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CHAPTER XIII
PEARY’S EXPEDITIONS (1886−1909)
Commander R. E. Peary is the most persevering and the most daring of all Arctic explorers. He tells how he was induced to take an active interest in Arctic exploration. An old book-store in Washington was a favourite haunt of his, and one evening he there came across a paper on the Inland Ice of Greenland, and found the subject so interesting that he followed it up. He consulted various authorities, but found very conflicting statements. He therefore determined to visit Greenland and investigate the matter himself. He was then a lieutenant in the United States Navy.
The Navy Department having granted his application for leave, he made the necessary arrangements, and left Sydney on the steam-whaler Eagle in May 1886.
Arriving at Godhavn on 6th June, he left the whaler, and made preparations to explore the Inland Ice from the neighbourhood of Disco Bay. He was delayed two weeks at Godhavn by the ice before he could embark for Ritenbenk, at the head of the bay.
On the 23rd June he left Ritenbenk with Christian Maigaard, who was Assistant-Governor there, and eight natives, and made for Pakitsok Fiord. The head of the fiord was reached on the 25th, and on the 28th everything had been carried up to the ice-cap.
Peary’s sledging equipment had been made under his own supervision. He had two 9-foot sledges, 13 inches wide, made of hickory, steel, and hide, on a modified Hudson Bay pattern. With drag-ropes and lashings each weighed 23 lb. He carried jacketed alcohol-stoves, 9-foot double-ended ash alpenstocks with steel point and chisel, rubber creepers, snow-shoes, and ski. His rations consisted of tea, sugar, condensed milk, hard bread, pemmican, cranberry jam, baked beans, Liebig extract, and an experimental mixture of meat, biscuit, and desiccated potato.
The natives left the party at the edge of the ice-cap. On the 29th June, Peary and Maigaard started due east. A few hours after setting out, a furious storm came on, and it was deemed advisable to return to the head of the fiord and wait there till the weather improved.
On the 5th July the storm abated, and Peary and Maigaard set out once more. They reached the sledges, dug them out of the snow, and started due east again.
After crossing a network of crevasses, they encountered a series of lakes which were not frozen hard enough to support them. They had frequently to wade through a morass of saturated snow.
On the 15th July another storm compelled them to lie up four days at an elevation of 7525 feet above the sea. This camp was 100 miles from the margin of the ice-cap, and was the farthest point reached. Only six days’ provisions were left, and Peary decided to return.
The return journey was made rapidly, but they had several exciting experiences. On one occasion Maigaard was nearly lost in a crevasse, and on another Peary was swept away in a glacier stream.
On his return to Ritenbenk, Peary set out for the Noursoak Peninsula, which he crossed alone to the edge of the Great Kariak Glacier, and then returned. This journey across the peninsula occupied three days.
From this expedition to Greenland, Peary states that he returned with the northern bacilli in his system, the Arctic fever in his veins, never to be eradicated. He was full of enthusiastic plans for accomplishing the crossing of Greenland. Duty, however, absorbed his energies during the next few years, and in the meantime Nansen effected the crossing of Southern Greenland over one of the routes which Peary had suggested.
Peary now fell back on his more ambitious scheme – the determination of the northern limit of Greenland overland.
He laid his plans before the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and other learned bodies, and received their support. He then obtained eighteen months’ leave, and made the necessary preparations for his expedition of 1891−92. He approached the Dundee whaling companies and the Director of the Greenland trade, but they refused to transport his party to Greenland on any terms. He was therefore compelled to charter a vessel, but was fortunately successful in raising funds to meet the greatly increased cost.
Peary and a party of six, which included his wife, left Brooklyn in the Kite on 6th June 1891. His party consisted of Frederick A. Cook, surgeon and ethnologist; Langdon Gibson, ornithologist and chief hunter; Eivind Astrup; John M. Verhoeff, mineralogist and meteorologist; Matthew Henson, body-servant.
The master of the Kite was Captain Richard Pike, who was a famous Arctic skipper. It was he who took Greely’s expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, and he was in command of the Proteus when Lieutenant Garlington attempted to relieve Greely.
Peary had two whale-boats built for the expedition, and in these it was intended to return to the Danish settlements from Whale Sound. He also carried wood for a 12 by 20 feet house.
Godhavn was reached on 27th June, and left on the 29th. A stop was made at Upernavik, where Peary expected to obtain a kayak and a native interpreter, but failed to get either.
