or token of rever- ence I do not know. FRANK, THE RETURNING PRODIGAL. Thursday, April 14th. I sent Matt to the head of the bay with 145 pounds of pemmican. The other party returned at dinner time from their work at the head of the bay. Astriip had secured one deer, and taken si.x loads up the bluff to the ice, leaving nine loads on the shore. Matt returned at eight p.m., hav- ing left his load of pemmican at Hanging Glacier, on account of the snow. Saturday about midnight, an- 240 Northward over the "Great Ice" other family of Eskimos, a man, woman, and little boy, and, best of all, four dogs, arrived. The dogs were immediately purchased. In the morning, Talakoteah, his wife, boy, and girl, with Kessuh and Klayu's little girl, left us. Talako- teah took letters which he promised to give to any whaling captain whom he might see at Cape York. It was a novel sensation to see him leave us carry- ing a mail. This native was about to return to his home, over two hun- dred miles south of us. It was the first time that an explorer had confided toanyof the Arctic High- landers mail matter in- tended for civilised lands. I believed that the Eski- mo, some time durincr the season, would have an opportunity to give the letters to the captain of one of the whalers which every year reach the neighbourhood of Cape York and then cross over to their whaling grounds in Lancaster Sound. If we were not able to communicate otherwise with civilisa- tion that year, I thought there was a strong proba- bility that this mail, in the course of the year, would reach America and inform our friends how things had MY ESKIMO MAIL CARRIER. Preparing for the Ice-Cap Campaign 241 gone with us during the long winter niglit and up to the time that we were about to begin our sledging work. I gave my mail carrier a hatchet by way of postage, and he faithfully carried out the trust. He gave the package of letters to Captain Phillips of one of the Dundee whalers and in due time they reached London. When forwarded to the United States, the package bore the date, " London, December 7th, 1 892." 1 he letters reached their destination about three SOME OF MY DOGS. months after my return home. One of them, addressed to " The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences," was as follows : " Red Cliff House, Whale Sound, April 15, 1892. " I send this letter by an Eskimo returning to his home at Cape York, with the expectation that he will hand it to the cap- 242 Northward over the "Great Ice" tain of one of the whalers. Although I expect to be liome be- fore this can reach you, I send it in view of possible contin- gencies. " I am very glad to say that the programme of the e.\[)edition has, with one exception, been carried out to the letter up to date. The one exception is the failure, after two attempts, to establish an advance depot at Humboldt Glacier last fall. " My party has passed through the ordeal of the dark night without injury and is now in good condition. I have a com- plete equipment for the Inland-Ice trip, obtained ])artly by trade with the natives, but mostly through our own exertions. My party has obtained forty-one reindeer, eleven walrus, four seals, one oos^sook, and some three hundred guillemots and little auks to date. " The friendliest relations liave been established and main- tained with the natives, and valuable ethnological material ob- tained. " .\ continuous series of tidal and meteorological observations have been taken. " I shall start for the south side of the Sound Monday, after additional dogs, and, if successful in obtaining them and the snow is not too deep, shall make the round of Inglefield Gulf, return- ing in time to start on the Inland Ice May ist. " .\ large portion of my supplies liave alreadv been carried up to the ice-cap at the head of the Bay. "The winter has been a mild one and marked by great snow- fall. " In the middle of February a furious, two days' rain-storm de- nuded portions of the country of snow and threatened Red Cliff House with inundation.' "(.Sycz/'V), R. E. Peary, U. S. Xavy." ' By a singular coincidence, this letter and a personal one to Gen. I. J. W'istar, the President of the Academy, thanking him for his powerful assistance in obtain- ing leave for me to undertake a second expedition, were both read at the same meeting of the .Xcademy. In the interim between the letter leaving me, tucked in the corner of Talakoteah's sealskin bag, and its arrival at its destination, I had made my trail across Greenland's mighty ice-boss, to within eight de- grees of the Pole, had returned to Red Cliff, had steamed from tliere south- ward some three thousand miles, had had a two months' rest, had seen that the time and the occasion were ripe for another blow at the \\'hite North, had, through the influence of Gen. Wistar and powerful friends, olitained the neces- sary leave, and was already busy with preparations for the next trip. Preparing- for the Ice-Cap Campaign 243 Easter Sunday, April 17th, was an exquisite day, but a busy one, for we had many preparations to make for our start next morninu' on the sledsfe iour- ney around Inglefield Gulf, which Mrs. Peary and I were going to make. 1 gave Kyo a gun and sent him out after seal, and he soon returned, having shot the first seal of the season. I now had fourteen serviceable dogs, not count- ing old Frank, and this meant much for the Inland- Ice trip. Everything looked bright for the long journey into the unknown, towards which all these months of work and waiting had constantly tended ; and I was happ)' in the thought that at last we were on the very threshold of the undertaking that had brought us to the "White North." 'VvjXn^^J'-''' x.o. CHAPTER IX. AROUND INGLEFIELD GULF BY SLEDGE. The Start — Open Water — A Snow Village — Old Friends and New — A Rich Harvest of Seal — Sleepless Night in a Native Igloo — Merk- TOSHAR, THE OnE-EYFD BeAR-HUNTER OF NeTIULUME — PURCHASES OF Dogs and Furs — Ittibloo and its Glacier — My Wolf Team— Inaccu- racy OF the Charts — Remarkable Panorama of Mountain and Glacier at the Head of the Gulf — An Involuntary Bath — Home again. 0) O O Q Q Z < J ui > < f- til O Q U 01 O S CHAPTER IX. ARUUNU INGLEFIELD GULF BV SLEDGE. A FTER three weeks' postponement of my proposed trip around Whale Sound and Inglefield Gulf, due first to thick weather in the latter part of March, then to my own inopportune attack of the grip, the ef- fects of which clung to me after the original attack was over, and succumbed finally only after two vigorous tramps to Herbert Island and back to Red Cliff, I at last got under way at noon on Monday after Easter, April i8th. The purpose of the trip was threefold ; to complete the necessary complement of dogs for the ice-cap march ; to purchase furs and materials for our equipment; and as far as practicable map the shores of the great inlet. The day was clear and bright, with a mild south-west- erly wind, the temperature about i i° above zero. The party consisted of Mrs. Peary, Gibson, Kyo (Father Tom), my driver, and myself. I had two sledges and ten dogs. The supplies for a week's journey about the Gulf and sleeping-gear and miscellaneous equip- 247 248 Northward over the " Great Ice ment were packed upon the larger of the two dog sledges which I had myself built at Red Cliff during the winter. To this sledge were attached seven dogs, with Kyo as driv- er, Mrs. Peary and myself tramping beside or in the rear of the sledge, as fancy or the condition of the snow dictated. Gibson had the second sledge, which was like the largre one, thougrh lighter and small- er, and three dogs for his team, as he had practically no load. He was not to make the en- tire round of the Gulf with us, but simply to accom- pany us as far as Keate, where I expected to pur- chase a load of walrus meat for my dogs, and have him take it back to Red Cliff. Panikpa, with his wife Irkolinea and their dwarf child, with a sledge and four dogs, started with us, intending to accompany us part way. As we passed down over the ice-foot and out upon the surface of the Bay, the northern shores of Herbert ^^^^^^^^^^^^MH ^ t %f^mS Hi, % hr'..' '"^■"■^1^ r ^ 'i •*.- ' "-^V ...'^Xj^B^ V ■ . ■:■'■::,.. :-<'Jii' '.^sIkI^-^:: k PANIKPA AND HIS FAMILY. Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 249 and Northumberland Islands stood out sharp and clear against the blue of the south-western sky. Looking south-west to Cape Robertson and the distant cliffs of Peterahwik beyond, I was reminded very strongly of the view northward along the w^est- ern shore of Disco Island as the Kite began to swing into a northerly course after leaving Godhavn. Pass- ing rapidly along the now well-beaten h!ghwa\' to AT THE SNOW VILLAGE. Cape Cleveland, I was again very forcibly impressed with the great similarity between the northern shore of Herbert Island and the south-eastern shore of McCormick Bay, and the sharply marked difference of character between Herbert and Northumberland Islands. Northumberland is evidently a part of the same dark granite formation that walls Robertson Bay in towering grandeur, while Herbert Island is a part of the same crumbling, disintegrated sandstone and drift formation which reaches from Cape Cleve- land to Bowdoin Bay in Murchison Sound. [I. J D O Q u U J O z Q Z 3 O a < a. u. H U O Q &) >i Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 251 At Cape Cleveland we separated, Paiiikpa with his equipage keeping along the beaten path which wound away through the bergs to the deserted igloos of Kiaktoksuami, under the vertical walls of the east- ern end of Herbert Island, while I, with the rest of the party, branched out on a new road, an air-line for the channel between Herbert and Northumber- land Islands. A short distance away from Cape Cleveland we encountered disagreeable groinor in the shape of a broad zone of snow with underlying water, caused, undoubtedly, by the overflow from the tidal crack stretching from Cape Cleveland in the direction of Cape Robertson. After the first few steps in the freezing slush, Mrs. Peary, Gibson, and myself slipped on our snow-shoes, and as the sledges easily kept upon the surface of the snow, this threw the brunt of the disagreeable situation upon Kyo and the poor dogs, who struggled and floundered through the arctic morass, until at last we reached dry snow beyond it. After this the travelling could be called quite fair, the white e.xpanse of the frozen Sound stretching smoothly eastward into the recesses of Inglefield Gulf. Arriving at the western end of Herbert Island, seven hours from Cape Cleveland, I found a decidedly search- ing wind drawing through the narrow pass. Stopping here for a few bearings, I had a good opportunity to observe the inaccuracies of all the charts in regard to this region. The charts place Hakluyt Island to the south of the western point of Northumberland Island, when, in reality, the island is open past the northern shore of Northumljerland to an observer on the western end of Herbert. At this point we came upon sledge tracks, and fol- lowing them they led us across the channel towards the eastern end of Northumberland Island. As we neared the shore of Northumberland, the sledge tracks 25^ Northward over the "Great Ice" became more numerous, and then we came, much to my surprise, upon an opening in the ice, perhaps two hundred yards wide, across which the blaclc water was boihng swiftly, though not so swiftly as to prevent the playful gambols of several seals, that kept bobbing their heads up and treading water to have a good look at us. The reason for all the sledge tracks was now evi- INHABITANTS OF THE SNOW VILLAGE. dent. Kyo was at once all excitement, and begged for my rifle to shoot a seal. He crept to the edge of the hole and then lay flat upon the ice, but with the peculiar Eskimo disinclination to waste a priceless bullet unless absolutely sure of the game, he waited and waited, throwing away chances that any other than an Eskimo hunter would take, until at last my patience was exhausted, and calling him back we re- sumed our journey. The presence of this pool of water would seem to lend colour to the statement ap- Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 253 pearing upon some charts, that there is open water in this channel throughout the year. After leaving the open water, we found the surface very firm, the wind, which is always whistling through this narrow channel, having packed the snow or swept it away. So we were all able to ride upon the sledge. We had been going on merrily in this way for some time when, as we neared the sharp point of rocks at NETIULUME. the south-eastern extremity of Northumberland Isl- and, my team suddenly, without a movement of the whip, broke into a wild gallop and chorus of yells, and before Mrs. Peary and myself could recover from our astonishment, they had whirled us round the rocks, and dashed us up to the ice-foot in front of an Eskimo snow village. By the time we could step off the sledge we were 254 Northward over the "Great Ice" surrounded by the inhabitants, among whom we found several of our winter visitors from Cape York, also Ikwa and his family, and several natives whom we had not before seen. They had been attracted here by the open water and the seals, and the numbers of frozen seals lying about the houses and on the ice- foot showed that they were reaping a plentiful harvest. It was ten o'clock when we reached this village, and though still daylight, a fierce wind was sweeping down Whale Sound, whistling about the cliffs and gathering its forces for the approaching midnight. Tahtahrah (the kittiwake gull), rather a pleasant- faced young fellow, who had been at Red Cliff dur- ing the winter, and who was now living here with his wife, father and mother, brother and brother's wife, placed his snow igloo, the largest one in the village, at the disposal of the kapitansoak and his koonak (wife), and the increasing violence of the wind made us glad to accept the proffered hospitality. Our rest in this igloo, however, was neither sound nor refreshing. Mrs. Peary experienced constant and flagrant offence to every known and unknown sense, while I was still uncertain and a little distrustful of the natives in connection with my dogs, remembering my experience of the previous fall, when after pur- chasing dogs I loaned them to their original owner for a day and never saw them again. Consequently I was keenly alive to every sound from my team teth- ered out on the ice-foot, and frequently found excuses to cTo outside and see that the dogs were all x'wAw. When the sun rose above the cliffs from his short midnight dip. Whale Sound, between us and Netiu- lume, on the mainland across the Sound, was a whirl- ing mass of golden spray. The flying snow of the in- terior ice-cap swept down over the great glaciers at the head of Ingleheld Gulf, then through Whale Sound, Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 255 and passed us, to be deposited at last out in the open North Water. Even the Eskimos shook their heads dubiously about going out in this blinding drift, and as we were not obliged to hurry, I waited at this village until ten a.m., when the wind subsided, and we started westward along the south shore of Northumberland Island, for the permanent settlement of Keate, about five miles distant. We were accompanied on this march by every man, woman, and child in the snow KEATE PEOPLE. village that was able to walk, and as we moved along with the men beside or close behind our sledge, the women behind them, and the old men and children straeeline alone in the rear, I could think of nothing but a circus being escorted out of a country town by its admirers. At Keate we found Ahngodoblaho, or "the dog man," as we called him, because we had first known him as the proud possessor of three magnificent Eskimo 256 Northward over the "Great Ice" dogs, trained to fight the polar bear, quick and power- ful as wolves, yet apparently willing to be friendly. Here also we found Mahotia, or the "Comedian," as he had been nicknamed. These two men, with their families, were domiciled in stone and turf igloos, banked in now with snow, and still further protected by long, narrow, snow entrances, the houses built upon a little gently sloping plateau, a hundred feet or so above high-water line and beside a fair-sized glacier. THE POPULATION OF NETIULUME. Presents of smoked-glass goggles to the men, needles to the women, and biscuits all round to the numerous children, put our relations with the natives upon the most amicable basis, and in a very short time I had purchased the three fine bear-dogs from Ahngodoblaho, and a generous load of walrus meat for my dogs from the "Comedian." Within an hour after we had touched the ice-foot at Keate, Kyo's whip was cracking merrily as we dashed rapidly southward across the frozen surface of Whale Sound on a bee- Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 257 line for Netiulume, faithful Ikwa, with a scrub team of young dogs, following us ; while Gibson, with his load of meat, and the rest of the natives, went back to the snow village on his way to Red Cliff. Four hours and a half later we dashed at the ice-foot in Barden Bay, above which are the houses of Netiulume. Our coming had been seen by the sharp eyes of the natives long before we arrived, and everyone was out ready to greet us. We found here some forty-odd natives, comprising, in addition to the regular inhabit- ants of the place, some who had come up from Cape York, and were on their way to Red Cliff House, and some who had been at Red Cliff and were now rest- ing here on their way south. Among these were Talakoteah, my mail carrier, Kes- suh, the Cape- York dude, the widow and her swain, and Ahhe- yu with his little wife. Here, too, we found quaint old Arrotoksoah, or " H orace Gree- ley," and his wife, " Sairey Gamp." Most interest- ing to me of all these natives was Merktoshar, the one-eyed bear hunter, of whose merktoshar. exploits every native visiting Red Cliff had had something to say. And yet, though Merktoshar had an old rifle, for 258 Northward over the " Great Ice " which, of course, he must want ammunition, and though he Uved but a day's sledge ride from Red Chff House, he had never been to our home, and had never sent any message in regard to trading for ammunition. I was curious to see the man and find out whether he considered the white man an interloper, or whether he himself was too inde- pendent to call upon him. I found him extremely inoffensive in appearance, with his long black hair straggling in disorder over his one eye. I was soon on the best of terms with him, and had no trouble in negotiating for the two best dogs in his famous bear- pack. Merktoshar was actually stupid in appearance, and moved as if half asleep, and I made up my mind that his prowess had been very much overrated b\- his comrades in the tribe, and laid the fact of his not hav- ing come to Red Cliff House to inherent laziness. Later I knew him better, and found that that one eye of his, behind its veil of black hair, saw as much as any other two eyes in the tribe ; and when I saw that same eye snap and glitter, and every nerve and fibre in his frame flash into quivering yet restrained excite- ment, at the sound of a singing harpoon line, with a huge walrus struggling to get free, I easily imagined him in a hand-to-hand struggle with his favourite game, the polar bear, the " tiger of the North." Two hours and a half at Netiulume, only long enough for supper, and then we swung out upon the ice of the Sound again, and started on a trot east- ward for Ittibloo, with Merktoshar's two dogs snarl- ing and snapping like untamed wolves at one side of the team, and white Lion taking every opportunity to attack them and assert his supremacy as king of the team. We passed a striking trap monument just east of Netiulume, and then glacier after glacier, until, at two Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 259 o'clock in the morning, we reached Ittibloo, situated upon a point jutting out from the south shore at the mouth of the Olriks Bay. Ittibloo is confounded on some charts, as, for instance, the Arctic chart of the United States Hydrographic Office, with Netiulume, or Netlik, as it is called on some maps, the Eskimo vil- lage in Barden Bay. At one time, Ittibloo was quite a settlement, there being six stone igloos on the PANIKPA'S IGLOO. Type of Permanent Winter Habitation. point, and a very considerable burial-place. At the time of our visit, however, but one of these igloos was inhabited, and this afforded shelter to its owner, Panikpa, and his wife, Irkolinea, with their one child, and Panikpa's father, Komonahpik, with his third wife, Nooyahleah, and a young son of Tahwa- na, the Eskimo living at the head of the Gulf. The last three w^ere visitors. Having been sixteen hours on the march, and having had no rest to speak of 26o Northward over the "Great Ice" the previous night, we were, as can easily be im- agined, good and ready for sleep. But even under these circumstances the proffered hospitality of Pa- nikpa's igloo had no charms for us, and with the assistance of Kyo and old Komonahpik, I half built, half excavated, a small igloo in the deep snow just abovethe ice-foot, and we placed our sleeping-bags in it and turned in. After a good rest in this igloo we turned out, and after break- fast climbed to higher ground, which enabled me to get a good view into Olriks Bay. Here I set up my transit, and took a round of bear- inors and angrles. This work com- jfleted, I made a brief reconnais- sance of the neighbourhood and of the Itti- bloo Glacier, which comes down through a narrow, vertically walled gorge in the mountains, just west of the village, then expands into a broad, fan-shaped extremity con- fined by a continuous terminal moraine. KIRSIRVIARSU. Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 261 My reconnaissance was not an extended one, owing to the extremely difficult character of the travelling. The furious fohn of the middle of February, with its burden of sleet and rain, as it descended over the southern cliffs of Whale Sound, had fallen with un- restrained fury upon the Ittibloo shore, had scoured every bit of snow from the land, and had left the rocks covered with a thick coating of ice, which seemed almost as if it had been fused to them, so firmly was ^ 'W^ -i- •;v V* , ■'-•&• V' ^5- . ^ , . •*«' * < S" v^: V ''i&... i»JG.i.^', MY SLEEPING TEAM. it attached. This fact and the extremely rough nature of the region made travelling a constant menace to feet and limbs. At eight o'clock in the evening we were again under way, having added to my team four additional dogs which I obtained from Panikpa. One of these, I soon found, was in the advanced stages of the dog disease, and it was detached from the sledge and left behind before we had gone a hundred yards. This left me a team of twelve, and it was worth a long 262 Northward over the "Great Ice" journey to see those twelve magnificent beauties, with heads and tails in the air, dash out upon the wind- hardened surface of the Sound in their long, wolfish gallop, a veritable pack of w^olves in full cry after a deer. Rapidly we dashed away across the mouth of Olriks Bay for the bold bluffs opposite, and I cast frequent and longing glances up the unknown recesses of that arctic fjord. Never had old Norse saga greater at- tractions for me as a boy than have these magnificent Greenland fjords, winding between black clifts, re- ceiving from every side the white tribute of the gla- ciers, and ending at last against the sapphire wall of some mighty torrent from the interior ice-cap, a torrent which no eyes but those of the reindeer and the arctic falcon have ever seen. Never have I passed the mouth of one of these fjords but that, without volition on my part, the determination has been re- corded to penetrate its farthest recesses. But time was lacking now, and I was obliged to keep on. After crossing the mouth of Olriks Bay, we kept along near the shore, finding very good travelling, until about three o'clock in the morning, when just as we rounded the face of the only glacier on the south side of Inglefield Gulf, between Olriks and Acad- eni)' Bays, we came upon a temporary snow igloo, which we found to be occupied by Tahwana, with his ipjtn- gah (companion) Kudlah and their families. These Eskimos had left their common igloo at the head of the Gulf, and were on their way to Red Cliff, and it being now the season of the year when the seals bring forth their young in their snow houses near the ice- bergs, they were travelling leisurely, and living upon the fat of the land in the shape of both young and old seals, which they surprised in their retreats. Stopping here just long enough to acquaint the two Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 263 men with the fact that I wished to purchase from them such material for clothing as they might have, we kept on our course to the head of the Gulf, the two men accompanying us, running alternately behind and alongside of tlie sledge. All the way up to this point from Ittibloo, I had laeen able to look directly into a very considerable bay on the north side of the Gulf, a bay extending about due north to the ice-cap, where it ended at two or three great glaciers, separated LION ISLANDS. Looking from Nunatoksoah. by black nunataks. This was evidently the bay wliich Astriip, in his ice-cap reconnaissance during August, had reported as cutting across his path, and which he and Gibson had reported as having seen, during their September and October ice-cap journeys, extending from near the head of Tooktoo Valley southward to Whale Sound. Now, as we proceeded up the Sound from Tahwana's temporary igloo, the panorama of Inglefield Gulf began to open out before me, and I recognised as a certainty what I had for some time surmised, that such maps as we have of 264 Northward over the "Great Ice" Inglefield Gulf and the upper portion of Whale Sound have been drawn entirely from the reports of the natives, and that no explorer's eye has seen this region beyond the range of vision from the eastern end of Herbert Island. About six o'clock in the morning, we reached Academy Bay, and starting across it for the point on the opposite side where we were told Tahwana's igloo was situated, we reached, a short distance out in the Bay, a little gneissose island. As we had been travelling now nearly twelve hours, I decided to make our next bivouac here, which we pro- ceeded to do by spreading our sleeping- bags upon a sheltered ledge at the foot of a vertical rock face exposed to the sun. Awak- ing several hours later rested and refreshed, we ate our breakfast and then climbed to the summit of the island, where I set up mj' tran- sit, and took a complete round of angles and a continu- ous series of photographic views. From this little ROCK STRATIFICATION. North Side of Little Matterhorn. Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 265 island, which I named Ptarmigan, from the numerous tracks upon it, our course lay straight across the mouth of the Bay to Tahwana's igloo. Arriving here, I made no stop except to unload my sledge, and then, with Kud- lah for driver, kept straight up the Gulf eastward for the great glacier, whose gleaming face we could distinctly see from the igloo. It was just after midnight when we left Tahwana's, and we found the snow much deeper and softer beyond here, and the travelling was conse- FACE OF HEILPRIN GLACIER. quently more laborious. Two or three miles before reaching the glacier itself, we passed a small island of rock, which, seen from the west, is such a perfect coun- terpart, on a small scale, of the Matterhorn, that I named it at once the Little IMatterhorn. My objective point was one of the rocky islands, half buried in the face of the glacier, and probably destined soon to be- come a nunatak. Reaching the shore of this island and telling Kudlah to look out for the dogs and sledge, Mrs. 266 Northward over the "Great Ice" Peary and I put on our snow-shoes and climbed to the summit, over the rough roclcs and across the deep drifts of snow. From this point we commanded the entire width of the great glacier, from the main shore of the Gulf to the south, and comparatively near us, north- ward to the distant Smithson Mountains. An archipelago of small islands here is evidently a serious obstacle to the great glacier, and has resulted in deflecting the ice-stream north-westward, so that practically its entire outflow is north of the islands and between them and the Smithson Mountains. It is a mighty ice-stream, e.xceeding in size the glaciers of Jacobshavn, Tossukatek, or Great Kariak, and I christened it the Heilprin Glacier. I was an.xious to get northward into the north-east- ern angle of the Gulf, and on descending to the sledge told Kudlah to drive in that direction. He said it would be very difficult and slow travelling, as the snow was always deep over there, and the sharp blocks of ice were troublesome. However, as I in- sisted on going, he cracked his whip and started the team in the desired direction. It was not long, how- ever, before I found that Kudlah was right. As we got away from the south shore of the Gulf, I found the snow increasing in depth and lightness, and the sharp fragments of ice from the glacier, which had been cautjht in the new ice when it formed, and which we now found thickly scattered along our course, their sharp edges completely hidden beneath the soft snow, threatened almost constantly the destruction of my sledge runners. Under these circumstances I was constrained to halt at the most northerly island of the group, and while Mrs. Peary curled herself on the sledge in the sun for a nap, Kudlah and myself climbed to the summit of the island for another round of bearings. Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 267 On this island we found deer tracks so fresh that I have no doubt one or two of the animals were on the island at the time of our visit ; but I had no time to chase them, and, descending to the sledge, we started back for Tahwana's ieloo, and reached it atrain after an absence of ten hours. Again we resisted the seductive luxury of a native igloo, and spread our bags upon the bay ice on the TAHWANA AND HIS FAMILY. sunny side of the ice-foot ; but, as it was our first, I think it will be our last selection of such a place for a camp. After sleeping I know not how long, I was awakened by unpleasant sensations, and found my sleeping-bag full of water, and the site of our camp transformed into a pool of semi-liquid slush, caused by the overflow of the rising tide through a crack in the ice-foot near us. Jumping out of my bag with 268 Northward over the "Great Ice" the utmost celerity, I found that Mrs. Peary's head and the mouth of her bag were just on the shore of the httle pond, and the water had evidently as yet neither reached the mouth of her bag nor soaked through the bag itself, for she was still calmly sleep- ing. Knowing that any movement on her part would be likely to let the water into her bag, I seized her, bag and all, and stood her on end, in the same irrever- FACE OF HURLBUT GLACIER. ent manner that a miller ends up a bag of meal ; then, before she was fairly awake, she was carried out of the water, and deposited upon the dry snow. This experience was a very emphatic illustration of the serious discomfort and inconvenience to Arctic travellers resulting from getting their equipment wet. My sleeping-bag and some few articles of clothing that did not escape the inundation were not thoroughly Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge. 269 dried until after we reached Red Cliff, three days later. W^hile Mrs. Peary, now thoroughly awakened, beat and scraped as much of the frozen slush from our furs as she could, and then spread them out to get all possible benefit from the sun's rays, I looked over the sealskins and other articles that Tahwana was willing to let me have, and soon effected a trade, as the result of which he became the happy possessor of a long-coveted saw, a hunting knife, a hatchet, and several minor articles. After completing the trade and loading my pur- chases upon the sledge, with a number of young seals, we started on our return down the Gulf. Crossing the mouth of Academy Bay from Tahwa- na's igloo, we stopped again at Ptarmigan Island and I climbed once more to the summit to fix pre- cisely the bearing of one or two points across the head of the Gulf. Returning to the sledge, I was fortunate in securing two of the beautiful white birds after which I had named the island. Perfectly white, and strutting about the little rock with slow steps and erect heads, they acted as if they were indeed the Lords of the Isle. From Ptarmigan Island down the Gulf our progress was rather slower than during our upward journey, as ni)' sledge was piled high with seals and sealskins obtained from Tahwana. We did not stop until we reached the temporary snow iofloo at which we had first found Tahwana. Here the dogs were unfastened from the sledge and we made preparations for our bivouac. The weather still being perfect, as it had been throughout our entire journey, I simply excavated a rectangular pit in a convenient snow-drift with a wall of snow-blockL ranged across the windward end and part way down two sides as a wind guard. Here, after our evening cup of tea was made, we turned in in our sleeping-bags 270 Northward over the "Great Ice" and had the most enjoyable and in fact the only un- interrupted sleep during our entire journey. Rising rested and refreshed as the sun rolled round into the west, I started with Mrs. Peary and the twelve-year-old Eskimo boy Sipsu for an examina- tion of the glacier near us. Scaling the seaward end of its eastern lateral moraine, we reached the sharp ridge of the moraine and then climbed up its rapidly GORGE OF HURLBUT GLACIER. ascending- aradient towards the narrow gforcre in the cliffs through which the glacier forced its way from the interior ice-cap. This glacier, which I christened Hurlbut Glacier, though not of the first magnitude, was particularly in- teresting from the almost liquid manner in which the ice seemed to hurl itself through the gateway of the gorge. Several photographs of the glacier did not Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge 271 prove as effective as the actual view, owing to the deep covering of snow, which hid the Hnes of demark- ation between the ice and the rocks. While we were making this reconnaissance of the glacier, one of the peculiar frost showers of the arctic spring came sweeping up the gulf from Herbert Isl- and, in the shape of a blinding white wall, which hid everything that it passed over. As it reached us, the sun was surrounded by a prismatic halo, and the minutest needle-like crystals of frost fell lazily through the air. This shower passed almost as rapidly as it had come up, only to be followed by others which swept up the Gulf, obliterating, as they passed, the northern shore, even as summer showers alternately hide and reveal the opposite shore of a broad river. In the midst of these showers we got under way and continued down the Gulf, saying good-bye to Tah- wana and his family, who, however, were already breaking camp and packing their sledge to follow us. Without dogs, however, and encumbered by women and children, their progress would be slow as com- pared with that of the kapitaiisoak with his team of twelve magnificent doirs. I should be at Red Cliff in two marches, while they expected to be five or six days on the way. Keeping eastward close by the shore for several miles from the snow igloo, we then left the now southerly trending shore and struck out as the crow flies down the centre of the Gulf for the eastern end of Herbert Island, rising far westward above the white expanse, like the bastion of some great red fortress. It was a long and tedious pull for my dogs, as the snow in many places was quite deep and had not been sufficiently wind-beaten to support them. Still they kept bravely to their work, though nothing is more disagreeable to the Eskimo dog than a slow. 272 Northward over the "Great Ice" steady drag. In the forenoon of the next day, we reached the ice-foot, in front of the deserted igloos, on the easternmost point of Herbert Island. Un- fastening the dogs and giving them their dinner, we then prepared and ate our own ; and then Kyo crept into one of the igloos and curled himself up for sleep, while Mrs. Peary and myself spread a few seal- BACK TO RED CLIFF. skins upon the snow, crept into our sleeping-bags, and went to sleep in the sun. Here, after some four hours' sleep, we were joined by Tahtahrah and Koolooting- wah, two young Eskimos, who had come out from Red Cliff on one of my sledges, with one of my Winches- ters and their own dogs, after seals. They had already obtained two, and loading these upon their sledge they started off over the now well-travelled road Around Inglefield Gulf by Sledge - / o to Cape Cleveland. We soon followed them, and a little before midnight on Sunday, April 24th, we came dashing over the ice-foot in front of Red Cliff, after a sledge journey of some two hundred and fifty miles, and an absence of a week from our Greenland home. CHAPTER X. EQUIPMENT, ROUTINE, AND BEGINNING OF THE WHITE MARCH. At Sea as to Conditions to be Encountered — Equipment — Dogs — Clothing — Provisions — Instruments— Routine of March — The Start — Stormy Weather — Incorrigible Dogs — Sleepless Work — My Leg Troubles me — Reach Edge of True Inland Ice at Last — Over the First Divide — Into the Humboldt-Glacier Basin — A Storm — Camp Separation — Gibson and Dr. Cook Start Back. CHAPTER X. EQUIPMENT, ROUTINE, AND BEGINNING OF THE WHITE MARCH. M Y equipment for the march across the Great Ice was the resuk of continuous study and experiment on every detail throughout the winter. The art of travelhng upon the Inland Ice was in its infancy compared with travel over the sea ice along an arctic shore- line, and the journey I proposed to take was one which, in distance traversed without caches or depots of sup- plies, was unprecedented. Lio-htness and strength were the two prime factors which ruled with iron hand in the workmg out of every detail, because for every ounce of weight which could be saved in equipment, an ounce of food could be substituted, and on an arctic sledge journey pounds of food and miles of travel are practically synony- mous. As regarded conditions to be encountered, I was more orless in the dark : it could not be taken for 278 Northward over the "Great Ice" granted that these would be the same from 78° N. Lat. northward, as they had been found from 69° N. Lat. southward. As to the probable altitude to be reached, there was nothing to guide me. It might not be over 6000 feet ; it might be 15,000. I could only de- vise my equipment in such a way that it would meet, as far as possible, every contingency and every extreme. THE START FROM RED CLIFF. Both Norwegian ski and Indian snow-shoes were included in my equipment, as each has its advantages, and under the varied conditions of the ice-cap both are needed. I did not take a tent. As to dogs, I started from Red Clif? with twenty, but one was already in the grasp of the fatal piblockto and died at the edge of the ice-cap. Two others died at the first camp on the ice-cap, and two days later a fourth escaped and returned to the house. Two others returned with the supporting party, leav- The White March 2/9 ing me with fourteen, one of which was used up and died at the next camp, so that I reahy left the sup- porting party with thirteen, and only eight of these reached Independence Bay. On the return, three more gave out, so that I reached McCormick Bay with five left out of the original twenty. Of this original twenty, twelve were first-class ani- Henson. Cook. Astriip. Gibson. THE CAMP ON THE BLUFFS. mals, hardy and powerful, trained sledge-dogs and bear hunters, the others bitches and inferior dogs. Our clothing may be said to have been entirely of fur, a light suit of woollen underclothing, a flannel shirt, a jersey, and light woollen socks being the only articles of civilised make. The provisions for an arctic sledge journey must possess the important desideratum of a minimum weieht and bulk for a eiven nutritive value. 28o Northward over the "Great Ice" Pemmican ' is the mainstay of a sledge ration. Next in order of importance come tea, condensed milk, biscuit, compressed pea soup. Other articles of which small quantities were carried, simply on trial, were experimental pemmican put up by Parke, Davis, & Co., of Detroit, with beef meal as a basis, choco- late tablets, composed of equal parts of beef meal, chocolate, and sugar, also prepared by Parke, Davis, & Co., and Mosquera's food. My dog food consisted of pemmican, eked out by those of their number that we killed, and a bountiful feast of musk-ox meat at Independence Bay. My instrumental outfit comprised a small traveller's theodolite by Fauth & Co., of Washington, a pocket sextant an artificial horizon, three pocket chrono- meters by the E. Howard Watch Co., of Boston, aneroids, compasses, odometers,'- thermometers. My photographic outfit consisted of two No. 4 kodaks made expressly for me by the Eastman Co., and two rolls of films, one hundred negatives each. My medical stores were very modest yet sufficient. The only demands upon them were for an occasional opium pellet for our eyes. For firearms I carried a Winchester, 'j2) model, 44- calibre, carbine with full magazine, and one box of cartridges. The routine on the march for at least nine-tenths of the time was as follows : As soon as the sledge was lashed in the morning, the dogs attached to it, our ' Pemmican is a concentrated meat food, composed of le.in beef dried until friable, then ground fine and mixed with beef suet, a little sugar, and a few currants. '' Previous to this expedition, the odometer had never been used in arctic work. The idea of its use in ice-cap work occurred to nie during my reconnaissance in 1886, and during the winter at Red Cliff two or three light, strong wheels had been constructed by Astriip and myself, after my designs. For the ice-cap journey one of these wheels was fitted in a light frame and attached to the rear of the sledge. It worked well and proved invaluable. The White March 281 snow-shoes and ski strapped on, and everything in readiness for a start, I stepped out to the front with the Httle sillcen guidon my wife made for me in my hand, and took the proper course, while Astriip tramped along beside the sledge, keeping each dog up to his work. In the event of an accident, or trouble with the dogrs, we both worked to straighten things out. reary. Cook. Astriip. Gibson. PACKING. We had to get into harness ourselves and help the dogs haul almost invariably after a fresh fall of snow, and also during the climb up the slope of the ice- cap, both from McCormick Bay and Independence Bay. At these times, a long walrus-hide line was run out from the front of the sledge over the dogs, so that I could attach it to my shoulders and pull while still keeping in advance of the team. Astriip, with a short line attached to the side of the sledge, was able 282 Northward over the " Great Ice " to pull and at the same time attend to the dogs. We came to the rescue in this way during about ten days of the entire trip. When camp was pitched, the sledge end of the traces was unfastened from the sledge and then tied to a steel-pointed alpenstock, driven deeply into the snow just beyond reach of the camp and sledges. The care of the dogs — that is, detaching them from the sledges at night, making them fast to their stakes, ** ■■■ UP THE RAVINE. feeding them once a day at the conclusion of the march, and attaching them to the sledges in the morning — was my personal charge. When the march commenced, the dogs were in Astriip's charge as driver until we camped at night, except on occasions when, to relieve the wearying monotony, we alter- nated during the march, first one and then the other setting the course and driving the dogs. Astriip always built the snow shelter, or kitchen, as we called it. The The White March 283 duties of cook were taken by efcli of us on alternate days, and these duties covered the entire time at a camp. The man on duty as cook slept in the kitchen and was always prepared to turn out at an instant's notice to capture any dog that had broken loose. The one off duty slept under the sledge cover in the lee of the sledge. We made but little use of our sleeping-bags, and at the end of three weeks threw FIRST IGLOO ON THE ICE-CAP. Sun-Glacier Gorge in Background. them away. It is perhaps needless to say we did not disrobe on retiring. Our preparations for sleep were very simple. As soon as supper was disposed of, we rubbed our faces with vaseline to ease the intense burning from the sun and wind, applied a drop of opium solution to our eyes to relieve the pain from the blinding snow-glare, tied something over them to exclude the light, closed all openings in our fur clothing, and then lay down. 284 Northward over the " Great Ice " Invariably in the n|orning we found the dogs in a sorry tangle, and some time would be required to loosen the Gordian knot in which they had involved their traces. When the animals set earnestly to work to tancrle these traces into an almost inextri- cable knot, they succeeded ; and the work of undoing the mischief with hands bared, the wind blowing a gale, and the temperature at its lowest was a very thorough test of patience and good-humour. One of the most conclusive proofs in my mind that the ancients never had any actual knowledge of the Arctic regions lies in the fact that they called their worst knot the Gordian knot. Any well-regulated Eskimo-doo- team can in one night discount a dozen Gordians. After the experiments of the first few weeks, while the supporting party was with me, the daily working ration of Astrup and myself settled down to from three-fourths of a pound to one pound of pemmican, with biscuit, condensed milk, compressed pea soup, tea, and alcohol (fuel) to bring the ration up to two and one-half pounds per man per day. We had three meals a day, one before leaving camp in the morning, a lunch at the midday rest, and the third after reaching camp at night. Our only beverages were compressed tea put up in one-fourth-pound cakes, and Borden's extract of coffee, which was issued for breakfast on Sunday morning during the first half of the journey. On the last day of April, in magnificent bracing weather, the cliffs at the head of McCormick Bay clear-cut as cameos through the frosty air, Ur. Cook, Gibson, Astrup, Kyoahpahdu, Tahwana, Kookoo, and two Eskimo boys, opportune arrivals of the night before, left Red Cliff with two sledges and twelve does draeeine the last of the Inland-Ice sup- The White March 285 plies. Three days later, when I had put my house in order and completed the thousand and one little things which always crowd the last moments of pre- paration for a long journey, I followed, with Matt, my remaining eight dogs, and the big eighteen-foot dog- sledge. The start was made at half-past eight in the evenine, as durine the next three months the usual order of things was to be reversed, and we were to travel by night and sleep by day. Four hours after the start, my dogs were scrambling over the ice-foot at the head of ^he Bay, and a few moments later THE CARAVAN IN LINE. my Inland-Ice sledge, which I had brought up on the big dog-sledge,"was on my back, and with Matt followmg at my heels with a couple of 25-lb. tins, I began climbing the bluff. Sharp rocks, with the spaces between them filled with snow, made travelhng laborious and slow, and it was about three in the morning when I rose over the edge of the bluff, and stumbled upon my boys asleep in the snow with their dogs picketed near. I did not intend to disturb them, but as I put down my sledge and turned to descend, the Doctor awoke with a start and very soon all were awake. I found all of the supplies had been backed 286 Northward over the "Great Ice" to the ravine half a mile above the camp, and every- thing was in readiness to start with the dogs trom that point. Returning to the ice-foot, Matt and I brought up another load, and then, leaving Matt to get a little sleep with the other boys, I went down again and turned in as I was, in my furs, in the re- mains of a snow hut near the Bay. When I awoke a few hours later, the boys were at the door of the igloo, and I found, on looking up the valley, that my old friend the Inland Ice was evidently A HALT FOR LUNCH. preparing its usual reception for me ; the leaden-grey clouds massing above it giving every indication of an approaching storm. Curiously enough, both in 1886, when I went on the Inland Ice, and twice again this year, when I climbed the ice-cap, I had been met by furious storms, but eventually everything had turned out well, and so I accepted this as a good omen. Again I climbed the bluff, this time with my big dog- sledge on my shoulders, the other boys bringing the remainder of the load. Carrying everything to the ravine, the sledges were loaded there, and we began the The White March 2S7 transportation from tlie ravine to Cache Camp at the edge of the ice, two and one-half miles from camp and 2525 feet above sea-level. Several steep slopes In the ravine and on the plateau above required all the dogs' and our own best efforts on each of the larger sledges. Two days were consumed in bringing every- thing up to the Cache Camp, where Matt and Gibson had built a snow igloo, and where we cooked our meals at a fireplace among the rocks of the nuna- tak close by. During all this time, there were signs of coming atmospheric disturbances of more than usual intensity : a precipitation of fine frost crystals, with transient snow-squalls ; e.xquisite cloud effects formed and vanished in and over McCormick Bay, while over the Inland Ice wicked-looking white cumuli grew against a dark lead-coloured sky. The night temperatures at this time were — 1° and — 2° F. At Cache Camp, our supplies and miscellaneous equip- ment were sorted and distributed to the different sledges, and here began our serious trouble with our wild wolves, called by courtesy dogs. Restless under their new masters and fighting constantly among themselves, these brutes gave us not a moment's peace. Hardly an hour passed when not at work that one or two did not manage to break their harness or eat off their traces and free themselves, and some- times four or five would be loose at once. To cap- ture and re-secure one of them was always a work of time and more or less ingenuity, and frequently re- sulted in a general muster for the Doctor's services in patching up the wounds from their wolf-like teeth. Here, too, Matt's frozen heel began to trouble him, and I deemed it best to send him back to Red Cliff House. This precluded all possibility of my taking with me more than one companion on the long journey. On the 8th, I attempted to make the next stage from 288 Northward over the "Great Ice" Cache Camp up the lower slopes of the ice, but a strong wind blowing clown from the interior and driving the loose snow in the face of my dogs, dis- couraged them so completely that we could do nothing with them, and were obliged to await the pleasure of the weather. Finally we got under way and succeeded in advancing a short stage round the north side of the first big hummock. Here a second igloo was built, but the snow being unsatisfactory for house SUPPER IN CAMP. construction, only a small one was practicable, and, leaving Astrijp and the Doctor to occupy this, Gibson and 1 went back down to the igloo at Cache Camp to sleep. Tired in every muscle and with no sleep for sixty-four hours, I think I must have fallen asleep the moment I tumbled into the igloo. Twelve hours later I awoke to hear the rush of the wind over our shelter, and the hiss of the drifting snow against its side. This continued for twenty-four hours, when I The White March 289 could stand it no longer, and Gibson and myself started for the upper igloo. Fierce as was the wind, which sometimes nearly upset us, and stinging as was the driving snow, we did not feel the cold, as our fur clothing kept us in more than a glow of warmth. Slowly we struggled up the slope, frequently stopping to turn our backs to the wind and get our breath, and at last came in sight of the upper igloo. It is impossi- ble to describe my feelings of discouragement at the sight that met me. The igloo was almost completely buried in the snow ; its occupants had not been able to expose themselves to the wind. The dogs, restless GIBSON, TEAM, AND SLEDGE. as always in wind, had fought with each other and chewed at their harnesses and traces till half of them were loose and running at will about the sledges, with their stores of provisions, while the rest were nearly buried in a huge drift which had formed about them, and as I got nearer I saw that three out of the twenty were victims of the dreaded dog disease, and were almost dead. As the wind was still blowing with such force that it was impossible to do anything, Gibson and m\'self crouched in the lee of the igloo, and while waiting for the storm to cease, learned from the Doctor that they had been unable to get out of the 290 Northward over the "Great Ice" igloo ; in fact, had all they could do to save it from destruction by the resistless sand blast of the driving snow ; that several tins of provisions, set in motion by the dogs tearing at them, had been driven down the steep slope into the glacier below ; and that the dogs had eaten or destroyed everything that they could get at. Fortunately this latter item was not large, as all of my stores were in substantial tins. As soon as the wind ceased, I had the dogs that were fast to dig out, the frozen tangle of their traces to unloosen, and then the other does to catch and re-harness. As Gibson said, you may talk about lassoing wild steers in Te.xas, but it does not compare with rounding up Eskimo dogs. The usual mode of procedure was to entice a dog by judiciously thrown morsels of meat to within reach, and then make a rapid grab for him, throwing our fur-clad bodies upon him and forcing his head into the snow as quickly as possible. This, if skilfully done, — and constant practice rapidly taught us, — could usually be accomplished without receiving more than two or three bites. With one or two of the dogs, however, it was different : these it was neces- sary to double lasso and choke into insensibility, be- fore the harness could be replaced. From this igloo we proceeded by double banking about three miles farther, before we were obliged to camp. Here we dispensed with an igloo, as it took too much time to construct, and we were so tired that we could sleep anywhere that we could lie down. So the work went on, under many discouragements, until the 15th. I had been led to believe, as the result of the reconnaissance made the previous fall, that after the first slope had been accomplished a nearly level route would be found. It seems that the de- ceptive light of the autumn twilight had misled Astriip and Gibson, and 1 found that I must drag my sledges The White March 291 and their loads up one snow slope and down another for a distance of about fifteen miles, before reaching the easy, gradual slope of the true Inland Ice. During the first ten days, my broken leg gave me some trouble, and rendered the scant hours of rest which the exigencies of the work permitted, less refreshing than they might have been. The excessive and incessant demands upon it from snow-shoeing, lifting on the sledges, running after loose dogs, etc., would have taxed it under the best of circumstances, and now with the muscles still slightly atrophied from disuse, and the ligaments DR. COOK, TEAM, AND SLEDGE. stiffened from the healing process, the result was a constant dull pain which I was only too glad to have reach at times the stage of numbness. This wore off gradually, and the ultimate result was undoubtedly advantageous, as the exercise de- manded and obtained from ligaments and joints the full range of flexure they had ever had before the accident, perhaps more. The fact that within less than ten months after the fracture of both bones in my leg, I was able to undertake and go through with a 1 200-mile tramp on snow-shoes without more serious results than a few sleepless 292 Northward over the "Great Ice" hours, is an emphatic proof of the heakhiness of the chmate, the professional skill of Dr. Cook, and the tender care of Mrs. Peary. At last, on the 15th, I found myself looking up that long, easy, white slope which I knew so well, and in regard to which there could be no mistake, and the next day our real journey upon the ice-cap may be said to have commenced. My course was north-east true, which, assuming the charts to be correct, should enable me to clear the heads of the Humboldt, Petermann, and Sherard-Os- born indentations. At this time, I had but sixteen dogs out of my ASTRUP, TEAM, AND SLEDGE. twenty, another one having succumbed to the dog disease. As a result, we all of us settled into the traces and did our share of the hauling. Two short marches of five and seven miles brought us to an eleva- tion of five thousand feet, and early in the third march the highest summits of the Whale-Sound land disap- peared, and I found to my surprise that we were descending, having already passed over the divide between Whale Sound and Kane Basin, and being on the descent towards the basin of the Humboldt Glacier. By this time, both the dogs and ourselves had gotten more used to the work, our sledges had been better The White March 293 adjusted, and this with the down grade enabled us to make better time. Our third march having been twelve miles, our fourth was twenty, and before we went into camp the misty mountain-tops of the land between Rensselaer Harbour and the south-eastern angle of Humboldt Glacier rose into view in the dis- tant north-west. The next day we tallied