No obstruction to the Kite’s progress was met until about 16 miles north of the Duck Islands. Here the dreaded Melville Bay pack was encountered, and the Kite after boring her way from the 2nd till the 4th July was completely beset, and did not escape till the 17th.
On the 11th July the ice slackened a little, and the Kite made attempts to forge ahead. While at this work 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 the men was thrown clear over the wheel, and the next instant the iron tiller had caught Peary’s leg between it and the deck-house, and snapped both bones just above the ankle. He was immediately carried to the cabin, where his leg was set.
This was an extremely serious accident for Peary, and a man with less determination would have given up the expedition and returned home. This idea did not seem to occur to Peary. Even with a broken leg at this critical period, he decided that everything must go on.
It was his intention to secure a winter camp on the north shore of Inglefield Gulf; but the Kite met unbroken ice, and was ultimately run into McCormick Bay. Here a site for the house was soon selected, and preparations were at once made to land provisions and stores.
On the 26th July work was commenced on the house. During the delay in Melville Bay pack, Peary had the wood cut and fitted, and now it had only to be nailed together and erected.
The interior dimensions of the house were to be 21 feet in length, 12 feet in width, and 8 feet in height from floor to ceiling. It consisted of an inner and an outer shell, separated by an air-space, formed by the frames of the house, and varying from 10 inches at the sides to over 3 feet in the centre of the roof.
On the outside of the 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 the 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 blankets.
To still further protect it, a wall was built entirely around the house, about 5 feet distant from it. The foundation of this wall was composed of stones, turf, and empty barrels. Above this, the wooden boxes containing tinned supplies were piled in regular courses in such a way that the contents could easily be reached. From the top of these, canvas was stretched to the side of the house so as to form a corridor.
When the snow came, a wall of this was built outside of the other, and the roof of the house was also thickly covered with snow.
On the 27th July, Peary was taken ashore, strapped to a plank, and placed in a tent near the site of the house, so that he might supervise the work.
The Kite departed for the south on the 30th July, and Peary and his party were left to their own resources.
Near at hand rose cliffs of a reddish colour, and this fact induced Peary to name his house “Red Cliff House.” Its position was found to be 77° 40′ north latitude, and 70° 40′ west longitude. It was therefore about half-way between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole.
On the 12th August, Dr. Cook, Verhoeff, Astrup, and Gibson were sent to Herbert, Northumberland, and Hakluyt Islands. They left provisioned for fourteen days. The object of the journey was to obtain birds from the loomeries, to make plans of Eskimo houses and villages, to communicate with the natives and obtain from them furs and clothing. They were also to try and induce a family of natives to settle near Red Cliff House.
They returned on 18th August with 130 guillemots, and also brought an Eskimo family, consisting of a man, his wife, and two children, with a kayak and harpoon, a sledge and a dog. They had shot a small walrus near Herbert Island, and had towed it to Cape Cleveland, a little over 2 miles from the house. Several other walruses were obtained before the end of the month.
On the 4th September the entire party, with the exception of Henson, set out for the head of McCormick Bay with supplies intended for a dépôt to be established on the Inland Ice in the neighbourhood of the Humboldt Glacier.
On the 5th September, Astrup went up the slopes to the ice-cap to select the best route for carrying up the provisions. He returned with a favourable report, and estimated the distance to the ice-cap at less than 4 miles.
On the 6th September, Astrup, Gibson, Verhoeff, and Cook started up the bluffs with loads varying from 52 to 58 lb., and towards night on the same day they carried up a second load. On the 7th the last loads were taken up, and Astrup, Gibson, and Verhoeff, who were to form the Inland Ice party, remained at the ice-cap, while the others returned to Red Cliff House.
This Inland Ice party returned to Red Cliff on 12th September, and reported that the attempt to establish a dépôt had been a failure. Owing to the presence of deep soft snow, it was found that not more than one sledge could be dragged at a time, and on the 8th September the party advanced only 1 mile. On the 9th they were kept in camp by a snowstorm and high wind. On the 10th they advanced 1 mile by noon, and as there was no prospect of better sledging, they deposited one of the sledge-loads on a nunatak at an elevation of 2600 feet above sea-level, and returned to Red Cliff without their sledges or sleeping-gear.
On 22nd September, Peary sent Astrup and Gibson back to the Inland Ice to study the condition of travel as far north-east as possible. They dragged their sledges five days, and attained an altitude of 4600 feet; but owing to snow-squalls, high winds, and hard hauling, they then decided to return.
During October many Eskimo arrived at Red Cliff, and from this time onwards various parties were coming and going all through the winter. Some came from Cape York, nearly 200 miles away. Several of the women were engaged to make fur clothing for the party.
During the winter Peary kept his party busy making sledges, odometers, and various other articles required for the spring sledge-journey.
Peary devised and cut the patterns for the suits and sleeping-bags. These were made from the skins of the deer shot by Peary’s men. The skins were stretched and dried at Red Cliff, and the chewing was done by the Eskimo women. This latter process makes the skins thoroughly soft and pliable. A skin is folded with the hair inside, and is chewed along the fold; then another fold is made, and the process is repeated until the whole skin has been carefully chewed. After this, it is scraped and worked with a blunt instrument. It takes two women about a day to chew a big buck-skin, and they usually require to give their jaws a rest every alternate day.
Peary took a series of photographs of seventy-five Eskimo, and Dr. Cook took the anthropometrical measurements. It may here be mentioned that Peary’s photographic work was excellently done, and added very much to the value of his explorations.
On 18th April 1892, Peary started on a trip round Inglefield Gulf. The purpose of the journey was to complete the necessary complement of dogs for the ice-cap march, to purchase furs and materials for the equipment, and as far as practicable map the shores of the gulf. Peary was accompanied by his wife. He returned on 24th April, having in the short space of one week made a sledge-journey of some 250 miles.
During the month of April most of the supplies for the great journey over the ice-cap had been carried up to the edge of the ice. On the last day of April, Dr. Cook, Gibson, Astrup, and five Eskimo left Red Cliff with two sledges and twelve dogs, dragging the last of the supplies. Peary and Henson followed on the 3rd May with the remaining eight dogs and a large dog-sledge.
The three sledges used by Peary on this journey consisted of two long, broad wooden runners curved at both ends, with standards supporting light but strong cross-bars. The largest sledge was 13 feet long and 2 feet wide, with runners 4 inches wide, and standards 6 inches high. It was composed entirely of wood, horn, and raw-hide lashings. It weighed 48 lb., and carried easily a load of 1000 lb.
The second sledge was 11 feet long and 2 feet wide, with 3½-inch runners and 6-inch standards. It weighed 35 lb., and carried a load of 500 lb.
The third sledge, made by Astrup, was 10 feet long and 16 inches wide, with 3-inch runners and 2-inch standards. It weighed 13 lb., and carried a load of 400 lb.
The clothing consisted of a hooded deer-skin coat weighing 5¼ lb., a hooded seal-skin coat weighing 2½ lb., a pair of dog-skin knee-trousers weighing 3-9/16 lb., seal-skin boots with woollen socks and fur soles weighing 2 lb., and an under-shirt; total, about 13 lb. With various combinations of this outfit, Peary could keep perfectly warm and yet not get into a perspiration, in temperatures from +40° F. to −50° F., whether at rest, or walking, or dragging a sledge.
Peary had twenty dogs for the journey, but one died from the fatal piblockto, at the edge of the ice-cap. His dog-food consisted of pemmican.
The provisions included pemmican, butter, Liebig extract, biscuit, condensed milk, compressed pea-soup, compressed tea, and extract of coffee. The daily ration was 2½ lb. per man.
From the edge of the ice-cap the sledges had to be dragged up one snow-slope and down another for a distance of 15 miles, before reaching the gradual slope of the true Inland Ice. This point was not reached until the 15th May.
Peary took a true north-east course, and hoped to clear the heads of the Humboldt, Petermann, and Sherard-Osborn indentations. From this point, two short marches of 5 and 7 miles brought them to an elevation of 5000 feet, and early in the third march the highest summits of the Whale Sound land disappeared, and they found that they were descending. They had passed over the divide between Whale Sound and Kane Basin, and were on the descent towards the basin of the Humboldt Glacier. This third march was 12 miles, and the fourth was 20, and the distant mountain-tops of the land between Rensselaer Harbour and the south-eastern angle of Humboldt Glacier rose into view in the north-west.
On the fifth day they covered 20 miles over a gently undulating and gradually descending surface. On the sixth march the surface became much more hummocky, and Peary thought it advisable to deflect about 5 miles to the eastward. At the end of this march there were signs of an approaching storm, and a snow igloo was built for shelter.
The storm lasted forty-eight hours, and it took a long time to dig out the sledges, which had been completely buried in snow-drifts, and reload them.