twenty miles over a gently undulating and gradually descending surface, but on the following day the surface became much more hummocky, and just about midnight we SNOW IGLOO AT HUMBOLDT GLACIER. Buried Sledges in Background. came out upon the ice-bluffs marking the boundary of the glacier basin opening down towards Mary Min- turn River. My north-east course just cleared these bluffs, but fearing others ahead I deflected about five miles to the eastward, and then resumed my course. The rough nature of the ice made this day's march comparatively short, and the atmospheric indic- ations being those of a coming storm, I halted early to permit the construction of an igloo to shelter us. The blue-black sky with angry lead-coloured clouds 294 Northward over the "Great Ice" massing beneath it, the ghastly whiteness of the ice- blink, and the raw, cutting south-east wind could not be misunderstood, and before our igloo was complete everything was blotted out by the driving snow. Poor Gibson, I pitied him that night, for it was his turn to do the " costume act," as we called it ; in other words, it was his turn to sleep fully dressed outside, so that he could attend instantly to a loose dog before he had done any damage. Our dogs were always bad enough in wind and storm, but this time, as the storm continued, they seemed as if possessed of devils, howling, fighting, and tearing themselves loose from ON THE MARCH. the stakes to which they were fastened, and when finally Gibson, weary with his efforts at re-capturing, fell asleep for a few moments reclining against the entrance of the igloo, one of them ate the bottom off his sleeping-bag, while another bolted about six pounds of cranberry jam, nearly half my entire stock for the long journey. Forty-eight hours of incessant wind and snow, and then the storm passed over north-west into Kane Basin, and left us in peace. As we crawled out of our igloo into the brilliant sunshine and looked over that unbroken expanse of snow, stretching to the horizon in every direction, carved and scoured by The White March 295 the wind into marble waves, there was one of the party who could hardly realise that the church bells were ringing through the scented atmosphere of June fields and forests in thousands of far-distant home towns and villages. Our sledges were invisible, com- pletely buried in the drifts which in storms on the Inland Ice grow around and over the slightest ob- struction. Several hours were occupied in the work of excavating our sledges and reloading them, of catching and harnessing the dogs, and straightening out the tangles of the traces and harnesses. But once under way, we found that the storm had in one sense been our friend, and had proved a glori- ous road-maker for us. Sledges and dogs slipped merrily over the firm sash-ugi, and with comparatively little difficulty we made another twenty-mile march. This time we slept behind our sledges, and another twenty-mile march the following day brought us to the camp at which I had determined the supporting part)' should leave me. We were now one hundred and thirty miles from the shore of McCormick Bay, and though the road back was perfectly straight and free of obstacles, yet the descent from the Inland Ice mieht be dangerous if those returningr did not make the land at just the right point, and so I did not feel that I could take the supporting party any farther. When we camped, I told the boys that this was our last camp together, that after we had slept two would return and two go on. Then after dinner, as we sat about our little kitchen before turning in, I reminded them of what I had said early in the spring, that when we reached Humboldt Glacier I should call for volun- teers for the long trip, and from these volunteers should make my selection. I told them they had now been on the ice-cap long enough to know what it was like, and to understand that it was no child's play. 296 Northward over the "Great Ice" I told them that once started there could be no turn- ing back. I also told them that to many it would seem a dangerous, perhaps foolhardy thing for two men to strike out into these unknown regions, depend- ent only upon their own resources and health for a safe return ; that for myself I did not consider it dangerous, but that each man must decide for himself. The Doctor was the first to volunteer, but Gibson and Astrijp were close behind him. I then made my detail as follows : Astriip to go with me. Gibson. Dr. Cook. ^^ GIBSON AND DR. COOK STARTING BACK. Gibson to return in command of the supporting party, and when he had reached Red Cliff House to devote his entire time to obtaining ornithological specimens and supplying the party with game. Dr. Cook, upon his arrival at Red Cliff, was to assume charge there, and remain in that capacity until my return from the In- land Ice. In a few moments, all but one of the in- mates of Camp Separation were sleeping the sleep of the tired and healthy. The next morning early, the relashine of the sledges was undertaken and soon ac- The White March 297 complished, the loads carefully re-stowed and secured, so that the work which had hitherto been done by four, and which would now devolve upon two, might be as easy as possible. Gibson and the Doctor took their personal equipments, with one of the lighter sledges, two dogs, and rations for twelve days ; then I gave Gibson an extra compass, one of my chrono- meters, a chart, and careful instructions as to making the land at McCormick Bay, and we were ready to separate. Little was said, but I think we all felt much as we quietly shook hands, and then Astrup and myself started out, leaving the Doctor and Gibson looking after us. In a little while we saw them under way, and in a few minutes more the inequalities of the " Great Ice " hid them from view. CHAPTER XI. OVER THE "GREAT ICE " TO THE NORTHERN END OF GREENLAND. A Wrecked Sledge— Out of Humboldt Basin — On the Ice-Bluffs Over- looking Petermann Fjord — Deep Snow — My Dogs — Giant Crevasses — Over the Divide into Sherard-Osborne Basin — Climbing out of a Trap — Loss of Nalegaksoah — Heavy Going — The Evil Eye— Over the Continental Divide — Land— Northern Edge of the " Great Ice" — The Fjord Barrier— South-East — Down to the Red-Brown Summits — Re- connaissance of the Land — Birds, Flowers, and Traces of Musk-Oxen. 0!. (d a. 0. 3 a> u ai o b U ca Qi D o X w X H CHAPTER XI. OVER THE " GREAT ICE TO THE NORTHERN END OF GREENLAND. AS I had already found that it was impos- '- sible to drive and euide our doo's over the unbroken ice-bHnk with- out a pilot ahead, the problem of how the sledges and dogs could be so arranged as to be managed by one man, had given me considerable food for thought. I finally decided to try the following tentative method : three of my best dogs, Nalegaksoah, Pau, and Tahwana, who had become attached to me and were always eager to keep close to me, were harnessed to the light sledge built by Astriip, carrying a load of about two hundred pounds. These dogs were to follow me, and behind them would come Astriip with the other ten dogs attached to the big dog-sledge, with the second doe-sledee in tow, the total load on both amounting to about one thousand pounds. This method worked fairly well during our first march, which was but a short one, made simply with the 301 302 Northward over the "Great Ice" object of getting the separation over with, and get- ting straightened out on the long journey. The next day I found it necessary to mal<;e a change, and trans- ferred all the dogs to the big sledge, putting the little one again in tow of the other two. We had gone but a short distance, however, when the larger dog-sledge, as the result of the severe blows it was getting when travelling over the marble- like sasfrugi, broke down, one side bending inward and breaking all standards on that side. The wreck WITH THE GUIDON. of this side was so complete that for a little while I was at a loss what to do, but finally the idea suggested itself of lashing the remains of the sledge alongside the other, making one broad, four-foot-wide sledge with three runners. This idea was quickly carried out, the sledges lashed together and reloaded, the result proving very satisfactory. The three runners seemed to make the sledge much more steady, pre- venting it from slatting, and seemed to very materially ease the blows in passing over the sasfj-itgi. The delay incident to the accident, however, shortened our To the Northern End of Greenland 303 march, and this, with the graduahy decreasing firm- ness of the snow surface, left us with only ten miles to our credit. On our next march, the snow rapidly became softer and deeper, making very heavy travel- ling, but as we met with no accident we were able to cover fifteen miles. In this march we began climb- ing again, having kept a nearly constant elevation of 3500 feet across the Humboldt-Glacier Basin. The next day the snow was even worse than before, the sledges sinking in it nearly to the cross-bars, and this, together with an up grade, made the haul- ing so heavy, that after a few hours my dogs refused absolutely to work any more, and I was obliged to o-o into camp. As the weather seemed rather threat- ening here, we made our third igloo, and while Astriip was engaged in this, I tried to study out some plan for making our load drag more easily. The result of this was the construction of an impromptu sledge from an extra pair of ski, and the transfer to it of about one hundred and twenty pounds from the big sledge. At this camp, we commenced our regular sledge ration with a daily allowance of butter and Liebig extract. At this camp also, one of my dogs down with the dog disease was killed and fed to the others, disproving conclusively the old saying " that dog will not eat dog." I had now twelve fine dogs, almost every one of whom had tasted in savage con- flict the hot red blood of their natural enemy, the polar bear, the " tiger of the North." There were Nalegaksoah the king, Pau, Lion, Castor and Pol- lux, Merktoshar ist and 2d, Miss Tahwana, the Pan- ikpas, brother and sister. The following day, the continuance of the up grade and the increasing depth of the snow compelled us to resort to double-banking, and the end of the day found us but three miles ahead of our last camp. 304 Northward over the "Great Ice" Ourselves tired and our dogs out of sorts, Astrijp and myself ate our dinner in silence, and were glad to lose ourselves in sleep. The morning found us refreshed and with a new stock of courage, but still I felt that if by hard work and no end of trouble I could gain ten miles I should be satisfied. To my agreeable surprise, the next camp found us fifteen miles farther on our way, and this too without a ASTRUP AND MY DOGS. mishap or hitch throughout the march. We were now evidently at the top of the grade, and could soon expect a slight descent on the northern side of the divide toward the basin of the Petermann Fjord. The next day proved the truth of these conclusions. The snow surface became harder and harder, the aneroid and the sledges both indicated a gradual descent, and after six hours' marching we came upon To the Northern End of Greenland 305 a firm, marble-like surface, showing evidence of most violent wind forces, and scored and carved until it looked like a great bed of white lava. Two hours later, land was sighted to the north-west, and yet two hours later I called a halt, with a record of twenty miles for the day. On the last day of May, we had advanced but five miles, when, as we rose on to the crest of a long "LIKE A GREAT BED OF WHITE LAVA." Sasfri/f;i of the " C.reat Ice." hummock, the head of Petermann Fjord with its guardino- mountains, and the great basm of the gla- cier discharging into it, flashed into sight below us. Here we were on the ice-bluffs forming the hmit of the great glacier basin, just as we had been at Humboldt but a trifle less fortunate here than at Humboldt, I found it necessary to deflect some ten miles to the east- ward to avoid the inequalities of the glacier basin, and the great crevasses which cut the ice-bluffs encircling it. o 06 Northward over the "Great Ice" Though it had been my good iortune to look down from the height of the Inland Ice into four of the great- est glaciers in the world, Jacobshavn,Tossukatek;, Great Kariak, and Humboldt, it was with strange feelings of uncertainty that I looked upon this view. I could hardly divest myself of the feeling that the ragged, shin- ing ice-field before me, the glistening ice-caps stretch- ing up into Washington Land, and the dark mountains guarding the distant shores, might vanish and leave me with only the unbroken ice-horizon of previous days. The weather being so clear and our location so favourable for observation, I made no attempt to advance farther, but camped at once and began observations for determining positions and the bear- ings of the land. In this camp, 4200 feet above the sea, we remained thirty-six hours, with a continuance of the most perfect weather, — warm, clear, and, what was most unusual, calm. For two or three hours at midday my thermometer in the sun registered yy" F., and ad- vantage was taken of this to thoroughly dry and air all our clothing, and by myself to enjoy the luxury of a snow bath. Leaving Camp Petermann, I kept away due east, parallel with a series of gigantic crevasses, most of which were covered with snow, though in places the drifts had fallen in, exposing the blue-black depths of the chasms. I tried repeatedly to get an idea, from the walls of these clefts in the ice, of the gradual change from the surface snow to neve, and thence to true homogeneous ice, but my efforts were thwarted by the incrustations of fine snow upon the sides of the crevasses. On the leeward side of one of the largest of these openings, was an enormous mound of compacted snow, not less than eighty feet in height, the formation of which puzzled me for a long time, though I finally saw a reason for believ- ing that it was caused by the deposition of snow in To the Northern End of Greenland 307 the eddy caused by the break in the crevasse. The ten miles' detour to the eastward enabled me to flank all the crevasses, and again I took up my course north- east, hoping to clear the basin of Sherard-Osborne Fjord as fortun- ately as I had weathered those of Humboldt and Petermann. From Camp Petermann the surface was com- paratively level, and we kept the highest summits of the Petermann Mountains in sight for fort\ miles, then tin- aneroid began to show a gradual rise, the snow be- came softer and deeper, and I knew that we were beginning the ascent of the divide between the Petermann and Sherard-Os- borne Basins. Still we were able to make fairly good progress, and three and a half marches brought us, June 5th, to the summit of the divide, 5700 feet above sea- level. From this divide summit, as in every pre- vious instance, we found the travelling very good. CREVASSE OF THE "GREAT ICE." joS Northward over the "Great Ice" and with the wnid behuid us were able to make nine- teen and one-lialf and twenty-one miles, respectively, in two successive marches, camping in view of She- rard-Osborne Fjord, as I at first supposed, on the Sth of June. I had not expected to sight land again so soon, and if the maps were correct, it should have taken about two marches more to have brought me within sight of this inlet, but I assumed that naturally the delineation of the inner portion of the ICE MOUND, PETERMANN BASIN. great fjord might be considerably out in latitude, and that what 1 saw before me must be Sherard Os- borne. Future developments showed me that I was wrong, and that St. George's Fjord penetrates far- ther inland than had been supposed, and that this was what I saw before me. The latter part of the march of June Sth had been through threatening weather, the sky overcast, the distant land dark and indistinct, and that peculiar light over the Inland Ice To the Northern End of Greenland 309 which makes it impossible to distinguish its relief I knew, however, not only from my aneroids, but from the way the sledges travelled, that we were descend- ing quite rapidly, and this, with the occurrence of sev- erfl patches of bare blue ice, caused me to hes.ta e, and finally call a halt on the completion of the twenty- A TYPICAL CAMP. first mile, though we could easily have accomplished four or five miles more. The experiences of the next two weeks showed the wisdom of my cautiousness, and that it would have been much better if I had had a Premonition of trouble still earlier in the day. We had hardly made camp and finished our dinner, when the gather- incr storm broke upon us, and once more we had to pift up with being imprisoned— Astriip under the 3IO Northward over the "Great Ice" sledge tarpaulin, myself in the little excavation half covered with a sail which we called our kitchen — for two days, with the wind howling past us down the slope towards the distant land, and the blinding drifts of snow hissing and whirling over our little shelters. When the storm ceased and we crawled out of the drifts in which we had been buried, I saw, at a glance, that we were right on the southern edge of the central trough of the glacier basin. The de- scent to this, consisting almost entirely of hard blue ice, swept clean by the furious wind, was so steep that our sledges would have been unmanageable, and the opposite side rose, as far as the glass could reach, in steep, crevasse-intersected terraces, unscalable for our heavily loaded sledges. Across the glacier basin to the north-east, the crevasses and patches of blue ice continued ; east and south, steep icy slopes, but for- tunately free of crevasses, rose above us. It was evi- dent our only e.\it was by climbing those slopes to the south-east, beating to windward, as it were, out of the reefs and off the lee shore on which we found our- selves. It took two entire days of the hardest and most discouraging work of the whole journey to extricate ourselves from the trap into which we had fallen, and at the end of the two days we had lost fifteen miles of our hard-earned northing. Steep icy slopes, which had to be scaled by zigzagging against a strong head-wind, strained the sledges and the dogs, necessi- tated the utmost care to prevent the sledges from being swept into the glacier below, and bruised and wrenched Astriip and myself with constant falls. At last, however, we regained the unbroken snow-clad height of the Inland Ice, and never did I appreciate more fully the old German song, " Auf den Hohen ist Freiheit." Once more we could set our course and To the Northern End of Greenland 311 keep it. In this climb, Nalegaksoah, my best dog, and king of the team, received a sprain which resulted in my losing him four days later. Nalegaksoah was a long-limbed brute, quick as a flash of light, with jaws like the grip of fate. A born fighter, he had sunk his gleaming white teeth into the flanks and throat of more than one polar bear, and in the first struggle for su- premacy, when the does which I had purchased came together, had unaided near- ly killed both of the one-eyed hun- ter's fierce bear does. Yet he was one of the most affectionate dogs in the team, and a n encouraeine word or touch of my hand was suf- ficient to bring his great paws thrusting against my chest and his fierce yet intelli- gent face on a level with my own. Poor fel- low, I mourned the loss of a friend when, after limp- ing along behind the sledges for two or three days wi'th his sprained leg, he lagged behind and was lost NALEGAKSOAH. 312 Northward over the "Great Ice" in one of the ice-cap storms. Here too I lost my spy- glass in a crevasse, and narrowly escaped the loss of Lion and Pau, two of my best dogs, also in a crevasse. Both fell till their traces stopped them, and then hung suspended until hoisted out. Once back on the upper level of the Inland Ice, and with clear weather to help me, I could make out the orography of the surface, and could see the depression of the glacier basin still sweeping away to the eastward. Bearing away to the eastward until I could round this depression, we once more started north-east. We were soon brought up, however, by another group of enormous crevasses, fifty to a hundred feet in width, extending across our course, and, as luck would have it, almost as we reached these, a dense fog swept up the glacier basin from the coast, shrouding the cre- vasses and ourselves in a grey opacity which constricted our range of vision to an arm-stretch and made it dangerous to move. We could only wait until this cleared away, which was not until eighteen hours later. Then a half-hour's reconnaissance enabled us to flank the crevasses and proceed on our course again. By this time Astrijp and myself had named the glacier basin which had caused us so much trouble, the bot- tomless pit, and had grown to hate the sight of the land. I made up my mind now, in order to avoid fur- ther delay and annoyance from these great glacier basins, to strike still farther into the interior, so as to avoid them completely. In attempting to carry out this plan, however, I found the snow increasing so rapidly and the surface of the Inland Ice rising at such a steep grade as I advanced into the interior, that I finally steered a more northerly course. We had hardly made four miles in this direction, when once more the bie sledee, strained and weakened bv the rough work of the last eight days, broke down again, To the Northern End of Greenland 313 and we lost an entire day in repairing and relashing it, and re-stowing its load. The next day we were able to adv'ance six miles, and then were treated to a source of annoyance and delay which we had not counted upon. A few hours of snow-storm, followed by dark and cloudy weather and a rapid rise of temperature nearly to the freezing-point, resulted in that worst of all possible conditions of the snow, viz. : a certain stick- iness which made the sledges draof as if loaded with lead. The dogs, which at other times could take both sledges along at a good pace, were now unable to move one, and required the assistance of Astriip ■*! r Y7 "*■ J3P^ .-. - 1 A BREAK-DOWN. and myself, the one pulling, and the other pushing at the upstanders. Under these circumstances, nothing could be done except wait for a fall of temperature, and this did not occur for two days. The time, how- ever, was utilised in overhauling the sledges and loads, and throwing away articles and material which our experience now showed us could be spared. The total weight thus left amounted to some seventy-five pounds. The first drop in temperature was eagerly seized upon to advance again, and with Astriip and myself assisting, and with all the dogs at one sledge, we suc- ceeded with double-banking in advancing six and one- 314 Northward over the "Great Ice" quarter miles. The following; da)- the going was much better, but hardly had we got well straightened out, be- fore the land, this time in reality the shores of Sherard Osborne, rose into view ahead of us, and once more I found myself compelled to deflect, first to the north- east and then to the east. Night found us with six- teen and one-half miles to our credit, and another HARD TIMES. great glacier basin yet to be weathered. An idea of the next day can perhaps be obtained from an extract from my journal. " Another discouraging day within sight of the baleful shores of this arctic Sahara, but we are on the heights once more, for good, I hope, and, I also trust, free from further obstacles. If there is any truth in the superstition of the evil eye, the coast of this Inland Ice surely has evil eyes. Just as To the Northern End of Greenland 315 long as the black cliffs peer up at us over the round of the ice-cap, just so long- are we beset with crevasses, slippery ice, hummocks, howling wind-storms, furious drifts, and fogs. The dogs seem possessed with devils, the sledge and odometer break, some item or other of our equipment is sure to be lost, and every- thing seems to go wrong. Once out of its sight, we find summer weather, light winds, little drift — in a word, peace and comfort. The intolerable drift last night gave us no chance to sleep comfortably, beating under IN THE DEEP-SNOW REGION. and through every minute aperture of the tarpaulin, and melting as it fell on our faces and clothing. This morning one of my best dogs. Castor, was dead lame in one leg, and unable to pull, and the traces were fearfully tangled and frozen into the drift at the hitching-post." We had advanced but eight miles, when we found ourselves hemmed in by a series of huge concentric crevasses. The remainder of the day was spent in reconnoitring for safe snowbridges, by which they could be crossed. This could be done only in a 3i6 Northward over the "Great Ice" south-easterly direction, and night found us farther south than we were in the morning. Once we had two of our dogs down in a crevasse, and once the sledge, with all our biscuits and one hundred pounds of peni- mican, broke through, and but for a projecting ledge of ice on the edge of the crevasse, which temporarily supported it till Astriip and myself could pull it out of danger, we should have lost all. At night, a feel- ing of relief at being again out of the woods, as it were, sent me to even sounder sleep than usual, if such a thing were possible, and five and one-half hours of refreshing slumber put sleep-hungry brain and body in better trim, and gave everything a very different aspect. During this march, we covered- eighteen and one-half miles over a snow surface which, as we marched along, every now and then would settle slightly beneath our weight, with a sound reminding me of the swash of the ground-swell break- ing in calm summer days on the beach at Sea- bri^rht or Lone Branch, or on long white Caribbean beaches, backed by palms wavermg under a verti- cal sun. The next day, although we covered nearly eighteen miles, both Astrijp and myself had a mild attack of the blues, partly because we were tired out with helping the dogs all day, but principally, I think, because our utmost exertions were unsuccessful in reaching the limit of twenty miles. The next day, however, we once more got in the swim, and closed our record, that night, with twenty miles and a half, land being visible to the north-west, north, and north- east all day. The moral effect of our better going and better speed was very perceptible both on our- selves and our dogs ; at times the latter would, of themselves, break into a trot ; and we had been marching but a short time, when I heard Astriip sing- ing merrily as he kept along beside the sledge. Dur- To the Northern End of Greenland 317 incr this march, the sun seemed unusually ^vami and towards morning even sultry, compellmg us to throw off all outer garments. . . , The following day. was but a repetition of the last, and we skipped merrily along on our way a a con- stant elevation of about ^'^l^tl^^^^^^^^^^ { ;,t%h.?e mountains visible to the north-west nearly all the tn le and towards the end of the march a fP'-d w ^h h^gh sharp peaks on its northern side coming out clearly in the north-west. At the dose of this march, we ur ed "n in the best of spirits. We had again made over twen y miles, and there was every indication BETTER GOING. that we now had surmounted all obstacles and would have plain sailing for the rest of our journey. Both our^efves and o^fr dogs were in the ^^^^ oicon^:^^^n and our supplies were ample for a good long adxance yet The temperature had become so high that a this camp I seized the opportunity to take another relreshing snow bath and discard my dogskin and deerskin suit for my reserve suit of sealskin. On the 26th of June we were descending slightly. In the morning, as we started, heavy wh^te f ud rovered the entire sky, except a narrow ribbon of blue south and south-west.' Our course was north-east true, 3i8 Northward over the "Great Ice" but, land appearing to the north-west, north, and north- east soon after starting, I changed the course to east true. The entrance to a fjord with precipitous black shores lay north north-west true from us. As we advanced to the east, the clouds increased in density and a light driving snow came up from the south- west, shrouding the ice with that shadowless light which makes even the snow beneath one's feet invisible. I kept ^ on, however, still keeping j^^^ my course by the wind, until ^^^^k the very perceptible descent ^^^B warned me from past experi- I^Hh ences to halt and wait for '' ' " clearer weather. This I did after a march of ten miles. When the snow ceased several hours later, the land loomed up close ahead of us, with the de- pression of the fjord beyond, and had I continued .blindly through the fog I should have brought up right in the head of another great glacier. Our next march to the south-east was a short one, only ten miles, and nearly parallel with the land. Dark-brown and red cliffs looked down into a grand vertical-walled caiion reaching up towards our camp and everywhere north-west, north, and east, black and dark-red precipices, deep valleys, mountains capped with cloud-shadowed domes of ice, stretched away in a wild panorama, upon which no human eyes had SETTING THE COURSE. To the Northern End of Greenland 319 ever looked before. The glorious summer calm and warmth of the last three days were now accounted for by the presence of so much surrounding land. Assuming the fjord ahead of me to be Victoria Inlet, and thinking that I could round it, as I had already rounded Petermann, St. George's, and She- rard-Osborne Fjords, I kept away to the south-east, parallel with the edge of the Inland Ice and the shore. » THE NORTHERN LAND. Nunataks of the Academy Glacier to the Right. But always as I advanced, the mountains of the shore grew into view before me, keeping me constantly to the south-east, till the 1st of July. On that day a wide opening, bounded on either side by high vertical cliffs, showed up in the north-east over the summits immediately adjacent to the Inland Ice. Through this opening could be seen neither the re- flected ice-blink of distant ice-cap, nor the cloud-loom of land I had no further time to waste in travelling 320 Northward over the "Great Ice" to the south-east, in which direction the coast land- ribbon still stretched away as far as the eye could reach. I must reach this opening at once and dis- cover if it looked out into the East-Greenland Arctic Ocean, or whether there was distant ice-covered land to the north-east, which might still be reached by rounding the head of the fjord far to the south-east. Changing my course to north-east true, my elevation at the time being some five thousand feet above sea- level, ski and sledges and dogs sped merrily down the constantly increasing gradient of the ice-cap, straight for the red-brown mountains of the strange land. After several hours, the gradient grew so steep that it became necessary to descend diagonally along the slope. The land, though yet some miles away, seemed as if at our very feet, and as if we might easily throw a stone upon it. We could plainly see the green rivers and lakes along the margin of the ice, and the murmur of roar- ing cataracts came softly to our ears. I selected the highest convex of a crescent moraine, which climbed well up into the ice-cap, as my landing point, and after wading innumerable streams, and floundering through a mile of slush, which covered the lower portion of the landward slope of the ice, we clambered upon the confused rocks of the moraine, 4000 feet above the sea, and dragged the sledge up high and dry. Stopping only long enough to open a tin of pemmican and change my ski for snow-shoes, I left Astriip to look after the dogs and turn in, and hastened down to the land for the purpose of climbing a summit some five miles from the edge of the ice, which apparently commanded a full view of the great break in the coast ribbon. A mile or more of slush, a two-hundred-foot slide down the nearly forty-five-degree slope of the extreme edge To the Northern End of Greenland 321 of the ice, and my feet were on the sharp, chaos-strewn stones which cover the iceward borders of this land of rock. The fierce July sun, though but a little past the northern meridian, beat down upon me with oppres- sive warmth. Before me, the warm red-brown land- scape wavered and trembled in the yellow light ; behind me, towered the blinding white slope of the ice. Be- neath my feet, the stones were bare even of lichens, THE NORTHERN MORAINE. and had a dry, grey look, as if they were the bones of a dead world. And yet I felt that with so much of warmth and richness of colouring there must be life, and sure enough, hardly had I gone a hundred yards from the edge of the ice when a beautiful little black-and-white songster fluttered up from behind a rock, hovered singing almost within reach above my head, and then settled upon a bleak stone but a few feet distant to finish his merry song. As I went on, numbers of these snow-buntings flitted about me, and hardly had I gone a mile before 322 Northward over the "Great Ice" my heart beat quicker at the sight of traces of musk- oxen. As I got farther away from the ice and in the lee of the gigantic moraines and tumuh of glacial de- bris, flowers began to appear, purple and white and yellow, among them my ever-present brilliant yellow friend, the arctic poppy. Still travelling along towards my mountain, with eyes constantly alert for musk-o.xen, I received a shock like that of Crusoe when he spied the footprints on ^^m^HHi^u^ ■ ■ ■■■M W^^Mn^^ ^^"^ A *^^ l^p Wm r- , %i -■'*^- '■"•'■-'■ - M ^Bfal^MlilBl'M^III llllllll^llll ■ ffjlflil" 1 \;.^aa: ,„ „„, MUSK-OX RENDEZVOUS. the beach. In a little level space, sheltered on all sides, was a large angular boulder of trap, with one ver- tical face, and before this face were a number of ir- regularly arranged stones in a rank growth of vivid green grass. Throughout all the inhabited shores of Greenland, a patch of luxuriant grass is always the sign of a sometime igloo, and it was with peculiar feelings that I hastened to the spot. A closer examination showed the place to be a musk- To the Northern End of Greenland 323 ox rendezvous. Bits of their hair and wool were stick- ing to the rock and scattered on the ground, a weather- worn skull lay a few yards away, and the unusual o-rowth of erass was due to the presence of the musk- oxen. From this point on, the musk-ox trails were as thick as sheep paths in a New England pasture ; and know- ing the sagacity of these animals in the selection of a "favourable route, I was glad to make use of their paths. But my mountain seemed to recede as I ad- vanced, and it was eight hours before I reached its summit, only to find that two or three other summits intervened between me and the full view out, through the fault in the coast line. The five miles of apparent distance had lengthened out to at least twelve miles of actual distance, and most men, less accustomed to estimating distance than I had been, would have called it considerably more. I was strongly tempted to go on still farther, but the condition of my foot-gear precluded it. The soles of both kamiks were already cut through, and one or two edges of sharp rocks had even reached and cut my feet. It was even questionable whether I could fix up my foot-gear to enable me to get back without more or less serious injury to my feet. With the assistance of a pair of sealskin mittens and a knit skull-cap, I patched up my foot-gear, and after an hour's rest, started on my return to the camp on the moraine. Long before I reached the edge of the ice, I was obliged to add to the protection of my feet such por- tions of my garments as I could spare, and it was with the feelings of one who is suddenly relieved from an excruciating toothache, that 1 stepped from the ragged rocks upon the Inland Ice and strapped on my snow- shoes. 324 Northward over the "Great Ice" As I neared the moraine, I saw Astriip perched on its summit looking anxiously for me, for I had been gone fifteen hours instead of four or five, as intended when I started. I found my dinner, lunch, breakfast, whatever it might be called, of tea, pemmican, and biscuit, ready for me, and when 1 had satisfied my hunger and MY PADDED KAMIKS. Stretched myself out on the rocks to sleep, it seemed as if never before had I been so sore and tired. I had been travelling and climbing for twenty-three hours, and I felt, to a marked degree, the change from the dry, cold atmosphere of the Inland Ice to the moister and almost torrid atmosphere of the land. More than this, my reconnaissance had failed of its object, and it would now be necessary for Astriip and To the Northern End of Greenland 325 myself to take the dogs and three or four days' sup- plies and march overland to whatever distance might be necessary to give me the unobstructed, definite outlook which I must have. After a few hours' sleep, we made up our packs, and myself in the lead, Astriip following with the dogs, I started once more to wrest its secret from this tanta- lising land. CHAPTER XII. NORTHERNMOST GREENLAND. We Skt out for the Red Hills and Valleys — Our Dogs Glad to Reach Terra Firma — Very Rough Travelling over the Sharp Stones — Sighting Musk-Oxen at Last — I Kill Two of the Animals and Capture One Alive — A Feast of Musk-Ox Steaks — The Last Summit between us and the Sea — A Glorious Panorama as we Emerge upon A Giant Cliff — An Ice-Covered Bay 3800 Feet below us — Eastward the Arctic Sea Expands to the Horizon— We had Traced the North Coast of the Mainland — The Bluffs and Channels Farther North — A Never-to-be-Forgotten Fourth of July. > > < z CHAPTER XII. NORTHERNMOST GREENLAND. IT was a bright, beau- tiful day when we arose on the morning of July 3, 1892. Though on the previous day I had not caught a glimpse of the sea, and the mystery of dark-red land before us was a mystery still, I felt that the next twenty-four, or forty-eight hours at most, would make all clear to us, and that we should stand on the borders of the Arctic Ocean, and, from some vantage-ground on the north-east coast of Greenland, look northward over the broad expanse of sea. Still I might be mis- taken, and the coast might be much farther north — too far away for us to attain it carrying, as we were compelled to, every ounce of our provisions and equipment on our backs. I was too anxious to enjoy the glory of the morn- ing fully. If, as I had for some days suspected, this channel actually stretched from Lincoln Sea to the Arctic Ocean on the north-east coast of Greenland, was I to fail now to fathom its secret and take home 329 33^ Northward over the " Great Ice " the news that the northern extension of the mainland had at last been found ? It was certain that we had no reserve of provisions that would warrant us in making any considerable sojourn in the region to which we had attained ; nor if a half-ton of supplies had been packed on our sledge could we carry more than a very few days' rations on our backs over the boulder-strewn waste before us. f^ .-jt. '. / *■ m JB^M^ DAWN OVER THE ROCKS. The sun was shining brilliantly upon the dazzling white of the ice-cap behind us. Its genial rays were searching out and lighting up the hilltops and the deepest valleys of the land towards which our faces were turned, and which we were about to traverse. The temperature was that of a balmy day in early April in lands far south of the Arctic circle. I knew it would be very warm below. Innumerable patches of snow dotted the landscape north of us, but they did Northernmost Greenland 331 not cover a hundredth part of the great area we saw stretching away before us. Our dogs were wild with deUght and expressed their emotions most vociferously. They saw the land before them and were eager to reach it. They were to accompany us in our tramp, for of course we could not leave them behind. So we gave them a rather meagre breakfast and at seven o'clock in the morning we started. If the dogs had been gifted with sufficient sense I think they would keenly have appreciated the EXHAUSTED WITH THE HEAT. changed conditions that had suddenly occurred. We were^'now the beasts of burden and they were com- paratively free. Our equipment and supplies for four days, with instruments, rifle, camera, and a very few extras intended to give special distinction to our Fourth-of-July dinner, made a load of about forty pounds each for Astriip and myself. Starting out from Moraine Camp, we had to walk and slip about four hundred feet down the landward slope of the ice, which stretched away for upward of a mile before its foot rested on terra firma. We 332 Northward over the " Great Ice " found the travelling even more difficult than it had been the day before, partly because we were heavy- laden, and also because the sun had still further soft- ened the snow. Azure-blue streams rushed through the semi-liquid slush, as we made our way towards the land, till we came to the crest of the immediate edge of the ice. Down this we slipped and scrambled as best we could, tripping and tangling in the traces of our dogs, which were wild to reach the land. I was surprised to see the effect of this constant July sun. Close to the land, where a few hours previous I had travelled without difficulty on my snow-shoes, there was now a rushing river which we were obliged to ford. Some glacial lake, far up the ice, dammed in by the deep snow, had burst its banks, and, rushing down to the canon between the rocks and the edge of the ice, had swept everything clear, down to the hard, blue crystal ice. The rushing water, mid-thigh deep, the slippery ice in the bottom of the stream, and the antics of our dogs, which, hesitating at first to enter the water, would, when urged, make a rush for the opposite side, made the crossing of the stream precarious. We succeeded, however, in getting over without a thorough wetting, and scrambled up on the rocks. My path of the day before was followed along the summits and through the little valleys, and after a march of five hours we stopped beside a beautiful shal- low stream, starting from a great snow-bank far up the ravine, and emptying below us into a mirror-like lake, from which a foaming cataract dashed to the crevasses of the glacier below. After lunch, as we advanced, we saw several musk-o.x skeletons. On every hill and in every valley we were finding traces of musk-oxen, but as yet we had seen no living specimens. With the utmost eagerness we scanned every new prospect for the coveted animals ; for we knew that musk-oxen Northernmost Greenland JOO meant fresh meat for ourselves, and an abundant supply of food for our dogs. We followed the musk-ox trails as far as the)- went in the direction in which we wished to go. Then, to reach the summit where I had been the day before, I decided to try a different route, and one that was ap- parently easier. As luck would have it, it was in- finitely worse, and, burdened with our packs and the does, it seemed as if we never should reach the top. SOURCE OF THE ACADEMY GLACIER. From this summit we kept along the crest of the range of rock-strewn mountains, parallel with the great glacier east of us. A region of such utter barrenness I never saw be- fore. The arctic poppy was the only flower that could find a footing. Upon a surface of small, angu- lar stones, compressed and half cemented together by the enormous pressure of superincumbent ice-fields ages ago, were strewn larger loose fragments, singly, 334 Northward over the "Great Ice" in piles, and in long moraines ; and yet, even here, traces of musk-oxen were abundant, as if it were one of their favourite haunts. After ten hours' marching, rendered doubly severe by the enervating effect of the high temperature, we halted for rest between a mound of boulders and a snow-drift, and, throwing up a wind-guard of stones, turned in to sleep. The con- stant scrambling over sharp rocks of all sizes had been extremely trying to Astriip and myself. The fatigue NUNATAKS OF THE ACADEMY GLACIER. of climbing with our heavy packs and hampered by the dogs was greatly increased by the debilitating in- fluence of what seemed to us an almost tropical tem- perature, accustomed as we had become to the clear, cold, searching atmosphere of the Inland Ice ; and the terrible travellino- over the sflacial tumuli and mor- aines had been exceedingly severe upon our foot-gear and our muscles. We had now advanced far enough on our way down Northernmost Greenland 335 the valleys and over the mountains to descry very distant land beyond what appeared to be the head- lands of a fjord. But we were too far away to see all this clearly. The mystery of the region still remained a mystery ; and we were to sleep again before we dis- covered that the distant land we saw was islands be- yond the mainland of Greenland. We were very footsore as we threw ourselves on the ground behind WAVE-MARKED SANDSTONE. Found 3000 Feet above Sea-Kevel. our shelter of stones ; but we were not too tired to sleep the sleep of the just, during the five hours we allotted to rest before we shouldered our packs and set out again, looking as eagerly for musk-oxen as for discoveries of geographical interest. I was somewha't worried about my dogs. They had felt the heat even more than Astriip and myself ; and one of them, Pau, my leader and bravest dog since the loss of Nalegaksoah, was quite ill. Pau 33^ Northward over the "Great Ice" was a little smaller than Nalegaksoah, his brother, and like him a born fighter. In all his combats, the latter stood by, and if (as rarely happened) the odds were against Pau, one shake of Nalegaksoah's massive jaws would turn the tables in his favour. Pau was an expert at slipping his harness, and more than once I have seen him, when he thought no one was watching, go through the operation as methodically as one would take off a coat. Then for a forage, — for some- thing to eat. Never would Pau get many yards away, however, before Nalegaksoah's powerful deep voice would give notice of the fact, and with two or three powerful efforts he would break his harness or trace and be at the side of his comrade. I had now eight dogs, and felt sure of obtaining musk-oxen for them while we were down in the valley. Yet I had laid my plans, in the event of not getting musk- oxen, to sacrifice one of the dogs for the subsist- ence of the rest. It troubled me seriously to think that Pau, if he should continue to be sick, would, of necessity, be the victim. When we resumed our packs and started on again, the dogs were evidently much exhausted, and I had an additional source of worry in the fear that some of them would break their legs in clambering over the angular blocks of stone. Every dog was to us more precious far than the most valued pieces of horse-flesh in the land we had come from. As we advanced, summit after summit rose tanta- lisingly before us, still masking from our view the coveted sight of the great bay which I now had no doubt lay before us, hidden perhaps between tower- ing cliffs that walled it round. Still with every step as we went on we eagerly examined all the slopes and ravines for musk-oxen. Arain and as^ain, some laro-e black boulder would efive us a thrill of excite- ment, only to pass away again. At last, however, as Northernmost Greenland ^3il we were slowly and painfully creeping down the slope of an ancient moraine, two black objects were spied across the valley. As we looked, the space between them narrowed. There could be no doubt this time. They were musk-oxen, and I stooped to pat Pau's head and speak a word of encouragement to the noble MY FIRST MUSK-OXEN. dog, for I knew fresh meat would restore the brilliancy to his dull eyes and save his life. As quickly as possible, we crept behind the crest of a hill, restraining every symptom of a howl or cry from anv of the dogs, and then worked along towards the feeding animals. Just this side of them was a deep ravine, traversed by a glacial stream, one arm of which branched up near where we were. Once between the high banks of this, we hurried rapidly 338 Northward over the "Great Ice" along till within less than half a mile of the oxen. Here I divested myself of my pack, and left Astriip and the dogs, while I crept on down the ravine to a point close to the game. Reaching this, I climbed carefully up the bank, and looked cautiously over. There they were lying down, less than a hundred yards away. One was entirely quiet, but the other turned his head in my direction as I coughed in my excitement. My crippled leg had thrown me out of all the deer hunts about Red Cliff, and lack of prac- tice and the nature of the game before me gave me the severest kind of buck fever. As I raised my Winchester, it was with the utmost difficulty that 1 could keep the sight on that great shaggy head. I pulled the trigger, and heard the bullet reach the mark somewhere. Then I rose and ran forward, to be as near as possible for a snap shot should the animal run. Much to my surprise, as I appeared on the scene, he rose leisurely and advanced towards me, as if to see what might be the trouble. A second shot point-blank staggered and discouraged him, and he turned away, giving me the desired shot back of the fore shoulders. As he fell, the other rose leisurely, exposing, as he did so, the same fatal spot. I could hardly credit my good luck as I rushed forward to examine more closely the great masses of long black hair and soft brown wool lying there upon the rocks. Familiar with descriptions and pictures of the musk- ox, I had yet obtained no true conception of the ap- pearance of these strange denizens of the farthest north. The ones before me were plump and rotund with the luxuriant vegetation of the little meadow spot in which I had found them ; they were just shedding their heavy winter coats of wool, and this, as it worked out through the long coarse black hair of the summer coat, fell to the ground on either side, Northernmost Greenland jj9 giving the animal an appearance of size greatly in ex- cess of the reality. This, with their slow, sedate movements, made an impression which I shall never forget. As I started back to bring up Astriip and the dogs, my eye was attracted by a small black ob- ject a hundred yards or more to one side. Hastening to it, I found the strangest, queerest little object, — MUSK-OX SHEDDING WINTER COAT. a young musk-calf. Poor little thing, it had been taking a promenade while its parents enjoyed their afternoon siesta, and was all unconscious of the mis- fortune that had befallen them. I picked it up, car- ried it back to the others, and tethered its feet with the sling of my carbine. Then I went back to Astrijp. I found him (as well as the dogs) nearly wild with excitement. At my first shot, he had climbed out of & 340 Northward over the " Great Ice " his place of concealment to watch the affair, and al- ready knew of my good fortune. Childish as it may seem, I went to my dogs, patted each on the head, and told them of the feast in store for them. Sharp stones and weary shoulders were now for- gotten as we hastened to where the fallen musk-oxen lav. The dogs were fastened just below the bank and out of sight of the carcasses, in order to keep them from becoming unmanageable. Then I took my camera and photographed the new specimens. This done, we immediately began skinning one. It was but a short time before we had a huge hind quarter skinned and cut off, and I was hurrying down to my dogs with it. When I first saw them they were all asleep, exhausted with the heat and difficult travelling. Miss Tahwana, always on the alert, was the first to see me and greet my approach with a joyful yelp. This brought Lion to his feet and wakened all the rest. For a moment they did not understand, then as it dawned upon them that I was bringing them meat — raw, fresh, warm, bloody meat, which they had not tasted for many a weary day, — the air was filled with their joyful cries of anticipation. Even Pau resumed his wonted position, and crowded to the front for the first and choicest piece. A few moments later only the bones were left, one in the possession of Pau, the other guarded by Lion. Then I went back to help Astriip finish the work. An hour or two later, having skinned both carcasses and removed the hind quarters and sirloins for our own use, Astrup and myself took one of the car- casses, and, carrying it between us, took it down to the dogs. Again the same wild excitement as we ap- proached. Stopping just outside the limit of their traces, we gave the body a swing and tossed it in among the pack. The next instant it was covered from Northernmost Greenland 341 view by the shaggy forms and tense, straining Hmbs of a pack of ravenous wolves. The eager yelps and howls were silenced, and only the crunching of bones and an occasional low growl could be heard. Savage as was the sight, I sat down on a stone near by to watch the feast of my faithful companions. Wild and eager as they were, they were still amenable to my voice, ROYAL BANQUET OF MY DOGS. for when Lion freed himself from his harness in his violent exertions, I pulled him away from his banquet, and at a word he crouched obedient at my feet, till I replaced his harness. Lion, the thick-furred, long- maned, white leader of the Cape-York team, had been my favourite until Nalegaksoah appeared on the scene, and he was alwaj's the veteran sledge-dog and team- leader on the march. He was the most experienced 342 Northward over the " Great Ice " and the toughest of my dogs. Never did he get tangled in his traces. Never did he attempt to eat his harness. Never, except in this single instance during his gastronomic ecstasies over the carcass of the musk-ox, had I known him to get out of his harness. But, as Astriip said, Lion was no enthusiast and his bump of affection was not largely developed. When my eager wolves had finished, only the white and broken bones of the musk-ox were left. Every- thing eatable had disappeared, and the dogs were filled almost to bursting. In the meantime, Astriip, boy-like and Crusoe-like, with his ever-present artistic sense of the fitness of things, had found near by a grass-covered, flower-be- sprinkled bit of soil, close to a little stream, and there had spread the musk-ox skins, and rigged up a light cotton sail which we carried, into a kitchen, or shelter for the alcohol stove. Here he invited me to come and stretch myself on the luxurious fur couch while he proceeded to broil some musk-ox steaks. How delicious they were ! Astriip could hardly broil them fast enough to supply the demand. Sweet and tender and juicy, they far excelled anything of the kind that it was ever my good fortune to taste. Weariness and foot-soreness, all vanished for the time under the magic of an abundant supply of fresh meat for my dogs and a fine dinner for ourselves. It would have been suicidal to have attempted to make our dogs travel immediately after their recent feast, and as I did not wish to leave them here, it was necessary that we should wait several hours until they were in condition to move. We improved the oppor- tunity to snatch a little sleep, and both men and beasts were wonderfully refreshed by the time we started again on our tramp. A few more summits rose before us, but at last there could be no further question. Northernmost Greenland "> ,1 -> The next one would surely give us the long-desired view. Eagerly we climbed the ragged slope, over ragged rocks and through drifts of heavy, wet snow. The summit was reached. A few steps more, and the rocky plateau on which we stood dropped in a giant iron wall, that would grace the Inferno, 3800 feet to the level of the bay below us. We stood upon the north- east coast of Greenland ; and, looking far of? over CAMP MUSK-OX. the surface of a mighty glacier on our right and through the broad mouth of the bay, we saw stretching away to the horizon the great ice-fields of the Arctic Ocean. We had travelled twenty-six miles in a north- easterly direction from Moraine Camp, where we had left our sledge. From the edge of the towering cliff on which we stood, and in the clear light of the brilliant summer day, the view that spread away before us was magnifi- 344 Northward over the "Great Ice" cent beyond description. Silently Astriip and myself took off our packs and seated ourselves upon them to fix in memory every detail of the never-to-be-forgotten scene before us. All our fatieues of six weeks' struo-ale over the ice-cap were forgotten in the grandeur of that view. Our observation point was a giant cliff, almost VIEW FROM NAVY CLIFF. vertical, overlooking the bay and a great glacier that entered the bay on our right. We thought we had left the Inland Ice behind us, but here was a mighty ice-stream, one of the largest we had seen in Greenland, that had pushed out from the ice-cap to find the sea. Looking over our ncrht shoulder to the south-east, we could see, beyond the thousand red boulders in the foreground, and through a depression in the hills. Northernmost Greenland 345 the middle course of the broad ice-river glistening in the sun. Across the glacier, bounding the fjord on the east, rose a long line of precipitous, bronzed cliffs, higher even than the one on which we stood, and projecting several miles farther out into the bay. They rose four thousand or more feet in sheer height above the glacier, and terminated in a grim promontory sloping steeply to the water. On their huge shoulders these wild cliffs supported a great projecting tongue of the Inland Ice. Some fifteen miles north-east of where we stood, these cliffs ended in a bold cape which I named Glacier Cape. Dark clouds seen over and beyond the ice-cap on these cliffs seemed to indicate that the shore- line trended rapidly away to the east or south-east. Stretching out beyond that cape, and more than fifteen miles north of Observation Point, as I named the spot where we stood, we could trace the periphery of the big glacier, whose fan-shaped face rested at one end on Glacier Cape, and at the other on a promon- tory several miles north-west of us. I estimated that the periphery of this fan-shaped face of the glacier was fully twenty miles or more in length. The glacier seemed to have little or no vertical face, but almost to blend with the bay ice. This appearance may, however, have been due to our elevation and distance. Looking to the west, we saw the opening of the fjord that had barred our northern advance. It was this fjord whose western entrance we had descried afar off days before. Now we knew that we had paralleled its course across the northern end of the mainland from Robeson Channel clear to the Arctic Ocean off the shores of north-east Greenland. For days we had kept constantly in view the mountain masses forming the southern boundary of this channel, and through rifts in the mountains we had from time Northward over the "Great Ice ACADEMY GLACIER AND INDE- PENDENCE BAY. to time seen this depres- sion, and had now and then caught glimpses of the frozen channel oc- cupying it ; and we had seen beyond it mount- ains and fjords stretch- ing between them. It was evident that this channel marked the northern boundary of the mainland of Green- land. To the north-west, north, and north-east stretched steep red- brown bluffs on the other side of the bay, with a flat fore-shore reaching to the water's edge ; and we could make out to the north- ward the entrance of a second fjord or channel extending apparently to the north-westward. The resemblance of these blufTs to that shore of McCormick Bay wliich formed our head- quarters was very strik- ing. Close at hand a single isolated ice-cap crested these bluffs, but disappeared in the mid- dle distance ; and, be- Northernmost Greenland 347 yond that, the shores which stretched far away to the north-east were free of snow, and the summits free of ice-caps. On the west side of the fjord opening were numerous httle islands. There is every reason to believe that to the north-west, north, and north-east we were gazing upon an archipelago whose western limits Lockwood had discovered in 1882. At our feet, beyond the great fan-shaped peripherj- of our big glacier, were scattered many icebergs prisoned in the still unbroken surface of the bay ice. Beyond this, the bay ice seemed perfectly smooth and unbroken, and stretched away uninterrupted to the distant white horizon of the north-eastern Arctic Ocean. We could distinctly discern the broad expanse of the ice-covered sea, but the distance was too great for us to make out any details of the surface. The most distant land we could make out, far to the north- east, looking over the point of Glacier Cape, must have been sixty miles away. It seemed to be flat- topped and there was no ice-cap on it. Far out in the centre of the bay, we could make out a clouded appearance, undoubtedly due to the formation of water pools upon the surface of the ice, the first signs of approaching disintegration. But we could see no signs of cracks in the distant bay ice ; and we looked in vain for any signs of ice-cap on the lands w^est and north-west of our point of view. I could now understand the feelings of Balboa as he climbed the last jealous summit which hid from his eager eyes the blue waves of the mighty Pacific. As we took in this wide-spreading panorama from our point of vantage over three-fifths of a mile above the bay ice, the sound of a cataract came up to us from far below, and I was surprised to hear the familiar drone of a Inimble-bee. We soon caught sio-ht of the insect, which lingered in our neighbour- 348 Northward over the "Great Ice" hood for some time. The flies that buzzed around us were altogether too numerous to count. The day was delightfully warm and calm. Our silent contemplation of the sublime view at an end, I opened the bo.