Starting out from here, they found that the storm had made a good road for them, and they covered 20 miles during the first march. On the following day they again made 20 miles, and reached the point where Peary decided the supporting party should leave him. They were now 130 miles from the shore of McCormick Bay.
It was here that Peary resolved to take only one companion with him. It had originally been his intention to take two, but due to a frozen heel, Henson had to be sent back to Red Cliff from the edge of the ice-cap. All three of his companions volunteered to go with him. Peary decided that Astrup should be his companion, that Gibson should return in command of the supporting party, and that, on their return to Red Cliff, Dr. Cook was to assume charge.
Next day, Gibson and Dr. Cook started on the return journey, and Peary and Astrup continued the march towards the north-east. Peary had now thirteen dogs. On the second march all the dogs were made to drag the big sledge, and the other two sledges were put in tow of the big one. Peary went ahead as guide, and Astrup followed driving the dogs. They had gone but a short distance on this march when the big dog-sledge broke down, one side bending inward and breaking all the standards on that side. This at first seemed a serious accident, but by lashing the broken sledge alongside another, and so making a broad 4-foot-wide sledge with three runners, the difficulty was overcome. The accident, however, had the effect of reducing the march to one of 10 miles. Next day the snow was deeper and softer, and but 15 miles were covered. During this latter march they began to ascend, and the snow was so deep that the sledges sank in it nearly to the cross-bars. This made the hauling so heavy that Peary contrived an impromptu sledge from an extra pair of ski, and transferred to it 120 lb. from the big sledge. On this day one of the dogs was ill, and at night it was killed and fed to the others.
On the following day the up-grade and the deep snow compelled them to make two journeys in hauling the sledge. Next day the surface fortunately improved, and 15 miles were covered.
They were now evidently at the top of the grade, and soon began a gradual descent toward the basin of the Petermann Fiord. During this march they made 20 miles, and sighted land to the north-west.
On the last day of May the head of Petermann Fiord, with its guarding mountains, suddenly came into sight, and Peary found it necessary to deflect some 10 miles to the eastward to avoid the inequalities of the glacier basin. Peary camped here thirty-six hours, and determined his position and took bearings of the land.
From this camp the surface was comparatively level, and the highest summits of the Petermann Mountains were kept in sight for 40 miles. Then began a gradual rise, the snow becoming softer and deeper.
On the 5th June the summit of the next divide was reached at an elevation of 5700 feet above sea-level. From here the travelling was very good, and 19½ and 21 miles were made in two marches; and on the 8th June they camped in sight of St. George’s Fiord, but they believed it was Sherard-Osborn Fiord. At the end of this march a storm broke upon them, and they were imprisoned in a rough shelter two days.
Peary now found that he was on the southern edge of a great glacier basin, and to avoid this he deflected his course to the south-east, which forced him to ascend steep icy slopes. It took two days of the hardest work to get out of this trap, and at the end of them he had lost 15 miles of his hard-earned northing. During this climb, Peary’s best dog, the king of the team, received a sprain. After limping at the rear of the sledges for two or three days, he lagged behind, and was lost in one of the ice-cap storms. Two dogs fell into a crevasse and hung suspended at the end of their traces until hoisted out.
Starting again on a north-east course, they had not advanced far when they were brought up by a group of enormous crevasses, and just as these were reached a dense fog swept up from the glacier basin and delayed them eighteen hours.
Peary now decided to strike farther into the interior, so as to avoid these glacier basins, but in carrying out this plan he found the snow increasing and the grade so steep that he was compelled to steer more to the north.
He had advanced in this direction only 4 miles when the big sledge again broke down, and an entire day was lost in repairing it. Next day the temperature became so high and altered the surface of the snow so much that they found it impossible to go on. They had to wait a fall of temperature, and this did not occur for two days. At this camp spare articles weighing 75 lb. were thrown away.
Starting again, they made a march of 6¼ miles, going over the road twice. The following day, land again made its appearance ahead of them, and Peary deflected first to the north-east and then to the east. Advancing 8 miles, they found themselves hemmed in by a series of huge concentric crevasses, and to cross these it was necessary to take a south-easterly direction. At one time two dogs fell into a crevasse, and at another one of the sledges broke through.
Next day they covered nearly 18 miles, and on the following one they made 20½ miles. Land was now visible to the north-west, north, and north-east.