\ containing my transit, and set it firmly among the rocks to make my observa- tions for position. The interims between these obser- vations ( equal altitudes from three hours be- fore local noon to three hours after- wards) gave time for a round of photographic views and notes upon our sur- roundings, and to begin the con- struction of the cairn, which should be in the coming )ears the silent record of our visit there. The result of the observations was the fixing of the position of Ob- servation Point as 8i° 37' 5" north latitude and 34° 5' THE STARS AND STRIPES AT NAVY CLIFF. ^^ ™ ^i T , ,a , 1 he observa- July 4, iSg2. c ■ I J T tions finished, 1 brought out the little silver flask of brandy which Northernmost Greenland 349 had been brought with us for use in case of sickness, and passing it "to Astriip to take a thimbleful, I fol- lowed suit, and then christened the great bay spread- ing its white expanse before us Independence Bay, in\onour of the date, July 4th. The great glacier at our right I named Academy Glacier, in honour of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; and the United States Navy was remembered in the name Navy Cliff, which I gave to the giant cliff on which we stood. Then Astriip and I completed the cairn on Navy Cliff. In the centre of this cairn I placed a tightly corked bottle containing an account of the expedi- tion, its aims and objects, with portraits of all the members, taken from the New York Sun of June 6, 1 89 1, and the following record : " North Greenland Expedition of 1891-92, Robert E. Peary, Civil Engineer, United States Navy, Commanding. " July 4. iSq2, latitude Si" 37 ' 5 ". " Have this dav, with one companion, Eivind Astrup, and eight dogs, reached this point, via the Inland Ice, from McCormick Bay,'whale Sound. We have travelled over five hundred miles, and'Astriip, myself, and the dogs are in best condition. I have named this fjord 'Independence,' in honour of that day, July 4th, dear to all Americans, on which we looked down into it. Have killed five ' musk-oxen in the valley above, and have seen several others. I start back for Whale Sound to-morrow. " R. E. Peary. U. S. N." The back of this record contained the following printed request in several languages, being the usvial request on all Arctic records : " North Greenland Expedition of 1891-92. " Robert E. Peary, Civil Engineer, U. S. N. "Whoever finds this paper is requested to forward it to the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C, with a note of the ' Two killed sulisequent to first attack. 35° Northward over the "Great Ice" time and place at which it was found ; or, if more convenient, to deliver it, for that purpose, to the United States Consul at the nearest port." [This was repeated in French, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, and German.] A duplicate of this same record, rolled closely and inserted in a twelve-inch brass thermometer case, was also deposited in the cairn, and then, under one of the flat stones, an entire copy of the New York Sh7i of Sunday, June 7, 1891, and Harpers JVcck/y of May 23, 1 89 1. After the capstone was put on, the flags of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci- ences and the National Geographic Society of Wash- ington, presented by Miss Dahlgren, were attached to the bamboo staff of the little silken guidon (which Mrs. Peary had made at Red Cliff House and pre- sented to me as a Christmas present), and the staff was fixed in the cairn. How gloriously the brilliant colours sparkled, as the wind from the mighty ice-cap spread them to the vivid sunlight and filled the air about the summit of the great bronze cliff with their laughing rustle ! Photographs of the cairn and of the flags were taken, a handful of flowers gathered from the rocks, and with a parting look at the scene which human eyes might not see again for years, perhaps never, we turned back towards the great ice-cap. Half a day's march brought us back to the camp in Musk- Ox Valley. Tying our dogs so that they could feast upon the body of the second musk-ox, we flung ourselves upon our couch of musk-ox fur beside the babbling brook, and with the sky of Italy above us, bright yellow flowers peering at us from among the forbidding rocks, and soft misty wreaths creeping up the gorges from the basin of the giant glacier, we gave ourselves Northernmost Greenland 35' up to the luxury of perfect rest and idle fancies. All care and responsibility and weariness of body, worry as to the dogs, and disappointment, were thrown to the winds. On this day I would be a boy with As- triip, and we would celebrate the glorious old Fourth in a royal dinner. It was rather late to eat our Fourth-of-July dinner, for the fifth of the month was full grown ; but we had been too busy at Observa- " BESIDE THE BABBLING BROOK." A Perfect Summer Day in Musk-Ox \'alley. tion Point to think of spreading a banquet there, and anyway our anniversary spread was only a little be- lated. This was our menu : Brandy Cocktail, a la Fourth of July. Pea Soup. Sauterne. Sirloin of Musk-Ox Broiled, with Biscuits. Veal Cutlets, with Biscuits. Bartlett Pears and Cream, () la Tin Can. Tea and Biscuits. 352 Northward over the "Great Ice" Never was a dinner more thoroughly enjoyed, and never, thought we, was sound sleep afterwards more deserved. Nothing could be simpler than our prepa- rations for the night's rest. We simply rolled over, with our backs to the kitchen. During our traverse of this northern land, I found flowers of numerous varieties blooming in abundance ; conspicuous among them, the ever-present arctic pop- py. Snow-buntings, two or three sandpipers, a single Greenland falcon, and a pair of ravens were observed. Two bumble-bees, several butterflies, and innumerable flies were also noted. Without making any search whatever, we saw about twent\- musk-o.xen along our route. We could have obtained all of them without the least difficulty, and as it was we killed two fine cows, a bull, and a calf. The musk-oxen were shed- ding their long fine wool, and the long hair on their hind quarters. We found the stomachs of the cows we killed full of grass. Our return to Moraine Camp, at the edge of the Inland Ice, was but a repetition of our journey down, except that Astriip and myself each had an addition of some twenty-five or thirty pounds of musk-ox tongues, hearts, and sirloin, and four of my best and strongest dogs carried upon their backs some twenty pounds apiece. Under ordinary circumstances this experiment would have been absolutely impossible ; but now my dogs were so completely surfeited with food, having eaten all of two musk-oxen, except what they were now carrying, that the meat on their backs had no attraction for them. If I could have foreseen this, my anxiety for some time previous would have been greatly relieved. Now, however, I had eight well-fed dotrs with which to start back to McCormick Bay. As for ourselves, we had been feastmg on musk-ox veal, sirloin, and tenderloin ; and, strange as M A P O F independence: bay ElAST COAST OF GREENLAND July I" i8<)Z / R.E.PeaR-t, U.SNavy OBSERVATION SPOT ON Navy Cliff Lax. 8i° 37' S" N LONd a>s'5' W. MAP OF INDEPENDENCE BAY. (Used through the courtesy of the American Geographical Society, New York.) 354 Northward over the "Great Ice" it may appear, we had had a surfeit of our fresh food ; and as we picked our way over the tiresome boulder fragments, on our journey back to Moraine Camp, Astrijp reiterated tliat he wished we were back to the camp, for he wanted a piece of pemmican. That route of ours, from Moraine Camp to Navy Chff and back again, was a httle the worst travehing we found in Greenland. We were two days getting back to the camp, and when we reached it, every dog in the team, except old veteran Lion and my favour- ite Pau (now entirely recovered), had cut and worn his feet on the sharp rocks until they were bleeding. CHAPTER XIII. EIGHT THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE SEA. Getting Ready for the Homeward March — A Steady Climb to the Top of Greenland — Prisoned in a Snow Dug-Out Sixty Hours by the Biggest Storm of the Series — Groping our Way for Two Weeks through Dense Fogs that Crown the Summit Plateau — We Find it very Hard to Keep the Course — The Wind our Sole Reliance — Las- situde and Despondency Due to the Dripping Mist — We Abandon a Sledge and Throw away Everything we can Spare — Once more in the Realm of Sunshine — Making Thirty to Forty Miles a Day on the Home-Stretch — Meeting our Friends on the Inland Ice— Welcomed BACK TO Red Cliff. Cd U < o M I (- Z o o 2 CO CHAPTER XIII. EKHIT THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE SEA. WE had looked out upon the Arctic Ocean from land never seen before by the eyes of man. We had seen the islands ris- ing in hills and mountains beyond the channel that marks the northern edge of the mainland. We had done all we could, and were now content to set our faces homeward. But first of all a halt was necessary at Moraine Camp, for both man and beast were sadly in need of rest. Furthermore, all our equipment needed overhauling, and we must make careful preparations for our return trip ; and so, while the dogs curled themselves up in the spaces between the rocks, to nurse their wounded feet, and sleep, Astriip and I began overhauling our impedimenta. We threw away everything we did not absolutely need. We reduced our big three-runner sledge to its original dimensions. All the sledge lashings were inspected, and renewed where necessary. Whip and snow-shoes and ski were carefully examined and put in order, and 357 358 Northward over the "Great Ice" many a rip and tear in our costumes were repaired. All our foot-gear had been damaged and some of it completely worn out during our fifty miles of over- land travelling, and it required our best attention to fit it for service. When all the work of preparation was complete, I climbed to the top of the moraine to look once more upon the wild northern land below me. In the opposite direction, our route across the frozen Sahara was nearly twice as long as the dis- PACKING FOR THE RETURN. tance traversed by Nansen, with a fresh party, in his crossing of Greenland. There might be furious and long-continued storms, common to the southern por- tions of this great ice-cap, which would hold us pris- oners for days and days. There might be sickness ; there might be mishap. A thousand and one similar nightmares should have troubled me. Yet, such was the power of perfect health and conscious strength, such the ma^ic of that summer sunlitrht, that not a Eight Thousand Feet above the Sea 359 shadow would stay with me. I felt unbounded con- fidence in our ability and the efficiency of our equip- ment. The idea of sickness seemed out of the question. If my dogs gave out, we had with us the winged ski ; and with these I knew we had it in our power to cover fifty miles per day, for three or per- haps four days. Then, too, this glorious sunlight was not intended for men to die in, but to live in ; and the great Sahara itself, terrible as might be its moods at times, desolate and full of unimaginable horrors as it STORM CAMP. was to the poor natives and to those who knew it not, was it not our friend, had we not travelled day after day upon it, slept night after night upon its bosom, and sheltered ourselves beneath its orlisteninL: surface ? We had conquered it as we had conquered the dogs which dragged our sledge, and, like them, it was now our friend. At last all was ready. On the eve of Jul)- 7th, while the sun was shining brightly, we turned our backs on the land and started up the slope to reach the icy heights above us. In order to avoid the ere- 360 Northward over the "Great Ice" vasses and glacier basins which had so hampered us on the upward march, I proposed, in returning, to keep well to the east and south of my outward course. The first mile or two from Moraine Camp was hard climbing, and we had to get into the traces ourselves and help the dogs haul. I was not surprised that our first day's record was only ten miles ; but in this dis- tance we had climbed a thousand feet into the air. Best of all, we were favoured with good going. A firm, granular crust gave easy slipping for the sledges, and the best of footing for Astriip anti myself. Dis- carding ski and snow-shoes, we trudged along in our kamiks. We were terribly sleep-hungry when we camped, but were still able to enjoy the regulation Inland-Ice dinner. Pemmican with cranberry sauce, pea soup with musk-ox cut up in it, milk, tea, and bis- cuit, all tasted more than good ; and Astrup had been living in anticipation of this bill of fare all day. |uly 9th, we climbed thirteen hundred feet into the air in a distance of twenty-one and a half miles. Still the same perfect snow surface was spread around us. The day and the going had been perfection. When we camped I felt as if I had taken my ship safely out of port, and, free at last from all rocks and shoals, had no land in sight and only deep water all about me. We were climbing to the cloud-shrouded plateau of the continental divide, and the ascent to the misty frozen heights was exhilarating. While the ice sloped to the north, it also had a very sensible slope to the true east. All the sas/rn^/ pointed east, and the wind, constantly from the west, was pouring down the slope. At three a.m., the wind died down and off came our kooletahs. We had had the sun at our backs all the. way, and it was a comfort to get into camp with eyes in a usable condition. We went to sleep at seven a.m., Eig-ht Thousand Feet above the Sea 361 nearly a half-mile higher in the air than at Moraine Camp. But such was the heat of the sun that, lying under a tarpaulin, I was awakened at midday in a pro- fuse perspiration. I felt thankful for the good effect of the musk-ox banquet upon our dogs, which was still apparent. I had eight well-fed dogs to help me climb the u-rade. In this day's march, we had travelled PANIKPA. nearly all day without ski or snow-shoes, but we [Jut them on towards the end. On July loth, in a little over twenty miles, we rose nearly a thousand feet higher. It was apparent that the continental divide runs north and south, and was still ahead of us. It was a hard day for me. I at- tributed my relaxed energies and mental heaviness to the beverage I drank at breakfast. I wrote in my 362 Northward over the "Great Ice" diary that I was glad we had reached the last of our coffee. I wore my snow-shoes all day, though the surface was firm enough to support sledges and dogs, and best of all there was no drift. One of our dogs, black Panikpa, loosened his muzzle, chewed off his harness, and got at our musk- ox meat. A timely alarm from the other dogs brought me upon him before he had eaten a half-pound, and he was soundly thrashed before being tied up again. This dog, Panikpa, I called the "good little boy," from the bright, expectant, " good-little-boy-and-just- had-your-face-washed " expression with which he used to sit up and wait for his himp of pemmican. On July 1 ith, we added six hundred feet to our al- titude in a distance of twenty miles. We were near- ing the region of clouds, and our corrected elevation now was about 7300 feet above sea-level. The air was balmy and invigorating for half the day. I wondered if the last few perfect days were a fair sample of July weather on the east-coast slope. Our picnic was about over, however, and this was our last march for two days, for we were stopped and driven to our burrow in the snow by the severest storm we had experienced since we left the basin of Humboldt Glacier. When we had completed about half of this march, Pollux, one of the dogs I had purchased of Ahngo- doblaho, fell down exhausted and could haul no more. The land trip had evidently been too much for him. We tied him behind the sledge, and he walked for a time and then lay down, and we put him on the sledge till we reached camp, where we killed the poor fellow and added him to our dog-commissary stores. Mean- time the barometer indications pointed to a storm brewing. In the last few hours of our march, a heavy frost-bank enveloped us, and I found it affected my Ei'^ht Thousand Feet above the Sea 363 eves more unfavourably than the brightest sunlight. We had no more than built our snow shelter, when the storm burst upon us in all its fury. At an elevation nearlv two thousand feet higher than the summit of Mt. Washington, we were prisoners on the Inland Ice. For forty-eight hours, until three THE KITCHEN. o'clock on the morning of July 14th. there was not a moment's cessation in the howling storm that swept with resistless fury down the slope towards the wild east coast. The trench in which we lay in the snow was two feet high, three feet wide, and seven feet long, and was covered with a cotton roof for half its length. 364 Northward over the "Great Ice" We spent sixty hours in this snug abode, and I was more comfortable throughout the storm than in any I had met since coming upon the Inland Ice. We were warm and dry through it all, and, in spite of the drift that had piled up over us, we were able to change our position whenever we desired. I emerged from our drift-covered refuge only once in the sixty hours. We slept a great deal of the time. If we could not travel, we were at least resting in anticipa- tion of renewed and more vigorous efforts. If any one could have seen our camp, he would have thought we were buried alive. Sledges, men, and dogs had disappeared from view, and only snow mounds marked their resting-places. No sound could we hear from the dogs, but only the incessant roar of the storm and the swish of the snow as it drove over and past us, down the slope towards the east coast. When at last the storm abated and the sun tried feebly to struggle into view, I found the drift was still so fierce that the dogs would not face it, and so I made no attempt to start. The last twelve hours of our enforced idleness dragged very slowly, but finally we made preparations to start, a more formid- able task than might be supposed. It took Astriip forty-five minutes of continuous labour to straighten out the frozen tangle of the traces, tied by the incessant restlessness of the dogs into a knot that would have put a dozen Gordians to shame. I was engaged the same length of time in digging out the sledges. I found, to my dismay, while looking over the stores, that two cans of pemmican had been spoiled. This doubtless was the result of exposure to the heat of the sun during the few days that the sledges lay on the rocks at Moraine Camp. With much anxiety, I carefully examined the other tins, and I thought I Eisjht Thousand Feet above the Sea 565 had reason to believe that still other cans had be- come unfit for food. It was with no pleasvirable feeling, therefore, that we resumed the march. The loss of one of my best WM """^ 1 ^:& ^ r i- ' dogs and the spoiling of some of my pemmican loomed up before me as suggestive of mountains of trouble to come. The long inactivity in our snow burrow for sixty hours had slightly impaired my digestion, and the prospect of being reduced to eat 366 Northward over the "Great Ice" dog-meat, and of having to haul a sledge for some hundreds of miles, with no dogs to help us in the traces, seemed to stare me in the face. To crown all, the clouds enwrapped us as we started, and the dismal, hopeless weather gave poignancy to my de- spondency. After lunch, I sent Astrijp ahead to set the course, and I drove the dogs myself in order to divert my thoughts. I wonder if any of my readers have experienced the sensation of tramping steadily for days and weeks apparently towards nothing? Is there a spot in the Sahara so utterly desolate, so void of every element of hopefulness in its surroundings, as that great pla- teau over which we were now to drag our wearied steps for a fortnight, with damp and clinging snow under our feet, and a thick, frozen fog choking us and hanging to our garments in milk-white frost-crys- tals ? There was no oasis to which we could bend our steps, and there recruit our courage and strength for further toil over the arctic waste. Our only oases were in the skies ; for now and then we could dimly see the sun shining through momentary rifts in the mist, and far off along the south and south- west horizon, we could discern just a line of exquisite pale greenish-blue sky. The only consoling thought when we pitched camp on the first march after the storm, was that we were twenty miles nearer home. We were tired enough to sleep well, for the last hours had been very hard. We were no longer climbing a slope, but were on a great level plateau at the top, or very near the top, of Greenland. The wind blew straight from west to east. The sledge hauled through the new snow as though on cloth. The dogs pulled well, but without spirit. Every tail drooped in the most disconsolate fashion. Eight Thousand Feet above the Sea j^i The tail of an Eskimo dog is his moral barometer. It is the unerrinij eautfe to the state of his feelings. One glance at it tells volumes. A well-filled stomach and an easy-running sledge may lift him to the height of canine felicity ; but heavy sledging, the biting whip, or an inglorious fight with a neighbour in the traces may plunge him to the depths of despair. His tail SAILING. tells the whole story. Now every tail was hanging low. At midnight, on July 15th, we were one hundred miles on our way south. That morning the weather was colder. It had stiffened the snow that was drift- ing heavily when we went to bed. Astriip was quite frozen in under his snow blanket, and I had to dig him out. The low temperature heightened our spir- its, and we set out in fine feather in spite of the mist that hung all about us. At any rate, we thought our fog was doubtless an improvement upon the London o 68 Northward over the "Great Ice " article ; but even an expansive snowscape would have been a welcome relief to the monotony of our march. The dog driver could barely see the guide, who was setting the course three rods ahead. We had one blessing, for we were favoured with the best of snow-shoeing all day. So we made a fair day's march, and, to introduce as much variety as possible, Astrijp and I changed work now and then as dog driver and pilot. Late in the day, our thoughts were FORE AND AFTERS. suddenly centred on Miss Tahwana, who was taken violently ill. The next day Tahwana died, and we carried her body on the sledge till we were ready to feed it to the dogs. Miss Tahwana was my canine mascot. Early in the winter, I had purchased her of a good- natured, pigeon-toed Eskimo, who lived far up the gulf, and when, after he had gone, I went to examine my purchase with the aid of a bull's-eye lantern, I found that she had but one good eye. At first, she was wild as a hunted fox, and whenever I went near her would disappear in the burrow in the snow which Eight Thousand Feet above the Sea 369 formed her shelter from the biting winds. After a time, she became less timid, would take food from my hand, and when, early in the spring, she gave birth to a family of nine puppies, and was brought with her little ones into the enclosure about the house, where they would be better sheltered, she became as tract- SOLITUDE. able as any household pet. Her affection for me seemed unbounded. Day after day upon the Inland Ice no motion of mine escaped that one eye of hers, and when, after a halt, I picked up the little guidon and started forward again, her sharp yelp and vigor- ous struggles to follow me were the signal that brought 37° Northward over the "Great Ice" every other dog into his harness and down to his work. Poor Tahwana ! It was one of the bluest days of the white journey when she sickened, her bright eye no longer recognised me, and her tongue no longer had strength to reach my hand. Day after day, rare bits of blue sky were alternat- ing with long-continued banks of dense fog, which coated us and the dogs and sledges and loads with the minutest, opaque, white frost-crystals. Parhelia, fog-bows, and sun-pillars on the fog, of great inten- sity, formed and vanished around us in countless varieties ; but all this gorgeous pageant could not recompense us for the blanket shroud of dark, cold fog. We were now bearing rapidly away to the west, and I hoped soon to be at a lower level and out of the clouds. I was considerably worried again about my dogs. Their tails were generally drooping. The loss of Tahwana was ominous, and it seemed to me the ani- mals were almost completely played out. My eyes, too, suffered in the fog nearly as much as in the daz- zlinij sunlight. On July 1 8th, I was awakened by a sense of cold, and found the wind blowing directly into my kitchen, which had been built the previous evening with the closed end to the wind. This complete reversal of the air-current soon had its effect upon the clouds, which began to break away, giving us glimpses of the sun and bits of sky. When we made our midday halt, blue sky was all about us, and though the last snow had been deposited in drifts, the surface was fairly firm, and, most of the time, supported the dogs and sledges. We had now been travelling seventy miles among the clouds, and the temporary change revived our spirits, and the dogs were brisker in movement. We were across the divide, and were Eight Thousand Feet above the Sea 37^ beginning to descend the west slope. Taking ad- vantage of the easterly breeze, I rigged a mast and sail on my sledge, and the dogs were greatly helped. We were at last south and east of the dreaded Sherard-Osborne Fjord region, which had given us so much hard work on our way north ; and I intended now to bear more to the westward, to reach a better road at a lower level parallel with our out- ward course. We were destined, however, to travel CROSSING PRUDHOE LAND. many more miles down the long gentle slope before the clouds were above instead of around us. The night of July i8th was the coldest ( — 5° F. ) we had experienced since early in May. When we arose on July 19th, there was a thick frost-fog, and every- thing was covered with milk-white crystals. It was snowing and blowing dead ahead, and we delayed the start two hours until the wind went down a little. Snow-shoeing was excellent, but without our snow- 372 Northward over the "Great Ice" shoes or ski we sank eight or ten inches at every step. It seemed almost impossible to keep a course, and we went zigzagging along. All through our long marches in the fog, we found the work of keeping to the course very arduous. The compass was wholly unavailable to a man walking. He could not see the snow ahead, and there was ab- solutely nothing visible to fix the eye upon. The onlv resource was the wind, and this was now and A HEAD-WIND. then so light that I was obliged to devise and use a special wind-vane. By taking the compass direction of the wind every fifteen to thirty minutes, and then keeping the pennant at the proper angle, with the bamboo pole held projecting straight ahead, I was able appro.ximately to keep the course through the utter blankness of our surroundings. July 20th was a red-letter occasion because it was a twenty-mile day. The sun paid us a brief visit at Eis'l'it Thousand Feet above the Sea 2,72) one A.M. The day before, in thick weather, I thouglit I was aware of a slope towards the west, but now there was no mistaking it. We could distinctly see the long slopes towards the west and south-west. The result of my an.xiety in behalf of the dogs was a slight increase in their rations, and although the going was still heavy they were in better spirits. July 2ist, however, was a disappointing day. We had counted on fifteen miles at least, and made only nine. An inch of snow fell after lunch, making the sledge so heavy that the dogs could hardly move it, and Astriip said his ski felt as if sanded on the jB. \ bottom. On this day, 1 found I had only ninety pounds of pemmican on which to feed two men and six dogs till our journey was ended, and at the rate we were travelling it would take over twenty days. The numer- ^^ ous snow-squalls and the inter- minable fogs had greatly delayed us. I decided that we must abandon one sledge and throw awa)' every THE HOME STRETCH. 374 Northward over the " Great Ice " pound of baggage we could spare. We re-packed our load on the little sledge, and threw away a pair of ski, a pair of snow-shoes, and other articles, altogether weighing about fifty pounds. I took the big sledge in tow until I saw that the small one carried its load well through the heavy snow, and then I cast old Faith- ful adrift. We made over sixteen miles, though the snow was very deep and hard to pull through. As we camped at six a.m. on July 22d, a skua or jaeger gull. Hying from east to west, passed about fifty feet above m)' head. A frost-fog descended on us, cover- ing everything with its crystals. Next day the fog kept with us as usual, but the an- eroid showed a descent of four hundred feet. We were leaving the dreary desert of the summit plateau very gradually, and were heading for Camp Separa- tion, in the basin of Humboldt Glacier. Another skua gull hovered over our camp when I awoke at eight p.m. on July 23d. We started in a snow-storm, but soon the weather became so thick and calm that I could not keep the course, and so we lay down under a tarpaulin and got seven hours' sleep. Then, stripping in the midst of the snow- storm, I indulged in the luxury of a snow rub-down at a temperature of +25° F., and then lay down under a tarpaulin for three hours longer. I can heartily recommend this regime to any person of good phy- sique as a very invigorating process. As we started on again, the storm ceased. The fog-banks and clouds swept over and hung ahead of us till mid- day, and then they melted away. The realm of mists was at last above and behind us. Once more we saw all around us the illimitable snow plain. There had been times when we were weary of the sight of it ; but how beautiful it looked to us now in all its sparkling purity and glory ! Once liight Thousand Feet above the Sea 375 more we saw the exquisite azure of the sky. How glad it made us, and how heartily we welcomed the breath of the biting, yet still beloved, south-easter ! There could be but one happier moment for me ; and that would be when I stood again in her pres- ence who had so bravely bade me God-speed as I left her on the beach of McCormick Bay. We were now below Petermann Fjord, and ap- proximately five thousand feet above the sea. The ^kk. m jift IMM Ssn .xA^ t-'^x. ^iT' ^ H^K 'v V m ON THE SUMMIT OF DOME MOUNTAIN. most trying experiences I had on the Inland Ice were those long days and nights wherein I could see scarcely the length of our sledges. The incessant endeavour to keep a course on the march imposed upon me a strain that was not easily endured. Add to this the constant feeling of heaviness and lassitude due to the thick fogs, and perhaps in some measure to our lofty elevation, and I must pronounce the two weeks I spent on the ice-cap, at an elevation of eight ^7(> Northward over the "Great Ice" thousand feet much of the time, the most unpleasant of my Greenland experiences. There is a golden mean between the broken ice of the glacier basins and the cloud-capped summits of the ice plateau, where the ills and obstacles I met on both my routes may be avoided. Now we trudged along in the sharp, pure air. Bare- headed and in my undershirt I read Exi/cs of Siberia as I drove the dogs ; but by lunch-time I was glad to put on my kooletah and pull the draw-strings tight. Now came the halcyon days of our Inland-Ice trip. The night of July 28th was a glorious marching-time, and we had a fine run. Just before lunch, we reached a very thin vitreous crust, which would support the sledge, ski, and snow-shoes, but not the dogs. The next day we were still travelling over this crust, and its stiff and burnished surface and down grade helped us to put many a mile behind us. Another of my dogs had given out, and been fed to its more fortun- ate comrades ; but the remaining five, Pau, Lion, Merktoshar, Castor, and Panikpa, were powerful, brawny brutes, thin, gaunt, tough as steel, and entirely recovered from their depression of spirits. They were sure to return to their home once more, unless some utterly unforeseen mishap should com- pel Astrijp and myself to eat them.' It was with an ' These five dogs returned to the United States with me in 1892, accompanied me on my lecture tour during the winter, and started north with me again on the Falcon in 1893. Castor fell overboard in heavy weather off St. John's and wa^ lost. Lion, Pan, Merktoshar, and Panikpa did their sliare of the ice-cap work in the fall of 1S93. Pau died at the lodge in the early spring of i8g4. Lion, Merktoshar, and Panikpa went through the ice-cap work of 1894. .-Mter the return from the ice-cap, Panikpa was lost by one of my hunting parties and dragged himself back to the lodge two weeks later completely exhausted. He never recovered entirely from the strain of this experience, and remained with me at the lodge until I came home in 1S95, when I gave him to Nuktah. He was still alive in the summer of 1896 and remembered me with every mark of aiifeclion. Merktoshar was also alive in the summer of iSg6. Lion died at Karnah in December, 1895, in the heart of the " great night" which he knew so well. Eight Thousand Feet above the Sea c,77 indescribable thrill of pleasure, at the end of our first march after reachincr the five-thousand-foot level, a march during which we covered twenty-two miles, that I found my dogs still comparatively fresh. The next day we covered a little more ; the next, more still ; and yet each night it seemed as if we were as fresh as in the morning. The weather during this time was perfection, and never have I experienced PROF. HEILPRIN AND HIS PARTY. more fully the moral effect resulting from the physi- cal exhilaration of rapid travelling. The dogs felt it as much as, perhaps more than, Astriip and I ; and though their natural long, wolfish gallop had been trained out of them by the heavy, laborious pulling of the last three months, still the old flash and fire were there. They had not been worked beyond their elastic limit, their tails were raised and tightly 3/8 Northward over the "Great Ice" curled, and I knew that I was bringing back from one of the longest of sledge journeys, with the heavi- est of loads and a minimum of food, a team of dogs actually in good condition. Once more we lightened our load to the lowest limit, looked carefully to the lashings of the sledge, and put in order our equipment. We were now east of the basin of Humboldt Glacier. Nearly two hundred miles away was our sjoal, and this whole stretch must be covered rapidly. We were still out of sight of land, but a few days more would bring us within view of the familiar land- scape bordering Whale Sound. On July 31st and August 1st, we travelled over the rough, frozen surface without aid of snow-shoes or ski. We passed many snow hum- mocks, some of them fifty feet high, where the drift had settled around some protruding bit of ice and built snow- hills on the plain. Sasirugi were also numerous. The surface was sloping perceptibly towards the western sea. Then we travelled for miles without seeing a single hummock or sastrugi. A BEACON. Eieht Thousand Feet above the Sea 379 ■fc. We were making express speed to Red Cliff when, on August 2d, we neared the divide between the Kane Basin and the Whale-Sound region. For five hours on that day we climbed diagonally a very regular but gradual ascent ; and at seven o'clock on the morn- ing of August 3d we reached the summit, trudged on some miles, and camped in sight of familiar land, the first we had seen since we left the region of In- dependence Bay. The wind blew fresh from the south-east, and all that forenoon and the previous afternoon my dogs had been continually sniffing the air, their keen noses evidently detecting the presence of land. We closed the day with a tally of thirty-five miles as the reward of our day's work. We had worn our snow-travelling gear all day, making our way through light but not deep snow. The ne.xt morning, we advanced about five miles nearer to the land, and then deflected to the westward, in order to get into our outward track and come down over the long tongue of ice stretching down to McCormick Bay between the Sun and Tuktoo Gla- ciers. I had intentionally kept to the eastward of my outward course all the way back from Humboldt Glacier, in order to have the advantages of a more level road. Merrily we dashed along the gradually descendmg surface into the depression north of Dome Mountam, the name which I had given to the most northerly of the giant ice hummocks which extend from the edge of the Inland Ice to the head of McCormick Bay. Here the heat of the meridian sun was softening the surface of the deep, sludge-like snow, till my dogs were unable to travel through it. I made every ef- fort to get across upon the slope of Dome Mountam, the higher elevation and northerly exposure of which I knew would enable us to advance ; but in this I was 380 Northward over the "Great Ice" unsuccessful, and was obliged to halt and wait for the surface of the snow to harden again. As soon as this was the case we got under way and zigzagged up the slope of Dome Mountain for some hours. As I came over the crest and looked forward to the next rounded summit, some two miles distant, I saw moving black objects upon it. The grouping of the objects resembled at that distance a couple of sledges, with an accompanying party, and I turned and shouted ♦«t s '^^^^mf~ ' ^ m K Hi ■■■■■HMta...dJltelk^. DOWN THE LAST SLOPE. to Astriip, " The boys are out looking for us." At that moment, however, the members of the other party evidently saw us, and a faint cheer came across the white waste to our ears. The objects separated, and I could see there were seven or eight in all. Then I knew there was a ship in the bay. We hur- ried rapidly down the slope, eager once more for the sight of familiar faces. The other party at the same time descended from the eminence on which they had Eitrht Thousand Feet above the Sea 'Ci been, and in a very short time I grasped Professor Heilprin's hand, and greeted the other members of his party, who were struggling eagerly through the deep, heavy snow. Never was meeting more effective or unique. One month to a day before, the Kite, with Professor Heil- prin on board, turned her prow northward from the harbour of St. John's, and ever since had been steaming northward through the blue waves. One month to a THE "KITE" FLOATING SNUGLY AT ANCHOR. day before, Astriip and myself turned our faces south- ward from Musk-Ox Valley on the strange northern shore, and ever since had been marching southward over the frozen waves of the ice-cap. Now we had met on this great ice desert, almost out of sight of land, in the brilliant lijjht of the midnight sun, and the courses that each party was taking were such that had we been blindfolded we should have run into each other's arms. Professor Heilprin and his party turned back im- mediately, and, chatting with various members of the party, the time flew rapidly as we covered the ten miles between us and the bay. About two o'clock in the morning, I stood again on the crest of the bluff up which I had backed my sledges more than three 382 Northward over the "Great Ice" months before, and looked down upon the green, ice- berg-dotted waters of McCormick Bay, with the Uttle Kite floating snugly at anchor at my feet. Never did fairer summer vision greet human eyes. An hour later and I stepped on board the Kite. My wife's glad cry of welcome sounded in my ears. The long White March was ended. ■Pi CHAPTER XIV. BOAT VOYAGE INTO INGLEFIELU GULF. Meeting with my Boys at Red Cliff — Desire to Examine North Shores of Gulf — Threatening Weather — Karnah — Sculptured Cliffs — BowDoiN Kay — Enormous Glaciers — A Magnificent Panorama — Mrs. Peary's Kaiilillou-ah — An Anoahi aksoah — Back to Red Cliff. o a o n o u o < CHAPTER XIV. BOAT VOYAGE INTO INGLEFIELD GULF. TWO days after ni)- return from the ice-cap, the Kite steamed down the bay, and we landed through the surf in a sheltered cove about a mile below Red ClifT. As Mrs. Peary, Astrijp, and myself came up the beach, we met first, my boys, Verhoeff, Dr. Cook, Gibson, rugged, bare-headed, sun-burned ; then, a little farther, the native contingent of Red Cliff standing in wide-eyed wonder to see the kapitansoak return from the " Great Ice." Never did the costliest and most luxurious home appear more delightful to the eyes of a returning traveller than the little 7 by 1 2 state-room at Red Cliff, to which Mrs. Peary had given the imposing name of " the south parlor." My sledge journey round Inglefield Gulf just be- fore starting upon the ice-cap had acquainted me only with the southern shores. Rough ice and deeply drifted snow had rendered the northern shore im- practicable. 385 b J 3 O Q _) m h u J o z Q 2 3 O < a. H < o n Boat Voyage into Inglefield Gulf 387 It was now early in the season, there was no special haste forthe/vV/t' to turn her bow southward, and the opportunity to examine the unknown and attractive shores seemed a favourable one. Then, too, a summer boat voyage offered something in the nature of a picnic for Mrs. Peary and myself after our long separation, an outing which should be free of the rush and hurry of preparation, as of responsibility or anxiety in regard Verhoeff. Dr. Cook. Gibson. 'WE MET MY BOYS." to the future. It was therefore with much of the feeling of a school-boy starting for a week's picnic in the^woods, that I started from Red Cliff at noon on August gth in my lightest whale-boat, the Mary Peary, manned by five of my faithful Eskimos, Ko- monahpik, Merktoshar, Ingeropahdu or " Freckles," his son Pooadloonah, and Koolootingwah, with Matt as coxswain, and Mrs. Peary beside me in the stern- sheets. o 88 Northward over the "Great Ice" The weather was not particularly auspicious ; it had been blowing with a o-reat deal of freshness ever since my return from the ice-cap the night of the 6th, and now ominously heavy storm clouds hung over the entire region ; 3'et this was too slight a thing to in- terfere with our proposed journey. Rounding the massive reddish-grey bastion of Cape Cleveland, the bow of the Mary Peary was headed eastward up CAPE CLEVELAND. Typical Bastion Headland. the gulf, and swept rapidly past the shores of the south side of Red-Cliff Peninsula. A few miles above Cape Cleveland, we passed the dazzling mass of the Fan Glacier, with its almost mathematically perfect semicircular face, and equally mathematically per- fect semicircular delta in front. From here on to Karnah — Cape Ackland, as well as it is possible to identify it on the charts, — the south coast of Red-Cliff Peninsula is made up of a succession of semicircular Boat Voyage into Inglefield Gulf 389 deltas, pushed out from the shore in front of a series of hanging glaciers, and formed by the debris brought down by the rushing currents from these glaciers in FAN GLACIER. early summer. So strikingly regular is the contour of these deltas, that the Eskimos have given to them a name which means eyebrow. ^^asi^K::^ m Jo^bJHJ^^^^^^^I 1 l^^^^^^m^ ■ " - """'TT^^TITT KARNAH GLACIER. Typical Glacier and Delta, Southern Shore of Red-Cliff Peninsula. Back of these deltas and a low fore-shore which connects them, rises a series of rather rolling summits, 390 Northward over the "Great Ice" down the ravines between which protrude hanging glaciers, tongues of the central ice-cap of the peninsula. The day, in spite of the portent of the dark clouds overhead, was not disagreeable ; gulf and sound were free of sheet-ice, only occasional bergs and fragments of bero-s breakincr the evenness of the waves which ruffled the surface of the water, and to me, who had seen little of the country during the previous sum- mer, and who for the immediately preceding three months had seen nothinsj but the blindine alare of the " Great Ice," the weather, the water, the warmth of colouring of the shores, barren as they were, seemed almost tropical. Numerous fragments of disrupted bergs, grounded along the beach by the falling tide, looked from the boat almost like flocks of grazing sheep. At Karnah, the shore forms an angle, a noisy gla- cial river comes bounding down from the rocks, and Boat Voyage into Inglefield Gulf 39' east of it the character of the shore changes com- pletely. The deltas, the low fore-shore, and the i oil- ing mountains give place to a line of majestic sand- stone cliffs which rise sheer from the water. It was now late in the evening, and landing at the pointwepitched our tent within the clamour of the glacial river, and prepared for our first night's outing. From this Karnah point, the pro- file of the cliffs already men- tioned, with the distant upper shores of the gulf appearing just past their base, is one of striking bold- ness. Lulled by the rushing gla- cial stream, we slept soundly, waking several hours later to find our world covered with a light mantle of newly fallen snow. This snow dis- appeared as the sun swung upward from the east, and launching the Mary Peary, we pulled out under the great cliffs, among a labyrinth of bergs and berg frag- ments. All the forenoon we crept along under the A TITAN WATCH-TOWER. 392 Northward over the "Great Ice" mighty ramparts, in one place a Titan watch-tower, in anotlier a giant amphitheatre, here a niche, there a bastion, and between and over them grouped rows of pinnacles which required but little imagination to transform into statues. So striking is the resem- blance of these pinnacles to the human form, that it has appealed even to the rather unimaginative sense of the Eskimos, and the cliffs are known to them as the Statue Cliffs. In numerous places, silver threads SOUTH GLACIER. Bowdoin Bay. of cascades flow down the cliffs from the edge of the ice-cap far above. Much of this time it was raining, and as we rounded the point that ends this striking feature, which I called the -Sculptured Cliffs of Karnah, and entered a little cove curving in to the face of a glacier, we were only too delighted to see several deer crossing the slope, and have an excuse to land and stretch our stiff limbs in an effort to bagf some of them. Our efforts, how- ever, were unsuccessful, and re-entering the boat, w^e left this little bay, the water of which is red almost as Boat Voyage into Inglefield Gulf 393 freshly spilled blood, from the fine red sandstone silt brought down by the sub-glacial streams of the two glaciers which enter it, and pulled steadily along close to the foot of the bluffs which form the western shore of the northward-stretching fjord which Ikwa had drawn for me during the winter, and into which I had looked down from the ice-cap a week before. Penetrating into the farthest angle of the head of WEST OR GNOME GLACIER. Bowdoin Bay. this fjord, the boat was beached on the shore of a cove, the shallow water in which was a deep red. The head of this cove was walled by a huge moraine thrown up by a glacier, just the edge of which ap- peared over the top of the moraine. Beyond that, an isolated mountain of striking boldness and sharp- ness of outline jutted into the air apparently some two thousand feet, and then, from its base, the crys- tal wall of a great glacier stretched clear across the 394 Northward over the "Great Ice" opposite side of the bay head. This glacier I named, in honour of my Ahiia Mater, Bowdoin Glacier, and the bay I called Bowdoin Bay. The cove was evi- dently the favourite rendezvous, or feeding-ground, of the kahkoktah, or white whales, which abound in this region. All the time during our stay at this camp their pui^ng could be heard, and, in conse- quence, I named the cove Kahkoktah Cove. While VIEW AT HEAD OF BOWDOIN BAY. Bowdoin Glacier in Distance. at this camp, one of my hunters went up the bluffs and obtained two fine deer, and from this camp, also, Verhoeff left us on his proposed trip across the gla- cier, and so on around to Red Clift. It was my last sight of the unfortunate man. Next noon, in a continuance of rainy weather, I pushed through the area of glacier debris which filled the centre of the bay, into its extreme north-eastern corner, to a little cove from which a tiny valley ran Boat Voyage into Inglefield Gulf 395 up under the shadow of a vertical-faced mountain. It was the very place down into which I had looked, EAST GLACIER. Bowdoiii Bay. about one week previous, while sweeping down the icy slopes of the " Great Ice" to the head of McCorniick ■^ -»»^-A ;;, ■*^- ■ ••«- ^^QBIk^M Mk i 1 b M ■Ri IP iA Jg: fl ^B^ 9 ■ ^^1 MRS. PEARY AND HER KAHLII.LOW AH. Stopping here only an hour or so to limber our- selves up, and try to get a little warmth into clothing which had been saturated almost from the moment of our leaving Red Cliff, we again pulled on close to the shore of the south side of the gulf. We had a hard struggle with the tide, which runs here like a mill-race, swirling in eddies around every rocky 4o6 Northward over the "Great Ice" point. Night overtook us before we had gone very far, and landing at the only available place along several miles of shore, we made our preparations for the night. From here the next day we kept on down the south shore past the face of the Hurlburt Glacier, and then bore straight across the gulf for Karnah. The trip across was uneventful ; we were fortunately not troubled by wind, and once within the shelter of the iceberg flotilla, which is always sweeping along LOOKING OUT OF ACADEMY BAY. the Karnah shore, we felt safe. Again we landed at Karnah, intending to spend the night there, but after a generous repast and plenty of hot tea, we felt so much refreshed that it was the opinion of everyone we should push on to Red Cliff without delay. As long as my crew felt this way, I was only too glad, and hastily stowing our things in the Mary Peary again, we pulled off from the beach and headed westward for Cape Cleveland. Boat Voyage into Inglefield Gulf 407 When about half-way on our journey, a favouring wind sprang up, to which the Mary Peary s foresail was spread and she dashed on bravely before it, the wind increasing in intensity until, as we reached Cape Cleveland, it was blowing half a gale, and required a good deal of skill on Matt's part to steer the Mary Peary clear of the numerous lumps of ice which lay in our way, as she swept, literally, almost like an arrow, through the white-capped waves. Rounding THE ICEBERG BREAKWATER. the point of Cape Cleveland with a rush, we ran into a dead calm, but had scarcely got the sail rolled up and the mast unstepped in readiness for rowing, when I saw a squall coming down McCormick Bay to meet us just as it had come down Academy Bay. Bring- ing the boat close into the shore, we met the squall as best we could, yet, with the utmost efforts on our part, it was several hours before we succeeded in reaching the shelter of the little point, less than two 4o8 Northward over the "Great Ice" miles from the cape, and there beached the boat and landed. Walking up the shore to Red Cliff House, we saw the Kite still at anchor off the beach. Sending word out to Professor Heilprin that I had returned, we were only too glad to remove our saturated clothing, and after a hot meal, turn in for a dry night's rest. LEIDY GLACIER. Head of Academy Bay. This boat voyage of something like a week's dura- tion was, in spite of the hostility of the weather, a very enjoyable one, and the variety and character of the scenery observed during the voyage made it long to be remembered. The pictures accompanying this chapter give a clear and consecutive impression of the summer aspect and beautiful and striking features of this greatest and most interesting of Greenland inlets. CHAPTER XV. SEARCH FOR VERHOEFP, AND HOMEWARD VOYAGE. Verhoeff Fails to Return— Search Immediately Instituted and Prosecuted for Six Days and Nights — Tracks on the Glacier — No Hope — Farewell to Red Cliff — Atanekerdluk-Godhaab — St. John's — Philadelphia. CHAPTER XV. SEARCH FOR VERHOEFF, AND HOMEWARD VOYAGE. 1 FOUND that Gibson was away, with Mr. Bryant of Professor Heilprin's party, at Five- Glacier Valley, to bring Verhoeff home. Gibson had landed Verhoeff at the valley a few days after he left me at the head of Bowdoin Bay, to enable him to make an overland trip to the Eskimo settle- ments in Robertson Bay, and was to go after him at the expiration of a certain time. The next day the boat returned, but without Verhoeff. The immediate inference was that he had become bewildered and lost somewhere in the region between McCormick and Robertson Bays. The work of packing my impedimenta to send on board the Kite was stopped immediately, and hastily fitting the Mary Peary with supplies, I jumped into her with Gibson and a crew of my best Eskimos, and, hoisting sail, sped away for the mouth of the val- ley. The Kite hoisted anchor and, with the remaining natives whom 1 had sent aboard, steamed away to 411 412 Northward over the "Great Ice" Robertson Bay. Reaching the mouth of the valley, we had a substantial meal all around, then started up the valley with all my Eskimos, after having promised the man who first saw Verhoeff a rifle and as much ammunition as he cared for. This was the iSth. Deploying the natives in a line, the individuals in which were separated by less than one hundred feet, they reached clear across the contracted valley, from cliff to cliff, and slowly advanced up its length, shout- ing and discharging rifles at regular intervals. So "MANY WERE THE INTERESTING GROUPS.' thorough and minute was the search that, on the way, we found a handkerchief and a knife, which had been dropped by the Five-Glacier- Valley hunting-party the previous October. No signs of Verhoeff were seen, however, though we swept the valley until we came out on the crest of the bluff beyond its head, looking down into Robertson Bay. Returning to McCormick Bay on the 21st, I found the Kite anchored off the mouth of the valley. No trace of Verhoeff had been found in Robertson Bay. I detailed four or five of the best Eskimos to Gibson, Search for Verhoeff — Homeward Voyage 4' 3 and instructed him to take several days' supplies and proceed up the valley again and scour the region north and west of it, clear up to the edge of the great glacier which flows down into the head of Robertson Bay, then to follow down the side of the glacier to the bay itself. With the rest of the Eskimos and my whale-boat, I started along the shore of McCor- mick Bay, to carefully examine every foot of it, clear «..