Towards the close of the next march a fiord with high sharp peaks on its northern side came clearly into view. Starting again on the 26th June in a north-east direction, Peary soon changed the course to east true, and then to south-east, so as to avoid a fiord which was seen ahead. Assuming this fiord to be Victoria Inlet, and thinking he could round it, Peary kept on to the south-east till the 1st of July, but still the mountains of the shore were in view. On this 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 reflected ice-blink of distant ice-cap nor the cloud-loom of land.
Peary now decided to reach this opening and discover whether it looked out into the East Greenland Arctic Ocean. Changing his course to north-east, he made for the red-brown mountains of the strange land. The grade now became so steep that it was necessary to descend diagonally along the slope.
The highest convex of a crescent moraine which climbed well up into the ice-cap was selected as a landing-place, and after wading many streams, and floundering through a mile of slush which covered the lower portion of the ice, they clambered upon the rocks of the moraine 4000 feet above the sea.
Here Peary left Astrup to look after the clogs while he hastened down to the land for the purpose of climbing a summit some 5 miles from the edge of the ice. He had not gone far when a snow-bunting fluttered up from behind a rock, and not long afterwards he came across the traces of musk-oxen. As he got farther from the ice, flowers of various hues made their appearance, among them the yellow Arctic poppy.
Instead of 5 miles, the distance of the mountain lengthened to at least 12, and when it was reached at the end of an eight hours’ march, it was only to find that two or three other summits intervened between Peary and the view he wished. By this time the soles of Peary’s kamiks were cut through, and some of the sharp stones had cut his feet. He patched his foot-gear with a pair of seal-skin mittens and a skull-cap, and after an hour’s rest he started on his return to Astrup, and reached him after an absence of fifteen hours.
Peary now decided to take Astrup and the dogs, which numbered eight, and three or four days’ supplies, and march overland. They started out on 3rd July 1892, carrying about 40 lb. each on their backs. On the second day’s march they were fortunate in coming across musk-oxen, and succeeded in killing two. This gave both the men and the dogs a welcome change of food, and they feasted till they could eat no more.
After several hours’ rest, they again set out, and succeeded in gaining a rocky plateau, 3800 feet above sea-level. This dropped in a perpendicular cliff into a bay below. Looking out over a mighty glacier on the right and through the broad mouth of the bay, they saw stretching away to the horizon the great ice-fields of the Arctic Ocean. To the west was the opening of a fiord which Peary believed was the one which barred his northern advance, and he had paralleled its course across the northern end of the mainland from Robeson Channel to the shores of North-East Greenland. This channel, which Peary believes marks the northern boundary of the mainland of Greenland, now receives the name of “Peary Channel.”
To the north-west, north, and north-east stretched steep red-brown bluffs on the other side of the bay. To the northward could be seen the entrance of a second fiord, or channel, apparently extending to the northwestward.
The land which stretched away to the north-east was free of snow. In this direction land could be seen 60 miles away. From observations taken by Peary on the cliff, afterwards named “Navy Cliff,” the position was found to be 81° 37′ 5″ north latitude, and 34° 5′ west longitude. After building a cairn and leaving a record, they retraced their steps towards the ice-cap.
On this northern land, besides snow-buntings, two or three sandpipers, a Greenland falcon, a pair of ravens, two bumble-bees, several butterflies, innumerable flies, and about twenty musk-oxen were seen. Flowers of numerous species were blooming in abundance.
Two days were occupied in getting back to Moraine Camp, and when it was reached the feet of six of the dogs were cut and bleeding. It was therefore necessary to rest and allow the dogs to recover, and it was also necessary to thoroughly overhaul the impedimenta and put everything in good order for the return journey.
The big three-runner sledge was reduced to its original dimensions, and the foot-gear required a good deal of attention. At last, on 7th July, all was ready, and they started up the icy slope.
In order to avoid crevasses and glacier basins, Peary returned on a course well to the east of his upward one. On the first day only 10 miles were covered, but on the second they made 21½ miles, and ascended 1300 feet. On the 10th July an advance of 20 miles was made, and an ascent of nearly 1000 feet. On the 11th the altitude rose 600 feet in another march of 20 miles. The elevation was now 7300 feet above sea-level. On this date one of the eight dogs became exhausted, and was killed and fed to the others.
They now experienced a severe storm, which detained them two days. On the first march after the storm they travelled 20 miles over a level plateau in a thick fog.
Next day one of the dogs died, and now only six were left, and Peary became anxious about the remainder. On the 18th July the fog cleared. On the 21st, Peary decided to abandon one sledge and leave behind articles weighing about 50 lb. The load was repacked on the small sledge.