|^ H UI&\^\^M ■ ri ■-T*^-*^! ""''"*''"■, '»?^-s|/ ft __^ ■ , ■. S3- MRS. PEARY DISTRIBUTING HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS. round into the head of Robertson Bay, where I would effect a junction with Gibson. The Kite, later on, was to follow me into Robertson Bay. The most careful examination of the shore discovered not the slightest trace of Verhoeff. Reachino; the head of . . . . ^ the bay, and communicating with Gibson, who had come down the side of the glacier, I found that the natives had discovered traces of the missing man, — 414 Northward over the "Great Ice" footprints along the side of the glacier. Picking these up, we immediately followed them up on to the glacier itself, and for a little distance on its surface, when they disappeared upon the unyielding surface of the ice. I then divided my Eskimos into three parties. Two of these were to start at the water's edge and follow each side of the glacier with the utmost care, to find where Verhoeff had left the glacier. Professor Heilprin, with his party, and I, with two of the best trailers in the entire tribe, quartered the surface of PRICELESS TREASURES FROM PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. the glacier itself in every direction, to see if we could find any more tracks. Our utmost efforts were un- availing, although the tracks were distinct, passing up on to the glacier. At no place in the entire periphery of the great ice-stream was there any track or trace of a man having left the glacier. The inference was un- avoidable : Verhoeff, crossing the glacier, in thick weather perhaps, had slipped and fallen into one of innumerable yawning crevasses. The accident was the same as those which occur almost annually in the glaciers of the Alps. The great ice-stream where he Search for Verhoeff — Homeward Voyage 415 met his untimely end bears now the name of Verhoeff.' It is needless to say that this accident cast the deep- FAREWELL TO OUR GREENLAND HOME. est gloom upon every member of both parties ; it was so sudden, so unexpected, like a flash of lightning ' This search for Verhoeff. prosecuted for six days and nights by all the members of my party and Professor Heilprin's, the Kite's crew, and nine Eskimos, the latter excited to the utmost by the promise of a rifle and a box of ammunition to the first who saw Verhoeff. was discontinued only when it was the conviction of everyone that there was no longer any ground for hope. 4i6 Northward over the "Great Ice" from a clear sky, occurrinij as it did in the height of the summer, after all the possibilities of the winter and of the ice-cap work had been surmounted without the least accident. I could think of nothing else as the THE GIANT OF ATANEKERDLUK. Weathered Pinnacle of a Trap Dyke. Kite, on the 24th, after six days of unremitting search, slowly swung out of Robertson Bay on her way back to Red Cliff. I still clung to the hope that possibly Verhoeff might still be alive, and on this possibility I Search for Verhoeff — Homeward Voyage 417 landed at Cape Robertson ample provisions for one man for more than a year, and I impressed upon the natives that they were to make every effort to find Verhoeff, and if at any time he should come into any of their settlements, they were to take the utmost care of him, as they would of me, and that when I re- VERDANT RAVINE AT ATANEKERDLUK. turned the following summer, as I intended to do, I should reward them beyond their wildest dreams. Arriving at Red Cliff, I broke the sad news of the results of our search to Mrs. Peary, and then with heavy heart completed the work of packing my speci- mens and remaining material to send on board the ship. The weather, which during our search for Ver- hoeff had been of the most disagreeable nature, snow falling every night, changed now and gave us one or 4i8 Northward over the "Great Ice" two perfect days. The warmth and Hght upon the beach along Red CHff were ahiiost tropical in their char- acter. Many were the interesting groups, yet I had little heart for them. Mrs. Peary distributed the household utensils to the delighted women of the village, and then both men and women were assem- bled in line upon the beach, and everything that I did not care to take home with me given to them, together with untold wealth sent them by kind friends of the expedition in Philadelphia, in the shape of wood, knives, iron kettles, etc. — treas- ures priceless to the Es- kimo mind. Then, at the last mo- ment, Mrs. Peary and I stepped from the door of our little room out- side the now dismantled house, and said farewell to our first Greenland home. An hour or two later, the Kites propeller was driving her out of McCormick Bay just as it had driven her a little more than a year ago, only now there were but the original inhabitants of the country left upon the shore. Steaminof southward throuofh several uneventful days, our first stop was made at the fossil-beds of Atanekerdluk in the Waigatt. Here a perfect sum- mer day was put in, and the geological members of Professor Heilprin's Expedition delved for the fossils THE PROFESSOR. Search for Verhoeff — Homeward Voyage 419 with which the locaUty is rich, while Mrs. Peary and myself wandered like children out of school up the grassy and mossy ravines and across the warm-hued slopes. All were satisfied with the call here — the Professor and his party with their fossils, Mrs. Peary and myself with our run ashore. A brief stop was made at Godhavn, to tell our GODHAAB. friends there of our fortunes and successes, then the Kite steamed away for the other Greenland capital, Godhaab of the Southern Inspectorate. This place seemed quite like a metropolis as compared with God- havn. It has quite a pretentious chapel, and a short distance away is the long, low building of the old Moravian Mission establishment. We made many pleasant acquaintances here, among them white-haired 420 Northward over the "Great Ice" Inspector Fencker and his wife, with their pleasant- faced young daughter, who, in her seventeen years of hfe, has never been out of Greenland. While here, too, some of the kayakers of the place treated us to an exhibition of the characteristic aquatic feats of these South-Greenland amphibious hunters, — jump- ing one canoe over the other, turning somersault CHAPEL AT GODHAAB. after somersault in the water, etc. Returning to the ship after an evening spent at the Inspector's house, it suddenly struck me as I looked across the harbour, picturesque in its night shadows, that we were really approaching God's country once more. We actually had a civilised night and day now. Leaving Godhaab, fresh northerly and north- westerly winds kept the little Kite heeling, every sail Search for Verhoeff — Homeward Voyage 421 swelling like a balloon, and the foaming spray driv- ing from her sturdy little prow, day after day, until J^ i f n ""~*r-*i. "«*»*... MORAVIAN MISSION. at last we made the harbour of St. John's, New- foundland. Entering the Narrows, a cry of surprise and as- SOMERSAULT IN KAYAK. tonishment burst from the members of the ship's crew. The town which we had left a little more than a year 42 2 Northward over the "Great Ice" ago existed no longer, — only a stretch of gaunt, black ruins. A few weeks after the Kite had left it on her upward voyage, fire had swept the place completely. Fortunately it had not touched the residence of the genial and hospitable owner of the Kite, Edgar Bowr- ing, and with him and his charming wife Mrs. Peary and myself were domiciled during our short stay in St. John's, while the Kite took on more coal for her voyage to Philadelphia. From St. John's to Philadelphia the voyage was un- JUMPING ONE KAYAK OVER ANOTHER. eventful and monotonous, head-winds holding us back. At last, however, we passed the Delaware Break- water, and, a short distance below Philadelphia, saw the tug chartered by our friends coming down the river to meet us. Soon they were on board, our story was told, and the North-Greenland Expedition of i8gi and 1892 was at an end. An aftermath of this was the overflowing recep- tion at the Academy of Natural Sciences, when our numerous friends and well-wishers in and about Philadelphia had the opportunity of meeting the Search for VerhoefiT — Homeward Voyage 423 returning members of the expedition, and discov- ered, much to the surprise of many, that men and even women could Hve for a year or so in Green- land, and return not only alive, but in entirely normal condition. The elimination of the work of any member of my party would have detracted very largely from the suc- cess of the expedition. THE HARBOUR PICTURESQUE IN NIGHT SHADOWS. To Dr. Cook's care may be attributed the almost complete exemption of the party from even the mildest indispositions, and personally I owe much to his professional skill, and unruffled patience and cool- ness in an emergency. In addition to his work in his special ethnological field, in which he has obtained a large mass of most valuable material concernine a 424 Northward over the "Great Ice" practically unstudied tribe, he was always helpful and an indefatigable worker. Verhoeff, besides contributing generously to the expense of the expedition, was devoted to his meteoro- logical and tidal observations and made a complete and valuable series of both. Gibson, a natural hunter, quick with rifle and gun, in addition to his ornithological work, contributed more largely than any other member of the party to our supply of game. FIRE-SWEPT ST. JOHN'S. Astriip, a young Norwegian, a boy in years, but a man in grit and endurance, was one among a thousand for the long and lonely journey during which he was my sole companion. Henson, my faithful coloured boy, a hard worker and apt at anything, being in turn cook, hunter, dog driver, housekeeper, and body-guard, showed himself, in powers of endurance and ability to withstand cold, the equal of others in the party. My acknowledgments of my obligations to the members of my party would be incomplete without Search for Verhoeff — Homeward Voyage 425 reference to Mrs. Peary. Outside of the unspeakable comfort of her soothing presence in the time when at the threshold of a field of effort, in which pure brute physical fitness and strength are a si/w qua )ion, I found myself a helpless cripple, I feel that I speak without prejudice when I say that to her womanly SOUTHWARD WITH BELLYING SAILS. presence at all times and her valuable assistance and suggestions, especially in regard to our clothing out- fit, the expedition owes much. The experience of the expedition proved conclu- sively to me the correctness of my theory as to the quality of the personnel of an Arctic expedition, 426 Northward over the "Great Ice" namely, that it should be composed entirely of men of youth, perfect health, and educated intelligence. Such men, imbued with an interest in their work and the success of the expedition, able to lift them- selves beyond the gloom and inactivity of the present, "OUR FRIENDS COMING TO MEET US." with plans for the work of the future, and possessing resources within themselves, are able to resist in a maximum degree the depressing and demoralising effect of the long winter night, and in the field their ardour and dlaii more than balance their inexperience or lack of toughened endurance. CHAPTER XVI. METEOROLOGICAL NOTES FROM AUGUST, 1 89 1, TO MARCH, l8g2, INCLUSIVE, BY John M. Verhoeff. VERHOEFF AND TIDE GAUGE. CHAPTER XVI. METEOROLOGICAL NOTES VERHOEFF. August, iSgi. DURING the early part of August there was much rain, but later the weather became much better; however, focrs were not infrequent. There were no great changes in temperature, but the record is incom- plete, owing to my ab- sence at times from Red Cliff House and to other causes. The hours for making meteorological observations were seven a.m , two p.m., and nine p.m. At seven a.m., ' These notes are just as handed to me by Verhoeff previous to my departure on the ice-cap march. His observations for April, May, June, and July, 1S92, if ever summarised by him, were never given to me. These notes give but little idea of the minute and voluminous observations made by Verhoeff, observations which were his pride, and with which no stress of weather was ever allowed to interfere. When his records are worked up by an expert, as they will be, they will form a striking monument to the faithful, conscientious worker, who lost his young life on the cruel glacier,— a monument of which his sorrowing sister and his other relatives and friends may well be proud. 429 430 Northward over the "Great Ice" the maximum and minimum temperatures for the pre- ceding twenty-four hours were also obtained. There were nineteen days on which three ob- servations were taken ; August 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 being those days. The mean daily average of these is 37.53°.' On the 1 2th, 1 8th, 19th, 20th, and 31st, one or two observa- tions were taken. If we count in these five days, the twenty-four days average 37.84°, thus varying less than one-third of a decree from the orioinal result. If one notes the fact that, of the remaining seven days, only one, the 1 7th, was in the latter half of month, the con- clusion might be drawn that, if these days could be counted in, the average would be higher. However, I do not think that those days could ma- terially alter the average, certainly not over one-half a degree. The average of the nine days noted in early part of month is ^,7.2,3°- The average of the ten days noted in latter half of month is 37.62°. While on a trip to Hakluyt and Northumberland Islands, August 12-18, the highest temperature noted was 48° on Hakluyt Island, August 13, at two p.m. Lowest was 39° on Hakluyt Island. August 13, at ten P.M., and August 14, at eight a.m. There was no maximum or minimum thermometer used, or the ma.ximum temperature shown would doubt- less have been higher and minimum lower. Highest temperature during August at Red Cliff House was 52° on the 19th, as shown by maximum thermometer the following morning at seven a.m. On the 20th, 2 2d, and 23d, the temperature rose as high as 50°. ' All temperatures are given in degrees Fahrenheit. Meteorological Notes — Verhoeft 43 ^ The lowest temperature was 29°, as shown by mini- mum thermometer August 28, at seven a.m. The reading of barometer was taken since August 18, after return from Hakluyt Island. Highest noted was 30.38 inches, August 20, at 9.20 P.M. Lowest noted was August 23, at seven a.m., also August 24, at 3.10 P.M. and 5.07 p.m., 29.825 inches. Average temperature, fresh water 40°; sea 2)7°- September, iSgi. Record for September is not quite complete owing to my trips from Red Cliff House. There were eight- een days when three daily observations were made. September i, 2, 3, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 are those days, and average 21.74°. I made one or two observations September 4, II, 13, 17, 18, and 23. From the 4th to the i ith, inclusive. Matt, our negro cook, was alone at Red Cliff House, and at seven a.m. of each day he took the maximum and minimum temperatures for the preceding twenty-four hours. By taking a mean of these temperatures, with the exception of one day, the 6th, when it is very proba- ble he made a mistake, and counting in the days when I made one or two observations, every day in the month except two can be counted. The 1 8th is the second day elided, because of my trip to the boat camp at south-eastern corner of Mc- Cormick Bay. The average of the twenty-eight days mentioned is 23.28°, being thus i-|^° above the average of the eighteen days when three observations were m.ade. The rise in temperature by averaging twenty- eight days is probably due to the fact that of the ten days added seven are in the early half of the month. 432 Northward over the "Great Ice" The highest temperature was 40°, September i, as shown by maximum thermometer, September 2, at seven a.m. ; the maximum probably occurred in the early afternoon. Lowest temperature was 8°, on the morning of Sep- tember 30, at 5.20 A.M., as shown by minimum ther- mometer. It is thus seen that the maximum temperature oc- curred on the first, and the minimum on the last day of the month. The highest barometer reading was 30.32 inches, September 19, at 10.45 '^•'^■• The lowest barometer reading was 29.535 inches, September 29, at six a.m. During the month, many of the icebergs had left the bay, but some were still present September 27, at which date the formation of new ice in the bay was noticed. October, i8gi. The record for October is practically complete as regards the state of weather. Though occasionally absent, the observations were taken, leaving no gaps as before. The mean daily temperature was 8.57°. The highest temperature was 25°, on the 7th, as shown by the maximum thermometer on the 7th, at seven a.m. The lowest temperature, as shown by the minimum thermometer, October 29, at seven a.m., was - 15^°. The highest barometer reading was 30. 1 1 inches, on the 28th. The lowest barometer reading was 29.37 inches, on the 8th. Ice in the bay was about four inches thick on the 2d, and about seventeen inches thick at close of month. Meteoroloo:ical Notes — Verhoeff 433 ^b November, iSgi. The mean daily temperature for November was O.I 6°. The maximum temperature was 30^°, as shown by the maximum thermometer, November 19, at nine p.m. On this day, the rise in temperature was remarkable and sudden, lasting two days. The minimum temperature was -i8f°, as shown by the minimum thermometer, November 27, at nine p. M. The highest barometer reading was 30.32 inches, November 9, at two p.m. and nine p.m. The lowest barometer reading, also the lowest to this date, was 29.16 inches, November 19, at seven A.M. and two p.m. In beginning of month ice in bay was about seven- teen inches thick (November 3). At close of month it was about twenty-six inches thick (November 30). Dccctiibcr, i8gi. December, unlike the preceding months observed, showed sudden changes in the temperature. The record for the month is complete as regards temperature, barometric readings, and tidal observa- tions. The mean daily temperature was - 14.09°. The highest temperature was i6f°. as shown by the maximum thermometer, December 31, at nine p.m. Thermometer was above zero on the 13th, 30th, and 31st. The lowest temperature was -31°, as shown by mimimum thermometer, December 28, at nine p.m. It is thus seen that, unlike the preceding months observed, the maximum and minimum temperatures occurred only a few, in fact three, days apart. 434 Northward over the "Great Ice" At the close of month there was a sudden rise in temperature, continuiny^ a while in January. December 31 was the only day of month when thermometer showed a temperature above zero during the entire day, the mean temperature for the day being 1 1.08°. Highest barometer reading was 30.06 inches, December 6, at seven a.m. Lowest barometer reading, and also lowest noted during the year, was 28.97 inches, December 19, at 6.04 A.M. Ice in bay was twenty-six inches thick at opening of month (December i), and three feet thick at close of year. y amiary, i8g2. As stated in notes for December, January com- menced with a warm temperature, 9^° at 12.01 a.m., accompanied by a brisk south-easterly wind. The mean daily temperature for the month was -20.53°. The maximum temperature was 32°, as shown by maximum thermometer on the 7th, at seven a.m. and nine p.m. The thermometer showed a temperature above zero from January 6, at nine p.m., till January 10, at four a.m. The highest daily mean temperature was i8.oS°, on the 9th. The lowest temperature was-53|-°, as shown by minimum thermometer 6882, on the i8th, at nine p.m., occurring after two p.m. The lowest daily mean temperature was —41.67° (per 6882), the same day, January 18. The highest barometer "jading, 30.55 inches, was January 5, at 2.02 p.m. and three p.m. Meteorological Notes — Verhoeff 435 The lowest barometer reading, 28.99 inches, was January 26, at 7.02 a.m. Ice in bay was three feet thick at beginning of month, and about four feet thick at close, measuring in tide hole. February, i8g2. The month of F'ebruary showed even greater changes in the weather and temperature than January. The mean daily temperature was - 15.77°. The highest temperature was 41°, as shown by max- imum thermometer on the 15th, at nine p.m. The mean temperature of the 15th was 35.25°. The time of the rise in temperature began February 14, at nine p.m., temperature then being 31°. The minimum thermometer showed a minimum temperature of 31° for the next twenty-four hours, ending February 15, at nine p.m. Temperature was above zero on the 14th, 15th, 1 6th, 17th, 1 8th, and 21st. The minimum temperature during February was - 50^°, as shown by minimum thermometer 6882, February 12, at seven a.m. The lowest mean daily temperature was -35.75°, on the 1 1 th. Lowest barometer reading was 29.285 inches on the 4th, at seven a.m. Highest barometer reading was 30.525 inches on the 13th, at nine p.m. Ice in bay was ^.1 feet thick to surface of water, or about 4.2 feet for total thickness, at close of month. March, i8g2. The month of March was our coldest month, the mean daily temperature being - 22.12°. First half of 43^ Northward over the "Great Ice" month was the colder. The mean of the first fifteen or seventeen days was -27.91°, while the mean of the last sixteen days was - 16.57°. Highest temperature was on the 12th, at six p.m., 3°. The mean temperature of this day, highest of the month, was -1.08°. Our lowest temperature was -5of°, as shown by minimum thermometer on the 6th, at seven a.m. Though our minimum temperature of the winter is claimed by January, - 53f°, March can claim the minimum mean daily temperature. The mean daily temperature of the 6th was -45.25°, lower than that of January 18 by 3.58°. This month was probably an average winter month, there being no very high temperatures, as in preced- ing two months, when it rose to freezing-point. How- ever, there was a storm similar to that of February 15-16, but without the high temperature. The March storm was on the 23d and 24th. The principal features were a powerful south-east gale, hazy atmosphere, sometimes confining the sight to a hundred yards or less, snow drifting at times, and a swell to the tide. Though a very pronounced storm, in no feature did it seem to surpass that in February. Barometer not remarkably affected. The average barometric heiofht of the month was 29.884 inches. Greatest height was 30.21 inches on the 4th, at nine P.M., and the lowest was 29.46 inches on the 19th, at seven a.m. The thickness of bay ice showed no perceptible change durino- the month. An average of six measurements in tide hole was 3 ft. 8|- in., measuring to surface of water. However, if we only use the highest measurement, the thickness can be called four feet. Meteorolos^ical Notes — Verhoeff 437 RE.su ME. Temperature. Barometer. Max. MiN. Mean. Max. Mm. August, 1891 September, " October. " November, " December, January, 1892 . . February, " .. March, " .. 5< 40 25° 3oi° 161° 32° 41° 3° 8° -i5r -i8|° -31° -531° -50*° -5or 37.84°' 23.28° 8-57° 0.16° — 14.09° -20.53°^ -15-77^ — 22. 12 30.38 30.32 30.11 30.32 30.06 30-55 30.525 30.21 29.825 29535 2937 29.16 28.97 28.99 29.285 29.46 * For twenty-four days. 438 Northward over the "Great Ice" OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF '9i-'92 EXPEDITION. OBJECTS.' Determinatioii of the northern limit of Greetiland over- land. The possible discovery of the most practicable route to the Pole. The study of the Whale-Sound Eskimos. The securing of geographical and meteorological data. RESULTS.' The determination of the northern extension and the in- sularity of Greenland, and the delineation of the northern extension of the great interior ice-cap. The discovery of detached ice-free land-masses of less extent, to the northzuard. The determination of the rapid convergence of the Greeti- land shores above the seventy-eighth parallel. The observation of the relief of an exceptionally large area of the Inland Ice. The delineation of the unknown shores of Ingle field Gulf, and the imperfectly known shores of Whale and Murchison Sounds. The discovery of a large number of glaciers of the first magnitude. The first complete and accurate recorded information of the peculiar and isolated tribe of Arctic Highlanders (Dr. Cook.) Complete and painstaking meteorological atid tidal observ- ations (Verlioeff). Sledge journey, which is unique in respect to the distance covered by tivo men without a cache from beginning to end, and in respect to the effectiveness with 'which those men were able to handle a large team of Eskimo dogs. Corroboration of the opinion advanced that the Inland Ice offered an ' ' imperial highway. ' Original project presented to Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and American Geographical Society in 1890. ^ Buil. Am. Geog. Soc, No. 4, 1892. PUBLISHERS' NOTE. The following appendices embody in outline sketches in popular form the results of the study, observation, and experience of Peary's entire Arctic life, and not solely of the expeditions covered by the preceding pages of this volume. As a break between two expeditions occurs here, and as, notwithstanding condensation, Parts III.-V. of the work necessarily fill many more pages than those devoted to Parts I. and II., the publishers have, for reasons based on good book-making, prevailed upon the author to allow these valuable appendices to appear in this part of the work rather than at the end of the second volume. 439 APPENDIX I. AN ARCTIC OASIS. Geographical and Geological Description— Striking Features— Bays —Islands— Glaciers— Mountains— Icebergs. APPENDIX I. AN ARCTIC OASIS HOME OF THE MOST NORTHERLY KNOWN PEOPLE ON THE GLOBE. T HERE is no more interesting Arctic locality than the little oasis along the west- ern coast of North Green- land between Melville Bay and Kane Basin. The interest of the locality de- pends upon several cir- cumstances. It lies at one of the gateways to the Polar Sea ; its western- most cape is one of the Arctic Pillars of H ercules which stand guard across Smith Sound ; it is a real Arctic oasis, its abundance of vegetable and animal life being in striking contrast to the icy wastes of Melville Bay and Kane Basin north and south of it, and to the desolate barren shores of Ellesmere Land west- ward across Smith Sound. It is also one of the earliest known of high Arctic regions, and for the past hundred years has been the principal focus of Arctic effort, no fewer than six expeditions having wintered within its limits. And finally It is the home of a little tribe of Arctic aborigines, at once the most northerly individu- als of the human race, one of the smallest in number, 443 444 Northward over the "Great Ice" and in many ways the most interesting, of aboriginal peoples. Eight years ago I selected this region as the basis of my work of northern exploration, and since that time I have spent three winters and portions of six summers in the midst of its savage, magnificent sur- roundings, and among its happy human children. This Arctic oasis is distant three thousand miles from New York City as a steamer would go, and CAPE YORK. twenty-one hundred in an air-line almost due north, and is situated between the extreme meridians of New York City and Halifax. Lying as it does six hundred miles within the Arctic Circle, half-way between the confines and the heart of the great polar night, the Arctic Circle and the Pole, its every feature and con- dition is so different from what we are accustomed to, that I have no doubt many an intelligent reader will have difificulty in forming a correct conception of the country. Appendix 445 Though only two hundred and thirty-five miles in length from north to south, and a little over one hun- THE CRIMSON CLIFFS. dred miles wide, conditions are so different and peculiar in this region of rapidly assembling meridians, that the CONICAL ROCK. sun is as loner in traversing this short distance as he o o is in passing from Halifax to New York. 446 Northward over the "Great Ice" The great Arctic night at the southern extremity of the country is one hunched and three days long, while at the northern point it is one hundred and twenty- three. Comparatively slight as is the difference in latitude between the northern and southern limits of the region, the winter night is twenty days longer at the former than at the latter. Taking the mean latitude, it may AKPANI CLIFFS. Glacier and Ice-Cap in Background. be said that for one hundred and ten days in summer, the sun shines continuously throughout the twenty-four hours on the savage grandeur of the land ; and that for one hundred and ten days in winter no ray of light except those from the icy stars and the dead moon falls on the silent frozen landscape ; while, for two in- termediate periods of a little over two months in the spring and fall, there is night and day of rapidly vary- ing ratio. Appendix 447 There is a savage grandeur in these rugged lands, their character formed by contact with the bergs and floes, such as never greets the traveller to southern climes. Yet, forbidding as the coast may appear to the rap- idly passing Arctic voyager, those who know it well, know that behind the savage outer mask, the features of which have been carved by eternal conflict with storms and glaciers, bergs and grinding ice-fields, DALRYMPLE ROCK. nestle in summer many grass-carpeted, flower-sprin- kled, sun-kissed nooks, where mild-eyed deer browse, and twittering snow-buntings fill the air with liquid notes. Beyond the inherently attractive natural features of this region, it has claims upon a strong human interest in that it is, and has been for ages, the eternally ice- 448 Northward over the "Great Ice " imprisoned home of a little tribe of happy, care-free, independent, self-supporting aborigines, the most northerly known people on the globe. Historically the country has been known since 1616, when Bylot and Baffin, after a surprising voyage through Melville Bay, ran along a portion of the coast, applied a few names, and anchored in one or two places. Years after, Davis sighted the land again, and in 1818 Sir John Ross discovered that it was inhabited. SAUNDERS ISLAND. Since then, Cape York, the southern promontory of the country, has been on the path of the whalers en route to Lancaster Sound, and the ships of every Smith-Sound Arctic Expedition have passed along its shores. This coast presents characteristics different from those of any portion of the west coast of Green- land, to the south. The nearly continuous glacier faces of Melville Bay, broken only here and there by nunataks, as well as the meshwork of narrow fjords Appendix 449 and labyrinth of off-lyination from my material, but it contains suggestions for thought for the most cursory as well as the most studious reader, and it cannot fail to show the writer and the artist, that there is an untouched mine of material awaiting their working, in these children of the North and their Arctic oasis. 