Another of the dogs died on 28th July, but the remaining five were in fairly good condition. On this day 22 miles were covered, and the next few marches were even better. They were now east of the Humboldt Glacier.
On the 2nd August they neared the divide between the Kane Basin and the Whale Sound region, and next day they sighted land, after travelling 35 miles.
On the following day, when nearing the edge of the ice-cap, a relief party came into view, and soon Peary had the pleasure of meeting Professor Heilprin, who had come north in the Kite to take Peary home.
Two days after his return to Red Cliff, Peary set out on a boat-voyage into Inglefield Gulf, with the object of becoming better acquainted with the northern shore. He explored Bowdoin Bay to its head, and at this point Verhoeff, who formed one of the party, left to cross the glacier to McCormick Bay, where he was to meet Gibson.
Leaving Bowdoin Bay, Peary passed eastwards along the gulf, and reached a striking, precipitous island, which he named “Josephine Peary Island.”
On returning from this boat-voyage, Peary learned that Gibson had landed Verhoeff at Five-Glacier Valley a few days after he had left Bowdoin Bay. Verhoeff’s intention was to make an overland trip to the Eskimo settlements in Robertson Bay, and he arranged with Gibson to return for him at a certain time. The day after Peary’s return, Gibson arrived with the news that Verhoeff had not turned up according to promise.
Peary at once set out with Gibson and a crew of his best Eskimo to search for Verhoeff. Heilprin’s party and the Kite’s crew also took part in the search, which was continued six days and six nights. The Eskimo ultimately succeeded in finding traces along the side of a glacier, and these were found to pass on to the glacier itself, but they disappeared on the unyielding surface of the ice.
The search was now given up. The conclusion arrived at was that Verhoeff had fallen into one of the innumerable crevasses of the glacier and had there perished. This sad incident naturally cast a deep gloom upon the party, and on Peary especially.
Preparations were now made for the return home. Mrs. Peary distributed many household utensils to the delighted Eskimo, who also received numerous presents of wood, knives, iron, kettles, etc., which had been brought in the Kite from friends of the expedition.
At Godthaab, on the way home, some of the kayakers of the place treated them to an exhibition of aquatic feats, such as turning a somersault in the water and jumping one kayak over another. The remainder of the voyage was completed without special incident.
Soon after his return from this expedition, Peary made preparations for a more ambitious one. In order to raise funds, he delivered one hundred and sixty-eight lectures in ninety-six days. From these he realised 13000 dollars. He also obtained some funds from other sources, and was able to charter a ship named the Falcon to take his party north, and return the following season to bring him back.
Peary left Philadelphia in the Falcon on 23rd June 1893. The ship carried a steam-launch, and the two whale-boats, the Mary Peary and the Faith. The six dogs of the White March and some carrier-pigeons were also taken. In order to make a new experiment in Arctic work, Peary took some burros which had been brought from Santa Fé. Several places on the American coast were stopped at, and St. John’s was not left till 15th July. On the same day one of the dogs managed to slip its harness, and was lost overboard. On the 17th, during heavy weather, two of the burros died. The Falcon touched at Battle Harbour on the Labrador coast, in order that dogs might be purchased; but Peary met with but little success. Other two stations were visited, but as a total result only twenty dogs were obtained. On the 22nd July the Falcon was headed for the Greenland coast, and it arrived at Holsteinborg on the 26th. Here seventeen dogs were obtained, and near midnight of the same day the Falcon left for Godhavn, where it arrived on the 28th. Fur clothing, ordered from Copenhagen, was found ready, and twenty dogs were obtained. Peary had been mindful enough to take a present of oranges, lemons, and pine-apples to Mrs. Anderson, the Inspector’s wife, and it gave great delight to her and her family. Godhavn was left about 10 p.m. on the 28th, and Upernavik was reached on the 30th. Peary was disappointed in finding that only ten dogs were to be obtained here, but he was informed that he would get more at Tasiusak, about 40 miles to the north. The latter place was reached early in the morning of 31st July, and seventeen dogs were obtained. Peary had now on board eighty-seven dogs, and the pandemonium caused by these howling, fighting, restless animals was indescribable. The Duck Islands were reached about noon, and after a few hours’ stay, the passage of the dreaded Melville Bay was begun. The weather was excellent, and where two years before the Kite had to battle with the pack, there was open water with only a few scattered icebergs. The passage was made in the record time of 24 hours and 50 minutes.