479 480 Northward over the "Great Ice" ready described, this little tribe, or perhaps, more properly speaking, family of Eskimos — for they num- ber but two hundred and fifty-three' in all, men, women, and children — is found maintaining its ex- istence in complete isolation and independence, under the utmost stress of savage environment. Without government ; without religion ; without money or any A TUPIK. standard of value ; without written language ; with- out property, except clothing and weapons ; their food nothing but meat, blood, and blubber ; without salt, or any substance of vegetable origin ; their clothing the skins of birds and animals ; almost their only two objects in life, something to eat and ' Accurate census September i, 1S95. Between this date and August g, 1896, an epidemic of influenza reduced their number to 229. In August, 1897. they numbered 234. Appendix II 481 something witli which to clothe themselves, and their sole occupation the struggle for these objects ; with habits and conditions of life hardly above the ani- mal, these people seem at first to be very near the bottom of the scale of civilisation ; yet closer acquaint- AHSAYOO. Showing Long Hair of the Men. ance shows them to be quick, intelligent, ingenious, and thoroughly human. With our surroundings and bringing up, drawing as we do upon the entire world for our daily wants, we can have no conception of the earlier condition of this people and their almost inconceivable destitution Appendix II 48; and restriction as to materials, dependent for every- thing w^^on a few miles of Arctic coast-line. To them such an ordinary thing as a piece of wood was just as unattainable as is the moon to the petulant child that cries for it. Is it to be wondered at that under these circumstances a man offered me his dogs and sledge and all his furs for a bit of board as long as himself; that another offered me his wife and two children for a shining knife ; and that a woman offered me every- thing she had for a needle ? They are a community of children in their simplicity, honesty, and happy lack of all care ; of animals in their sur- roundings, their food and habits ; of iron men in their utter disregard of cold, hunger, and fatigue ; of beings of hiorh intellicrence in the construction and us^ of the im- plements of the chase, and the in- genious concentration of every one of the few possi- bilities of the barren country which is their home, upon the two great problems of their existence — something to eat, and something to wear. The accumulated experience of generation after generation has taught them how to make the most of every one of the few possibilities of their barren country, in the way of affording sustenance, clothing, comfort, and safety ; and, as a result, they are as independent of the varying moods of their frozen habitat as are other peoples of the climatic vagaries of more genial latitudes. WIFE OF SOKER. 484 Northward over the " Great Ice " Denizens of a little Arctic oasis, prisoned on the east by the tovvering^ wall and superstitious terrors of the Sermiksoah, or " Great Ice " ; on the west by the waves of Smith Sound ; on the north by the crystal ramparts of the Humboldt Glacier ; and on the south by the stretching miles of the unknown glaciers of Melville Bay, they are at once the smallest, the most northerly, and most unique tribe upon the earth, and EATING RAW WALRUS MEAT. perhaps the oldest upon the Western Hemisphere. Many of them are of strikingly Mongolian type of countenance ; all of them possess the Oriental char- acteristics of mimicry, ingenuity, and patience in mechanical duplication ; and their appearance indi- cates the strong probability of the correctness of the theory advanced by Sir Clements Markham, the dis- tinguished President of the Royal Geographical So- Appendix II 485 ciety of London. This theory is, in brief, that these people are the remnants of an ancient Siberian tribe, the Onkilon, the last remains of which, driven from their homes and out on to the Arctic Ocean by the fierce waves of Tartar invasion in the Middle Ages, passed to the New Siberian Islands, and thence grad- ually over or along lands as yet undiscovered, per- haps even across the Pole itself, to the Northern TUNQWINGWAH AND HER BABY. Greenland Archipelago and Grinnell Land, and thence southward in different streams, as shown to- day by the Eskimo on the east coast of Greenland ; the Eskimo of the present Danish colonies and the Arctic Highlander ; and the Eskimo of north- ern North America and the American Arctic Archipelago. Among other facts upon which this theory is CO a a m J < o a o _) o z X Appendix II 487 grounded, are the strong resemblance of the stone dwelHngsof the Arctic Highlanders to ruins of simi- lar dwellings discovered in Siberia. There are also apparent strong physical resemblances. It would seem as if this theory were likely to be borne out by the additional facts ob- t/ tained by me. The fa- cial characteristics of many individuals in the tribe are noticeably Asi- atic. The obliquely set eyes are a common oc- currence. The natural aptness for imitation shown by many is also strikingly suggestive of a Chinese and Japanese trait. An interesting inci- dent bearing upon this came up in connection with the bringing of a young girl of this tribe to the United States by Mrs. Peary in 1894. The first and only thing that elicited expressions of vivid surprise and as- tonishment from this girl was the sight of a Chinaman upon the street, to whom she im- mediately ran and at- tempted to enter into conversation. Later, while pass- ing along the streets of Washington, she was seen by several members of the Chinese Legation, who im- ' MISS BILL." Eskimo Girl Brought Home by Mrs. Peary in 1894. 488 Northward over the "Great Ice" mediately surrounded her and began talking to her in the Chinese language, evidently mistaking her for one of their own countrywomen. On the other hand, it has been impossible to obtain any satisfactory information from these people as to the direction from which they originally came. They have a general idea of land far to the north. They are aware that the land is inhabited by the musk-ox, and there are misty traditions of the existence, somewhere in that region, of a race much larger than themselves. Yet the only migrations which can be fixed defin- itely are from the west side of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. Two such accessions to their number have occurred within the memory of living individ- uals of the tribe. Both of these migrations consisted of one or two families each, and there are now living in the tribe five individuals who were born on the western side. In connection with one of these, an old hunter, an interesting incident occurred. During the homeward voyage of the Kite we touched at Dexterity Harbour, on the west side of Baffin Bay, and found there a considerable settlement of the west-side natives. In conversation with these FIGURE OF 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL. Appendix II 489 natives, we learned that they knew of this hunter and his sister, and one old woman in the village had, when a girl, seen him, but she said that he had gone north years ago, and then disappeared, no one knew where. They expressed the liveliest interest in hear- ing about him, and from them we learned that as a young man this same hunter had lived at various times all the way from Cum- berland Gulf to the shores of Ellesmere Land, north of Jones Sound. There seemed to be no possible chance for this to be a case of mistaken identity, as the sister of this hunter was a deaf-mute, and these people spoke of this in describing her. The study of this tribe, and the collec- tion of accurate infor- mation in regard to it, have been among the objects of my various expeditions, and the opportunities for such study, owing to the smallness of the tribe, and its soli- tary imprisonment among the great Arctic glaciers, together with its especially kindly and tractable dis- po'sition, have made it possible to obtain many valuable data in regard to its customs and habits, and in par- NUPSAH. Showing Male Physique. 49° Northward over the "Great Ice" ticLilar to secure an absolutely complete and accurate census of the tribe, with ethnological descriptions and photographs. That the tribe was originally much more numerous than at present seems to be borne out, not only by their own statement, but by the ex- istence of many ancient igloos all along the coast, from Bush- . nan Island nearly to the Hum- H boldt Glacier. There seems ^ to be also a definite tradition that, in years past, the climate was different from what it is now, not, perhaps, any warmer, but with much less wind and fog along the coast. That the tribe previous to my visit was either increasing or decreasing in numbers I should be strongly inclined to doubt, it being prob- Xable that nature's balance be- tween the population and the food-producing capabilities of the country had been estab- lished for generations. But since my first expedition >^ * in 1 89 1 there has been a marked preponderance of the birth- rate over the death-rate, until the epidemic of 1 895-1 896 deci- mated the tribe, carrying off eleven per cent. In the year since, the birth-rate is again in excess. This is due, I have no doubt, to the improved weapons and implements which I have given them, and which have increased the hunting effective- NUPSAH. Showing Male Physique. 49 : Northward over the "Great Ice" ness of the males at least one hundred per cent., and have therefore kept the tribe better nourished and in better condition to withstand the severities which are their daily lot. That this increase will be very con- siderable or continued for any length of time is not likely, as the balance will again be adjusted. In disposition and temperament these people are a race of children, simple, kindly, cheerful, and hos- pitable. In powers of endurance, in certain directions, they probably are not surpassed by any other known race, and in their ingenuity and the intelligence dis- pla)ed in making use, to the fullest extent, of every one of the few pos- sibilities of their country which can assist them to live and be com- fortable, they are, in my opinion, ahead of any other aboriginal race. Of arts, sciences, culture, manufac- tures, and such other adjuncts of civilisation, they know nothing. There is no form of government amonij them, no chief, each man being supreme in his own family, and literally and absolutely his own master. Such a thing as real-estate interest is unknown to them. Every man owns the whole country and can locate his house WKESl LINU. Appendix II 493 and hunt where his fancy dictates. The products of the hunts are common property with slight Hmitations, as, for example, anything smaller than a seal is the property of the hunter who captures it ; yet, unwritten laws require him to be generous even with this, if he can do so without starving his own family. Personal BOXING. possessions are of necessity very limited, consisting almost entirely of clothing, travelling equipments, weapons and implements, and a single skin tent or tupik. Every man is his own tailor, shoemaker, boat-builder, house carpenter, and everything else ; in other words, each family is literally and absolutely independent and self-supporting, and could continue 494 Northward over the "Great Ice" its existence for an indefinite length of time without external assistance. Their ideas of astronomy are definite, though necessarily limited. They recognise the Great Dip- per as a herd of reindeer ; the three triangular stars of Cassiopeia are the three stones supporting a celestial stone lamp ; the Pleiades are a team of dogs in pursuit of a bear ; the three glittering brilliants of the belt of Orion are the steps cut by some celestial Eskimo in a steep snow-bank to enable him to climb to the top ; Gemini are two stones in the entrance to ARM PULL. an igloo ; Arcturus and Aldebaran are personifica- tions ; and the moon and sun are a maiden and her pursuing lover. These Eskimos estimate time by the movements of the stars, as well as by the position of the sun, and yet, less observant than were the Arab shepherds, they have not noticed that one star is the centre about which all the others move, nor have they set apart the planets, which to them are simply large stars. Probably this is due to the fact that the move- ments of stars can be observed during only three months of the year. 49^ Northward over the "Great Ice" As regards morals, these people do not stand high according to our scale. The wife is as much a piece of personal property which may be sold, exchanged, loaned, or borrowed, as a sledge or a canoe. It must be said in their favour, however, that children as well as aged and infirm members of the tribe are well WRIST PULL. taken care of, and that for the former the parents evince the liveliest affection. There seems to be no marriage ceremony. The matrimonial arrangement is frequently perfected by the parents while the parties are children. As the female is eligible for marriage much earlier Appendix II 497 than the male, a girl may be appropriated by a man whose wife has died, before her intended is old enough to marr)'. This arrangement may continue, or her intended may claim her when he is old enough. This is largely a matter of mutual agreement. Young couples frequently change partners several times in the first year or two, till both are suited, when the union is practically permanent, except for temporary periods during which an exchange may be effected with another man, or the wife loaned to a friend. TUG OF WAR. As the males are considerably in excess there is a constant demand for wives, and girls frequently marry while still as tiat-chested and lank-hipped as a boy. Though not lacking in warmth of blood they are not a prolific people. The females arrive at the age of puberty neither very early nor very late, but ac- cording to their own statements they never have chil- dren, even with every possible provocation, till at least three years later, and I am inclined to think the state- ment is substantially correct. 49^ Northward over the "Great Ice" Motherhood and the various female functions cause them hardly if any more inconvenience than is the case with animals. Of religion, properly speaking, they have none. The nearest approach to it is simply a collection of miscellaneous superstitions and beliefs in good and evil spirits. It may be said, in relation to this latter subject, that information in regard to it is extremely ESKIMOS IN THEIR KAYAKS. difficult to obtain, and probably the bottom facts of the matter will be known only when some enthusiast is willing to devote five or six years of his time to living with them and doing as they do, becoming in fact one of them. In physical appearance the members of the tribe are below the average stature, generally well built, plump and rounded in figure, and deceptively heavy. Appendix II 499 The popular idea that the people of this tribe are of small size is, in general, true ; but there are com- parative giants among them, and I could name several who stand in the neighbourhood of five feet ten, and weigh from one hundred and seventy-five to one hun- dred and eighty-four pounds, net. A man of these dimensions, when dressed in his midwinter costume of bear- and deerskin, looms up like a Colossus. The women are quite small, but they, as well as the men, are very solid, and extremely deceptive as to weight. The muscular develop- ment of the men is aston- ishing, but here again they are very deceptive in ap- pearance, the external cov- ering of blubber, which they possess in common with the seal, the walrus, and the bear, destroying the differentiation of their great muscles, and giv- ing them a smooth and rounded appearance. Were it not for their dirtiness and the unpleasant odours resulting from their mode of life, many of them, of both sexes, would be by no means disagreeable of presence. In regard to the younger members of the tribe in particular, while their faces are not by any means perfect, there seems to be a generally pleasing expression, especially when interested or engaged in conversation. Their clothing is composed entirely of furs and skins of animals and birds, and, in pattern and adaptation of each material to a certain purpose, is the result of an evolution extending through generation after genera- tion, until to-day the Eskimo dress may be consid- POOADLOONAH. ^■n h HiQI^y'. '-'-'^^^^^^^91 1 Appendix II 501 ered perfect for the conditions under which it is worn. There is a difference, chiefly in the upper garments, between the summer and winter dress, the former con- sisting of sealskin, birdskin, and bearskin ; the latter of deer-, fox-, and bearskin. BRAIDING A BOWSTRING. Their habitations in summer consist of tupiks, or tents, of sealskin, and in winter of igloos built of stones chinked with moss, covered with moss and turf, and banked in with snow. In the spring and when travel- ling, a snow igloo built of cut blocks of snow serves as a dwelling.' For sustenance these people depend en- ' The winter habitations of the Whale-Sound Eskimos are known under the general term, igloo. There are really tliree varieties of these dwellings, to only one of which is the name igloo applied by the Eskimos themselves : 1st, igloo, — a hut the walls and entire roof of which are built solely of .stones. 2d, iangi?tah, — a hut the walls and a portion only of the roof, or perhaps 502 Northward over the "Great Ice" tirely upon the results of the hunt, which is energetic- ally prosecuted whenever practicable against the wal- rus, the seal, the deer, the bear, narwhal, white whale. H^i ^^^^Kw^ Tj^H^^H Hpv^P l^^^^^F^' ' Wm 't^TT^'''^ ■H^^^^^^^^^BM^^L i/B#. 1 . / ^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^K-'lr'*' J I^^^IHhi STRETCHING A SEALSKIN TO DRY. fox, and hare. While they can hardly be said to be hunted, yet thousands and thousands of sea-birds, little the walls only, of which are built of stones, the gap in the roof being covered with skins. 3d, i^looyah^ — a hut built entirel)' of snow blocks. The igloos proper were undoubtedly all built generations ago, when the peo- ple had absolutely no wood, and their rude weapons enabled them to capture barely enough game to furnish skins for their clothing, without any to spare for covering their houses. The kangniah is merely a simplified igloo, rendered possible by the increased prosperity of the tribe. It is much easier to build only the narrower portion of the roof of stones, and cover the remainder with sealskins laid across sticks and covered in with turf. And it is a still further economy of labour, if a man (as is often the case now) has two tupiks. or sealskin tents, to merely build the walls of his igloo, and then roof it over entirely with his second-best tupik, folded and laid upon poles, then ct)vered with turf and snow. Appendix II 503 auks and looms, are obtained with nets and stored for winter use. Of these various animals, the seal is perhaps the staple, with the walrus next. The meat of these two animals is about equally prized, and the blubber is equally valuable for cooking purposes and forheatinsf the houses. Next come the narwhal and the white MAKING A HARPOON LINE. whale, then the bear, while the deer, fox, and hare form' a very small item in the Eskimo menu, and may be considered rather as delicacies than as staples. As for occupation, these people may be said to have but one, namely, hunting, and the construction and keeping in repair of the weapons and accessories re- quired by it. From the return of the sun till its de- parture, the various animals are hunted in turn in 504 Northward over the " Great Ice " accordance with the season and locahty ; and during the winter the surplus supply of meat obtained during the hunting season is consumed in carrying the tribe through the dark night. During this night there are three moons, and the light afforded by each of these is utilised by the natives in travelling between the different settlements and paying their annual calls ; an STRETCHING A HARPOON LINE. amusement varied frequently by the excitement of a moonlight conflict with a polar bear. Their amusements are few. In summer there are tests of strength between the young men of the tribe, consisting of wrestling, pulling, lifting, and a rude kind of boxing. In winter the sole amusements are marital pleasures, and the songs and improvisations of the ans^akoks, or medicine-men, of the tribe. In a. u i? X "? o. •> Mary Minturn River, 293 Mary Peary\ the whale-boat, \<^o 387 McCook, Dr., xxiv McCormiuk Bay, 69, 75, 87, 144, 213, 215, 249. 469 Measurements, anthropological, 174 Melville. U. S. N., Chief Engineer George VV., xxiii, xxxii Melville Bay, 48, 60, 61, 73 ; Glacier, 39S, 474 Mengel, Levy W., 48 Meteor, 1(13 Meteorological Notes of Verhoeff, 429 ; resume of, 437 Meteorological outfit, 51 Middle ice, 27 Misuniisu Glacier, 475 Moon, 155, 163, 176 Moore, Chas. A., xxxi. xxxii Moore Glacier, 455, 475 Morales, Arctic, 251 Mount, Adams, 465 ; Daly, 465, 476 ; Putnam, 465, Wistar, 476 Mountains, Smithson, 266 Murchison Sound, 69, 141, 251 Musk-calf, 339 Musk-oxen, 337, 352 ; feasting on, 342 ; meat of, 352 ; shot, 33S ; traces of, 322 N Nansen, F., xxi, xxviii, xxxiv, xxxv Narwhal, iig ; hunting the, 402 National Geographic Society, xxi xxiii, xxvii, 350 Natives, 31) Navy Cliff, cairn on, 349 Netiulumi 460 New-Vear reception, 188 Niglil, length of Arctic, 446 Nolan, Dr., xxv Northern exploration, base of, 444 Northern lanil, temperature of, 330 North-Greenland Expedition, i8gt- 92, 44. 47, 422 ; objects of, 438 ; results of, 438 North-Greenland exploration. 73 Northumberland Island, 69, 82, 97, 108, 115, 154, 24ti, 251, 472 Noursoak, 16 ; peninsula of, 6, 21, 24, 60 O Objects of 1891-92 Expedition, 438 Observations, 91 ; at head of Ingle- field Gulf, 266; at Jtlibloo. 260; on northern coast of Greenland,' 348 ; on the ice-cap, 306 Odometers, 170 Olriks Bay, 259, 262, 461 Omenak Fjord, 24, 60 Outfit, Arctic, 74 ; meteorological, 51 ; photographic, 51 ; surveying, 50 Pakitsok Fjord, 7, 20 Parhelion, 229 Parrish, Henry, xxvii Parry, Cape, 68, 457 Peary, Mrs. Robert E., xxv, xx\t, xxvii, xxxiv, 47, 57, 58, 60, '65, 77] 82, 133, 141, 155^ 225_ 247, 253, 266, 3S5, 387, 396, 402 Petermann Fjord, 305 ; Mountain, 6 Petowik Glacier, 68, 454, 474 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, xxi. xxii, 44, 241, 349, 422 ; flag of, 350 Photographic outfit, 51 Photographs, ethnological, 174, 175 Piblockto, 164. 195, 278 Pike, Capt. Richard. 44. 4S Polar bears, 29, 32, 66, 67, 195 Polaris House, 152 Pond, Maj. J. B., xxiv Proteus, 48 Prudhoe Land, 74 Ptarmigan, 269 ; Island. 264, 404 Putnam, Frof. F. W., xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxiv Putnam, Mount, 465 R Rations, 6. 97; Fourth-of-July, 351 ; of ice-cap party. 129 ; on the' ice- cap. 284 Raven. 90. 107 Ravenscraig Harbour, 28 Red cliffs. 75 520 Northward over the "Great Ice Red Cliff House, SS, 109, 134, 14S, 196, 214; buried, 162; repairing, 216 ; return to, 273, 3S5 Reindeer, 49, 69, 12S, 13S, 144, 145, 149, 229, 231, 392, 3q4, 396, 400; clothing, 211 ; home of the, 462, p.isturage for, 465 ; skins, iii, 159, 160, 230 ; sleeping-bags, 228 Results of 1891-92 Expedition, 43S Ritenbenk, 5, 7, 21, 27 Robertson Bay, 470 ; no trace of Ver- hoeff in, 428 Robertson Cape, 154, 470 Robeson Channel, 345 Ross, Capt. John, discovery of natives by, 448 Ruscheilberger, Dr., xxiv Ryder, Lieut., 215 Sabine, Cape, 48, 82 Salisbury Glacier, 455, 475 Saunders Island, 235 Savage Glacier. 475 Scarlet Heart Glacier, 148 Scoresby Sound, 215 Sculptured Cliffs, 392 Seals, 67, 6g, 144. 227, 23S, 252, 272 ; frozen, 254 ; young, 262 Seamstress, 172 Seeley. Capt. H. B., U. S. N., xxii Settlements, at Barden Bay, 267 ; Eskimo, no, liS; Eskimo snow, 253; inhabitants of, 256 ; Ittibloo, 259 ; Keati, 256 ; Netiulumi, 257 ; permanent, 256 Sharp, Ur. Benjamin, xviv, 48, 65 Sherard-Osborne Fjord, 314, 371 Ski, II, 50 Sledjje, 150, 155 ; coasting on a, 217 ; completion of, 231 ; construction of, 171 ; construction of an impromptu, 303 : covering runners of, 22S ; digging out, 364 ; discarded, 374 ; Eskimo, 112 ; relashed, 357 ; sma.shed, 302 ; three-runner, 302 ; tracks, 252 Sledge trips, around Inglefield Gulf, 247 ; first, 146 ; on the return, 269 ; preparations for, 243 ; to Herbert Island, 238 Sleeping-bags, 169, 171 ; discarded, 283 ; of reindeer fur, 228 Smithson Mountains, 266 Smith Sound, 82 Snow-bound, 203 Snow-buntings, 5, 321, 352 Snow, buried in, 204, 364 ; disappear- ance of, 212 ; drifting of, 202 ; first, 86 Snow-shoes, Indian, 50 Snow-squalls, 225 Snow-storm, 162, 313 Snow village, inhabitants of, 254 Snow wall. 85 Sound, Cumberland, 36 ; Ikaresak, 7, 20; Murchison, 69. 141, 251; Scoresby, 215 ; .Smith, 82 ; Whale, 61, 68, 254, 458 ; up|ier portion of Whale, 264 ; Wolstenholm, 456 St. George's Fjord, 308 St. John's, 38 ; in ruins, 421 Straits of Belle Isle, 53, 55 Summer, Arctic, 75 ; day, 94 Sun, The, N. Y., xxii, xxv, xxxii Sun Glacier, 136, 147, 473 Sun, heat of the, 361 ; midnight, 5 ; return of the. 2oq Sunlight, absence of, 160 Sunrise party, 19') Supplies, transporting, 2S7 Supporting party, selecting the, 296 Surveying outfit, 50 Sydney, C. B., 3, 52 Tanning deerskins, 160, Temperature, 14, 17, 64, 94. 123, 129, 140, 145, 162, 176, 177, 186, 187, 189, iq2, 193, 195, 201, 202, 2og, 210, 214-216, 224, 227, 228, 230, 231, 233-235, 23^, 287. 306, 313, 371 ; of northern land, 330 Thorn, Miss Phcebe A., xxvii Tide gauge, 168, 182 Tide, rise and fall of, 169 ; rising of, 267 Tossukatek Glacier, 21, 22-24 Tracy, Hon. B. F., xxii, xxiii, xxv Tracy Glacier, 398, 472 Traps, fox, 69, 107, 114, 115, 186, 199 ; hare, 115 Tyrconnel, Cape, 68 U Upemavik, 48, 60 Index 521 Vegetation, 11 1 Verhoeff. John M., xxii, xxiv, 46, 92, g7, 104, 107, log, 121, 129, 145. 168, 19Q, 214. 225, 385, 4" ; '<»*- prints of, 13S ; glacier, 415, 475 ; instructions to, 102 ; left, 394 ; lost. 414 ; Meteorological Notes of, 429 '. provisions left for, 41" ; recogniiion of the services of, 424 ; search for, 412 ; traces of, 414 Victoria Inlet, 319 Visitors, 1S7 Volcanic dust, 193 W Waigat, the, 60 Wall, snow, 85 Walrus, 69, 92, 104, 112, 114, 141. 142. I go ; meat of, 24S, 256 Water, open, 252 West-Greenland Expedition, 45, 47. 48, 82 Whale-boats, 50, 81, 83, 97, 133. I44 Whalers, 28, 29 Whale Sound, 61, 68, 254, 458 ; upper portion of, 264 White march, starting on the, 285 Whitney, Hon. Wm. C, xxviii Wilson. Hon. Francis, xxxii Wind, fierce, 22b Wind-storm on ice-cap, 289, 294, 310 Wistar, Gen'l I. 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